Our Specialty is Whining

Join the Opinion Podcast as they talk about drinking alone. It’s actually about why it is or is not socially acceptable. Podcast participants touch on whether it is the substance itself or its origins (traditional uses).

So, this week I wanted to say The State News backed the winning horses in Michigan’s gubernatorial primary. I want to add that I think Virg Bernero will win. The choice of Detroit as a venue for his victory celebration speaks volumes. That is where his bread will be buttered. If he can mobilize the massive Democratic voting block in Metro Detroit, he will win.

Essentially, his strategy will be to play up his everyman status in Detroit while projecting a more dignified and statesman-like image to the west side of the state. Despite that prediction, I almost want to see Rick Snyder win. Don’t get me wrong, I disagree whole-heartedly with many of his policies. His educational approach is everything I hate about how schools are run. However, I feel Republicans tend to fall into lockstep with their leadership, no matter if they are moderate or hard-liners. If Snyder employs a moderate approach — a measured approach — to Michigan’s problems, he could actually bring Democrats and Republicans. He should use his political outsider status and moderate policies to build bridges. That’s what a moderate should do. Moderate.

Four articles this week. Two obvious ones from the worlds of sports and politics and one from opinion that stirred some crap up the minute it was printed. I hesitate to add one because Eliot Singer — fallacious as always — appears multiple times. Anyway, onward.

Comments are listed in order of story popularity as of Thursday afternoon.

The criteria:

• Minimal name-calling
• Clearly written
• Relevant to the topic

Have at you.

Izzo: Chris Allen removed from basketball team

I saw this headline and immediately thought, “so?” Spartan4Life pretty much summed up how I felt. The men’s basketball team lacks consistency, getting rid of an inconsistent player is a step in the right direction. Also, no killer instinct.

Spartan4Life said: “Let’s be honest Chris was a good player but he was streaky & unreliable. I doubt that Izzo asked much, hopefully now they can be more united!!”

96Alumni said: “It’s too bad he couldn’t get his shit together enough to please Izzo. Maturity has to be a big factor- why else would you not do what’s necessary to stay with the Spartans? Where do you go from here? Not good enough for the NBA yet, not likely to go to a top tier NCAA team. I hope for Allen’s sake that he’s not kicking himself years from now on how he messed up an opportunity of a lifetime to compete at this level and have the potential of getting into the NBA.”

Bull Winkle said: “Good. Sorry Allen has to take it on the chin going in as a senior but likely he’ll grow from the experience.
No super star and players like him are a dime a dozen. With Coach Izzo you’re either part of the team or you’re not which is good. Bad decision(s)on Allen’s part.”

Renovations to E.L. Amtrak station possible after U.S. Senate approves $2.5M in funding

I’m going to call out one commenter, Once again, the State News bites…, because of the shear stupidity of his or her comment. First, it accuses the reporter of having no independent thought. If there was an independent thought, it would be considered biased reporting. Now, if your point is about analysis click over to the opinion page and you’ll find it. And this B.S., actually says nothing, “Anyone who has used Amtrak knows it is hanging on by a thread in East Lansing; it is will NEVER become the center of any transportation hub.” That statement has no arguments and no claims. It starts with a fallacy and then ends with an unsupported claim. In other words, it’s worthless. Perhaps this commenter should refrain from posting on the Internet until he or she has learned how to make statements with substance. Onward.

PD said: ”City officials hope the full Senate and House approve the appropriations bill so the 35-year-old Amtrak Station, 1240 S. Harrison Road, can be redeveloped as a multi-modal transit center that could anchor new, yet-to-be-determined business developments in the southern portion of East Lansing.

Muti-modal transit center to anchor yet to be determined new businesses. Sounds like typical BS. East Lansing is not a transportation hub. Lansing is not a transportation hub. The Capitol City “international” airport is smaller than most civil aviation airports. What a joke. Arrogance and politics at its best!”

Really necessary? said: “I’ve never understood why people think the current station is so terrible (and I catch trains and buses there dozens of times a year). That said, it does seem like it could use a capacity boost, as the people waiting for a train frequently overflow out of the building. But if we do this, let’s try to do it on the cheap and not create a “New Farm Lane” or “New Brody” sort of extravagance. People, this is a bus station, not a palace of kings.

Also, bets on long before for some Tea Party type starts jumping up and down like Rumpelstiltskin and screaming about how this project is singlehandedly to blame for our national debt? This apparent belief that every dollar the government spends (except on the military) is automatically flushed down the drain is really dangerous to our country and our economy. This, combined with complete paranoia about taxes, is the reason our infrastructure is falling apart and other nations like China are pulling ahead.”

Eliot Singer said: “I’m going to chime in again, even if there is no one out there.
You can be a proponent of AMTRAK and train travel, which I am, and still question this project.
First, the money is from HUD. If the city wants to get our Senators to push for some HUD money, is renovating the train station a top priority? As an end in itself, of course a new station would be nicer than the current one if there was an infinite amount of money. But could the money be better spent? I certainly think so. Of course, if it were AMTRAK money, it could be better spent keeping the train running instead of using state funding that could then be used for scholarships, etc. and may well disappear given the state budget crisis.

Second, city government isn’t in the slightest interested in renovating the train station. They are seeking seed money for their transportation hub, which is why they wanted a lot more from HUD than needed to renovate the station. These people are simply not capable of giving up on a stupid development idea. They will never say, guess we were wrong, let alone say they’re sorry to critics who warned about City Center II from day one or who pointed out last year that this transportation hub idea made no sense.

I seriously doubt the top brass in East Lansing city hall use the train, let alone bus service, like the low-lifes. This is about another excuse for developers to build something paid for by taxpayers.”

Bernero, Snyder to face off in November

Called it, ‘nough said.

Patrick Bateman said: “Was really hoping for snyder-dillon, 2 moderates who use common sense, not partisan rhetoric (who the hell cares about abortion in a recession?) I appreciate big labor, but it’s not a way to create jobs. Bernero talks about the jobs saved in his city, but Lansing is hardly a beacon of prosperity. My vote’s Rick. Snyder reminds me of Romney.”

Matt said: “I usually vote dem, but Snyder has my vote this go around. I really like the idea of having a non-politician with high-tech experience. The Ann Arbor economy is one of the few bright spots in the state, thanks in part to VC types like him. Economic growth, but without the lets-teach-religion-in-science-class nonsense of Devos… Sounds better than Virg’s 1950s idea of “more unions”…”

Townsend said: “I’m sticking with Virg. Seems the SN, and other media outlets are really fawning over Snyder. The “One Tough Nerd” moniker is positive, compared to the “Angry” man moniker for Bernero. Plus, I think people may brush Bernero off as merely a local politician as opposed to Snyder, who once helmed a top Computer company…

… I just hope that, when the media stops fawning, how the People of Michigan can back a candidate (Snyder) who’s party (the Republicans), led to the Financial collapse? How you can be AGAINST the Dems whose top pol (Obama) fought off Republican desires to simply let GM fail; and where Obama had to come in, later, and fire GM’s CEO who followed failed principals, where, now, the end result is GM turning a profit and hiring 5,000 employees in struggling Michigan, alone, and where Snyder’s party supports tea party crazies, who now want to amend the 14th Amendment to bar native born (so called “anchor babies), kids who’s parents happen to be undocumented individuals (see: Hispanic)? … and these are just a few.

Let’s hope the smart people of Michigan actually THINK before they vote for an unknown guy just because he’s been painted as this hip, cool (yet nerdy) guy from Ann Arbor who, somehow, isn’t as bad as the crazies in the party he’s now carrying the banner for…. THINK people!”

Website returns power to people

I read through the New York Times reasoning for publishing the leaked documents, it was sound. Personally, I don’t care much for government secrecy or organizations bowing down to the government (military) because they are afraid of retribution. This whole country is based on adversity. The courts, the economics, the politics, all run on the idea that truth and prosperity is only reached through competition. News organizations find and published information the government attempts to cover it up. Sometimes the news wins, sometimes the government does. Point is, if people are so pissed off about what Wikileaks did, they should ask first why it was possible. One more thing, the CIA funded and the mujahadeen in Afghanistan who in turn spread those techniques to other groups.

Maria said: “The columnist states that the freedom of speech and freedom of the press should not be paid for in blood. I disagree. Many Americans have died for the freedom of speech and of the press. It started in 1776. Our soldiers are fighting for those freedoms to this day.”

Sparty said: ”What the author fails to understand is that some of these reports contained the names of Afghans who provided America with information on Taliban and AQ. They were not properly redacted.
If you think that the Taliban and AQ aren’t reading these you’re a moron.
Those poor souls are going to probably die, terribly. That is 100% the fault of wikileaks and serves no useful purpose other than for people like you, Matt, to simply gawk at classified information you have no need for, which provides no useful info to the US public.

People will die because of this. Corresponding with Freedom is Responsibility. We have an obligation to be responsible in how we use our freedoms. This is not responsible.”

Stop oil wars said: ”And thousands of civilians in Afghanistan have died since 2001, and thousands more have died indirectly as a result of the poverty, disease, famine, and misery that results with living in a perpetual war zone where the infrastructure is destroyed by constant bombing.

Whatever the official party line is about the war, or whatever can be gleaned from wikileaks about US atrocities in a sovereign nation, it’s clear that all parties place an abysmally low value on the life and health of the people of Afghanistan—be they enemy, civilian, covert ally, whatever.
People want to say something about the wars, say it. People want to find out more about the wars, research it. These are the crucial first steps to ending them.

I don’t agree with the notion that soldiers are now fighting for anything resembling freedom— American, Afghani Iraqi or any other freedom. There is an overwhelming body of evidence (including the wikileaks documents) suggesting these wars are not taking us in the direction of “more” freedom.

Afghani people are routinely tortured and brutalized, US wounded receive grossly inadquate care and in some cases deneid their right to medical care through misapplied “personality disorder” discharges, combat stress is through the roof. Dissidence to the war is met with prosecution without due process, as is the case with Assange and Pfc Manning, intimidation, dispossession, and so on.

Further, the primary interests served in invading defenseless countries are defense contractor conglomerates, investments firms, and oil companies, none of whom have any accountability to the public who is now deep in debt for funding these wars.”

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Thanks for reading. Thanks for posting.
Enjoy the weekend.

OK, this week there are four stories; one of them was popular enough that rose to the second most popular story in one day. Naturally, it had to do with the university trying to squeeze as much money out of students as possible. Chill out, MSU; just raise that tuition a little more.

Seriously, increasing the rate on parking tickets? “But, David,” the imaginary university officials in my head say, “We just want to update the law.” Right. Look, I don’t know why officials don’t come out and say what they mean, or rather, what I think they mean. There is untapped potential in parking violations. MSU wants the revenue, and this is the best way to get it. I get it. Stop trying to B.S. a B.S.er (I can’t type the whole word … journalistic standards for the win, or FTW?)

Comments are listed in order of story popularity as of Thursday afternoon.

The criteria:

• Minimal name-calling
• Clearly written
• Relevant to the topic

Have at you.

University is still behind the times

There are three things at issue here: the accuracy of the writers’ comments, michmediaperson and Lucasta. To the first I say, commenters were probably in the right for pointing this out. As Drew points out, using the correct information goes directly to credibility. Even if Matt Manning had good points, they were hurt by the questionable nature of his facts. The next two things can be summarized like this: michmediaperson, you’re burnt. Bonus knowledge: Lucasta is the first volume of poetry produced by Richard Lovelace. Knowledge is sexy.

Drew commented:
“I would take your concern over how your tuition dollars are spent more seriously if you actually did the research to figure out what you are and aren’t paying for. The Athletic Department and Residential and Hospitality Services Division, for example, which funded the football building and new cafeterias, are financially independent from the university and do not, in fact, receive tuition dollars.

Those expenses are investments that will help those offices remain profitable in the future, and benefit the university as a whole. I’m glad somebody with a better perspective is making the long-term decisions at the university, because cutting all new projects for the sake of fiscal responsibility is a recipe for a decaying university that nobody wants to attend.”

michmediaperson commented:
“Hey Lucasta, maybe the PHD’s and the academic departments should examine athletics and figure out how they’re making a profit. MSU, Ohio State and Michigan are making a lot of $$$$ in athletics. I wonder how many midnight and 2 a.m. evenings Tom Izzo, Dantonio, their coaches and staff they’re working. They put in a lot of hours. You’re a lucky to find a professor who teaches more than six hours a week. Academic people don’t know how to make a profit, let alone break-even.
As far as tuition, etc., you students keep voting for the Democrats who are running up the biggest deficits in history, keep growing government, etc.

There is so much waste and duplication in higher education in this state that it’s not even funny. Why don’t you students take the lead. I’ll give you three ideas you can start with:
1. Why do most Michigan universities offer an advertising major in both the business/advertising school and the journalism school. Consolidate it and you can eliminate offices, utilities, professors, secretaries, printing, website and so many other costs.

2. Why is the state allowing all these other universities to get into the medical school business. It’s a waste of money. MSU, Michigan and Wayne State should be the three medical schools.
3. Why does WMU, Grand Valley, Central, MSU and some of the other schools all have PBS radio and/or television stations? With the advent of satellite, you could have one PBS radio and one PBS TV station throughout Michigan. Do you realize the millions and millions and millions of dollars of savings in personnel, program costs, etc.
I’d bet I could find 50 million dollar or more expenditures at MSU and other universities.
So, why don’t you students quit whining about tuition hikes, crowded classrooms and do something about it.
Let me give you one more. Textbooks. Someone has to explain to me how Bill Clinton, George Bush, George Bush II, Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama can write a book about the presidency and sell it at Borders, Barnes & Noble or on Amazon for about $25…..yet some college professor PHD, who has never been to the White House and doesn’t have a clue about being president, writes a textbook that retails at $175 at the college bookstore.

Why doesn’t MSU and the other universities force authors to put their books on line for a nominal and I mean, nominal fee.
Just some ideas.”

Lucasta commented:
“You’re absolutely right, michmediaperson. It is completely the students’ fault that universities are experiencing financial crises. They aren’t proactive enough in demanding things of their universities, and are now just reaping the benefits of having voted for those wasteful Democrats. Because tuition hikes only happen under Democratic government.

I could respond to you point by point, but since I don’t believe in grandstanding about things of which I know nothing, let me say this: we both agree that the funding for academics needs to change. I disagree that academics can learn something about profit-making from athletics. They are totally different in both their economic structures and in the types of funding available to them. Although some academic units have outside funding (engineering received some money from Dow Chemical), most don’t. Just because most academic units aren’t able to land an athletic-type deal with Nike doesn’t mean they should go under. The university’s first function is to provide a quality education, and it thus has a responsibility to keep academic departments afloat. A “real-world” business model simply isn’t applicable to university budgets.

And lastly: I know many professors who put in “midnight and 2 a.m. evenings.” You might see them lecturing for only 6 hours a week, but they are doing much more than that. Why do you think that textbook is $175? Because it represents years of intensive research, which is not something you get from a $25 presidential biography. That research is conducted while the professor is teaching, presenting his/her work at conferences so that he/she stays current in the field of research, attending departmental committee meetings to ensure that the administration of the department runs smoothly, mentoring students, and trying to raise families. It is an insult to say that a professor’s published work should retail for a nominal fee. Yes, the work is expensive, but that’s why there are libraries that give you free access to it.”

MSU seeks update to campus traffic, parking ticket law

I already talked about this, but I would like to add something. I would like to thank the commenters who drew comparisons to the Lansing State Journal article. News does not happen in a vacuum, and these stories offer a perfect example of when reading between the lines is helpful. This comment by faculty made me scratch my head: I’m actually in favor of this. $25 isn’t much of a deterrent to illegal activity; maybe if the fine for illegal parking was $50, people would think twice about it. And if it helps stop speeding around campus, that can only help as well.” Because parking fines have a huge effect on speeding. Logic burn.

Shame MSU commented:
“This is a disgrace. MSU already fleeces its students by not providing parking to begin with and now you want to potentially tripple the fines on campus?
MSU already has some of the highest parking prices in Michiga and a recent study already showed that MSU makes far and away more than any other community even close to its size on parking tickets. This is another way to take more from its own students.
Steve Webster & Trustees – dont you have better things to do like doing your job to keep education funding as opposed to screwing students over yet again?”

Cha Ching commented:
“It’s all about the money. There was a recent article in the LSJ about how EL and AA are raking in the dough from parking tickets when compared to other cities/towns throughout MI.
I wish other commuter safety issues would be enforced more vigorously than parking. Speeding on campus, stopping in bike lanes or pedestrian crossings, etc.”

Lucasta commented:
“The LSJ reports that parking fines in East Lansing and MSU have been lucrative. “In recent years, MSU itself has collected $2.5 million annually.”
link to article here: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100621/NEWS01/306210017/Parking-tickets-prolific-in-East-Lansing”

Schools can find better solutions

Something about Chrissy worries me. And SIGP226 steps in with a little bit of clever. That is all.

Chrissy to Nah commented:
“Nah, you can’t blame the kids parents if the kid that is being bullied can’t take it. Bulling can be very damaging. Glad to hear that you were able to handle it, but often times kids can’t. WHY do you think there were those HS Shootings? Some kids committ suicide because they were bullied. Try not to group everyone in the same category. We all react to things differently. We are also born with a certain nature and then you add how we have been raised to the mix of things.

I myself stood UP to these 2 very nasty girls when I was in HS, they were total bi*ches. They picked on anyone who spoke in class,while giving their answers etc. These girls tried to intimidate the other students most of the time. I finally had enough and I stood up and told them that we were all sick of them and what they had to say! I told them to shut up and if they didn’t have something nice to say, then keep their rude comments to their selves.

Hahaha, their faces turned bright red and the class clapped and thanked me, it was the most uplifting thing I had ever felt in HS. I had had enough of them and so did everyone else.”

SIGP226 commented:
“Hahaha, their faces turned bright red and the class clapped and thanked me,…”
Wow. A real “Blackboard Jungle” …

Lexi commented:
“Remember “I’m rubber and you’re glue. What you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” Who cares what a bunch of jerkwads say on line. They don’t know you. Your self esteem shouldn’t depend on them. Communicate with your kids so they can be independent people.”

Where to put the Big Ten Championship

… in Uranus. HAHAHAHAHAHA! /drops mic, cries, attempts to eat own foot. Big up’s to Jason B for keeping it real in the comment section.

Jason B commented:
“John, what does that have to do with anything? Please keep your irrelevant remarks to yourself.
As nice as it would be to have the champ game close at Ford Field, I like the idea of rotating it. Would just give me a chance to see another stadium for big ten football.”

zt commented:
“I like the rotate idea as well, but would add Cleveland Brown’s Stadium. It is not as central as some, but not too far out of the way. It is outdoor, on the lake, downtown, and has a larger capacity than others mentioned.”

96Alumn commented:
“Too bad they aren’t considering any of the actual school’s statiums since most of not all of the ones mentioned are smaller venues than many of the Big-Ten’s stadiums. Of course, no one would want to give home field advantage, so rotating it would be preferred.”

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Thanks for reading. Thanks for posting.
Enjoy the weekend.

Join the Opinion Podcast as they talk about the Iranian government’s decision to stone a girl who allegedly committed adultery. For the most part, it seems the podcast doesn’t know what to do with the information. It seems so obviously wrong, the commentators wander around the issue for a bit before coming back to their preliminary conclusions.

This week’s stories are the least popular of the popular articles. I hope readers realize we do follow-up articles with more information in them. It’s, like, news and whatnot. Read it. No more preamble, get to it.

Comments are listed in order of story popularity as of Thursday afternoon.

The criteria:

• Minimal name-calling
• Clearly written
• Relevant to the topic

Have at you.

University handling of MSU Dubai lacked tact

ALUMNI, ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE

MSUAlum2001 commented:
“@MSUAlum2007,
I read both pieces. My comment refers to your quoted part and this paragraph in the Editorial.
“Moreover, the handling of this situation shows a callous disregard toward the students. …The statement MSU’s actions send is ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ MSU Dubai students aren’t going to rally at the Administration Building or show up in force at the MSU Board of Trustees’ meetings. Their voices and faces are thousands of miles away and, because they are few, the impact — if any — of their protests would be small.”
You’re criticizing me for something not even related. The fact is theMSU Dubai students did meet with the administration and got concessions if they do indeed transfer to EL. And if you dig deeper into why some may not be able to transfer in this fall it is because they come from countries that tend to have a more complicated Visa process.
So seriously, when you’ve got something better get back to me.
It is a crappy deal for many and I won’t deny that but the University has made concessions.”

MSUAlum2007 commented:

“@MSUAlum2001
“the impact — if any — of their protests would be small.
Those concessions are small. Combined with the quote I gave in my earlier post, this seems to be a valid conclusion.
In terms of transparency let’s take a look at at this line from the article you provided:
“University chiefs bowed to student pressure and granted concessions on fees and flights home yesterday after negotiations with the studentsâ association.”

The story was published on July 7, a Wednesday. MSUD was closed on Tuesday. That means on the same day, either immediately before or after the announcement was made (which you can note, was received via e-mail)students had to take the initiative and essentially and demand some kind of reparation for being blindsided. Same day = not transparent. In the paragraph you provided in your second post there is nothing to validate your opinion. The point appears to be that because MSUD students are in Dubai, they have no presence on the East Lansing campus. No presence means little impact. It’s the difference between getting another semester and having programs terminated “effective immediately”.

Yes, the university made concessions, the editorial doesn’t argue that they didn’t. What it does argue is that those concessions don’t mean much. Whether it’s Visas, cultural change, lodging, health problems waiving fees and covering airfare doesn’t matter. As the conclusion states, it is lip service.

My point is that if you want to call someone stupid and lazy that assertion needs to be backed up and you haven’t done that. Brush up on your reading comprehension first, then “when youâ ve got something better get back to me.””

MSU Dubai commented:
“We are offered no concessions except air fare. They said we pay MSU Dubai fees in Lansing —but that isn’t a “concession”, if anything, all our costs have actually doubled.”

U2 concert at MSU rescheduled for June 26, 2011

U2 commenters always worry me. It is still next year, right? U2Bites throws in a little sarcasm to put things in perspective. Nothing against U2, but “Get on Your Boots” sucked. And then Justice remixed it and made it rock. Kind of reminds me of when Nas pointed out Jay-Z had been “murdered” on his own track by Eminem.

Chrissy commented:
“Great News! I hope Bono is recovering as well as can be expected!!! Now I think I will go take a listen to “New Year’s Day”, okay world, I may have to turn up the volume, bare with me please! Time to dance!!!! (LOVE this SONG!)”

U2Bites commented:
“You, too?! I can’t wait for next year! Bare with me while I turn up the volume to drown out the voices in my head. OMG – I’m just so happy Boner’s feeling better. Time to dance!”

Common Ground kicks off 11th year in Lansing

I would like to thank Ed for pointing out the classism. I would add the only thing worth seeing at Common Ground this year is the rap acts on Saturday. Your boy, holla at him.

Won’t go commented:
“common ground. the place to go if you want to see the true low lifes of lansing. you can be sure that you won’t see on bmw, or sit next to any doctors. but you’ll probably hear multiple stories of people ‘saving up all year’ for their tickets…
nothing but a bunch of ‘has been’ acts anyway.”

Ed commented:
“I’m not down with your classist vibe, but I have to agree about the line-up. Would it kill them to include one or two interesting, intelligent indie bands along with all the radio-friendly pabulum and nostalgia acts?
(Maybe someone should let them know there is a university with 40,000 students just a few miles east).”

exactly! commented:
“you just proved my point! by the time Styx performed at commonground (2000 & 2006 Dennis DeYoung (lead singer, song writer, and piano player) had left the band. what you saw was a glorified styx cover band with a new lead singer. sure the guitar players are the same, but the singer really makes the band. thats like saying you saw Creedence Clearwater Revival once they replaced Fogerty. its just not the same. a bunch of ‘has beens’”

Bonus story

Academic culture breeds cheating

Personally, I wasn’t offended by the comment below, but it does give me a chance to point out the best way to spot a racist. “I’m not a racist, but …” always leads to something racist. What is most disturbing is how the person can’t boil his or her claim down to see how it might be racist. Whatever, chalk it up to idiocy and move on.

You’re not going to like this commented:
“You may not like this fact, but I have an interesting observation: I attended MSU for electrical and computer engineering. I knew a lot of people in the program. I was shocked when I realized that each and every one of my American black friends was cheating, and doing so BLATANTLY. They seemed to have the attitude that since they were black, no one would mess with them for fear of allegations of racism.

Now, let me say again, those were blacks from America. Not from other countries. I did not know a single black foreigner that cheated. I would use another group of people as an example, but if any of my white friends cheated, I think I’d have noticed in the 4 years I spent with them. I am not saying that white kids don’t cheat, I just suspect that the white kids that did cheat were not my friends, nor did they sit near me because I would have told the instructor.

So, if we look at that one group of people that I knew, and see that it’s only the Americans that are cheating, I guess we can assume that we have a problem.

I think the problem is the attitude of entitlement that kids seem to have nowadays. These kids had convinced themselves that the teachers were just “too hard” and that cheating was therefore justified. They truly believe that they deserve a passing grade, with little effort. One of the kids friends was a teachers assistant, and his friend was able to get the final exam for one of our classes. They were in that minority affairs office in the engineering building (like a study room), quietly passing it around and writing down the solutions. Every one of those kids scored well on that final, while I hardly got a mediocre grade, and I will never forget that.

I’m not racist, I am just using a bunch of American blacks that I knew as an example. I think that American kids are becoming more and more worthless every day, and that they will continue to drag our academic standards down.”

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Thanks for reading. Thanks for posting.
Enjoy the weekend.

Join the Opinion Podcast as they discuss the strange case of Aimee L. Sword. Sword was arrested and eventually convicted of several charges stemming from the sex acts she performed with her 14-year-old son. We delve into the parts that make up this rather unappealing whole.

There were only two articles that cracked the front page in this short week. The No. 1 story was about the closing of undergraduate programs at MSU Dubai — referenced as MSUD in some comments. Some of the problems with anonymous commenting is that it is nearly impossible to tell whether someone commenting as an MSU Dubai student is telling the truth. Still, if those commenters are the real thing, I feel for you. Some commenters took the time to both sympathize and offer understanding, while others were less, um, eloquent … which is to be expected.

The second set of comments come from a column written by Cristina Toscano. I agree with her position on bestowal of the title of valedictorian — it’s for the best student as decided by the school in question. Someone commented “A GPA should be the only factor considered. It is the only objective factor. Other activities, leadership, and volunteer work cannot be quantitatively measured.” So? You can quantitatively measure the distance a student lives away from school, therefore that can be a factor. The amount of activities and areas where one is recognized as a leader also can be measured quantitatively.

The quality of said work can be ascertained by interviewing a student’s supervisor. There are plenty of factors that could be taken into consideration to create a tie-breaker. Now, if all these things come out equal — which is unlikely, but possible — officials should pick one at random or have none at all. If all choices are equally good, then it won’t matter. The decision is arbitrary anyway. I think the whole “quantitative vs. qualitative” argument is moot because there is no standard, schools pick and choose. I would take the thrust of Cristina’s argument to be, “There can be only one.”

Comments are listed in order of story popularity as of Thursday afternoon.

The criteria:

• Minimal name-calling
• Clearly written
• Relevant to the topic

Have at you.

Financial woes, low enrollment cited as reasons for ending MSU Dubai undergrad programs

This is a sampling of the (currently) two pages worth of comments posted under the story. I really suggest reading through them to get an idea of how the students at MSU Dubai are taking the news. There is a general consensus that MSU administrators totally jobbed MSUD students. I agree. AND WRITE LETTERS.

Casualty of War commented:
“I am a student at MSUD, and the official announcement just came out that all undergraduate programs are to be shut down, effective immediately.
I, as well as all of my counterparts, were extremely upset and angered by the news. MSU gave us no warning, and now, with less than two months left until the fall semester begins, we find ourselves university-less. This treatment of students is absolutely unacceptable. They claim that they will aid in transitioning us to EL, meanwhile failing to realize that it is not possible for all of us to pick up and leave. I once valued and esteemed Michigan State University as an educational institution. Now, I’m just trying to sort through the fragments it left behind…
So much for being a Spartan.”

RE: Casualty commented:
“I’m sorry the administration did this to you and treated you that way. I’d like to say as a fellow (East Lansing) Spartan, that i’m sorry your MSU experience was this way and i’d like some answers from the Administration as to why they acted in this manner.
Hopefully the State News will try and do some real investigative journalism rather than just printing whatever they find in Dubai newspapers or from Denbow.
“Old Timer” it was right for ASMSU to meet with students in Dubai, it’s not as if they’re the ones who decided to close the campus…”

Sparty commented:
“I would strongly suggest MSUD students write letters to the editor in the State News and the Lansing State Journal (www.lsj.com)exposing what a disgrace this closing process has been and the callous disregard the administration has taken in how its carrying it out.”

KJ Green commented:
“The biggest mistake an organization can make is not unwinding an initiative or activity that was a mistake in the first place or, that by time, has proven to be a mistake. How the organization winds it down, however, shows a lot about that organization.
From the sounds of other comments, it appears that MSU has dropped the ball in how they have withdrawn this program. They appear to have terminated the students/program in the very same manner that impersonal corporations have done with their employees over the past two years.
I’m interested to hear more about the particulars of this process, but for now I have one suggestion for MSU: you might want to adjust the MSU Dubai website which portrays an appearance of business as usual.”

Recent Alumni commented:
“I remember when they announced they were building it. Spent all that money building that thing overseas meanwhile raising tuition on students in East Lansing.. seems to me that the business/development department at the school needs to reassess where they put their assets.”

Hardest workers deserve accolade

Just one thing to add: Competition isn’t the only way to get things done. There is some kind of cult of contention in this country; it isn’t always for the best. You’ve been warned.

mvt commented:
“I’m glad to see that you’ve seen through the charade, Cristina.
The ‘educators’ who take the positions you describe are not doing their charges any favors. By trying to somehow protect them from competition they are failing to properly prepare them for life. Some people get the promotion, some do not. Some people get laid off or fired because they are not doing the job well enough. It is simply a part of life.
I had to laugh when our local school district was about to do away with Valedictorian/Salutatorian designations completely. The principal (and advocate of the change) was the former basketball coach. Did he shrink from naming the starters for his team when he coached ? No. Competing for playing time makes players better. Learning to handle the disappointment of not quite making number one can also be positive for personal growth.”

Syndrome commented:
“Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super…
…no one will be.
Good article.”

Grades are everything commented:
“A GPA should be the only factor considered. It is the only objective factor. Other activities, leadership, and volunteer work cannot be quantitatively measured. If one person has a 4.0, that person should be valedictorian. If five people have 4.0 GPAs, then all five should be valedictorians. “[but] I certainly can empathize with the student who knows for a fact they worked harder to deserve the title more than the person standing next to them.” Wow, that is quite an ignorant statement. All three individuals you mentioned has the same exact GPA. Whether or not one of those individuals worked harder is irrelevant. Different people require different amounts of effort. If someone can achieve GPA perfection while “not working as hard” as others, then more power to that person. The tile of valedictorian should be based upon merit alone.”

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Thanks for reading. Thanks for posting.
Enjoy the weekend.