The MSU Alumni Association will host a day-long program celebrating women and diversity Thursday. "Kaleidoscope: A Day for Women" will feature keynote speakers Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, entertainers and social activists who met on Broadway in the 1946 production of "Jeb." Both have appeared in productions such as "A Raisin in the Sun" and "Roots." The program will begin at 8 a.m.
A bassist in a penguin suit was a member of the first team to perform, greeting a sea of glow necklaces, air horns, flashlights, whistles and noisemakers. Twelve teams of fraternities and sororities formed bands and competed in a Battle of the Bands, the latest event in the Greek Week lineup. A maximum of 10 team members but at least one from each team, was required to be on stage.
Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University will visit MSU from Tuesday to Friday as part of MSU President M.
During the final ASMSU Student Assembly meeting Thursday night, members addressed campus issues and events, as well as bills to increase interaction with the East Lansing. MSU's undergraduate student government also passed its 2004-05 budget. "The budget has passed - the celebration may commence," said Missy Kushlak, Student Assembly chairperson.
Jerome Friedman, Nobel prize winner and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak at 7:30 p.m.
A journalist for WJR, a Detroit News sports writer and a Detroit Free Press political writer will be inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame on Saturday.
An informative meeting on a study abroad trip to Antarctica will be held at 4-5 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. April 19 in Room 204 of the International Center.
A Thursday evening meeting between College of Arts & Letters faculty members and Provost Lou Anna Simon left participants positive about future conversations and alternatives to large teaching assistant cuts. More than 50 people from the college filled a Linton Hall room for an hour and a half of open dialogue. Scott Michaelsen, associate professor of English, brought his experience as the director of the Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Voice to his college and organized the meeting. "We had a very open and very productive dialogue about our shared values regarding the humanities and we agreed to work together in the coming weeks to find ways to protect and enhance our core humanities programs, both graduate and undergraduate," he said. Simon said the discussion led to an understanding between faculty and the administration as to the reality of budget cuts. "We sort of shared realities and concerns, and then tried to think about some ideas we could pursue in a context in which the resources are constrained," she said. The discussion was spawned from TA position offers made on March 31, a deadline established by the Graduate Employees Union.
When it comes to thinking about attending college, MSU's King-Chavez-Parks College Day programs encourage underrepresented kids to start planning early.
As the 2004-05 session of ASMSU begins in two weeks, only a few new representatives are preparing for their first meeting. On April 20 and 22, members of MSU's undergraduate student government will choose who will fill chair positions for both Academic and Student assemblies, but only three representatives attended orientation last weekend. To further help new representatives ease into their responsibilities, current ASMSU vice chairs held a new-representative orientation on April 3.
More people were added to the new Residence Halls Association Executive Board on Wednesday. The General Assembly validated four more positions, leaving three positions to be confirmed next week. Those accepted Wednesday were Director of Health and Safety Megan Muscia; Director of Recycling Clark Llamzon; Executive Secretary Cory Rose and Director of Special Events Eric Bolf.
Cloudy skies and chilly winds did not prevent teaching assistants from spending the day outside the Administration Building and the evening in Linton Hall rallying for their jobs. Based on preliminary budget numbers crunched by individual colleges, a smaller number of teaching-assistant positions was offered by the Graduate Employees Union's March 31 deadline. Many teaching assistants consider the Department of Spanish and Portuguese to be the hardest-hit.
With the end of the semester nearing, a number of student organizations are approaching governing groups that allocate money, hoping to get one last piece of the pie. Three such requests were presented to the Residence Halls Association General Assembly at its Wednesday meeting, but only two of the bills made it to a vote. The African Student Union put in a request for $100 to the assembly.
The MSU community is increasingly satisfied with the cafeteria system, a national survey reports. The National Association of College and University Food Services annually conducts a Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking Survey.
The recent price jumps in birth control products for women are probably due to a new wave of those products hitting pharmacy shelves, experts say. "The company that develops those products is trying to recoup their costs for research and development," said Lori Lamerand, vice president of the Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance.
After repeated warnings to improve his performance as chair of the Freshman Class Council, Brandon Gualdoni resigned Monday evening. The computer science freshman, who also is an Eagle Scout and member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, was replaced by James Madison freshman Karissa Chabot. Freshman Class Council is a part of ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government. "Some members of the council brought forward their concerns about Brandon's participation in events this year and his leadership position," Chabot said.
ASMSU services will undergo scrutiny next fall by a new committee formed Tuesday night. A bill to form a committee to evaluate the effectiveness of ASMSU's services was proposed to Academic Assembly for the second time this semester at the Tuesday meeting. MSU's undergraduate student government provides legal services, blue books and funding for campus events.
A student group supporting fair labor is upset with the university after MSU President M. Peter McPherson met with the executive director of a labor-monitoring organization without notifying them. Members of Students for Economic Justice, or SEJ, said they have been campaigning for four years to get McPherson to consider joining the Worker Rights Consortium and were disappointed to find out that the meeting took place earlier last month without their input or presence. "That's unprofessional," said economics senior Dave Mitchell, a member of SEJ.
Don't judge an apple by its cover - shiny red skin and a plump appearance might just be masking a squishy texture or sour taste. Renfu Lu, an adjunct associate professor at MSU and agricultural engineer with the U.S.
Two weeks ago, the ASMSU Candy Initiative passed through Student Assembly, but until today, the offices of MSU's undergraduate student government were sweet-free. The bill, which passed with one dissension, allocates $150 to buy candy for the business office on the third floor of Student Services.