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MSU

U.S. budget delayed, stalls appropriations talks for RIA project

Bob Darrow
October 7, 2005

Appropriations for continued research on the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator are tied up in federal budget talks. RIA has been identified as a top priority in research funding in previous years, but recent budget woes have cast doubt on the viability of the project. MSU had been one of the main contenders for the site of the accelerator, along with Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The federal budget was supposed to be completed by Oct.

MSU

ASMSU reps held to more rigid office hours despite low demand

Melissa Domsic
October 7, 2005

ASMSU members announced they would be more strictly enforcing representatives' attendance at office hours, even though students rarely visit representatives. "People don't really know that they can talk to their representatives," said Elizabeth Lostracco, College of Arts and Letters representative for ASMSU's Academic Assembly.

MSU

WEB ONLY: Anti-abortion group demonstrates cause at MSU

Jennifer Toland
October 7, 2005

With posters of bloody, dead fetuses and pamphlets describing their cause, members of Missionaries to the Preborn were stationed at different areas on MSU's campus Thursday. The group's main goal was to teach MSU students "the truth about abortion," said James Soderna, spokesman to the group. "We should work to get that outlawed," Soderna said. The group also stopped at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan-Flint and Central Michigan University as part of a four-day Michigan campus tour, Soderna said.

MSU

Labor leader discusses farm workers union, culture

Ken Osborne
October 6, 2005

In the 1930s, farm workers, many of whom were minorities, were treated as a separate division of labor in the United States. They were not included in labor laws and often faced a lack of basic necessities, such as toilets, said Dolores Huerta, who began the farm workers' labor movement with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s, during a presentation in the Main Library on Wednesday. Huerta was on campus as part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" series of brown bag lunch presentations, which promote the importance of work and culture. The union, part of a 1960s labor movement, was among the topics Huerta spoke about, along with ways to make a difference at the local level and how culture impacted the movement. "These are the most important workers - they put food on our tables," Huerta said.

MSU

Wireless spots, LBGT program discussed

Melissa Domsic
October 6, 2005

ASMSU's Academic Assembly voted Tuesday to support adding a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender academic program to the university's curriculum, as well as getting more wireless Internet nodes around campus. Assembly members plan to promote the LBGT specialization to the Academic Governance system, which makes decisions on curriculum, assembly chairperson Robert Murphy said. "This could turn out to be one of the fastest-growing fields of social science research," Murphy said.

MSU

Students fast for Sudan effort

Several MSU students will participate today in an International Solidarity Fast for Darfur - an effort to raise awareness about genocide occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan. Members of Spartans Taking Action Now: Darfur, or STAND, will set up informational tables in several residence halls for students to get information about the situation in Darfur. The group will be encouraging students to fast from a meal or luxury item during the day and donate the money saved to the effort, said Lindsey Hutchison, international relations junior and president of STAND. "The fast is not the standard fast you think of when you hear the word," Hutchison said.

MSU

Researchers use grant to examine plant mechanisms

Jennifer Toland
October 6, 2005

MSU researchers believe if they can unlock the secret behind how simple plant mechanisms work, they can engineer almost anything for people - from vitamins to new bio-fuels. Last month, 10 MSU faculty members received a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study how plant genes make nutrients, said Rob Last, a biochemistry and plant biology professor.

MSU

MSU profs oppose intelligent design as science

Laura Collins
October 5, 2005

For the last 15 years, Robert Pennock has spent his time researching and exploring the controversial scientific theory of evolution, looking at its truth in comparison with the theories of creationism and intelligent design. As the debate has carried on about what topics are appropriate to teach in public schools, Pennock was recently called to testify as an expert witness in a Dover Area School District trial in Dover, Penn. The case concerns a decision the Dover school board made in October 2004, requiring the reading of a brief statement about intelligent design before any class teaches evolution. "Intelligent design is not science, but is a disguised religion," said Pennock, a professor in the Lyman Briggs School. Parents in the Dover school district were upset because they felt the policy didn't maintain the legal requirement of separation between church and state. The Pennsylvania court case is just a sampling of the controversy this area of science has caused in education. But MSU professors from both natural science and religious fields said the teaching of such theories as creationism and intelligent design in the classroom doesn't make sense. "Intelligent design is based on biblical faith rather than scientific," said Roger Bresnahan, acting chairman of the Department of Religious Studies.

MSU

PETA display riles some

Ken Osborne
October 5, 2005

Banners with graphic images of animals being mistreated stood alongside images of past human rights violations near Wells Hall on Tuesday. The pictures were an exhibit created by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, as part of a 28-campus tour, said Sangeeta Kumar, a spokeswoman for the group.

MSU

Statewide student groups lobby for higher ed funding

Melissa Domsic
October 5, 2005

Like many students, Julielyn Gibbons worries about paying for college - she works, takes out loans and her parents are dipping into their retirement fund to help Gibbons and her siblings. "We're having to pay through the nose for tuition," said Gibbons, the director of legislative affairs for ASMSU's Student Assembly.

MSU

MIPA unchanged by embezzlement charges

Margaret Harding
October 4, 2005

Some advisers, students and officials agreed that the thousands of dollars allegedly embezzled from the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association haven't affected any programs, including the fall conference held at the Lansing Center on Monday. "It's upsetting, but it hasn't affected the program that I can see," said Gayle Martin, adviser for The Source, the student newspaper at Stoney Creek High School. Raye Grill, a former MSU employee, is charged with taking more than $20,000 from MIPA and between $1,000 and $20,000 from the MSU School of Journalism. Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, or MIPA, President Brian Wilson said the organization has been able to meet its budget every year. "When we were looking at the budget, we were essentially setting the budget based on money we had in the account," Wilson said.

MSU

Group responds to race-related assault

Bob Darrow
October 4, 2005

The floor where Elvia Gonzalez lives in East Akers Hall no longer has a bulletin board. After racist slurs were repeatedly written on the board, it was taken down. The same goes for the message board Gonzalez used to keep on her door. That kind of harassment isn't unusual on the floor where she lives with a number of other students who come from migrant families. But those slurs were mild compared to a Sept.

MSU

Software upgrade causes sluggish Webmail

Laura Collins
October 4, 2005

Andrea Campain said she wishes MSU Webmail was operating as usual. Right now, Campain said she has several different group projects in the works, all of which use an MSU e-mail account as a main communication form. "It's been really hard to keep up with everything going on in the group project because we can't communicate," the advertising senior said. For the last 10 days, Campain and anyone else who uses Webmail have found themselves waiting longer than normal for the server to load. Due to an upgrade in software this summer, the new e-mail system in use is not working properly at the correct speed, said Rich Wiggins, senior information technologist for Academic Computing & Network Services, adding that network users have called trying to figure out the problem. The system was upgraded in order to increase capacity, but the new server couldn't keep up with the increased amount of traffic during the fall semester. "We anticipated we needed more space to hold the amount of e-mail people are sending and receiving," Wiggins said. He said during mid-mornings and mid-to-late afternoons, he and his team have noticed that Webmail slows down significantly. To fix the problem, the office has been conducting conference calls with the software vendor.

MSU

MSU groups unite to aid relief

Melissa Domsic
October 3, 2005

Walking out of the tunnel only moments after the Spartans football team had raced onto the field, members of three campus groups carried their fundraiser for hurricane relief to the center of about 75,000 fans' attention Saturday. About 30 members of ASMSU, the Residence Halls Association and the MSU chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary brought out a 40-yard-long banner, decked with signatures of fans who raised money for universities in areas hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

MSU

Dash appeals to athletes, young and old

The inflatable dinosaur was ready, the course was drawn out and the weather was perfect as the Dinosaur Dash got in full swing Sunday morning in front of the MSU Museum. The events, which included a 5K Run-Walk, the Museum Mile and a Mini-Dash, attracted runners, walkers and families from throughout the state. "I've been looking forward to this for a year," said Travis Asher, a fourth-grade student at Murphy Elementary School who participated in the event's Museum Mile catered toward children under 12.

MSU

Religious studies to update curriculum with expert's aid

Although its curriculum dates back centuries, the Department of Religious Studies is giving itself a facelift with help from a noted religious scholar. This week, Charles Long, retired professor of the history of religions and former director of the Center of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will present lectures on the study of religion.

MSU

First-class animal care site opened

Bob Darrow
October 3, 2005

Friday's dedication of a new campus veterinary facility was punctuated by swanky jazz, distinguished guests and a photo-friendly ribbon-cutting. It was an elegant ceremony for a center that will soon house critically ill and contagious large animals. "The animals we get to see here are particularly ill, often critically ill," said Fred Derksen, large animal clinical sciences professor.

MSU

ASMSU urges E.L. to party responsibly

Melissa Domsic
September 30, 2005

As ASMSU members met with city residents on their front porches - or even inside their houses - they reminded people to be responsible this weekend during the University of Michigan football game. "We need to explain to people what it means to be a Spartan," said Andrew Bell, vice chairperson for external affairs for ASMSU's Student Assembly. Members of ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, went to neighborhoods off Grand River Avenue on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, talking with residents and passing out fliers from Olin Health Center about partying safely.