Neck-and-neck races and too-close-to-call elections are becoming all too commonplace these days, proving once again that every vote counts. All registered voters should head to the polls instead of submitting to the trend of ignoring their right and civic duty with lame excuses like “One vote doesn’t really matter.” A lack of votes can severely affect the results of a race and determine the outcome.
The Spartan football team played to its potential on Saturday. I don’t know if it played well because the players were upset from former head coach Bobby Williams’ termination, or if it was because Williams was so bad he kept the team from being as good as it is.
Since the firing of Bobby Williams as football head coach, some people around campus have been saying MSU has an obligation to find another African Americans to head the football program in the spirit of diversity and fairness.
Students at Texas A&M University want to revive a 90-year-old tradition that was put on hold after a fatal accident several years ago, and Aggie administrators should seriously consider one group’s efforts and hopes to rekindle old flames. Traditionally, Texas A&M students held a bonfire each year on the eve of their team’s football game against its intrastate rival - the University of Texas - but the tradition came to a halt in 1999 when a 59-foot-high bonfire tower collapsed during construction.
Everyone seems to be an expert, or at least they try to sound like one in conversation. I guess it’s possible for someone to want to seem like they know something when they don’t. We live in a world where we experience more learning opportunities in a single day than the average person living in the Dark Ages did in an entire lifetime. Information is literally at our fingertips all day, every day.
In response to the letter to the editor “Groups needed, racism still exists” (SN 11/8), it is remarks like those stated in the piece that is the reason racism still exists today. Until people stop using skin color as a reason why things do or do not happen, racism will never be beaten. If the description of a wanted criminal were of a white male, could I cry discrimination because I got pulled over for no reason?
Speaking from a black woman’s perspective, I feel the column Carrie Hoover wrote was bogus and unjust (“Separation doesn’t promote unity”SN 10/25). Black people have been fighting for years to gain the same respect as whites, and we still haven’t gotten it.
In response to Terence Pitre’s letter to the editor “Williams’ dismissal had racial overtone” (SN 11/7), I would first like to say that I don’t see a separate set of rules existing for Bobby Williams’ firing. This doesn’t make me ignorant or racist.
I’m terrified of getting hardened. I became aware of this fear during one of my teacher education classes, which is full of optimistic, compassionate and strong-willed individuals entering the world of education.
With the GOP set to control both chambers of Congress, President Bush might be tempted to push his foreign policy issues involving Iraq and terrorism more heavily. The Republican conquest of Congress in Tuesday’s election is like a storm cloud brewing over current European allies, who might disagree with Bush’s approach to world affairs. Essentially, Bush should be careful about decisions made regarding use of American military force.
The University of Michigan came down with a heavy hand on its athletic department. The harsh punishment is a sad reminder of the embarrassment that comes when universities allow games to get out of hand. U-M announced Thursday it would forfeit all men’s basketball victories accumulated during the 1992-1993 season and from fall 1995 to spring 1999, return $450,000 to the NCAA for money earned by tournament appearances during those years, remove related championship banners from Crisler Arena and disqualify itself from the 2003 postseason.
It appears that, even now after Bobby Williams has been fired, he will not leave the news so quickly.
When some people ask themselves why an organization behaves the way it does, such as MSU in firing Bobby Williams, some people immediately consider personal malicious intents, such as race issues.
I have a suggestion for all of the politicians who thought it was reasonable to slap bumper stickers all over campus.
In August 1998, a Manistee woman spent four days in jail for making an anti-Hispanic slur outside of a Pepper Mill restaurant.
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.