COMMENTARY

Looking ahead

Members of the Residence Halls Association are taking a proactive step toward making sure the April 2-3 disturbances aren't repeated. Members of RHA were invited to meet with MSU police to answer questions they might have about future disturbances and how to prevent another one — especially in March and April during college basketball finals. Hopefully their discussion will include plans on making sure what happened last year — when many students were teargassed unnecessarily and police used too much force — doesn't happen this year. RHA should definitely pursue this opportunity and ask for student involvement along the way. Some changes in police procedure could come from the East Lansing City Council, which is considering suggestions received from the independent commission which reviewed the events.

COMMENTARY

Illiterate graduates?

There are some things people need to know by the time they graduate college. How to read is one of them. A recent study showed that more than half the graduates from four-year universities couldn't understand what they were reading at a basic level.

COMMENTARY

'Incubator' smart idea

Implementing the Lansing Regional SmartZone is a good opportunity for East Lansing to bring reliable business into the city's rapidly changing downtown environment. The availability for other options is running thin. Hoping to assist small information technology start-ups, entrepreneurs and develop advanced manufacturing techniques, the SmartZone covers a variety of primary objectives.

COMMENTARY

Next on agenda

It's déja vu. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is part of the United Nations, has voted to report Iran to the Security Council over fears that the country is developing nuclear weapons. In response to the move, Iranian officials announced they were no longer going to cooperate with the agency and were going to push ahead with production of enriched uranium. Although Iran's reaction seems rash, just because they are producing enriched uranium doesn't mean they are guilty of anything.

COMMENTARY

Rags to riches

Detroit has a bad reputation. There are people who claim it's a dangerous, ugly city — most of whom have never actually been there. Some of them don't live in Michigan, and some are talk show hosts. They won't venture downtown, but they offer plenty of opinion on what's wrong with it. But when people come to Detroit for Super Bowl XL on Sunday, they will get a chance to see Detroit for what it really is and not what stereotypes say it is. When it was first announced in November 2000 that Detroit would host the 2006 Super Bowl, questions and jokes were incessant. Who would want to go to the big game in a crime-infested city like Detroit? But city officials and residents have taken the challenge to show visitors how wrong their misconceptions are by presenting all the city has to offer.

COMMENTARY

New justice in town

Tuesday's confirmation of Judge Samuel A. Alito as the United State's 110th Supreme Court justice signified a political triumph for the Bush administration.

COMMENTARY

Where we stand

It's been a tough second term for President Bush. Republican finance scandals, Hurricane Katrina and continuing fighting in Iraq made 2005 stressful. Bush tried to push past the rough start and outline his goals for the next few years in his State of the Union address Tuesday. But it was what he didn't mention in his speech that's important. Somewhat surprising was how brief Bush's mention of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation in the Gulf Coast region was.

COMMENTARY

Court out of order

The Saddam Hussein war crimes trial is getting out of hand. The courtroom scene Sunday was a bit chaotic to say the least, resulting in a five-day postponement because of Saddam's and other defendants' fanatical outbursts. All four lead defendants (later including Saddam) were removed from the courtroom and the defense team walked out in protest, leaving the trial to proceed.

COMMENTARY

Access denied

Living in the dorms requires a lot of trust. Students share a room and sometimes a bathroom with people they barely know.

COMMENTARY

Double-edged

Last year, the MSU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to ban open alcohol on campus. In fact, they vote unanimously on most issues before them. Since January 2005, only four of the more than 80 decisions made by the board had a divided vote.

COMMENTARY

'Anti-have-fun' law

East Lansing might resemble a residence hall "quiet floor" if city officials get their way. When considering the addition of drinking games as a sixth party indicator for the current noise ordinance, City Council officials decided to also contemplate a complete overhaul of the ordinance.

COMMENTARY

Hopeful statements

Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced some ambitious plans in her State of the State address Wednesday. She asked legislators to give students $4,000 for completing two years of college as part of the Merit Award scholarship.

COMMENTARY

'Better' than e-mail

All MSU, all the time. With ASMSU considering a possible campus-wide text-messaging system, the MSU undergraduate student government has added another way to keep students informed and involved in what goes on in and around campus. University text messages can be a good, innovative idea; ASMSU is clearly putting its best intentions forward. Mobile Campus, the text-messaging service MSU would use, is offering its program for free. But MSU can also profit from this service. Mobile Campus' sponsors will send text-message coupons to subscribers and MSU will receive 15 percent of the total revenue generated by those coupons. However great and cutting edge this might sound, the way student organizations communicate with the student body won't exactly be revolutionized. Although the amount of messages a student will receive on a day-to-day basis hasn't yet been disclosed, the chances are on the high side that there will be generic junk messages destined for the trash folder. Some features being considered, such as notifications of canceled classes, availability of event tickets, administrator messages, student group messages and emergency notifications, serve a practical purpose for a large number of students.

COMMENTARY

Countdown

East Lansing officials plan on making some significant changes to the way the city handles celebrations and disturbances, such as last April 2-3. And many of the changes sound good.

COMMENTARY

Sticking to the plan

The East Village master plan is still in limbo. The East Lansing Planning Commission hopes to finally bring the plan to a vote at its Feb.

COMMENTARY

Candid about killer cola

Beverages are under attack at MSU these days. East Lansing police don't want us consuming alcoholic beverages in the midst of beer pong, and Students for Economic Justice, or SEJ, don't want us to drink Coca-Cola products. SEJ had a "taste test" of sorts in front of the rock on Farm Lane on Monday, promoting alternative pop choices that are Michigan made, such as Faygo and Vernors. It was a creative approach to bringing to light an issue that some MSU students, faculty and staff might not have heard about yet. The possible Coca-Cola scandal is worth looking into. The soda giant is facing worker and environmental abuse allegations in Colombia and India made by the University of Michigan, New York University and at least 10 other U.S.

COMMENTARY

Playing games

First, they went after partying on and off campus, imposing party noise ordinances that can slap students with hefty fines. Now, they want the outdoor beer pong tables.

COMMENTARY

MCRI returns

In only 10 months, people in Michigan will vote on what has become one of the biggest social issues in the state.

COMMENTARY

Rightest Canada, eh?

Tim Hortons, a rightist prime minister and bears! Oh my! Social conservative Stephen Harper won the Canadian national election Monday, but is this something that should send shivers down liberal Americans' spines? Probably not. The Conservative Party took the most seats but did not win the outright majority in the House of Commons, so the checks and balances in Canada's political system will still be in place to prevent any drastic change. But more importantly, it's Canada. Although Harper does promise to increase military spending, Canada has never been viewed as a global aggressor.

COMMENTARY

Stating their rights

Most of us entered life with help from the nimble and licensed hands of medical professionals. Oregon voters believe that medical assistance for patients who desire suicide should be available as well, despite attempts by the federal government to outlaw the practice. And it should be the voters' choice, not the federal government's. The state approved the Death with Dignity Act in 1994 and affirmed it in 1997.