Cover of Relay for Life appreciated, but not sufficient
I was somewhat disappointed at your coverage of the MSU Relay for Life. I was the event development chair, and the entire committee and myself worked extremely hard to put together a successful event. In a time where MSU is classified as the out-of-control party school, and Cedar Fest has an article or a mention in The State News every day, Relay for Life was the newspaper’s opportunity to show the community that this was not what MSU is all about.
I am extremely proud to say we’re likely to beat the University of Michigan, and there is a good chance we will be No. 2 or No. 3 in the country for all college relays in terms of donations. I was happy to see an article about Relay for Life in The State News, but I wish it could have gone more in depth about the event. Perhaps it could have mentioned that we have not met our own personal goal yet. Although we had the largest number of participants signed up this year than in the past — more than 1,000 participants — there is still a large MSU population that remains untapped. If anyone is interested in donating to a worthwhile cause, go to www.spartanrelay.com.
Jennifer Harper
marketing senior
Published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Comments
Stat Whore
04/24/08 @ 7:45am
Who cares about the amount of money raised? As long as we collect more than UofM and are high nationally, I sure don’t!
Sara
04/24/08 @ 2:16pm
Those of us involved in planning Relay aren’t doing so to be first… we care about raising enough to support the fight against cancer. It’s opinions and comments like this that continue to make MSU look bad. If you “sure don’t” care about raising money to fight cancer, don’t even leave a comment.
Reply
04/24/08 @ 3:19pm
Sara,
The letter writer stated “I am extremely proud to say we’re likely to beat the University of Michigan, and there is a good chance we will be No. 2 or No. 3 in the country.” She did not say “I am extremely proud to say that we have raised a significant amount of money that will go towards finding a cure for a disease that will affect nearly all Americans in some way.” Maybe you don’t know what a stat whore is, but Ms. Harper’s letter certainly makes her look like one. I fully support cancer research and I fully condemn stat whoring.
Sara
04/24/08 @ 8:50pm
I guess I misunderstood your comments method of being rude. Jen meant to discuss the fact that we are nationally ranked for something that is making a good impact in the world…. and instead we get recognition for CedarFest.
Also, Jen is definitely not a stat whore and neither is anyone involved in the committee— she is just excited as we are to be a part of something making such a huge difference and showing what MSU can do.
I guess the point of being a positive image of the university and who our students are was lost in the shuffle—- there’s really no need for name calling people anonymously about their opinion letter.
Regardless, Jen thanks for pointing this out to the State News! I hope it continues to spread the word about relay.
Kyle V.
04/25/08 @ 5:34pm
Go Jen! I was sick of hearing about cedar fest as well. If a little competition of stats between schools is what it takes to get people to donate then I’m all for it. Inevitably that donated money will go towards finding cures for diseases so honestly I don’t think it matters the reason why a person donated. (The end justifies the means)