Sunday, September 22, 2024

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

Commentary

COMMENTARY

Opinions should be based on facts

No opinions are wrong; they just have little problems within the thoughts that can be seen as wrong or be based on inaccuracies. That’s where many people can get into trouble. I’ve always had trouble forming set-in-stone opinions because I listen to arguments and make sure I know where both sides are coming from.

COMMENTARY

Raising rates won't entice students to 'Live On'

Raising room and board rates by 5.1 percent puts the cost of living on campus for a school year at $7,770, a $376 increase for 2010-11. Not only is this irritating to students who already had signed contracts, it will convince more students to consider the move to apartments and houses.

COMMENTARY

Limiting merit-based raises shouldn't hurt MSU

If a forthcoming recommendation is approved by the MSU Board of Trustees, MSU will not increase the merit-based pay rates that come from its general merit pools. The recommendation to limit the raises already has been unanimously approved by Academic Governance.

COMMENTARY

Tea Party should not be taken lightly

By now you’ve probably heard about the recent militia plot to kill police officers. According to federal investigators, a militia based out of Adrian, Mich., hoped to incite a larger uprising through violent confrontation with federal forces.

COMMENTARY

COGS setting good example with new fellowship

The Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, is working on fellowship criteria to add to the monetary pot available to graduate and professional students. An initial endowment would be $125,000, which COGS has accumulated in the past five to 10 years from budget surpluses.

COMMENTARY

Relay offers hope for cancer-free future

Luke Fochtman celebrated his third Christmas in the hospital. Annabelle Kong spent her senior year attending 8 a.m. classes after 5 a.m. wake-up calls for medication and 7 a.m. radiation treatments. Kelly Montgomery balanced cancer treatments with graduate school applications and student organizations.

COMMENTARY

Salary increases should extend to nontenured MSU instructors

The article “MSU salaries increase above average rates”:http://statenews.com/index.php/search/?submit.x=0&submit.y=0&q=salaries (SN 4/13) does not tell the whole story of faculty compensation at MSU. According to salary figures published by the Association of American University Presses, full professors at MSU earned an average of $125,000, second only to the University of Michigan among the 29 public and private institutions listed for the state of Michigan in the survey. Associate professors at MSU earned an average of $87,300 — third in the state, behind Cooley Law School and U-M.

COMMENTARY

Professor: journalists shouldn't parrot inane comments, nonsense

One of the essential duties of a journalist is to expose the truth. Simply parroting what administrators or faculty say is not enough, especially when the words themselves are inane. Case in point: “Merit-based raises could be limited for 2010-11” (SN 4/14) includes the recently minted administrative doublespeak “ … zero percent increase …” promulgated by some fool in the employ of MSU.

COMMENTARY

Life after college won't be so gloomy

You probably have many anxiety-ridden questions circling in your mind if you’re a graduating senior. Where am I going? How will I get there? Am I seriously graduating from college already?

COMMENTARY

MSU should strive to maintain competitive salaries

Some students might question this move to increase the budget of any university department when program cuts are being made and tuition is on the rise, but with careful consideration of many contributing factors, they should be relieved of any worry.

COMMENTARY

US, Russia must limit nuclear weapons

I do think the U.S. and Russia should have a small but substantial stockpile to keep each other and the world in check, but more than 3,000 each is a tad overkill. But I suppose this isn’t Hollywood, and Superman can’t just toss all the nuclear missiles into the sun all at once.

COMMENTARY

City Center II funding should remain legal, transparent

Transparency with the public about what could happen and being up front with the numbers involved with projects also would be preferred. The city has a plan in place and should provide residents with regular reports on how it is doing in paying back the debt from the bonds.

COMMENTARY

FCC should fight for net neutrality

The open nature of the Internet has allowed it to become the most important development in collective human knowledge since the invention of the printing press. The Internet has changed how we consume content and allowed ideas to spread much faster than any point earlier in human history. A ruling by a federal appeals court significantly could change the way in which the Internet works in the future.

COMMENTARY

MSU needs support to switch to renewable energy

The T.B. Simon Power Plant burns 250,000 tons of coal each year, providing heat and electricity to the university. However, the plant produces harmful greenhouse gases — much to the dismay of many on-campus student groups and other local environmentalists. There has been a flurry of protests and campaigns to raise awareness of this fact and convince the university to switch to alternative, less harmful energy sources.

COMMENTARY

Unpaid internships unfair to students

As a journalism major living in Michigan, I know how difficult it can be in today’s economy to find not only a job, but also a suitable internship beforehand — especially an internship that doesn’t involve just going on coffee runs for the staff or taking out the trash in exchange for college credit.