Monday, September 23, 2024

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Lots of lessons learned at MSU

This is the time of year most seniors would choose to eulogize their college experience with a teary farewell. But I somehow doubt the impact of sappy senior goodbyes — especially when they all tend to say the same things.

COMMENTARY

MSU alum to rioters: 'Take charge of your own future'

First off, congratulations on attending a fine university. I hope your MSU experience will become as positive an experience in your life as it has been in mine. Now, let me give you a take on the Cedar Fest debacle from someone who graduated a while ago and lives far away from your immediate community.

COMMENTARY

Options exist in place of animal testing, entertainment

There is plenty of documented information about how animals suffer in circuses and why experiments on animals are not only cruel but dangerous, as results from one species can’t be accurately transferred to another (see Circuses.com and StopAnimalTests.com for cited fact sheets).

COMMENTARY

Youth use web as source of action

Every time I hear a sentence that starts with “Kids these days ? “ a negative assumption about Generation Y is sure to follow. Some parents, professors and peers think society has taken a dive into immorality rather than into progress within the past 20 years.

COMMENTARY

U-M doctoral student supports MSU's TA's strike

Having just finished up negotiations here in Ann Arbor, I have watched with interest the escalating tensions in the Graduate Employees Union negotiations at MSU. I also find the indifference and contempt with which MSU’s administration is treating the university’s teaching assistants appalling.

COMMENTARY

Earth Day must be more effective to be useful

Guess what today is. Apart from the obvious “Tuesday,” many people might not know what falls on April 22. After all, unlike major and secondary holidays that receive a lot of fanfare when individuals might enjoy a day off, Earth Day doesn’t do much. Not a lot of guidance from Hallmark this time.

COMMENTARY

Animal testing information available, thorough

Some people love conspiracy theories, no matter how outlandish. State News readers have been subjected to such people claiming that animals are abused in “secretive” research at MSU, but the claims evaporate when the facts surface.

COMMENTARY

New state energy plan is sketchy

The big news out of Lansing last week was that a bipartisan, comprehensive and long-term energy plan was passed by the Michigan House of Representatives. Those are some adjectives that we don’t see coming out of Lansing too often. Should we, as citizens, merely accept this as a good policy on the basis of its boldness and bipartisan support?

COMMENTARY

Room rate hike needed, may make students flee

Money makes the world go round, and in the case of MSU students, it keeps the campus looking up-to-date. The MSU Board of Trustees recently voted to raise room and board rates by 5.25 percent effective by the next academic year. Incoming and returning students can expect to see a price increase of $350, which means it will cost about $7,026 each year for a double room and an unlimited meal plan.

COMMENTARY

Religious leaders' revamped images appeal to masses

Costco Wholesale Corp. and the Dalai Lama aren’t often mentioned in the same sentence. But his holiness and several business leaders, including Costco’s co-founder Jeffrey Brotman, were together Monday in Seattle for a business-inspired talk. Preaching the same peace and karma that he’s known for, the Dalai Lama offered business advice to eager ears.

COMMENTARY

Take back your right to vote

Given the events of the past two weeks, it’s time we take a break from the infringements on the supposed “right to party” and focus instead on a disturbing trend affecting a more fundamental right: voting.

COMMENTARY

Unions, Mich. lawmakers hold state back in global market

Michigan, once regarded as one of the most industrially influential states in the union, has been reduced to its current drab condition. It makes me sad as a citizen and fourth-generation Michigan family member to see the economic downturn that has resulted from years of neglect from the state government, as well as the unions. The economic outlook is bleak at best for Michigan. It has been in a recession for years, while the rest of the country catches up. It maddens me to see the disregard, incompetence and arrogance that is exuded by our “leaders.”

COMMENTARY

SN edit overlooks critical animal rights information

Students Promoting Animal Rights was very happy to see The State News editorial Treatment of animals shouldn’t be secretive (SN 4/16), encouraging transparency with animal treatment. Unfortunately, the editorial board made numerous factual errors.

COMMENTARY

Lack of forum coverage unfair to students, readers

Last Friday, dozens of faculty, administrators and community members joined more than 500 undergraduate students at the Union for the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum — one of this campus’s most exciting and significant annual events.

COMMENTARY

No easy answer for responding to graffiti threats

This is so high school. Bomb threats and other warnings were commonplace when we were in high school, especially after the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999. Oftentimes it wasn’t more than a false alarm used to get out of class on a nice day or to skip a test.

COMMENTARY

Restaurants, bars should have say in whether to be smoke-free

This letter is in response to Megan Joy’s letter Smoke-free restaurants, bars a logical step for Mich. (SN 4/16). The issue of forcing all restaurants and bars to become smoke-free is not an issue of her personal preference or of statewide economic concerns, as she would have the reader believe. It is simply an issue of private property, government intrusion and capitalism.

COMMENTARY

Treatment of animals shouldn't be secretive

The events of this week especially should make people question what “humane” treatment of animals really means. Students Promoting Animal Rights, or SPAR, took the opportunity this weekend to protest the Royal Hanneford Circus at Breslin Center. Members of the student group claim the circus employs cruel practices and treatment of its animals, despite the circus’s denials.