Tuesday, January 13, 2026

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COMMENTARY

Athletic bigots

Every year, a handful of over-the-hill jocks make the news with an off-the-cuff remark they'd immediately prefer to take back.

COMMENTARY

Palestinians aren't sole violence victims

The Michigan Peace Team purports to be in the defense of human rights and nonviolence. However, a closer examination of the group's objectives reveals a distorted viewpoint that impinges on its ability to generate peace. From his statements, Michael Vicente Perez seems to believe that the violence inherent in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict arises predominately from the Israeli side ("Caught in the middle," SN 3/31). His statements indicate that he believes peace can be achieved by staying in the homes of suicide bombers to prevent the houses from being destroyed by the Israeli defense forces. While it is undeniable that the Palestinians have faced enormous hardships as a result of the conflict, it is also true that the Israelis have faced similar atrocities.

NEWS

Prof: U.S. didn't heed 9-11 signs

As the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks unfolded, Michael Rip rushed his students to the Case Hall lounge so they could witness the destruction occurring in New York and Washington. Rip, though, wasn't surprised that al-Qaida terrorists had exacted a large-scale assault on American soil. "It became apparent to me very quickly what we were facing," said Rip, an assistant professor in James Madison College.

NEWS

TA situation concerns 'U'

The number of teaching assistants might be slashed in the fall, but some graduate employees are more concerned for their students than they are about the fate of their positions. Some department officials say the lack of TAs could force class sizes to escalate or certain sections to be eliminated. "We knew the cuts were coming," Spanish TA Erin Brothers said.

MSU

Google ogles e-mail

Two popular computer services - e-mail and search engines - are scheduled to combine with a new "Gmail" service provided by Google Inc. Announced Wednesday, the Web-based e-mail system would be free for users and offers 1 gigabyte of storage, more than 100 times the amount of rival free e-mail service providers. Gmail also would incorporate the Google search feature to sort through the about 500,000 pages of e-mail the system is expected to hold. Richard Wiggins, MSU's Academic Computing and Network Services Senior Information Technologist, said the new system could cause a "massive shift" in information technology, with millions of people switching to the new service. "Right now, anybody who is in the Web mail business is looking at the cost of online storage and trying to calculate 'What does this do to our bottom line?,'" he said.