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MSU

Chimps mourn departed friend

His half brother and four other members of his troop sat beside him to touch the body of their companion for one last time. Jo Mendi, a 26-year-old male chimpanzee at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, died Friday after routine dental surgery. Later that day, the five other chimpanzees Jo Mendi had lived with since 2001 were given an opportunity to bid him farewell. "There was not a dry eye in the place," said Bert Vescolani, director of the zoo.

MSU

Assault program honored

Jennifer Toland
November 16, 2005

Twenty-five years ago, MSU formed one of the first on-campus sexual assault programs in the country. The program was started by students wanting to respond to sexual assault on campus, said Carmen Lane, the advocacy coordinator for the Sexual Assault Crisis & Safety Education Program. A room full of about 40 volunteers, university, local officials, and past and present coordinators celebrated the 25th anniversary of the program on Tuesday. Although the program has grown in many ways, such as having more full-time staff positions, the core values of the program have remained the same, Lane said. "Student volunteers are the core of who we are," she said.

MSU

Panel of experts promote healthy images

Jennifer Toland
November 15, 2005

Problems with body image might be more common than people think. With images of celebrities everywhere, from magazine racks in supermarkets to advertisements on billboards, most people deal with body image issues at some point in their lives and eating disorders are becoming more prevalent, said Dave Novicki, a professor and counselor at the MSU Counseling Center. The problems with body image are not going away anytime soon and prompted a panel discussion on Monday night held by the campus group Respecting and Understanding Body Image, or RUBI. The group works to promote positive body images and increase eating disorder awareness. "We have a lot of people that are not 'eating disordered,'" he said.

MSU

Charitable MSU alum fuses GM and university

Laura Collins
November 15, 2005

Gerald Elson said he fell in love with MSU for the first time while touring the cattle barns with his local chapter of the former Future Farmers of America in the 1950s. Even though he was surrounded by Michigan's farmland in Merrill while growing up, encouragement from Elson's high school teachers got him thinking more about the world of machines. "When I graduated from my school, everyone said, 'You should be an engineer,'" Elson said.

MSU

Global cultures showcased at festival

Lan Truong was on a mission Sunday at Global Festival 2005 in the Union. The supply chain management junior was so busy having her "passport" signed by representatives from the more than 25 campus international groups that she had to get a second one.

MSU

MSU honors distinguished alumni

Laura Collins
November 14, 2005

As a graduate student at MSU, Linda Nelson lived in the Paolucci Building for six weeks at a time. Nelson studied home management, a program that is extinct today, and lived in the building as an instructor with other female students as part of the program. "It was really lots of fun," she said.

MSU

Online survey hacked into, must be redone

Kristen Daum
November 14, 2005

Students had the option of completing the annual dining halls survey last week, but now Food Services Coordinator Bruce Haskell is asking them to redo it because of the possibility that someone tampered with the results. The survey — used for feedback about residence dining halls — was initially sent to students through e-mail by Housing and Food Services on Nov.

MSU

Proposal would give voice students longer lessons

Laura Collins
November 11, 2005

Kyle Harwood has a 60-minute, one-on-one lesson with his voice professor each week, but he said he could always use more time. To keep up with competitive programs at other universities, such as the University of Michigan, the MSU School of Music is looking to increase the amount of practice time available for undergraduates as part of a proposed curriculum update. "Making voice lessons longer for a performance major can only make it better," said Harwood, a vocal music performance sophomore.

MSU

Event celebrates Hindu festival

Strands of colored Christmas lights and lively traditional music welcomed visitors to the "Diwali Mela 2005" celebration in the McDonel Hall Kiva on Thursday night. During the about three-hour event, the Hindu festival of lights participants had an opportunity to paint pottery and get henna body art. The event, put on by the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students, or CIUS, also raised money for victims of the October earthquake in South Asia. Medical technology junior Haile Jones said she has come for the past three years and that she enjoys the culture. "They have some cool dances I would love to learn," Jones said.

MSU

Dorms add cultural fare to dinners

Fredricka Paul
November 11, 2005

Carol Mejia has been cooking fry bread since she was 5 years old and doesn't share her recipe with anyone. As she mixed the fry bread batter, Mejia began to tell stories about how different recipes were passed down in her family. Mejia, who is American Indian, prepared meals from scratch at Thursday's authentic American Indian dinner in Holmes Hall. The dinner included smoked whitefish, whole strawberries served in wooden bowls, buffalo burgers, corn on the cob, asparagus, squash soup, venison stew and blueberry cake. November is Native American History Month. Anita Sandel, food service manager for Holmes Hall, said that students were her motive for creating more culturally rich dinners. "I worked with the Department of Residence Life, and we decided to have more diversity with dinner," Sandel said.

MSU

Diversity training to be required for ASMSU members

Melissa Domsic
November 10, 2005

Members of ASMSU are participating in diversity training to better serve the students they represent, and more emphasis on diversity issues is still needed, members say. ASMSU's Academic Assembly passed a bill Tuesday requiring Academic and Student Assembly members to take part in the training every fall. Student Assembly members will vote on the bill at their Nov.

MSU

Mich. horses focus of new study

Jennifer Toland
November 10, 2005

The impact the equine industry has on Michigan's economy and changing patterns of urban sprawl will be examined in the state's first horse study in 10 years conducted by researchers at MSU. The Animal Industry Initiative — a statewide program that works with MSU to perform research and education in animal agriculture — and various groups involved in the equine industry will work together to survey horse owners in Michigan. Their goals are to find out how many horses are in the state, what breeds they are, the contribution they make to the state's economy and their effect on suburban sprawl, MSU epidemiologist Mary Rossano said. The survey will be mailed this spring to more than 4,000 people involved in the industry. "The economic data is the most important so that we have a sense of what kind of dollars are utilized, what kinds of feeds are being used, how land is being used, medicines, trailer sales and so forth," said Val Vail-Shirey, executive director of the Michigan Equine Partnership.

MSU

Hindu five-day festival of lights celebrated

At 7 p.m. today in the McDonel Hall Kiva, the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students will present "Diwali Mela 2005." Participants at the event will have an opportunity to learn more about Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights. The festival is celebrated for about five consecutive days, and participants will be able to decorate pottery and get henna body art. MSU's Bhangra dance team also will perform.

MSU

U.N. resolution honors Holocaust

There are two kinds of Holocaust survivors to Yehudit Rotem — those who've spoken out about their experiences and those who've remained silent. At 16 months old, Rotem was too young to know when she and her family entered the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Lohheide, Germany.