The safety of women on campus, college reorganization, and the higher education budget were a few of the topics discussed at "Conversation with the Provost," held Monday.
A visit from two Mexican coffee farmers Tuesday helped some MSU students explain why it's important to make fair trade coffee available in campus cafeterias. The speakers, Jose Vasquez, president of the Las Abejas Civil Society, and Macario Arias Gomez, president of the Maya Vinic Coffee Cooperative, which is part of the society, spoke of hardships they faced growing coffee beans in Chiapas, Mexico before organizing into cooperatives and selling to fair trade companies in the United States, Canada, Japan and Switzerland. "We are organizing as a cooperative so that we can organize and work toward a better life," Vasquez said. In the mid-'90s, the Mexican government wanted to take the coffee farmers' communal land and sell it to private oil and timber companies, but the farmers peacefully protested.
ASMSU officials said they are concerned with campus safety because of the recent sexual assaults on campus, so much so they wrote a bill to increase lighting and emergency phones on campus. The bill, written in the middle of its Student Assembly meeting Thursday, advocates for a safer campus and to support the Residence Halls Association's safety report issued last year. "One incident near the tennis courts, and tailgates are changed," said Derek Wallbank, a representative for the Council for Students with Disabilities.
With cold and flu season underway, and only about two-thirds of the flu vaccine expected to be available nationally, Olin Health Center officials are scurrying to provide this year's cold and flu kits. Jon Kermiet, an Olin Health Educator, said students will need to pay more attention to their hygiene practices this year to prevent sickness because the flu shot will not be made available to them. According to the 2004 National College Health Assessment, 82.3 percent of students contracted the cold or flu.
Six MSU supervisors were surprised with Supervisor Recognition Awards last week with the final award given Monday.
The Jewish Studies Program is showing \"Desperado Square\" at 7:30 p.m. Monday in 147 Communication Arts and Sciences Bldg. Ellen Rothfeld, an MSU Hebrew lecturer, will introduce the film. Rothfeld said the purpose of the film series, which is in Hebrew, is to introduce students to the Israeli culture. \"Most of these films are not religious oriented, it\'s more the culture, although of course most of Israel is Jewish,\" Rothfeld said. The other film in the series, \"Broken Wings,\" will be shown at 7:30 p.m.
To show sensitivity to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, the MSU College of Law is hosting a panel discussion on the impact of Proposal 2 at noon today in Room 343 in the law school.
ASMSU has taken a stand on the proposal to ban gay marriage and it's in resounding opposition. MSU's undergraduate student government's Student Assembly passed a bill Thursday night to make a public statement against Proposal 2, which would amend Michigan's Constitution to recognize marriage as a union between a man and woman. The assembly debated for more than an hour about the proposal and whether ASMSU has the right to chime in on what has been called rigidly partisan. "ASMSU needs to act on this," said Derek Wallbank, representative for the Council for Students with Disabilities.
MSU President M. Peter McPherson and Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the African Union, have called for a generation-long commitment to Africa - a continent both leaders said is crying out for help. At the annual meeting of the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa, McPherson announced that he and Konare will work together on the project, called \"Partnership with Africa.\" McPherson said short-term emergency support offered by the United States is not enough to help improve the security, finance, technology and infrastructure challenges Africa is currently facing.
The Michigan Minority Business Development Council presented MSU with the "Corporation of the Year - Education Sector" award on Oct.
A committee formed last spring to get faculty and administration working together now has its members placed.
Chrissy Gephardt, the daughter of former presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, will visit campus today to promote change for the LBGT community. The director of the National Stonewall Democrats grassroots campaign core, Chrissy Gephardt said her primary goal is to create visibility of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender issues for college students. "They're just not brought up knowing discrimination, and bigotry and hatred the way older generations have," she said. Gephardt will address the MSU chapter of Stonewall Democrats at 8:30 p.m.
By Kristin LongleySpecial to The State News An MSU rivalry was renewed on Sunday when the university's two residential learning programs competed in their second annual Olympic Showdown. Lyman Briggs School and James Madison College students and faculty braved the cold weather at the rock on Farm Lane in an effort to win the coveted green-and-white, Stanley Cup-esque trophy.
Feeling marginalized by the LBGT community was the focus of Getting Bi, a session addressing issues faced by bisexual women. Discussion included fear of being ostracized by lesbian and gay people and acknowledging fluidity in both orientation and gender. Julie Hartman, a graduate student in sociology, said bisexual people often feel they have to act differently around gay and straight friends. "You come out of one closet to go in another," she said.
With mechanical mannequins, standardized patients and computer scenarios, MSU is taking steps toward joining top medical schools such as Northwestern University with advanced technology. The MSU Board of Trustees recently passed a measure to start the design phase for a new Learning and Assessment Center, which will be built in East Fee Hall. "The Assessment Center is an important element for not only the feedback to our students, but also will play an important role in research and development regarding new educational approaches," said President-designate Lou Anna Simon. The center is a joint project between four MSU colleges - the College of Human Medicine, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Nursing.
The Council of Graduate Students is looking to give MSU College of Law students more of a voice in school policy. Associate Dean for Student Affairs at MSU College of Law Connell Alsup said COGS would help law school students become better represented. "Law school students are subjected to the decisions made by committees and by judicial proceedings," Alsup said.
The taste buds of Residence Halls Association members traveled to Spain, Italy and the Middle East in the Williams Hall test kitchen on Wednesday. The annual taste test featured food developed for International Education Week, which begins Nov.
A large yellow and purple bruise and several cuts adorned Jenn Vallier's cheeks as she handed out colored leaflets about the dangers of hate speech.
Rather than walking from class to class, Danielle Cole made her way around campus Tuesday in a wheelchair. Cole, a special education in learning disabilities sophomore, was participating in an all-day simulation Tuesday for an assignment which required her to use a wheelchair for one day in order to understand the issue of accessibility. The simulation was one of the activities offered during the second annual Accessibility Awareness Week at MSU. Cole said not only did she notice inaccessibility issues, but also the reactions of those around her. "They either look very intensely at you or they try not to make any eye contact at all," she said.
ASMSU has questions they want answered about the proposed new residential college. To voice its concerns and get answers, the Academic Assembly of MSU's undergraduate student government passed a bill Tuesday night listing unresolved issues with the proposed college, tentatively named the Nelson Mandela College. The bill calls for a letter to be sent to Marcellette Williams, chairwoman of the New Residential College Program Planning Group and President-designate Lou Anna Simon.