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Laker Store now open SOFTBALL TEAM LOSES FINAL HOME GAMES OF SEASON SEE A9
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EXAM CRAM HELPS RELIEVE STRESS BEFORE FINALS
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GRAND OPENING: GVSU student employee Ashley Dwarshuis organizes apparel at the new Laker Store, located in the Marketplace. Seniors
can explore the new location during GradFest, where they can pick up graduation materials. More food options will open in fall 2015. BY STEPHANIE BRZEZINSKI ASSOCIATE@LANTHORN.COM
onday, April 13 marked opening day for the new Grand Valley State University bookstore, now called the Laker Store, in the Marketplace. Located inside the Science Laboratory building in Allendale, the store encompasses 15,000 square feet and offers two floors of supplies and apparel for students, faculty, staff and
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community members to take advantage of. Jerrod Nickels, bookstore manager, said the planning for the Laker Store began three years ago. He and others saw this change as a necessity because of the ever-growing campus population. “The bookstore space in Kirkhof was designed in 1973 when Grand Valley had 5,000 students,” Nickels explained. “We had clearly outgrown the space, even though we always tried to use it as effectively as possible.”
Not only is the new space twice as big as the Kirkhof location, but also it is “brighter and more appealing,” Nickels said. He added that the bookstore is more visible and more accessible for visitors, who will often drive right past the new location on their way through campus. “We hope that the new store gives students a space that will be a pleasure to visit and a source SEE LAKER STORE ON A2
Dialogue about faith Better Together Day encourages inclusivity, conversation at GV BY DREW HOWARD ASSISTANTNEWS@LANTHORN.COM
uesday, April 14 marked Better Together Day at Grand Valley State University – a day dedicated to creating a dialogue between students from different religious and non-religious backgrounds on campus. Better Together Day is an event recognized by hundreds of universities around the country. GVSU helped celebrate the day with a ball pit activity and a Kids’ Food Basket event. At the ball pit activity, located next to the Cook Carillon Tower, students were encouraged to jump in the pit with another stranger and ask the big questions about the other person’s background. “We spend so much of our time either on our phones or with friends we met from freshmen year that there isn’t really an opportunity to go beyond that and meet different people,” said Shelby Bruseloff, vice president of Better Together at GVSU. “So I feel that having this ball pit is creating a space for dialogue that is really necessary on our campus, and I hope this is a great start to further those spaces for dialogue.” To get the conversation started, certain balls inside the pit were marked with different questions such as “What are three things on your bucket list?” and “Who inspires you the most?”
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PRESIDENTIAL: Susan Ford Bates, daughter of Gerald R. Ford, speaks at the L. William Seidman Center on Wednesday.
Hauenstein Center Director Gleaves Whitney facilitated the event for the 50th anniversary Golden Lecture Series.
Grand Rapids’ first family
Susan Ford Bates talks on growing up with President Gerald R. Ford BY ALEX SINN ASINN@LANTHORN.COM
o wrap up its 50th anniversary Golden Lecture Series, Grand Valley State University’s College of Education hosted Susan Ford Bates, the daughter of President Gerald R. Ford, and Ford biographer Hendrik Booraem to discuss the education of the 38th president. The event, held at the L. William Seidman Center on GVSU’s Pew Campus in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, April 15, was moderated by Gleaves Whitney, the director of the GVSU Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. “Gerald R. Ford achieved a synthesis that is hard to achieve,” Whitney said to be-
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gin his series of questions. The first topic involved the first year of Ford’s life, when he and his mother fled an abusive husband and father and moved to Grand Rapids, Mich. “I think this created a sense of insecurity in Ford,” said Booraem, author of “Young Ford: Athlete and Citizen.” This early event in Ford’s life may have contributed to a shyness in school and with women, he said. As a child, Ford also struggled with a stutter and had a temper. Grand Rapids was a prime environment in which Ford was able to counter these difficulties and develop his presidential qualities, Booraem said. “It put him in a community with a very special set of values,” he said. “A bias
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toward community involvement.” Involvement in sports, especially football, and in Boy Scouts, helped Ford find the discipline he needed, Booraem said. “He needed structure in his life,” he said. “And that’s what (Boy Scouts) is about: structure.” Ford was not naturally gifted in school, Booraem said, but he worked hard at his education, eventually leading him to the University of Michigan where he studied economics and went on to pursue a law degree at Yale University. “It wasn’t brilliance that did this,” he said. “It was study habits.” Alongside his education, Ford also held SEE FORD ON A2
BOOKS 2 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU! GVSU Allendale: Across the street from the water tower. On Fulton in Downtown GR.
Katie Gordon, program manager for the Kaufman Interfaith Institute at GVSU, said students were also given the opportunity to sign the Better Together Day Pledge. “The pledge is the student, staff or faculty at GVSU saying that they were a part of Better Together Day,” Gordon said. “The campus with the most pledges is going to get recognition or awards from the national movement, so we are trying to make GVSU as much a part of that national map of interfaith cooperation as possible.” That night, students also had the chance to decorate lunch bags for the Kids’ Food Basket sack supper program while also getting to know new people on campus. The event, which was put on by the Catholic Student Association, was originally created by GVSU junior Bradley Mueller. Similar to the ball pit activity, Mueller created a number of questions that were inclusive to all backgrounds in order prompt a conversation. Mueller said the event was a great place to discover both the similarities and differences between people from different backgrounds. “It’s important that people break down those barriers because faith is not often something people normally talk about on a whim,” Mueller said. “It’s also important to break down stereotypes and misconceptions of faith backSEE FAITH ON A2
Stop in our Allendale or Downtown location to sell your books back for some summer spending money!