Tuesday, June 30, 2026

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Commentary

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.

COMMENTARY

Smoke-free restaurants, bars a logical step for Mich.

I support House Bill 4163, legislation that could make all workplaces smoke-free, including bars and restaurants. As a college student, I like to go to local bars and restaurants to enjoy myself. I do not appreciate the overbearing, indiscreet stink of cigarette smoke on dry-clean-only clothing that cannot be dispelled by a douse of perfume. Nor do I appreciate having to inhale clouds of secondhand smoke.

COMMENTARY

Controlling caffeine habit good for health

It was a tensely silent moment. There I was, sitting in an Olin Health Center examining room a couple of months ago answering the doctor’s perfunctory questions regarding my general health. One question, however, said it all.

COMMENTARY

MSU professor's practices on cats cruel, unnecessary

Thank you for your article on the invasive and lethal eye experiments that MSU’s Arthur Weber has been conducting on cats, ““MSU prof in PETA poll for worst animal offender”“:http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2008/04/msu_prof_in_peta_poll_for_worst_animal_offender (SN 4/14).

COMMENTARY

Donations determine direction of universities

What makes the university system in the U.S. worthwhile is the diversity and variety that each institution offers to prospective students. One school might offer a great engineering program while another may specialize in liberal arts. The variety makes choosing a school an important and exciting decision.

COMMENTARY

Victims, community need to speak up

People wonder why I didn’t scream or try to get away. He grabbed me from behind and fondled my breasts, my crotch and my butt. Panic set in. I was in shock, paralyzed in the place where I stood. I didn’t even know what was happening. Ten other men stood around, watching, doing nothing to help me. One of them called out to him, “Hey, do you know this girl? What are you doing?”

COMMENTARY

Automatic college admission has few advantages

Getting into MSU or the University of Michigan is an achievement. And it should stay that way. If a proposed bill in the Michigan Legislature is passed, the top 10 percent of graduating students from every state high school would be offered admission to each of Michigan’s public universities.