We all love MSU. We love the campus, we love our friends and classmates, we love the Red Cedar River, we even love the Wells Hall preacher and blizzards in March. But what would it be like if we were students somewhere else? What if we went to a school with only a fraction of the students we have here? What if we went to a school in the south, on the east coast or in the west? What if we went to a private or a religious school?

MSU has over 36,000 undergraduate students, it is located East Lansing, Mich. and it is public and secular.

Tulane University has about 5,500 undergraduate students, it is located in New Orleans, La. and it is private and secular.

Brigham Young University has about 30,000 undergrads, it is located in Provo, Utah, and it is private and religious, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

What would it be like to go to one of these schools? And in comparison, what does it mean to be a Spartan?

Tulane University

Marisa Muniak is a 20-year-old junior at Tulane University who is studying cellular biology. She calls New Orleans “the greatest college town ever” and says she absolutely loves her school, but she isn’t from the city, or from Louisiana, or even from the South – in fact, she was born and raised in Michigan. She attended Boyne City High School, where she graduated in 2007. So why Tulane?

“I had visited New Orleans before and loved the city,” Muniak said. “I grew up in a small little boring city, so actually seeing a huge city with lots of life, it was amazing. And they also had the program I wanted…it was meant to be.”

Tulane is a private school with about 1,500 incoming freshman each year. With about 5,500 undergraduates total, the student to faculty ratio is eight to one, and the average class size is 22 students. There are about 75 majors available and on-campus students live in one of eight residence halls. Tuition along with mandatory fees, such as for the student health and recreation centers, comes to about $42,000 for an academic year.

In her third year now, Muniak lives off-campus after spending her two required years in the dorms. Unlike many students here at MSU who live in housing that is essentially exclusive to students, Muniak and her roommate live in an area where they are the only Tulane students, although their neighbors are Tulane professors. She added that the rest of the people living around them are non-student New Orleans residents.

“But we’re like a five, seven minute walk from campus,” Muniak said. “I’m sure if you were just like one or two blocks off campus there would be a lot more students.”

A five or seven minute walk? To a Tulane student, that might be a long way away, but to an MSU student, it’s probably shorter than a walk between buildings on campus. Five to seven minutes would get you from some of the closest East Lansing apartments to about the Union. So what’s it like going to such a small school?

“I can walk around campus and even though I may not know somebody’s name, or even what year they are or major or anything, it’s still a familiar face,” Muniak said. “And all the workers on campus, they’re all so sweet.”

Muniak said that attitude is part of the southern culture.

“What they say about southern hospitality, it totally exists,” she said. “It’s so different, we make jokes all the time on campus because a lot of us are from the Midwest or the East, we’re always joking about like, ‘Oh, in the North people don’t hold doors open for us.’”

Going to a college that was built in a pre-existing city instead of one that essentially created its own city like MSU has also had an effect on Muniak’s experience. She said she loves the fact that when she’s in New Orleans, not everybody is a student – in fact, most people aren’t. She frequents jazz clubs and other venues for local music, loves southern cooking (red beans and rice is her favorite dish) and has adjusted to a whole new way of life.

“We’re all on New Orleans time down here – things will happen when they happen, and it doesn’t, no worries,” Muniak said. “It’s definitely become something I love.”

She added that college culture is a lot different than at a big state school – freshman usually only go to one or two football games at Tulane before they give up on the team. “Anything [athletic] we do, we’re horrible,” Muniak said. But there are some things that are somewhat universal.

“There’s definitely plenty of partying,” she said. “There’s huge Greek life here. One side of campus – there’s plenty of houses along there and a lot people go to those.”

From nightlife to housing, Muniak’s experience gives an idea of what it’s like to live and study at a relatively small private school located in a big city.

“It’s been a lot of hard work as far as academics, but the environment that I’m in has really made it worth it,” Muniak said. “Knowing I’m going to have a hard exam on Friday but then Saturday I can go and listen to this world-renowned jazz musician – something to look forward to at the end of the road – has been great.”

Brigham Young University

Sabrina Smith is one of the very few African American students on her campus in Provo, Utah. In the fall of 2009, BYU had 29,587 undergraduates. Smith, an elementary music education sophomore and Florida native was one of only 165 African Americans – that’s about 0.5 percent. In comparison, about eight percent of MSU undergraduates in fall of 2009 were African American.

“Utah itself isn’t as diverse as where I’m from,” Smith said. “It’s primarily Caucasian people here…I wish that there was more diversity, but I think that every year it gets a little bit better.”

Smith may be a minority in racial terms, but in another way she is part of the most significant majority population on campus. Like 98.7 percent of students at BYU, Smith is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormon church.

BYU was founded by Brigham Young himself in 1875, when Young was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. According to BYU’s website, Young told the principal of the school at the time, “Brother Maeser, I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God.”

BYU takes that instruction to heart. Religion is incorporated into every aspect of student life, from academics to housing to behavioral guidelines. Fourteen religion credits are required to graduate, which Smith says means students are taking a religion class almost every semester. In addition, religion is a common theme throughout other classes as well.

“Every class is supposed to incorporate the gospel as far as the curriculum allows it to,” Smith said. “So in pretty much any class they can bring up a scripture and associate it with whatever we’re talking about, and in most syllabi you get there will be at least one quote from the scriptures.”

Smith was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (she calls herself LDS), so she said the environment at BYU wasn’t a big change for her. One of the 439 non-LDS students enrolled in the fall of 2009 might have found it hard to adjust to not being able to drink coffee, tea or alcohol or conforming to strict dress and grooming standards. All behavioral standards are explained in BYU’s Honor Code, which requires students to “seek to demonstrate in daily living on and off campus those moral virtues encompassed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

This means no alcohol, no sex, no profanity, no beards for the men and no sleeveless shirts for the women, among other things.

“All lot of it has to do with dressing, grooming, which is like how you’re obviously dressing your body and also your hair,” Smith said. “Boys have to keep their hairstyle pretty short, it has to be above their ears and no one, girl or boy can have any kind of drastic hair color or style, and dress is supposed to be modest. On-campus and off-campus you’re not supposed to be using profanity, you’re not supposed to be watching anything that is in appropriate. Basically you’re just saying with the Honor Code that you’re going to uphold the gospel of the church.”

All off-campus housing must be approved by the university as meeting certain living standards and visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.. No members of the opposite sex are allowed in bedrooms, and no members of the opposite sex are allowed to use bathroom facilities “unless emergency or civility dictates otherwise,” according to the Honor Code. All students must be in good Honor Code standing in order to receive a diploma.

The Honor Code may seem restricting to an outsider, but Smith said following it isn’t that different from simply following the rules of the LDS religion in daily life.

“It’s supposed to be what you’re living your life as anyways if you’re LDS,” Smith said. “And the people I know who aren’t LDS that go to BYU say that it isn’t really that big of an adjustment, because before they came to the school they knew what they were getting into.”

Even with strict behavioral guidelines, Smith said there is a lot that BYU students can do to have fun. Popular activities include going to the dollar theater, the bowling alley or attending one of the frequent university-organized activities.

“There is a lot of partying at BYU, but it’s different,” Smith said. “There isn’t any alcohol, but there isn’t any smoking, so in that respect it’s different. But there are a lot of dance parties and that kind of thing in Provo. There’s a lot of dancing.”

In addition, many male and female students actually do live together –  because they are married. Smith said it is very common for undergraduate students to marry at a young age, something she found very odd when she moved from Florida to Utah.

“Most students I know of get married by the time they graduate BYU, and that’s pretty standard,” Smith said. “There are lots of people in my classes who are engaged or married and I’m only a sophomore, so they’re about my same age, about 19 or 20.”

In spite of the cultural adjustment, Smith said she has enjoyed her time at BYU so far.

“I’m in the music program, so I really like the music aspect,” Smith said. “There are so many classes on music you can take, and they’re all very interesting. I also like that in any class you can have a gospel-centered discussion and that’s open. In some universities you can’t really bring up religion that much, and at BYU it’s very open.”

Michigan State University

We all know the basics about MSU. Over 47,000 students, non-religious, public. Great athletic programs, hundreds of possible majors and even more student organizations. The majority of us are from Michigan, so we grew up cheering on the Spartans in football and basketball, maybe even visiting friends or siblings on campus. We know what life is like here – what to expect from our classes, what clubs and organizations are most popular, what students tend to do on the weekends. But what does MSU look like to someone who didn’t grow up around this environment?

Rosie Williamson, a 20-year-old arts and humanities sophomore from New Jersey said she toured over 20 colleges, including Ohio State University, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania State University before deciding on MSU. She chose MSU for several reasons, including the respected Spartan Marching Band in which she plays the trumpet, the location and the campus itself.

“It’s just one of the prettiest campuses I’ve ever visited,” Williamson said. “It’s so lush green, and the fact that we get all the seasons – I know everyone hates the snow, but I love the snow.”

The East Coast-native said that moving to the Midwest was definitely an adjustment.

“New Jersey and New York are very fast-paced and really loud and kind of have jagged edges everywhere, and the Midwest doesn’t,” Williamson said. “Even the major cities like Chicago, it’s got the charm of New York City, but it’s slower and nicer and cleaner.”

Gabe Santi, director of communications in the MSU Office of Admissions, and a graduate from the MSU School of Journalism, also emphasized the attitude of MSU students, faculty and staff as one of the best things about the university.

“One hundred and fifty years ago to go to college you had to be rich, you had to be white, you had to be male,” Santi said. “And Michigan State being the nation’s pioneer land-grant institution kind of changed that a little…Down-to-earth, hardworking, real, authentic, tangible – those are the words that come to mind when people talk about Michigan State and there’s a reason for that and it’s certainly because of the history of this place, but it’s also a testament to the current student body – people get that Spartan tradition. We use the word Spartan family a lot. It’s a large institution, but when you get right down to it, it’s a pretty close-knit place.”

Williamson agreed that in spite of MSU’s large size, the university has a small-town feel to it, which was another of the factors that attracted her to the university, in addition to the fact that MSU is a Big Ten school.

“I absolutely love the athletics at this school,” Williamson said. “I love the spirit that this school has for all the athletics, whether or not people attend. At least people are watching it and talking about it – I think that’s really great.”

Santi added that it is the Spartan spirit that tends to bond people together, whether it is current students, professors or alumni.

“Once you’re on campus and you interact this place a little, you start to bleed green,” Santi said. “It’s going to be with you for the rest of your life. You’re going to see people throughout the country, throughout the world and you’re going to have that instant bond…I think there is something a little indescribable that’s part of this place, that’s kind of just woven into the fabric of its founding.”

“Where U at?” Social media wise, probably wasting time on Twitter, if you’re not a Luddite. But there’s another U on Twitter these days and it’s good ole’ MSU, your friendly university.

The MSU Union has a very large Twitter presence (photo credit: Emily Lawler).

MSU has 119 recognized Twitter feeds belonging to colleges, student groups, schools, buildings and other entities. In theory, each feed is “specialized” — relating to a specific interest of a specific campus demographic. But it turns out that the less specific Twitter feeds may be the most successful.

According to Rachael Zylstra, an electronic media communications specialist with University Relations, there are two official campus-wide Twitter feeds run by University Relations: michiganstateu and MSUnews. The rest fall into “niche” categories that appeal to people of different majors, interests and locations.

But it turns out that some of those niches are more specialized than others.

“Have you seen the renovation at Brody yet? Check it out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsv03LU4vdk Really cool stuff!”

You’d expect that tweet to come from a Brody resident, or maybe a residence hall’s Twitter feed. But that tweet was from the MSUUnion, and so are a whole lot of other ones.

When compared with the 16 Twitter accounts representing either colleges or buildings at MSU and all the ReTweets or @ messages in the month of March, the Union was at the center of all the activity. The most other feeds mentioned it, and it mentioned the most other feeds.

This represents how the 16 colleges and buildings on campus have connected through @ messages and ReTweets on Twitter. Bigger nodes indicate more connectivity, and bigger lines indicate more tweets between specific actors (graphic credit: Zachary P. Neal).

“I’m a little amazed by the diagram,” said Kat Cooper, who runs the Union feed singlehandedly.

Cooper works for Auxiliary Resources, a Department of the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services. When the feed started a year and a half ago, she said she wanted it to be a virtual place to get information.

“A student union is really the living room of a campus,” said Cooper. “It’s where you get info and go to events and communicate with other students. Our mission with a twitter feed is to create that sense as well.”

Being a generalist has served the Union well. It boasts 1,686 followers, more than either of the official general MSU Twitter feeds or any specialist college.

“I knew that we were among one of the more popular feeds aside from athletics, but I guess the connectivity I was unaware of,” said Cooper.

But in the world of Twitter as with business, networks are key. According to those who study networks, MSUUnion isn’t just popular. It holds a lot of power.

Imagine you’re a dude with a bunch of dude friends and one cousin that’s a Victoria’s Secret model.

That’s what Ron Burt, a business professor at University of Chicago, termed an “open triangle” relationship; you know your dude friend and you know your cousin, but they don’t know each other. That puts you in a position of being able to demand free drinks at your buddy’s parties or his physics notes from last semester in exchange for introducing him to your cousin.

It’s not that the Union is in the market for free drinks, but it has become a central actor in the whole MSU Twitter scene, giving it a lot of social capital. Since the Union interacts with the Breslin Center, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Olin and none of those interact with each other, you want the Union as your friend. That way you can be virtually “introduced” to all of those other feeds through ReTweets and @ messages.

Graphic credit: Brianna Ritivoy

But for some university entities, Twitter is less of a networking tool than a Public Relations (PR) mechanism. Wharton Center, for instance, has incorporated their Twitter account into their main website and also had it broadcast to two electronic billboards.

“It’s certainly become a very valuable resource to communicate with patrons but also a good way to spread our name across the country,” said Victor Hamburger, director of marketing at Wharton Center.

But he says there’s a lot of value in the personal connection with patrons messaging the center as well. According to Stanford Sociologist Mark Granovetter, that’s the best kind of connections to have: a mix of strong (personal messages) and weak (everybody on the highway sees Tweets on a billboard).

Communication Arts & Sciences (CAS) is at the center of a “twitter triangle” between the Union, Physical Plant and College of Social Science, and all four entities are strongly connected.

The reason CAS is central in the “strong” Twitter actors may be its combined use of Twitter as a tool for personal connection and PR. According to the college’s Communications Manager, Kirsten Khire, the college has made strong connections with individual students and alumni via Twitter. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have another purpose.

“I see value in the Public Relations sense, because we’re obviously having great conversations with our target audience on all kinds of topics,” said Khire.

The Communication Arts & Sciences Twitter feed is essentially playing both specialist and generalist in trying to find, @ message and link to the broadest variety of things that are of interest to its target audience of its students and alumni.

“There’s still some criteria there,” said Khire. She said the feed mainly ReTweets things “related to our college or related to our audiences.”

Some feeds are expanding into contests and questions that make interaction with users a stronger prospect. And according to Khire, Twitter isn’t in anybody’s job description. University entities usually have Twitter accounts because somebody took it upon themselves.

“It [Twitter] is important, especially with the college demographic,” said Zylstra of university Twitter feeds. And she’s part of a four-person social media team with University Relations — Twitter is in her job description.

Like anything, the more time a person puts into Twitter, the more they get out of it. Excepting star power (this means you, MSU_Basketball), the more a person generates content and @ messages and ReTweets, the more followers they have. And the more followers, the more “open triangles” and important connections.

So next time you’re messing around on Twitter during class, remember that the connections you’re making —  weak and strong –might be important. They may lead to a job. And directly or indirectly, Twitter can lead to jobs or connections you’ve never had. Maybe it’s time to re-think whether or not social networking is “wasting time.”

Students use their laptops in class (photo credit: Brett Ekblad.)

Clacking keys, scrolling party pictures and alluring wireless Internet on the laptop of the person in front of you quickly draws attention away from the professor and his oh-so-interesting explanation of igneous rock. In a class of hundreds of students, Facebook stalking will go completely unnoticed. And when the people around you start flicking through pictures of their weekends and trips to Europe, the small voice of one’s subconscious asks, “When will you ever need to know the life cycle of a rock?”

Laptops are becoming a constant presence in college classrooms, but are they becoming a distraction that hinders learning in a college course? Educators from MSU and beyond have a variety of opinions about whether laptops are learning tools or simply their competition.

In the digital age, students must know how to use the technology around them. Assistant statistics professor Jennifer Kaplan feels that laptops have much to offer a college classroom.

“Honestly, I could do a whole lot more with class if students were required to bring laptops,” Kaplan said. With advancing technology, class time would be much better spent using the statistic software available.

By using these resources, Kaplan explained that students would be able to have a more hands-on experience.

Elementary education teacher Jane Cagwin explained that the upbringing of children affects how they learn. Children are receiving less verbal stimulation while developing, requiring a more sensory learning experience in later years.

“Smartboards and other touch screen devices bring in the sense of touch when learning,” Cagwin said. “The more sensory systems engaged when information is taught, the more likely the students will retain the information.”

Laptops in the classroom engage students’ sense of touch and sight, making it easier to retain and understand the information being taught for sensory students.

The presence of laptops can also better classroom communication, leading to better understanding.

One professor at the University of Michigan found a unique use for instant messaging. Kaplan explained that this professor opened a chat room between the students and the teaching assistant. This allowed students to type questions to the TA during the lecture, in order to clarify confusing concepts.

Despite the convenience that laptops provide, they can also create many problems. Some students cannot resist the temptation of the Internet. They attempt to take part in multiple activities such as checking Facebook and answering emails while listening to the lecture.

“We as adults think that we are doing more when we multitask,” Cagwin said. However, she explains that the human brain focuses best on one topic at a time.

“Less focused attention leads to less information stored in our long term memory,” Cagwin said.

Senior education major Melissa Byl said multitasking is harmful in a classroom.

“As a teacher, allowing multitasking is ‘asking for it,’” Byl said, explaining that the “it” means “not being able to focus on the task at hand.” Without one’s full attention on the lesson, a student cannot get the full potential out of the class.

On the other hand, public relations doctoral student Thomas Isaacs explained that regulating laptops only creates a student-vs-professor attitude.

Some classes are full of laptops, for note-taking or otherwise (photo credit: Abby Herber).

Isaacs encourages students who wish to surf the web during class to sit at the back of the class where no other students will be distracted. Isaacs explained that, although he has a large class, it is important to maintain a class discussion to keep students engaged.

However, Kaplan feels like laptops aren’t the root of the issue.

“The students who are paying attention to something else on a laptop wouldn’t be listening to me anyways,” Kaplan said.

Therefore, these professors must find other ways to encourage students to pay attention and use laptops for beneficial purposes only. As Kaplan walks up and down the center aisle of the class, she warns students that anyone caught on Facebook will be playfully ridiculed.

With the size and the variety of college courses, regulating laptop use is hard to do.

“For me, most of my classes are smaller, so it’s frowned upon,” studio art junior Stephanie Luscombe said.

Students must decide whether the money they are paying for the class is worth paying a little attention. So as your professor continues his monologue, which will win your attention: a rock or the photos of your friend’s boyfriend’s cousin cliff-diving off the coast of Mexico?

MSU has a lot of positive distinctions. It’s ranked 30^th among public universities on the America’s Best Colleges list issued by U.S. News & World Report in 2009. It won the 2008 Presidential Award for General Community Service. It’s a leader in study abroad programs and campus sustainability. And it’s ranked fourth in American universities for producing Peace Corps volunteers.

An alcohol bottle remains after a lawful student assembly (photo credit: Emily Lawler).

In 2009 however, MSU received the somewhat less encouraging recognition of being named a “Red Alert” school on a list issued by FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. According to FIRE’s Web site, schools on the list “have displayed a severe and ongoing disregard for the fundamental rights of their students or faculty members and are the ‘worst of the worst’ when it comes to liberty on campus.”

“I believe MSU does deserve this reputation and has a lot to improve upon in the area of free speech,” said Jordan Zammit, a political science freshman and the founder of MSU Sons of Liberty, a conservative organization he says advocates the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

FIRE’s mission statement says the organization’s purpose is “to defend and sustain individual rights at America’s colleges and universities.” They cite an incident involving ASMSU Associate Director Kara Spencer as the main reason for MSU place on the 2009 Red Alert list.

In September of 2008, Spencer sent out an email to 391 faculty members criticizing the proposed changes to fall semester and Fall Welcome. The international relations senior thought she was just doing her job as a member of student government. The MSU administration saw it differently – it charged her with violating an anti-spamming regulation and Spencer found herself facing possible suspension from the university.

“I wasn’t even using my MSU email. It was my private email and I emailed from home,” Spencer said. “The argument that the university made was that the email that I sent still had to travel through their network to reach faculty and staff, but that’s a pretty thin argument.”

She added that students often get emails from sites such as ANGEL that should theoretically violate the same regulation, which states that MSU has the ability to control bulk email. Bulk email is defined as “the transmission of an identical or substantially identical e-mail message within a 48-hour period from an internal user to more than 10 other internal users who have not elected to receive such e-mail.”

Both FIRE and Spencer considered the restriction on her emailing abilities a violation of freedom of speech. A public university’s prerogative to restrict first amendment rights of students has been debated in the courts over the years. In general, as a public institution, a university cannot make any rule restricting first amendment rights that is more strict than the government itself would be allowed to make.

According to MSU professor of law Kevin Saunders, the author of two books concerning first amendment rights, the government can limit those basic rights to some extent if the law or regulation is “content-neutral”, meaning it applies to all situations regardless of the type or source of the content.

A burned couch sits in the alley off of Collingwood, presumably after a student assembly turned unlawful (photo credit: Emily Lawler.)

“If they have to do with not the content of the speech, but how the speech is delivered [limitations are acceptable],” Saunders said. “The standard example of that is, no loudspeaker trucks in residential neighborhoods after say 10 o’clock at night – that has nothing to do with content, it’s just trying to keep neighborhoods quiet.”

Saunders said MSU’s bulk email regulations would probably be considered content-neutral and therefore valid in court. However, he added that this should only apply to people who send emails either using an MSU email address or a university ISP.

“If you’re home and your ISP is like Comcast and the university tries to discipline you for having sent emails, then that’s a concern,” Saunders said.

Since Spencer said she did email from her home with a private email address, she called the regulation under which disciplinary action was taken against her “absolutely unconstitutional” and added that although it has since been revised to be clearer, it is still flawed.

“I think there’s still a good argument to be made that the current policy is unconstitutional,” she said. “Trying to regulate how people have contact with one another is wrong.”

So is MSU generally respectful of students’ first amendment rights? Or does it deserve a place on the “Red Alert” list? There is no definitive answer to this question. Someone like Kara Spencer may say yes. The preacher who often stands outside of Wells Hall seems to be doing pretty well for himself – he might answer no.  Most students seem to get along just fine without ever noticing any restriction of their rights taking place. Communicative sciences and disorders sophomore Stephanie Dale said she has never seen evidence of MSU violating first amendment rights.

“Walking by Wells and seeing all those protests, I mean, they give them every right to say what they want and how they feel,” Dale said. “People post what they want, and we’ve got spray paint all over the place.”

Jordan Zammit has a different perspective. As the founder and president of Sons of Liberty, he said he ran into obstacles when trying to organize a recent speaking engagement. Controversial British politician Nick Griffin was scheduled to speak at MSU on February 18 about “how the fraud of man-made global warming is used by liberals to attack the sovereignty of nation-states,” according to a press release issued by Zammit. The event was cancelled because of circumstances unrelated to MSU, but Zammit said the university’s administration was not only unhelpful but obstructive during the planning process for the engagement.

“They purposefully tried to prevent my organization from hosting a prominent politician,” Zammit said. “They did this by not answering my phone calls and by not responding to my emails, by denying us free police protection even though protesters have a history of directing violence towards people at events, and by trying to get us to commit to paying for damage done to the room by violent protesters.”

Griffin has visited MSU once before in 2007, as a guest of MSU-YAF or Young Americans for Freedom, a group that was listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center but has not been active on campus recently. He had planned a speech about Islam as a threat to Western civilization, but was interrupted by enthusiastic protestors and forced to conduct a question and answer session instead.

Clearly, Griffin is a controversial figure. So is the MSU administration respecting first amendment rights by having allowed him to speak on campus at all as it did in 2007? Or is it, as Zammit states, ignoring those rights by making it difficult for him to appear here? There are two sides to this story, and neither is perfectly clear.

Criminal justice junior Kevin Fleury said he can understand both perspectives. He was a member of ASMSU when the Kara Spencer case took place and was a wary observer of MSU-YAF when it was still an active group on campus. Fleury said the charges against Spencer were a violation of her freedom of speech, but there he has seen other cases of MSU being extremely tolerant.

“Cedarfest specifically, when students are rioting and making fools of themselves and doing stupid things, I think that the police, which includes the university police…wait for as long as they can until intervening,” Fleury said. “And Young Americans for Freedom, which was essentially a hate group that was allowed to exist on campus, caused a lot of controversy, but I think the university didn’t want to censor the minority in that case.”

He added however, that he has seen members of faculty be unreceptive to the voices of students with legitimate concerns.

“I think that there are some administrators,” Fleury said, “that wake up and honestly think that they would have the best job in world if it weren’t for those darn students.”

As Fleury illustrates, both sides of the argument can be supported. For now, the university awaits its FIRE allegations to die out and Spencer’s continuing concerns to be addressed. Hopefully, the next time MSU earns a spot on a nationally recognized list, it will be as the best of the best rather than the worst of the worst.

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.”

The legacy of Michigan State University president John Hannah runs long and deep, especially with the international community. In 1956, Hannah created the International Programs, which aimed “to initiate, coordinate, and other wise support internationally related activities throughout the institution”. This program, later renamed the International Studies and Programs, continues to flourish.

According to the annual Statistical Report by the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) at MSU, 4,509 international students were enrolled at MSU during the fall 2008 semester, approximately 9.7 percent of MSU’s total enrollment for that that semester. Additionally, the study reported that “International freshman increased by 34 percent over fall 2007. This is extraordinary growth of 67.5 percent from fall 2006.”

The exponential growth of these programs presents new challenges for the university. While international students and American students share similar worries and concerns about adapting to college life, international students face additional burdens.

“It’s even harder than for American students because international students are really far away from home and families,” said Amber Arashiro, international student advisor and orientation coordinator of OISS. Also, there are a lot of pressures such as cultural differences, expensive tuition in comparison with most American students, language barriers and so on. Arashiro added that international students need help assimilating into both MSU and American culture.

How has MSU helped international students?

Over 50 of groups and organizations exist to help international students, scholars and their families. (see the list below) Each group and organization has provided various programs to support them.

The OISS is the biggest organization to help international students and scholars. It focuses primarily on issues pertaining to immigration and documentation. The organization also coordinates programs to help international students such as international orientation, welcome week, weekly ‘coffee hours,’ field trips and essay contests. “OISS tries to promote internationalizing on campus and helps to promote students’ events,” Said Arashiro. If international students have any problems, Arashiro said that “OISS is the first place to come and talk about their issues.” OISS has strong partnerships with other units on campus such as the Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions (OCAT).

OCAT focuses on both international and American undergraduate students. “To be successful in college, students have to make changes to adapt totally different expectations and have to transition adapt to new environment culturally,” said Maggie Chen Hernandez, Associate Director of OCAT. According to her, the program “is applied to all students no matter if they are international students or not.” The OCAT has created a Cultural Aides Program to support students’ academic success. The 66 student staff members of OCAT are charged with working in the residence halls and they visit freshmen students to talk and understand some changes and transitions students going though. “Most students make friends who are just like them. It’s human nature,” Hernandez said. “We try to interrupt this and establish interactions between different cultures and give information how to be close each other.”

According to Jan Stacey Bieler, vice president of Community Volunteers for International Programs, American students participate in volunteer activities to help international students, who may need help adjusting to new environments. “Volunteer groups for international students and families were established not by one direction but by mutual interactions,” Bieler said.

Alexandra Albers, a global and area studies and English senior, volunteers with OISS and the TA tutoring program for international graduate students in order to meet new people. Albers said she wanted to have opportunities for new ways of thinking and different ways of living, as well as familiarize herself with international issues she might know nothing about. Albers added that she was satisfied with the programs she’s participating in.

Ann Desiderio, a teaching English to speakers of other languages master’s student and the representative of International Students Association to Council of Graduate Students, said “we have a lot of dedicated people working behind the scenes to help keep MSU diverse and to also assist our international community. And MSU does a great job make the campus more global.”

Problems

Although many events and other activities have been held on campus, many students have missed it because they don’t know events are happening. Also, there are many organizations and groups for students, but there are an insufficient number of volunteers and staffs to support programs for international students. Arashiro said that “even though the international student population keeps increasing, our OISS staff isn’t increasing.” There are a lot of demands for programs but resources are limited. Thus, Arashiro said that OISS has taken feedback seriously and tried out different ideas.

“I wish there were more volunteer opportunities offered by OISS and other departments around campus working with international students,” Albers said. She added that “I know there are students all around campus searching for a way to get involved, and it would be a shame for OISS to ignore this untapped pool of possible volunteers.”

“A lot of students haven’t heard about COGS and other programs at MSU before,” said Robin Blom, the representative of J school to COGS and 3rd year in the media and information studies doctoral program. “So organizations should be more prominent within the beginning of the semester. But it is difficult to reach every student.”

MSU has worked to help international students transition into MSU and American life. However, there are still some problems. Albers said that volunteer experiences are spread directly by word of mouth, and the lack of volunteers is in part due to communication problems. In other words, MSU has to focus on how they can be a strong bridge between international students and American students. Through interactions with people who come from different cultural backgrounds and countries people learn about other cultures, even themselves, and people who are different. By getting different nationalities clubs together and inviting each other to cultural events, international student groups can help students have cultural confidence and to promote cross cultural opportunities, Arashiro said. That’s why MSU has organized many global and international programs. Hernandez said that American culture is egocentric in comparison with other cultures, so through many programs, they want to help students to have cultural confidence when they graduate.

Interested in getting involved?

Most organizations and groups send out mass email to students, put posters and inform mouth to mouth. Recently, they also join Facebook and Twitter to spread out information effectively. Desiderio said that “the possibilities are endless if you want to get involved with international affairs at MSU.” She gave many tips on how to get involved.

1. Check out OISS’ website, ISA’s Facebook and other groups’ internet pages. (See the list)

2. Coffee Hour, which is on every Friday at 4-6pm, International Center Cafeteria, to talk with people from around the world.

3. McDonel Hall’s McGlobe puts on many cultural and international events.

4. A resource fair in the beginning of the school year. MSU holds a resource fair where many international groups provide information about how to get involved.

5. Global Festival in November. It is a big event to help celebrate cultures from around the world.

Associated Students of Michigan State University

African Student Union

Arab Cultural Society

Asian Pacific American Student Organization

Association for Vietnamese Students and Scholars

Black Student Alliance

Brazilian Cultural Association

Caribbean Student Association

Chinese Student and Scholar Association

Chinese Undergraduate Student Association

Chinese Students Coalition

Community Volunteers for International Programs

Comunidad Latino Americana

Council of Graduate Students

Counseling Center

Culturas de las Razas Unidas

Family Resource Center

Filipino Club

Friendship House International Student Ministry

Hong Kong Student Association

Indian Student Organization

(Coalition of) Indian Undergraduate Students

Indonesian Student Association

Internationalizing Student Life

International Athletic Association

International Sponsored Students Association

International Students Association

International Studies and Programs

International Volunteer Action Corp

Japan Club

Kazakh Student Association

Korean Student Organization

Malaysian Students Organization

Modern Greek Club

MSU International Alumni

Muslim Student Association

North American Indigenous Student Organization

Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions

Office for International Students and Scholars

Pakistan Student Association

Phi Beta Delta

Russian Club

Somali Student Organization

Sri Lankan Student Association

Taiwanese Student Association

Thai Student Association

Turkish Student Association

University Apartments Council of Residents

University Housing

Vietnamese Student Association

Visiting International Professional Program

Volunteer English Tutoring Program

Writing Center

Rallying Spartan crowds since 1989, Sparty’s identity prevails as one of Michigan State’s greatest mysteries. The lovable and spirited Sparty has become a super star figure, but the students behind the green giant remain hidden. Named the National Mascot Champion three times in just four years, Sparty has reached celebrity status, yet his true identity remains one of MSU’s best-kept secrets.

“Some Spartys aren’t as trustworthy as others,” Sparty Mascot Program director Ben Hatala said. “If too many people find out, we remove them from the program.” The Sparty Mascot Program is coordinated by the MSU Student Alumni Foundation (SAF). The student-run program organizes events and Sparty escorts while working to preserve the Sparty identity. Sparty – not the student – is known for his school spirit at university games and events, as well as his special guest appearances at weddings and charity events. Yet, it takes a special person to be the fiery front-runner. Not only do physical requirements apply, mandating that individuals be between 5’10 and 6’2 and light enough to fit in the costume, but students must also showcase an energetic character.

Hatala is in charge of selecting mascots among the Sparty hopefuls. “We look for unique, charismatic, energetic people – people who are excited even when we’re losing. They have to have a level head on their shoulders,” Hatala said. But more than that, a Sparty must be trustworthy. According to Hatala, Sparty’s student identity is kept secret in order to maintain Sparty’s character as his own. “We strive to make Sparty his own person. We want Sparty to be Sparty, not someone else,” he said. He also said there is only one Sparty at any one time in the effort to uphold the single character of Sparty. With all Sparty’s publicity and involvement however, it seems impossible that the person beneath it all might remain concealed. It takes careful planning and trustworthy friends to maintain such a well-kept secret. And assuring secrecy isn’t an easy task when the person keeping it is always disappearing.

For an MSU student and former Sparty who has chosen to remain anonymous, leading the double life had its hardships. After three challenging rounds of auditions, the student earned the mascot spot. Try-outs he said, were physically demanding. He filled Hatala’s criteria and made a very lively and convincing Sparty. “I just had a lot of fun with it and tried to be as over the top as possible. And being a super dancer helped,” the former Sparty said. To rid himself of any suspicion, he often told others he was doing uninteresting things. Trips to the library, meetings and home visits were the extent of his weekly activities – or so he led others to believe. After just two weeks however, the job became too demanding. “I quit because it was more than I was ready to handle,” he said. “It was a lot more work than I thought it would be.”

That’s not to say though the Sparty veteran didn’t have any fun. “My favorite thing was getting to interact with people you knew but they didn’t know it was you,” he said. In reward of sporting the 40-pound costume, students like him are awarded a varsity letter. In order to protect their identities though, the letter must remain unattributed to Sparty.

State-goers have long speculated the duties and perks of playing Sparty, but most remain rumors. Gossip of scholarships, pay and free admittance to events have characterized the common but false perception of the Sparty position. Although Sparty is unpaid, the director sees it as a good thing. “It keeps kids in the program who want to be in it for the right reasons,” said Hatala. It is also a common misconception that only males can be Sparty. While the size requirements do typically attract more males than females, there was a female Sparty.

Contrary to Hatala’s assertion, the former Sparty says there is not just one Sparty, but several. According to the student, high profile events, like football games, are saved for the more “experienced Spartys.” These differences of account are yet another mystery surrounding the famous mascot.

Sparty tryouts are also largely undisclosed. For those uninvolved in the SAF, information regarding Sparty tryouts is hard to come by. Only a handful of connected students know about the auditions. Held in the auxiliary gym at the Breslin Student Events Center, Sparty hopefuls undertake a variety of challenges including push-ups, dances, improvisation and crowd rallying. These situations prepare them for what will eventually be interactions with cheerleaders and dancers, as well as on-the-spot crowd entertainment.

Students must make it through three rounds of tryouts before permanently donning the Spartan wear. Like all auditioners, the anonymous Sparty had to prove he could handle the costume. Running and performing push-ups with four-fingered hands and massive shoes are only two of the mascot’s demanding duties. For most Sparty candidates, improvisation is the breaking point of their performance. Auditions crowd member Kelley Smith, found the auditions highly entertaining. “There seem to be some really interesting people under the costume,” Smith said. “It’s funny to see how different people interpret how Sparty should be.”

Auditions begin with the mascot’s introduction to a modestly sized crowd, who cheer on the mascot as if it were a real event. The fight song commences and Sparty must run in, pump up the crowd and get them singing along. Next, Sparty is challenged with some scenario situations. Because there are limits to what Sparty can do, he is tested in tough situations like interacting with a shy child. Sparty must attempt to win the child’s trust without scaring or invading the child’s personal space. In addition, he must show that he can handle bad talk from a MSU bully. For one bold candidate who tackled his harasser, the crowd’s reaction suggested this Sparty would not move on to round two. For the seven other contestants, their physically friendly responses to the teasing were much more accepted. Following the test situations is improvisation. Sparty is directed to a table of props consisting of items like a body bag, a pillow chicken drumstick, a sled and hockey sticks. From these objects, he must use one in three different, unconventional ways. After all that, Sparty ends the routine by convincing the crowd he knows how to shake it. Participants must immediately switch up their dance moves to a CD of changing songs. The tracks include hip-hop, rap, pop rock and the classics, during all of which Sparty has to keep his feet, hands and body moving.

Having watched the animated performances of the eight Sparty contestants, Smith realized the work put in behind the mask. Like many others, it shocked him to find Sparty received nothing in reward of his work. “I know other schools’ mascots get scholarships, and it seems like a lot of work. I think he deserves one,” Smith said. He too wished he could don the mascot costume. Just a few inches taller, and it might have been. For those fit and lively enough to rally their fellow Spartans, there is no saying who may be the Sparty identity. Even if the strong Spartan face may not appear at all familiar, the person beneath could be your closest friend.

Women’s Leadership Conference
Nov. 8th at the MSU Union

Get in touch with your feminism side at the 7th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference. This year’s theme is “The Courage to Lead, the Power to Make a Difference” with keynote speaker Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior vice president of the Coca-Cola Company and chairperson of the Coca-Cola Foundation.

Spartan Idol

Nov. 14, 8 p.m. at the International Center

Let out your Simon Cowell side (fake British accent encouraged) as you watch the final contestants of MSU’s version of American Idol compete for prizes including an iPod and an iTunes gift card. Hopefully there won’t be any Sanjayas in this crowd.

The Make Every Mile Count 5K Run
Nov. 12, 8 p.m. at Jenison Field House

A tree will be planted for every runner who takes part in this completely free event. Check out the 2010 Honda Insight hybrid vehicle and Daniel Martin’s magic show once you’ve made it to the finish line. Free food and raffle prizes are up for grabs and t-shirts go out to the first 100 runners. Register ahead of time at www.everymile5k.eventbrite.com.

Mictlan in Aztlan
Nov. 1, 5:30 p.m. at MSU Museum Auditorium

Celebrate the Day of the Dead as the sun goes down with this performance sponsored by the MSU Museum. Learn more about how Mexican Americans remember and celebrate their departed ancestors and make sure to eat some sugar skulls and pan de muerto for dessert.

Marathon of Majors
Nov. 12, 5 p.m. at Bessey Hall

Undecided on a what you want to be when you grow up? Thinking of switching your major to Interior Design or Entomology? Make sure to stop by Bessey Hall to talk with advisers and professors from every department at MSU. And don’t be afraid to stock up on some free pens.