COMMENTARY
Word on the street 2/17/10
Students give their opinions on Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposal to expand the sales tax to include consumer services.
COMMENTARY
Use college years to mature, grow up
Growing up is something most people can’t wait to do when they’re youngsters. Now, as we’re well in the midst of growing older, many of us students can’t believe life almost is in full swing.
COMMENTARY
ASMSU should have informed students of Dubai trip
Student politicians jet setting across the globe without telling anybody can make people begin to wonder where exactly their tax dollars are going.
COMMENTARY
Energy crisis should trump climate change
Proving that climate change is false does nothing but allow one political party to point fingers at the other to sway votes. This polarization of public policy doesn’t help our country move forward from use of fossil fuels, but rather holds us back. Instead, we should focus on changing our policies and practices.
COMMENTARY
Tax expansion necessary to keep Mich. afloat
As the Michigan economy continues to sink deeper into the sea of financial instability, the state must turn to radical means to right the ship. Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s new service tax proposal is one of the changes — and a correct one.
COMMENTARY
Violence against women must be fought all over
Domestic abuse and violence against women is an affliction that women of all religions, be it Islam or Christianity, face in all its forms.
COMMENTARY
Consensus on climate change ignored to feed controversy
The consensus of climate change experts is reflected in their endorsement of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
COMMENTARY
V-day should be met with optimism
No matter which category you belong to, Valentine’s Day should have been a meaningful day of celebration. What it shouldn’t have been, however, is what so many of us choose to make it: a superficial 24-hour period with forced restaurant reservations, cheesy cards purchased at CVS, hoping you put enough effort into the day to make your better half somewhat satisfied with your performance as a romantic.
COMMENTARY
Granholm reviving a very different 'Promise'
The governor wants a way to stop the brain drain, but this isn’t the best way to clog the pipe. Michigan needs a program that will help young people pay for college as they go along, not a $4,000 prize for weathering the storm of Michigan’s economic climate.
COMMENTARY
Moving beyond coal within reach
It’s easy to say that converting the coal plant is not feasible at this time due to the poor economy, but how long will we wait? MSU has a responsibility to its students and the community to provide a healthy living environment, and times of economic difficulty should not halt the potential progress toward a more clean and green campus.
COMMENTARY
Safe sex, abstinence education both useful
With the popular MTV series “16 and Pregnant” coming back for a second season this month, 10 new teens will be examples of the unintended consequences of teen sex. Sadly, this reality isn’t just confined to television.
COMMENTARY
E.L.'s handling of budget deficit commendable
Families across the United States are struggling to find ways to live within their means, and the city of East Lansing is no different.
COMMENTARY
MSU basketball team requires support of entire Breslin crowd
Section 106, row 2, seat 3. That was the number on my now-crinkled ticket to the MSU vs. Purdue basketball game. I was so close to the Spartans’ bench I could see the studs on Travis Walton’s Final Four ring and count the number of gray hairs head coach Tom Izzo got from the beating his team received at home.
COMMENTARY
Our culture must combat injustices
When I was 16, like many 16-year-old girls throughout history, the only thing I ever wanted to do — besides get my homework done, pass my driver’s test and hang out with friends — was talk to boys. Something I find to be a natural part of growing up was not tolerated for Medine Memi, a 16-year-old girl from Kahta, a city in Southeastern Turkey.
COMMENTARY
MSU should allow students to attend jury duty
Go to class and break the law, or skip class and risk failing? That’s the worry of some students who are summoned for jury duty during the semester. According to current MSU College of Law attendance policies, a student cannot miss more than two weeks of class, regardless of the excuse, including a legal obligation such as jury duty. So if a student was summoned for jury duty and the court case lasted more than two weeks, that student would not receive credit for an entire semester of work.
COMMENTARY
Journalists, scientists should cover climate science truthfully
The goal of science is to gain enough understanding of causal interconnections so that we can make deliberate changes in those connections to produce desirable outcomes for our lives. Climate science, however, has evidenced a toxic quality in the climategate and glaciergate scandals that have undermined its credibility and distorted the journalism reporting climate change.
COMMENTARY
Spend time with your loved ones this V-Day
Funerals can make you think about a lot of things. Whether it’s the realization of how one person can change so many lives or how much you loved and cared about somebody, the solemn event can alter a person’s life and strike them with a huge reality check.
COMMENTARY
Student involvement shouldn't stop with logo change
Despite the movement toward change in the U.S., change will not come to MSU in the form of a logo. A revised logo found on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site a few weeks ago was met with large public outcry and protesting. Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced in an open letter Friday that “after careful consideration,” the athletics department will use the current Spartans logo design “to build (MSU’s) visual brand identity.” Although many students are excited their beloved logo will not be tampered with, others are excited to see their voices being heard.
COMMENTARY
Protests need clarity, credibility to be effective
It is the students’ right to protest, but in order for such protests to be successful, they need to have an organized stance. Different concerns shouldn’t be downplayed, but they can’t be promoted all at once in a cacophony of hoots and hollers.
COMMENTARY
Ignorance prevalent in both praising, panning of Obama
Tibergien and Thieleman serve as a shining example to the lack of knowledge between those on both sides of the aisle. Shape up, America. Get informed or stay home.