COMMENTARY
Ride the 'wave'
The first obligation of a journalist is to the truth and their first loyalty is to his or her fellow citizens.
COMMENTARY
Ohio recount not likely to change election, but should point out flaws
Whether you like it or not, America needs an Ohio recount. First, let me get this out of the way: It's unlikely that Sen.
COMMENTARY
Clear as mud
For quite some time, news on the FOX Network has been perceived - rightly or wrongly, depending who you listen to - as a conservative mouthpiece in broadcasting.
COMMENTARY
City's rental issues should be inclusive
The city of East Lansing is blaming MSU students for the change in the neighborhoods and number of residents with school children.
COMMENTARY
Standardized tests aren't benchmarks
In response to Bryan Dahl's opinion column, "Teacher's unions are to blame for lax improvement in public schools" (SN 12/1), I have a few comments. Did you know private and charter schools are not required to administer the same standardized tests that public schools are mandated to administer? Since the tests are not the same, comparison of test scores is equivalent to comparing apples to oranges. Did you know that private schools carefully select their students? They do not provide education for all.
COMMENTARY
Kyoto calling
President Bush has a few good reasons to change his mind about the Kyoto protocol, especially if he wants to make good on his campaign-end promise to bring Democrats and Republicans closer. By having the United States sign back on to the Kyoto protocol, Bush has an opportunity to right his wrongs with the United Nations.
COMMENTARY
Enormous U.S. deficit is another invite to international unpopularity
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently warned, "Given the size of the U.S. current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point." Greenspan, in his adorably cryptic way, was explaining that foreign investors will eventually grow weary of lending money to the United States. The Los Angeles Times reported that in September foreign investors finally balked at taking on more U.S.
COMMENTARY
Assault survey is catalyst for change
Thank you, Jim Hines, for articulating what I have been preaching all semester ("Results of Holden Hall survey surprising, if not troublesome" SN 12/6). It is about time we as a campus look at who the perpetrators of rape are and why they feel entitled to rape women.
COMMENTARY
Two sided
Currently, during times when journalism as a profession is accused of reporting false information and withholding information, we at The State News have to be careful about what we say and print.
COMMENTARY
Charter schools are lagging far behind
As an employee of the Michigan Education Association, I was appalled at Wednesday's column by Bryan Dahl, "Teacher's unions are to blame for lax improvement in public schools" (SN 12/1). I personally believe he is wrong on a variety of points, but I believe wholeheartedly he has a right to have and express his opinion. However, as a journalism instructor at MSU and a former State News employee, I cannot ignore the shoddy reporting techniques shown in the column.
COMMENTARY
Clean campus
The first step in understanding how the Residence Halls Association could dump its dorm recycling program is knowing how recycling at MSU works. The contents of those big plastic newspaper recycling bins outside of classrooms and the recyclables coming out of MSU's cafeterias are processed by the Office of Recycling and Waste Management.
COMMENTARY
Spartans fans faced shameful Saturday
I am a die-hard MSU fan who graduated in 2000 and was a varsity MSU cheerleader for four years. I have literally lived the highs and lows of MSU sports.
COMMENTARY
Tenure to blame for public schools' ills
This is in response to Bryan Dahl's opinion column "Teacher's unions are to blame for lax improvement in public schools" (12/1) and the subsequent letters to the editor.
COMMENTARY
Society, funding to blame in schools
We felt compelled to write in response to Bryan Dahl's column, "Teacher's unions are to blame for lax improvement in public schools" (SN 12/1). Dahl's article contained gross inaccuracies based on overzealous opinions.
COMMENTARY
Results of Holden Hall assault survey surprising, if not troublesome
I taught composition at Eastern Michigan University for a few years, and I hated when my students started a paper by quoting the dictionary.
COMMENTARY
Misled youth
It's true that abstinence is a 100 percent effective way to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancy.
COMMENTARY
Anorexia shouldn't face insensitivity
I'm writing in response to Lindsey K. Anderson's column on jeans sizes and self-esteem ("Jean sizes put weight on esteem" SN 12/1). I agree with most of what she said in her column. There is certainly an excessive amount of pressure being put on people, especially women, to be a certain size.
COMMENTARY
Nation was founded on sound judgment
In the letter, "Critics of liberals need to 'lighten up'" (SN 11/30), Andy Keast refers to "little nuggets of hypocrisy on the right" while applauding columnist John Bice for labeling religious individuals as "ignorant," "less intelligent" and that the reason they voted for President Bush is because they are "uninformed." I have a little "nugget of hypocrisy" for both of you.
COMMENTARY
Columnist is misled about education
Bryan Dahl needs to do his homework before criticizing teachers' unions and advocating school vouchers and charter schools ("Teacher's unions are to blame for lax improvement in public schools" SN 12/1). In 2000, 69 percent of Michigan voters convincingly defeated a ballot proposal that would have allowed school vouchers.
COMMENTARY
Charter schools do not outshine public
The Dec. 1 column lambasting teachers unions for holding back school improvement "Teacher's unions are to blame for lax improvement in public schools" (SN 12/1) was shoddy and irresponsible. While Bryan Dahl is entitled to his opinion, he is not entitled to lie - or to fail to check his facts. Among the many errors in the column is the statement that Gov.