Monday, September 30, 2024

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

Editorials

COMMENTARY

Fightin' prices

Our obsession with the almighty dollar has us pimping ourselves to make a profit. Saturday's sold-out football game against Notre Dame has ticket-scalpers raising prices for fans willing to overpay to get a piece of the action, the Lansing State Journal reported Tuesday.

COMMENTARY

Banning safety

If one didn't know any better, they'd think assault weapons have a deeply-rooted place within the American citizenry. After 10 years of operation, the federal assault weapons ban was allowed to expire Monday.

COMMENTARY

Shaking 'U' up

When any university decides to overhaul a college or change any part of the academic setting, there needs to be a clear and understandable reason.

COMMENTARY

Unfair warning

When sexual assaults occur, MSU officials have a responsibility to keep personal details on victims private.

COMMENTARY

Speak out

It seems as though freedom of speech is a precious privilege that is unappreciated these days. The very people who are supposed to promote it, however, are allowing it to fall to the wayside in Colorado. The Academic Bill of Rights, a set of rules enacted by Colorado legislators to protect conservative college students from undue harassment, has had a negative affect on free speech at Colorado universities.

COMMENTARY

In the money

Complying with Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 2003 tuition plan appears to be alleviating some financial troubles for MSU.

COMMENTARY

Keep it local

It seems that some local proprietors - including Murasaki Restaurant owner Hiroshi Tanimoto - aren't extremely upset by developers pushing in to town to level businesses in the name of cleaning up the area. After having gained a special-use permit from East Lansing City Council on Tuesday, developer Corey Partnership is looking to construct a four-story building where Murasaki Restaurant, Peking Express and Team Telecom now sit.

COMMENTARY

To 150 more ...

MSU's 150th anniversary celebration officially began Tuesday, and it's rewarding to see how a fledgling land-grant university founded by a mix of government scientists, bored University of Michigan kids and cows created one of the Big Ten's most formidable research institutions. You would not be here if it weren't for Wolverines who did not want to speak Greek, as history tells us that U-M students got fed up with classical education and being prohibited from joining secret societies.

COMMENTARY

About time

It has been 2 years and 364 days since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks rocked the nation. It's also been 2 years and 364 days since Arab and Chaldean Americans have taken undue discrimination in forms never before seen or endured. Finally, action has been taken at the state level to connect the lives of Arab and Chaldean Americans to the Capitol.

COMMENTARY

Crowded house

At the semester's onset, 744 dorm rooms at MSU were overbooked. That means 2,232 students were inconvenienced - some for a day, some still, all while the university tries to figure out what to do with these extra students. Part of the problem of overbooked dorm rooms can be contributed to a significantly larger amount of students attending MSU this year than anticipated.

COMMENTARY

Vote for rights

Visiting loved ones in the hospital during emergencies, inheriting money or property after the death of a spouse and retaining custody of children are inherent rights that no law-abiding citizen of our state should be without.

COMMENTARY

Make a deal

The important thing to remember about this year's state budget is that the most relevant part for MSU students hasn't yet been decided. It's hard to tell what the governor and state Legislature are thinking at times when they champion the importance of education and then tinker with funding to state universities such as MSU. In February, state officials promised to maintain funding to public universities as long as schools kept their tuition rates at or below the inflation rate.

COMMENTARY

Chins up

With the first football game of the season ending in an antagonizing manner, remember that there is plenty more to look forward to. If you saw the game against Rutgers on Saturday afternoon, you already know there were mistakes all over the field by the Spartans.

COMMENTARY

Cheatin' hearts

Academic dishonesty in any shape or form is in all ways - morally, ethically or socially - wrong. Any justification notwithstanding, it's an act comparable to stealing grades away from every student around you in a class. And standing by while cheating happens around you is just as insulting to your intelligence as it is for the rest of your peers. Recently, MSU forum Web site allmsu.com has been shoved into the limelight because a few individuals among us chose to utilize it in the name of academic dishonesty.

COMMENTARY

Kobe's lesson

The sexual assault charges brought against Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant were dismissed Wednesday afternoon, but left in their wake a larger issue - how rape and rape victims should be treated. Bryant is one of the most famous defendants in a rape trial in years.

COMMENTARY

Search party

The decision to limit a presidential search to six weeks and to one campus did nothing short of enrage some faculty and students.

COMMENTARY

Stand up

With the race for the next president well on its way, there's a local void within the Republican Party. Three days into the Republican National Convention, there has not been a local representative from Michigan on the front line of the GOP to answer to the media or to enhance the awareness that Michigan is a key state in President Bush's bid for re-election. With Michigan a swing state, it is in the best interest of the Republican Party to feature a spokesperson from Michigan to address the RNC this week in New York City. Republicans have control of both of Michigan's legislative chambers, the attorney general's office, the secretary of state's office and a majority of Michigan's 15 U.S.

COMMENTARY

Unwelcome

Blasting rental housing to rubble is not the smartest way to win the hearts of college students. Then again, warm student-resident relations never seem to be the modus operandi for city operations. Pending an approval of a $2.3 million loan from the U.S.

COMMENTARY

Misspoken?

Some things to think about: "No government should ignore the threat of terror, because to look the other way gives terrorists the chance to regroup and recruit and prepare.

COMMENTARY

Take a seat

As ASMSU opens up 34 seats on MSU's Academic Governance system to all undergraduate students, it is opening the doors to the fresh ideas that will come with the new representatives. Previously, the 34 spots were open only to ASMSU representatives.