MSU

ASMSU may give $75,000 for Sparty

Sparty's quest for a new home won't come cheaply, but help may be on the way in the form of $75,000 from MSU's undergraduate student government.Plans to recast "The Spartan," MSU's iconic statue near Demonstration Hall, could cost about $500,000, according to University Development.The current statue, known as Sparty and touted by MSU as the world's largest free-standing ceramic statue, would be placed in a new position in a building on campus, which has not been announced.A new bronze Sparty would be placed at the south end of Kalamazoo Street and Red Cedar Road intersection about 50 feet back from its current spot.MSU's undergraduate student government will vote Thursday on whether to donate $75,000 to cover the projected cost for the project."Large gifts of this nature have occurred in the past," said Matt Weingarden, ASMSU's Student Assembly chairperson.The donation would be taken out of a fund the organization uses for large-scale projects, he said.

MSU

Union to discuss contract, layoffs

Members of MSU's Clerical-Technical Union are nervous about potential layoffs.The 1,900-member union, MSU's largest labor organization, will head into negotiations with university officials to hash out a new deal before their contract expires in March.Its three-year contract with the university expires March 31 and contract negotiations begin next month.Union members will meet Wednesday to discuss issues they'd like to see addressed in the new deal, including whether recent state budget cuts will impact hiring and layoffs, union President Barbara Reeves said."The biggest problem is that, across the board, higher education has consistently taken hits," she said."It certainly has increased the possibility of layoffs and there's concern there won't be much more hiring."MSU saw a $6-million cut in state appropriations after an executive order by then-Gov.

MSU

ASMSU gives students free admission to Hannah Center

ASMSU and the city of East Lansing's University Student Commission are sponsoring a free day at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road. ASMSU is MSU's undergraduate student government. The passes are valid for one day at the center and expire Feb.

MSU

U-M, 'U' rival for blood

Beth Clute

January 28, 2003

Competition between MSU and the University of Michigan will take the form of 13 blood drives held at various locations on and near MSU campus throughout February to promote saving lives and collecting more blood than our rivals.The American Red Cross is sponsoring the first Blood Drive Face-off Competition between the two schools, which will take place prior to the teams meeting for a hockey game at Joe Louis Arena on March 1.The student planning committee involved with the blood drive is hoping to collect more than 800 pints of blood from MSU students.

MSU

Labor group asks for monitoring change

An anti-sweatshop student group that wants MSU to switch its labor-monitoring organization will meet with administrators today to discuss its campaign.

MSU

Showtime at the Aud

Aaron Foley

January 27, 2003

The audience already knew what to do.But Latour, a disc jockey on Lansing's hip-hop radio station WQHH (96.5-FM), just wanted to make the rules clear."Now if it's good, you clap.

MSU

ASMSU names new director

ASMSU officials announced James Perra as the new association director for MSU's undergraduate student government last week. Perra, a psychology senior, has been working as interim association director since October, after Joe Mignano resigned from the position in August. As association director, Perra oversees the executive board and steering committee.

MSU

Michigan-area performers put on Christian concert at Union

Chrystal Liebold

January 27, 2003

The Union Ballroom was bursting at the seams with energy Sunday from the singers of Expressions of Praise, a gospel concert sponsored by the Women of Color Task Force.The event, featuring Lansing's own brother-sister gospel hip-hop group Tre'-Kin,Detroit's Heavenly Hands, an American Sign Language choir and Lansing's New Mount Calvary Choir, was a night of "special praises in song."Students and church members attended the event and had nothing but good things to say about the concert.

MSU

Campus split on possible Brody addition

Sarah Frank

January 27, 2003

Emmons Hall roommates Lisa Lubinsky and Keara Cromie have mixed feelings about the possible construction of a new residence hall in the Brody Complex. MSU officials said Friday a 300-student building could be added between Emmons and Butterfield halls within five years.

MSU

Answers sought about meningitis

Kendra Snyder  and  Aaron Foley

January 27, 2003

While sitting in her Haslett home, Pat Bezdek saw her daughter's residence hall on a television news report Friday night. Her daughter had called the night before saying one of her floormates was taken to the hospital with an illness similar to meningitis. Thirty minutes after seeing the news report, she was with residents in a Hubbard Hall classroom looking for answers. A female journalism sophomore living on the building's ninth floor contracted meningococcemia, a disease similar to bacterial meningitis.

MSU

Broken sprinkler causes fire, flood

Shaw Hall was evacuated at about 3 a.m. Saturday after a fire alarm sounded and sprinklers activated on the ground floor."A sprinkler got broke off on ground east," said Assistant Building Manager Ken Hoffman.

MSU

LeFrak forum and symposium kicks off lecture series

Kendra Snyder

January 27, 2003

Cloning, stem cell research and the ethics behind the issues is brought to the Kellogg Center this semester by representatives from the White House and research labs around the country.

MSU

Clinic provides travel help

Kendra Snyder

January 24, 2003

Along with securing a passport, packing bags and filling out paper work, MSU health officials encourage students to take health precautions when studying abroad.

MSU

RHA movie budget not overspent

Carrie Hoover

January 24, 2003

MSU's Residence Halls Association said Thursday the 2001-02 movie budget was never overspent. "The RHA administration told the general assembly that they were going over budget," said Brian Winters, the association's public relations director.

MSU

'U' switches online program

Amy Bartner

January 24, 2003

Students and professors who use the course management system Blackboard will notice a change after MSU announced Tuesday it will switch to a new program. ANGEL, or A New Global Environment for Learning, is similar in appearance and will provide many of the same services as the 4.0 version of Blackboard MSU uses. "Version 4.0 reached the point where we couldn't make it hold as many users as MSU needed," said David Gift, vice provost for libraries, computing and technology.

MSU

Fieger makes inagural lecture series speech to DCL students

Attorney Geoffery Fieger reflected on a long career at the MSU-Detroit College of Law Building on Thursday. Fieger, who gave a $4 million donation to DCL in 2001, was the inaugural speaker in a lecture series that bears his name. "He is wonderfully inspiring," DCL Dean Terence Blackburn said.

MSU

Lecture to discuss bioethics

MSU's Department of Political Science will host their 14th annual lecture series, "Biotechnology and Modern Democracy" beginning at 8 tonight in the Kellogg Center Auditorium.

MSU

Trustee's bowl rings go unsold

Angelo DiMeo is wondering what to do next with Trustee Joel Ferguson's old MSU bowl rings.The Lansing-based jeweler put Ferguson's 1990 John Hancock and 1993 Liberty bowl rings up for auction on eBay, but did not draw any bids.DiMeo was asking $1,400 for each ring in the Internet auctions, which ended Wednesday night."Most people are afraid of the media attention," DiMeo said, adding 200 potential buyers courted him about side deals - with $1,200 as the highest offer per ring.Ferguson declined to comment the night of the auctions' close, but said last week he didn't know how DiMeo got ahold of the rings.He said he may have given them away and didn't think they were stolen.About eight people visit DiMeo's two jewelry stores each day to look at the rings, DiMeo said.

MSU

'U' research funding might be slashed

Kurt Ludke

January 23, 2003

An MSU pesticide research program could lose $210,000 if Gov. Jennifer Granholm follows budget cut recommendations from a Midland-based think tank.According to a report by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, Michigan can save $34 million by eliminating programs in the state's Department of Agriculture.But Chris DiFonzo, MSU's pesticide education program coordinator, said a cut wouldn't have a big affect on the university.The Department of Agriculture gets federal funding to run the pesticide certification program, and MSU is contracted to make educational material for people who use the chemicals.

MSU

Students to vote on $5 energy fee

Fossil fuel energy on University Farms might be history if students decide to front the money to make the transition to environmentally-friendly energy.Students will vote in March on whether to add a $5 student tax to fund environmental initiatives.ASMSU passed a bill allowing students to vote on the tax after the environmental organization ECO proposed the bill to MSU's undergraduate student government in November.The farms purchase fossil fuel energy from Consumers Energy, but would start shifting to solar and wind turbine energy if the tax passes, said Terry Link, a representative for the University Committee for a Sustainable Campus."There's only so much fossil fuel we can burn," he said.