The MSU power plant has a dirty little secret: coal. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) heard testimony today concerning self-reported excess emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide.

Protesters sport signs against the University's coal use (photo credit: Emily Lawler)

The T.B. Simon power plant produces enough energy for the entire MSU campus, but in doing so allegedly violated its Renewable Operating Permit with the state of Michigan, as well as the federal Clean Air Act Amendments and the Michigan Administrative code.

According to their own reports, in the first quarter of 2008 the power plan reported 7.58 percent excess sulfur dioxide emissions and 4.75 percent excess nitrogen oxide emissions. These are classified as “high priority violations” by the Environmental Protection Agency, and join 2007 violations of a lesser caliber that were resolved without monetary penalties.

According to Karen Zelt, communications manager for the MSU Physical Plant, the violations were accidental.

“We had violations from our sulfur content because we’d purchased some bad coal from a vendor,” said Zelt. The nitrous oxide she said resulted from burning wet coal, and the power plant has since built a structure to house coal.

To address these violations, the DNRE has proposed a consent agreement that would put into place new operating protocol and mandate that the MSU power plant pay a $27,000 fee to the state’s general fund.

For the 16 students and alumni that testified against the consent agreement, that punishment is not enough. They called for an equal amount of money to be spent on transitioning the power plant to renewable resources, and said coal was an antiquated way of powering a world-class institution.

“The main reason we are running this campaign is that coal is an unacceptable fuel to be running campus on,” said Monica Embrey, part of the Sierra Club-sponsored MSU Beyond Coal group.

The students also cited health concerns stemming from the excess emissions, and did not know if the $27,000 would come out of their tuition. Zelt says she does not know where the money will come from.

Student protesters gather outside the administration building (photo credit: Emily Lawler).

In addition to attending the meeting, 25 students attended a rally outside the MSU administration building calling on the university to transition to completely renewable resources.

But at this point, Zelt says it’s just not possible.

“We would love to get off coal, we just can’t afford to,” she said.

MSU clubs Greenpeace, Beyond Coal, ECO and Global Exchange were involved in the rally.

However, DNRE Environmental Engineer Mike Kovalchick deals with these types of violations regularly, and says that at this point it’s too late for a renewable energy plan to be included in the state’s consent agreement.

“That’s certainly an option, but it has to come from MSU,” said Kovalchick. And that’s generally done within the first 30 days of receiving the violation notice, so at this point it’s too late. But that’s not to say that MSU couldn’t implement a renewable energy plan on its own, and that’s what students are hoping for.

“The coal plant is a big smear on this campus,” said Greenpeace member Kyle Pray. He said that of the 250,000 tons of coal MSU uses each year, most is obtained through mountain top removal mining methods in the Appalachian region. Embrey too considers this unethical.

Protesters carry mock solar panels and windmills (photo credit: Emily Lawler).

“Almost all of it comes from blowing off the tops of mountains in the poorest parts of the country,” said Embrey.

As far as the consent agreement goes, Kovalchick says that when the MDNRE makes a decision on the consent agreement, it will go to MSU and Attorney General Mike Cox for approval.

“That whole process could easily take 30-45 days,” said Kovalchick.

Once a week, giant bananas roam around campus giving out free goodies. They’re not out to promote fruit or make people think they’d smoked too much pot before class; they’re saving Africa.

SCOUT BANANA is a non-profit organization that works to raise awareness for health care in some of Africa’s neediest areas. Started by a former MSU student, the MSU chapter focuses on bettering South Africa, with chapters nationwide targeting Uganda as well.

While Africa’s need for health care may be clear, the way to improve its underdeveloped system is not so straightforward. “Before we take any action we have to at least first work to understand the problems we want to fix,” SCOUT BANANA Founder Alex Hill said. “Uninformed aid has the potential to have such a negative effect.”

(Photo credit: Brett Ekblad)

In an article from the SCOUT BANANA website, Ruth Berger, the Vice President of the MSU chapter, described the difference between an organization that informs and demands economic change and one such as Product (RED) which can create complacency. Berger wrote, “Product (RED) has the potential to raise awareness and make people think about global issues, but it also has the potential to make them feel satisfied with the way things are and the small part they are doing.”

SCOUT BANANA’s dedication to education is progressing to a new level. Launching in spring of 2012, its new project, Banana Tree Papers, will be written by graduate students. The working papers will connect communities with the latest research concerning their health care and development issues.

Hill, a recent graduate of MSU, sees potential in extending the movement past the undergraduate level, hoping that it will bring its education of members to a new level of depth and understanding. “This could have the potential to widen the knowledge base for members and others involved in our chapters,” Hill said.

In addition to Banana Tree Papers, SCOUT BANANA held it first National Summit in January 2010. Leadership from each of the chapters, including MSU, met with other SCOUT BANANA staff members to discuss the agenda for 2010. The team hopes that what started right here at MSU will spread to other college campuses, “increasing support for [its] projects, and launching a fellowship program,” Hill said.

In addition to the growth opportunities that SCOUT BANANA has created for itself, the organization also received publicity from its nomination for the 2008 “Do Something Awards.” Although the organization did not receive any funds for its projects, its story was featured on the Doritos bag along with Hill’s picture. “We’ve gotten a great deal of feedback and press from the Doritos bags,” Hill said.

Although Hill, two-year leader of MSU’s SCOUT BANANA chapter, has graduated from MSU, the work of its chapter has not slowed. The chapter holds weekly meetings, gathering recently to talk about upcoming events for MSU’s campus. Emily Jones, junior zoology major and MSU chapter coordinator, said that they hold weekly “Hug Days.” Dressed in banana suits, members give hugs and hand out key chains, brochures and flyers. “Most people who actually stop to hug us and talk are really interested in why we would dress up and act ridiculous,” Jones said.

In addition to weekly events, MSU’s chapter holds an annual Dance-a-thon in the spring to raise support. The MSU chapter also partners with an after-school program in South Africa. The program focuses on children who are affected by HIV/AIDS. The support raised through the chapter’s many events provides the after-school center with enough funds to feed the children one meal a day. This meal may be the only one a child receives for the day. Jones said, “Everyone in the community has a say in the after-school center, and that’s important because they know better than we do what needs to happen.” SCOUT BANANA’s commitment to informed aid allows all of the funds to be used in the best ways possible.

Over its nine years of existence, SCOUT BANANA has grown a considerable amount. Its chapters now include Tufts University, Central Michigan University and University of Michigan (U of M). In the fall, U of M and MSU held a competition to see which program could raise the most money through a 5K event. MSU won the contest, but together the chapters raised awareness and support for their individual projects.

Through growth and change, SCOUT BANANA continues to fight for better health care in Africa. Growing nationwide, its members continue to revolutionize modern thought and more banana suits may be popping up soon. “We believe that global health is everyone’s responsibility and that everyone has the potential to make a difference,” said junior member and comparative cultures and politics major Garrett Miller.

Here’s a mash-up video of the protesters during Gov. Granholm’s State of the State address.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow spoke to the MSU Dems last week. Excerpts here:

I’m sitting at my best friend’s house at midnight, fighting to stay awake. I think about going home, and my stomach turns into a knot; I double over and a wave of fear reminds me why I’m here. My house is haunted.

Before October, I’d never had an interest in ghosts. I joked around about Northern Michigan’s Dogman and hid behind walls to scare my sister sometimes. I dressed up in sheets for Halloween and may or may not have gone to a corn maze when I was younger. But I certainly didn’t believe in them and made fun of people who claimed to have had paranormal experiences.

All of that changed when my ghost first talked to me.

I’d just showered, and I was brushing my hair. “Hi,” I heard in my ear, and I whipped around. Nobody was there. I was home alone. I yelled obscenities and called my roommate, Brie, in hysterics. From there we were suspicious and started thinking there might be a ghost in our house. At that point, I’d like to thank my friends and family for assuming there was a ghost in my house and not that I was crazy.

Maverick, our cat, doesn't like the ghost. He sometimes chases things that don't exist, and hisses at strange events. (photo credit: Emily Lawler)

People heard noises, my cat did some weird stuff, but nothing happened for a while. My friends insisted on holding a seance… We picked the creepiest place and found a child’s old-fashioned coat in my attic. We’d all been drinking and nobody could keep a straight enough face for spirit-summoning. The night ended with my friend’s mom on speakerphone reading us Wikipedia spirit-summoning instructions and everybody agreed that talking about the ghost while in our house was too scary- we agreed to refer to it as our G.

In mid-November, Brie was sitting on the couch with Maverick, our cat. They were doing homework and sleeping, respectively, while I slept in my room. According to Brie, her door beads parted into curtains and slammed together, seemingly by themselves. Maverick ran to her doorway and hissed before cowering in a corner all night.

They say animals are better at sensing things, but Maverick’s just a friendly cat of less-than-average intelligence. I’ve never seen him hiss- not when a stray cat ran into my house and tried to fight him, not when I dressed him as a reindeer, not when we played catch with “Mavball”, held his eyes so he was a “Siamese cat,” or stood on couches and held him up like baby Simba from The Lion King. So when he hissed that night, it was a big deal.

Next were the slippers. Brie went into the shower and put her slippers and robe in the bathroom where she could slip into them when she was done. When she got out of the shower, only her robe was there. The door was still closed, I was in my room with Maverick, and we couldn’t figure it out. I helped her look around the house, under her covers, under my bed… They weren’t anywhere. So she left for a friend’s house and politely petitioned the ghost to return them. When she got back from dinner and a movie, they were placed in the middle of her bed.

I have a hard time being nice to the ghost- it would be different if he paid rent or gave fair warning when he was planning on visiting. It’s not like I think he wants to eat my firstborn child or possess me, he’s just an asshole.

So when my time with the G came, shit went down. I was in the shower, and the door was shut. Suddenly I felt a draft of cold air, and suspected I was not alone. A peek outside the curtain confirmed by suspicions: Maverick started at me for a second and then tried to fight with me through the curtain.

I kicked the bugger out, and assumed he’d gotten the door open despite his stupidity (he’s not exactly the land-on-all-fours type). But when I was going toward my room, I happened to look at Brie’s beads. One strand looked as if it were being pulled out, held for a minute, and let go. Pulled out, held for a minute, and let go.

“God damnit, G!” I yelled, “Can’t you do something useful? Like the dishes?”

I got dressed and watched the single strand move inexplicably. Maverick and I went to bed.

At 1 a.m. I woke up to a crash and looked in the living room to find our Christmas tree had fallen over. It had been up for over a month, and, outside of when Maverick had climbed to the top and tipped it over, it was pretty stable. I couldn’t find an explanation as to why it would have fallen and, like all the unexplained happenings around our house lately, I blamed it on the G. I took it as a sign I should no longer demand housework of him.

And then, earlier this week, I was in my room and kept hearing footsteps while I was doing my homework. Intermittently, back and forth, the squeaky spot on the floor squeaking. Annoying. Scary.

Brie came home and was sitting in her room while I was in mine. She said something, and I got up and caught a shadow out of the corner of my eye. She’d thought it was me walking across our dark living room in shadow. I’d like to know who it really was, but they’re dead and hard to track.

That night we had weird dreams, which I attribute to nerves as much as paranormal phenomenon. The next day I went to city hall and requested the records of everybody that had leased my house. The records only went back until 1993, and I could only find the companies, not occupants.

I then walked into the police office, and asked the officer on duty how to know if anybody had ever died at my house. I gave him the address, and he ran it by a few of his cop friends. Nobody remembered anybody dying, and he’d been working in East Lansing for 23 years. I’m sure they thought I was crazy.

My friend Alisha, editor in chief at Spartanedge, remembered publishing a story on an MSU student that did paranormal investigations. I contacted the student they interviewed, and she’s agreed to come over sometime next week. My parents also insisted I contact my cousin, a Catholic priest. I’m supposed to meet with him about a blessing.

I’m not really looking for answers, just solutions. I want to be able to come home at night and study, no noises, no objects moving, no shadows and no worries. Please. I’m open to whatever. I don’t know anything about ghosts, demons, Native American smudging ceremonies, house blessings or exorcisms. In the meantime, I’m going to be doing my homework at friend’s houses, and hoping people come visit me every weekend so I’m never alone.

I can only hope the G will take a vacation too.

When Joshua Clark’s parents arrived at Sparrow Hospital, the first person they talked to was a pastor. It wasn’t a reassuring sign – their son had been hit by a drunken driver so hard that although he was driving, police found him on the passenger-side floor.

“I was in a coma for the next month,” Clark, 29, said. “Each day was different. Many good days, but more bad days, to where doctors told my parents, ‘You’d better get the rest of your family here because he’s not gonna be making it that much longer.’”

Photo credit: Brett Ekblad

Clark, who graduated from MSU in 2007, spoke Dec. 6 at the fourth annual Survivor’s Forum, an event sponsored by Spartans Against Drunk Driving.

Marissa Cann, the president of Spartans Against Drunk Driving said this is an issue that is particularly important on college campuses.

“I think a lot of college students are in the mindset where they think ‘I’m invincible, nothing can hurt me, oh I’ll be fine,’ that sort of mindset,” Cann said. “And it’s sad, because when you have that mindset people are gonna get behind the wheel when they shouldn’t be and we all know what kinds of things can happen from that.”

Spartans Against Drunk Driving Treasurer Kelly Kaye agreed. She said there are always excerptions to the rule, but in her experience most college students don’t take drunken driving seriously.

“I gave a speech in my communications class about how statistics show that lowering the drinking age to 18 increases the rate of drunk driving, and everyone was booing me,” Kaye said. “That’s not taking it seriously.”

East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis, who was the keynote speaker at the forum, said the city of East Lansing, at least, is giving the issue of drunken driving the respect it deserves.

“I can’t think of anything that disturbs me more in this city,” Loomis said. “I firmly believe and have committed a large amount of my time as your mayor in working in the area of public safety.”

Loomis added that the number of drunken driving arrests is currently at a 19-year high, something that could be both positive and negative. It may mean there are more drunken drivers on the road or it may mean that police are doing a better job of catching drunken drivers, or it could be a combination of both factors.

Whatever the case may be, East Lansing Police Officer Steve Gonzalez said that he has personally seen a large reduction in the number of drunken driving arrests he has to make.

“Back when I started, 12 years ago, 2:00 in the morning, you could make a traffic stop for anything, anywhere in this city or on campus and you could be guaranteed it was a drunk driver,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, it was a dime a dozen. If you had the next few days off and you didn’t want to get tied up on a drunk driving arrest, you didn’t make a traffic stop because you knew it was going to be a drunk. Nowadays, I can make 12 stops in one night and not find a drunk driver.”

Photo credit: Brett Ekblad

Gonzalez, along with Mayor Loomis, attributed this development to the fact that it is no longer socially acceptable to drive while intoxicated, as it was in the past. The addition of efforts from groups like Spartans Against Drunk Driving make a difference too.

Still, the police officers present at the forum stressed that they continue to see drunken drivers every day. Furthermore, many of the arrests they make aren’t drivers who are simply tipsy; they’re drivers who have been drinking to excess.

“Last night, I asked [a drunken driver], ‘Can you recite the English alphabet from the letter A through the letter T?’” MSU Police Officer Mike Cantrell said. “He goes, ‘A, E,G’ and looks at me…The legal limit for alcohol to be in your system is 0.08. He was a 0.26.”

Officers also repeatedly said drunken driving accidents can happen to anybody. East Lansing Police Officer Steve Whelan talked of his nephew, who celebrated New Year’s Eve, went to bed at 4 a.m. and got up five hours later at 9 a.m., ate breakfast, showered then drove home.

“The problem is, driving back home, he left the highway onto the exit ramp and rear-ended the car in front of him,” Whelan said. “All of a sudden the police officer shows up at the accident and he is a 0.15. He said he felt 100 percent sober.”

LCC student Hannah Marks attended the forum and agreed that even good people can make bad decisions. Marks, 20, has a friend whose older brother, a father to a newborn baby, died in an alcohol-related accident.

“He was driving alone home, driving drunk and wrapped his car around a tree and died,” Marks said. “And he was really close with his family, sweetest guy in the world, and it just tore the whole town apart.”

The effect drunken driving has on families and community members was also emphasized at the forum.“It’s not just the person who is driving the vehicle or the person that they hit, but it’s all the rest of us,” Loomis said. “It’s the family members who suffer.”

Loomis went on to praise the work of Spartans Against Drunk Driving for their activism in the community.
“If your work as Spartans Against Drunk Driving saves one life, just one life, your time has been well spent,” Loomis said. “It’s been very well spent.”

Michigan State University’s students not only contribute to the institution academically, but also as employees who assist in its vital functions.

Student jobs can include “department aides, computer assistants, food-service workers, laboratory attendants, research aides, tutors, and computer assistants to name just a few,” according to MSU’s Human Resources Web site.

As of Oct. 10, there were approximately 9,814 students employed on-campus, said Wendy Coduti. Coduti is the Experiential Learning & On-Campus Coordinator at Career Services, located in the Student Services building.

Coduti said that the likelihood of students losing their job due to financial cuts would depend on the department they work for.  The number of student employees has fallen this year by one percent.

There is currently no information available about the average amount of time it takes for a student to find a job on campus, Coduti said.

Coduti cited Residential & Hospitality Services, formerly known as Housing & Food Services, as employing the biggest percentage of student employees on campus.

According to the Residential & Hospitality Services Web site, the department employs approximately 3,300 students per year.

Many cafeterias on campus are run with the help of student employees. (photo by Emily Lawler)

Peter Weiss, a chemical engineering junior, said he recently experienced the loss of a campus job due to lack of funding.

According to Weiss, he was employed on-campus by a genetics lab, which was located in the Biomedical Physical Sciences building.  His duties included assisting the professor in charge with experimental research.

“Recently, the grant which supplied funding for the particular project I was on was not able to be renewed, resulting in the imminent termination of my work there,” Weiss said.

Weiss said that although he did not depend heavily on his income from that job, only about five percent reliance, it had provided helpful spending cash.

Weiss said that he believes student employment on campus is very important and should be valued.

“Regarding the importance of student jobs on campus, I think they are essential to the overall student body’s investment in MSU,” Weiss said.

“Students working directly with university programs and research feel that they are a part of advancing MSU as a whole, which probably helps MSU in the future when the university looks for donations,” Weiss said.

While some students may experience job loss, work-study students will see an increase in available jobs due to stimulus funds, according to an MSU news release.

Due to research awards and a federal grant of $350,000, over 300 students will acquire work-study jobs this year, the release said.

According to the release, work-study jobs differ from other student jobs on-campus because employers are partially reimbursed the amount paid to students.

Students acquire these jobs by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and demonstrating financial need, it said.

Student employees may earn up to $3,000 per year from their on-campus jobs, the Office of Financial Aid’s Web site said.  Students are paid a minimum of $6.95 per hour.

According to the Web site, holding a job on campus can help a student reduce the reliance on loans, and pay for other educational expenses.  Other benefits include time management, discipline and references to use for future careers.

John Beck, Associate Director of Labor Education in the College of Social Science, said that he believes that student employment on-campus is very important and that students are good workers.

Beck said that he was a student at MSU in the early 1970s, and he worked in a cafeteria dish room and as a resident assistant (which is the equivalent of a resident mentor).  Skills such as teamwork and human relations gained from those jobs helped him later in his career, he said.

An on-campus job is preferable, as a student would have more of an opportunity to work in a job that is related to their major and therefore future career, Beck said.

Beck cited a job as an opportunity for a student to prove to a prospective employer that they are able to balance multiple demands on their time.  He said that a college job would not only provide a break for a student from academic “brain work”, but also instill valuable work habits such as punctuality.

Through student employment, MSU students help the university run smoothly while picking up some valuable skills for their resumes and a little extra cash. Cafeteria workers, laboratory assistants and resident mentors are all important roles the university can employ students in, even with the economic downturn.

Tightening budgets and questions of program sustainability have several Michigan State University academic programs under review and up for elimination. In an effort to strengthen the future of MSU’s academic success, the university is making decisions on a number of educational proposals, which will affect students and professors alike. The potential discontinuation of some of MSU’s most popular undergraduate programs however, may be impacting students more than we know.

As part of Michigan State’s responsibility to university commitments and strong programs, the University Committee on Academic Policy (UCAP) reviewed nine moratorium requests last month. Linda Stanford, the associate provost for academic services at MSU, serves as a liaison to the community on curriculum. Her role in the discontinuation process is to make sure that moratorium requests sent to UCAP are complete and easily understood. “Moratorium requests are submitted by a college,” Stanford said. “If a department and college are thinking about discontinuing a program, they first have to send in a request for a moratorium, or a suspension on student admission for the new semester.”

Moratoriums allow those who are accepted into a program to finish out their degree, so once a student is in, they are safe from the threat of exclusion. Many times, programs will honor rising juniors, allowing current sophomores to continue with a program. But for freshman and students who are simply too far behind in requirements and unable to meet admission deadlines, they must seek a different route.

While switching majors is no easy task, especially when a student had no intentions of switching to begin with, there is a greater overlap in programs and courses then students might expect. “Sometimes programs are related that students are not aware of,” Stanford said. “Because a program is discontinued, it doesn’t mean all the courses are going away. You can still take courses in a certain field while in a different program.” Although some program titles may sound unrelated to a desired field of study, many classes required in one program may be required or available in a separate but similar field. Associate provost for undergraduate education and dean of undergraduate studies, Doug Estry, agrees that in most cases there are alternatives. “Freshmen are advised into alternative areas that may allow them to still achieve their goal,” Estry said.

But while some students succeed in finding a new career path, the change is a highly sensitive and difficult one for others. The same difficulty applies to the university’s decision on whether or not to discontinue or disband a program. “Clearly, budgetary constraints are a primary force behind accelerating decisions. If we look at it another way, Michigan State has to maintain quality educational programs for its students. We have to decide where we are going to invest. You have to look at the total picture,” Estry said.

According to Estry, there are a series of underlying reasons for a program’s discontinuation. These could include low enrollment, the number of faculty and faculty productivity, retirements and degree awards. While some academic specializations may look like they have high enrollment, actual student awards may be low, indicating students have an interest in the specialization, but are not completing it. Yet, even while some programs affect a relatively small number of students, the impact they have is big. “Students’ sense is to resist any change in their major,” Estry said.  “Emotion plays a big part in all of this, there’s that emotional attachment to their program.”

As the December cuts continue, the nine requests will be considered, as issues from colleges, faculty and students are heard by UCAP. Findings will be reported to the provost, where they will consult with others to reach a decision. Undergraduate students pursuing majors in American studies, music therapy, deaf education, communicative sciences and disorders and veterinary technology, along with many more, wait to learn their program’s fate.

While it’s impossible to predict which programs will stay and which will not, their uncertain futures require that some students switch sooner rather than later. Sophomore and former veterinary technician major Lauren Wisnieski realized she needed a backup when she learned her program had suspended admission. “I heard about it through the vet clinic I was shadowing,” Wisnieski said. “I had been shadowing and taking certain classes, but have now had to pick a new major.”

Like many other students, Wisnieski was caught in the middle. She had been gearing her classes and time toward the major, but as a transfer student, would not be able to meet admission requirements by the deadline. The risk of continuing in a program that might be eliminated was one Wisnieski was not willing to take. “It was a frustrating change. There were no other four year vet tech programs I could transfer to that were as good as MSU’s,” she said.

While the veterinary technician program is a popular one, it must be reviewed to see whether or not it is central to MSU’s veterinary medicine. “The College of Veterinary Medicine looks at its primary responsibility, to prepare doctors of primary medicine. The vet tech program is not central to that, although a popular one. We can’t cut our commitment to our doctors. We have to make some serious decisions,” Estry said.

Wisnieski, who had not known about her program’s tentative status, was thankful she had gotten the message from someone. “If I hadn’t heard it from the vet tech clinic, I doubt MSU would have informed me,” Wisnieski said. Though not highly publicized, MSU seeks to keep students and faculty informed of academic changes at its new Web site. Here, students can find the latest changes in programs and discontinuations.

While Wisnieski was pleased with her change of major to animal science, other students continue to fight for their programs. Recent campus demonstrations and petitions have sparked a growing student voice, proving that although some programs may not be central to MSU’s criterion, they are in fact central to students’ futures. These actions along with involvement in the academic governance process, said Estry, are ways which students can be sure that their voices are heard.

It is dark. The day has finally slipped away, and an eerie silence has fallen over campus. Outside, life has become deathly still apart from several solo travelers hurrying beneath the glow of the streetlamps. Two girls sit awake in a room. As the clock’s neon numbers flash midnight, the girl on the futon raises her head to say, “It’s starting.” Suddenly a shrill scream rips through the silence, followed by a chorus of shouts, yells and moans. Could this be the thrilling introduction to a terrifying cinematic masterpiece or simply the night of exam week for 46,000 students at Michigan State University?

As December rolls around, college students, young and old, experience the mad rush of fall semester finals. The library becomes the new hot spot and coffee is the drink of choice as students buckle down and forsake sleep for grade point averages. At MSU, exam week means a level of stress so high that it can only be released in the form of an ear-splitting scream.

The Midnight Scream is a study tradition that is quite unconventional. Although its origin is unknown, students have observed this nightly ritual for years. The tradition begins Sunday at midnight, the night of the first exam, continuing through to the end of the week.

In order to scream properly, a student must follow several steps. The first stage is to add an unhealthy amount of caffeine to the bloodstream, making screaming a plausible option for stress relief. Sugary soft drinks plus strong coffee equal one late night. The next step is to choose a prime location from which to scream. Freshman media arts major Michael Daniels saw people all over in the Brody Complex. “At twelve, I could see people in more than just the doors and their rooms but also in the stairwells and lobbies,” he said. Once a student has picked his or her location, there is only one thing left to do: scream.

Students approached the scream in various ways. The Yakeley dorm seemed to reach a high decibel, and the circular shape of Brody Complex only amplified the screams. Some preferred a short and sweet shout, while others favored lengthy conversations, cursing the very existence of exam week. “Two doors down, a kid was blasting ‘Poker Face,’ […] and we could see one room in the hall across from us flashing their lights like a strobe light,” said Alyssa Simpson, a freshman journalism major living in Case Hall.

For freshmen, fall finals are foreign territory. With the new stresses of college courses and an indecent amount of homework, this week can be one of the most difficult. “I would describe exams as stressful and frustrating,” freshman education major Julia McLean said. “Because as a freshman, it was hard to anticipate what to expect from my exams.” She said that she studied an average of eight to nine hours each day in preparation for her exams.

Luckily, finding this new level of stress was balanced out by an opportunity to release every pent up emotion. Simpson described the scream as “exhilarating, relieving and obnoxious.”

“[It was] louder than I thought it would be,” freshman media arts major Joshua Michels said. The Midnight Scream had its own Facebook event, inviting people from all over State’s campus to join in.

However, Facebook events were not always so widely used. Not every senior had the luxury of knowing about the Midnight Scream as a freshman. “I will never forget it,” music senior Melissa Butman said. “I was sitting at my desk on the very first night, and all of a sudden people started yelling and screaming at midnight. I really had no idea what was going on.” Many of the seniors only heard about the Midnight Scream after a startling first exam night as freshmen.

After three years of practice, the seniors have finally gotten the hang of college life. All day study sessions and all night cramming are no longer an abnormal part of college life. “The day before, I spent all day studying for the two exams that I had,” Butman said, making a ten hour study session seem like a walk in the park.

Despite the gap between freshmen and seniors of age and experience, exams require hours of study no matter what stage of college a student is at. The Midnight Scream serves as a unifying event for State’s student body. Daniels said, “When a lot of people participate in something like this […], it is good to have the feeling that you are not alone and that others are doing the same thing you are.” Through this simple experience, students from freshmen to fifth year share the feeling of stress, along with a gratifying release.

More than a silly diversion from studying, the Midnight Scream may be a healthy stress reliever for fall exams. According to the online medical information site WebMD, one of the best ways to relieve stress is to “let out your feelings.” The site said to, “Talk, laugh, cry and express anger when you need to.” Simpson seconded this opinion. “I [felt] a lot better!” she said. “Now that I got it out of my system, I could focus more, and I felt ready to concentrate.”

In the stress of exam week, it is important to remember a little balance. By doing something a little crazy and setting aside our academics for just a moment, students of every age have the opportunity to connect over a common experience. It fulfills our need for enjoyment on a basic level, and best of all, as Daniels puts it, “a minute of acting like a caveman never hurt anybody.”

Nick Anthony was a swimmer in high school. Now when he packs his bag for practice, he makes sure to throw in a stick, flippers and lead puck with his swimsuit. Though he would’ve never imagined pairing these things up, Anthony found a new passion when he learned how to use them for MSU’s underwater hockey team.

With 50 club sports offered at MSU, there’s bound to be a niche for students of all physical, athletic and competitive backgrounds.

Underwater hockey is an experience that certainly qualifies as stepping out of the box. Though it may seem unusual in the United States, the sport is actually very popular and highly competitive in many other counties such as Australia and New Zealand. “Underwater hockey is the most popular sport that no one’s heard of,” said sophomore and athletic training major Nick Anthony. He’s the club’s treasurer, and in his second year on the team.

Players wear flippers, a diving mask, snorkel, a glove on the playing hand and water polo cap while carrying a small, 14-inch stick to push around the lead puck, which is approximately the size of an ice hockey puck. Underwater hockey features two teams of up to ten players each, with six in play and as many as four substitutes per team. There are three offensive players, or forwards, and three defensive players, or backs.

Underwater hockey has been a club sport at MSU since 2006 and attracts people from all different athletic backgrounds, including some who were competitive swimmers in high school and others who have never swam for a team before in their life.“We have all different types of people on our team,” Anthony said. “Some have never swam in their lives, some were swimmers in high school like myself and others have been playing underwater hockey for some time. But no matter who they are, all come and have fun.”

Kendall Simon, a senior animal science major and president of the underwater hockey club, was a complete newcomer to the sport when she first joined. She now plays for a highly competitive Cincinnati-based team that recruits players from all over the country. “My sophomore year here my older sister got me into underwater hockey,” Simon said. “I had swum before, but never for a team. I definitely wasn’t the type of person who went and swam laps, either. I really wasn’t into it.”

Simon, who was a basketball and volleyball player in high school, found the transition to underwater hockey to be much more than she anticipated. “It was a big shock for me at first. Underwater hockey was completely different than any other sport I had ever done,” Simon said. “From outside the water it seems slow, but it’s actually really fast. What people don’t realize is that it’s a 3-D sport. There are people above, below and all around you battling for the puck at all times.”

Though underwater hockey is not a very spectator-friendly sport due to the fact that the game is played at the bottom of a pool, important tournaments are filmed by videographers who are right in the pool with the teams.

The sport is very unique in an age where men and women are separated in athletic competition, as it provides an equal opportunity for both sexes to compete against each other without there being any true advantage for either group.“This is one of the true co-ed sports, as women and men play together and against each other,” Anthony said. “There really is no edge; it’s truly equal terms.”

Apart from the name, underwater hockey shares little in common with ice hockey besides fly substitutions, a puck and stick. Players need to be very well conditioned to swim around the pool, with good strength in their arms to battle for the puck at the bottom. The sport is great for building lung capacity and lateral movement as well. “This is one of the hardest sports to play the first time,” said Anthony. “There is no way anybody is ready to be really good at it the first time, even as a swimmer. That’s why we tell people interested in joining that they have to come back at least twice before deciding whether or not they want to be on the team. But, like most sports, the more you play, the better you get.”

The underwater hockey team hosts one of the biggest tournaments in the Midwest, the Tournament of Love, on Valentine’s Day weekend at the IM West pool. The tournament attracts 14 teams from all across the country and several more from Canada.

Like underwater hockey, wheelchair tennis is another sport that might not grace ESPN headlines, but has just as much significance for those who play it. Gene Orlando, head coach of Michigan State’s wheelchair tennis team, has seen how important the sport is to those who play and is determined to keep this opportunity open for years to come.“We accept and embrace anyone who wants to come out and play with us,” Orlando said. “The team is based at Michigan State, but we have three players who aren’t MSU students. They come from the suburbs of Detroit, Grand Rapids and other places. There aren’t too many teams to play, there’s few tournaments, but we’re committed to doing this and planning on doing it here for a long time.”

MSU first had a wheelchair tennis team back in 1991, but after former coach Stan Drobac retired, the team was discontinued. Coach Orlando revived it this year. Orlando, who coached alongside Drobac, was happy to get the program rolling again, regardless of the number of people came out to play. “We have had a maximum of five people, two girls and three guys, but it doesn’t matter whether we have one or ten people,” Orlando said. “One counts just as much to me.”

Wheelchair tennis is a form of tennis adapted for those who have disabilities in their lower bodies. The size of the court, balls and rackets are the same as regular tennis, but the two major differences are that the ball can bounce up to two times before being called dead and the use of specially designed wheelchairs.

The team might be small, but Orlando has embraced the chance to teach the game and give people in wheelchairs an opportunity to exercise and see the progress they make after every practice.“The players learn quick, we teach them how to get in position and give them tips on getting the racket up high and low and being consistent,” Orlando said. “This is really offering an opportunity for some one who wouldn’t normally have a chance to come and play and learn from a coach.”

Orlando would like to see wheelchair tennis grow in popularity and hopes that promotion of the sport will spread the word around, but is glad to keep coaching no matter how big or small it is. “The sport is being promoted within the collegiate ranks and definitely is going to grow,” Orlando said. “As the word gets out, more people will be attracted to come from all over the place, not just students. If it grows a lot that’s great, but a small group is fine as well.”

MSU students are discovering new sports and getting involved around campus, no matter their physical or athletic capability. Even if underwater hockey and wheelchair tennis never make it onto the SportsCenter highlight reels, the club level is a great place to try out a sport that’s a little out of the box.