Event celebrates Hindu festival

Strands of colored Christmas lights and lively traditional music welcomed visitors to the "Diwali Mela 2005" celebration in the McDonel Hall Kiva on Thursday night. During the about three-hour event, the Hindu festival of lights participants had an opportunity to paint pottery and get henna body art. The event, put on by the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students, or CIUS, also raised money for victims of the October earthquake in South Asia. Medical technology junior Haile Jones said she has come for the past three years and that she enjoys the culture. "They have some cool dances I would love to learn," Jones said.

Dorms add cultural fare to dinners

Carol Mejia has been cooking fry bread since she was 5 years old and doesn't share her recipe with anyone. As she mixed the fry bread batter, Mejia began to tell stories about how different recipes were passed down in her family. Mejia, who is American Indian, prepared meals from scratch at Thursday's authentic American Indian dinner in Holmes Hall. The dinner included smoked whitefish, whole strawberries served in wooden bowls, buffalo burgers, corn on the cob, asparagus, squash soup, venison stew and blueberry cake. November is Native American History Month. Anita Sandel, food service manager for Holmes Hall, said that students were her motive for creating more culturally rich dinners. "I worked with the Department of Residence Life, and we decided to have more diversity with dinner," Sandel said.

LCC East plans for expansion

Officials at Lansing Community College announced plans Thursday to expand their newly opened east campus by spring semester. Lansing Community College East, 2827 Eyde Parkway, is a two-story facility located south of Hannah Plaza off Hagadorn Road. The eight-classroom second floor opened this fall, and about 500 students are currently enrolled in classes there. The expansion will complete the first floor of the building — adding six more classrooms and pushing the size of the center to 20,000 square feet. The first floor was still under construction Thursday, with unfinished drywall, but should be completed by January. The finished facility will be able to accommodate 3,000 students, but enrollment this spring will likely be closer to 1,000, said Jean Morciglio, LCC's executive director for strategic enrollment management. College officials took a "wait and see" approach to completing the building, Morciglio said.

Local law experts to debate race issues

Four experts will debate on Monday on whether affirmative action in higher education should be allowed. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m.

Diversity training to be required for ASMSU members

Members of ASMSU are participating in diversity training to better serve the students they represent, and more emphasis on diversity issues is still needed, members say. ASMSU's Academic Assembly passed a bill Tuesday requiring Academic and Student Assembly members to take part in the training every fall. Student Assembly members will vote on the bill at their Nov.

Special election still in question

With Virg Bernero's election as Lansing's new mayor on Tuesday, defeating incumbent Tony Benavides, an empty seat will be left by the Democrat in the state Senate. State Rep.

Speaker, meal part of American Indian feast

Jim Northrup, a syndicated columnist who appears in publications such as The Native American Press and News From Indian Country, will speak during the Native American Feast at 7 p.m.

Mich. horses focus of new study

The impact the equine industry has on Michigan's economy and changing patterns of urban sprawl will be examined in the state's first horse study in 10 years conducted by researchers at MSU. The Animal Industry Initiative — a statewide program that works with MSU to perform research and education in animal agriculture — and various groups involved in the equine industry will work together to survey horse owners in Michigan. Their goals are to find out how many horses are in the state, what breeds they are, the contribution they make to the state's economy and their effect on suburban sprawl, MSU epidemiologist Mary Rossano said. The survey will be mailed this spring to more than 4,000 people involved in the industry. "The economic data is the most important so that we have a sense of what kind of dollars are utilized, what kinds of feeds are being used, how land is being used, medicines, trailer sales and so forth," said Val Vail-Shirey, executive director of the Michigan Equine Partnership.

Hindu five-day festival of lights celebrated

At 7 p.m. today in the McDonel Hall Kiva, the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students will present "Diwali Mela 2005." Participants at the event will have an opportunity to learn more about Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights. The festival is celebrated for about five consecutive days, and participants will be able to decorate pottery and get henna body art. MSU's Bhangra dance team also will perform.

Police briefs 11/10/05

U.N. resolution honors Holocaust

There are two kinds of Holocaust survivors to Yehudit Rotem — those who've spoken out about their experiences and those who've remained silent. At 16 months old, Rotem was too young to know when she and her family entered the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Lohheide, Germany.

College encourages 'Food Fight' for charity

The 10th annual Eli Broad College of Business MBA Food Fight food drive kicks off on Monday. Donations of nonperishable food items and money will be collected in East Lansing neighborhoods at noon.

Veterans Day hits home for MSU ROTC

About 15 guests joined the MSU ROTC Spartan Battalion for a Veterans Day ceremony at the Alumni Memorial Chapel on Tuesday, to honor veterans of past and present wars. "For me, it's about remembering everybody who went before me," said Lt.

Law college event discusses clemency

Carol Jacobsen from the Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project will speak at 6:30 p.m. today in the Castle Boardroom of the MSU College of Law. Jacobsen will discuss the effort to gain clemency for incarcerated battered women, a cause the organization continues to pursue. The event is open to the public and hosted by the MSU College of Law Women's Law Caucus.

Holocaust survivor to speak on campus

Israeli author and Holocaust survivor Yehudit Rotem will speak in the Green Room of the Union from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Rioting unlikely to affect study abroad

Riots have surged in France for nearly two weeks, but tensions in the country will probably not have a significant impact on MSU study abroad programs planned for the spring and summer, officials said. There are currently no MSU students studying abroad in France or Belgium, where riots have spilled across the border. "We checked that right away," said Kathleen Fairfax, director of the Office of Study Abroad.

Extended meal plan topic of public forum

Students and members of the university community will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed meal plan change at today's Residence Halls Association, or RHA, meeting. The group is meeting at 7:20 p.m.

Provost shares plans for academic quality fund

MSU Provost Kim Wilcox released a first draft on the results of the academic quality fund on Tuesday, which would allocate $9.7 million to initiatives that aim to benefit students and enhance the academic experience at MSU. Wilcox presented a series of graphs at Tuesday's Executive Committee of Academic Council meeting that show a preliminary idea of how the fund will be divided. For the last few months, Wilcox has led a group from the Office of the Provost in reviewing 118 proposals that were submitted by different deans across the university, totaling more than $74 million.

Cold case reopened, new information found

New information obtained from North Carolina has caused Lansing police officers to place a 1999 murder case into active investigation status, a news release from the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office stated. Officers with the Raleigh Police Department contacted Lansing police after finding information while executing a search warrant of resident Drew Planten's home on Oct.

Word on the street

Heather Holcomb no-preference freshman "No. I just turned 18 yesterday and I'm from Dallas, Texas, so I don't know how that works.