Armed with rakes, cleaning supplies, paint brushes and children's books, nearly 200 students went to the streets of Lansing and East Lansing on Saturday to volunteer.The kickoff of "Into the Streets," an MSU student-run community service organization, helped about 20 different nonprofit organizations.
MSU's enrollment decreased slightly from the 2002-03 year, despite an almost record level of applicants. The university received about 25,000 first-time undergraduate applicants for fall 2003, but the 44,542 students currently attending MSU are almost 400 students less than last year's total enrollment. Despite the decrease, David Byelich, MSU's director of the Office of Planning and Budgets, said this year's enrollment remains at a level where the university can optimize students' academic performance. "What we tried to do is remain stable at the 44,000 to 43,000 level," he said. MSU's enrollment has fluctuated between 43,000 and 45,000 students for the past five years. The enrollment figures were released to the public late last week. Pamela Horne, assistant to the provost for enrollment management and director of admissions, said university officials had planned on decreasing enrollment to about 44,000, but the state's budgetary problems might affect MSU's long-term enrollment planning. "All of this has to be looked at in terms of the budget and what the balance is going to be between tuition revenue and state revenue," she said.
Many campus bathrooms aren't large enough for a wheelchair to maneuver, and none of the campus pay phones are equipped with Teletype, according to the The Council of Students with DisabilitiesAnd the council wants MSU students to understand the challenges they face on campus during Accessibility Awareness Week, which runs from today through Friday."It's a good way to get people to draw attention to the inaccessible areas on campus," said Melinda Haus, vice president of the council and organizer of the week.
Lloyd Douglas said he thinks a band with only trombones would be dull.Similarly, the program director for the National Science Foundation said diversity is key to making scientific advances."Have you ever looked at the sheet music for West Side Story?" the former trombone player asked a group of MSU students and faculty Thursday night.
Student leaders are angered at a sexually explicit flyer distributed on campus Tuesday night.The flyer, which bore the phrase "Wolverines Pack Fudge" above an explicit drawing, is an advertisement for shirts being sold with the same drawing.
It's taken five years for MSU MATRIX coordinators and The Alliance for American Quilts to piece together a worldwide database to preserve hundreds of years of American quilt storytelling.The archive opened Monday and serves as a virtual collection to make the history and background of quilts across the nation available online."Quilts are folk culture, and over the last 20 years, we have come to realize that we can learn a lot about the time periods they came from," Mark Kornbluh, director of MATRIX, said.
ASMSU leaders will host a forum tonight with East Lansing officials for students to express concerns about the city's stiffened policy on party noise. Student leaders and city officials are expected to address the policy and answer questions about the five-week-old ordinance that calls for jail time and steep fines for hosts of unruly parties. East Lansing police issued 11 citations under the policy during its first two weeks. Concerned students are conducting a petition drive in hopes of forcing the East Lansing City Council to reconsider the ordinance. The forum will begin at 7 p.m.
When Elizabeth Keson walks out of buildings, she sometimes gets attacked by a swarm of various ladybug-like insects."They're all over the doorways of all the buildings, so when you go in and out, they end up on your clothes," the food science sophomore said.
Sam Finch said he is worried the medicine his Olin Health Center doctor gave him for bronchitis might make him more sick. After trying to battle a sore throat, nasal congestion, coughing and infection in his left ear without medication, the telecommunication, information studies and media senior said he decided he needed to go to the doctor.
Renovations to campus buildings and the university's funding requests to the state are the main issues on the agenda for Friday's MSU Board of Trustees meeting.University Engineer Bob Nestle said he expects the board to approve construction plans to renovate the Brody Complex and the Clinical Center and Life Sciences Building.The Brody Complex renovations are expected to cost about $1.5 million, Nestle said, and the Clinical Center and Life Sciences Building costs are estimated at $740,000."There are two types of projects," Nestle said.
The bruise surrounding Kat Superfisky's eye was a garish blue-green. She stood over a black T-shirt, taping a sexist slur onto the front with masking tape.The studio art sophomore was preparing for Wednesday's second annual Act Out, part of National Coming Out Days at MSU.The face-painted bruises would wash off at the end of the day, but from 8 a.m.
Students for Peace and Justice will show the second film in their fall film series Wednesday night. "Incident at Oglala: Leonard Peltier Story" will begin at 8 p.m.
Teach for America representatives will be at MSU to recruit student leaders for the program. The information session begins at 7 p.m.
Some ASMSU officials plan to show concerns about lack of student involvement in a decision to downsize the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.The university's student government plans to follow the lead of the college's own student government, the student senate, which recently passed a bill to show its opposition to the merger that was discussed without student opinion.Two representatives in MSU's undergraduate student government introduced a bill during the weekly Academic Assembly meeting last Tuesday, but it was put on hold pending further student involvement and current student reactions to the merger.
The MSU Psychological Clinic will offer free mental health screenings in Olds Hall from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday as part of the National Depression Screening Day, an annual effort to properly diagnose depression.Organizers of the event suggest students come down to the screenings if they have had symptoms of depression for two weeks or more.
MSU was awarded three patents to advance a method of processing petroleum, regularly used to make everyday materials such as milk cartons and cellophane.The patents were donated to the university by the Delaware-based DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise in an attempt to advance research techniques using the naturally-occurring mineral group called zeolites in the process.Stephen Craft, technology licensing sales manager for DuPont, said the patents were donated to the university because of similar research the university conducted in the past."MSU has just an outstanding department as it relates to catalyst research," Craft said.
The MSU debate team placed second out of 41 schools at its first tournament of the season.The team competed in the Georgia State University National Debate Tournament from Sept.
Michigan-area United Methodist Church Bishop Linda Lee will lead a group of children and adults, who are interested in the impact poverty has on children, at 3 p.m.
Contemporary paintings from Bregenz, Austria, will be on display at the MSU-DCL College of Law building for two months beginning this Friday.The free gallery of 47 paintings by artists who live and work in Bregenz will be open from 4 to 6 p.m.MSU-DCL professor and event organizer Nicholas Mercuro said the program is another step in MSU's relationship with Bregenz, which began with a Study Aboard program."MSU's relationship with Austria goes back four years ago," Mercuro said.
More than 170 companies will be on campus Thursday offering jobs to students. MSU's Career Gallery 2003 will be at Breslin Center from 3 to 7 p.m. Career Gallery officials suggest students sign up on www.monstertrak.com before attending the gallery, because some companies require students to do so in advance. Students may get tickets at the doors but can avoid the line by picking them up between 8 a.m.