Trustee Colleen McNamara's role as the executive director of the Michigan Cable Telecommunications Association is a clear conflict of interest with her role as an MSU leader. Her decisions with respect to the university should be made based on her role as trustee, not her role in the private sector.
Still paying for past sins? In response the editorial "Go sell it" (SN 12/5), the Residence Halls Association, today, is still haunted by the sins and mistakes of the past.
I must admit that I was a bit confused by the closing portion of Dan Roosien's letter to the editor "Columnist's words were hypocritical" (SN 12/02). I was equally bothered by the intolerance displayed in the column about which he referred ("Religious majority doesn't understand atheist views," SN 11/26), and must whole-heartedly agree that sort of expression does not tend to serve its cause as the author might have intended. That being said, I was disappointed that Roosien would chose to close a commentary that scolds intolerance with a statement of intolerance.
I am one of the friendly crossing guards stationed on the corner of Wilson Road and Harrison Avenue.
After reading Scott Henkel's column "Graduate union out to improve quality of life, learning for 'U'" (SN 12/4), one would think I was lucky to survive five years of graduate school without the Graduate Employees Union.
If work continues as they have been, mid-Michigan could soon be brought up to speed on the information superhighway thanks to the help of MSU's services.
I could not believe The State News chose to publish such an awful column ("Religious majority doesn't understand atheist views," SN 11/26). The author was not only wrong, but completely intolerant. I find it ridiculous that we pay money for a paper and are force-fed liberal ideas every day.
The Residence Halls Association has some earnest explaining to do if it wants students to take the organization's request to renew its $21 per semester tax seriously in the spring. In the same vein, it is important for the more than 14,500 students living in the residence halls, who foot the bill, to take the time to hold their RHA representatives accountable.
So the holidays have finally arrived. I think it is highly probable that some Christmas zealots have been foaming at the mouth and dreaming about this wondrous time for months.'Tis the season for overpriced items, maddening mobs packing shopping outlets, lots of food, mistletoe, wrapping paper and so on and so forth.
Students and other MSU community members should not be alarmed by the Aventis company's recall of a batch of its meningitis vaccine that was partially used by Olin Health Center staff to vaccinate more than 2,000 students. Likewise, current and future students should not allow the problem to discourage them from being vaccinated against a disease that has proven deadly at campuses across the nation, including at MSU.
We at the Graduate Employees Union ask ourselves one question more than any other: Can MSU be a better place?
The time has come for the government to get out of people's business when it comes to private and intimate relationships.
On Monday, the Supreme Court decided it will hear a case that will consider the constitutionality of sodomy laws in 13 states across the country.
Atheists often make the claim that one cannot prove that God exists. As a Muslim, I can claim that I have no doubt whatsoever that God exists, has always existed and will always exist, and is our Creator.
In January, Olin Health Center's Community Action Team will add four women's health programs to its repertoire.
It's the end of the semester, and it's sometimes a condition of that final time that we start to look more intently at a variety of issues.
Diversity might be a theme in the nation's workplaces, governing halls and educational institutions, but it seems the mark is still being missed - at least in the K-12 educational realm. Despite the country's gradual progression toward a more diversified and open-minded world, minority teachers remain an uncommon sight in schools. Nationwide, minority teachers represent 14 percent of the teaching population in America, while minority students comprise 36 percent of classrooms, according to the National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse's Web site, www.recruitingteachers.org. These lopsided conditions are not much different for MSU students preparing to head into the classroom for their careers. According to university officials, only about 9 percent of students enrolled in MSU's College of Education are minorities. That is compared to the 14 percent of students enrolled in The Eli Broad College of Business and the 19 percent in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. These statistics are unsettling. For an educational institution as distinguished and celebrated as MSU's College of Education, the lack of minorities enrolled is unbelievable. Diversity in the classroom as well as the faculty of schools across the nation is imperative to future leaders and the balance of ethics, tolerance and equality. Minority teachers can bring a new perspective to schools and be positive role models for the students.
Although I agree that MSU should take care in hiring decisions, I disagree with The State News' argument against buyouts for the individuals it mentioned in the editorial "Money talk" (SN 12/02). Most people in this country are employed at will.
I would like to agree with John A. Amrhein's letter to the editor "Story about Virginia party left questions" (SN 12/02). I, too, did not understand why this issue was so controversial. Two white men coming to a costume party dressed as the Williams sisters shows no racial injustice up front and since we, as a campus, have no further information, we should be fools to jump to any such conclusions as to what was meant by it. In my opinion, it should be an honor to the Williams sisters that people would want to dress up like them on Halloween. Halloween has become a holiday where you don't have to dress up in scary costumes anymore.
In its editorial "Money talk" (SN 12/02), the Editorial Board asked the question of why MSU keeps rewarding poor performances.