Monday, June 8, 2026

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MSU

University evaluates recreational facilities

ASMSU’s Student Assembly has posed a question to students: To build or not to build.The undergraduate student government approved a bill Thursday which allocates $10,000 for a professional evaluation of the university’s intramural recreational facilities.

MSU

Students to help construct homes during spring break

Scott Ross is packing a hammer for spring break. Ross, a microbiology junior, will join 40 students from MSU and 9,000 students from across the country on the Habitat for Humanity International’s Collegiate Challenge: Spring Break 2001. The students will be on a mission to construct houses during trips to Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Virginia.

MSU

Olin offers free safe-sex Valentines gifts

Two condoms, lubrication and a Valentine’s Day card.While these items could possibly make for an interesting evening, they are also what the Olin Health Center Sexual Health Promotion Team will be distributing today from 1 p.m.

MICHIGAN

Task force examines solutions to voting problems

A task force designed to fix problems with East Lansing’s voting system met for the second time Tuesday to discuss revisions.After a hazardous election in November, city officials who are anxious to correct errors and residents frustrated at the process joined together to make improvements.East Lansing city officials appointed nine members to the task force in hopes that the next election will not be as traumatic.Bill Hollister, a member of the task force, was also a candidate for a state House seat in the November election.“We have to make sure that any system is as near perfect as we can get it,” Hollister said at the meeting.Over the course of the two-hour session, members discussed proposals regarding voter registration and renovations at the polls.

MICHIGAN

State lawmakers look at pay process

The state House finds itself with the responsibility of debating the process of pay raises after the state Senate passed a resolution changing the way raises would take place in the future.“It’s in the oversight committee, and we have a couple resolutions here,” said House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy.

MSU

Bill asks for braille on emergency phones

ASMSU’s Student Assembly approved a bill Thursday that requests the university place braille writing on all green light emergency phones across campus.“(The measure) basically sends a message that we care about persons with disabilities and their safety,” said Matt Weingarden, the assembly’s Council of Students With Disabilities representative.About 100 emergency telephones are placed in specific parts of MSU’s campus for students to use if they require police assistance.But Weingarden said because the phone booths do not provide adequate light for those who are visually impaired, it is necessary for the numbers to have braille markings on them.“The (current safety) program itself is not inclusive as is,” he said.

MSU

Diversity promoted through cultural art

Maggie Chen Hernandez, coordinator for MSU’s Multicultural Center, said while students often work for racial diversity, they seldom receive recognition for their endeavors. “A lot of the effort to push for multiculturalism at Michigan State comes from students and students should be recognized for some of their outstanding contributions and efforts,” she said. Chen Hernandez and MSU’s Office of Affirmative Action Compliance and Monitoring hope to change that. The Excellence in Diversity Recognition and Awards Program will provide cash awards to individuals, teams, organizations and students who have shown a commitment to promoting and supporting diversity at MSU. As many as three individual students and three student teams will be awarded $2,500 through the “Excellence in Diversity” and “Excellence Within Community” categories.

MSU

Students celebrate Vagina Day in New York

The 19,000 people who filled Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday were asked to stand if they, or someone they knew, had been a victim of sexual assault.“Everyone in the entire place stood up,” international studies junior Melanie Olmsted said. “It was an extremely moving experience.”According the National Organization for Women, 132,00 women are sexually assaulted each year.Olmsted and 14 other MSU students traveled to New York for Vagina Day and the showing of the “Vagina Monologues”. Written by Eve Ensler, the monologues feature 15 stories women perform about experiences with sexuality.“The “Vagina Monologues” are so wonderful because they explore taboos that aren’t normally expressed,” Olmsted said.

MSU

Speech a chance to show ‘vision’

MSU’s tradition of its president giving an annual State of the University Address is common among some other universities in the Big Ten.But while an annual event, many students show little interest in attending.Joyce Sandie, an elementary education senior, agrees such a speech is important to keep students informed of key issues on campus.Yet she has no intention of attending.“I wasn’t aware that he gave such a speech but I am going to listen to what he has to say,” Sandie said.

MSU

Research studies insect immunity

For some MSU researchers, an analyzed bug in the hand is worth two in the bush.Professors Robert Hollingworth and Ke Dong are researching possible answers to the question of how insects become resistant to pesticides.Hollingworth, a professor of entomology, said he and Professor Dong are interested in the biochemistry and genetics of how populations of insects change and mutate in the field.“A population of insects starts off where a percentage are killed by insecticides, but by sheer chance, mutations allow some of them to become resistant to the insecticides,” Hollingworth said.

MSU

U offers political fellowships

A new group of Michigan residents was chosen to get an up-close and personal look at politics. The Michigan Political Leadership Program announced that 24 Michigan residents will receive fully paid fellowships with the MSU-based program. “We are very excited to see how such a diverse group comes together,” said Shannon Horvath, the program’s director.

MICHIGAN

Environmentalists criticize state

The Michigan Environmental Council released its second report Thursday criticizing the work of the state Department of Environmental Quality.The report, “Continuing Dereliction of Duty: How Michigan’s Environmental Agency Defies the Law and the Public,” was released by a coalition of 20 environmental agencies that say the department is not doing a good enough job protecting the environment.The 20-page report is the second released by the council.