When was the last time you did something for the first time? As my 20th birthday approaches, I keep finding myself thinking about “firsts.” Every year of my life, I try to accomplish as many firsts as I can. This summer, my first internship has filled up my days.
Michigan legislators are once again playing politics at a time when there are more pressing concerns. Several legislators last week said disagreements over whether to include language requiring Michigan universities to report information about research done with human embryonic cells delayed passage of the state House’s higher education budget bill.
After the installation of “The Funambulist” in the courtyard between Snyder and Phillips halls, we raised the question of whether MSU was picking art pieces based on their contemporary status instead of how they contributed to the campus aesthetic. However, in choosing the type of tree to place around Demonstration Field, university officials have created a reasonable criterion by which to judge future changes to campus.
It’s fantastic to have another incredible Pride season before us. It has become a fixture of the Lansing community, helping our economy, strengthening the bonds of community and healing old wounds of misunderstanding and bias.
I came across an interesting article in the June 4 Wall Street Journal by Clay Shirky entitled “Does the Internet Make You Smarter?” Although its roots lie in the journalistic tenet of raising questions ultimately too great or too ambiguous to answer, the growth of the argument had its own value in asking the world to recognize the genesis of a media culture too young to have boundaries and, even if they existed, too powerful to heed them.
If for no other reason than showing interest in the future of Michigan, we are glad to see legislators voted to maintain funding at its current level for public state universities for fiscal year 2010-11. The 55-51 state House of Representatives vote amends the state Senate version that proposed a 3.1 percent decrease in funding.
An article published by USA Today reported a recent study from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, concluded college students today are less empathetic than past college students. The study — which looked at 72 empathy studies, including 14,000 students over a 30-year span — indicated a 40 percent reduction in empathy from students in the 1980s and 1990s.
Sometime during the summer somebody had the brilliant idea of cutting almost all of the comics — except one — and replacing them with a giant-sized crossword puzzle, an Octo puzzle, a word finder (are we in grade school now?) and a Pathem puzzle.
Gallup released a poll May 25 that suggests more than 50 percent of Americans think homosexuality is “morally right.” The statistic is the most recent in a trend that shows increasing acceptance of same-sex lifestyles. The same poll also shows 43 percent of Americans believe homosexual lifestyles are “morally wrong.”
After reading a recent New York Times article about some colleges allowing incoming freshmen to keep pets in their dorm rooms, we wonder whether it made sense to do that at MSU, or even in general. The first year of college typically is not an easy one. It requires taking into account things such as time management, personal choices, self-motivation and socializing. It also offers a chance to learn firsthand about other people. That doesn’t necessarily mean someone who is completely different in terms of politics or values — though that wouldn’t hurt — but simply people who might not have had the same upbringing.
find it hard to believe for an entire semester I hadn’t plopped myself down at the computer to write umpteen “opinion pieces” — published or not. The semester was so busy one of my favorite activities had to be put not just on the back burner, but on a burner that was turned off.
It is fitting MSU officials chose “The Funambulist” as the new piece of artwork on the north lawn of Snyder and Phillips halls. Sculptor John Van Alstine said his piece, installed last Thursday, represents the balance college students must maintain in their lives as they seek to graduate. It would be prudent of MSU to balance the aesthetics of campus when considering future pieces of art.
The city of East Lansing’s last foray into significant development wasn’t a paradigm of successful execution. The $116.4 million mixed-use project has only recently begun to show signs of life, and even those are feeble. Therefore, we feel a touch of trepidation when we say the two proposed developments that were set for a July public hearing last Tuesday sounds like a good idea.
Thank you for a very well thought-out article (“Military service is about people,” SN 6/1). I have often considered the same things you wrote about and wondered why many “civilians” only saw the uniform — and the associated glory or horrors that went with it — but never saw the human being in the uniform.
Throughout the years, opinion editors at The State News have pleaded with readers to write opinion pieces and letters to the editor. As for the letters to the editor, one is quick to see the current space is taken up by pieces written by journalists from around the country; very little comes from the readers of The State News.
A study commissioned by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce recommended increasing the state gas tax and vehicle registration fees to create jobs and net money for state infrastructure. The study was conducted by the East Lansing-based research organization Anderson Economic Group.
Most MSU students who have passed through East Lansing are aware of the Lot 10 Colorful Garage, on Division Street between East Grand River Avenue and Albert Street. It’s the ugly parking ramp … the colorful, ugly parking ramp. An East Lansing firm is circulating an exploratory petition to secure support for a plan to paint the ramp green and white. Robert Russell, the lead organizer of the movement, said the success of the project would be a way to bring the city and MSU closer together.
I’ve never really known how I feel about the Armed Forces. I know I am fascinated by it. I love the history, strategy, social and political changes that have happened in the wake of wars.
good news for anyone who did not want to trek out to the MSU Clinical Center on the southern border of campus for a routine check-up. The Olin Health Center will stay put for the near future while MSU explores the possibility of offering health, as well as academic services, in each of the university’s residential neighborhoods.
Summer is a time to relax and let the mind open up to something other than 15 credits or a mass of responsibilities. Perhaps it also is the right moment to think about what a university should be fostering in its students, faculty and staff.