A lot happened last year, from "disturbances" to the announcement of a college moving. As the new year begins, these, and many more issues, are still important.
The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative
The MCRI is a ballot proposal that would amend the state constitution to prohibit Michigan's public universities and other state entities from discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
The petition has enough signatures to be put on the ballot this November, but controversy over the proposal's wording caused the Board of State Canvassers to refuse certifying the petition, despite an order from the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Affirmative action is incredibly controversial and there's debate at MSU as to whether the proposal should be on the ballot. MSU's undergraduate student government, ASMSU and the Residence Halls Association recently got involved in the issue, voting to condemn the proposal at a joint meeting on Dec. 8.
If the proposal is put on the ballot, it would give people less than a year to decide if they want to ban affirmative action in Michigan.
Eligible voters should use that time wisely.
If the initiative is passed, students could be affected when applying to college or when applying for state jobs. Many of its effects are still unknown and could be far-reaching.
There's going to be a lot of debate about this as the election gets closer and students should be listening to decide where they stand on this issue.
ASMSU and college funding
Appointed members of ASMSU started working on initiatives last year to help lobby for more government money for MSU. They want students, the ones directly affected by steadily rising tuition prices, to get involved with their work and let Michigan legislators know they're serious about working to ensure affordable college for Michigan residents.
This same group of ASMSU members are also pushing to establish a state-wide economic summit at MSU, which would gather people from all over Michigan to talk about the less than stellar economy.
Getting students involved in these issues is necessary — and tough. Students are sometimes scarce when their presence is needed. Such as, let's say, independent commission meetings.
Getting them involved and getting them to show up is going to be a tough goal for ASMSU and is something to watch as the state's budget is announced in the following months.
April 2-3 disturbances — continued
Over break, the East Lansing City Council got a chance to look at the independent commission's recommendations and report on what happened April 2-3 last year.
After MSU lost to North Carolina in the Final Four, students gathered in areas around campus. Police used tear gas to disperse the large crowds of students who gathered to mark the occasion. Police also arrested 43 people that night, many of whom are required to pay retribution to the city.
Amid allegations that police used too much force and students' voices weren't being heard in the process, the commission released a report of 29 recommendations for the city to take into consideration. Recommendations included making a city-designated place for celebrations and restricting when people could buy alcohol in East Lansing.
At its Dec. 13 work session, the council looked at about half of the recommendations and plans to look at the rest at its meeting this Tuesday.
With March Madness only a couple of months away, the council needs to act fast and decide what recommendations they want. Some recommendations could take time and money to implement and the city needs to be working quickly to act before something happens again in March or April.
Students who were teargassed simply for celebrating deserve to know steps are being taken to prevent what happened to them from happening again.
Also watch for the council to be taking on issues such as a possible change to the noise ordinance that would include drinking games as a factor that could lead to a noise ordinance violation, and the proposed East Village Project.
The project would redevelop land which is located south of Grand River Avenue, and goes to the Red Cedar River between Bogue Street and Hagadorn Road. Affected by the redevelopment would be businesses, apartment complexes and fraternities. There has been some opposition from these groups which could derail the city's plans.
College of Human Medicine move
The College of Human Medicine is expanding to Grand Rapids and will create a four-year medical program by 2010. Beyond that, college officials haven't said much more about it.
It's not been decided where the college will be in Grand Rapids, or where they're going to get the necessary faculty for the new program. Exact details of how MSU plans to fund the new program have also not been released.
These are important details and something that will hopefully be decided before the school starts admitting second-year students in 2008.
Students who plan on going into medicine at MSU will be affected by the move, as will current faculty who could move to Grand Rapids if they wanted. MSU knows for sure it's expanding, now all the community needs to know are the details.
Local politics
Former state Sen. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, is now mayor of Lansing and a special election is going to be held to find a replacement for his seat in the Senate. And in November, voters will decide between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and a Republican challenger. The people who hold these key positions will impact students in a variety of different issues, and students need to make sure they stay on top of the issues, and vote in these elections if they can.
These aren't the only issues to keep looking at, just a few of the things that could affect students. Other things to remember are:
• New Orleans and parts of Louisiana are still trying to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina
• There is still fighting going on in Iraq
• MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon has announced yet more plans to make MSU an even better, 21st century land-grant institution.
It's truly an exciting year to look forward to.
