Matthew Clark said it was difficult to use the bathrooms in Wells Hall while he was in a wheelchair.Clark, a landscape architecture senior, participated in a simulation, one of the many events planned for Accessibility Awareness Week.
A proposal to integrate three departments within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources was approved by the Executive Committee of Academic Council on Tuesday.
In the week following an ASMSU-sponsored forum for student input on the East Lansing party-noise ordinance, officials from MSU's undergraduate student government have been drafting amendments to the policy using concerns addressed by students at the meeting.Lynsey Little, ASMSU director of community affairs and chairwoman of the University Student Commission, said both student organizations will create a proposal to amend the six-week-old ordinance.
There are more international students at MSU this year, but it's becoming more difficult to come to the United States and stay at the university, students and administrators say.This year, MSU has 154 new International students, bringing total enrollment to 3,277.
The MSU Board of Trustees passed two renovation projects at its meeting Friday.The board unanimously voted to establish contracts to renovate the Clinical Center and the Life Sciences Building, as well as replacing the electrical station that generates power throughout the Brody Complex. University Engineer Bob Nestle said the contracts will be signed within a week and construction should begin shortly after.Gunthorpe Plumbing and Heating Inc. of East Lansing was appointed to replace the coils in air units at the Clinical Center and to replace heat and ventilation systems at the Life Sciences Building.The contract is worth $462,000.Nestle said there are additional costs for design and inspection fees, along with a contingency charge to cover any unforeseen costs, bringing the total costs of the project to about $720,000.Kares Construction Co. of Charlotte was awarded a contract of $373,000 for the replacement of the electrical transformers that serve the Brody Complex.
Two students involved in selling anti-University of Michigan T-shirts said they apologized to the campus groups they offended but will not stop selling the shirts.The flier distributed across campus last week bore the phrase "Wolverines Pack Fudge" above an explicit drawing as an advertisement for the shirts sold online.Biomedical science junior Carmen Peter and economics junior Charlie Peck said they created the shirts just to make money and weren't expecting the negative backlash they received from Residence Hall Association and the Alliance of Lesbian, Bi, Gay and Transgender Students."I'm sorry people took this the wrong way," Peter said.
The third video in the Students for Peace and Justice Film Series will be shown Wednesday night in Wells Hall."Mumia: A case for reasonable doubt?" will begin at 8 p.m.
Instead of sharing stories about the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, MSU English Professor Gordon Henry talked about Rose Cree of the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Henry talked about how Cree and other indigenous peoples have a different tradition than Christopher Columbus - one of hospitality, respect and unity rather than conquest and imperialism. "Our legacy is not one of conquest or oppressing other people," he said, standing in front of the rock on Farm Lane painted with "Columbus Day: Celebrating 511 years of terrorism.
A candlelight vigil will be held tonight in remembrance of victims and survivors of domestic violence for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Several galleries in the area will open at 5 p.m.
Melissa Domsic Special for The State News The bond between a human and an animal is like love, veterinarian and author Marty Becker said in his presentation during the third annual Human-Animal Bond Initiative's Conference held Friday and Saturday at the Kellogg Center. "It's nebulous but easily understood by any of us that share our lives with pets," he said. Becker was one of many professionals that spoke at the conference on this year's theme, "The Science Behind Our Relationship With Animals: Cuddle a Critter and Call Me in the Morning." Lana Kaiser, a professor in the College of Nursing and of Human Medicine, is the coordinator of the Human-Animal Bond Initiative, an MSU-based group that brings people from on and off campus to study the human-animal bond. "Our goal is to enhance the understanding of the relationship between humans and animals," Kaiser said.
Members of the North American Indigenous Student Organization will celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day on campus today. From 11 a.m.
Jen Veenstra held a small mason jar filled with water and debris from the Grand River to the light Saturday afternoon, carefully examining it for creatures, trying to determine the health of the water. The Lyman Briggs no-preference freshman spent the day with 17 other volunteers at various sites along the Red Cedar and Grand rivers collecting water samples.
The winner of the competition gets to keep the trophy for a year.But this isn't the Stanley Cup - it's the first Lyman Briggs-James Madison Olympic Showdown."It's kind of like the Stanley Cup," said Jack Dodd, chairperson of the 14-member Lyman Briggs Student Advisory Council.
Armed with rakes, cleaning supplies, paint brushes and children's books, nearly 200 students went to the streets of Lansing and East Lansing on Saturday to volunteer.The kickoff of "Into the Streets," an MSU student-run community service organization, helped about 20 different nonprofit organizations.
MSU's enrollment decreased slightly from the 2002-03 year, despite an almost record level of applicants. The university received about 25,000 first-time undergraduate applicants for fall 2003, but the 44,542 students currently attending MSU are almost 400 students less than last year's total enrollment. Despite the decrease, David Byelich, MSU's director of the Office of Planning and Budgets, said this year's enrollment remains at a level where the university can optimize students' academic performance. "What we tried to do is remain stable at the 44,000 to 43,000 level," he said. MSU's enrollment has fluctuated between 43,000 and 45,000 students for the past five years. The enrollment figures were released to the public late last week. Pamela Horne, assistant to the provost for enrollment management and director of admissions, said university officials had planned on decreasing enrollment to about 44,000, but the state's budgetary problems might affect MSU's long-term enrollment planning. "All of this has to be looked at in terms of the budget and what the balance is going to be between tuition revenue and state revenue," she said.
Many campus bathrooms aren't large enough for a wheelchair to maneuver, and none of the campus pay phones are equipped with Teletype, according to the The Council of Students with DisabilitiesAnd the council wants MSU students to understand the challenges they face on campus during Accessibility Awareness Week, which runs from today through Friday."It's a good way to get people to draw attention to the inaccessible areas on campus," said Melinda Haus, vice president of the council and organizer of the week.
Lloyd Douglas said he thinks a band with only trombones would be dull.Similarly, the program director for the National Science Foundation said diversity is key to making scientific advances."Have you ever looked at the sheet music for West Side Story?" the former trombone player asked a group of MSU students and faculty Thursday night.
Student leaders are angered at a sexually explicit flyer distributed on campus Tuesday night.The flyer, which bore the phrase "Wolverines Pack Fudge" above an explicit drawing, is an advertisement for shirts being sold with the same drawing.
It's taken five years for MSU MATRIX coordinators and The Alliance for American Quilts to piece together a worldwide database to preserve hundreds of years of American quilt storytelling.The archive opened Monday and serves as a virtual collection to make the history and background of quilts across the nation available online."Quilts are folk culture, and over the last 20 years, we have come to realize that we can learn a lot about the time periods they came from," Mark Kornbluh, director of MATRIX, said.
ASMSU leaders will host a forum tonight with East Lansing officials for students to express concerns about the city's stiffened policy on party noise. Student leaders and city officials are expected to address the policy and answer questions about the five-week-old ordinance that calls for jail time and steep fines for hosts of unruly parties. East Lansing police issued 11 citations under the policy during its first two weeks. Concerned students are conducting a petition drive in hopes of forcing the East Lansing City Council to reconsider the ordinance. The forum will begin at 7 p.m.