Friday, December 12, 2025

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Fair Warning

U.S. officials are right to warn citizens of the danger of continued terrorism on American soil. Since Sept.

COMMENTARY

Terrorism a reality everywhere, nations must defend before negotiations

How quickly we forget the horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Remember the fear, the astonishment, the utter hopelessness that we all felt watching passenger-laden aircraft decimate the World Trade Center, murdering thousands of men and women whose only crime was to rise with their alarm clocks and journey to another day of work? Now imagine if we had to experience this feeling again, not in another isolated, dramatic episode of terror, but every single day, not knowing which of our friends or family would next find themselves under the murderous ax of militant extremists.

COMMENTARY

Columnist wrong, shows doing fine

I’d like to correct columnist Jacquelyne Froeber’s column, “New reality shows another sign of TV wasteland” (SN 5/16). In her column, Froeber said that, like most reality shows, the ratings of “Survivor” were down, when in actuality the ratings for “Survivor: Marquesas” are up quite a bit from the last season.

COMMENTARY

Admissions policy should pursue goal

While I support the concept of affirmative action, I disagree with the recent editorial supporting a federal court of appeal’s decision to uphold current affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan (“Positive Action,” SN 5/15). The goal of affirmative action is to assist disadvantaged groups in selection procedures in order to further equality.

COMMENTARY

Changing lanes

East Lansing city officials are right to take a closer look at transportation concerns along East Grand River Avenue.

COMMENTARY

More parking than proposed needed

It is a shame that the proposal for the new parking lot in place of the Michigan State Police station is only 1,300 car spaces (“‘U’ may get increase in parking,” SN 5/15). This university takes advantage of students and their families by charging extremely high prices for parking and large fines for illegally parking.

COMMENTARY

Bronzed beauty

After more than a decade of absence, former MSU President John A. Hannah will soon be seen on campus again. Plans are underway for a bronze statue of the university’s 12th president, a welcome addition to the place so heavily marked by Hannah.

COMMENTARY

Flour patrol just going overboard

A local group out for their monthly run used a mixture of flour and chalk to mark their route resulting in a quarantine for what police thought was an anthrax scare. Historically, anthrax in powder form has been sent through the U.S.

COMMENTARY

Affirmative action due for a review

It is now clear to me, as it should be to every other member of the University of Michigan community, that affirmative action is headed for a constitutional showdown in the highest court of the land.

COMMENTARY

Parking, please

On our campus, parking has been a hotly debated issue for as long as most people can remember. And while it may be too much to hope for a light at the end of this long tunnel, part of MSU’s 2020 Vision plans for campus development tackle part of the parking problem, even as parking spots are lost for added green space. The proposed creation of a 1,300 space parking lot where the Michigan State Police headquarters is located on Harrison Avenue would be a huge benefit to student commuters and visitors to the university.

COMMENTARY

Dollar dilemma

The East Lansing School District is facing a dilemma. It must find a way to make up a $3.5 million budget deficit. But to help do so, school officials could choose to close Spartan Village Elementary, acclaimed for its diverse student population.

COMMENTARY

Positive Action

The ruling in favor of the University of Michigan’s law school, declaring their use of race as an admissions factor legal, is a benefit to both current and prospective students and should be upheld. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled 5-4 to reverse a lower court decision stating that race itself cannot be taken into account when examining collegiate candidates. Most people do not consider themselves to be racist, so they might refuse to give race much consideration or believe that it would be necessary when choosing from a pool of possible students.

COMMENTARY

Celebration for good, not negative

For weeks, there was a media frenzy surrounding the first Black Celebratory to be held for the black graduates of MSU. Though a noteworthy event, unfortunately the focus was not on the historical significance of the celebratory or to bring recognition to the efforts of the students and staff to acknowledge such a milestone accomplishment as successful matriculation at a predominately white institution of higher learning.

COMMENTARY

Nix the annex

Annexation is a problem many townships face as cities grow, creeping over their boundaries and absorbing the revenue that bordering land can provide - and it’s not about to end soon. East Lansing could soon annex 1,056 acres of land along Chandler Road in Bath Township after two students filed petitions in Clinton County for the annexation. The students are residents of Melrose Communities, 16789 Chandler Road, and say they worry the township’s emergency personnel can’t support their complex. So they want East Lansing to take over the land, further expanding the city’s north border. The students have some legitimate concerns regarding safety - it is possible that Bath Township fire and police officials might not be able to reach the area as quickly as East Lansing providers, or that they simply might not have the resources to cover the very edge of the township.