The announcement by MSU that it will reward its basketball coach millions in compensation not only insults those of us who value merit over celebrity, but reveals how those who operate our universities have ignored their core educational missions. The idea of rewarding a coach for the marketing ability to recruit selfish and pampered athletes is truly insane.
It isn’t officially rivalry week until Grambling and Southern duel it out in the Battle of the Bands, but many big-time rivalries are this week, including Florida vs.
The White House announced Tuesday that President Bush signed a bill banning new oil and gas drilling under the Great Lakes for two years. The new law will provide $25 billion to finance federal energy and water programs in 2002. But some critics feel the law gives the federal government too much control over the Great Lakes. Amanda Hathaway, spokeswoman for the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said the law sets a very dangerous precedent. “Michigan has a long history of managing its natural resources,” she said.
With so much parity in college basketball, there’s a reason why the rankings extend to the top 25 teams in the country.
If the Broadway version of “Kiss Me Kate” was as good as its touring sister company, it probably deserved the Tony Award it won for Best Revival of a Musical last year. The musical opened Tuesday night at Wharton Center and plays through Sunday.
Although unity has become a common thread among Americans since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, white supremacist groups in Michigan and other Midwestern states are using the incident to recruit new members, a recent study found.The Center for New Community, a faith-based organization in Chicago, released a report, “State of Hate: White Nationalism in the Midwest 2000-2001.”In the study, the group found 338 white nationalist groups in 10 Midwestern states, including Michigan.
Michigan lawmakers sent a message to Toronto saying “Michigan doesn’t want your trash.”The letter addressed to the Canadian neighbors asked Toronto city officials to reconsider solving the city’s trash problem at the expense of Michigan’s environment, economy, public health and safety.About 180 Canadian trucks carry trash across Michigan-Canada border crossings each day, said Matt Resch, a spokesman for Lt.
StateWalk is currently on hold, but will be better than ever when it comes back, Residence Halls Association officials say. The service was started 10 years ago to provide a safe environment for members of the MSU community while walking alone on campus.
ASMSU’s Student Assembly selected its new leader for the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students and the Council of Progressive Students on Friday. Melanie Olmsted was approved Tuesday by Academic Assembly and will most likely be approved by Student Assembly tonight as the director of racial ethnic and progressive student affairs, replacing former director Pia Love. The position’s title was changed from director of minority and progressive student affairs by MSU’s undergraduate government earlier this year. Olmsted, who has served on Student Assembly for two years, will step down as a representative for the College of Social Science to concentrate on her new priorities. “I felt it was the right time to do it, so I did,” Olmsted said. She said she looks forward to working with members from CORES and COPS groups because they are very active on campus. “I would like to motivate them, but they’re already extremely motivated themselves,” the interdisciplinary studies in social science senior said.
The high-tech hierarchy is changing at MSU.Paul Hunt will become the associate vice president for research, while David Gift will fill the vice provost for libraries, computing and technology position vacated by Hunt.
House Democrats are set to elect a new leader Dec. 12.Current House Minority Leader Kwame Kilpatrick will become the next mayor of Detroit on Jan.
Not only did the men and women’s swimming teams defeat another Mid-American Conference team Tuesday against Toledo, but the women’s 200-medley relay broke the pool record with a time of 1:48.55. Going into Toledo, the women’s team had a three-meet winning streak and the team continued its dominance by winning 13 events to defeat the Rockets 192-108. The record setting 200-medley relay team, consisting of junior Kathryn Duncombe, freshman Jessica Henning, junior Heather Wellings and freshman Alicia Copestick, broke the old pool record by .67 seconds. Copestick helped the women’s team in other events as well, swimming on the 400-yard freestyle relay team that won, 3:35.11.
When some people think of a cappella groups, images might come to mind of people in striped shirts singing the old barber-shop quartet standards. But for the popular MSU a cappella group Capital Green, MSU’s first and only coed vocal group, its performances can include quite a bit more variety.
Buttons with big white letters that read, “I quit for the Great American Smokeout” will be at some local restaurants to support a day of smoke-free dining.Today, the American Cancer Society is asking smokers to give up their cigarettes for its 25th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout.“We would like to see smokers to go smoke-free to protect their community against the harmful effects of secondhand smoke,” said Kim Hoffman, community development director for the American Cancer Society’s Great Lakes Division, 1755 Abbey Road.More than 3,000 people will die from secondhand smoke this year, she said.
In response to people’s accusations that men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo’s pay raise is unnecessary (“Izzo paid too much during tough times,” SN 11/12), it is obvious this person and many others do not understand how important Tom Izzo is to this university. You don’t have to be a basketball fan to appreciate this or even reap his benefits.
I promise this will be my last column about my recent birthday. Read this, and you will never have to read anything more about it.
MSU students urged state lawmakers Wednesday to make higher education a priority when it comes to state appropriations.About 30 community members met with members of the House Democratic Task Force on Higher Education Affordability in the main lounge of the Union.
One of the 11 new appointees for the U.S. Department of Agriculture advisory board is from MSU. Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman on Oct.
Colorful beach balls, pineapples, palm trees and leis surrounded bachelors dressed in Hawaiian shorts as they answered the question, “What’s the cutest thing you have ever done for a girl?”Tuesday evening, Gamma Phi Beta held its seventh annual bachelor auction to support the chapter’s international philanthropy, Camp Gamma Phi Beta in Vancouver, Canada.