Two condoms, lubrication and a Valentine’s Day card.While these items could possibly make for an interesting evening, they are also what the Olin Health Center Sexual Health Promotion Team will be distributing today from 1 p.m.
ASMSU’s Student Assembly approved a bill Thursday that requests the university place braille writing on all green light emergency phones across campus.“(The measure) basically sends a message that we care about persons with disabilities and their safety,” said Matt Weingarden, the assembly’s Council of Students With Disabilities representative.About 100 emergency telephones are placed in specific parts of MSU’s campus for students to use if they require police assistance.But Weingarden said because the phone booths do not provide adequate light for those who are visually impaired, it is necessary for the numbers to have braille markings on them.“The (current safety) program itself is not inclusive as is,” he said.
Maggie Chen Hernandez, coordinator for MSU’s Multicultural Center, said while students often work for racial diversity, they seldom receive recognition for their endeavors. “A lot of the effort to push for multiculturalism at Michigan State comes from students and students should be recognized for some of their outstanding contributions and efforts,” she said. Chen Hernandez and MSU’s Office of Affirmative Action Compliance and Monitoring hope to change that. The Excellence in Diversity Recognition and Awards Program will provide cash awards to individuals, teams, organizations and students who have shown a commitment to promoting and supporting diversity at MSU. As many as three individual students and three student teams will be awarded $2,500 through the “Excellence in Diversity” and “Excellence Within Community” categories.
The 19,000 people who filled Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday were asked to stand if they, or someone they knew, had been a victim of sexual assault.“Everyone in the entire place stood up,” international studies junior Melanie Olmsted said. “It was an extremely moving experience.”According the National Organization for Women, 132,00 women are sexually assaulted each year.Olmsted and 14 other MSU students traveled to New York for Vagina Day and the showing of the “Vagina Monologues”. Written by Eve Ensler, the monologues feature 15 stories women perform about experiences with sexuality.“The “Vagina Monologues” are so wonderful because they explore taboos that aren’t normally expressed,” Olmsted said.
MSU’s tradition of its president giving an annual State of the University Address is common among some other universities in the Big Ten.But while an annual event, many students show little interest in attending.Joyce Sandie, an elementary education senior, agrees such a speech is important to keep students informed of key issues on campus.Yet she has no intention of attending.“I wasn’t aware that he gave such a speech but I am going to listen to what he has to say,” Sandie said.
For some MSU researchers, an analyzed bug in the hand is worth two in the bush.Professors Robert Hollingworth and Ke Dong are researching possible answers to the question of how insects become resistant to pesticides.Hollingworth, a professor of entomology, said he and Professor Dong are interested in the biochemistry and genetics of how populations of insects change and mutate in the field.“A population of insects starts off where a percentage are killed by insecticides, but by sheer chance, mutations allow some of them to become resistant to the insecticides,” Hollingworth said.
A new group of Michigan residents was chosen to get an up-close and personal look at politics. The Michigan Political Leadership Program announced that 24 Michigan residents will receive fully paid fellowships with the MSU-based program. “We are very excited to see how such a diverse group comes together,” said Shannon Horvath, the program’s director.
A new type of free Internet software may make it easier for students and faculty to research online. The software, called “q,” allows Web browsers to save Internet links in groups and refer back to them even after connection to the net has been terminated.
Three successful alumni retraced their paths from college to career while visiting campus last week.Jack Epps Jr., Juli Betwee and John Scott presented a panel discussion for students and faculty Friday morning as part of the second annual College of Arts and Letters Alumni Leaders Program.“The thing that impresses me is how inspiring the leaders are and how they related their experiences with students,” said Patrick McConeghy, associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters.Epps, who co-wrote several movie scripts, including “Top Gun” with the late MSU Professor Jim Cash, said he hoped to show students there are no limits to success.“It’s important to see people with experience so you can gauge where you want to go,” he said.
Although asthma can be a serious disease, doctors know it’s manageable.MSU’s health promotion program, Healthy U, sponsored Breathing For Life on Friday at the Union.
A petition bearing the signatures of more than 900 graduate employees was filed with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission on behalf of the newly formed Graduate Employees Union at MSU.
After last year’s attempt to alter the MSU tuition guarantee, ASMSU plans on taking a different approach for changing the policy in 2001.ASMSU’s Academic Assembly unanimously passed a measure Tuesday suggesting a change to the guarantee.
In an effort to defeat the University of Michigan in a one-on-one competition, the MSU Senior Class Council has called on Charlie Bell to sink the game-winning shot.Bell, a senior guard on the men’s basketball team, agreed to become the official spokesman for the council’s annual Senior Class Giving Campaign this week.
Dinner with MSU President M. Peter McPherson may be an option for students attending the School of Hospitality Business’ Big Ten Auction on Saturday.
While doing everything you can to avoid catching sick germs, escape to the cold and snow outside. Yes, that’s right.
The names of four successful journalists have come a long way from the published page. Their names will be added to a list of 98 others who have been inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame since its inception in 1985.Former Detroit Free Press journalists Barbara Stanton and the late Bob Talbert will be inducted April 21, along with Ben Burns, formerly of The Detroit News and the late Charles Cain III of The Associated Press.Stephen Lacy, chairman of the Hall of Fame committee and director of MSU’s School of Journalism, said the committee had little difficulty selecting this year’s inductees.“Most nominees aren’t inducted the first time they’re nominated, but in this case, all four of these were in their first year,” he said.
The second annual Bash on Cancer fund-raiser will be held from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Brody Complex Multipurpose room. The fund-raiser will include activities such as sumo wrestling, bouncy boxing, human joust and dancing.
Agriculture experts from around the world will converge at the Kellogg Center today and Friday to join MSU professors for the Journal of International Law’s 2001 Symposium. The symposium, “Uruguay and Beyond: The WTO, Agriculture and the Law,” is the first endeavor of its kind by the MSU-Detroit College of Law-based publication.
MSU is part of an alliance that is getting a $20 million, five-year grant to fight the disease lymphatic filariasis from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.The tropical disease, also known as elephantiasis, is carried by infected mosquitos and afflicts millions of people worldwide.Veterinary pathology Professor Charles Mackenzie is directing MSU’s involvement in the grant.“My role is very much to help countries get their programs running,” Mackenzie said.
Charles Ten Brink calls it his “dream job.”Ten Brink, currently the associate law librarian of the University of Chicago’s D’Angelo Law Library, has been named professor of law and director of library and technology services at MSU-Detroit College of Law.“I’m thrilled,” Ten Brink told The State News from his Chicago office.