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MSU

Group holds welcome for student parents

Ethan Conley
September 19, 2005

Student Parents on a Mission will have a welcome meeting from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Spartan Child Development Center, located at 1730 Crescent Road. Free dinner and child care will be provided, and a children's craft activity will start at 7 p.m. The organization was founded in 1995 with the Family Resource Center to provide an environment for student parents to come together and learn about resources MSU provides for them, such as assistance in finding employment and financial aid.

MSU

Board OKs sale of horse farm

Bob Darrow
September 19, 2005

In a unanimous decision during Friday's MSU Board of Trustees meeting, board members approved the sale of MSU's Merillat Equine Center, an 80-acre farm in Adrian that specializes in breeding. The farm was given as a gift to the university in 1996 by the Merillat family.

MSU

Trustees discuss Katrina, class issues

As Sayrah Namaste waited at an MSU medical center Wednesday, she overheard two janitorial employees discussing the donation of money to victims of Hurricane Katrina. One employee said he was asked to contribute but declined because he and his wife had already withdrawn everything from their savings to donate one week earlier. "He looked like he was at retirement age," Namaste said.

MSU

Council hopefuls: Students must vote

Melissa Domsic
September 19, 2005

Students should visit a new student-run Web site with information on East Lansing City Council candidates because students are residents of the city with the right and responsibility to vote, all four candidates have said. "I don't think enough students register to vote in East Lansing," said Kevin E.

MSU

MSU event focuses on Israel

Although Israel is thousands of miles away from East Lansing, a little piece of the country was at the rock on Farm Lane on Thursday night. At Israel Fest - put on by the Jewish Student Union and Spartans for Israel - guests were given an opportunity to learn about Israeli culture and politics. The free three-hour event included Israeli food, demonstrations on Israeli military self-defense and different musical acts ranging from an MSU student to Jewish rapper Remedy, who is affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan. Cindy Huey, adviser for the Jewish Student Union, said the group planned the event to celebrate and showcase an Israel different from what is portrayed on the news. "When most students hear about Israel they hear about the political aspect of the conflict (in the Gaza Strip and West Bank)," she said.

MSU

$5M instrument will aid research

Bob Darrow
September 16, 2005

A group of MSU administrators, state authorities and scientists had a first look at a new facility built on campus to house a cutting-edge nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, spectrometer on Thursday. A dedication ceremony was held at MSU's Core Technology Alliance Biomolecular NMR Facility, a part of the Engineering Research Complex, to introduce the new instrument, which uses powerful magnets to help scientists determine the structures of large molecules and monitor the interactions of drugs and proteins - important applications for biological and medical research. The 900-megahertz spectrometer, which arrived on campus in May, is part of the Michigan Center for Structural Biology, a group of shared instruments housed at facilities in the state and other parts of the Midwest, including MSU. The spectrometer provides state-of-the-art speed and sensitivity, said Shelagh Ferguson-Miller, chairperson of MSU's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It is one of only five such machines in the nation. MSU's instrument is intended to be used by scientists at a number of institutions around the state, country and world, said J.

MSU

MSU groups aim to aid universities in ravaged area

Melissa Domsic
September 16, 2005

While many Hurricane Katrina fundraisers are geared toward general relief, some MSU student groups are keeping the universities located in the devastated area at the forefront of their relief efforts. "As students, it was very important for us to help the affected students who are going through this," Residence Hall Association President Kevin Newman said. On Monday, RHA, ASMSU and the MSU chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary began their program of selling donation cards for $1.

MSU

Club prepares for annual raft trip

Ken Osborne
September 15, 2005

Before joining the MSU Outing Club, education junior Sarah Hughes said she hadn't experienced many outdoor sports, but now considers ice climbing one of her favorite hobbies. Last year, Hughes signed up to go whitewater rafting in West Virginia with the club even though she didn't know anybody on the trip, she said. "By the end of the drive there I had become really good friends with the people in my car," she said. The club is about learning and experiencing outdoor activities by taking trips to hike or climb rocks and ice, Hughes said. In addition to the whitewater rafting trip, the club has already planned tentative trips listed on its Web site that allow people to experience the outdoors, said interdisciplinary studies in social science senior and club President Allison Solka. "The club allows people to try things they normally wouldn't," Solka said, adding that one of the features of the club is that members can rent gear such as backpacks for free. The MSU Outing Club has about 200 members.

MSU

MSU group aids in pet rescue

As Valerie Chadwick watched the relentless news coverage of the devastation following Hurricane Katrina, a few images remained with her. Chadwick, assistant professor for the College of Veterinary Medicine, said scenes such as animals stranded on top of submerged cars or swimming as boats full of people passed, have prompted her to take part in a relief effort with the college. "It's frustrating," she said.

MSU

Board to discuss new parking area

Bob Darrow
September 15, 2005

Friday's MSU Board of Trustees meeting could result in the approval of a new parking lot in protected campus green space. At the meeting, the first this semester, the trustees will discuss the possibility of straying from an MSU zoning ordinance that prohibits development in specific green areas on campus by constructing a 20-space parking lot at the Clarence E.

MSU

Sparty visitors restricted

Melissa Domsic
September 15, 2005

From keeping watch so Wolverines don't paint it maize and blue to moving it indoors and building a new one outside, the MSU community is protective of the Spartan statue - a university symbol for 60 years. The original terra cotta statue was recently moved into the new Spartan Stadium addition, which left some fans wondering how accessible the familiar landmark will be. The statue's new home is in a lobby that serves as a gateway to the new reserved area for club-seat and suite ticket holders, as well as the media, on home football Saturdays. Access is restricted for about five hours each game day, but there are opportunities before and after games for the public to see the statue, said Greg Ianni, senior associate director of athletics.

MSU

Israel event to feature former Wu-Tang rapper

The Jewish Student Union and Spartans for Israel will hold Israel Fest around 6 p.m. today at the rock on Farm Lane. The free event will include performances from local bands and singers, as well as a performance from Remedy, who is affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan.

MSU

Magazine gives minorities a voice

During his free time this summer, Cyrus McNeal didn't thumb through magazines. He created one geared toward MSU minorities. "I sat down and thought about the ups and downs and what it would take," McNeal said.

MSU

Faculty approves task forces at council meeting

Lauren Phillips
September 14, 2005

It is a season of change this fall for MSU faculty, which approved five new task forces that will examine such university components as the Academic Governance system, communication and evaluation of academic programs and administrators at a Faculty Council meeting Tuesday. The approval of these task forces is a step toward solving problems that some faculty members say have been bothering them for years - namely, their role in important MSU decisions. All five of the approved committees, composed of faculty, students, administrators and MSU Board of Trustees members, will now begin to look at these issues.

MSU

Students finish Ironman race

Ken Osborne
September 14, 2005

To prepare for last weekend's Ford Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon, MSU students Joshua McCallum and Andris Roze rode their bikes from East Lansing to Petoskey - a nearly 210-mile journey that took the pair 14-and-a-half hours to complete. It was just one component of a rigorous training schedule - twice daily, six days a week since May - to prepare for Sunday's Ironman race in Madison, Wis. In an event where 19 percent of the 2,076 competitors dropped out, both McCallum, a microbiology senior, and Roze, a finance senior, finished the event.

MSU

Task force looking to reform Academic Governance

Laura Collins
September 13, 2005

Bob Murphy is worried about the future of his involvement in the higher levels of the Academic Governance system. The main feature on the agenda for today's Faculty Council meeting includes discussing and voting on five different task forces, one of which could have major implications on Murphy's role in Academic Governance. The task forces are geared to improve areas highlighted in the Faculty Voice Report, a result of a committee of faculty that met last year to troubleshoot ways to give the faculty more voice in university issues. The Faculty Voice Report recommended that a task force restructure Academic Governance by creating a new executive group, called the Faculty Executive Committee. This group would be composed of only six faculty members. A committee made of solely faculty members has Murphy, chairperson of ASMSU's Academic Assembly, wondering where he gets to participate. "It completely destroys any sort of student input we have as part of (Academic) Governance," Murphy said.

MSU

Minority program requests upgrades

Staff and students from the Chicano/Latino studies program are calling for an increase in future funding and office space, guaranteed positions for various staff members and a comprehensive plan for Chicano and Latino student admissions and retention rates. Members of the program met with Provost Kim Wilcox a second time on Monday and presented him with a list of these concerns, which also includes making the program into a department. Interdisciplinary studies in social science and community relations junior Claudia Gonzalez works in the Chicano/Latino studies office and said the office's budget projections arrived late and appeared to allocate about $77,000 less than the year before. On Friday, several members from the program attempted to speak with President Lou Anna K.