Students are trying to remove Coca Cola from campus. (Photo credit: Jenna Chabot)

On Dec. 5, 1996, Isidro Gil, a Coca Cola plant worker and a Columbian union leader, was shot and killed inside the entrance of a Coca Cola plant in the city of Carepa by paramilitary forces.  After the shooting, other union leaders were kidnapped and tortured, and the local union building was burned.  Two days later, paramilitary forces returned to the plant to tell workers they had to quit the union by 4 p.m., or they would be killed.  It is said that a Coca Cola manager had prepared resignation forms in advance, and had previously instructed the paramilitaries to destroy the union.  A 2001 lawsuit charged that Coca Cola bottlers in Columbia contracted with and directed the paramilitary forces to act as they did.

For many people, Coca Cola products are associated with good taste and cheery advertising, but others worldwide associate the soft drink giant with murder.  The “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” is a worldwide movement that aims to hold Coca Cola accountable for its alleged human rights violations.  The campaign has now reached the MSU campus.

According to the “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” website, Coca Cola has been responsible for numerous human rights and labor violations worldwide.    It is claimed that systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture and murder are occurring at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia and elsewhere.    The website also states that Coca Cola has refused independent investigations into the allegations.  Other countries claiming crimes against Coke include Guatemala, China, El Salvador, India, Mexico, Pakistan, The Philippines, and Turkey.

Local Impacts

Along with human rights violations, the MSU Killer Coke Campaign recognizes watershed pollution in Michigan as another reason to end contracts with Coca Cola.  Residents of Paw Paw, Mich. have filed a lawsuit against Coca Cola for groundwater contamination from a Coca Cola bottling plant located near the watershed.  The 80 residents that are part of the lawsuit claim soil contamination has affected their drinking water, daily use of their homes, property taxes and health.

“It is a high quality water body for southwest Michigan,” said Matt Meerson, Van Buren Conservation District watershed coordinator.  “It still has a lot of flood plain forests intact; a lot of wetlands, the water quality in general is good for the Paw Paw. Compared to other rivers in southwest Michigan it is in pretty good shape, which is why people are more committee to protecting it.”

The MSU Campaign

In cafeterias and in Sparty’s convenient stores across campus, Coca Cola products are a common sight.  Drinks such as Coke, Sprite, Minute Maid Lemonade, A&W Rootbeer, and Nestea are just a few of the Coca Cola products that fill various fountain drink machines.  Coca Cola’s time on campus could be limited, however, as the MSU Chapter of Amnesty International leads an initiative to remove Coca Cola from the university.

MSU’s Chapter of Amnesty International has adopted a “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke”, and aims to remove Coca Cola from campus.  The campaign is in response to Coke’s alleged human rights violations in Colombia and other places of the world along with environmental problems that have occurred near bottling facilities worldwide and in Michigan.  The “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” is a worldwide movement.

Many students take advantage of the availability of the brand that aims to “refresh the world”, but some students like linguistics and philosophy freshman, Adam Liter, refuse to drink such products.  Liter, who hasn’t consumed a Coca Cola product since his sophomore year in high school, has helped lead the campaign at MSU.

Liter, and others involved in Amnesty International have been petitioning on campus since February.  So far, they have approximately 120 signatures.

“Some people are not willing [to sign], but a lot of people were interested and definitely wanted to learn more about it,” Liter said.  “They stuck around long enough to talk to and they definitely seemed concerned, especially when they learned that Coca Cola has been complicit with murder.  It’s not something that people will take lightly.”

The group plans to get at least 5,000 signatures before approaching the administration.

“The administration hasn’t been officially notified,” said Liter.  “I have been in contact with them before a little bit because I was trying to figure out what our contract with Coca Cola is like, so they know that there is at least one person out there that is concerned about it.”

Campus Impacts

“Certainly MSU is a very big client of the Coca Cola Company, because it is such a large university and it has an exclusive contract,” said Ray Rogers, the “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” director.  “You represent two major things for a company: a source of revenue and the most important place in which they build their brand name identity.”

Coca Cola has an exclusive contract with the cafeterias that lasts until 2016, Liter said.  The contract with Sparty’s is separate.  Liter hopes to persuade the university to break the contract before 2016, or to commit to not renewing it after that time.

“Students are being identified with the Coca Cola Company, and I would suggest that the Coca Cola Company has misrepresented itself to the university when they signed their contract,” Rogers said.  “They ought to be able to break that contract, and if not, what we are hoping is that students will believe in justice and that they will make enough clamor on the campus that students simply won’t purchase the products.”

Those involved in the campaign plan to look into possible alternatives to Coca Cola once they have more signatures on the petition.

“Pepsi would be the easiest alternative, but I mean there is still the concern that soda is actually really bad for you,” Liter said.  “Ideally we would like to propose a different alternative than Pepsi, but Pepsi is a possibility at this point.”

“And why not promote some Michigan alternatives, like Faygo or Blue Sky,” said international relations junior and MSU Amnesty International secretary, Tabitha Skervin.  “There are a lot of local carbonated products I think we could look into as well.”

Other Initiatives

This is not the first time efforts have been made to end contracts with Coca Cola.  MSU Students for Economic Justice tried to persuade the administration to remove Coca Cola from campus in 2006 for similar reasons.  The SEJ held protests and a former Coca Cola bottling plant worker from Colombia came to campus to speak out against unethical practices.

“It was near the end of the school year and many of the students involved were graduating,” said Rogers.  “There were some efforts to educate the university, but now I know there is a whole new effort.”

The campaign was part of the ongoing national “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” that Amnesty International is partnered with today.

Adam Liter was involved in a similar “Killer Coke” campaign at his alma mater, Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota.

“He had done some good work and some of the students at the high school told me that Adam is now at MSU, so they hooked me up with him,” said Rogers.  “He decided to get things going again, which I was excited about.”

Efforts have also been made at other colleges nationwide, including the University of Michigan.  According to The Michigan Daily, Coca Cola was removed from the university in 2005 while allegations of unethical practices were investigated and was then reinstated months later.

“I have great respect for what the students [at UofM] did,” Rogers said. “But I have no respect for what the administration has done; they set a very bad example as to what morality and ethics are about.”

New York University had similar results.  Administrators “kicked” Coke off of the campus for a short time, but later reinstated their contracts with Coca Cola.

A complete list of colleges, universities and high schools active in the campaign can be found here.

The Future

Liter said he hopes to do a kickoff next semester to raise awareness for the “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke”.  Those involved in the campaign hope to work on it throughout the summer, so it is ready to go come fall.

“The hope is that mid fall semester next year we will reach our goal and try to start the dialogue with the administration,” Liter said.  “We will be doing some petitioning now until the end of the year and then continue to do petitioning next year until we reach our goal.”

It is also important to know that it is not a requirement to give up your favorite Coca Cola product to join the campaign.

“If I stop drinking Coke, that’s just one person,” Skervin said.  “If a school of 47,000 people decided not to drink coke because the administration stops buying it, I think that sends a larger message, and is a more effective boycott.”

The group also hopes to involve other Michigan chapters of Amnesty International in the campaign, as well as environmental groups on campus.  They have also gained support from MSU Students for Fair Trade.

“What you are doing is getting a kickback from the Coca Cola Company for their right to have a captive audience, to have a monopoly, to get all kinds of advertising, and to basically put their brand on the forehead of every student that graduates from the campus,” Rogers said.

“MSU would be so huge if the students are successful in getting Coke kicked out of there,” Rogers said.  “It would just be a huge victory.”

More information about the “Campaign to Stop Killer Coke” can be found on their website.  To get involved with the campaign on campus, contact the MSU Chapter of Amnesty International.

It’s that time of year again. MSU students are sneezing, coughing and looking for a fast track to feeling better. Check out this video and see how MSU students tackle their toughest subject: the common cold.

The International Student Association’s annual Valentine’s Day Ball was held on Saturday, February 12th at the Ballroom in the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing. This year’s theme was Venetian Nights: A Masquerade Ball. A lot of time and effort was put into the event by the ISA. Hear what ISA had to say about celebrating Valentine’s Day together.

The United States Justice Department is working to improve the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to accommodate the needs of disabled persons by updating assistive communication technologies. Twenty years after the passage of the ADA, disabled students at Michigan State University are still working toward equal accommodations.

The Justice Department is holding a series of public hearings to discuss possible changes to Titles II and III of the ADA.  The four major topics being addressed are:

• Accessible websites for blind and visually impaired users- installing technologies that read web content to users
• Movie captioning and video description services for deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired and blind viewers
• Accessible 9-1-1 call centers for persons with disabilities- equipping dispatch centers to receive text and video messages
• Accessible public equipment and furniture for the disabled

Photo credit: Jenna Chabot

John Shumway, a communication technology senior and the president of the MSU Council for Students with Disabilities (CSD), would like to see the changes occur, but is unsure of how the public will react since they will come at a price for businesses.

“In our culture, we look at the immediate gratification not the long term benefits; but in the long term they [businesses] are going to have to revamp their websites and move up technology anyway,” he said.  “It’s shoving them towards the inevitable, but this way it has the government stamp on it.”

In regard to the descriptive technology proposed for movie theaters, Shumway said, “It’s a catch-22.  I think it would disrupt the movie because you’re watching the movie while the device is describing it to you, but the movie is going to go on to another scene. I like the direction the government is going, but there are some things you can’t change without wrecking it.”

MSU Disability Resources

Shumway, a visually and mobility impaired individual, is one of the approximately 1200 students that are registered with the MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) each year.  The RCPD provides services to students including: accessible textbooks, alternative testing, housing accommodations, alternative transportation, note-taking assistance, assistive technology, classroom accommodations, and other accommodations listed here.  MSU began accommodating disabled students in 1933, decades before there were laws in place requiring universities to do so.

“The RCPD often entertains visitors from other universities,” said Stephen Blosser, the RCPD Assistive Technology Specialist.  “We have been accommodating students for a long time, and universities just getting started look to us as experts.”

Blosser works with students to provide them with assistive software and textbooks, among other tools.  He explained that more than 70 volunteers work at the RCPD to help create alternative format textbooks in a process that requires cutting the binding and individually scanning pages into a computer. Volunteers spend most of their time editing the books by describing captions, charts and pictures that the software can’t pick up on.

“This type of work needs to be done by the publishers,” Blosser said.  “It is our hope at the Assistive Technology Center (ATC), to convince publishers to provide materials ready to go.”

Stephanie Forton, an athletic training sophomore, is also a student registered with the RCPD with a visual impairment.  She used large print and pdf formatted textbooks last year in her IAH class.  She has found the textbooks helpful, and one reason she chose to attend MSU was because of the RCPD.

“The fact that the RCPD director has a visual impairment, and that my specialist has a similar condition as I do, makes me feel like they better understand what I need,” Forton said.

Challenges Remain

Joe Stramondo, a bioethics, political philosophy and disability studies bioethics graduate student, is also registered with the RCPD and is a member of the CSD.

“Barriers to communication technology for me have less to do with the technology itself and more to do with the positioning of it because of my mobility disability,” Stramondo explained.

Currently, the ADA requires accommodations to be made mainly in regard to physical space, such as wheelchair ramps and curb cuts.  The proposed changes are taking the law a step further, but Stramondo still faces some problems with the existing law.  The ADA requires new space to be accessible, but until buildings are renovated, he still doesn’t have equal access to certain areas such as Spartan Stadium.

Stramondo, who described himself as a “huge Spartan football fan” sits on a platform to view the games which he said “doesn’t have nearly enough space.”

“The season ticket holders get to sit in front and the platform isn’t tiered, so everyone else gets pushed behind them.” said Stramondo. “It’s frustrating.”

Shumway and Stramondo, both residents of Owen Hall, have similar concerns about some of the equipment in the building.  There are a number of computer kiosks in the lobby for residents that are raised and require the user to sit on high stools.  One of the computers is lowered for easy access for wheelchair users.

“Everyone uses it now because it’s easy to get to.  People with disabilities hardly get to use it, but that’s how the law is.  You cannot make something specifically for the disabled because that’s segregating.  Everyone wants to use it because it’s easier,” Shumway said.

Shumway described a similar problem with the washing machines in Owen Hall that were made accessible for the disabled.  “Everyone wants to use them because they are newer,” he said.

Attitudes toward the disabled are another obstacle faced by many students that cannot be changed with any kind of government policy.

“I think that when you’re a person with a disability, you experience attitudes that are taught to folks without disabilities and folks with disabilities that are built into our culture every day, and it’s impossible to create a policy to change that.” said Stramondo. “It’s really about culture shift.”

The ADA was established in 1990 and prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantees equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.

The RCPD is located in 120 Bessey Hall on the MSU campus and is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Photo credit: Eve Avdoulos

The photography currently hanging in the Kresge Art Center is strikingly different from any exhibit it has ever held. The photographers are actually not photographers at all, or even art majors; rather students with little to no prior camera experience. Each captivating photograph was taken by a student enrolled in Studio Art 491, an online special topics course taken in conjunction with their study abroad trips.

The online course is a brand new addition to MSU study abroad. It enables non-art majors to familiarize themselves with photography and return home with pictures that are not typical touristy shots.

The very first course debuted this summer in correlation with 29 students and their various study abroad trips.

“The class was a tremendous success,” said Peter Glendinning, instructor of the course. “The opportunity that we were able to serve as a department to expand students artistic side and help them explore the worlds they find themselves in brings an extra dimension to the study abroad programs.”

Glendinning said students traveled to over 17 countries including Kenya, Ireland and Japan. Their majors ranged from ecology to engineering, and only one student embarked on an art-related trip.

Each student was required to have a camera that would shoot at least five mega pixels. In addition, they each created a Flickr account where they could upload, share and comment on photographs from students enrolled in the class but in different countries.

The artist behind an especially extraordinary piece is Eve Avdoulos, an anthropology junior. She traveled to Greece over the summer on a study abroad trip, and took the STA 491 course as well. Her photograph is a profile shot taken in Athens, Greece. An individual’s face is gently titled upward, Greek ruins mirrored in the surface of their Ray-Bans.

“I absolutely loved seeing photographs taken by other students in my class,” said Avdoulos. “Not only did it create a drive in me to visit those places but it allowed me to, in a sense, virtually experience those destinations.”

Glendinning explained that 25 different photography categories were developed. Each would have an abstract name such as “colors,” and students would have to interpret the assignment name individually and take photographs based on their interpretation.

Students had to upload pictures to 15 out of the 25 categories. As well as uploading, they also critiqued their classmate’s photos. This created a real visual-interchange by enabling them to see how other students construed the category names.

“Since we had so many categories for our class, we had to definitely concentrate on taking tons of different and unique pictures,” said animal science senior, Jessica Makowski. “I stepped out of my own box by taking this class and now pay attention to all sorts of views, angles, focus and details.”

The use of Photoshop tricks were strongly discouraged.

“It’s all about camera vision and seeing like a camera in terms of technique,” said Glendinning. “I wanted to them to be so aware of what was around them, and the possibilities of taking the fragment of reality they were in and holding that, using it as their inspiration.”

The students paralleled the persona of an experienced photographer learning the ins and outs of camerawork, focus and content. This extra obligation of their trip broadened their experience.

“The photographs come from the students looking at the world around them and saying “This is my world, and I’m not going to define it by travel book images and ideas.” They really got into the meat of the place.” said Glendinning.

“The class really challenged me to bring a photographer’s perspective with me while traveling,” said advertising junior Yao Lu who traveled to Japan and China over the summer. “My ‘photographer’s perspective’ of the world is much more creative than that of just a traveler’s. I paid more attention to people around me. When shooting the portraits of strangers, I had a lot more communication with the locals.”

The photographs the students captured while abroad were recently put on display at the Kresge Art Center. The exhibit is entitled ‘This is My World’ (the title of the course itself) and featured at least one photograph per student. The Office of the Provost made funding for this exhibit possible.

Glendinning said over 200 people appeared at the opening night of the exhibit. The vast majority of these people had never before stepped foot inside the Kresge Art Center.

“I wanted to teach people expansive ways about looking at the world they find themselves in,” he said. “My hope is that the show will have a purpose that is a teaching one, and also that represents MSU well.”

The exhibit will leave the Kresge Center in the middle of February and travel to The Crooked Tree Art Center in Petoskey until the end of March. The show will then travel throughout Michigan high schools for a year and half, free of charge.

Because the course was such an immense success they changed the description, said Glendinning.  The 3-credit online course will now be offered during each semester rather than just summer.

“Making photographs for the course opened my eyes to the world in ways I would have expected,” said Avdoulos. “I became more attune to details around me…this course enabled me to look at the big picture as well as all the fine details that the world presents.”

MSU December graduates

The myriad of opportunities that are currently available for students at universities are impacting their graduation timeline. Students are no longer graduating in the “typical” four years. While many students have the opportunity to graduate early, others are graduating a semester late.

Internships, study abroad programs, and major changes may require students to reconfigure their graduation and take an extra semester of school in order to fulfill their credit requirements. On the other hand, summer courses, heavy course loads, and early job offers generate the idea of graduating a semester early.

Regardless of how long it takes to earn a degree, fall graduates are on the rise. According to MSU Office of the Registrar, in the spring of 2007, 1,179 bachelor degrees were awarded to students, about one third of the 3,552 degrees granted in 2009. A common misconception among students is that graduating in the fall decreases their chances of getting a job afterward.

“There is a myth out there that spring grads have a greater opportunity,” said Vern Mason, senior associate director at the Lear Career Center. “The students professional development and preparedness takes care of that belief; if you’ve done diligence in your preparation the December graduation does not have the perception of being penalized.”

According to Mason, an extra semester on top of the standard 4 years of undergraduate studies may even appear more attractive to employers. It implies more practical experience, and is an indication that students have a stronger academic standing. Mason said the exchange of a less formal commencement ceremony in the fall for a more appealing resume definitely has its benefits.

“Companies and organizations do hire year round,” Mason said. “A fall graduation is certainly not frowned upon by companies. What they want is an indication that students know what to expect, and that is shown through their academic career and practical experience.”

Retailing senior, Taylor Young, graduated a semester early in December 2010.

“I was lucky enough to get a job opportunity that I could not pass up,” said Young. “I am excited to be moving on to the next stage of my life but will miss all the people I have met at MSU.”

In order to solidify her graduation date, Young took summer classes and did an internship during the summer. In January she kick-started her career with a position as a sales representative for apparel and footwear companies Billabong, Element, and Sanuk.

A fall graduation is becoming more common at other universities other than Michigan State. The University of Texas’ Office of Relationship Management and University Events reports that the university had about 2,400 undergraduates earn a degree in December.

Lynne Levinson, Assistant Director at the Sanger Learning and Carreer Center of the University of Texas said, “When people are done they’re done, and they don’t want to stick around another semester and pay for unnecessary classes.” Levinson also said that students could have come into college with dual-credits that were obtained in high school, or had advance placement.

“The option of graduating in the fall is customized per student. Ask yourself what you have done to make yourself more marketable,” said Levinson. “That is one of the big messages to employers, often times your degree isn’t the whole picture.”

On Nov. 18, three members from the Westboro Baptist Church stood just outside the grounds of East Lansing High School. Centrally located in Kansas, WBC has been made famous for protesting military funerals, high schools, and churches since 1955 in order to send out messages opposing homosexual lifestyles.

Around 2:50 p.m., a crowd of counter protesters including  ELHS students, MSU students, and members of the East Lansing  and Lansing communities gathered to show opposition to the WBC advocates.

“I feel like they certainly have a right to be here, but its obvious that their ideals are much different from mine, and the people from my school,” said ELHS sophomore, Justin Baker.

City officials spent days to ensure that today’s protest and counter protest would be a safe, productive environment. Teachers and parents of the ELHS also had to take time to prepare their students. They knew that their children and students would be exposed to things that they had not experienced before, and that it might not be an environment students would feel comfortable in. The biggest part of their job as educators was to inform the students about the situation.

“All my friends are coming out today after school to support the people being targeted,” said Baker. “Our teachers told us to stay positive, and that is what we were going to do.”

Those who participated in the counter protest and members of the peace team promoted the message that everyone was different from one another, but they joined together that day to promote unity, love and peace within the community.

Check out this video to see live coverage of the Westboro Baptist Church Counter Protest:

This month’s buzzword is social media. See what fellow Spartans have to say about it and how they use social media in their everyday lives!

Global poverty and sustainable development probably aren’t the first things on your mind when you get ready for a big night, but the cosmetics and beauty products you use may be helping indigenous communities half a world away.

Products with natural ingredients line the walls at Douglas J Aveda Institute in downtown East Lansing (photo credit: Emily Lawler).

Douglas J Aveda Institute, 331 E. Grand River Ave., sells beauty products made from 95 percent plant ingredients, said Kate House, a Douglas J guest services coach. “There’s no plastics, synthetics, things like that,” she said. “People in their lives are trying to become more green. This is a way they can switch their beauty regimens over to a more sustainable product.”

Evan Miller, director of global communications for beauty products manufacturer Aveda, said its products are not certified as organic, but use as many natural ingredients as possible. According to Aveda’s website, it also has agreements with organic ingredient providers in Peru, Bulgaria, South Africa, Australia and Morocco. “We have a mission … to not only provide people with the most high-performing products possible, but to be as environmentally friendly as possible,” he said. “Aveda’s philosophy is that you shouldn’t put anything on your body … that you wouldn’t consider putting in your body or back into the earth.”

House said customers who use natural products see a difference over time, such as less build-up in their hair. “The ingredients are all water-soluble, so every time you wash your hair they all wash out,” she said. “Most people, once you use it, end up using mostly Aveda products. A lot of people come here primarily because it’s an Aveda salon.”

Some of the ingredients in the cosmetics come from traditional communities in the Amazon rainforest. The company has relationships with traditional communities around the world, especially in South America, and has been working with the Yawanawa tribe in Nova Esperanca, a town in the Brazilian rainforest, for 17 years.

“The founder of Aveda went to a summit about climate change in Rio de Janeiro” where he learned about rainforest destruction, Miller said. “What he learned was the Brazilian government was stealing [traditional tribes’] land.” The Yawanawa originally owned 200,000 acres of rainforest land. Miller said Aveda sent the tribe’s Chief, Tashka, to college so he could learn how to defend his tribe’s rights in court. The Yawanawa now have about 160,000, some of which had already been cleared for development. Now, the Yawanawa used the land that was already cleared for urukum, a nut containing a red pigment they use for sun protection. Miller said the urukum is useful for products with sunscreen or red coloring in them.

“We’ve provided them with a sustainable economy,” he said. “We’re helping communities in other parts of the world remain self-sustaining. … We want to not only help ourselves run a successful business, we want to help other people.” He said in addition to providing the urukum trees and jobs for the people who harvest the nuts, Aveda helped to build a pharmacy there. “We’re not just looking to buy an ingredient and leave,” he said.

This natural product features tea (photo credit: Emily Lawler).

Another traditional group with which Aveda has an agreement is a women’s cooperative in Maranhao, Brazil. Miller said the company found the babassu nuts the women harvest in 1996, while looking for a new ingredient for soap and shampoo. “We started looking for an alternative to some of the ingredients in our products that are petroleum-based,” he said. The women’s cooperative had formed before Aveda’s involvement, in response to threats to the women’s traditional way of life. “People … were burning sections of the forest to raise cattle on,” Miller said. “It was the women that actually fought back. They lobbied … and there was a law called the Free Nut Law” which gave forest-dwelling peoples the right to gather nuts and protected the land where they live from development.

Miller said Aveda agrees to pay traditional communities a fair price for ingredients, but he does not consider the agreements to be part of the fair trade movement. “We work as directly as possible with these people to get the products,” said Miller. “The people get all the additional benefits of us helping them economically and socially.”

Still, House said sustainable products are more expensive than others. She said Douglas J’s business dipped with the economy as customers bought fewer products. “It is more expensive, but it’s also a lot better for you,” she said. “Ultimately [our customers] understand that the difference is worth it.” She said, despite display boards highlighting traditional communities, the sustainability is probably not a major motivation for customers who buy their products. “The average guest coming in here probably doesn’t understand the depth of the commitment,” she said.

Jessica Wendlandt, a junior majoring in landscape architecture, said sustainability is one factor she considers when buying beauty products. “I like the fact they’re made of all-natural products. I think they’re good quality too, so that’s why I buy them,” she said, adding that she doesn’t buy them often because of the cost.

Jessica Stull, of Ada, Ohio, who was visiting friends in East Lansing, said sustainability is not usually something she considers when buying beauty products. “Most of the time I just buy name brands,” she said. “I’d rather buy the stuff here than go to WalMart and buy their products.”

This fall, Michigan State University created a ‘reflection room’ in Anthony Hall, which students of any faith can use for prayer. Certain faiths, such as Islam, require daily prayers during the hours classes are normally held, which can be difficult to fulfill on days when students have classes and have to find a quiet spot to pray. Yet prayer is just one religious obligation that students of a religious minority must fulfill. Sometimes students have trouble eating cafeteria food due to dietary restrictions, are unable to celebrate religious holidays not recognized on the university calendar and must work to overcome misconceptions about their faiths.

MSU does not collect information on students’ religious beliefs, said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives. “I think the diversity of religious beliefs that are represented on campus is hard to gauge,” Russell continued. “It’s not mandatory for anyone to disclose that kind of information.”

While the university does not collect statistical data on students’ religions, it does try to ensure that these students feel included. “When MSU identifies and states that we value inclusion, that’s intended to include one’s religious values,” Russell said. MSU has a non-discrimination policy and has held workshops for faculty and administrators on the legal aspects of non-discrimination and how to accommodate students’ different needs. The university also has a religious observance policy that allows absences for religious holidays so long as they are prearranged.

Despite these efforts, some students of minority faiths still find campus life challenging.

Geoffrey Levin, an international relations junior and president of the Jewish Student Union, said Kosher food rules forbid eating pork and shellfish, and mandate other animals be killed in a way that drains their blood and minimizes pain. He said he keeps Kosher, though other Jews don’t always.

“I’m a vegetarian while I’m in the dorms,” he said. “It’s rough not being able to eat meat on campus, but you sort of get used to it.”

Kosher also requires different pans and cooking utensils be used for meat and dairy products. The Lester and Jewell Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center has separate kitchens for preparing different foods, Levin said, and Jewish students can set up to eat there for Passover.

“If you have the meal plan the university will give the money to Hillel to pay for the food,” he said.

Levin said there are three movements of Judaism who differ in how strictly they apply Halakha, Jewish religious law: reform, conservative and orthodox. Orthodox Jews observe the requirements for worship and daily life, including Kosher, as closely as possible, he said, and conservative Jews looking for a compromise between traditional law and modern society.“The reform movement is the most progressive. They think that the Jewish law is not binding … and they think that Jews should do what they find spiritually meaningful,” Levin said.

The Jewish Student Center holds services for all three movements. Kesher and Koach, the student groups for reform and conservative Jews respectively, both have meetings there. Levin said he has gone to a reform synagogue and has orthodox friends, but went to a conservative high school.

“It tends to be more fluid than most religions,” he said.

Levin said, in addition to holding weekly services, the Jewish Student Center also holds special services the high holidays, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah, observed in the fall, requires Jews to apologize to anyone they have wronged. Yom Kippur is celebrated 10 days after Rosh Hashanah and is dedicated to prayer for forgiveness for a person’s sins the previous year, he said. Yom Kippur also requires Jews to fast.“That definitely doesn’t make going to class any easier,” Levin said.

Fasting is also required by other religions represented on campus.

Sarah Bashir, an apparel and textile design sophomore and outreach chairwoman for the Muslim Students Association, said Muslim students have to fast until sundown during the holy month of Ramadan. Bashir said some Muslim students find it harder to focus in class during the fast, but others find it easier because they don’t have to interrupt whatever they are doing to go to the cafeteria. “When you’re busy and you have classes … it makes the day go faster,” she said.

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate Eid-ul Fitr by going to their mosques, visiting friends and doing charity work. About a month later, they observe Eid-ul Adha, when a sheep or goat is sacrificed to symbolize Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his older son Ishmael. The meat is often given to charity, Bashir said.

Bashir said Muslims can only eat an animal if its throat was cut to kill it quickly, and its eyes were covered so it would not be frightened by the blade or the sight of other animals dying. The concept, called Halal, is similar to Kosher, she said.

“It has to be from a place where the animals are treated right,” she said. “It’s quite difficult [eating in the dorms] for people who are carnivores.”

She said Muslim students can get Halal food off-campus.

Some Muslims may find it easier to eat off campus, but schedules often demand they find a place to pray between classes. Bashir said Muslims from all traditions have to participate in daily prayers facing the Ka’aba, a large stone cube in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Muslims pray before sunrise, in the early afternoon, in the mid-afternoon, at sunset and at night.

She said the prayers generally take five to 10 minutes, beginning with specific phrases, followed by personal prayers and time with God. Some students find it difficult to find a quiet place to pray.

“We do have a reflection room [in Anthony Hall] now, which makes it easier,” she said.

In addition to having to adjust to dietary differences and challenges finding a place to pray, Bashir said students from countries with Muslim majorities sometimes experience culture shock because many American students have more relaxed attitudes toward drinking alcohol and interactions between males and females. Islam forbids premarital sex and using alcohol or drugs. “I think it’s eye-opening for some Muslims,” she said.

She said some non-Muslim students also are shocked when they encounter Muslim social norms. Bashir said she started wearing a headscarf about a year and a half ago, and many people she met initially thought she was being forced to cover her hair. The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, does not explicitly require Muslim women to veil, or practice hi’jab, although this issue is constantly debated among Muslim scholars and academics. “I really loved the idea of being viewed as an individual … for my mind and my personality and my thoughts,” she said. “I think once I explained it to people they saw the beauty in it”

Ginger Gamble, a senior studying global and area studies- gender and global development and a member of the Bahá’í faith, said many students also have misperceptions of her faith. “A lot of people get it confused with a sect of Islam or Christianity,” she said.

Bahá’ís believe all religions come from the same God, and their religion’s founder, Bahá’u’lláh, is the most recent messenger from God.

“Bahá’ís believe in progressive revelation … God sends different manifestations for different ages,” Gamble said. “As long as humanity needs some guidance on social teachings and on their own spirituality, God will continue to send manifestations throughout the ages.”

Gamble said Bahá’ís pray one of three prayers daily. The shortest prayer is three or four sentences, she said, and the longest takes about five to seven minutes. The prayers can be read silently or spoken aloud.

“In college, specifically in the dorms, it’s difficult to navigate that roommate relationship [with prayer],” she said.

Bahá’ís hold a worship service called feast every 19 days, Gamble said, where they come together for prayers, singing, readings, and socialization. The 19-day cycle, based on the Bahá’í calendar, means that feast can fall on weekdays, making it more difficult for students to attend.

“There’s a lot of flexibility,” Gamble said. “When you go to church, it’s every single Sunday. That’s the way the calendar’s structured.”

Gamble said the Bahá’í faith started in Persia (modern day Iran), and its holidays are celebrated in ways similar to Muslim ones. Bahá’ís fast from March 2 to March 20, one month in their calendar, and celebrate the new year March 21. Part of the fast usually falls during spring break, she said, making it easier to use those days for reflection.

“You start thinking about why you’re fasting and why you’re a Bahá’í and why you believe what you believe,” she said.

Bahá’ís also celebrate the birth of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of their religion, as well the birth of the Bab, Bahá’u’lláh’s forerunner. Bahá’ís believe both are manifestations sent by God to guide the world. Other holidays include the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh and his son. Work traditionally stops on those holidays, but Gamble said observances vary depending on an area’s Bahá’í population.

Kritsada Kittimanapun, a physics doctoral student and practicing Buddhist, said Buddhist festivals are also celebrated somewhat differently at the Dhammasala Forest Monastery, near MSU, than in countries with larger Buddhist populations. He said in Thailand people traditionally celebrate the Buddha’s birth, death and entrance to Nirvana by giving food to the monks in the morning, listening to the monks’ teaching in the afternoon, and walking three times around the temple and meditating at night.“Here in Lansing we have the first two activities,” he said. “If [a holiday] is a weekday, we usually move the day earlier or put it off a little later to have it on a weekend.”

Kittimanapun said unlike followers of some other religions, Buddhists in the Theravada branch, commonly practiced in Thailand, are not required to attend services. They meditate to reach enlightenment by concentrating on breathing, though practices vary among the branches of Buddhism.“If you are in a quiet place, it might help you do it better, but in principle we can do the meditation anywhere,” he said.

Kittimanapun said Buddhists emphasize mental control and are also not supposed to drink alcohol.“Some people, if they’re not so strict, might drink some alcoholic stuff, but in the small amounts so they can control themselves,” he said.

Buddhists are also forbidden to kill animals, Kittimanapun said, but they can eat them to maintain life.“We can eat meat, but we are not allowed to kill a dog that just walks by us,” he said.

Raman Anantaraman, a physicist at the MSU Cyclotron and webmaster for the Bharatiya Temple of Lansing, said Hindus are not allowed to injure other living things, and vegetarianism is encouraged, though eggs and dairy products are allowed.

Anantaraman said the Hindu students have a temple nearby that holds worship services every day and provides spiritual resources. Each day of the week is dedicated to a different group of deities and the length of the services varies. For example, Ganesa, a deity with the head of an elephant, is worshiped for 45 minutes Sunday mornings.

Anantaraman said Hindus can also worship at home. The pooja can last from five minutes to an hour, and involves making offerings of food and other gestures to a picture or statue of the god being worshiped, after consecrating the objects involved.

“You invite the god as a guest to your home. He is like a guest who has gone a long way,” he said.

He said as Hindus grow spiritually they can move beyond using physical objects in worship.“The ultimate concept is that God is in you,” Anantaraman said. “Every human is potentially divine, and the core purpose of life is to manifest that divinity.”

Anantaraman said the university is inclusive, but believes that it is not the university’s business to do anything special for religious minority students.“They aren’t discouraging it. They are facilitating it at some level,” he said.

The students interviewed said the university has done a good job being inclusive to religious minority students. “I think with the diverse group on campus, the university has become more understanding,” Bashir said. “There are still some professors that need to have more training.”

She said the university could do better by providing more reflection rooms around campus and more funding for campus religious groups. Levin said the Jewish Student Union also is talking to the university about possible improvements.“If we could get just one mini-fridge in one dorm with some Kosher meat that would be a major accomplishment,” he said.

The university is legally prohibited from discriminating on the basis of religion, but is not required to accommodate all of students’ needs. Providing extra services, including the reflection room in Anthony Hall, is optional. Religious minority students will continue to face different challenges in terms of dietary requirements, holidays not on the university calendar and views of their faiths.