Tuesday, July 7, 2026

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Touching Sparty bad luck for football team

There was a lot of ink in this paper at the beginning of the football season about the original Sparty statue and how upset some fans were because they were not allowed to enter the stadium tower to visit the statue before the game. Fans wanted to come in and touch Sparty for luck, and said the new one just wasn't lucky enough. Well, starting with the University of Michigan game, decisions were reversed and fans were allowed in to touch the old Sparty for luck.

COMMENTARY

Enough said?

Jennifer Gumas stepped up to the microphone and introduced herself to the 12 independent commission members sitting across from her. This was after she handed each member a document with the topics she was about to discuss. "A lot of students feel alienated by East Lansing," she said.

COMMENTARY

Benefit walk shouldn't focus on one group

I am writing in response to the health article titled "AIDS walk focuses on Hispanic patients" (SN 10/24). I am wondering as to why a virus that doesn't discriminate against culture, race, sex or other social distinctions is being treated in a secular manner by the Lansing Area AIDS Network, or LAAN. Why was the AIDS walk not about the larger picture that focuses on all patients living with the disease?

COMMENTARY

Fan quits watching after disappointment

I have finally given up all hope for the MSU football program. After years of supporting the MSU football program, I have been forced to quit. To me, being a fan of MSU football is like being an alcoholic: You have some great times, but in the end you are left miserable, hungover and without hope.

COMMENTARY

Writer misinterprets; court case just, lawful

Although I will not quarrel with John Knowles' characterization of Harriet Miers, "Nominee Harriet Miers doesn't have much to qualify her for bench" (SN 10/26), I must take issue with the description offered in his article of the Romer v.

COMMENTARY

Man perpetuates rape stereotypes

Matt Cook, you ignorant twit: Rape is not an act of lust, attraction, love or desire. It is an act of violence, power and aggression ("Clothes contribute to reasons to rape" SN 10/27). Although women who dress provocatively might attract more attention than those you call "properly dressed" (who are you to decide what is proper, anyway?) and might provoke more lustful thoughts, it is the ideas that "men are stimulated by sight" and "men and women are influenced by different things" which help to propagate such stereotypes that women deserve to be raped, ask for it, or could do something to prevent their rape based solely on their choice of clothing. Most males have no idea what it is like to be a rapist and unless you do, I suggest you keep your opinions and theories on the subject to yourself. Kathryn Patterson 2004 graduate

COMMENTARY

Muslim population more than believed

After reading the article "Muslim convert faces lingering stereotypes" (SN 10/25) about David Stepien converting to Islam and his statement that he knew the number of Muslims in Pinckney, Mich.

COMMENTARY

'Fashion show' does nothing significant

This letter is in response to "Fashion show raises fair labor issues" (SN 10/26). I do not understand why an unofficial event where six people congregate in front of the administration building is considered a "fashion show." The Students for Economic Justice, or SEJ, is a joke.

COMMENTARY

Fighting on

"Are you going to stand up?" the bus driver asked. "No," Rosa Parks replied. "Well, by God, I'm going to have you arrested," the bus driver said. "You may do that," Parks said. It's been almost 50 years since the above conversation, recreated in a video for the Rosa Parks Library and Museum, took place.

COMMENTARY

Clothes contribute to reasons to rape

I agree there is no excuse for a man to rape a woman and this crime shouldn't go unpunished, but one of the last opinion articles entitled "Rape isn't caused by clothes, only people" (SN 10/11) was obviously written by a female who couldn't possibly understand what it is like to be male. It is considered a myth that how a woman dresses is a sole cause in a rape case, but that does not mean it is not a contributing factor or condition to triggering a man to commit rape.

COMMENTARY

Conservative strip needs to be factual

While I do appreciate that Mallard Fillmore fills that certain "conservative" viewpoint that I guess The State News has been lacking on its comics page (and, as we all know, the conservative viewpoint is stringently censored on college campuses — even leading conservative groups to feel the need to "come out" recently), not a day goes by that I do not find something completely uneducated or offensive in Bruce Tinsley's strip. The comic concerning Halloween finally pushed the limit far enough.

COMMENTARY

Bice always rants about same subject

I am, again, writing in response to a John Bice article, this time "Afterlife concept devalues earthly existence; celebrates death" (SN 10/21). This, in my opinion, is just another article by Bice that attacks religion and offers little insight.