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MSU

Trustee doubles down on call to restore diversity efforts at MSU, improve support for Black students

A Michigan State University Trustee is pushing back against university administrators who claim that an opinion piece she wrote surrounding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at MSU mischaracterized the situation. Trustee Rema Vassar, in a new opinion essay published in Michigan Chronicle, doubled down on assertions she made weeks earlier in a preceding op-ed — which argued that the university should walk back on its actions to dismantle DEI efforts.

LIFE

Room assignments and reputations: Where the MSU majors call home

The living environment for many first-year students can shape their whole college experience and Michigan State’s campus is no exception. Housing assignments are officially randomized for incoming freshmen, although year after year there are trends of certain majors that end up calling home to the same neighborhood or even dorm building. 

MSU

MSU fund a temporary lifeline for researchers, graduate students

Michigan State University has offered support to researchers who have had federal funding slashed via a $5 million pool of funding for MSU researchers to take advantage of. So far, the Jenison Fund has awarded financial support to 64 recipients. The support has allowed MSU faculty and graduate students to continue their research and support their work while they pursue alternative means to fund research.

MSU

MSU Police Chief: Employee clicking wrong button to blame for false alert incident

A review of last week’s accidental emergency notification, which incited panic across the Michigan State University community, has yet to be completed. But the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety is pretty sure what went wrong. According to DPPS officials, the human error which resulted in students, staff, faculty and parents receiving the notification involved a Security and Operations Center employee who, during a routine test, accidentally clicked the wrong button.

MSU

Student group probing MSU college with Republican lawmaker’s blessing

The Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative student organization on campus, is investigating 11 College of Education courses by way of a Freedom of Information Act request. The student organization hopes to use responsive documents from the FOIA to prove that the college is pushing anti-white curriculum and limiting academic freedom. The probe is being aided by the group's national division, Young American's Foundation, and has the blessing of Republican legislators.

MICHIGAN

City council stalls public camping ban vote to March

East Lansing City Council further postponed the vote on a controversial public camping ban ordinance following increased pushback from homelessness advocates at a council meeting on Tuesday. The ordinance is part of East Lansing Police Chief Jen Brown’s attempt to introduce solutions to reduce violence downtown after unlawful pepper spray and Taser usage by city police officers during MSU’s Welcome Week.