If it's true that a Howard Dean supporter brought a doctor's note to Thursday's rally in an attempt to get it signed by the doctor-turned-presidential candidate for an excused absence from class, we applaud your effort. And if the tongue-in-cheek note were actually signed and approved by a professor, we offer our warmest congratulations for a job well done at successfully manipulating the system.
This week, MSU has resembled the red carpet of politics. Author Michael Moore, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and presidential hopeful Howard Dean all have come to campus in the span of two days. Moore will be signing copies of his new book, "Dude, Where's My Country?" today, and both Kennedy, who came in support of presidential hopeful John Kerry, and Dean came Thursday. We also have influential scientists and intellectuals come to MSU such as Frances Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, who is well-known for leading the team that mapped the human genome. MSU students might not know how extraordinarily lucky they are to have all of these well-known and famous figures coming to their campus.
The old adage, "Actions speak louder than words," is a saying many in the Michigan Legislature should learn, particularly Gov.
The state of Michigan is in the grip of an enormous financial shortfall. MSU, being a public institution, is following suit.
Every incoming politician must deal with the bad decisions of the previous administration. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm has had plenty to deal with in the past year.
It's difficult to be an undergraduate student and maintain a sense of civic duty. Thanks to exit polls, census information and just about every statistic on the subject of voter apathy, the college-age voter is easily identified as the most indifferent.
What would it take for a college freshman, during his or her first Welcome Weekend, to get off on a good foot with MSU's student government? Don't look for a punch line - ASMSU is serious about Welcome Weekend 2004.
It isn't a good week to be a vagina in New Orleans. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that Jesuit-affiliated Loyola University has apparently blocked a production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" on the campus of the Louisiana school. The school's president, the Rev.
Students shouldn't have to break out their snowshoes to make it to class, but with snow-packed sidewalks and more flurries expected, it seems like the only safe way to go.
Homeland security is an essentially broad topic. Its life grew from the rubble of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and has since spawned a cooperative domestic effort, ranging from community watch programs to the USA Patriot Act to the US-VISIT program, designed to streamline immigration. In a speech to the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors on Jan.
East Lansing, Meridian Township and other surrounding cities do it. And if everyone's doing it, why shouldn't we? ASMSU Director Vikas Menon has been looking into broadcasting assembly meetings on campus cable.
Political initiatives on the federal and state levels are asking citizens and lawmakers to adopt a more pragmatic concept of what "separation of church and state" really means. Most recently, a package of bills passed by the state Senate - and expected not to be contested by Gov.
In the critically acclaimed 1999 movie "Boys Don't Cry," Hilary Swank plays a girl whose life is ripped apart by betrayal, rape and murder because she identifies as a man.
When George W. Bush was still the governor of Texas in 2000, months away from being elected the 43rd president of the United States of America, he sat opposite David Letterman in the Ed Sullivan Theater and said, "I'm a uniter, not a divider." It's now abundantly clear as we step into the next presidential race that the United States of America is more politically, socially and ideologically divided than it has been in decades. Concurrently, in Tuesday night's State of the Union address, Bush had the opportunity to quell the fear that many Americans have of a nation being torn asunder by differences in politics.
It was a banner year at the Bender household when troubled high-schooler John Bender received his Christmas gift from his father: a carton of cigarettes. "Smoke up, Johnny!" the elder Bender said, as told in John Hughes' seminal 1985 work "The Breakfast Club." If legislation introduced by Michigan state Sen.
The presidential election is a mere 11 months away, and now, with Saddam Hussein found and Iraq getting back up on its feet, George W.
There is a science to picking your battles. Pick the wrong battle and exhaust yourself, fighting valiantly for a cause unworthy of the effort.
If abortion opponents have their way, one of the most personal and life-changing decisions a woman can make will become a decision legislators will make for her. In October, Gov.
Martin Luther King Jr. would have been 75 years old on Jan. 15. On Monday, Jan. 19, most of the world will recognize his achievements in becoming the face associated with the fight for civil rights, with peace, harmony and equality for all who consider themselves human beings.
Every year, more than a 1,000 students sign up for an MSU housing contract that, for some reason or another, they must break. A new housing contract plans to stop this epidemic by giving students, who sign a housing contract for next fall, only 14 days to break it, or face being locked into that dorm room. While it is irresponsible for anyone to break a contract, this 14-day stipulation does not take into consideration the rapid changes in lives of students, especially freshman who have only finished one semester at MSU and are not sure where they belong on campus (such as those who are secluded on the remote island that is Brody). University Housing believed the old policy allowed students to use dorm rooms as "back-ups" while they searched for a house or apartment for the fall. University Housing said the revision will free up more space for students who really do want to "live on," and will force students to be more cautious before they sign that binding contract. However, housing should have devised another method that made students think twice about moving off campus.