GEU works to finalize contract negotiations
The Graduate Employees Union and university administrators are taking the next step to finalize contract negotiations following Tuesday’s tentative agreement on a new three-year contract.
The Graduate Employees Union and university administrators are taking the next step to finalize contract negotiations following Tuesday’s tentative agreement on a new three-year contract.
The way people interpret passages in the Bible can affect the way they treat the environment, said Joel Geffen, an assistant professor specializing in religion and the environment.
Members of Residence Halls Association will vote to approve the organization’s proposed summer budget during today’s meeting.
A fresh new face might be among those seeking votes in this fall’s MSU Board of Trustees election. Human resources sophomore Jasmine Ford is running for a seat.
Students in associate horticulture professor Norm Lownds’ “Learning in Museums” class typically spend their semester creating an exhibit geared toward middle school students or younger audiences. But this year, they decided to create something new — a museum exhibit designed for the college crowd.
While attending the groundbreaking of the building that will bear his name, Peter Secchia appeared casual, almost like an observer. It was his $10 million lead gift that jump-started the fundraising for MSU’s medical school in Grand Rapids, but he deflected attention to the groundbreaking ceremony for the center on Monday.
Nobel Peace Prize-winner Nelson Mandela will be recognized with an honorary degree during commencement ceremonies May 2 at Breslin Center. Mandela, former president of South Africa, will present a videotaped response during the ceremony, according to a university press release.
Suroosh Marzban listened for laughs while delivering his final lines as Travis D’Amico, a character on the MSU Telecasters’ sitcom, “The Show.” Marzban, a psychology senior, said his roommates came to watch him perform in a live taping of the hourlong show — the longest-running college situation comedy in the U.S.
Although some universities are taking heat for their expectations of athletes in the classroom, MSU officials said many of the practices in question aren’t an issue here.
MSU students could see their teaching assistants deliver a different kind of lecture today — one led not from podiums and chalkboards, but from bullhorns and banners. Following a 24-hour online vote, about 81 percent of the Graduate Employees Union’s nearly 900 eligible members voted in favor of staging a one-day walkout if a contract was not reached early this morning.
With Breslin Center’s outdoor thermometer reading 75 degrees before 6 p.m. Friday night, the stage was set for the 2008 MSU Relay for Life. The event raised $63,000 and will be combined with Greek Week’s Relay for Life activities, setting MSU’s total at $274,000.
Painted horses and newly hatched chicks were highlights of Saturday’s Small Animals Day, an educational event sponsored by the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Marti Heil was appointed interim vice president for university development at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting Friday.
The Graduate Employees Union took one step closer to their proposed one-day walkout Sunday by approving a ballot sent to all members that could authorize the job action. If approved – and if a contract has not been reached before then – the walkout would take place at 6 a.m. Tuesday, with members present at nine picket lines placed strategically around campus.
ASMSU’s Student Assembly was unable to approve its 2008-2009 budget despite spending more than seven hours meeting Thursday. Although the assembly named its Student Assembly chairperson, vice chairperson for external affairs and vice chairperson for internal affairs, members tabled the budget until its meeting Thursday.
The MSU Board of Trustees has voted to raise room and board rates for all students a rate of 5.25 percent. It will now cost $7,026 annually for a double room and unlimited meal plan in on-campus residence halls – $350 more than last year.
The MSU Board of Trustees will conclude the spring semester with a meeting today that’s more about celebration than hard decision-making, board members said.
Charlotte Wilks knows firsthand that railroad crossings can be dangerous. She once saw a fellow employee climb between the cars of a stopped train near her laboratory in the Life Sciences Building. The employee’s daughter had gotten sick while in day care on the other side of the tracks.
Housing and Food Services has begun a training program to educate employees on how to respond if there is an active shooter in their work place, one that could soon spread to the rest of campus.
Members of MSU’s lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender community wouldn’t let the anti-gay slurs marked on 10 buildings last week in Lansing’s Old Town affect the 36th annual Pride Week festivities.