UM struggled in 2015

[John K]

Probably depends more on how you read it. He was making a comparison to UM, which was a national power when it had it's onslaught of problems. So unlike UM, MSU wasn't a national power at the time all hell broke loose, so that made it easier to swallow. But no need to quibble over it, because the main point I'm seeing is that the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And I agree that's what UM is experiencing.

Gotcha...I obviously misinterpreted Tom's comments (and apparently I wasn't the only one). Thanks for the clarification...that makes more sense.

[TomCat88]

Probably depends more on how you read it. He was making a comparison to UM, which was a national power when it had it's onslaught of problems. So unlike UM, MSU wasn't a national power at the time all hell broke loose, so that made it easier to swallow. But no need to quibble over it, because the main point I'm seeing is that the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And I agree that's what UM is experiencing.

Yeah. Pretty much.

[lutecat]

As I respond, I'm trying to put myself in the chair of a journalism professor grading a paper.

The whole article was written by an axe-to-grind, overly-left-wing, going-to-change-the-world, college student that is very obviously against anything an administration or other authority does that does not support the writer's personal beliefs. While his/her notions are based on simple facts, they omit any other facts and details that do not support what appears to be his/her very anti-athletics, left-wing agenda.

True, UM had a lousy year in terms of student growth, budget issues, questionable decisions. Not all is well in griz-land. But to me, this "article" is so heavily slanted that has no more value than any anonymous person posting on a site like this one or eGriz. It does not pass even a basic journalism "smell test".

I understand it is a student newspaper, but the writer lost all credibility early on when he/she wrote this gem:

"In the face of plummeting oil prices, the advancing Clean Power Act, and promising human extinction, the Regents remained steadfast that divestment is fiscally irresponsible for the University, and especially the oil industry"

The writer does not appear to have any grasp on the concept of how investments work, and that improvement in economy will drive oil back up and the UM Foundation will eventually be quite profitable. The best time to invest in a commodity is when it is way down. The writer is forgetting that the Foundation needs to be about revenue, not simply political or environmental beliefs. The writer also omits details about the funding of the athletic facilities and what that investment will return to the university as well. All while he/she takes some very easy pot-shots at the football team that a simple troll on a fan board would even pass up.

This is written like a "letter to the editor", not and "editorial". I would give it a D-

This.

I found the thing funny but poorly written. When CN tweeted it with the comment about how far things had fallen since he was there I initially took it to mean the athletics. However after thinking about it in wondered if he was referring to the student newspaper.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk