EMU commercials popping up during Lions football

As I’m sitting here watching the NFL pregame show before I watch my Lions tample the cheeseheads, I can’t help but enjoy seeing not one, not two, but three different EMU athletics commercials.  The first featured several student athletes who are promoting the campus as well as their athletic teams.  The second commercial was an ad for tickets for the next home football game, and the third was a general public statement about EMU athletics that featured Dr. Gragg, EMU’s athletic director (who I think has done an amazing job so far).

While I assume that these commercial are just aired locally through the Comcast network, I think that it is a perfect plan to advertise about EMU athletics to all those Lions fans out there, young and old.  Great job to EMU athletics marketing for grabbing hold of a great timeslot and for making some pretty good commercials.

Voters to be offered marijuana at the polls this November

There will be only two citizen initiatives on the Michigan election ballot this November.  After finally taking a break from the major civil rights issues that we have had to decide on during the past two main election cycles (same-sex marriage and affirmative action), Michigan ballot initiative drivers have brought us two issues that are controversial, but in my opinion not as “landmark” as previous results.

Proposal 1 is the initiative to allow for the prescription of marijuana as a medicinal treatment to terminally ill patients.   This issue has already taken effect in several states, and is most prominent in California, where recently medical pot vending machines have been installed in hospitals to allow secure and quick access to the pain-reliever and appetite-stimulator to those who truly need it.  Opponents claim that there are many better alternatives to prescribing marijuana for those purposes, and argue that this would be just a quick step away from legalizing the drug for recreational use.

Proposal 2 is the iniative to ease the intense state restrictions on stem cell research.  It would also provide for the ability for government-funded research to occur, while at the same time reinforce the state ban on human cloning.  Proponents argue that stem cell research could lead to cures to major diseases and afflictions such as Parkinsons, spinal injuries, and even diabetes.  They also argue that Michigan has one of the hardest penalties for using human embryos for stem cell research (10 years in prison and/or up to a $10 million fine) which prevents even the thought of it from happening.  Opponents of this initative hold mostly morality standpoints that are similar to a pro-life stance on abortion.  They claim that using human embryos basically is abortion and that the end results of a possibility of a medical breakthrough is not worth taking away the potential life of the embryos used.

I’m sure we will be hearing alot more about these issues in the coming months.

For any fantasy football players out there…

As many of you know, I am a HUGE football fan – college, pro, high school, anything.  I just finished my second (and main) fantasy football league tonight, and I figured that I should post the results of it and the results from a side league I’m playing in this season.   Let me know what you think, and feel free to post your own draft results.

Another Year is Here!

Toothpaste for Dinner, “College campus predators”

Fall semester is upon us, and another batch of new college students is arriving here at EMU tomorrow morning!

Oh the inspiration of the sight of the 2200 or so excited freshmen and their parents (who may even be more excited than their child at the thought of leaving home for college) breaking their backs moving televisions and couches into the residence halls, the feeling of an actual presence of life on campus after four long months of desolation, and the exuberance of the 130+ New Student Orientation Leaders (upperclassmen who have been training all week to guide the new students into their newly acquired ‘eagle-dom’).  It truly is my favorite time of the year.

Being that this is my fifth orientation as part of the fun (3 as an NSOA and this is my second year on the logistics team), I am once again excited about the opportunity to help make the transition from high school to college for all of these new EMU students a smooth and enjoyable one.  I’ll be one of the people flying around on golf carts, hopefully not into anything.

In the interest of new beginnings (like mine as a graduate student), I now present a list of ten predictions I have for EMU for the 2008-2009 school year! 

Let the Tuition Rate Hikes begin!

Well, it’s time for that annual summer ritual!  That’s right, setting tuition rates!  Below are the tuition rate increases (in percentages) that I have been able to find so far.  Interesting how GVSU went for quite a larger increase compared to other institutions.

Central 6.6

Eastern 7.7

Ferris State 6.3

Grand Valley  13

Lake Superior 8.9

Michigan Tech 8.2

Michigan State  6.8

Northern  5.5

Oakland 6.3

Saginaw Valley State – 3.7

University of Michigan – Ann Arbor  5.6
UM Flint – 5.8
UM Dearborn – 5.6

Wayne State 5.9

Western 9.2

So it looks like EMU is pretty average, which is good (not good that tuition has to increase at all, but that really can’t be helped much without significant increases in state appropriations).  EMU estimates about a 1% increase in state appropriations this year, which is pretty consistent with recent budget years across the board.

Figures from Detroit Channel 7 News (WXYZ), mlive.com newspapers, Michigan Daily, university websites/news releases

Harry Potter movie alluding to today’s educational system?

I finally got around to watching the latest Harry Potter movie – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.   I’m not a huge fan of the series, and I have only read the first book.  However while watching this movie I noticed a particular section of the movie that paralleled our public educational system, especially here in Michigan.

Early in the movie (about 35 minutes in), the new professor (brought in from the government – the “ministry of magic”) announces that everyone will be taking the “Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations”, aka the OWLs.  The format of the course that Harry and his classmates undertake is explained as a “carefully structured, ministy (government) approved” curriculum.  When the students question this new method of learning their defense of the dark arts spells and whatnot, the professor replies that “it is the view of the ministry (government) that a theoretical understanding of the material is sufficient enough to get you through your examinations, (and here comes my favorite part) which is what school is all about!”

Harry argues, “but how is theory supposed to prepare us for what’s out there?”   BINGO.

I can’t help but see this segment as a direct observation of our own school systems.  The Michigan Merit Exam (formerly the MEAP test) has determined the material that is taught in the classroom and even the method it is taught.  Teachers are required to cover the MME material first before discussing anything else, but because of the strong ties state funding has with the students’ exam results, most of the time only exam material is being taught – all theoretical and basic information.  Like Harry points out in the movie, there is very little practical knowlege bestowed as a result of “teaching the tests”, nothing about finding a job, getting into college, managing finances, and other ‘real-world’ abilities.

There is even talk of moving to a national standardized test, similar to the ACT, in order to “determine” what students should know before graduation.  *SPOILER ALERT*  The OWLs didn’t work out at Hogwarts, and they don’t seem to be here in Michigan.

Adventures in Thesis Writing, Part I

I’ve narrowed my work to being about three midwestern states that have very different approaches to public higher education:

Wisconsin - what I call the “pure system” approach, with all public universities and colleges falling under one board of trustees

Ohio - the opposite, “pure autonomy” approach, with all universities and colleges operating with their own board of governance

Michigan – the “hybrid” state, with a system (UMich – AA, Dearborn, and Flint) and autonomy (the other 11 institutions)

In researching the Ohio public universities, I discovered that all of the 13 Ohio institutions have 2 nonvoting student trustee members, which is mandated by Ohio law for each school. There have been efforts by students to push for voting members, but I need to do more research on the status of those.

Adventures in Thesis Writing, Prologue

It’s that time of the career – time to write my Senior Thesis.

I’ve been thinking about writing one since I first heard about having the option to do so, but I’ve had trouble settling on a topic until the last few months.    I’ve decided to write about university systems and governance, and specifically how students fit into that picture.

In my 4-5 years of student involvement, especially in student government-type endeavors, I have become quite supportive of the idea of having students on our board of regents.  I’m curious to see how this plays out in other states, as there are no student regents in the state of Michigan. I know that the larger public higher education systems are more welcoming to the idea of students on the board of governance, such as the University of Wisconsin system having at least one voting student, and the same for the UCal and Oregon systems.

So I’m going to research this idea and the history behind efforts to establish positions for students on university governance boards.  At least that’s the focus for now, but everyone knows you don’t always end up where you intend to go.  Wish me luck!

Pioneer students oppose cameras with 650-signature petition

In another example of student activism in the high school arena, the Ann Arbor News has an article  about a petition of more than 650 Pioneer High School students (led by the Student Council) standing against the proposed installation of more than 50 video cameras into the schools, recommended by the Ann Arbor Public Schools administration.  The A2PS Board of Ed was set to vote on the issue last night (Wed.) but it seems the petition prodded them to move the vote to the next meeting at the end of January.

According to the article, the students plan to collect more than two-thirds of the student body population (3,000 – wow that’s a lot of students in one building) before the January 23rd vote, and they have the support of parents and the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Way to go students!

Comcast to switch public access channels to digital

Public access channels are about to get a little less publicly accessible. In flipping through the channels this morning, I noticed that on the five cable public access channels (15-19) there was a banner along the lower part of the screen telling us about another one of Comcast’s brilliant moves.

Starting in January Comcast is moving all of the public access channels to the 900 section on its digital cable offerings. That means that in order to watch the local meetings (often only Ann Arbor city council and boards, but still good tv) and the quite good local shows (like my favorite with the guy who reviews records with a talking plastic lobster) one must purchase digital cable and their digital cable box. I’m not sure about the numbers, but I’m guessing that a majority of the people who watch the public access channels are just getting the basic $12 cable package, and aren’t interested in the $50-75 increase a month for the bells and whistles of digital cable and the ‘on-demand’ stuff.

Comcast is offering to supply the digital box for free for the first year, but after 2008 everyone would have to shell out the big bucks just to watch their local meetings and community shows.

For those of you who are keeping track, this is Comcast’s third massive consumer piss-off maneuver, with the first being the change of “customer service” locations to include bulletproof glass and tighter security than banks, and the second screwup being the whole fiasco with not including the Big Ten Network (I’m surprised Ann Arbor hasn’t just started their own cable services, with all the crap they’ve had to put up with).

Just another reasons to support public television and radio – so that Comcast won’t control it.