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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.

MSU

Veterans Day hits home for MSU ROTC

Kristen Daum
November 9, 2005

About 15 guests joined the MSU ROTC Spartan Battalion for a Veterans Day ceremony at the Alumni Memorial Chapel on Tuesday, to honor veterans of past and present wars. "For me, it's about remembering everybody who went before me," said Lt.

MSU

Law college event discusses clemency

Carol Jacobsen from the Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project will speak at 6:30 p.m. today in the Castle Boardroom of the MSU College of Law. Jacobsen will discuss the effort to gain clemency for incarcerated battered women, a cause the organization continues to pursue. The event is open to the public and hosted by the MSU College of Law Women's Law Caucus.

MSU

Rioting unlikely to affect study abroad

Bob Darrow
November 9, 2005

Riots have surged in France for nearly two weeks, but tensions in the country will probably not have a significant impact on MSU study abroad programs planned for the spring and summer, officials said. There are currently no MSU students studying abroad in France or Belgium, where riots have spilled across the border. "We checked that right away," said Kathleen Fairfax, director of the Office of Study Abroad.

MSU

Extended meal plan topic of public forum

Kristen Daum
November 9, 2005

Students and members of the university community will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed meal plan change at today's Residence Halls Association, or RHA, meeting. The group is meeting at 7:20 p.m.

MSU

Provost shares plans for academic quality fund

Laura Collins
November 9, 2005

MSU Provost Kim Wilcox released a first draft on the results of the academic quality fund on Tuesday, which would allocate $9.7 million to initiatives that aim to benefit students and enhance the academic experience at MSU. Wilcox presented a series of graphs at Tuesday's Executive Committee of Academic Council meeting that show a preliminary idea of how the fund will be divided. For the last few months, Wilcox has led a group from the Office of the Provost in reviewing 118 proposals that were submitted by different deans across the university, totaling more than $74 million.

MSU

Film series depicts 'rape culture' in America

Jennifer Toland
November 8, 2005

Video games, music videos and movies that incorporate violence against women in mainstream media all contribute to America's rape culture, said MSU counselors and sexual assault advocates who recently put on a film series highlighting the trend. Rape culture involves the ways women are portrayed and objectified in our society, said Shari Murgittroyd, coordinator of the Sexual Assault Crisis and Safety Education Program.

MSU

Prof. studies economics at Mont. research institute

Laura Collins
November 8, 2005

One might wonder what Bozeman, Mont., has to offer. But for Ross Emmett, the town, placed at the "doorstep to Yellowstone," has more than good bike-riding terrain, the James Madison College associate professor said. Bozeman is the headquarters of the Property and Environment Research Center, or PERC, a national institute known for its size and age that focuses on economic solutions to environmental issues. This summer, Emmett received the Julian Simon Fellowship from PERC and spent three months diving into the work of economist Thomas Robert Malthus. "I am quite interested in market-based solutions to environmental problems," he said.

MSU

Simon aids discussion on higher education

Bob Darrow
November 8, 2005

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon served as the presiding officer of a panel discussion today in Detroit at an annual session on the state of public universities. The discussion, held at Cobo Hall and sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, featured University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, as well as business and government leaders. As presiding officer, Simon introduced the panelists and handled the question-and-answer session. The program focused on the role of universities in helping promote growth in the state's economy. Other panelists included state Lt.

MSU

Event celebrates Diwali

By Jason Chapman Special to The State News About 200 people attended Sargam, an event to celebrate the Indian holiday Diwali on Saturday with lights, traditional dance, raffle prizes, food and music. "It has been the best experience to bring our people together in this celebration," said doctorate student Deep Bandyopadhyay, president of MSU India Club.

MSU

Women's leadership topic of annual event

When the committee organizing Sunday's MSU Women's Leadership Conference was thinking of a theme for the third annual event, it came from an unusual source. "We looked at bumper stickers," said Jodi Roberto Hancock.