Monday, April 6, 2026

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Student candidate backs valid issues

Social relations sophomore Lauren Spencer is throwing her hat in the ring — hoping to fill one of the two available positions on the MSU Board of Trustees. Along with John Fournier, who is applying for Mark Meadows' spot on the East Lansing City Council, Spencer shows how students can get involved in politics firsthand. Although Spencer has a lot stacked up against her — representing the Green Party and running against two Republican incumbents and the recognizable George Perles, MSU football's former head coach — her ambition is admirable. It would be beneficial for the students of MSU to have one of their own on the board representing a student's perspective on pertinent campus issues. And Spencer backs some laudable issues, like curbing rising tuition rates, adding gender identity and expression to MSU's anti-discrimination policy and ensuring the university continues to provide same-sex partner benefits. If nothing else, we can hope that Spencer's eagerness to participate in local politics will rub off on other students and the voting booths will be flooded with knowledgeable voters in November.

COMMENTARY

Register to vote on campus Saturday

Voting is a nonpartisan issue. It doesn't matter if you call yourself a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Communist, your vote is still important and necessary to further our democracy. So it is fortunate for MSU students that the Secretary of State will provide a mobile voter registration office on campus Saturday.

COMMENTARY

Receptionists deserve courtesy from director

As a night receptionist for the past three years, I would like to say that I am appalled by Residence Life director Paul Goldblatt's statements regarding the incident in Wilson Hall. Instead of offering even the most meager of sympathies for the student or expressing any well-wishing, Goldblatt shrugs his shoulders and seems content to say, well, this would have happened regardless. Right.

COMMENTARY

Column on morning after pill 'disturbing'

I feel an obligation to respond to the column written by Vanessa Notman, "Contraceptive choices expand, should be available for everyone," (SN 8/30). Her comment stating "there isn't time for morals to get in the way of a woman's choice" might be the most disturbing thing I've ever read. In life, there is always time for morals — regardless of gender.

COMMENTARY

History is important when discussing race

I'm writing in regards to Kyle Jubenville's letter "Katrina response wasn't about race, but poverty," (SN 8/31). People of all races may live in poverty, but it would ignore all facts to say race doesn't have anything to do with it.

COMMENTARY

Slow death for tailgating at MSU

Last week, ASMSU announced a revised tailgating policy allowing 100 students to be chosen from a lottery for seasonal tailgating passes. The new policy guarantees season tailgate pass-holders a spot at the tennis courts near Wilson Hall before every home game without entering a weekly lottery or paying a weekly fee.

COMMENTARY

Student candidates for office in 'uphill struggle'

When she commented on Lauren Spencer's Green Party candidacy for the MSU Board of Trustees, it appears that Trustee Dee Cook's 16 years of service don't take her memory back far enough in "'Represent the Students,'" (SN 9/5). In 1976, I was an MSU student, working on a master's degree in sociology and a candidate for the MSU Board of Trustees as a member of the Human Rights Party.

COMMENTARY

Democrats aren't looking out for black Americans

The Democratic Party, which controls more than 90 percent of the black vote, realized long ago that the votes it receives from cities with large black populations have enabled it to stay in power during every major election. For years, these elected officials have been promising to bring relief and liberation to the inner cities of our country, yet it is sad and discouraging to point out with overwhelming evidence that the Democratic Party has done absolutely nothing — let me repeat, NOTHING — to improve the conditions of black America.

COMMENTARY

Single Business Tax repeal should stimulate economy

In addition to shamelessly invoking sophomoric partisan clichés, Andrew Mutavdzija's dire predictions of the effects of repealing the Single Business Tax in his letter "Single Business Tax needed for state funding," (SN 8/29), defy logic and suggest that he lacks even a passing appreciation of economics.

COMMENTARY

Ruling protects checks, balances

Once again, the White House and its mouthpieces are criticizing the judicial branch for ruling against a Bush policy; this time it's their warrantless wiretapping program. U.S.