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News | Msu

MSU

American Indians will be honored at event

Michigan Indian Day will be celebrated from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Union's Gold Rooms A & B. The free event will include speakers and cultural activities. An elder advocate of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Warren Petoskey, will provide the keynote address.

MSU

Student tells of life as 'Muslim'

Last spring, Eastern Michigan University student Zoe Piliafas spent an entire semester dressed as a Muslim woman. Piliafas, who is of Greek descent, went by the name Zhooda, adopted a Middle Eastern accent and wore a burqa - a dark shroud that covers everything except a woman's eyes.

MSU

Fair showcases study abroad tradition

For Michael Handley, taking quizzes during his summer zoology classes required him to get in a Jeep and drive to a field in search of the animals. The zoology junior was on a study abroad trip in Kenya for three weeks this summer and said the experience taught him more than he would have learned in a traditional classroom setting. "I am a hands-on learner and this helped," Handley said.

MSU

MSU will construct $8M facility for auto research

The Automotive Research Experiment Station will upgrade its facilities from a 9,000-square-foot laboratory located about five miles from campus to a state-of-the-art site on south campus. The new 30,000-square-foot location will be off Bogue Street and Service Road, south of the existing research Complex. The project's contractor was appointed by the MSU Board of Trustees on Friday.

MSU

Conservatives 'come out' despite protests

Several students lined the sidewalks of Farm Lane on Wednesday afternoon in protest to National Conservative Coming Out Day activities planned on campus. The group of about 30 protesters stood outside Bessey Hall - one of the sites conservative groups intended to use for the event - waving signs and voicing their concerns about the use of the words "coming out" to describe the event. Professional writing sophomore Ben Rubinstein, a member of the MSU Stonewall Democrats, was among the protesters and said the terminology was offensive. "We were there to help show our side of the story and our feeling that their calling this a national 'coming out' day was mocking," he said.

MSU

MSU electronic advising system created

Gary Wood has dreamed of having a paperless advising system for the last 10 years, but it wasn't until the Undergraduate University Division teamed up with the Office of the Registrar that his dream became a reality. Students in three MSU colleges will no longer have to lug an academic folder across campus when meeting with an adviser, following the creation of the Electronic Student Academic Folder, a program designed to eliminate paper in the advising system. "We had wanted a paperless system for a number of reasons," said Wood, coordinator of the Undergraduate University Division's office in Bessey Hall.

MSU

ASMSU positions remain unfilled

ASMSU's Academic Assembly has grown sizably in the last two weeks - 10 out of 11 student group spots have been filled and the total number of college representatives has doubled. Although the group had to add more tables to fit all the new members during its Tuesday meeting, about half of its college representative seats remain empty. Despite the open seats, Academic Assembly Chairperson Robert Murphy said he is happy with the group's progress. "I'm really pleased with what we've done so far," Murphy said.

MSU

Gas leak forces road closure

Construction workers drilling on Dormitory Road near Snyder and Phillips halls hit a gas line at about noon on Tuesday, causing a gas leak that kept running for roughly five hours. "It just shoots out because it's forced gas," said Lt.

MSU

Jokesters prepare for UAB comedy weekend

Aspiring MSU comedians gathered in the Union's Ohio State Room on Tuesday night, hoping to extract a chorus of belly laughs from a University Activities Board judging panel. The comedians were auditioning for a slot in the upcoming "Last Spartan Standing" competition, the MSU version of the "Last Comic Standing" NBC television series.

MSU

MSU conservatives urged to 'come out' at campus event

On Wednesday, several MSU conservative political groups will have a chance to make an announcement - they are proud of their political affiliation. The opportunity is part of the first-ever National Conservative Coming Out Day, an event aimed at raising awareness about the conservative presence on college campuses. At MSU, informational tables and a mock closet for participants to come out of will be set up at the Brody Complex and Bessey Hall, as well as a possible location on East campus, political science and pre-law senior Luke Pelican said. "The purpose of this day isn't to go after anyone or have an aggressive agenda," Pelican said.

MSU

ASMSU: Sale of alcohol in suites biased

Members of ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, feel that selling alcohol in the suite area of Spartan Stadium is unfair to students and gives more privilege to those who pay extra for season tickets. "It's ridiculous.

MSU

Club targets women in computer sciences

It is not uncommon for Niharika Joglekar to be the only female in her classes. It's this observation - among others - that has led the computer science and engineering senior to start a new group on campus called MSU Women in Computing. "Women don't feel as comfortable as they should in this male-dominated major," Joglekar said.

MSU

Academy demos sword fighting on campus

By Erica Richards Special to The State News The peaceful lawn of the Administration Building turned into a medieval battlefield Saturday afternoon - but fighters wore T-shirts and used weapons made of wood, leather and duct tape. A small group of students and instructors from the Aegis Sword Academy in Pinckney took turns fighting within a ring of green rope as part of a swordsmanship demonstration.