[doortag]Dorms, residence halls, university housing. No matter what you call the housing options on campus, they suddenly become uncool and unpopular after you are here for a couple years.
“I always feel like I need to clarify why I’m living in the dorms. Otherwise I feel like I kind of get looked at weird.” said Nia Orvis, an advertising senior who, as a second-year resident mentor, still lives in the residence halls.
Of course, there are advantages to living off campus. Geology senior Tim Matthews said that living off campus is liberating. “There’s something about having a place to yourself where you can look around and say, ‘OK, this is my place,’ and not feel like it’s just a piece of property lent to you by this giant university,” he said.[goldblatt1]
But for some, the convenience of “living on” outweighs the negatives. “It’s a lot closer to classes, so you don’t have to worry about travel time,” said Gary Koskinen, a senior who, after living in an apartment for his junior year, moved back on campus to work as a resident mentor. “When I lived in an apartment it was a half-hour bus ride to every class.”
“I think there are advantages even for them [seniors], at that stage in their college career,” said Paul Goldblatt, Director of Residence Life. “Seniors tend to live in certain places. Shaw is a very popular place, and then there’s the northern part of campus. Shaw is clear because it’s so centrally located. I think students really like that it’s right there in the middle of everything. And then north campus is in terms of location and the attractiveness of it – the buildings are beautiful.”
There are even academic advantages to dorm life. “The seniors who live on campus have higher GPAs than those that live off campus. You have access to support and resources,” Goldblatt said. [girlatdesk]
However, there are some things like cooking and paying rent that students should leave college knowing, but that are not necessarily recreated on campus. “Before I got the mentor job I considered getting an apartment. I really feel like it’s a good learning experience. You get to have experience with having to pay rent and having to buy groceries. It isn’t always the most fun but a necessary thing you have to learn to do before you get to the world,” Orvis said.
“I think there are plenty of opportunities on campus to learn how to cook – there are apartments that come with kitchenettes or kitchens down the hall,” Matthews said. “But there’s a lot to be said for learning things financially – paying rent, not going through the university with all of your money. It’s a lot more learning fiscal responsibility.” [stairs2]
Matthews is right – there are a couple of ways to cook on campus. Holden added floor kitchens, and Williams Hall is popular for having residents cook their own food. Students living in Williams can even choose not to have meal plans with the university, so they do have to do things like buy groceries and cook. “I think one of the reasons [upperclassmen] live over there is they have the option of making their own food,” Orvis said.
But what makes dorms morph from hip, parent-free places to apparently lame dwellings toward the end of one’s education? For Matthews, a lot of it was the resident mentors. Now that he lives off-campus, “It’s like you’re off the little playground, and nobody’s going to blow their whistle at you if you’re going the wrong way up the slide.” In other words, you’re free to make your own mistakes, an arguably essential part of growing up.
Goldblatt is quick to point out that MSU’s resident mentors are actually tolerated more than RAs nationwide. “You know, it’s interesting. For students who lived off campus and cited rules and regulations as the reason they moved off campus, we are much lower than the national average,” he said.
In Orvis’s opinion, the problem lies more in the psychology involved in what people perceive as signs of maturation. “People know that as a freshman you have to live on campus, so they want everybody to know ‘I’ve been here for a while, I can live in an apartment.’ And having an apartment makes you seem older, more mature,” Orvis said. And Orvis made the point that requiring freshman to live on campus might not be as necessary as the university seems to think. “I think even if you weren’t required to live in the dorms, people would probably do it anyway. Because living in the dorms is that classic college experience that people want, at least for one year. I think people would still go through that,” Orvis said. [goldblatt2]
But from a business standpoint, it is advantageous to Housing and Food Services (HFS) to have both freshmen and upperclassmen “living on.” “The residence hall system is run completely on room and board rates. It gets no money from the state, no money from the university. So the more people who live off campus, the more loss of revenue,” Goldblatt said. And obviously, they can’t fill up every residence hall with just the freshmen required to live there.
Because of this, HFS does try to attract older students. Owen Hall is not just for graduates. It is for students 21 and over, and residents are free to host alcoholic events in the dorm. In addition, there is always the option of a university-owned apartment. These apartments still have support staff and programming but not a person in charge of keeping you in line. “I think my hope is in the future that we will have more apartments. If we can create the off-campus experience on campus, that’s the best of both worlds. And you’re dealing with cooking, all the issues that come with living in an apartment, but you’re on campus,” Goldblatt said. [frisbee]
Obviously, the first concern is what works for the individual. Some people are dying to get off campus, but there are seniors (and even graduate students) who live in a dorm and love it. But the general stigma surrounding whether or not a senior lives on campus is something that should disappear. Just because a senior lives on campus now may not mean they have lived there all four years, and it’s rarely the case that a senior just cannot find anybody to live with. In most cases the seniors that “live on” are consciously making the decision that they see as best. Immature? Think again.

Brown Bag Talk
Friday, September 19th: 12:15-1:30 pm, MSU Museum Auditorium
Tamar Carroll from the Cornell University Department of History will present a brown bag talk on the theme of working-class women and feminism in 1970s Brooklyn.

Marsalis Speech
September 22nd: 7:30 pm, Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center
Wynton Marsalis, Jazz musician and educational advocate, will speak as part of a lecture series. Marsalis is respected within the educational community, and has received honorary degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (amongst other universities). Free tickets can be picked up at the Wharton Center Box Office.

Study Abroad Fair
September 25th: 12-6 p.m., Union
Come learn about all the ways you can study abroad at the annual fair on the second floor of the union. Representatives from many of the programs will be there, as well as the MSU Travel Clinic and the Office of Financial Aid.

Gossip is no longer the thing of crowded hallways and slumber parties. With the launch of www.juicycampus.com on Oct. 27, 2007, gossip moved from angry scrawls on bathroom walls to a far more innocuous place – cyberspace.

JuicyCampus is a Web site where users can post anything about anybody, completely anonymously. User-initiated threads range from “Female Professor with Best Legs?” to “Confessions of a Coke Addicted Frat Boy,” and are replied to and rated by other users.
“It started as an idea,” said Matt Ivester, the Web site’s founder. “Thinking back to my college days, every group of friends has great stories, and crazy things going on. Why not have a place to share those stories?”

While there are undoubtedly some funny stories on JuicyCampus, some posts simply start with a name. This was the case for packaging sophomore Pete Tepler. Some people posted expletives about him, and one person toted him as the “funniest kid alive.” One poster admitted to not knowing Tepler, but contributed anyway. “I never met him,” states the reply, “but I’ll call him a dick and a fag because, well … that’s just what you’re supposed to do every time you see a name posted on this site.”

Tepler is aggravated by the post, and thinks there are better ways to get to know a person. “If you’re going to ask a bunch of random people about me that don’t even know me, why would you ask JuicyCampus?” he said.

According to Ivester, the beauty of the site is that people can remain anonymous. “People can be more open and honest,” Ivester said. However, he is quick to point out anonymity is a choice, not a mandate. “People have the option to be anonymous, but anybody that wants to can sign their name,” he said.

However, most of the site’s posts do not include names or contact information, which irks Tepler. “If you really believe in what you’re saying, and you really have a grievance with somebody, go and tell them,” he said.

One part of campus that was hit particularly hard by JuicyCampus was the Greek community. The Web site has a tab labeled “Greek Organizations,” which receives a lot of postings. Meagan Wilson, a journalism junior and vice president of communications for the Panhellenic Council, dislikes the site. The Panhellenic Council serves as the governing body for the university’s sororities, and as a representative for the council, Wilson’s job is to make Greek life look good. “I am doing positive PR [public relations] for the Greek community and JuicyCampus is definitely something that’s hurting us,” she said. “I think we’re hit hard because we’re an easy target – the Greek community is a small clique within itself.”

Although the “Greek Organizations” tab is open to positive submissions, they seem to be few and far between. There are postings about Greek Week successes, but in Wilson’s opinion, postings about the Greek community are surrounded by far too many negative comments. “They have things like rankings of sororities, and the ‘hottest houses,’” she said. “That’s what gives the Greek community a bad name – people posting things like that. Why can’t we talk about academics or philanthropy?”

The site was launched in October, after fall recruitment. According to Wilson, recruitment is very important to sororities. It takes 115 girls to have a financially healthy house, and the Panhellenic Council is clearly interested in keeping interest in the Greek community high. “It will be really interesting to see how fall recruitment numbers are affected,” she said.
While Tepler was pretty relaxed about the whole situation, he realizes it does not cast him in the best of light. “It was obviously an attempt to damage my reputation,” he said. “Does it bother me? A little bit. It’s just like being in high school again.”

Ivester is quick to point out students are using the site on their own accord, and JuicyCampus is neither forcing nor encouraging people to post malicious or reputation-damaging items. “I think different people get different things out of JuicyCampus, but obviously we’re filling some niche,” said Ivester.

The site has a section that explains the difference between fact and opinion, and asserts opinions are not always correct or fair. But for people like Tepler who have been affected by the site, this disclaimer is of little assurance. “I’ve never even been on the Web site,” Tepler said. “If you respond and defend yourself, you’re just giving them credibility.”

The site has been the topic of several lawsuits, one of which was from the Juicy clothing brand, who claimed JuicyCampus apparel was a form of copyright infringement. Some students seem to think the future of JuicyCampus is limited, because it will be shut down in a legal battle. However, both Tepler and Ivester disagree.

“We don’t anticipate shutting down anytime soon,” Ivester said. And Tepler, even having been posted about, sees it as an interesting business venture. “Somebody is making money off it, and I respect that,” Tepler said. “I think it’s going to keep going… some people don’t mature until they’re 30 or 40. The site is bringing aspects of middle school into college, and it seems to be working.”

Even though there are undoubtedly people who would like to see the site shut down, it is pretty well protected by the First Amendment. Where do we balance the right to free speech with the sometimes far-reaching effects of rumors presented as truths? According to Wilson, the law favors the First Amendment. “We talked to some MSU attorneys about what to do,” she said. “If you’re being individually defamed, then you can take action, but really there’s not much you can do about it.”

The Greek community chose instead to fight JuicyCampus from the inside. According to Wilson, some sororities are encouraged not to talk about the subject, or have taken even greater measures. “I know some houses have it set up so that their wireless blocks the JuicyCampus link, so that could help,” she said.

Legalities aside, the site took off rapidly, with little advertising. “Mostly we rely on word of mouth, which we think is appropriate for a gossip Web site,” Ivester said. Word has spread quickly, and JuicyCampus now covers more than 60 campuses nationwide. While the numbers regarding MSU’s specific users are not released, it is safe to say that via numerous postings, Facebook ads and word of mouth, the gossip site has gained a foothold and a following on this campus, as well as many others. But hey… that’s just a rumor.

I was freezing. Not the normal freezing, where I am sitting in my dorm room, too lazy to turn up the heat. The kind of bone-chilling cold you can only experience after hours of walking through giant puddles, knocking on hundreds of strangers’ doors and carrying around giant clipboards full of addresses, names, door hangers and stickers. I was canvassing for Sen. Barack Obama.
When Obama declared his candidacy for president, I cried. When he was first on the cover of Newsweek, I screamed. When he created his interactive blogging Web site, I signed up. And when I got an e-mail saying his campaign could use my help in Toledo, I headed down for a few days during my spring break. Yes, I am that moved by this man.
[lawler] My friend Jordan Bailey, a senior from Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills, Mich., came with me. Because we are poor students, the campaign placed us in the home of some kind Obama volunteers. At first I thought the house belonged to canines, because when Jordan and I knocked on the door, we were instantly attacked by two golden retrievers. It was a momentary blur of sloppy pink tongues and happy barking. Those turned out to be the greeters, and soon a supremely kind couple named Denise and Barry came to call off the dogs. After getting to know our host family (and bonding over some Saturday Night Live), we called it a night.
As we neared what MapQuest had pinpointed as our destination early the next morning, I saw a sign that said “Democratic Pub” and stopped the car. I’d taken a picture of a “Conservative Club” sign in England on my last spring break, and I thought it only appropriate that I get its antonym this year. But looking closer at the address, I realized we weren’t just near our destination – we were at it. Thrilled to enter such an establishment, we soon met our organizer. He was a college student, and his main function seemed to be liberally distributing buttons and stickers. After a brief training session, he sent us out with a list of addresses to canvass.
Canvass always had such a nice connotation to me – a piece of art waiting to happen, the material Converse tennis shoes are made out of. So maybe my ideas were a bit lofty, but when we got to the low-incoming housing district of Toledo I was surprised. Perhaps this is the point I should provide a disclaimer: I come from suburbia. Picture the ultimate suburbia and then multiply that by three – that is Rochester Hills. My high school parking lot was dotted with brand new Hummers, so when I parked in a neighborhood of run-down houses and boarded-up windows, I was out of my element. “Jordan…” I whispered, “we’re not in Rochester anymore.”
We tramped through the slush-filled sidewalks, some with holes so big it was safer to walk on the icy streets, and when we did find somebody at home, they were generally welcoming and supportive of Obama. A few invited us into their homes to warm up, and others wished us good luck. People answered in various states of dress, but they always stood at the door and listened to what we had to say.
They often told us why they supported Obama. While there were some quite compelling reasons, it was the simplest one that caught me off guard. This particular house was in pretty bad disrepair – shutters missing, walk un-shoveled, paint hanging in strips. I wasn’t sure anybody lived there, but we knocked on the door anyway. We waited for a few minutes and were walking away when an elderly black woman opened the door. “What y’all need?”
We explained we were from the Obama campaign, when the elections were taking place and how she could get a ride if she needed one. Then we got to the part that always scares me, because I am not sure it is something I would want a stranger coming to my door and asking me about. But I said it anyway: “Can we ask who you’ll be supporting in the primary on Tuesday?”
Her eyes bore through me, and for a minute I thought she might hobble up and strangle me. But she eventually broke into a slightly manic laugh. “What color my face, girl? What color my FACE?”
Was this a trick question? She was black, and I was white. I knew that. She knew that. Jordan knew that. It was the most racially-charged encounter I personally had ever experienced, and there was no politically correct way out of it.
Silence?
But her eyes bore into mine, searching, anticipating, waiting for an answer.
I swallowed. “Your face is black.”
She cackled again, her face showing every wrinkle earned. “Your man’s face is black too. Who do you think I’m supporting? You a cute couple of white kids, but this election is ground-breaking for my people.” She laughed quietly, and shut the door.
[emily] I stood on her stoop, ready to cry. Was it that simple? I agreed with Obama’s policies, his attitude, his past actions, his future plans. But this woman connected with him on a level infinitely more basic – arguably more meaningful. This woman was voting for him because he was hers, he was every African American’s. He was black.
“Emily? Emily, let’s go.” Jordan was pulling me off the porch, down the un-shoveled walk, past the crooked mailbox. I was stunned, I was confused and I was cold. Still cold.
Was it all that simple? Had that woman said what everybody else in this neighborhood was too politically correct to say? Were people on this street voting for Obama just because of the color of his skin? I get a day off of school every year to commemorate a very influential person: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He dreamed that one day, people would not be judged by the color of their skin. Last time I checked, there weren’t any contingencies or qualifiers on that. There wasn’t part of the speech that said, “Unless they’re judged favorably.” Voting for somebody based on the color of their skin is wrong. There are so many other things about Obama that a person can love, admire, support, get behind. His skin doesn’t have to be one of them. But perhaps the relationship between this woman and the candidate she’s never met is something I can never understand.
But Obama needed my help, and Jordan and I canvassed the rest of the neighborhood. We went back to our host family’s house when it got dark out, and watched the latest news with them. There was a thing about the red phone commercial, and a debate with Obama and Hillary’s campaign managers. Then there was a man I didn’t know, talking about how people needed to stop focusing on Obama’s race, because it wasn’t playing a huge role in this election.
Not a huge role? All that ran through my head was, “What color my FACE?” I turned the news off, and went to sleep. The next day, we were back on the road, and this time our assigned neighborhood was wealthy. Really wealthy.
The houses were clones of each other, on generously-sized lots, with neatly shoveled sidewalks and fresh paint. A lot of them featured enormous chandeliers in their front windows, and intricately carved front doors. I felt at home until I started knocking on those doors. The majority of the people living here were Republican and didn’t have a problem letting me know.
It’s not like I am a “crazy liberal.” I am generally moderate, but these people looked at me like knocking on their doors was the only break I took from running through fields naked, smoking pot and hugging trees. The statement, “I could never vote for a Democrat” took on a whole new tone – I’d never heard that word spoken with such disdain, hate even. I was afraid that some were going to slip and ask if I was from, of all things, “The-Party-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”
We canvassed two neighborhoods that day and found only three Obama supporters. There was no inviting us in to warm up, making small talk about election predictions or thanking us for being out in the cold.
We met every stay-at-home mom on the block, fended off overfed puppies and tread carefully around pristinely preserved yards. Our reward? Not big. I had one lady slam the door in my face when I said I was from the Obama camp. I had to wonder, was she just as turned off by his skin color as the black lady had been turned on by it? Or did she oppose Obama for some other reason?
And, thinking about that, I couldn’t decide where I felt most at home. These rich white people didn’t know anything about me. They didn’t know that I lived in a house as nice as theirs, drove cars as nice as theirs, went on vacations to all the exotic places they went on vacation, had a Coach purse in the car and routinely flew in helicopters for fun. They couldn’t know that, but they didn’t care. I was a liberal, and that made me crazy. I’ve never felt so different.
But I trudged on. Even though I was angry, lonely, wet. Cold. Because Obama is a person and a cause and a message I can stand behind, no matter who else supports me, or what temperature it is. He didn’t win in Ohio, but he won me right then. The black neighborhood, the first canvassing center, the kind volunteers, the family that we lived with. Maybe these people didn’t have much money or hold positions of power, and their houses and offices weren’t million-dollar bedazzlements. But they were on my side, and elections are all about picking sides.
When it comes down to it, I have a lot of respect for the people I’m standing with.

One of the best things about MSU is its long history. But with history comes stories, rumors, lore and a cloud of myths surrounding the university’s policies, precedents and past. Most of the time, these myths sit at the back of students’ minds, in the vague musings incited by a stroll past an old building, or in casual conversation with friends. But as a curious Spartan and dedicated staff member of TBG, I set out to settle several of the nagging questions about MSU that students have had for years. I tried my hand at myth-busting, and the results are below.

MYTH: If a person gets hit by a CATA bus, they get free tuition.
FACT: According to a worker at the CATA office who did not wish to be named, this is “absolutely not true.” The worker also forgot to note I was asking for my readers and not for myself, and told me there were lots of ways to pay for school, so I shouldn’t jump in front of a bus. It’s not every day that my desire to live is questioned, but her unnecessary concern was appreciated.
The fact that attempted CATA suicide doesn’t pay for school is further verified by RHA representative and freshman criminal justice major Kevin Fleury, who recently attended one of the CATA sessions on rate increases.
“Somebody at the session asked the CATA representative if that rumor was true, and the representative said it definitely wasn’t,” Fleury said.
REACTIONS: Fleury had an interesting perspective on the myth, having actually witnessed a biker being hit by a bus. “It was raining, and I was on a bus that was turning from Farm onto Shaw,” Fleury said. “A kid went to cross Shaw on a bike, and a bus turned into him. He was okay – he got up and started fixing his bike. But they did call the police. [cata12]
“It’s a well-known fact that CATA recruits retired NASCAR drivers to drive their campus routes,” Fleury joked. “But I don’t think anybody should benefit from not looking both ways before you cross the street.”
Wes Holing is a journalism graduate student who, with two other students, founded the Web site www.spartysecrets.com. A skeptic and myth-buster himself, he had a hard time believing the CATA rumor. “I would assume that’s not true, just because CATA isn’t affiliated with the school itself. They might pay you a settlement, but I don’t know about tuition.”

MYTH: Playboy released a statement in 2003 reading, “Michigan State University will no longer be included in our annual top party schools, because we feel it is unfair to include professionals on a list of amateurs.”
FACT: This statement was never published, and is part of college lore at several universities. In fact, Playboy does not even publish an annual list of party schools. They published lists in 1897, 2002, and 2006. Michigan State ranked at No. 20 on the 2002 list, and did not rank on the other two lists.
The rumor that “professionals are not included” circulates at several colleges that didn’t make the list, and has no validity. The Princeton Review really does do an annual ranking of party schools. Incidentally, MSU is not on their 2008 ranking.
Although this is purely speculative, I would suppose that memories of the 1999 riots in East Lansing were what landed MSU on the 2002 list. Torching cars, breaking windows, burning furniture and assaulting police are not typical reactions to a basketball loss. Police from neighboring towns were brought in, and pepper spray and tear gas were used for crowd control. If that’s what it takes to land on a list of party schools, I’m pretty glad MSU didn’t make the cut.
REACTIONS: While some students are inevitably crushed, many students would still call MSU a professional party school. “I think that it doesn’t matter what school you go to, there’s always going to be parties if you go out and look for them,” Chinese studies freshman Andrew Bristle said.
However, Bristle was a little surprised MSU didn’t make the national listings. “From what I heard in high school, I would have thought MSU was on the list. But I can see how high school kids would get that impression,” Bristle said.
Holing did an article on the subject for Sparty Secrets, and talked to Dr. Dennis Martel of the Olin Health Center about MSU’s data on drinking. “The reality is that it’s becoming a very safe school in terms of drinking,” he said. “People still drink a lot, but the party school mentality of being irresponsible and crazy isn’t really there.”

MYTH: An MSU student died in the 1970s while participating in a role-playing version of Dungeons and Dragons in the steam tunnels that run below the university.
FACT: The myth is based on the story of James Dallas Egbert III, an MSU student who disappeared in 1979. While he casually played Dungeons and Dragons, it was never proven to be the cause of his disappearance. Nonetheless, the media focused on that aspect.
Egbert was eventually found by William Dear, a detective hired by his parents. His story did end tragically, however. After returning to his parents, Egbert killed himself. However, no death took place in the tunnels of MSU.
Egbert’s story inspired William Dear, the detective who found him, to write The Dungeonmaster: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III. It also inspired a book titled Mazes and Monsters, and later a made-for-TV movie of the same title that starred a young Tom Hanks.
REACTIONS: For the most part, this myth exists in students’ memories as vague hearsay, or they don’t remember hearing about it. “I didn’t hear that myth… I didn’t even know there were steam tunnels under MSU,” pre-veterinary freshman Chelsea Kocis said.
As for the Dungeons and Dragons component, Kocis is amused. “I played Dungeons and Dragons in elementary school. They modified it into a physical game we could play in gym class,” Kocis said. “So I associate it with my childhood; I wouldn’t play it in college. And I certainly wouldn’t connect it with a boy’s disappearance or suicide.”
I also associate Dungeons and Dragons with my childhood, mainly because my parents (both MSU alumni) were always making sure I wasn’t playing it. They are still of the school that’s convinced D&D was the root of Dallas’s disappearance, and warned me from an early age of its supposed dangers.
For some, the aspect more mysterious than D&D is the tunnels themselves. “I have a fascination with those tunnels. I really want to go inside of them,” Bristle said.

MYTH: If a person’s roommate commits suicide, they get a 4.0 for the semester and free tuition.
FACT: Simply untrue. To solve this mystery, I turned to 40-year faculty member and current ombudsman Stan Soffin, who frequently handles both student complaints and university policy. When asked about the myth, Soffin laughed. “There’s one word and two letters for that.”
However, he conceded that grade-wise, a student could receive breaks on a case-by-case basis. “If a faculty member wants to give a student a break for some sort of catastrophic event, the faculty member has a right to do that. But the university policy… doesn’t touch any of that,” Soffin said.
REACTIONS: This myth doesn’t appear to be MSU-specific. “I’ve heard that at a lot of schools… they made a movie about it,” Holing said. The movie, a 1998 comedy, was called Dead Man on Campus. In it, two college boys who realize they are going to fail the semester go in search of a suicidal roommate to boost their grades. As a fan of the movie, I can’t bring myself to give away the ending. But it’s good.
While she concedes the death of a roommate would be tragic, Kocis thinks a perfect GPA and free tuition would be over-doing it. “I think they should get some sort of compensation; that’s obviously a tragic event,” Kocis said. “But not necessarily a 4.0 or tuition.”
As a fair solution, Kocis proposed a student get a financial break on housing instead of grades. “The university should provide the affected person with a new room instead. That’s the part of their life that’s the most affected. Or if they don’t want to deal with anybody new, a discount on a single,” Kocis said.

So by my estimation, MSU lore is largely untrue. Of the four myths explored, we have 3.5 false ones (I’m counting the disappearance of J. Dallas Edgar III as half-true – he didn’t die in the tunnels, but he was a real person). Statistically speaking, this means that “false” is probably a good guess about most of the rumors around campus. But with hundreds of myths left to explore, who knows? A university as historically rooted as MSU can never truly live in the present. Questions about the past are bound to stump students for years to come.

Editors’ Note: Come next January, we will be seeing a new face in the White House. This political shift is one of the most anticipated in recent years and carries with it the future of our troubled nation. For the past several months, the political fervor has been high: candidate signs are stuck firmly in lawns, people are glued to CNN/YouTube debates and Bush countdown clocks adorn key chains and office desks.
To say the least, this election year is an important one, and TBG will be taking an in-depth look at one hopeful each month in an effort to get a conversation started on campus about who we want to run our country. By November, you should be well prepared to cast your ballot.
Students at MSU and on campuses nationwide have time to do many things. They attend classes, join sports teams, rush fraternities, throw parties and form clubs. MSU has two channels playing movies constantly, activities every weekend and more than 550 registered student organizations, in case we have any down time. However, the majority of college students forget to make time to exercise their democratic rights. College students everywhere are notorious for not voting. [oboma]
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, only 47 percent of citizens ages 18-25 vote in presidential elections, compared to 66 percent of those 25 and older. Most campaigns have therefore considered this age demographic a lost cause, and focus on older voters. But some candidates are altering this wave of apathy. The sudden emergence of Ron Paul on the campaign trail might be the most shocking, but the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has significant standing in this age group, especially on college campuses.
According to a recent article in TIME magazine, youth voters preferred Obama to his competitors in an unprecedented 4-1 ratio in Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucus. Overall, youth voter turnout increased by 135 percent. In the recent South Carolina primary, Obama came away with the win with 67 percent of the vote from those ages 18-29 that cast ballots. This surge in support can be partially attributed to grassroots organizing on college campuses.
Student organizations in support of Obama have been popping up all over the country, and MSU is no exception. “[Students for Barack Obama] is actually the only official student group of a presidential campaign,” political science senior Steve Ross said. “We’re the first in history.” Ross founded the MSU chapter of Students for Barack Obama (SFBO) in 2007, and it’s grown exponentially since then. “We were the first in the state to start up back in January of 2007, and since then, the group here on campus has grown to over 250 members,” Ross said. Ross is not only the founding member of MSU’s chapter of Students for Barack Obama; he also functions as the State of Michigan coordinator for SFBO.
Ross said he was interning on Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-Mich.) re-election campaign in 2006 when he first met Barack Obama. “I think what really drew me to him was just his message. He’s truly an inspiring person and candidate.” Ross said. “I’ve met other politicians before, but when I met him, it was just a different feeling.” [ross]
Other students following politics thought the same thing. Soon a Facebook group sprung up in Obama’s support, and when he decided to run for the highest office in the U.S., Obama’s campaign team valued the strong youth support. According to Ross, the Obama campaign is launching a monumental movement to target the college demographic. “We have a youth vote department, and we’re the only campaign that has one of those. We have a full staff at our headquarters whose jobs are just devoted to working with youth,” Ross said.
And at least on MSU’s campus, that effort has paid off. Bryce Colquitt is the coordinator for MSU’s chapter of SFBO, and wants to make sure everybody in his chapter is included in the action. “Everybody on Students for Barack Obama is involved, and we’re active, and we’re doing things.”
When Michigan moved its primary up to January, it violated the rules of the Democratic National Convention. As a result, some candidates chose not to have their names on the Michigan ballot. Obama was one of the candidates who left his name off. As a result, Michigan’s ballot listed the candidates who chose to leave their names on and an ominous “uncommitted” blank.
The fact that Obama was not on the Michigan ballot impacted the ways in which MSU’s SFBO campaigned for him. The campaign could not technically tell voters to vote “uncommitted” on the Michigan primary, so they had focused their attention toward other early states in hopes of making a difference far from home. In any case, the MSU chapter was not sitting back and hoping for a nomination. “We’re going to be phone banking for the Nevada caucus and South Carolina primary, we’re going to have a rally for Barack here [at MSU]…we’ll have an info session where we’re looking to get some public officials who have endorsed Barack to come,” Colquitt said.
But in the meantime, the sparse ballot led some voters to abstain from voting. Voter turnout in all segments of the population was decidedly light. Various organizations advised people who wished to vote for Obama or Edwards to vote “uncommitted,” although the campaigns themselves did not tout this. Nonetheless, some uninformed voters were undoubtedly taken by surprise. In Emmet County, the uncommitted vote actually won over Hillary (the only big name left on the ballot). However, the State threw away all of the “write-in” ballots, and overall, the primary seemed like a farce to many Michigan voters.
But in other states, what exactly drew students out for Obama in such large numbers? According to Matt Robb, a political theory and history senior, he first became interested in Obama after his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). “I looked into him more, heard more of his speeches and realized his life story added up to his political story and his political message.”
Indeed, his story is one that doesn’t often make it on the ballot. Born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, he lived in both Hawaii and Indonesia before attending Columbia University in New York. After his undergraduate education, Obama moved to Chicago, where he was a community organizer through his church. He attended Harvard for law school, and eventually rose from state to national senator in 2004.
After a lifetime’s worth of sketchy politicians, shady legislation and political scandal, it’s no wonder students are looking for a invigorating face. At just 45, in a field where most candidates are in their 50s or 60s (McCain tops the list at 71), Obama automatically fills the fresh requirement. In addition, his background as a community organizer is impressive to many.
For freshman Neeharika Tumati, it’s Obama’s attention to youth voters that is appealing. “He’s the one that wants students to go into public service as far as AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, so they can serve the nation without holding public office,” she said. “He sees the importance in making a difference in politics because it’s our generation, it’s our vote, and Barack really emphasizes that.”
Ross agrees. “I think what a lot of people are drawn to Barack about is he’s something so new. And a lot of people who’ve not been involved in politics before are interested all of a sudden because of Senator Obama.”
Latin Studies sophomore Julia Lathin first learned about Obama through her mother. “I remember my mom calling me over to the TV to watch him give [the 2004 DNC] speech and ever since then he’s been at the back of my mind.” [obama2]
In fact, many Obama supporters were first touched by his speech at the DNC during the 2004 election cycle. Both Robb and Tumati cite the speech as what fueled their initial interest in the senator. “I watched the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and saw his speech, and I definitely was very impressed. I picked up his book Dreams From My Father. When he decided he was going to run for president, I was ecstatic,” Tumati said.
Obama runs on a lot of hope, but his platform does contain concrete ideas. He advocates a return to responsible fiscal policies, massive immigration reforms and the modernization of the U.S. health care system, among other things. However, many on the opposing side say he is inexperienced, ill-prepared for foreign policy or harboring Muslim ideals. (Although Obama’s middle name is Hussein, he is a devout Christian.) His most criticized point among both youth and older voters is his lack of political experience.
“I don’t think he has enough experience,” journalism freshman Lauren Ahonen said. “I understand that he’s a charismatic guy, but you need more than a few years under your belt to run a country.” Ahonen isn’t exaggerating; Obama is the junior Senator from Illinois and was only elected in 2004. These are facts his competitors are quick to mention on the campaign trail.
[steve]Another question about Obama’s experience was highlighted in a recent South Carolina debate. Both Clinton and Edwards pointed out Obama has voted “present” on more than 100 occasions in his four years on the Senate. In other words, he chose not to take a stand on many issues one way or the other. So while he can legitimately claim not to have voted for the war in Iraq, as none of the other candidates can (he was not yet elected while that was on the table), his voting record leaves much to be desired. His record of myriad “present” votes leads some voters to question if, in trying to be a unifying figure, he is afraid to take determined stances on issues.
Despite hesitations and concerns about Obama as an effective leader, there is no doubt about it: on this campus and on campuses across the nation, Obama has overwhelming support from the youngest voting demographic. His Facebook group boasts the largest numbers of any candidate, and in Iowa, he drew out an unprecedented amount of youth support. There’s still a question as to whether that following will translate at the polls, but Obama supporters are optimistic.
“I think that we can get the nomination,” Robb said. “And if we do that, the general election will see unprecedented numbers. You’ll see more young people than we’ve ever seen, and not just by a little – by an exponential margin. And I believe that with all my heart.” If college students take their enthusiasm for Obama to the polls nationally for this primary, Obama could indeed win the nomination. One step at a time has been the traditional model for presidential campaigns, but according to a recent publicity surge from the Obama campaign, he’s ready to “Barack and Roll.”

Dear Lou Anna,

There are things you should know about your constituency, L.A. When the typical college student rolls out of bed (generally at some obscene hour of the afternoon), his or her mind seldom wanders the toll taken on the body. We all know that what we do to our bodies is generally wrong. We pull all-nighters studying for exams, stay up until the wee hours of morning partying, drink on weekdays and find ourselves grabbing a “fourth meal” at Taco Bell on a regular basis. Sometimes we sleep during classes, or better yet, are too lazy to walk to our classes.

So how is one to distinguish the typical college student from a person with a genuine health-related problem? According to MayoClinic.com, symptoms of depression include sleep disturbances, changes in appetite, impaired concentration and fatigue. What college student hasn’t missed a night of sleep, doesn’t feel like eating, can’t concentrate during class or falls asleep while reading a textbook? For this reason, it can be hard for the Residence Hall Association (an organization naturally concerned with the well-being of its residents) to identify people that are genuinely struggling with health-related issues like depression, alcoholism, eating disorders and anxiety, among others.

Usually it is up to the residents to tell their Resident Mentors or other hall staff members when they’re having problems. But once a student divulges they’re in need of assistance, what happens?

According to Yakeley-Gilchrist Assistant Hall Director Ashlie Daigle, the person’s problems are just shifted up the chain of command. “We have training that covers this, so we’re prepared to handle these issues,” Daigle said. “But we recognize that we’re not licensed professionals, and do our best to refer people to campus resources.” In other words, a Resident Mentor isn’t in place to actually solve the problems of residents… just to refer them to somebody that can help.

Most often, that helpful institution is the Counseling Center at MSU, located in the Student Services Building. Any current MSU student can make an appointment during the Counseling Center’s office hours, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For untimely mental crises, the Counseling Center’s Web site offers numbers to a variety of on- and off-campus 24-hour hotlines, from an on-campus Sexual Assault Hotline to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

For some students, however, getting to these resources is difficult. Most students living in residence halls know their Resident Mentor is the person that’s supposed to help them with these kinds of issues, but people’s relationships with their mentors vary vastly. Pre-med freshman Nick Lippard describes his relationship with his mentor as good. “I see him all the time, and he says ‘hi’ to me,” Lippard said. “Maybe we’re not close, but we at least talk in the elevator and stuff.”

But this is not always the case. No-preference freshman Brian Griffin has never even talked to his mentor. However, this doesn’t seem to bother him. “I feel like I could trust him if I really had a problem,” Griffin said. And essentially, that’s what Resident Mentors are there for.

For her part, Daigle is aware her mentors’ varying degrees of intimacy with residents can have an impact on whether a resident feels comfortable coming forward with a personal problem. “If the resident sees their mentor as the person in the hall that puts fliers up, maybe they won’t feel comfortable,” Daigle said. “But if it’s more of a friend relationship, they may be more willing to tell them if they’re having problems.”

While the course of action a mentor or other hall staff member must take when dealing with personal issues is pretty clear-cut, the lines become foggier when personal situations involve alcohol. For instance, if a group of intoxicated and underage kids are in a dorm and have a friend with alcohol poisoning and decide to call an ambulance, hall staff will obviously be alerted to the situation when the ambulance comes. This then poses the question: do all of the students get in trouble for drinking underage, despite the fact they did the right thing in seeking medical assistance for a friend? According to Daigle, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

“It really depends on the situation,” she said. “Our first priority is always going to be the medical situation, but we also have to write down what happened [as far as intoxication] and report it to the complex director, who makes the ultimate decision.”

The problem is, L.A., that’s not a good enough answer. The current unclear policy sometimes causes unhealthy predicaments. “I’ve heard of instances where people are more interested in getting in trouble than helping out a friend in medical need,” Daigle said. MSU students in the past have shied away from seeking medical or police assistance in situations where it’s really needed, just because they’re afraid of getting a Minor in Possession of Alcohol (MIP) or similar offense.

Lippard admits he was once in a similar situation. “There was one night when a few friends and I got together, and after a night of drinking, we all decided to go to Taco Bell,” Lippard said. “On our way there, two completely unprovoked guys came up behind our group and chose to [physically attack] me. They knocked me down and punched me a few times. In any other instance I would have called the cops, but I felt that if I would have called the cops that night I would have gotten in trouble for having a blood alcohol content [level].”

Is this what students have been terrified into thinking? For some MSU students, figures of authority such as police or the Residence Halls Association, or RHA, have cultivated such an image of enforcers and punishers the average MSU student cannot think of them as helpful in a bad situation. If a student is afraid to approach his mentor with an alcohol-related problem, what guarantees that same student would feel comfortable approaching his mentor with a personal issue like depression or an eating disorder? The Resident Mentor has become both the immediate face of encouragement and enforcement. It’s getting confusing, L.A. In some cases, students are more afraid of getting in trouble than having a friend be harmed by alcohol poisoning, or in Lippard’s case, getting physically harmed.

Of course, cases like this sometimes come down to responsibility. But some students (especially students with slightly impaired judgment) fail to accurately assess their priorities. Daigle sets the record straight – “If you make a poor decision, there are consequences. Would you rather wake up the next morning with an MIP or a dead friend?”

But some feel the university should have a hotline through which people could seek police or medical assistance without the fear of getting personally charged with a misdemeanor. The university has hotlines for domestic violence, eating disorders and depression – why not intoxication, L.A? Inebriation can often result in dangerous situations, and these instances are not scarce on campus. As for Lippard, he would have appreciated such a phone number. “I definitely would have called it, even just to see what my options were.”

But in the case of alcohol-related incidents in the dorms, many students don’t realize an MIP is not necessarily the consequence for getting caught with alcohol on a first-time offense. “We’re kind of like parents in that we’re not getting you in trouble so that we can have fun,” Daigle said. “We just want you to be the best you can be.” So the punishments for many offenses are well-suited to the crime committed. “If you get in trouble for an alcohol violation, you might have to put up a bulletin board about alcohol poisoning,” she said. “The process is more educational than punitive.”

Nonetheless, you’ve assigned the RHA two difficult and opposing tasks, L.A. A student is supposed to go to his mentor with personal problems, but that same mentor can get them in a whole lot of trouble if they slip up and drink with their doors open. Nobody would advocate a person’s therapist be allowed to bust them for drug possession, or that a police officer be in charge of hearing a felon’s woes. But in the RHA, this mixing of roles clearly occurs, leaving residents unsure if their mentors are out to help them or catch them.

In some ways, the RHA is effectively helping its residents. Maybe the RHA can’t tell a sleepy college student from a depressed one, or a busy person from an anorexic one sometimes. However, with a few hints from its residents, the organization can make a world of difference. But let’s keep this is mind, L.A. – there’s no guarantee that, with this meshing of roles, students in the future will be willing to provide those clues.

Sincerely,
Needing A. Divide

Dear Lou Anna,
[stress] There are things you should know about your constituency, L.A. When the typical college student rolls out of bed (generally at some obscene hour of the afternoon), his or her mind seldom wanders the toll taken on the body. We all know that what we do to our bodies is generally wrong. We pull all-nighters studying for exams, stay up until the wee hours of morning partying, drink on weekdays and find ourselves grabbing a “fourth meal” at Taco Bell on a regular basis. Sometimes we sleep during classes, or better yet, are too lazy to walk to our classes.
So how is one to distinguish the typical college student from a person with a genuine health-related problem? According to MayoClinic.com, symptoms of depression include sleep disturbances, changes in appetite, impaired concentration and fatigue. What college student hasn’t missed a night of sleep, doesn’t feel like eating, can’t concentrate during class or falls asleep while reading a textbook? For this reason, it can be hard for the Residence Hall Association (an organization naturally concerned with the well-being of its residents) to identify people that are genuinely struggling with health-related issues like depression, alcoholism, eating disorders and anxiety, among others. Usually it is up to the residents to tell their Resident Mentors or other hall staff members when they’re having problems. But once a student divulges they’re in need of assistance, what happens?
According to Yakeley-Gilchrist Assistant Hall Director Ashlie Daigle, the person’s problems are just shifted up the chain of command. “We have training that covers this, so we’re prepared to handle these issues,” Daigle said. “But we recognize that we’re not licensed professionals, and do our best to refer people to campus resources.” In other words, a Resident Mentor isn’t in place to actually solve the problems of residents… just to refer them to somebody that can help. [daigle]
Most often, that helpful institution is the Counseling Center at MSU, located in the Student Services Building. Any current MSU student can make an appointment during the Counseling Center’s office hours, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For untimely mental crises, the Counseling Center’s Web site offers numbers to a variety of on- and off-campus 24-hour hotlines, from an on-campus Sexual Assault Hotline to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
For some students, however, getting to these resources is difficult. Most students living in residence halls know their Resident Mentor is the person that’s supposed to help them with these kinds of issues, but people’s relationships with their mentors vary vastly. Pre-med freshman Nick Lippard describes his relationship with his mentor as good. “I see him all the time, and he says ‘hi’ to me,” Lippard said. “Maybe we’re not close, but we at least talk in the elevator and stuff.”
But this is not always the case. No-preference freshman Brian Griffin has never even talked to his mentor. However, this doesn’t seem to bother him. “I feel like I could trust him if I really had a problem,” Griffin said. And essentially, that’s what Resident Mentors are there for.
For her part, Daigle is aware her mentors’ varying degrees of intimacy with residents can have an impact on whether a resident feels comfortable coming forward with a personal problem. “If the resident sees their mentor as the person in the hall that puts fliers up, maybe they won’t feel comfortable,” Daigle said. “But if it’s more of a friend relationship, they may be more willing to tell them if they’re having problems.”
While the course of action a mentor or other hall staff member must take when dealing with personal issues is pretty clear-cut, the lines become foggier when personal situations involve alcohol. For instance, if a group of intoxicated and underage kids are in a dorm and have a friend with alcohol poisoning and decide to call an ambulance, hall staff will obviously be alerted to the situation when the ambulance comes. This then poses the question: do all of the students get in trouble for drinking underage, despite the fact they did the right thing in seeking medical assistance for a friend? According to Daigle, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. “It really depends on the situation,” she said. “Our first priority is always going to be the medical situation, but we also have to write down what happened [as far as intoxication] and report it to the complex director, who makes the ultimate decision.”[kegs2]
The problem is, L.A., that’s not a good enough answer. The current unclear policy sometimes causes unhealthy predicaments. “I’ve heard of instances where people are more interested in getting in trouble than helping out a friend in medical need,” Daigle said. MSU students in the past have shied away from seeking medical or police assistance in situations where it’s really needed, just because they’re afraid of getting a Minor in Possession of Alcohol (MIP) or similar offense.
Lippard admits he was once in a similar situation. “There was one night when a few friends and I got together, and after a night of drinking, we all decided to go to Taco Bell,” Lippard said. “On our way there, two completely unprovoked guys came up behind our group and chose to [physically attack] me. They knocked me down and punched me a few times. In any other instance I would have called the cops, but I felt that if I would have called the cops that night I would have gotten in trouble for having a blood alcohol content [level].”
Is this what students have been terrified into thinking? For some MSU students, figures of authority such as police or the Residence Halls Association, or RHA, have cultivated such an image of enforcers and punishers the average MSU student cannot think of them as helpful in a bad situation. If a student is afraid to approach his mentor with an alcohol-related problem, what guarantees that same student would feel comfortable approaching his mentor with a personal issue like depression or an eating disorder? The Resident Mentor has become both the immediate face of encouragement and enforcement. It’s getting confusing, L.A. In some cases, students are more afraid of getting in trouble than having a friend be harmed by alcohol poisoning, or in Lippard’s case, getting physically harmed.
Of course, cases like this sometimes come down to responsibility. But some students (especially students with slightly impaired judgment) fail to accurately assess their priorities. Daigle sets the record straight – “If you make a poor decision, there are consequences. Would you rather wake up the next morning with an MIP or a dead friend?”
[beer] But some feel the university should have a hotline through which people could seek police or medical assistance without the fear of getting personally charged with a misdemeanor. The university has hotlines for domestic violence, eating disorders and depression – why not intoxication, L.A? Inebriation can often result in dangerous situations, and these instances are not scarce on campus. As for Lippard, he would have appreciated such a phone number. “I definitely would have called it, even just to see what my options were.”
But in the case of alcohol-related incidents in the dorms, many students don’t realize an MIP is not necessarily the consequence for getting caught with alcohol on a first-time offense. “We’re kind of like parents in that we’re not getting you in trouble so that we can have fun,” Daigle said. “We just want you to be the best you can be.” So the punishments for many offenses are well-suited to the crime committed. “If you get in trouble for an alcohol violation, you might have to put up a bulletin board about alcohol poisoning,” she said. “The process is more educational than punitive.”
[emily] Nonetheless, you’ve assigned the RHA two difficult and opposing tasks, L.A. A student is supposed to go to his mentor with personal problems, but that same mentor can get them in a whole lot of trouble if they slip up and drink with their doors open. Nobody would advocate a person’s therapist be allowed to bust them for drug possession, or that a police officer be in charge of hearing a felon’s woes. But in the RHA, this mixing of roles clearly occurs, leaving residents unsure if their mentors are out to help them or catch them.
In some ways, the RHA is effectively helping its residents. Maybe the RHA can’t tell a sleepy college student from a depressed one, or a busy person from an anorexic one sometimes. However, with a few hints from its residents, the organization can make a world of difference. But let’s keep this is mind, L.A. – there’s no guarantee that, with this meshing of roles, students in the future will be willing to provide those clues.
Sincerely,
Needing A. Divide

Far, far away, in a little-trafficked corner of the MSU Union, exists a small suite of offices labeled as the Women’s Resource Center, or WRC. Select students know to wander up to the third floor, past the soothingly colored dentist-office type furniture into a friendly little office, staffed by charismatic women. Despite its seemingly remote location, the WRC is at the fingertips of all students at MSU. The problem is, not enough women know how much this friendly little corner of the Union has to offer.
At first glance, a center oriented specifically towards women may seem akin to the Women’s Lounge (also located in the Union) in being a relic of MSU’s past. After all, female students today take the same classes and write the same papers as their male counterparts. However, the WRC is not at all affiliated with the Women’s Lounge. In fact, the Women’s Resource Center is a relatively new concept, and was not established until 1992.
For some students, the WRC is unexplored. “I’ve never really heard of that,” kinesiology sophomore Jackie Lucas said. “It sounds a little sexist. I guess it could be useful if you had a problem, though.” Those who have heard of it seem to view it as a place one doesn’t venture to out of happenstance. “I heard that it was a pretty nice place to visit – I just haven’t had any need to go there yet,” history freshman Melissa Harless said. Perhaps the issue is people are confused about the WRC’s function on campus.
According to the organization’s Web site, “The Women’s Resource Center was developed to bring together and coordinate resources, advocacy for women’s issues, and women’s programs for faculty, staff, and students.” The WRC accomplishes this by sponsoring many activities on campus – everything from hosting women’s leadership conferences to supporting breast cancer research. The group works closely with the Women’s Advisory Committee to the Provost, which makes recommendations on topics such as MSU’s sexual harassment policy, support for athletic opportunities for women and the enhancement of women’s safety initiatives on campus. In addition to this, the center’s Personal Safety Coordinator, Dr. Jayne Schuiteman, deals with all sexual harassment cases on campus.
“I handle everything related to personal safety as far as sexual harassment or personal well-being goes,” Schuiteman said. Schuiteman’s work affects thousands of people each year, and she helps them in a variety of ways. “If necessary, I will cut through some of the red tape and investigate claims.”
One might assume the WRC would be greatly affected by recently passed Proposal 2. However, according to Schuiteman, that is not the case, mainly because the organization already caters to both sexes. Although Schuiteman is employed by the Women’s Resource Center, she also investigates claims of sexual harassment made by males. In fact, the WRC is much more male-friendly than its title may imply.
“We recently established the WRCMAC – Women’s Resource Center Men’s Advisory Committee,” Schuiteman said. “The WRC knows that men and women don’t live in separate vacuums, so we like to look at issues holistically. As far as our services go, women and men alike can take advantage of what it is we have to offer.”
[wrc13]MSU student Nicole Baer, a third year graduate student working on her master’s in social work, first ran into the WRC through internship experience with another campus organization. “When I interned with MSU Safe Place, we referred people to the Women’s Resource Center in many domestic violence cases involving people on campus,” she said. That’s where the work of Dr. Schuiteman, along with the WRC’s many workshops and programs, comes in.
Aside from working to aid sexual assault victims and branching out to the male gender, a primary project for the WRC is the Women’s Leadership Conference. This is a joint effort through several organizations, including the Women’s Initiative for Leadership Development, Residence Life, Student Life and the University Activities Board, along with the Women’s Resource Center. The event typically features several speakers, a banquet and a series of leadership workshops specifically oriented toward women. This year, the keynote speaker was Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch, the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the United States Army’s Combat Support Field. Kickbusch is a self-made woman who has gone on to achieve things many only dream of, and there were many other accomplished women leading workshops and giving speeches at this year’s Women’s Leadership Conference.
Nicole Bobiney attended a previous MSU Women’s Leadership Conference and she still remembers listening to keynote speaker Mary Ellen Sheets, founder of the national moving company Two Men and a Truck.
“It was really nice to talk to a woman who went out and started her own company from the ground up,” said Bobiney, a second-year graduate student in social work. Sheets spoke about how she worked her way to the top of a competitive field, despite her lack of knowledge about starting a corporation. And Bobiney was not the only one that found the conference inspirational.
“It was really empowering to be surrounded by so many powerful and professional women,” said Baer, who also attended the conference. This year’s conference took place on Nov. 11 at the Union. Any MSU student could attend by paying a $10 fee, $20 for non-students, and registering on the WRC’s Web site. [emily2]
An additional objective of the WRC, as stated on its Web site, is “to advance and publicize interesting and important programs and services for women, on campus, in the community, in Michigan, and nationally.”
Part of this involves supporting various charities. In addition to supporting several scholarships and fellowships, the WRC helps women on a broader scale. For its sixth year in a row, the center assembled a team for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a 5K walk organized by the American Cancer Society, to promote breast cancer and its research. To promote and raise additional money for the event, the WRC sponsors the year-round Cans for the Cure fundraiser, and all profits from the can-collection bins across campus go to the American Cancer Society in support of breast cancer research.
But for students like Bobiney, involvement with the WRC doesn’t stop at the occasional event or conference. Bobiney is one of the many students who have taken advantage of the WRC’s resources, including its resource library. The library features an extensive collection of books and videos related directly to issues surrounding women, and both Bobiney and Baer have used the materials to research for their classes.
On a chaotic campus, it is comforting to know such a center exists to inspire leadership and provide support; although the center is geared primarily toward women and women’s issues, the gender boundaries are being broken down. Whether a woman is suffering emotionally, looking to improve her leadership skills or searching for some inspiration, the Women’s Resource Center exists for these needs. The little-known nature of the office shouldn’t fool anybody about the center’s sense of purpose and its reach across campus.

It’s not that I didn’t understand how big 12 x 15 feet was – I just didn’t realize how much bigger the culmination of my favorite possessions would be. I hauled 20 pairs of shoes, one ceramic chicken bowl and a quesadilla maker from Rochester Hills to East Lansing. My parents ended up taking a lot of my so-called “favorite possessions” back, but it turns out I can live without them. After all, I wasn’t at college to admire my blue ceramic chicken bowl. I was at college to write some interesting papers, get a respectable degree and make a few friends in the process.
Although the extraneous possessions were an accident, arriving a day early was on purpose. I came into college with a plan for making friends. Call me naïve, but I figured that if I got all of my stuff moved in early, I could spend the regular freshman move-in day helping other freshmen move in. It seemed like a foolproof way to meet some new people. I’d help carry a futon up the stairs in return for eternal friendship. So I was up bright and early on freshman move-in day. And I was the only one. [spirit1]
It turned out that most of the people on my floor were upperclassmen. And by most, I mean all. I was the only person at my freshman floor meeting. Furthermore, all of my upperclassmen floor-mates were already settled in. Apparently, I live by the music building, because close to 80 percent of my floor is in marching band and had thus moved in weeks ago. Temporarily forgoing my floor, I decided to start small and make friends with my roommate, Jackie.
Although Jackie is a sophomore, we have a lot in common. O.K., not a lot. But on a floor where everybody else is in marching band, not knowing how to play the fight song creates a good enough reason to start a friendship. She scared me at first, especially when she text messaged me a week before move-in day to tell me that she’d bought us, of all things, a peace lily. I was pretty sure she’d be some sort of hippie, and I was prepared for all sorts of stereotypes. As it turned out, she had relatively short hair, and if she does smoke pot she certainly keeps it under wraps. She ice skates and loves all genres of music, which was cool by me. Really, we get along well. I even contributed to the foliage I once feared, and we have multiple plants now.
Hoping to meet some more people, I attended the UAB sponsored events for all of Welcome Week. I know, people with lives went to frat parties, drank, basically had good times. But I? I was at midnight bingo, and on the free bus trip to Meijer. And who did I attend these blessed events with? Why, none other than my resident mentor – who happens to be a darling junior named Jenn. In a sneaky way, my first real friend turned out to be my resident mentor. Granted, Jenn was obligated to hang out with me, but something good came of it. [UAB1]
The other part of my friend-making plan – that didn’t rely on my hall-mates needing a move-in helper – was to meet some new friends in the cafeteria. I saw myself approaching a random group of people, asking to sit down and just hoping for the best. But the thing is, you never see these people twice. You eat with them once and they’re gone. By the time you’re done discussing where you live in relation to one another and what activities you participated in during high school, you’ve finished your meal and have to get to class. You can’t really call them friends.
Also, I know it is still very early in the year, but it seems like a lot of the people I have met so far still hang out with people from their high schools. I wasn’t anxious to jump onto that bandwagon, but, to be honest, it’s a lot easier than going up to random people in the cafeteria. So I looked up some of my friends from the good ol’ days that were now at MSU. They were all boys. I’m not sure how that happened, statistically speaking. I had just as many female friends as male friends, but somehow none of my female friends came to MSU. So I hung out with a lot of guys for a day. Dinner was nice, but then I caught myself watching SportsCenter. What’s weirder, I caught myself not minding watching SportsCenter, and I hate sports. I was scared of this development, and I scooted out of there.
Beside the friend-making mission I have embraced since my arrival at MSU, academics also have occupied a good chunk of my time here so far. School work – that minor detail that comes with being at college. I’ve never really been one to actually study, so I figured college was the time to learn how to be a good student. Better late than never, right? Invigorated by this new take on school, I set out to study. I started small by printing out all of my syllabi. A pack of printer paper later, I moved on to digesting them. I put all of the dates in the planner I’d been given at AOP, and went to buy some books.
[meijer]Don’t try to tell me that the book stores around MSU are retailers. Those places are more like jungles. All I could think about was that scene in the Lion King where Mufasa gets trampled by the crowd of antelope and dies, even though he’s a really big, strong lion. I’m not a big and strong person, so I was a little worried that the crowd would just envelop me. Luckily, I made it to the customer service desk in one piece. Roar.
It turned out I’d accidentally purchased the wrong books, so I had to return them before I moved on to getting the correct texts. After a half hour of explaining to a cashier that I had accidentally printed out my spring schedule instead of my fall schedule, I was finally able to move on to the book-finding phase of my adventure. I used to work in a library, and locating books has never really been a problem for me. But at this particular college bookstore, there was a plethora of different abbreviations to sort through. The trouble came when I reached the Ws. I couldn’t find the WRA section. I know the alphabet; they weren’t fooling me. Apparently they had moved all the WRA books to a little alcove on the end of the store. Completely out of sequence. But with the help of some extremely merciful employee, I managed to get through my book-buying extravaganza, and eventually emerged with a small fortunes worth of textbooks. [spirit2]
When I got further into classes, I realized how little I actually used these textbooks. I don’t think I’ve even cracked open my math book, to be honest. On the plus side, I am reading a lot. In fact, I’m probably one of the only college students that blow off reading to read. A friend leant me Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, and I just can’t bear to let that marinate while I read for my Monday exam. I mean, it’s good stuff. Plus, I’ve got to get it back to my friend. So I’ve been spending my time reading Marlowe with my door open, and actually, it hasn’t been half bad.
That’s pretty much where I stand now, about one month into my freshman year. I’m close friends with my resident mentor, I eat lunch with some boys I know from high school, and I am still working on meeting more people in my classes. I have conquered, not without difficulty and a large hole in my pocket, the several-hours-long process that is buying books. I try to study, and then feel guilty when I don’t. And sometimes I whip up a quesadilla. I didn’t let my parents take that prized possession back to Rochester Hills.