This is in reference to comments about the MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson and claims of racism. As an African-American student at MSU, I can understand the discrimination that minorities face.
Another election has passed us, and it has been another disappointment for all of America. Two similar parties with a ridiculous monopoly on our political system, preaching essentially the same things, have kept control of the country they seem to have little regard for. The economy weakens by the day, war is just around the corner and civil liberties are being threatened with regularity. One of the only true opposition parties, the Green Party, was again ignored by the media and therefore by the average voter.
Anyone who cannot see the separate and unequal set of rules that existed in the Bobby Williams’ situation is obviously ignorant or racist.
I was appalled to see Nate Allen’s cartoon in Tuesday’s edition of The State News. MSU quarterback Jeff Smoker might have made bad decisions, but that does not mean we shouldn’t support him on his road to recovery. But Allen chose to make fun of Smoker and make his journey to recovery that much more difficult. In the coming weeks, the MSU football program will come under much criticism.
With most of Michigan’s government set to be dominated by Republicans after Tuesday’s election, its seems the governor-elect will have a tough road ahead of her. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
First, I would like to say what a shame it is that Spartans jump off the band wagon as soon as it starts falling apart. A few years ago when Bobby Williams was named football head coach, his players stood behind him and worked hard to prove all of the naysayers wrong. Williams was put under a lot of pressure to change something in a blink of an eye when it normally takes weeks or months to turn teams around. Williams is not responsible for the personal lives of the athletes.
As a Hispanic MSU alumna, I have never felt I was treated unfair because I am a minority. It really upsets me that MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson would lash out at Athletics Director Ron Mason and basically call him a racist. Ferguson discusses the importance of diversity, but when he speaks of this, he only discusses one minority group. I have never heard him stand up for Hispanics, who are a larger minority than African Americans. It’s sad that this has to turn into a race issue.
Even though I really can’t stand Nate Allen’s cartoons - which obviously are pro-Democratic and pick on a president who is, in my opinion, doing the best damn job he can - I must say that when I opened Tuesday’s paper, I had a smile on my face accompanied by a childish giggle.
Let’s exclude for a moment the arguments about Bobby Williams’ performance and examine Athletics Director Ron Mason’s statements from around a month ago.
On Oct. 30, the article “Group pulls for larger campus venue” (SN 10/30) introduced ASMSU’s plan to build an outdoor plaza behind the Old Horticulture Building.
I was embarrassed reading MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson’s statement that the (inevitable) dismissal of Bobby Williams boiled down to a racial issue in the article “Trustee says race played role in dismissal” (SN 11/5). Shame on him. Where else in the Big Ten has another African-American coach had the opportunity that Williams had?
To suggest race played a role in Bobby Williams’ firing is completely unsubstantiated. But that is exactly what MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson did on Monday.
I have spent my entire college career educating people about multicultural organizations. Carrie Hoover’s “Separation doesn’t promote unity” (SN 10/25) and Nathan Top’s “Columnist brave to make honest points” (SN 10/28) prove I still have work to do.
Because of my involvement on campus, I have come to truly detest icebreakers, particularly interactive ones that make me get off my seat and move around. Despite that, I had quite the self-revealing experience during one of the countless meetings that I have gone to.
While lately it seems people only talk about MSU’s losses on the football field, students have the chance to collectively garner a win against the Nittany Lions. The ninth annual MSU-Penn State Blood Challenge began Monday and will run until Nov.
What has happened to MSU’s football team is embarrassing for the athletics department, the administration and the thousands of students of the university.
Athletics Director Ron Mason didn’t only dismiss MSU’s football coach when he fired Bobby Williams on Monday; he fired a quarter of the black head coaches in Division I-A college football. That’s because Williams was only one of four blacks among the 117 head coaches in the top tier of the game. So no one should be surprised to see questions about race arising out of the ashes of MSU’s nearly dismantled football program. MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson, who is black, was quick to come to Williams’ defense Monday, claiming the university is doing a disservice to its diversity efforts by not giving the coach the same opportunities his predecessors had to improve the football program. “Since I have been an adult, MSU has had a reputation for fairness to minorities,” Ferguson said.
This is in response to the many letters to the editor about racism. If you call someone a bigot because they disagree with you, does that make you a bigot?
Jamie Spencer was in-line skating at a Bay City park when police made her take a Breathalyzer test in August 2001.
We’re so quick to judge. It’s easy to examine the few facts we’re given and jump to conclusions. I’m not making excuses for MSU junior quarterback Jeff Smoker, but I am speaking from the perspective of someone who grew up with a family member who suffered from substance abuse.