By Sean Ely For the State News Many children spend their Saturday mornings with their eyes glued to the television, awaiting hours of their favorite cartoons.
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon posted an online letter Thursday addressing the issue of illegal immigration and the possibility of a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" on campus. The letter, entitled "Immigration: Too important an issue for gimmicks," expressed her negative feelings toward the "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" activity being planned by the Young Americans for Freedom, or YAF. "You counter this (event) with an understanding and a commitment to the values of the institution," Terry Denbow, university spokesman, said.
Thursday night was the first time Waleed Brinjikji, an MSU physiology senior, shared his story on campus about how his family's trip to Lebanon turned into a fight for their lives. In mid-July, Brinjikji and some of his family, including his mother, visited Lebanon in hopes of seeing some of their family's heritage. When fighting began between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, a political and military group stationed in Lebanon, he sensed the danger of the situation. Brinjikji and his family were forced into hiding, spending countless nights fearing for their lives as bombs were dropped near the home in which they were living. With the help of others, Brinjikji and his family were finally able to escape to Syria and return to the United States. The night began with Yusuf Begg, an economics senior with the MSU Muslim Students' Association, who said the event was not meant to place blame or decide who was right or wrong, but instead to strictly focus on this family's tough journey. Begg, who had known Brinjikji from a local Mosque near their hometowns, said he was alarmed when he heard what happened to Brinjikji but was hopeful of what people could take away from the presentation. "Now that he is back, I hope people can go on with an open mind and become more aware of the events going on around them," Begg said. After Begg finished speaking, Brinjikji began vividly describing what he and his family went through, including witnessing building and car explosions. "I wanted to go into this talk with a nonpolitical outlook," Brinjikji said.
Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis were a few of the high-profile Michigan Republicans who came to campus Saturday for the football game against Notre Dame. At a booth set up near the entrance to Spartan Stadium, students got a chance to voice their concerns and ask questions of candidates and active politicians. "It's a chance to talk to a candidate that was walking around," said John Knowles, who helped organize the event and is running for the 69th District seat in the state House of Representatives against Democratic opponent Mark Meadows.
Jehuu Caulcrick ran through Notre Dame's defense like it didn't exist on Saturday. He may as well have had a list of Notre Dame defensive backs in his pocket so he could cross off the names of players he ran over. Tom Zbikowski: Check.
Three games that come to mind when I think of an electric atmosphere in Spartan Stadium. Two of those games are from 2004, when heavily favored Minnesota and Wisconsin came into East Lansing only to see each of its Big Ten Championship hopes crumble. The "go green, go white" chants coming from the student section were so loud that they drowned out the PA announcer.
Groggy Spartans recovering from a crazed football Saturday got a little extra help in clearing red cups and other party debris from their lawns Sunday morning. A group of about 30 people, primarily composed of students and a few city and university officials, hit East Lansing streets with trash bags to make the tailgating aftermath look like a distant memory. "It's disappointing how much trash is all over the place," said Emily Steibel, an elementary education junior who volunteered to pick up trash.
One of the last traffic circles on campus is set to transform into a four-way intersection by August. The reconstruction of the traffic circle at Red Cedar and Wilson roads is part of the 2020 Vision plan — an outline for campus development until 2020 — and is necessary to handle increased traffic on campus during the construction of the Farm Lane underpass, university officials said. The MSU Board of Trustees approved construction on the traffic circle at its Sept.
There are a million possible excuses for MSU's fourth-quarter implosion — inclement weather, poor officiating, lucky interceptions — but none of them hold up. MSU's loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff.
Flowers tied with yellow ribbon to a street pole on the corner of Mount Hope Road and Farm Lane will no longer be the only physical reminder of a 19-year-old MSU student who was killed while crossing the intersection on Feb.
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon will speak at noon today at the State of the Public Universities Program at Cobo Hall in Detroit. The program was organized by the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan — a Lansing-based nonprofit organization that serves Michigan's 15 state universities.
Bob Skandalaris doesn't ask for much. The 1974 MSU graduate could have been found with his wife, Julie, cheering on the Green and White on Saturday among fellow Spartans, but not in his own luxurious box suite. The people sitting near these humble fans might not have realized the couple made athletics history just before kickoff when their $5 million donation to the expansion of the Duffy Daugherty Football Building was announced, marking one of the biggest financial gifts in university history. The Skandalaris' gift has been in the works for six months and doubles former NBA star Steve Smith's $2.5 million donation given to the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center. "This is historic in many respects," Athletics Director Ron Mason said in a press conference Saturday.
By now, everyone knows Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush "the devil." Everyone knows you should be scared of spinach.
With chilly conditions and gusting wind at Old College Field, the MSU men's soccer team set out to pick up its first Big Ten win against Wisconsin. But after 110 minutes of physical play, nothing had been decided and the match ended in a 0-0 tie. "I thought this was a great men's Division 1 Big Ten soccer game," MSU head coach Joe Baum said.
Notre Dame players were celebrating in the corner of Spartan Stadium, singing with their band and their fans.
While playing San Diego last week, the Los Angeles Dodgers hit four home runs in a row in the ninth inning to erase a four-run deficit and force extra innings. Dodgers manager Grady Little said the credit for the outburst should go to the team's third-base coach, who had the foresight to give the "hit a home run" sign four times in a row. Japanese golfer Mitsuhiro Tateyama set a national tournament record last week by taking 19 strokes on a par-3 hole. Tateyama reportedly hit a good drive but had an extremely difficult time getting the ball into the clown's mouth. During Sunday's win against the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers' quarterback Brett Favre threw the 400th touchdown of his career. After the game, Lions general manager Matt Millen applauded Favre on his accomplishment and said he hopes the Lions score the 400th touchdown in franchise history soon. Southern Cal officials are upset that ABC broadcaster Brent Musburger revealed the meaning of one of Trojans quarterback John David Booty's hand signals on the air last week. In a related story, ABC officials are still trying to decipher the meaning of the hand signal that several thousand MSU fans were seen giving John L.
Correction: The story should have stated that there was a 54 percent increase in total game-day arrests from when MSU played Notre Dame in East Lansing two years ago. Total game day arrests on campus increased 35 percent from when MSU played Notre Dame two years ago. MSU police arrested 131 people Saturday compared to 85 game-day arrests when the teams last met in East Lansing. In addition, MSU police issued 55 MIPs Saturday and arrested others for several trespassing, drug violation and drunk and disorderly offenses.
"Some relationships just need to end." The professors of my COM 225 class said this during the first week of classes, but it took almost a month for me to let the words sink in and really think about what this means.
Jim O'Leary, a 2002 MSU graduate, was chosen as the second-youngest member of PR News Online's "15 to Watch" award for his work in the public relations department. "He's got not only the work ethic, but the self-confidence and the passion, which are all critical to being a leader," said Michael Holland, director of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, and O'Leary's supervisor.
What have you done for me lately? This phrase is used often in sports. Coaches are judged on a game-by-game basis, and players are often judged on what they do when the game matters. And the phrase couldn't have resonated any louder than on Saturday, when judging the play of the two quarterbacks. Notre Dame's Brady Quinn struggled early, throwing just 2-of-8 for six yards in the first quarter.