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COMMENTARY

Get informed about area buses

Ah, the site of a wild and untamed freshman with a map glued to his or her face and the smell of sweet, sweet dung around south campus. Both are sure signs another school year is commencing at MSU. But manure and maps aside, the other big annual change students notice is the influx of freshmen on the Capital Area Transportation Authority buses.

FEATURES

U-Fest entertains crowd with local favorites, sumo wrestling

Ben Landes
August 26, 2002

Two sumo wrestlers collided with monstrous force Friday, toppling each other into the unforgiving floor. The silence was broken when muffled laughter from under the excess baggage was liberated as the suit came off and the frail body within stepped out - victorious. The University Activities Board provided 14 free activities for students to lose themselves in at the 26th Annual U-Fest at the Union. The energetic students were allured by the bouncy boxing and sumo wrestling, that students found to be some of the most amusing and embarrassing activities. For the more artistic bunch, there was a craft area, caricatures, airbrush tattoos, wax hands and palm and tarot card readings.

SPORTS

Lions restore the roar in Detroit

Detroit -They’re back. After 25 years in the suburbs, the Detroit Lions returned downtown Saturday to open Ford Field, their new $500 million home. The indoor stadium was designed to be everything the Pontiac Silverdome wasn’t: charismatic, innovative and state-of-the art. Fans who packed the 65,000-seat venue for an afternoon exhibition contest with the Pittsburgh Steelers certainly took notice. “It’s absolutely beautiful, gorgeous,” Tim Jones, a 35-year-old sales manager from Farmington Hills, said before entering.

VOLLEYBALL

Green takes White in Spikers debut

Chris Mackinder
August 26, 2002

Prior to the MSU volleyball team’s Green & White game Saturday, head coach Chuck Erbe called the inter-squad scrimmage a “coming out party.”Anyone who listened to the radio or was in attendance at Jenison Field House didn’t have much of an argument.

SPORTS

HARDY: Mulder, MLB look at strikes

Detroit - Mark Mulder knows strikes. From the mound, the lanky former Spartan and flame-throwing lefty has seen 352 batters return to the pine during his three-year career with Oakland - he also mulled over a school-record 113 in his final season at MSU in 1998. Baseball fans know strikes, too. They’ve seen eight work stoppages since 1972. And as negotiators go into the ninth inning of bargaining before Friday’s deadline, we can all wonder who will strike next? Mulder or the players? “None of us want a strike,” Mulder says with his casual, cool tone as he stretches on the Oakland Athletics’ green-padded bench with his legs up inside the visitor’s dugout before Sunday’s opening pitch at Comerica Park, where the A’s swept the series against the Detroit Tigers under a deep-blue sky with temperatures in the low 80s. The 25-year-old pitching stud feels little heat, though, even as the sun breaks from behind clouds one day after talks between baseball management and players soured. “This is about keeping the game going,” he says.

FOOTBALL

Gridders use practice to move up the ranks

Andrew Fifer
August 26, 2002

With two-a-day workouts behind them and the season opener less than a week away, the MSU football team is ready to get on the field against another team. “I’m really excited,” junior wide receiver Ziehl Kavanaght said after a Wednesday scrimmage.

MICHIGAN

Professor testifies in trial for slaying of U student

Alison Barker
August 26, 2002

An MSU geology professor testified Friday that soil samples found on the shoes of a man accused of slaying his wife, an MSU graduate student, match the soil found on her body. Professor Thomas Vogel analyzed soil on shoes owned by Dennis Michael Salerno, 32, after he was accused of slaying his wife in July 2000. And even though the soil samples matched, Vogel said the soil on Dennis Salerno’s shoes and that found on Michelle Rizzi Salerno’s body are not made up of the same elements as dirt at the Bowling Green State University landfill in Ohio where her body was found. “You can make your own conclusions,” Vogel said. The body of Michelle Salerno, who was 26 when she was reported missing June 20, 2000, was recovered in April 2001.

NEWS

Coalition welcomes renters back to E.L.

Kendra Snyder
August 26, 2002

East Lansing resident Cindy Kyle placed a green-and-white sign boasting the words “Welcome Back Students” on her front lawn Friday in the place where an old couch was left years ago by nightly pranksters.Kyle, who has lived on Orchard Street for about eight years, accepted one of 100 signs passed out by Neighborhood Resource Coordinators, despite her past problems with student neighbors.“I want to know the students who live near me,” said Kyle, who lives with her husband.

COMMENTARY

Greeking forward

Although MSU’s greek community has improved its reputation dramatically during the past few years, it still has some hurdles to overcome. Since 2001, the number of greeks with grade-point averages below 2.0 increased, one fraternity was shut down by its national organization for hazing and discrimination violations and two sororities closed their doors because of a lack of interest. But while it might seem as though MSU greeks have fallen on hard times, the situation isn’t as bad as it seems. Despite last year’s lower GPAs, greek grades have been on a steady rise during the past five years. Although alcohol is a staple at many greek functions, as with many college social groups, the community isn’t perceived as the binge-drinking society it once was. On another positive note, MSU greeks have put more of an emphasis on community-service projects.