More people were added to the new Residence Halls Association Executive Board on Wednesday. The General Assembly validated four more positions, leaving three positions to be confirmed next week. Those accepted Wednesday were Director of Health and Safety Megan Muscia; Director of Recycling Clark Llamzon; Executive Secretary Cory Rose and Director of Special Events Eric Bolf.
Cloudy skies and chilly winds did not prevent teaching assistants from spending the day outside the Administration Building and the evening in Linton Hall rallying for their jobs. Based on preliminary budget numbers crunched by individual colleges, a smaller number of teaching-assistant positions was offered by the Graduate Employees Union's March 31 deadline. Many teaching assistants consider the Department of Spanish and Portuguese to be the hardest-hit.
With the end of the semester nearing, a number of student organizations are approaching governing groups that allocate money, hoping to get one last piece of the pie. Three such requests were presented to the Residence Halls Association General Assembly at its Wednesday meeting, but only two of the bills made it to a vote. The African Student Union put in a request for $100 to the assembly.
The MSU community is increasingly satisfied with the cafeteria system, a national survey reports. The National Association of College and University Food Services annually conducts a Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking Survey.
The recent price jumps in birth control products for women are probably due to a new wave of those products hitting pharmacy shelves, experts say. "The company that develops those products is trying to recoup their costs for research and development," said Lori Lamerand, vice president of the Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance.
After repeated warnings to improve his performance as chair of the Freshman Class Council, Brandon Gualdoni resigned Monday evening. The computer science freshman, who also is an Eagle Scout and member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, was replaced by James Madison freshman Karissa Chabot. Freshman Class Council is a part of ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government. "Some members of the council brought forward their concerns about Brandon's participation in events this year and his leadership position," Chabot said.
ASMSU services will undergo scrutiny next fall by a new committee formed Tuesday night. A bill to form a committee to evaluate the effectiveness of ASMSU's services was proposed to Academic Assembly for the second time this semester at the Tuesday meeting. MSU's undergraduate student government provides legal services, blue books and funding for campus events.
A student group supporting fair labor is upset with the university after MSU President M. Peter McPherson met with the executive director of a labor-monitoring organization without notifying them. Members of Students for Economic Justice, or SEJ, said they have been campaigning for four years to get McPherson to consider joining the Worker Rights Consortium and were disappointed to find out that the meeting took place earlier last month without their input or presence. "That's unprofessional," said economics senior Dave Mitchell, a member of SEJ.
Don't judge an apple by its cover - shiny red skin and a plump appearance might just be masking a squishy texture or sour taste. Renfu Lu, an adjunct associate professor at MSU and agricultural engineer with the U.S.
Two weeks ago, the ASMSU Candy Initiative passed through Student Assembly, but until today, the offices of MSU's undergraduate student government were sweet-free. The bill, which passed with one dissension, allocates $150 to buy candy for the business office on the third floor of Student Services.
Within the offices of the Health Education Services at Olin Health Center, MSU senior Deanna DeHaven has been working for two years to help bring some MSU students peace of mind.
History can be relived at the touch of a button at the G. Robert Vincent Voice Library. Tucked away in the fourth floor west wing of the MSU library, more than 50,000 voices and sounds are housed, creating the nation's largest academic voice library. Its earliest recording is a Sept.
Grants for 38 new research projects in the 2004 fiscal year have been awarded by Project GREEEN, totaling more than $952,200. Project GREEEN, which stands for Generating Research and Extension to meet Environmental and Economic Needs, is Michigan's plant agriculture initiative at MSU. Projects were awarded funding in four categories: basic research, value-added research, applied research and extension/education/demonstration. There were 78 new project proposals and 36 continuation proposals this year. For listings of 2004 newly funded and continuing Project GREEEN research projects, visit www.greeen.msu.edu/newspage.htm.
The MSU Mock Trial Team might be young, but don't cross the members in the courtroom. The four-year-old team took eighth place in March at the American Mock Trial Association National Tournament in Richmond, Ky. "Our program is getting better by leaps and bounds every year," said Pete Martini, a public administration and public policy senior and mock trial member.
The 1st Annual Food for Thought 5K Run/Walk is an MSU Student Food Bank fund-raiser. The event is set to take place at 9 a.m.
Over the past year, ASMSU debated 83 bills, held 32 general meetings and spent almost 80 hours in deliberation. As 21 new members take office tonight, officials from MSU's undergraduate student government reflected on a session where few bills were passed, even fewer had a direct impact on students, and an Academic Assembly initiative to add candy to the business office was half-jokingly referred to as "the best thing we've done all year." Election confusion Officials attributed most of the session's troubles to an election debacle last spring in which more than 60 representatives were disqualified, leaving the assemblies with fewer than a dozen representatives on each, many of whom did not have previous ASMSU experience.
"The Challenges of Peer-to-Peer File Sharing" symposium will be held on April 15 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Drs. Steven Arnoczky and Cheryl Swenson examined tissue and cells used in a study Monday that has important implications for the treatment of transplants. Arnoczky and Swenson, along with other researchers in MSU's Laboratory for Comparative Orthopaedic Research, have conducted a study that shows freeze-drying tissues and bones for transplants might not inactivate viruses as efficiently as previously thought.
Erin McLaughlin Special for The State News While most of MSU's campus lay still and freezing from the bitter snow, a warm and tropical atmosphere lingered in the Union on Saturday night.
As windows and doors are cracked open for the first time to let the spring air in, members of MSU's undergraduate student government are looking at making April "Lock Your Door!