When Rachel Crandall came out as a woman after living in the body of a man for 35 years, she lost everything. She said she lost her job because the hospital "wasn't too thrilled about having a transsexual" on staff.
One day after MSU officials announced National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice as this semester's commencement speaker, Democratic officials say her appearance will benefit the university. "We should always have a welcome mat for whoever comes to speak, whether we agree or don't agree," said Trustee Dorothy Gonzales, a Democrat.
The MSU Bike Project will host its third and final public bicycle clinic at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the ballroom of Demonstration Hall.
When the MSU Board of Trustees meets on Friday, it will vote whether to establish a School of Planning, Design and Construction and whether to increase the cost of living in residence halls by 4.4 percent. The new school would be under both the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Social Science, and would combine four different programs from three colleges. "It's a great idea," said Robert von Bernuth, director of the construction management program.
Jose Cibelli, an MSU professor of animal science and physiology, is scheduled to speak to U.N. national delegates Wednesday about the possible benefits of stem-cell research used for therapy.
Cathleen Clara is pretty sure she knows what she wants to spend her award money on. A winner of the Homer Higbee International Education Award, Clara will spend the $400 prize on books to help build her library in the alternative school classroom where she is a teacher.
In an effort to sponsor more student events and prevent boards from running out of money, members of ASMSU's Student Assembly gave additional money to Programming and Funding boards in its 2004-05 budget. Programming and Funding boards have about $171,000 and $89,000, respectively, from MSU's undergraduate student government.
The student environmental group Eco is holding a forum at 6:30 p.m. today in B104 Wells Hall to discuss its concern about the approval of a $30 million addition to the MSU coal-burning power plant. Members worry the addition will bring an increase in campus emissions of greenhouse gases and are concerned about the effects it might have on the local environment and global warming. "We're concerned about this because the decision was made without talking to any student committee or any professors who are experts," said Eco member Chelsea McMellen. The forum aims to create a dialogue between affected MSU and East Lansing community members as well as bring a panel of experts and student representation together, she said. "We are hoping to reach a decision of what to do for energy needs and create a compromise," McMellen said.
Myths abound on campus, such as ghosts in Mary Mayo Hall or how the love of your life awaits below Beaumont Tower, but one rumor is verifiably true: dead bodies linger in a dorm closed years ago. Fee Hall, originally a residence hall opened in 1964, now is the nucleus of MSU's four colleges of medical education - Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine and Human Medicine.
Students and advisers might have an easier time organizing class schedules and evaluating degree standing with a recent computer tool upgrade. The Degree Navigator program has been revamped from a setup of colored blocks of separate requirements to a complete text list including degree and university requirements. Degree Navigator 4 was made available at the end of February and is slowly making its way into university advising appointments. The large difference between the new and old systems, associate registrar Roberta Kelley said, is the visual layout.
The MSU Alumni Association will host a day-long program celebrating women and diversity Thursday. "Kaleidoscope: A Day for Women" will feature keynote speakers Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, entertainers and social activists who met on Broadway in the 1946 production of "Jeb." Both have appeared in productions such as "A Raisin in the Sun" and "Roots." The program will begin at 8 a.m.
A bassist in a penguin suit was a member of the first team to perform, greeting a sea of glow necklaces, air horns, flashlights, whistles and noisemakers. Twelve teams of fraternities and sororities formed bands and competed in a Battle of the Bands, the latest event in the Greek Week lineup. A maximum of 10 team members but at least one from each team, was required to be on stage.
Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University will visit MSU from Tuesday to Friday as part of MSU President M.
During the final ASMSU Student Assembly meeting Thursday night, members addressed campus issues and events, as well as bills to increase interaction with the East Lansing. MSU's undergraduate student government also passed its 2004-05 budget. "The budget has passed - the celebration may commence," said Missy Kushlak, Student Assembly chairperson.
Jerome Friedman, Nobel prize winner and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak at 7:30 p.m.
A journalist for WJR, a Detroit News sports writer and a Detroit Free Press political writer will be inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame on Saturday.
An informative meeting on a study abroad trip to Antarctica will be held at 4-5 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. April 19 in Room 204 of the International Center.
A Thursday evening meeting between College of Arts & Letters faculty members and Provost Lou Anna Simon left participants positive about future conversations and alternatives to large teaching assistant cuts. More than 50 people from the college filled a Linton Hall room for an hour and a half of open dialogue. Scott Michaelsen, associate professor of English, brought his experience as the director of the Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Voice to his college and organized the meeting. "We had a very open and very productive dialogue about our shared values regarding the humanities and we agreed to work together in the coming weeks to find ways to protect and enhance our core humanities programs, both graduate and undergraduate," he said. Simon said the discussion led to an understanding between faculty and the administration as to the reality of budget cuts. "We sort of shared realities and concerns, and then tried to think about some ideas we could pursue in a context in which the resources are constrained," she said. The discussion was spawned from TA position offers made on March 31, a deadline established by the Graduate Employees Union.
When it comes to thinking about attending college, MSU's King-Chavez-Parks College Day programs encourage underrepresented kids to start planning early.
As the 2004-05 session of ASMSU begins in two weeks, only a few new representatives are preparing for their first meeting. On April 20 and 22, members of MSU's undergraduate student government will choose who will fill chair positions for both Academic and Student assemblies, but only three representatives attended orientation last weekend. To further help new representatives ease into their responsibilities, current ASMSU vice chairs held a new-representative orientation on April 3.