Friday, April 11, 2025

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

New specialty undermines ideals of science education

As a student in the College of Natural Science, I read on Monday the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee’s letter on the forthcoming entrepreneurship minor. The committee promotes the new minor in entrepreneurship as a way to bring students’ research to society in a “beneficial and profitable” manner. This sounds great for students, as the minor would be “catered to their own interests.”

COMMENTARY

Undecided voter is unpredictable

The undecided voter is under attack, but, as always, the undecided voters are going to determine the outcome of the presidential election. Politicians have gone to the ends of the earth to find anything that may sway an undecided voter’s opinion. The major media outlets will report on absolutely anything that may grab the attention of an undecided voter.

COMMENTARY

Decorating dorm rooms could cost more than price of paint

While “bending the rules” might get you a colorful and eclectic room and an article in the State News featuring your dorm room (SN style: Dormmates bend rules to create unique space, SN 10/14), it might also however, get you a serious fine upwards of $1,700 and several slaps on the wrist.

COMMENTARY

Exercise caution in campus travels

If you’ve seen me on campus, attempting to walk around on crutches, I know what you want to ask. I’ll go ahead and give you the answer to save you the trouble: I got hit by a car. I understand that you, as Americans, have been raised to be fascinated by unusual things and injuries, and that a girl walking around campus on crutches satisfies both of those fascinations.

COMMENTARY

Obama's tax plan will help struggling families to succeed

This is in response to the letter Redistribution not a good policy for class grades, U.S economy (SN 10/28). As a voter, before you simply label Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposal on tax reform as a “redistribution plan” and compare it to a plan that would give slacker students inflated GPAs, it is important to understand what exactly his tax policy would entail.

COMMENTARY

Obama right candidate to lead country in 2009

For the past eight years, the United States has suffered under policies that have rewarded the few while hurting the many. Americans have watched as the deficit soared, the economy partially collapsed and the world’s view of us soured. It’s time for a change. That change is what Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has pledged to bring to the White House, and it’s time to give him a chance to do exactly that.

COMMENTARY

Argument for factory farms supports inhuman practices

How do I begin to refute the assertions Katelyn Thompson made in her letter Farming industry practices support health of animals (SN 10/24)? Never before have I been directly confronted with such an illogical argument that literally made me speechless. There is not one truthful statement in the entire letter.

COMMENTARY

Redistribution not a good policy for class grades, U.S. economy

I wonder how many students would be interested in grade “redistribution.” Suppose every 4.0 grade in a class was converted to a 3.0 grade so as to redistribute one grade point to students failing the course, in order to allow those students to pass or be given to students who have grades they deserved — but grades that are lower than what those students want. Does that seem fair?

COMMENTARY

Hopeful optimism can cause letdown

Odds are that on Nov. 5 the American political landscape will be dramatically changed — at least for the short term. Although it can’t be guaranteed that we’ll know for certain who our next president will be — thank you, 2000 presidential election, for that uncertainty — any result will have major ramifications in the political sphere.

COMMENTARY

Regulation, education needed for caffeine intake

Red Bull “gives you wings.” Who wouldn’t enjoy a pair of flapping wings to help you get around campus? Well, a side effect of those wings could be anxiety, insomnia, tremors and a rapid heart rate as a result of the caffeine in energy drinks. These effects, also known as caffeine intoxication, have led to a petition for the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the amount of caffeine in energy drinks.

COMMENTARY

Offering SAT incentives to improve rank dishonest

Baylor University is trying to win a popularity contest. Baylor, which is located in Waco, Texas, recently offered credit or money to its admitted freshmen as incentive to retake the SAT. The school offered $300 in campus bookstore credit for simply retaking the test and $1,000 in scholarship aid for those who raised their score by at least 50 points.

COMMENTARY

Investing endowment in stock market not unwise

If you are going to write an editorial on the endowment fund and on the stock market (Endowment losses are cause for serious concern SN 10/22), could you at least have someone who has a decent knowledge of finances, the stock market and proper investment strategy write it?

COMMENTARY

Proposal 2 could bring new cures

In my time as a columnist for this paper, I have written on a number of occasions about stem cell research, largely focused on embryonic stem cell research and the need for a revision of Michigan’s severe and archaic laws that restrict it. I also have looked at the issue on a national level, such as when I wrote about standing on the Capitol lawn in Washington, D.C., with 150 diabetic children singing “Promise to Remember Me” on the day before President Bush vetoed the bipartisan Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act for a second time.

COMMENTARY

Unfair portrayals of U-M students makes MSU students look bad

The most recent of Ian Brown’s comics is very disappointing to me. It states that the No. 2 reason University of Michigan stinks is because “they have to work too hard.” The drawing is of a guy with glasses reading from a tall stack of books in Ann Arbor juxtaposed with an East Lansing scene of someone napping midday.

COMMENTARY

Farming industry practices support health of animals

We pride ourselves on being an educated society, yet people allow themselves to make ignorant statements. Referring to the letter Corporate practices corrupt, harm Mich. livestock industry (SN 10/20), the management practices utilized by agricultural producers are intended to be safe, efficient and more than adequate for livestock.

COMMENTARY

E.L. citizens deserve right to petition against City Center II

Vic Loomis should be ashamed of himself. Upon opening my State News on Oct. 16, I encountered a guest column from East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis (Future city plans hurt by petitions, SN 10/16). I was curious as to what he had to say considering there is seldom a column from figures held in such high esteem as a mayor. As I began reading, however, I became incensed at selfish rhetoric spewing from his pen. Loomis condemns the ballot initiative process students have started to cease the City Center II project.

COMMENTARY

High school alternative could decrease dropouts

Michigan has a dropout problem. Every year, 20,000 high school students choose to turn their backs on education. The number, while high, wasn’t as alarming in the past simply because the industrialization of the state meant there were numerous high-paying jobs available to those without a high school diploma. For some communities, dropping out became a way of life.

COMMENTARY

University will recover losses once stock market rebounds

In your editorial Endowment losses are cause for serious concern (SN 10/22), you suggest MSU’s investment portfolio should not hold stocks and consist only of bonds and other “safe” investments. This strategy fails to understand the fact that, over the long term, stocks have consistently provided higher returns than fixed-income investments like bonds and CDs.