Thursday, April 9, 2026

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Writer's generalized view of French wrong

This letter is in response to Elizabeth Swanson's "Big culture gap exists between France, U.S." (SN 3/28). I am a senior in French education here at MSU, and as a future educator, I try to promote open attitudes toward all cultures, particularly France and other Francophone countries. This, however, was not at all what I saw in The State News.

COMMENTARY

Time change creates beneficial savings

In response to Rebecca McNulty's column "Daylight-saving time annoying, inconvenient — leave clocks alone" (SN 4/05) about the pointless and annoying nature of daylight-saving time, I would like to show why it is worth doing. Ever since Ben Franklin noticed the great waste of sunlight and candles that was occurring in 18th century France, daylight-saving time has been widely seen as beneficial.

COMMENTARY

Anatomy of a leak

ORIGINAL LEAK In 2003, classified intelligence about the war in Iraq was leaked New York Times reporter Judith Miller. ADDITIONAL LEAK In September 2003, President George W.

COMMENTARY

Ethnocentric attitude too general, misleads

Beth Swanson's "Big culture gap exists between France, U.S." (SN 3/28) appeared to be the observations of a young and naive child rather than a college-educated journalist. Surely a thinking adult would be aware that Paris is a major metropolitan area and that would likely be an influence on the behavior of its inhabitants.

COMMENTARY

Men marching will spread awareness

I commend the Take Back the Night Planning Coalition for including men in this year's march from Beaumont Tower, through campus, to 54B District Court — described in "Men also affected in many ways by rape, must help end violence" (SN 4/03). This is a monumental step in bringing an end to sexual assault, moving from a reactive approach to a more proactive method by showing an entire community unified against sexual violence. I understand and respect that Take Back the Night is traditionally a day of women's empowerment that shifts the blame of rape from the survivor to where that blame rightfully resides: on the perpetrator.

COMMENTARY

ELPD disrespectful toward MSU students

The East Lansing Police Department never seems to understand why MSU students hold such a grudge against it. However, this past weekend I experienced firsthand why the police don't have the respect they think they deserve. While standing in my friend's garage, talking on my phone and drinking a beer, a police officer shouted at me to come out and talk to him. Since I am 21, I was not worried about speaking with him, and tried to have a conversation with him.

COMMENTARY

Writer takes Conley way out of context

This letter is in response to Hunter Ignatoski's "All women's sports demeaned, trivialized" (SN 3/31). First off, I have to clarify that in no way am I saying women's sports are at all inferior to men's sports.

COMMENTARY

Coming together

Students might have thought they knew the general racial makeup of dorms on MSU's campus. And as it turns out, they were right. There's been a lot of talk recently about segregation in MSU's residence halls. Most students will tell you Hubbard Hall is where the most black students live, Chicano and Latino students live in Akers Hall and McDonel Hall has the most international students.

COMMENTARY

Affirmative action promotes inequality

In response to Josh Jarman's column, "MCRI promises equality for all, but proposal won't eliminate racism" (SN 4/04), on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or MCRI, I feel compelled to point out a few things. To begin, Jarman's piece starts off by saying that the problem with the language of the MCRI is that it "disregards centuries of abuse and discrimination against people of color and other minorities by an entrenched white establishment." I see.

COMMENTARY

Fixing schools will best help minorities

It seems that Josh Jarman, "MCRI promises equality for all, but proposal won't eliminate racism" (SN 4/04), and most of the students I've talked to, have fallen into the same trap. Although the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or MCRI, will do nothing to fix the discrimination against minorities in this country, neither does affirmative action; if anything, it only intensifies racial prejudices. You say there have been "centuries of abuse and discrimination against people of color and other minorities by an entrenched white establishment," and yet the solution you promote is simply giving someone 20 points on an admissions application. To get to the root of the problem, we must address the disparity in funding for public schools in black and minority communities compared to those in white communities.

COMMENTARY

Movie too soon?

For a lot of us, the memory of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is still fresh in our minds. There are reminders everywhere of what happened. Every Sept.

COMMENTARY

Article doesn't give credit where it's due

As a member of the University Activities Board, or UAB, who has been involved with Battle of the Bands competitions for the past four years, I was excited when I saw the headline "Shake, battle & roll" (SN 4/03) on the front page of The State News. However, this excitement faded as I read the article.

COMMENTARY

Video games not cause of moral decay; politicians must dig deeper

I love to shoot people. Rain of bullets. Blood everywhere. The dull thud of a fallen body. Screaming in the background. It's pretty fun. But some people aren't as fond of video games as I am. I hear a lot about video games and how such satanic playthings are destroying our American youth. Despoiling our children's innocence. Making young people everywhere dangerous criminals ready to pounce. Advocates for decency overestimate the powers of virtual reality and make human beings sound incompetent and easily swayed by flashy things. The more I hear the ridiculous rhetoric — which just so happens to be the latest moral crusade — the more exasperated I become. Surely, welfare, child abuse, sexual assault and our faltering economy are more worthy of our politicians' time. In the wake of the "Hot Coffee" modification that unlocked graphic sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Gov.

COMMENTARY

People distinguish between fact, fiction

Oh, Andrew Stamp, I do hope you were kidding about "Axe promises results, but doesn't deliver" (SN 4/05). No product is strong enough to make hoards of horny college students jump even the most beautiful man in the world, although the beautiful man probably wouldn't need it anyway. Let me explain the joys of creating an advertisement — exaggeration works rather nicely.

COMMENTARY

Accomplished sport omitted in preview

After reading The State News that included a preview, "Spring forward" (SN 3/31) of all spring sports teams, I was inspired to ask a trivia question to all those who read the article. In 2005, what MSU spring sports team produced the Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Anne Cowan), Big Ten Coach of the Year (Matt Weise), Big Ten Athlete of the Year and All-American first team (Erin Robertson) and captured a Big Ten Championship? Give up? The answer is the Spartans women's rowing team.

COMMENTARY

Meet our E.L. mayor

Sam Singh is making the effort to meet with students. And his effort is much appreciated. The mayor of East Lansing has held a dinner and discussions on campus to meet more students. He also was part of a discussion on campus last week with students and East Lansing police officers to talk about student concerns and will host three more free dinners on campus. Singh also wants people to learn more about biodiesel fuel, which is why he and band member of rock 'n' roll band Guster were on campus Thursday to talk about the fuel.

COMMENTARY

Pay per emergency

In the struggle to balance the city's budget, Lansing officials might tell neighboring communities to pay up when Lansing firefighters and police help them out in emergencies.