To kick off the school year, minority organizations are welcoming students with programs that will allow them to gain information about their groups.Asian Pacific American Student Organization will be sponsoring a Welcome Back Banquet today at 6 p.m.
The freshman class is getting snap-happy this week.As this year’s freshman class will graduate in 2005 - the university’s 150th year - the department of Libraries, Computing and Technology gave each incoming freshman a disposable camera to capture their first moments at MSU.“These pictures will literally be a snapshot of the class that will mark (the 150th) benchmark of the university,” said Don Straney, assistant to the provost for faculty development.
ASMSU is taking the first of what would be many steps in creating a voting student seat on the MSU Board of Trustees tonight with a forum discussing the possibility.The bill was introduced during an August 8 academic assembly meeting, but was tabled until this session.
When Party at the Aud ended Saturday night, the Auditorium’s lawn was littered with fliers, the rock on Farm Lane had a fresh coat of paint welcoming the map-toting freshmen and more than 230 student groups and activities had recruited a year’s worth of members.“This is the biggest and best time to recruit people,” said special education sophomore Shelley Carlin, a member of MSU Best Buddies.
Knock knock. Who’s there? Students living in the dorms can now have the satisfaction of knowing who’s knocking at their doors now that peepholes have been installed in just about every dorm room.The installation of the peepholes took place over the summer and was a result of careful deliberation among the Residence Halls Association, Residence Life and University Housing said Angela Brown, director of University Housing. “We discussed safety awareness and created a safety committee, which reviewed night receptionist safety and overall dorm safety,” Brown said, adding that students have been asking for peepholes for years. “(The peepholes) are great,” said Emmy Gregory, a pre-vet freshman.
For the second year the Red Cedar Log yearbook is available to all students at MSU - and anyone else who wants to pick one up.The Red Cedar Log is the largest college yearbook in the country with more than 20,000 copies available this year. In 1996 the yearbook was shut down for financial reasons.
The Appaloosa Classic Horse Show held this past weekend at the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education received a smaller turnout than last year, but the show must go on, and it did with an exhibit of well-groomed horses and their equestrians. There were 662 entries in the weekend long show, about 100 fewer than last year, said Leslie Zobel, Chairwoman for the Michigan Appaloosa Horse Association horse shows.
At the Union, students can do more than just bowl or check their e-mail in the computer lab.Students can get some culture.The Multicultural Center, located in the Union’s basement, is the home of many minority students and groups.Maggie Chen Hernandez, the center’s coordinator, said there are resources for students to learn or to just hang out and read.“Just by stopping by there, students get to learn and meet people,” she said.
It was almost two years ago when thousands of students lined up in IM Sports-West, waiting to receive a free meningococcus vaccine. Music education sophomore Adam Busuttil had come down with the Y strain of bacterial meningitis that left him without portions of his fingers. Busuttil was given a clean bill of health in January. In 1997, MSU saw similar lines after two students died from the disease, a potentially fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. But after two years without a case of meningitis reported on campus, some people fear the need for a vaccination may not be taken as seriously. “It’s just human nature,” University Physician Beth Alexander said.
Students might notice them sitting locked up next to buildings and fences on campus.Rust might have started to cover the bars, a wheel might be bent or a flat tire might be hugging the ground.These are the bikes that get left behind by students.
After three years of residence hall living, Nick Gordon packed up his single room in Shaw Hall and moved off campus.But he wasn’t happy about it.“The dorms really appeal to me,” the general business and pre-law senior said.
Vikas Menon, a computer engineering sophomore, left his life in India with a suitcase in pursuit of a college degree at MSU.A year later, Menon is welcoming students from around the world to Spartan country.“I was excited, but I wondered if people would accept me,” he said of his first days in East Lansing.Menon said a week of orientation programs through the Office for International Students and Scholars prepared him for college life.“After having left home for the first time I was homesick, and I met friends in the same situation,” Menon said.
One week after two recent MSU graduates failed to pass through the primary election for the East Lansing City Council, ASMSU’s Academic Assembly has introduced a joint resolution it says will improve relations between students and the city council.The resolution, which must be approved by both assemblies of the undergraduate student government, calls for the creation of a joint committee to act as a liaison between the city and students.“It’s very vague right now,” Academic Assembly Chairperson Matt Clayson said.
Howard Gobstein lives in the same house and works in the same office, but things have changed.After six years as assistant vice president and director of federal relations for MSU, he has been promoted to associate vice president for governmental affairs.“I’m still the director of the Washington, D.C., office, but I’ve become increasingly busy,” Gobstein said.
Got olive oil?About 20 people at least got information on it Tuesday while listening to visiting scholar Apostolos Kiritsakis’ seminar about the oil’s benefits.Kiritsakis, who has a doctorate in food science from MSU, talked about the history, processing, product quality, packaging and nutritional and health aspects of olive oil during “Olive Oil from Tree to Table,” at the School of Packaging.Kiritsakis has been studying olive oil since 1972, and is currently working on an olive oil project in the school with Rueben Hernandez, a professor of food packaging.
Five-year-old Mariana Jimenez’s ponytail bounced in the air as she followed the older kids’ fighting stance.
U.S. congressional representatives for Michigan legislators made their way to MSU to tour the university and its research facilities.The group wrapped up a three-day tour of Michigan research universities.
For $400, the average gadget guru can buy a digital camera suitable for holiday snapshots and family portraits.For around $400,000, MSU’s Department of Radiology bought a digital camera made to save lives.The camera is actually a digital mammography unit, which allows doctors to take a snapshot of all areas of the breast.“You record images and download them,” said Arlene Sierra, director of clinical services for the department.
Staying cool takes more than just a good pair of sunglasses and a leather jacket.It takes energy.Electricity use jumped recently as Michigan residents battled summer heat with fans and air conditioners.Jackson-based Consumers Energy set a record for power usage with 7,780 megawatts from 2 p.m.
Campus Greens, a student activist political organization, will invite students from across the country to spread their roots this weekend.