A $90,000 parking agreement between the city of East Lansing and MSU might be approved at tonight's City Council meeting. About 100 MSU faculty and staff could be displaced into East Lansing's parking system while a parking ramp to be located near Morrill Hall is constructed. "At peak times, we are at about 59 percent capacity," said Dan O'Connor, East Lansing's parking administrator.
For Jewish students participating in Passover this week, the Hillel Jewish Student Center, 360 Charles St., is offering lunch and dinner every day during the eight- day celebration. "It is difficult for students who do observe it, while living in dorms or on campus, since there are such strict dietary rules," said Jennifer Bloom, president of the Jewish Student Union.
The 36th Annual WalkAmerica event will be held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Louis F. Adado Riverfront Park in Lansing. The walk is held by the Lansing Division of the March of Dimes and is intended to raise money for babies who are born premature. Opportunities at the event include a canine competition, in which dogs are judged as walkers cross the finish line, a spirit station with refreshments and a family fun area. To register or for more information, visit www.walkamerica.org or call (800) 525-WALK.
East Lansing's Youth Action Team and Prime Time Seniors' Program are hosting the Vegetable Soup Variety Show from 6 p.m.
The third provost candidate to visit campus might soon be able to sing the MSU fight song - in five different languages. Uday Sukhatme, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo, can speak Italian, French, two Indian languages and English.
Juan Ibanes was searching for subleasing opportunities last week on the message board www.allMSU.com, a free online forum for MSU students to share housing options, professor ratings and other information. Sifting through hundreds of postings with ambiguous titles such as "CHEAP SUBLEASE!!!" and "cute house for the summer!," Ibanes said he became increasingly frustrated. "There was about 40 every hour that keep getting added on all the time," the telecommunication, information studies and media junior said.
The Lansing Area Safety Council, 3315 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing, is offering the National Safety Council Defensive Driving Course from 6 p.m.
Derek Wallbank, College of Communication Arts & Sciences representative for ASMSU, believes there are options other than alcohol for students during the Welcome Week celebrations at the beginning of each school year. Welcome Week is the first few days before classes begin, when freshmen have the opportunity to become used to the college lifestyle. "Some people have weird ideas of what happens in college," Wallbank said.
Joe Greiner's Friday wasn't starting out as easily as he would have liked. A power drill he was using completely failed to bite into the painted screw heads of the loft he was tearing down. "Are they keeping this one?" said Greiner, a food industry management junior.
By Lindsey Poisson Special for The State News After weather conditions forced a community landscaping event to be postponed Saturday, East Lansing's Community Relations Coalition still went ahead with a field day inside Bailey Community Center. Liza Walter, 7, sat eating pizza with her mother after spending close to an hour riding a tricycle, coloring a large paper banner and watching a magician do card tricks. "My favorite thing was drawing on the poster," Liza Walter said.
Six MSU students in a management class toured a Lansing company Friday afternoon for insight into the business world. The class field trip to the international headquarters of Two Men and a Truck, 3400 Belle Chase Way in Lansing, gave the students a firsthand account about how corporations train their employees, said Garth Motschenbacher, the class instructor and an academic advisor in the College of Engineering. The out-of-classroom opportunity, he said, allowed students to see a local example of a company that has developed an entire on-site training facility for its personnel. The company, which was formed in 1985 in Lansing, by Mary Ellen Sheets, has grown into 152 franchise locations in 27 states. Marketing senior Kate Padden said she wanted to learn more about the process of turning a small business into a franchise. "I'm interested in entrepreneurship," Padden said.
In Las Vegas, citizens can vote two weeks before Election Day in a shopping mall, and in Iowa, voters can cast a ballot 40 days early in a grocery store.
Members of the Graduate Employees Union moved one step closer to striking last week by unanimously approving a strike platform. The strike platform is a statement of the issues members will not give up on in negotiations with the university for a new contract.
Kim Snook's Haslett High School biology class couldn't believe the things they saw pulled out of the Grand River or found along the banks on Saturday - bicycles in good condition, a large trunk, a bone and a coat. Snook brought her class to the Adopt A River program to clean up the river and its banks and trails. She said the event tied in perfectly with Earth Day on April 22 and a recent class unit on humans' impact on the environment. "I think they see the effects down here more than in the school," Snook said. About 300 people braved dropping temperatures and sleet to participate in the cleanup, which is in its 11th year, Adopt A River coordinator Jennifer Rostar said. "It's amazing that people were willing to come out even with the bad weather," Rostar said, as she watched the shivering volunteers attempt to get warm under the Shiawassee Street bridge. The event was held one day after Earth Day and about a week before Arbor Day on April 29.
MSU's undergraduate student government chose leaders Thursday, with some controversy about who is the best person for the job. ASMSU selected its only candidate for the student funding board vice chairperson, and after three votes, made a decision for the leader of the student programming board, which will be for the entire 2005-06 school year. English junior Brandon Hicks was the sole candidate for the Student Funding ballot and was unanimously voted vice chairperson.
Every year, about 1,500 bicycles are abandoned on campus. These bikes are picked up by the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety after students leave to go home.
A mini British invasion swept through campus on Saturday as mtvU's Campus Invasion 2005 Tour made a stop at Breslin Center with performances by London-based bands Razorlight and Muse.
Although the unexpected snowfall left many people shivering this weekend, on the roads and in the fields there were few problems, police said. The almost 3 inches of snow that covered the Lansing area this weekend was not a local record, said Walt Felver, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Grand Rapids branch. That record is held with 11 inches of snow on May 9, 1923, Felver said. About 2.9 inches of snow accumulated in the area as of Sunday evening since Saturday, Felver said.