I’m tired of hearing about how much we’re spending on defense and the military.

It’s a well known fact that the military budget of the United States is almost as large as the rest of the world’s combined defense spending.

Estimates run from $660 billion to over a trillion dollars in the defense budget for 2010, about 5 percent of our GDP.

The new budget from the White House will have the U.S. spending above $2 billion every day.

And with good reason; US troops are deployed in more than 150 countries around the world, we’re fighting two major wars, several ostentatiously-named peacekeeping missions, and the ubiquitous global war on terror.

It’s undoubtedly expensive to keep the tanks greased, planes fueled and soldiers paid.

Though that’s simplifying it; defense spending includes $4 billion spent on recruiting, which also figures in about $22,000 in entitlement bonuses and the $1,600 spent on advertising for each recruit that enlisted.

Remember America’s Army, the free video game the DoD released a few years back?

Somebody got paid to make it.

Recently we celebrated the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. – I was struck by a quote. Rev. King said, “When a nation becomes obsessed with the guns of war, social programs must inevitably suffer. We can talk about guns and butter all we want to, but when the guns are there with all of its emphasis you don’t even get good oleo. These are facts of life.”

The words rang even more truly when the New York Times reported the president was going to freeze spending, excluding important programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and of course defense.

It’s a common talking point to cite the dangers of international terrorism as a justification for maintaining and increasing military spending.

Nobody wants to be seen as soft on the enemy. But when it comes to the state of our armed forces, as thinly stretched as they are, it is an obvious fact that there is no comparable conventional force on the planet.

Yet we continue to fund the military and train troops to fight with the same mindset of the British during the American revolutionary war.

As the British wore bright uniforms, marched in a straight line, and were cut to ribbons by guerilla fighters across their empire, we pour money into high tech hardware while our enemies handle obsolete soviet weapons we bought for them decades ago.

We occupy Iraqi and Afghani cities and are (surprise!) seen as the invading occupiers.

We are fighting a cultural and ideological force with all the finesse of a wood 2×4.

Meanwhile, defense contractors enjoy the opportunity to “support our troops” by turning a huge profit and American businesses enjoy the new potential markets in so-called stabilized zones.

Taking a closer look at the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, civilian deaths are a subject of much dispute, but studies say anywhere between 100,000 and a million have died in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, numbers easily suggest tens of thousands have died unnecessarily.

While some collateral damage is a fact of war, the fact that the military does not release official body counts and estimates suggest only 20,000 or so casualties suggests we’ve successfully killed more people who did nothing to deserve it than we have the targets the military intended.

This policy of accepting excessive civilian deaths, combined with a colonialist mentality of “the only acceptable government is our government” and never-ending occupation, suggests the war is one of attrition, and that defense is the furthest thing from the DoD’s mind.

When “defense” takes the form of an overwhelming force which answers to no one and consumes money sorely missed in a shaky economy, the money spent becomes revenue for what I call an offense budget.

Ironic to think that we have a Department of Defense (renamed in the late 40’s from the more accurate “Department of War”), yet no Department of Peace (despite numerous propositions).

At the same time we have defense spending, which conveniently encompasses all offense spending. And all this time, more people are forced to get by on the oleo Rev. King mentioned.

Would we pay for an offense budget? Probably not. Will people keep signing up and heading off as long as we call it defense? Most definitely.

The story of Mary Jean Price was never forgotten, but failed to receive much attention over the years.

Dare To Excel, a promotional publication that reviews the history of the Missouri State University, mentions Price as the first African American applicant to Missouri State – and her rejection – but fails to detail the situation.

In light of the resurgence of interest in her story, students are surprised to learn about this forgotten part of the school’s history.

“She really needs to be brought to the limelight instead of being brushed off into history,” said Jeremy Fain, a member of the Delta Tau Christian fraternity. As far as recognizing the past, he said the school should at least do something to acknowledge her, because we all make mistakes. Still, he wonders, “Should we be responsible for the wrongs of the previous generation?”

But Terry Walls, son of Price, is very insistent on the need for reconciliation.

“If this is what we’re learning, we need to start re-learning,” he said. “It’s a sad commentary this type of apathy exists in 2010. You can’t rectify what you don’t recognize.”

Other students agree as well. Nursing student Stephanie Neuman suggested the school at least say something, maybe apologize outright.

Since the renewed interest in Mary Jean Price, Missouri State officials are still trying to figure out how to deal with this issue.

“Several individuals at the university have seen this story and found it historically interesting and personally inspiring,” Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President Paul Kincaid said in an emailed statement. “The university is still determining an appropriate response.”

Wes Pratt, Coordinator for Diversity Outreach and Recruitment, emailed that, “the best apology for any racial transgressions of the past” was to continue to improve diversity and provide and increase opportunities for all students at Missouri State.

Although diversity on campus has increased 36 percent in the last two years, African American students still only constitute about three percent of the student body.

And despite the assurances of university officials, Walls remains unimpressed.

When he found the letter, he says he was holding a piece of history, which was “no longer a mystery,” forgotten in the years of neglect.

“We have to learn from the past,” he said. “More things change, more things remain the same.”

His concern is that the mindset and apathy towards the issue perpetuate themselves for future generations. To hear students on campus say they have never heard of this story and see how racism continues to be an issue today brings legitimacy to his worry.

“An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere,” Walls said, citing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To know that injustices have occurred is only half of his concern.

He believes Missouri State must come forward on the issue publicly to bring closure to the issue.

Terry Walls wanted to know the truth; the ugly, racist truth.

In 1950, his mother, Mary Jean Price, became the first African American applicant to Missouri State University (then a white’s-only institution known as Southwest Missouri State College).

The college failed to respond to her application, and a Greene County judge ruled against her when she filed suit against the school for their inaction. Denied the opportunity for an education, Price moved on with her life, but the scar of the racially-motivated denial have never really healed.

Sixty-years later, after wafting through the Meyer Library Archives, her son found the sordid details of how the Board of Regents was prepared to go to the Supreme Court to deny his mother’s admission to the school. Price found originally-confidential correspondence letters that indicated this intent in the file along with his mother’s original application to the school.

In 1950, four years prior to when the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education ordered the desegregation of schools, African American students were unable to attend Southwest Missouri State College unless the studies they wanted to pursue were not offered at Lincoln University, the state’s African American college.

Price, 18 at the time, wanted to be a schoolteacher. She submitted her transcripts and a letter, stating her intentions to study library science, which was not offered at Lincoln.

The college registrar, Guy Thompson, forwarded the letter up the ranks to Southwest Missouri State College President Roy Ellis.

According to facsimile correspondence available from the library archives, President Ellis considered her application a “test case.”

While waiting on the opinion of the college attorney, he mailed four other Missouri college presidents.

In a confidential letter dated November 13, 1950, he related the difficulty of trying to formulate a policy on the admission of potential black students who were eligible under the conditional laws of the time.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., fought for equal rights for African Americans during the Civil Rights movement. He worked to erase racial inequalities such as policies that denied Mary Jean Price admission to Missouri State University in 1950.

“The College should ask a local Circuit Court for a declaratory judgment,” the letter stated. President Ellis related the feelings of the Board of Regents and how they were discussing, “carrying the matter on to the Supreme Court in case the local Court decided the girl could be admitted.”

This conviction to preventing her admission proved unnecessary, as events would reveal. After the college failed to respond to Price, Tac Kaplan hired attorney Irving Schwab to file a lawsuit against the school on Price’s behalf.

But in the declaratory judgment the Board had hoped for, a judge of the Circuit Court of Greene County ruled against Price. Her chances of attending Missouri State were finished.

“Can you imagine being an 18 year old kid, and having your ambitions dashed?” Walls said. “Sixty years later; nobody acknowledges it, as though it never happened. It did happen, and we were a part of it.”

For him, and others, the fact that the story has gone untold for so long is a shock. According to Walls, his mother never spoke about it until he found the letter and local television station KSPR ran a story on it recently.

Although it was good for Price to finally speak on the matter, “it opened up old wounds,” according to Walls. Price never went on to teach and worked as an elevator operator before marrying and having children. She is now in her late 70s.

See Related Story: Students debate how MSU should respond to story of Mary Jean Price

I am a spoiled child. And if you’re reading, it’s likely you are too. Why is that? For one, you were born in the most privileged nation on the planet. Second, it’s likely you grew up in a relatively happy environment, and third, we have never experienced a fraction of the hardship much of the world endures daily.

Not to fault you for your birth; I believe all people should be treated the same irrespective of their origins. But because we are sheltered, we see the world through a cloudy lens, fogged up by our ignorance and naivety. That perspective isn’t shared by those whose lives are marred and tattered from violence, conflict, and war.

Violence begets violence, and many people who have pain forced on them propagate that struggle in their lives. Some would say that the nature of man is conflict. In a word, war. But violence is not strictly an evolutionary trait. It is a culture we learn through societal values and mores. And it is something we can unlearn, in time, with our words, our actions and our lives.

Building a sustainable society of peace is a monumental challenge; in fact it goes against the competitive mentality of selfishness that is celebrated by everyone who has something to lose and is cursed by everyone who has nothing to protect. But in a cooperative spirit of altruism, where we analyze the problems we are each facing, we can be real peace builders by addressing the causes of conflict rather than the symptoms of injustice.

The Student Peace Alliance advocates for a US Department of Peace and Non-Violence that will address the root causes that we are facing at home and abroad. Terrible circumstances in our country give rise to problems like domestic violence, juvenile crime and gangs. Despite our overwhelming military presence around the world, conflict zones fester and escalate into the wars of tomorrow. A US Department of Peace is an institutional way to address these issues at the highest levels of government and to examine the means to solve issues before they destroy lives and continue the cycle of violence.

Beyond that, SPA is a way for like-minded students to get together for the things they believe in. We will find ways to impact our community with the values of our mission; integrity, compassion, courage, creativity, and community. And by our influence, we will pass on and promote those values among others.

There is a paralyzing amount of apathy among fortunate people who take their rights and freedoms for granted. The most capable people in the world become the most useless when they think this way. The insidious thought that “I can’t change anything,” is what keeps real change from happening, the sort of change that goes beyond a campaign slogan into something that affects people’s lives.

You have the chance every day to go outside your sheltered, privileged life and be the difference the world needs. Changing the world starts with changing yourself. Student Peace Alliance is a way to help that happen. If you are interested, please contact me at PeaceMSU@gmail.com.

We have a suggestion; leave the car parked at home or at the dorms and ride a bike instead.

Simple, convenient, and non-polluting, it will not cost you a dime in gas money. Plus, you can tone those leg muscles.

Almost half of the trips people make in a city like Springfield are three miles or less, so why not ride a bike instead of driving a car?

Bicycles are not just for little kids or skinny men in spandex suits Riding a bike can be fun, yes, but it is also an extremely effective way of getting where you need to go.

Live a mile or two from campus and heading to class? Forget fighting for parking; ride a bike.

Going downtown for a good time with some friends? Forget about getting a ticket for accidentally parking in a poorly-labeled bus zone and ride a bike.

MSU is ideally located close to the urban center.

Bicyclists enjoy the many bike routes Springfield offers. Also, the local streets are wide enough to accommodate cyclists and drivers.

Uncomfortable riding in heavy traffic? Scope out the side streets instead.

On that note, riders should be aware of the correct way to ride in and with traffic, for their own safety.

Dr. Andrew Cline, journalism professor at Missouri State, also writes Carbon Trace, a blog about cycling in Springfield.

Two things people should know, he says, is that first, riding a bike for basic transport is easy. Second, you belong on the road.

This may seem confusing, because most people learn to ride a bike during their childhood. Riding into traffic is something parents generally frown on.

As Dr. Cline points out, when you come to college, you are an adult, and cycling is a perfect example of a way to embrace adulthood by riding like an adult.

People riding bicycles have all the same rights and responsibilities as people driving cars.

What does this mean? Riders should have a “car mentality,” meaning you may not be a car, you may not look like a car, but you should act like a car.

This may seem intimidating, but studies also show that cyclists who ride in the street and follow the same traffic rules as drivers (not running red lights, yielding, etc) are far less likely to get in an accident.

Dealing with cars is not as challenging as it may seem. On a bike, riders are able to be more aware of their surroundings and can react to dangers better than a driver cocooned in a car.

While cyclists should be responsible, they should also be alert and ready to respond to the mistakes of drivers.

Some people may have the misconception they need a good bike to start riding full time. Dr. Cline says any bike will do, and “as long as it’s in good repair, cheap bikes are fine.”

Students can find inexpensive bikes at yard sales, thrift stores, and on Craigslist.

Local bike shops like Queen City Cycles, located downtown, can easily provide a tune up that will run you a fraction of the cost of any routine maintenance on a car.

Dr. Cline expects Springfield to be recognized as a “Bicycle Friendly City” by the League of American Bicyclists. This means that the civic government uses methods to encourage and support people who use bikes as transportation.

Using a bike as a way to get around town instead of the car will keep you in shape. As Dr. Cline points out, even the light aerobic exercise of pedaling without busting out high speeds on a bike burns a fair amount of calories.

Second, cycling produces no air pollution (well, except for that foul smell of sweat after a long ride).

More people on the road means more attention towards the needs of cyclists. The most obvious reason to ride is simple; it’s extremely cheap.

A good guide to getting started bicycling instead of driving is Drive Less, Live More, an informational booklet produced by the Sustainable Transportation Committee of the Ozarks.

You can download it as a PDF at Dr. Cline’s blog Carbon Trace, located at http://isocrates.us/bike/. It features a Rules of the Road section, a handy map featuring all the bike lanes and routes in Springfield, and many basics on safety and reasons why cycling is a good idea.

It is a great way to learn how to ride like an adult, ditch the car, and hit the street on a bike.

Remember, cycling can be a great way to get around, whether it’s going somewhere to pick up groceries or heading out for a good time. College is about growing up, and trying new ideas and different habits.

We encourage all Missouri State students to dust of their bicycles and get out and ride.

-Nate Bassett

For the Editorial Board

by Nate Bassett

Welcome back to school.

You’re probably excited about finding a routine, whether it’s one that you had before, or a whole new one.

Numerous clubs, organizations, and sporting groups would love for you to join their ranks.

After all, college is about more than just getting a degree, it’s an experience.

So, as you’re gearing up to face all of this, and learning what to expect, let me try and give you a different perspective on it.

Let’s face it, most of us are here for one reason: the carrot at the end of the stick. You know, that little piece of paper with your name, followed by initials such as B.A., B.S., M.B.A., or M.R.S. You’ll need one of those initials to get in the door at just about any good job, and those initials can add some extra zeros to that paycheck (especially for the ladies when you get an M.R.S. Dr.)

Unless you’re one of the lucky few who get a full ride scholarship, the debt you’ll incur from even attending a state school such as Missouri State will stick with you for a long, long time.

The hope is that the investment you put into your education will pay off in a way that helps you move up the social ladder, giving you opportunities that are impossible without a degree.

But there’s a flip side. Statistics say several things are working against you. First of all, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

Second, studies also show that social mobility has slowed, even halted, in the United States.

And, most troubling, 30 percent of freshmen will either drop or flunk out by the end of the year, and half of the rest of you will never graduate. Few will actually return to college.

So while you’re here, make the most of it. And this doesn’t mean being a total bookworm, although that will help you graduate.

It means doing things that actually matter and help you explore your passions and interests.

After all, you’re paying for it. Be grateful you have the chance to go to college, unlike many people here and abroad.

Here’s a few ideas on how to make the most of this coming year:

1. Take elective courses in things that interest you. Don’t worry about how they relate to your major. Who knows, you might find a field you like much better.

2. Meet lots of people by going to events, joining groups, and getting out of your dorm room and away from the TV or computer.

3. Talk to your professors about the subjects you’re interested in. They can help you figure out what you want to do when you get out of here.

4. Stop eating fast food. If you can afford to eat out, check out the local restaurants. Downtown is actually a really happening place.

5. Ride bikes. Leave your car at home. This will keep you in shape, keep you connected with campus and community, and it’s fun.

6. Go to a protest. Organize a protest. Counter-protest a protest. You never know, you might make a difference.

7. Speak your mind, but even more important, listen to what others have to say.

8. Take this list, tear it out of the paper, and write your own ideas down, too!

College can be an expensive waste of time, or it can be pretty awesome. You decide!

Contributor

Genesis 1:27-28 reads, “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

We sure have done a great job of kicking the earth’s butt! As I sit here under the low beam of artificial light and the cool breeze of air conditioning, I think about the glorious way man has come to dominate this planet.

Soon will be the day I can drive my car anywhere… and by that I mean anywhere. Because it will all be paved. Miles of convenient strip malls. A beautiful monument to capitalism and profit! Jobs will abound and we’ll have all the money we need to buy all the stuff we want.

Imagine the future, jumping out of your front door onto a perfectly manicured, ideal suburban front lawn, meticulously maintained by Mexican robots. The next generation of hybrid SUV awaits you in the driveway, ready to rumble down the road to Target (After all, that’s where we sophisticates shop. It’s so much more classy than Wal-Mart!). There you can find your third-world groceries, brought nearly to your doorstep by huge super freighters that hover over the ocean surface, crewed by Filipino robots.

Ah, America is so great! Back in the days of your youthful idealism, you remember how you felt the drive, the unity of making a difference. Everyone was going to change the world by pitching in! It meant… wait, what did it mean? Oh yeah! You picked up trash that one time, and then you bought some  “energy efficient” light bulbs, and when recycling came to the neighborhood, you did that too! Well, except when the bin was full. And then when you lost the bin. And then, well, you made an impact at least!

But in the waning hues of the sun, you look over the terraformed ground, and up at the glorious flag of the United States of the Moon, and in the corner of your eye, you see the outline of the Earth, or what’s left of it. Happy Earth Day, circa 2512! It was great while it lasted.

Contributor

Neil Postman was a brilliant culture critic who proposed the theory that American education has had different “gods” at different times, reasons for education and a purpose towards learning. The “old gods” as he called them, were a sense of virtue in learning. The United States was formed by a group of men who strongly believed in the cause of education and its essential value to retaining personal liberties and freedoms.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of
civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
--Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816.

People who had been introduced to ideas and discussion, studied sciences and had an understanding of their place in the cosmos and history were better able to defend their liberty, stand for their rights and govern themselves.

Unfortunately, Postman says this old god is dead, and now, the cause and reasoning for education is mostly directed to what he calls “economic utility.” This simply means that if you study hard and go to school, you’ll get a decent job and make lots of money. This also serves another god, materialism; the belief that the important things in life are what you own and that you enjoy your economic prosperity by satisfying your whims and wants.

Most people know that simply studying hard in school isn’t enough, and that high school mostly gives you a shot of managing the Burger King instead of flipping the burgers. So some of you go to trade school, and some of you go to college. This is where we get to a new point.

Most (if not all) colleges require you take courses in things that don’t necessarily matter to your intended profession. Going into English? “Why do I need to take this algebra class!?” If you’re a chemistry major you might think it’s stupid to have to write essays for a sociology course. And many of us view college as a way to train for an intended career – with degrees in nursing, marketing, accounting, computer science, criminology or journalism.

If you’re a physical education major, it’s fairly obvious what you want to do with your life. For others who study philosophy and history, I’m sure you’ve had parents and friends who said, “What are you gonna do with that?!” And if you study math or English, most people write you off as someone who’s going to be stuck teaching public school.

What we’ve lost is the notion that college is about expanding our consciousness and experiencing the diverse breadth of knowledge and understanding across the world. By that I mean, there is far more to our lives that the cubical many of you are destined for. And you don’t have to go there if you don’t want to. College can be a great way to expand your mind through unique opportunities. Why do I say that? Because studying “soft” sciences, like sociology, or “cake” courses like  history, literature, and maybe philosophy, are an excellent way of learning ethics, a much needed value in today’s marketplace of ideas and business.

There are plenty of jobs out there that just want a BA, but no matter what you do, you have to prove yourself as a capable and unique individual. To stand out among your peers, find a study that talks to you, and somehow changes the way you think about things. If you’re shelling out your tuition for a desk job, take the time to consider the alternatives. Otherwise, college might as well be about fixing cars and learning carpentry. Granted, not all of us are cut out to do more than that, but it shouldn’t stop you from trying to aspire to more than life’s got in store for you.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ – This is an obvious one, but the reason it’s printed here is because if more students remember to rate the teachers they take, whether they’re boring, easy, hard or the most awesome professor ever, it would give others an idea of what they’re getting into before they get there. A site like this could put some people out of a job if everyone used it, and it encourages good teaching.

http://www.back2college.com/raisegpa.htm – It’s not too hard to figure out your own GPA and what you’ll have if you get a few a’s or b’s, but this site takes the work out of it and also figures out what you need to average to raise your GPA to a good level. It’s a great tool for figuring out what you need to accomplish ahead of time and how what you’re doing now will affect your future.

http://www.forgottenbooks.org/index.php – Nerds searching for online texts, look here. Lots of weird, strange, old and historical texts for free online, from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Zuni Folk Tales, with lots in between, including I Ching, Shakespeare, and Thomas Paine.

http://www.befunky.com/ – Turn photos into drawings and videos into cartoons. Of course, you could do this with Photoshop as well.

http://quikdine.com/ordering/restrnts/ – Want to get some food from a local restaurant, but too lazy to leave campus? Well, call these guys or order online and they’ll pick your food up and deliver it to you. Get food from Chili’s, China King, Macaroni Grill, Bandana’s and even Hooters (but if they pick it up for you, what’d be the point of ordering from Hooters?).

Contributor

In one of my recent classes, a professor was relating a story from when he went to Missouri State. He said how in the beginning of the fall semester, his fraternity decided to show some school spirit by getting permission to light a bonfire between the old McDonald Hall Arena and what was then Briggs Stadium (now the Plaster Sports Complex).

The reason for this was the football team; they hadn’t managed a win yet and the frat pledged to keep a cauldron boiling in that space until they scored a win. By the time winter break rolled around, there was ice and snow all around the cauldron, and the frat gave up to a season of utter failure.

Now, some people love sports. I’ll be honest and say it’s not exactly my thing. When people get riled up and really enthusiastic about their favorite teams, it’s probably a harmless way to occupy their time. But when it comes to school spirit, academia and a question of where we spend our money, there has to be an examination of the facts.

Colleges often invest heavily in a sports program to raise the prestige of the school and attract students and sales of both tickets and merchandise. It’s an investment in the lives of those involved and the future of the program, with returns of success, increased enrollment and profits. When those returns don’t materialize, we have to consider the other opportunities that exist by investing in quality programs and other methods that promote student success.

It’s no small secret that the MSU football team has not been very successful recently; 4-7 this year, 6-5 last year and 2-8 the year before that. The men’s basketball team has done a little better, going 11-20 this year, 17-16 last year and 22-11 the year before that. The woman’s basketball team loses about 2 games for every one they win.

Now, big deal, right? Why am I trashing on these teams? Because of the inordinate amount of spending and money that goes into these things. According to a Cornell study, “indirect benefits to colleges from successful athletic programs are very small”. Colleges that win championships have a three year spike in donations and applications. Another study by the NCAA itself says spending on athletics is a poor investment, with few financial returns. A few schools are very successful, and the rest aren’t, but want to be, so there’s a positional arms race, with different colleges trying to outspend each other, thinking that a few more bucks will make players perform better. There’s a notion that a coach will emerge who can make everything better, and he deserves whatever we can pay him.

However, most successful sports teams are dynasties. People perceive random fluctuations in the performance of any system to be patterns and find significance where there is none. This is why we try to recruit and hire the best, to build a dynasty of our own, and until it gets done right, or clicks, there’s a lot of random performance. Back to the subject of money, lets take the Plaster Sports Complex (and ignore the much more powerful and costly example of the JQH Arena).

It was originally a construction of the Works Progress Administration, part of FDR’s means of employing the unemployed. It cost $60,000, a costly sum for the day. Its last major renovation was in 1992, which made it the PSC that it is today. In 2006, they finished installing Field Turf synthetic grass for $1 million. Last summer a Jumbotron system was installed at a cost of $2 million.

Noam Chomsky says “Sports… offer people something to pay attention to that’s of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And… it’s striking to see the intelligence that’s used by ordinary people in discussions of sports as opposed to political and social issues.”

If Missouri State is expecting a return on the investments they’ve made in sports, they’ve found themselves duped. Someone told me we threw away 1.3 million dollars last year on football (besides the jumbotron, I assume) Instead of continuing a costly “arms race” of sports spending on unrewarding ventures, why not decide to build an educational department that can stand out in the state and the nation?

It seems unfair to waste tuition and alumni money on projects that don’t give us our money back, when we could have said, “Let’s have the best political science/biology/theater/whatever department in the state”. As far as I know, MSU has nothing worth bragging about like SLU’s nursing program or Mizzou’s Journalism school. And that’s because we’ve kept focusing our attention on something that Dr. Chomsky would call “training in irrational jingoism.” We can read that as “defending bad ideas against all odds.” That’s certainly the motto of resource-sucking institutions like organized sports.

Today, we’re keeping that bonfire burning, same as it was decades ago. This time, we’re just throwing our tuition money on it.