Thursday, April 3, 2025

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

DeVos should serve time for Quixtar scam at MSU

MSU shamed itself by hosting a pyramid scheme rally last weekend. Thousands shelled out cash they made at their day jobs to honor Quixtar, which is related to Dick DeVos' business, Amway. Let me tell you about this "amazing opportunity:" Quixtar's team of zombies tries to convince others they'll soon be millionaires by fabricating how much money they make, paying outlandish membership fees, buying motivational books and CDs, and buying overpriced items from quixtar.com. Relentless efforts to get others to join ruin families and friendships.

COMMENTARY

'Green' policies show progressiveness

MSU is stepping up and becoming an environmentally friendly leader for universities everywhere - one step at a time. While it would be very easy for the university to sit back and continue doing things the way everyone is used to, MSU is spending a little bit more money and time to formulate ideas and solutions around campus to reduce emissions, promote biofuels and create a more natural environment. Lawn mowers and other landscape equipment on campus now use biofuels to replace diesel fuel, lubricants, oils and grease.

COMMENTARY

Benefits of faith

Readers have asked, repeatedly, that I acknowledge some good aspect of religious belief. Religion does offer some worthwhile benefits, of course, like a sense of community and incentive to be charitable, but such things can be obtained without abandoning reason.

COMMENTARY

Well-rounded value

ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT - I am sure year-round as well as this summer many of us are living in fear of the awful power of the acronym.

COMMENTARY

Lessons from art

What's wrong with labeling a portrayal of an African Ubangi leader a "witch doctor of the Ubangi savages," as he gestures at a person prostrate on the ground below him? Or what about the label, "Old Squaw snake medical discovery" next to the image of a young American Indian woman, as she puts a snake to her mouth while others wrap around her arms? Do these words and what they suggest even see the light of day anymore? Both of these individuals are portrayed in Kresge Art Museum's "Circus: The Art of the 'Strange and the Curious'" exhibit currently on campus until July 27. Included are 12 wall-sized, painted canvas banners from old circus sideshows that sought to lure paying customers inside to gape at the "strange and curious." And there it all begins - the step back into the 20th century via these banners that date from the early 1900s up until the 1970s.

COMMENTARY

Tuition raise necessary to keep quality faculty

Your editorial "Higher tuition drives students away" (SN 7/10) complains, "the state and the university are in the habit of gouging students." News bulletin to The State News: the "gouging" largely constitutes an effort to keep paying the faculty salaries which largely make MSU's high-quality education possible.

COMMENTARY

Higher tuition drives students away

It comes every year - a tuition hike making students cringe. For many, what follows is a frantic scrambling to come up with funds to pay the bill. Students should be prepared for this to happen again this year. The university is facing at least a 6 percent increase in tuition this fall.

COMMENTARY

Environmental standards in mind for East Village

I saw Ken Cavagnolo's letter "East Village should set standard for innovation" (SN 7/6), and was disappointed that he shared misinformation about the East Village project and The Pierce Company with State News readers. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards/certification and sustainability in conjunction with the East Village project have been discussed since last fall.

COMMENTARY

A second cold war

A long time ago, in a political arena far, far away, George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin came together as close allies to discuss the dangers of the global war on terror.