After reading Scott Henkel's column "Graduate union out to improve quality of life, learning for 'U'" (SN 12/4), one would think I was lucky to survive five years of graduate school without the Graduate Employees Union.
If work continues as they have been, mid-Michigan could soon be brought up to speed on the information superhighway thanks to the help of MSU's services.
I could not believe The State News chose to publish such an awful column ("Religious majority doesn't understand atheist views," SN 11/26). The author was not only wrong, but completely intolerant. I find it ridiculous that we pay money for a paper and are force-fed liberal ideas every day.
The Residence Halls Association has some earnest explaining to do if it wants students to take the organization's request to renew its $21 per semester tax seriously in the spring. In the same vein, it is important for the more than 14,500 students living in the residence halls, who foot the bill, to take the time to hold their RHA representatives accountable.
So the holidays have finally arrived. I think it is highly probable that some Christmas zealots have been foaming at the mouth and dreaming about this wondrous time for months.'Tis the season for overpriced items, maddening mobs packing shopping outlets, lots of food, mistletoe, wrapping paper and so on and so forth.
Students and other MSU community members should not be alarmed by the Aventis company's recall of a batch of its meningitis vaccine that was partially used by Olin Health Center staff to vaccinate more than 2,000 students. Likewise, current and future students should not allow the problem to discourage them from being vaccinated against a disease that has proven deadly at campuses across the nation, including at MSU.
We at the Graduate Employees Union ask ourselves one question more than any other: Can MSU be a better place?
The time has come for the government to get out of people's business when it comes to private and intimate relationships.
On Monday, the Supreme Court decided it will hear a case that will consider the constitutionality of sodomy laws in 13 states across the country.
Atheists often make the claim that one cannot prove that God exists. As a Muslim, I can claim that I have no doubt whatsoever that God exists, has always existed and will always exist, and is our Creator.
In January, Olin Health Center's Community Action Team will add four women's health programs to its repertoire.
It's the end of the semester, and it's sometimes a condition of that final time that we start to look more intently at a variety of issues.
Diversity might be a theme in the nation's workplaces, governing halls and educational institutions, but it seems the mark is still being missed - at least in the K-12 educational realm. Despite the country's gradual progression toward a more diversified and open-minded world, minority teachers remain an uncommon sight in schools. Nationwide, minority teachers represent 14 percent of the teaching population in America, while minority students comprise 36 percent of classrooms, according to the National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse's Web site, www.recruitingteachers.org. These lopsided conditions are not much different for MSU students preparing to head into the classroom for their careers. According to university officials, only about 9 percent of students enrolled in MSU's College of Education are minorities. That is compared to the 14 percent of students enrolled in The Eli Broad College of Business and the 19 percent in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. These statistics are unsettling. For an educational institution as distinguished and celebrated as MSU's College of Education, the lack of minorities enrolled is unbelievable. Diversity in the classroom as well as the faculty of schools across the nation is imperative to future leaders and the balance of ethics, tolerance and equality. Minority teachers can bring a new perspective to schools and be positive role models for the students.
Although I agree that MSU should take care in hiring decisions, I disagree with The State News' argument against buyouts for the individuals it mentioned in the editorial "Money talk" (SN 12/02). Most people in this country are employed at will.
I would like to agree with John A. Amrhein's letter to the editor "Story about Virginia party left questions" (SN 12/02). I, too, did not understand why this issue was so controversial. Two white men coming to a costume party dressed as the Williams sisters shows no racial injustice up front and since we, as a campus, have no further information, we should be fools to jump to any such conclusions as to what was meant by it. In my opinion, it should be an honor to the Williams sisters that people would want to dress up like them on Halloween. Halloween has become a holiday where you don't have to dress up in scary costumes anymore.
In its editorial "Money talk" (SN 12/02), the Editorial Board asked the question of why MSU keeps rewarding poor performances.
I believe it is appropriate to comment on the story regarding the action in Academic Council relating to a discussion on a possible war in Iraq ("Academic Council axes talk on warfare," SN 11/27). I would like to point out that I never received an e-mail from Professor Richard Peterson, making me wonder if he truly considers the student representatives on the council real members of the assembly. As for his assertion that "the close of today's meeting of Academic Council was a shameful moment in the history of MSU," I cannot disagree more. The action taken by the council, while being morally repugnant to some people, was in keeping with the two of the greatest gifts that we have as Americans - democracy and free speech. A majority of the council representatives believed that the body should not discuss the matter, therefore we did not.
The student segment of Academic Council was astoundingly united Tuesday in its effort to sway the assembly to not discuss the possibility of warfare in Iraq.
Employees who perform unsatisfactorily are rarely given a bonus after being booted out the door. But the MSU athletics department is developing a troubling habit of rewarding those it no longer wants to have around. On Wednesday, officials announced MSU will pay former football head coach Bobby Williams $550,000 to end his contract.
I was floored by John Bice's column "Religious majority doesn't understand atheist views" (SN 11/26). I found his arguments to be intolerant and ignorant of opposing views. Bice complained of a "surprising level of hostility toward secularism," but only offers an even more hostile attitude toward theists. He chose to highlight only negative acts committed in the name of religion, leaving the benevolent actions of religious figures like Mother Theresa, Ghandi and organizations, such as the Salvation Army, out of his equation.