Friday, June 21, 2024

Editorials

COMMENTARY

State surplus chance to impact education

Public universities in Michigan have been used to cuts in state funding, but a surplus in the state budget could mean a turn for the better. This week, State Budget Director John Nixon will meet with fiscal agencies and the state treasury to discuss how the $400 million to $450 million left over from this year’s budget will be allocated. State officials have neither confirmed nor denied if any of the money will be given to higher education, but MSU would welcome more state money.

COMMENTARY

Benefits bill throws out equity, tolerance

Equality in Michigan took a large step in the wrong direction last December. Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill that restricts public employers from offering benefits to domestic partners, including same-sex couples.

COMMENTARY

Exercise plan offers benefit to students

Adding extra taxes to students’ room and board bills never sounds like a positive thing, but a plan being discussed by the Residence Hall Association, or RHA, has the potential to bring many healthy changes for students.

COMMENTARY

MSU Board’s meetings invoke uncertainty

A ring of uncertainty surrounds the MSU Board of Trustees’ closed-door meetings. The day before most open meetings, the board holds work sessions that are closed to the public— a practice that should unsettle students.

COMMENTARY

MSU should toughen online piracy stance

We’ve all seen the “You wouldn’t steal a car, so you shouldn’t steal a movie” commercials at movie theaters and thought of them as jokes. However, there’s nothing funny about the number of MSU students that appear to have no problem stealing digital media.

COMMENTARY

Universities should diversify admissions

It seems at MSU as though diversity is lacking and could use some growth. Following a recent release of guidelines from President Barack Obama’s administration for universities to take additional factors into consideration during the application process, MSU potentially could increase its admissions diversity for the better.

COMMENTARY

New database to help students in job hunt

Gov. Rick Snyder is attempting to open the lines of communication between in-state technological companies and job seekers, which hopefully will assist college students to continue working and living in Michigan.

COMMENTARY

Larger capacity not necessary at stadium

Football fans on campus are buzzing about the upcoming Big Ten championship game the Spartans will play Saturday. The game won’t be played in Spartan Stadium, but changes to MSU fans’ game-day experience are on the horizon.

COMMENTARY

Students need more on-campus parking

With the temperature dropping and snowflakes beginning to fall, many students are going to turn to their cars as an alternative form of transportation ­— yet parking is a hindrance. ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, recently passed a resolution in an attempt to expand available parking for students on campus.

COMMENTARY

ASMSU overreached on CATA mobile app

This year, ASMSU has done a better job of trying to serve students. However, it didn’t lay the proper groundwork when it set out to develop a mobile app students could use to find times and track Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA buses.

COMMENTARY

Grad student funding cuts could hurt US

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction not only failed to lower the national debt but also failed in helping students. The committee’s recent lapse in reaching an agreement regarding how to address America’s steadily rising national debt triggered several planned cuts to federally funded programs.

COMMENTARY

Free speech rights important to know

This semester, more so than in past semesters, issues of free speech were ignited by a campuswide discussion about race. It undoubtedly is important for students to learn the difference between hate speech and free speech.

COMMENTARY

Positive jobs report not reason to relax

With the end of the semester sneaking up on students, for some it’s their last few weeks as a Spartan. Although most students dread the thought of leaving, a new MSU report should lessen that trepidation.

COMMENTARY

Rules should curb irresponsible parties

In embracing the concept of brotherhood by accepting responsibility for partygoers, MSU’s Interfraternity Council, or IFC, practices the values held by each MSU fraternity. The accountability system put into place by the IFC, after the untimely passing of a fraternity brother in 2009, was a great step to take.

COMMENTARY

Dorm security update needed, long overdue

It shouldn’t be a hassle for students to live on campus because of too much or too little security. Having the same security in place across campus is something RHS should have done a long time ago to make the lives of students safer.

COMMENTARY

Enact new preferred name policy swiftly

When ASMSU passes a bill of this nature, it is important that the university implements it, or it defeats the purpose of having a student government. There is no point in having a student government when the policies they propose that will help students aren’t implemented by the university.

COMMENTARY

No-preference option allows exploration

To help students find the right major, MSU should consider requiring freshmen to come in with no defined major and choose one after one year. This would allow students to take the required courses needed to graduate and help in not letting students go two years into college before realizing they have no interest in their chosen major.