By Hassan Al-Momani
Western Herald

Orientation is one of the most important activities that each university makes for its new students.

By Katrina Murphy
Editor in Chief

You bring in the last of your boxes, hug and kiss your parents goodbye and shut the door behind them.

You’re finally on your own.  But now what do you do?

Western Herald

As a new academic year approaches, we here at the Western Herald would like to take the time to share with our readers who we are, what we are here to do and what our visions are for the year.

Western Herald

There was an energy in the Kalamazoo community the week Kalamazoo Central’s video, one of six of 1,000 entries, was being voted on by the public; then ultimately chosen as the winner by President Obama himself in the national 2010 Race to the Top Commencement Challenge.

It’s a fact: financial illiteracy is common among ‘The Millennial Generation’, the moniker given to those born between the early 1980s and the early 1990s.

According to a 2004 study by Harris Interactive for Northwestern Mutual, only 5 percent of those in their early and mid-20s felt that they were “very knowledgeable” in business dealings and investing.

Is this becoming the Era of Questionable Promises?  There’s the Michigan Promise — enough said on that.  And then there’s the Kalamazoo Promise — a whole ‘nother beast that’s being studied and copied . . . and the verdict’s not in yet.  And then there’s the Western promise — well, “sort of” promise.  Called the Western Edge, it’s a “customer service” type promise in the form of a contract, but it’s not widely known, nor is it available to all students.

Course evaluations, those end of semester- last class tasks are here. How to handle?

Western Herald

The Western Student Association is suffering from a deficit of credibility.

Google intends to test their new fiber-optic Internet infrastructure, Google Fiber, in cities across the U.S. and has called on citizens to nominate their communities for the project.
Students of Western Michigan University play a critical role in bringing Google Fiber to Kalamazoo and should take their role seriously because Google Fiber would greatly benefit WMU and Kalamazoo.

Western Herald

The Andrew Ladd- Chris Rettich campaign, with their analytical approach, experience and broad vision, has our vote for president/vice president of the Western Student Association.

Western Herald

It’s crunch time for President Obama and the congressional Democrats.

Google’s full-throttle pursuit of cyber-innovation has made their rise awesome to watch.  Their search engine isn’t the half of what they’ve accomplished. More so than competitors, Google’s eye for improvement has been far-reaching, and they have used that circumspection to pounce on new ideas before others, thus gaining an advantage so substantial that some worry [...]

When Google announced that it might abandon its ventures in China, users of Google’s technology brought flowers to Google’s headquarters in China. Google’s sign at their office in China is short and modest, and with flowers stuck between the raised letters of the company logo and still more flowers heaped all along its base the [...]

Several citizen action groups have organized a protest to take place outside the State Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 3. This rally has good intentions to voice Michigan students’ frustration over the loss of Michigan Promise scholarship funding, although a bit misguided in its direction. We stated previously the Western Herald’s belief that Michigan Promise payments [...]

By Andrew Mell Western Herald Normally we are not subjected to the images of extreme poverty, poor living conditions, and overall disaster. When we do have to face the fact that these things exist, they most often are through images from places half a world away. Haiti, however, lies only hundreds of miles away from [...]

By Hassan Al-Momani Western Herald Library studies major has become a highly demanded field by many institutions in the United States. This is due to the fact there is an increasing number of students who want to complete their graduate studies in the library studies. There are many of academic institutions abroad that seek to [...]

The streets of Holland, Ohio must have been deserted on Oct. 12, 2008. A small town outside of Toledo, the streets of Holland seldom crowd or jam but on Oct. 12, Barack Obama, then a presidential candidate, came to town and security was tight. Samuel Wurzelbacher was playing football in his front yard with his [...]

We are told the most recent state budget cuts in education will get elementary education back in alignment with what is “the best and the latest in teaching,” as President John Dunn said at the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Teaching meeting on Saturday. But unless politicians and parents quit running the school systems [...]

Herbert Kohl, the educator and author (not the senator), has been instrumental in the reform of America’s education system. How does he view America’s standards of training teachers? Deplorable. By the way, his “seminal” books are required reading in Western Michigan University’s Educational Psychology courses. Kohl is not alone. A major problem with education programs [...]

With all the hubbub surrounding the swine flu pandemic, it seems like antibacterial soaps, sprays, and wipes, would make a pretty solid investment. Western Michigan University’s ostensibly massive buildup of the antibacterial bubbly-soap dispensers that mount on walls and the little bottles of antibacterial lotion is evidence of this. All of the antibacterial products, from [...]

“Fine, don’t listen to me.  I’m just a doctor.  What would I know about health?” This sardonic brand of brow-beatings awaits many who question a doctor’s judgment.  The behavior is present in many professions: try telling a bus driver or an airplane pilot how to do their job—they won’t have it either. To some extent, [...]

We come to class hoping to learn, graduate, and get a job. Although not as easy as it sounds, that process would be even more stressful if the guy sitting two seats over in English 1050 is packing heat. But this June, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees passed a resolution to allow licensed [...]

We come to class hoping to learn, graduate, and get a job. Although not as easy as it sounds, that process would be even more stressful if the guy sitting two seats over in English 1050 is packing heat. But this June, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees passed a resolution to allow licensed [...]

In an attempt to further his commitment to transparency, Western Michigan University President John Dunn held a public forum at the Bernhard Center to address students, staff and community members on Wednesday, Nov. 11.  Topics varied from his work as an administrator to how he spends precious free time on Saturday mornings. The forum, produced [...]

Volunteerism is alive and well among youth, according to author Greg Mortenson, who spoke at Gull Lake High School two weeks ago about his life work to “promote peace one school at a time” and his book Three Cups of Tea, documenting his story. A story of youthful supporters — elementary school children who helped [...]

Andrew Mell Western Herald As the Yankees celebrate their unprecedented 27th World Series championship, baseball is struggling in an era of drug abuse, declining television ratings, and a loss of identity. When our parents’ generation was growing up, baseball was the national pastime and whether it be by radio or by television, the country couldn’t [...]

(MUFFLED AND MUMBLED) “Wa. . . . Mih . . . . . Uni…sity” (PAUSE) Hello? (SOFTLY AS IF THROUGH A DOOR AND A GLASS OF WATER) “Yes?” I can’t hear you . . . (STILL SOFTLY AND CLIPPED) “West . . . Mich . . . University.” Oh, is this Western Michigan University? (LOUDER, [...]

Is downtown Kalamazoo a point of interest and pride or just a landmark for Western Michigan University students? That is the question currently being asked by proponents of the idea for a new downtown arena. Historically, WMU and downtown have been relatively separate entities. Even with such attractions as the Rave theater, many students rarely [...]

Western Michigan University students who vote in Tuesday, Nov. 3 elections should enter the voting booth with a positive mindset. There are two proposals on the ballot that require a simple yea/nay vote, and we feel both deserve to be supported with a resounding “yes.” The first would renew funding for Metro Transit bus lines [...]