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MSU

Faculty skip council's meeting on Tuesday

Possibly deterred by the snow, not enough professors and student representatives attended the Academic Council meeting on Tuesday to be able to vote on issues. There must be 61 voting members in attendance to convene a meeting, but by 4 p.m., 45 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to begin, only 59 of those members had appeared. Acting Provost John Hudzik ended the meeting, urging those in attendance to encourage missing members to come to the next meeting, scheduled for March 22. "You're all great folks for being here - stay great and get your colleagues to show up," Hudzik said. The weather is sometimes a factor in keeping people from venturing out to the meetings, said Jon Sticklen, chairman of the Executive Committee of Academic Council and an associate professor of computer science. "This doesn't happen too frequently, but when it does, it's usually in winter when there is a blizzard," Sticklen said.

MSU

Sexual assault task force continues to meet

A university community task force working toward reducing sexual assaults and relationship violence at MSU is closer to submitting its recommendations. The group, formed in November after 12 sexual assaults were reported on MSU's campus during the fall semester, is made up of more than 30 university community members, including faculty, staff and students. The task force met Monday to brainstorm and review findings since it first met in December. "We started to get the ball rolling," committee co-Chairperson Jayne Schuiteman said.

MSU

Consultant accepts position with U-Mass

An MSU consultant who worked on the initial stages of the proposed new residential college has accepted a job with the University of Massachusetts. Marcellette Williams, a consultant to Acting Provost John Hudzik, has accepted a job as senior vice president for academic and student affairs and international relations for the entire University of Massachusetts system, which includes five campuses. Williams will assume her position full time in July, following completion of an MSU study abroad program in South Africa this summer. "I had a wonderful experience here as a student, which was only topped by my experience as a faculty member and administrator," she said.

MSU

Simons donate $300K for music

When he began at MSU, Roy J. Simon was a music major studying theory, conducting and composition. Even though he ended up changing his major during his college career, Simon, the director of Telecommunication Systems and Transportation Services and the husband of MSU President Lou Anna K.

MSU

Artist conveys racial struggles in performance

A flashing sword blade split a single flower Friday as part of a performance by Los Angeles artist Dan Kwong. The event, which took place at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, was called "From Inner Worlds to Outer Space: An evening of performance with Dan Kwong." Kwong blended narrative monologues with projected images, music and physical action to tell his story of growing up as an Asian American. "I was always looking for a way to combine life and art," Kwong said.

MSU

Rodeo draws national crowd

MSU Rodeo Club member Curtis Wegner adjusted his black cowboy hat and tightened his grip on a rope around the bull he was sitting on.

MSU

WEB ONLY: Student group holds dinner, introduces scholarship

MSU students and faculty members dined and danced to the smooth sounds of jazz during the Black Student Alliance's 17th annual dinner at Kellogg Center on Friday night. The event connected students, faculty and staff members on a social level outside of the academic environment, said Tammye Coles, MSU's African American Student Affairs Coordinator. "Opportunities like this are rare and wonderful opportunities," Coles said.

MSU

ASMSU gives $50K for exercise equipment

ASMSU members decided this week to put money from its $600,000 risk management account to use. The undergraduate student government passed a bill to give IM Sports-West up to $50,000 to help pay for new exercise equipment.

MSU

WEB ONLY: Jones Soda president speaks at MSU Business College

Peter van Stolk, president and founder of Jones Soda Co., discussed his company's unorthodox approach to business and marketing strategy Thursday at the Business College Complex. About 125 students came to see van Stolk speak at the "Meet a Pop Star" event organized by human resource management freshman Adam Finkel. Finkel began planning at the beginning of the year, when his proposal to have van Stolk speak originally was rejected by Jones. "A lot of schools have programs where they bring in speakers talk to students, and I thought we should have a similar program, with unique entrepreneurs," Finkel said. With help from the Lear Career Service Center, which provides career planning for business students, Finkel was able to complete his project. In his speech, van Stolk discussed his story - a professional skier who decided to start a beverage distributor instead of going to college.

MSU

Virus with authentic look attacks e-mail accounts

A "clever, nasty little" virus has been infecting MSU Webmail accounts, MSU officials said. The MyDoom virus is a variant of an existing worm that sends out e-mails with different subject lines and addresses that look like authentic messages about mail problems, said Rich Wiggins, senior information technologist for Academic Computing & Network Services. "This is spreading all over the world," Wiggins said.

MSU

Diversity, heroism honored in presentation competition

The legacies of Fredrick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Susan B. Anthony and George Washington Carver were brought to life by MSU students Wednesday night in the fourth annual MSU Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame competition. For the last month, five teams of three members gathered information about an assigned hero to make a 10-minute presentation to three university officials about why that person should be inducted into the hall of fame.

MSU

Cafeteria celebrates black culture

Getting down and filling up were the main orders of business in the Holden Hall cafeteria Thursday, during the fifth annual "Holden's Soul Food Extravaganza." The event was sponsored by the Holden Hall cafeteria and brought food and entertainment together in a celebration of black culture. "We wanted to do something for Black History Month that wasn't so preachy," said Holden Complex Director Joshua Gillespie.

MSU

Jazz dinner features speakers, live music

The 17th annual Black Student Alliance Jazz Dinner is at 8 p.m. today in the Kellogg Center. The Fuzz Band will play contemporary jazz during dinner and a ceremony to present an academic scholarship and achievement award for an MSU faculty member. The dinner's theme, "The Beautiful Struggle," is about overcoming adversity and roadblocks in the road to equality, said sociology graduate student Temple Smith. "Historically, there have been lots and lots of struggles for equality, but in spite of all of that, there is continued optimism," Smith said.

MSU

Restaurants plan to leave campus in spring

Students craving a Frosty, a Gordita Supreme or some Crazy Bread will have to look somewhere other than the MSU campus next year. The Wendy's and Taco Bell in the International Center and the Wendy's and Little Caesars Pizza in the Union will close at the end of Spring semester after they decided not to rebid on their current contracts, said Jim Sheppard, manager of the Union. Taco Bell and both Wendy's locations have been at those MSU spots since 1995, and Little Caesars is the longest-running restaurant on campus, having been open since 1987, Sheppard said. Both Wendy's stores are operated by Stanton & Associates Inc., which owns 63 Wendy's locations in Mid-Michigan. Randy Israel, a partner at Stanton, said there were multiple reasons why the company decided not to stay. Both stores must operate during summer and winter breaks when students aren't on campus, which makes for slow business, Israel said. He added that the stores experience peak business during lunch hours, but receive almost no customers before or after, due to a lack of foot traffic. "If you're a student after 5 p.m.

MSU

WEB ONLY: Student group launches academic integrity campaign

Members of the Public Relations Student Society of America will be promoting academic integrity and giving away candy today on campus. The group launched an awareness campaign earlier this week to educate MSU students of the dangers of academic dishonesty and its long-term effects.

MSU

ASMSU inks bill to make offices more accessible

ASMSU members are attempting to make their offices compliant with the American Disabilities Act. In the Student Assembly's meeting last week, student government members passed a bill to fund up to $3,000 for ADA-compatible office signs. The money will be allocated from the assembly's Special Project account, which consists of rollover funds from other accounts. The signs will have raised numbering and Braille coding that will be within reach for vision-impaired persons.