50 YEARS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’S LEGACY SINCE HIS DEATH IN 1968, HOW HAS THE MSU COMMUNITY CONTINUED HIS MOVEMENT?
N E WS
M L K E D ITI O N
OPINION
What happened during break?
Black faculty rates on a decline
Editorial: Minorities matter, too
The State News summarizes the top-five stories of the past few weeks.
Minority faculty members have increased at MSU, while black educators are left out of the equation.
The State News Editorial Board takes responsibility for how minorities were reported on in the past.
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News
Madison O’Connor Campus editor campus@statenews.com
5 stories you missed over break 1. Trustees announce $10 million fund for counseling services, Simon donates pay raise During its Dec. 15 meeting, MSU’s Board of Trustees commented on ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and addressed survivors of Nassar’s abuse. Amid more than a dozen student protesters and survivors of Nassar’s abuse, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and each of the trustees offered apologies for Nassar’s actions. The board also announced its intent to establish a $10 million fund for counseling and mental health services. Also during the meeting, the board announced its support for Simon and said it offered Simon a raise. Simon instead requested the $150,000 be repurposed as a donation to the Drs. Lou Anna K. and Roy J. Simon Endowed Scholarship Fund.
2. MSU blasts Wazzu, achieves goals and then some for 10th win With dreams and aspirations set on the 10th win of the season, the Spartan football team was nearly perfect. MSU ousted Washington State in the Holiday Bowl 42-17; the outcome never quite in question past halftime. Tailback LJ Scott announced his return with the hype for next season oozing out of San Diego. The Spartans return 19 of
their 22 starters as they aim for another Big Ten title for 2018 and beyond.
3. Budget cuts, medical marijuana spotlight City Council meeting Possible budget cuts are on the table for the city of East Lansing — the main topic of discussion at the East Lansing City Council meeting Dec. 12. While no decisions have been made yet, the city will need to find new ways to create revenue, as simply making cuts might not provide enough money. One idea being considered is the city joining the marijuana business. “If everybody’s right, then this is going to be a culture change, it’s also going to be a revenue change,” Councilmember Erik Altmann said. “There are municipalities in … states that have recreation marijuana in the U.S. that have done this.” The conversation isn’t expected to end anytime soon.
4. Men’s hoops sits at No. 4 in latest AP poll After a brutal, shocking loss to Ohio State University on Sunday, the Spartans fell in the AP poll — just not by much. MSU, now 15-2 on the year, is now the No. 4 team in the country. Previously No. 1 in the ranking, though, it comes as a disappoint to some fans. However, there’s still plenty of the sea-
Drew Cook helps Morgan McCaul, a victim of Nassar’s abuse, tie a gag that reads “silence” around her mouth during a Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 15, 2017 at the Hannah Administration Building. Protesters gathered to address MSU’s handling of the Nassar investigation. PHOTO: SYLVIA JARRUS son left. And a couple more months until the crown jewel of college hoops: March Madness.
5. Frozen pipe bursts and floods Breslin Center A ruptured water pipe flooded one part of the Breslin Center during break, but it
didn’t have any impact on the MSU men’s basketball game on Dec. 29. The pipe, near the arena’s southwest entrance, cracked because of freezing temperatures. Ceiling tiles and drywall near the pipe will likely be replaced. The Tom Izzo Hall of History wasn’t affected by the flooding.
“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”
Nelson Mandela
Title of speech: ‘Make Poverty History’ Campaign delivered on Febrary 3, 2005 at Trafalgar Square in London, United Kingdom
“And we’re coming to engage in dramatic, nonviolent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment, to make the invisible visible.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Title of speech: ‘Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution’, delivered on March 31, 1968 at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC
AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER Visit or Contact us at: http://www.africa.msu.edu Tel:353-1700 E-mail:Africa@msu.edu
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Contents
McKenna Ross Managing editor mross@statenews.com
ONLINE AT STATENEWS.COM
City Council debates budget
How a 1970 MSU protest is still relevant
Men’s basketball results
City officials debate what direction to go to fix the budget.
Past protests at MSU mirror today’s free speech debate.
Check out the highlights from Wednesday’s game against Rutgers.
BY T H E N U M B E R S
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Number of black tenured faculty in 2016 See Pages 4-5
“But one thing that I want them to understand is that the black experiences, like all other experiences, are global experiences ... that it’s all interconnected.” Glenn Chambers African American Studies program director See page 8
Sophomore forward Nick Ward (44) dunks the ball during the men’s basketball game against Maryland on Jan. 4 at Breslin Center. The Spartans beat the Terrapins, 91-61. PHOTO: NIC ANTAYA
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Increased minority faculty rates fall flat for the black community BY RILEY MURDOCK RMURDOCK@STATENEWS.COM
The MSU Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives’ website boasts that “over the last 10 years, the number of minorities in the tenure system has increased year over year.” On a general level, this is true. The total number of tenure system faculty remained relatively the same, but Asian and Hispanic/Latino faculty began to take up a greater portion of tenure system staff, their numbers increasing by 54 percent and 80 percent, respectively, through a decade’s time. However, black faculty have not seen these increases. From 2006-16, the number of black tenure stream faculty fell from 105 to 86, according to Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives’ Annual Report on Diversity and Inclusion. For non-tenured faculty, every demographic with the exception of American Indian/Alaskan Native grew by 2016, with nearly 800 positions added. However, of the minority demographics that saw gains, black non-tenured faculty grew the slowest. While the number of non-tenured black faculty grew by 14 percent, Asian and His-
panic/Latino faculty grew by 52 and 64 percent, respectively. “Whenever you see a decline in participation of underrepresented minorities on campus, particularly within our tenure system faculty, it is reason for us to take a closer look at what is making a result of that,” Paulette Granberry Russell, director of MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, said. “Clearly, (there is) more work to be done.” As of 2016, most demographics are relatively near or exceeding their proportional percentage of MSU’s total tenure stream faculty in relation to the population of MSU’s student body and the state of Michigan. Black faculty is a different story. As of 2016, tenure stream and non-tenured black faculty equate to 4.3 and 5.8 percent of the total faculty in their respective categories. Comparatively, black students make up 7.8 percent of MSU’s domestic student population and black citizens comprise 14 percent of Michigan’s population. An issue long proclaimed The perceived lack of black faculty at MSU has been a central issue to protests for decades.
Liberate MSU, a group that advocated for administrative action on issues facing black students in 2015, made increasing black faculty one of their central issues. Liberate MSU burst onto the scene when members disrupted a speech by Bill Clinton at Kellogg Center in a flash protest, leading to dialogue with MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon that night and on occasion afterward. Doctoral candidate AJ Rice said black faculty rates, the establishment of an African American and African Studies department, black/Latino student enrollment increases and a freestanding multicultural center were issues Liberate MSU first rallied around. Rice played an active role in the group. Alumnus Darius Peyton previously said the group’s demands were similar if not identical to ones articulated during a 1989 protest, for which he served as spokesperson. “None of these issues were really new issues, these were issues that African-American students, Latino students and students of all walks of life have been fighting for,” Rice said. “At least (for) the past decade, actually I know even longer.” MSU geography professor Joe Darden arrived on campus in 1972 and has been faculty at MSU ever since, becoming a full professor in 1980. Darden said there have been ups and downs for black faculty in his time at MSU, but overall not much has changed through roughly 45 years. “When I arrived here in ‘72, there were efforts to increase the black faculty, it was constant pressure on university administration to do that during the early ‘70s,” Darden said. “Pressure does work in some sense, because it focuses more on action and it gets the administration in a mode to try to deliver on that.” Black faculty increased slightly in the early 1970s in a national trend of affirmative action, Darden said, with popular sentiment of fixing underrepresentation. However, rates started to stagnate, then decline until three trends further eroded momentum to create more faculty. The first was a decline in activism among black students, who became less interested in pressuring the university.
sion of white women, who Darden said have received the most advantages from the process of recruiting from underrepresented demographics. “It’s really not necessarily appropriate for the university just (to) talk about minority increase, you have to disaggregate the data because you can have minority increase of one group while other groups can be declining,” Darden said. The third was the “Michigan Civil Rights Amendment” ballot initiative passed in 2006, known as “Proposal 2,” which banned “preferential treatment” on the basis of race, gender or other factors in the hiring and admissions processes. The amendment contributed to the continued decline of black faculty rates since its passing, Darden said, which coincidentally lines up with the period of time measured in the Annual Report. “Once that happened, the overall ability to recruit, especially African-American faculty, started to decline,” Darden said. Proposal 2 is a lingering concern with effects still being felt, Granberry Russell said. However, she said the amendment doesn’t prohibit action toward more diversity. Other action is taken that does not contradict the proposal, such as targeted recruitment of underrepresented faculty. “I think that Prop. 2, certainly in the early years after its passage, had a chilling effect (on) how people might have viewed the state of Michigan as a place that is supportive of diversity,” Granberry Russell said. “Prop. 2 did not take away from us our responsibilities as a federal contractor. … We are a public university, we are expected to have an affirmative action program, which we do.” Creating change Among other roadblocks contributing to underrepresentation, there are also fewer black doctoral graduates available to hire. Asian and Latino students are obtaining more doctorates than black students, Darden said. Black doctoral students also tend to study education fields, Darden said, while Asian and Latino students tend to study from a wider range of fields, including more in-demand Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM, fields.
“Faced with that competition, it makes it very, very difficult for African-American faculty to get hired in the first place, and then to compete with those groups overall.” - Joe Darden, MSU geography professor “Students do matter, I wrote an article years ago that there’s a correlation between African-American activity and the university’s response in terms of hiring more black faculty, but if the students don’t demand it, it often does not happen,” Darden said. “Students have to actively demand more black faculty. That was happening much more during the 1970s up to a certain point, and the university did deliver on that. That happened.” The second was expanding efforts to hire minority faculty to include Asian and Latino populations. Darden said this introduced competition and shifted focus, making African-American faculty less of a priority. Those two demographics have steadily grown their faculty rates since, while black faculty began to lag behind. The focus was further diluted later by the inclu4
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 01 8
“There’s a reduced pool of African-Americans compared to the other groups,” Darden said. “So when the hiring committees look at the applicant pool … they can pick some white women, they can pick some Latinos, they can pick some Asians and they can (pick some) African-Americans. Faced with that competition, it makes it very, very difficult for African-American faculty to get hired in the first place, and then to compete with those groups overall.” Rice believes MSU has not strongly recruited faculty of color, and it would take a significant investment by the university to attract strong, competitive black faculty, which Rice believes don’t want to come to MSU. “We go to specific groups, you’re looking at black faculty, if you’re looking at black student enrollment, not just the freshman class but gen-
McKenna Ross Managing editor mross@statenews.com
2006
0.8%
2016
9.9%
0.7% AMERICAN INDIAN/ ALASKAN NATIVE 15% ASIAN 4.3% BLACK 5.1% HISPANIC/LATINO 0.4% TWO OR MORE RACES* 74.3% WHITE
5.4% 2.9%
*NO DATA AVAILABLE FOR 2006
DEMOGRAPHICS OF TENURE STREAM FACULTY - Black faculty decreased 18 percent from 2006 to 2016. - Hispanic/Latino faculty increased 80 percent from 2006 to 2016. - Asian faculty increased 54 percent from 2006 to 2016.
80.9% eral enrollment, these things haven’t gone up,” Rice said.“What that suggests is that the university is trying to embark on a program of increasing diversity, which the way in which they’ve defined it is by basically trying to recruit everyone but black folk and Native Americans.” This gap in available applicants is cause for concern, Granberry Russell said, and will
require MSU to be more creative in its recruitment efforts to meet the growth of STEM positions on campus. When taking into account that most every other university is trying to increase its diversity, this becomes more difficult. “When we do hire, whether it’s in STEM or non-STEM related fields, we’re going to have to be particularly aggressive in recruiting more
African-American faculty,” she said. The work environment faced currently MSU black faculty also needs to be closely examined, Granberry Russell said. Inclusion engages MSU’s faculty on a daily basis to ensure they are given the tools they need to advance within their field, she said. The Academic Advancement Network and Diversity Research Network were found-
T H U RS DAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 01 8
ed for this purpose, to help provide support to underrepresented faculty. The DRN — launched in September 2016 — specifically provides support to minority tenure system faculty, creating connections to make “scholarly communities.” READ THE IMPACT OF FACULTY DEMOGRAPHICS AT STATENEWS.COM
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Souichi Terada City editor city@statenews.com
MSU community sheds light on past racial incidents, white supremacy there has been some major increases in poverty and so forth,” Martinez said. “It’s not nonwhites who have created all those problems, In his years at MSU, neuroscience senior Kev- economically, for (white Americans). It is the in Taylor has become familiar with messages policies of the conservatives and the well-toof white supremacy on campus. However, his do, which have had that negative impact on the concerns as a black student are different from lives of many, many white Americans across the country.” those of other minority members. In the 1930s, anthropologists disproved the He isn’t afraid of police officers, he said. He’s notion of race, Martinez said. far more concerned about being attacked. “Races do not exist, in reality, we construct “As a black person, as a black man … I don’t want to be in a situation in which, in the dorms them … I think what Spencer brings is a peror in the hallways, where there are very mini- spective that is not grounded in knowledge about mal cameras,” Taylor said. “Anything could hap- the world, it is grounded in ideology,” he said. Historically, the U.S. has always tagged more pen there.” Throughout the 2017 fall semester, MSU value to “whiteness,” associate professor of social reported multiple incidents of white suprem- relations and policy at James Madison College acist actions on campus and at an administra- Anna Pegler-Gordon explained. Cultural understandings of who can be an tive level. Richard Spencer, known for his modern American have always been challenged, firstly by Native Amerirebranding of cans, Pegler-Gorwhite supremacy, requested to visit “THE UNIVERSITY IS A PLACE FOR don said. However, MSU’s campus in THE FREE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS, BUT during the last early August 2017 and was denied IT’S ALSO A PLACE OF SCHOLARSHIP. 40 to 50 years, wh ite A me r iaccess to a meetQ U E ST I O N I N G W H E T H E R T H E cans have starting space on Aug. 17, 2017. HOLOCAUST OCCURRED, QUESTIONING ed to listen more to the groups The university WHETHER WOMEN SHOULD HAVE challenging their received backlash from SpenTHE RIGHT TO VOTE, QUESTIONING understanding. “If someone in cer and his lawWHETHER WHITE PEOPLE ARE class said ‘the yers, which eventually included SUPERIOR TO OTHER RACIAL GROUPS sky is green and is made of broca lawsuit from … HAVE BASICALLY BEEN REJECTED, c ol i ,’ n ob o d y the third party, say, ‘oh, which tried to BY EVERY RESPONSIBLE SCHOLAR. would well, we should bring Spencer to THEY’VE BEEN TESTED.” seriously debate campus. that as a matter In November of free speech,’” 2017, students traveling across Anna Pegler-Gordon Pegler-Gordon said. “I think campus disAssociate professor of social relations covered a postand policy at James Madison College that it’s a good debate, to have, er emblazoned about white with “IT’S OKAY supremacy, but TO BE WHITE.” Following the poster’s attention from MSU stu- I don’t think we need to have a debate with dents and faculty, another poster and stickers white supremacy.” In her experience, MSU students are always containing the phrase were found on a camwilling to engage in debate surrounding importpus bike rack. “Michigan State and college campuses across ant topics, Pegler-Gordon said. The topic of the country are microcosms of the greater recent white supremacy threatening campus is society,” Paulette Granberry Russell, director no different. “The university is a place for the free exchange of MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, said in an email. “Controversies, of ideas, but it’s also a place of scholarship,” conflict, and student activism is not new — nor she said. “Questioning whether the Holocaust is divisive, hateful and racist, offensive rheto- occurred, questioning whether women should have the right to vote, questioning whether white ric new.” There are two macro-level reasons for the inci- people are superior to other racial groups … dents of white supremacy on MSU’s campus and have basically been rejected, by every responSpencer’s request to visit, professor of sociolo- sible scholar. They’ve been tested.” White supremacists, such as Spencer, don’t gy and director of the Julian Samora Research bring this standard of scholarship and debate to Institute at MSU Rubén Martinez said. “The civil rights movement promoted inclu- universities, Pegler-Gordon explained. “White supremacy itself is not about empowsion at the same time that it addressed the issue, removed the issue of superiority from the psy- ering the white person, it’s more or less about che of white Americans,” Martinez said. “In oth- oppressing others,” Taylor said. While Taylor hopes MSU will become stricter words, it was no longer considered valid to be deemed superior to peoples just on the basis er on white supremacist incidents, he said he understands it is a difficult task for the uniof being white. “I think that is something that has been linger- versity to accomplish. Taylor advised minoriing among some white Americans, with some ty and concerned students to be “wary of their surroundings.” degree of resentment.” “If you make a stance on something, make Secondly, Martinez said he believes free market capitalist policies in the U.S. during the last sure you have others with you and behind you on that, both figuratively … and literally,” Tay40 years have diminished the middle class. “There has been some downward mobility, lor said. BY GABRIELLE SANFILIPPO
GSANFILIPPO@STATENEWS.COM
Richard Spencer, a white nationalist, takes a brief tour of Texas A&M campus before a speaking event at the Memorial Student Center on Dec. 6, 2016 in College Station, Texas. PHOTO COURTESY OF RALPH BARRERA/AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
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Souichi Terada City editor city@statenews.com
ELPD, ACLU partner to create new anti-bias, fair policing standards BY MARIE WEIDMAYER MWEIDMAYER@STATENEWS.COM
A new policy spearheaded by the East Lansing Police Department aims to accomplish a new goal: To minimize biased police work. In the waning gasps of 2017, ELPD implemented a new fair and impartial policing procedure. “Basically, (it’s) just to affirm our commitment to our community and policing in a fair and impartial nature,” ELPD Lt. Chad Connelly said. “Whether it be for people from a different country, people of different ethnicities, religion, whatever it may be. Just to show that we truly are committed to our community and that we approach policing in a truly fair and level playing field.” ELPD partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, to create the policy, Vice Chair of Lansing ACLU Derrell Slaughter said. “The process of coming up with this policy was a really collaborative effort,” Slaughter said. “I
2,945
think East Lansing Police should be really commended for really wanting to work with the community to develop a policy like this.” The policy requires all ELPD employees to treat
“I think it’s just a step in the right direction to letting our community know where we stand.” CHAD CONNELLY
East Lansing Police Lieutenant
“all individuals in a fair, impartial, equitable and objective manner.” The policy also explains how ELPD will interact with federal agencies, such as the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. “A lot of the stuff going on with immigration, it also addresses some of that,” Connelly said. “Just to let people know, basically, where we
Number of people fatally shot by police nationwide since 2015.
stand and the way that we’re going to approach doing the job of law enforcement.” Unless there is a valid judiciary warrant, ELPD will not detain an individual, Connelly said. Thus, it ensures ELPD is not doing ICE’s job, Slaughter said, limiting any communication mishaps. he policy requires an annual review of the department’s practices including concerns brought to the department, accusations of racial profiling and complaints about employees. Supervisors are expected to enforce the policy and take corrective action when employees don’t follow it. “I think it’s just a step in the right direction to letting our community know where we stand and let people know when we’re out there doing our job, we’re trying to do it in the best nature possible,” Connelly said. “It also gives a little education to the way that we should be going about our jobs.”
Officers receive as much training as the department can afford. Key areas like anti-bias and de-escalation are emphasized, Connelly said. “We’ve really pushed hard to make sure our officers are up-to-date on all the trainings that are out there,” Connelly said. “Especially when it comes to some of the matters that have really been out there in the forefront of the media, such as relations with different cultures or relations with people of different ethnicities.” The new policy and training is important, because it helps create better interactions between the East Lansing community and police, Mayor Pro Tem Erik Altmann said. “I think we need to do whatever we can to make sure that the police are seen as part of the solution and not part of the problem,” Altmann said. “I think that ELPD has a lot of respect in the community, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t concerns that we can address.”
Economics
The College of Social Science
987
Number of people fatally shot by police officers nationwide in 2017.
24
Twenty-four more people were fatally shot nationwide by police in 2017 compared to 2016
19
Number of unarmed black men killed by police nationwide in 2017. An increase from 2016 but a decline from 2015.
Source: The Washington Post
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Madison O’Connor Campus editor campus@statenews.com
Undergraduate African American Studies program small but mighty
2002
master’s and doctoral degrees within six years, and she said she plans to graduate May 2019. In the beginning, Rowe said she was unsure For 15 years, MSU has offered African Amer- of whether or not she would choose to study ican and African Studies as a graduate and African American Studies or English in her doctoral program, as well as an undergrad- graduate work. “I was admitted into both types, but ultiuate minor. According to a 2002 State News article, when mately I decided to do African American Studthe program launched, it was revolutionary. ies just because I felt that the kind of work I MSU’s program was one of the only doctor- wanted to do, interdisciplinary work, commual programs of its kind, and the only one of nity-oriented work, the type of direction my work was taking,” Rowe said. “So, it would be its kind in the Big Ten. The first African American and African Stud- better to be in an interdisciplinary program ies class had about six students, with two hav- like African American Studies.” The interdisciplinary and intersectional ing been MSU undergraduates. According to the article, “The introduction of aspects of the program are what Chambers the program puts the university in good com- said he considers to be the most important pany — only five similar doctoral degrees exist aspects of the program. He said he hopes students leave underin the nation at institutions such as Harvard University and Yale University. MSU hosts the standing the African-American experience is connected to many nations as well as world only one in the Big Ten.” Program director Glenn Chambers said the affairs. “We get students from all across the board, program was initially introduced to satisfy faculty members’ desires to create the pro- all walks of life and different backgrounds gram and the university’s desire to diversify who study all different aspects of the black experience,” Chambers said. “But one thing graduate education at MSU. Chambers, who has held his position for two that I want them to understand is that the years, recounted the story of the program’s black experiences, like all other experiences, are global experiences ... that it’s all interconconception in 2002. “There were several senior faculty members nected. That’s one thing I want them to see: at MSU who thought we should (create a pro- the global nature of the black experience.” While she has loved studying within the program), and working with the Provost, who is now President (Lou Anna K.) Simon, they went gram, Rowe said she thinks the biggest area to her about basically creating a program, and in need of improvement is that of institutionthey got the support of the university to do so, al resources. “The program is a program rather than a I think initially,” Chambers said. The program was conceived as an undergrad- department,” Rowe said. “So, being a program, uate program, but evolved into a graduate pro- we don’t have faculty, we don’t do our own faculty hires, that sort of thing.” Rowe said another issue with the prog ra m not bei ng a depar tment is t hat g r a du at e ap p oi ntments are not within African American and KRISTIN ROWE African Studies. Doctoral candidate, African American and African Studies “Institutionally (we cou ld i mprove) i n terms of resources, in gram with an undergraduate specialization. terms of having a sort of structural backing, “A lot of this I’m getting secondhand, but ini- and that affects having a lack of space, lack tially there was a desire to have an undergrad- of faculty and graduate appointments,” Rowe uate program, but it ultimately was a grad- said. “Our graduate appointments are in othuate program,” Chambers said. “That was, I er disciplines.” Rowe said she feels the program has prethink, what the university needed at the time in order to attract diverse graduate students pared her for the career she wants upon graduation. and all of that.” She’s hoping to become an associate profesAfter a graduate program was established, there was a desire to create an extension for sor on a tenure track. “I was able to do an internship as an adminundergraduates, and the original undergraduate specialization turned into a more formal istrative assistant at the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit as well as an internship in undergraduate minor. “Once the graduate program was thriving Victoria, South Africa with the study abroad and all of those things, over time there was program as well,” Rowe said. “I’ve been able the desire on the part of the program’s facul- to get my work published.” Rowe said one of the aspects of the program ty and previous directors to extend the program at the undergraduate level,” Chambers she is most thankful for, aside from professaid. “I believe in 2010, we switched sort of sional opportunities, is making connections from having an undergraduate specialization with the people she met during her studies, including both peers and professors. to an undergraduate minor.” “(I appreciate) a lot of the experiences and Doctoral candidate Kristin Rowe said she graduated from the University of Delaware opportunities, even just for coursework, and with a double major in Black American Stud- the amazing African-American scholars that I came in with,” Rowe said. “The camaradeies and English. Rowe began studying African American and rie and being in classes together and having African Studies at MSU to complete both her conversations.” BY DEBBIE MISZAK
DMISZAK@STATENEWS.COM
the program was launched with only six students (two undergrads)
2010
the program’s undergraduate specialization became a formal undergraduate minor
DOES NOT
-have its own faculty -do its own faculty hires
“Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Institutionally (we could improve) in terms of resources, in terms of having a sort of structural backing.”
Achieve Academic Success with Neighborhood Engagement Centers www.neighborhoods.msu.edu 8
THE STATE NEWS
THURSDAY, JANUA RY 1 1 , 2 01 8
MLK Edition
Sasha Zidar Features editor features@statenews.com
MSU history of significant black enrollment dates back to 1900
BY CLAIRE MOORE
CMOORE@STATENEWS.COM
The civil rights movement was so consequential it has had an impact on MSU’s campus, where in 2018 a more diversified student body exists. According to a statement released by the university, MSU accepted the largest African-American freshman class of Big Ten schools in 2017. Records of black students attending MSU date back to as early as 1900, according to the MSU Archives and Historical Collections. In 1907—when MSU was still known as the Michigan Agricultural College, or M.A.C.—a woman by the name of Myrtle Craig became the first female African-American student to graduate from the university. Craig was presented with her diploma by the U.S. president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt. The MSU Archives reports approximately 1,600 students of color were enrolled in degree programs during what became known as the height of the civil rights movement. These students, much like the ones who attend MSU and thousands of other educational institutions today, became leaders in a fight for basic human rights. During this period of time, the effects of the civil rights movement could be seen nationwide. Prominent civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. visited MSU on Feb. 11, 1965. According to a State News article published the following day, he spoke to a crowd of 4,000 students, staff and community members who packed the Auditorium to listen to him. A State News staff writer at the time, Jim Sterba, wrote that the Nobel prize winner spoke on several topics and highlighted three challenges for audience members. According to Sterba, King’s speech pointed to “achieving a world brotherhood perspective, getting rid of the notion that there are superior and inferior races, and developing massive action programs to rid the world of segregation.” King’s talk, which also included a call for updated civil rights legislation to work at stopping discrimination, reportedly left many members of his audience in tears. Sterba wrote the crowd gave King a standing ovation both prior to and after his speech.
After King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, the influence he left upon MSU became clear, as it did across the nation. An article published by The State News highlighted the impact King had on students. According to the article—published on April 8, 1968—hundreds of MSU students and staff participated in a nonviolent march shortly following the news of King’s death. Described by State News staff writer Trinka Cline as an “orderly procession,” the memorial march encompassed several parts of campus. Those in the crowd held up signs that read “Black is beautiful, so is King,” and sang songs such as “Oh Freedom” and “We Shall Overcome.” Cline wrote the march began at the Union, then continued around West Circle Drive to the Main Library. “A front portion of the marchers broke off to go through the library and then (resumed) their lead position,” Cline wrote. “Next Wells Hall. Then the lobby of the International Center. Across the parking lot and down Shaw Lane. A left on Farm Lane. A trip through Bessey.” By that point, 1,500 students had gathered. Ernest Green, an alumnus of MSU, serves as an example of a student who played a role in gaining equal rights. Green was one of the Little Rock Nine — a group of students who sought to challenge segregation in Central High School, an all-white educational institution in Arkansas’s capital. After the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that segregation was unconstitutional, Green and his eight fellow students faced discrimination as they tested the efficiency of desegregation in the south. Green, a senior at the time, went on to be the first African-American student to graduate from that same school. He later went on to attend MSU. He obtained both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in sociology, according to an online biography of Green from MSU’s College of Social Science. Dates for remembrance are set aside for those who campaigned for equality, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a federal holiday — and the entirety of February for Black History Month.
MSU students participate in a march on Jan. 12, 1987, to remember the birthday of civil rights leader and icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Decades later, King’s legacy continues to inspire students on campus. STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO. MSU alumnus Ernest Green visits campus and speaks to a crowd on Jan. 20, 2014. Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, took part in MSU’s annual march to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO.
Starting a Movement MSU had the largest freshmen enrollment of AfricanAmericans of any Big Ten school in fall 2017. About 1,600 students of color were enrolled at MSU during the height of the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to a crowd of about 4,000 people at MSU on Feb. 11, 1965.
Office of the Associate Provost for Academic Services, Enrollment Management and Academic Initiatives
T H U RS DAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 01 8
@ T H E S N E WS
STATE N E WS .CO M
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MLK Edition
Madison O’Connor Campus editor campus@statenews.com
Taking a knee MSU dance team member and nursing junior Demi White takes a knee every game she performs in, which all started at the beginning of the 2017 football season.
TOP: Nursing junior and MSU dance team member Demi White kneels during the national anthem at the MSU football game against Bowling Green on Sept. 2, 2017, at Spartan Stadium. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHITE FAMILY RIGHT: Demi White poses for a portrait on Jan. 9 at IM Sports-West. PHOTO: ANNIE BARKER BY MILA MURRAY MMURRAY@STATENEWS.COM
THE
MSU ASIAN STUDIES CENTER
FLAS
ANNOUNCES THE
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship Program APPLY NOW!
Fellowship awards are available for undergraduate and graduate students under the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) program. Academic year fellowships can provide up to $15,000 for undergraduates and up to $33,000 for graduates. Summer fellowship awards are up to $7,500. Fellowships will be awarded to students enrolled in a program that combines the study of a modern Asian language and Asian studies; or research in an stage. Application Deadline: February 9, 2018
For full details and application visit: asia.isp.msu.edu
THE
MSU ASIAN STUDIES CENTER ANNOUNCES THE
S.C. Lee Scholarship & Paper Competition In honor of the late Professor Shao-Chang Lee, an advocate of U.S.-East Asia relations, the S.C. Lee Endowment is proud to sponsor students with outstanding accomplishments in Asian studies. Three scholarships up to $5,000 are available and prizes up to $1,000 will be awarded for research papers focusing on Asian topics. The scholarship is open to enrolled undergraduate students only. The paper competition is open to enrolled MSU undergraduate and graduate students.
APPLY NOW!
Application Deadline: Application Deadline: February 2, 2018 February 2, 2018
10
THE STATE NEWS
ForFor fullfull details and application visit: details and application visit: asia.isp.msu.edu asia.isp.msu.edu
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 01 8
The only person nursing junior Demi White told about her decision to take a knee during the national anthem was her boyfriend. White, who has been on the dance team of the MSU Spirit Squad for two years, waited a year before she knelt for the first time during MSU’s game against Bowling Green on Sept. 2, 2017, a gesture stemming from NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began the movement in 2016 to protest police brutality and racism. “There’s a lot going on, especially with the (Donald) Trump presidency,” White said. “My protest had nothing really to do with his comments, it was more personal. I can’t honestly stand there and say, ‘land of the free, home of the brave’ and mean it with my own heart. ... I feel like I’m lying to myself.” When she took a knee for the first time on the field at Spartan Stadium in front of thousands of people, she said she was nervous. Her hands were shaking the entire time, and afterwards, she walked off the field in a daze, she said. “We got back to the end zone and the other black girl on my team came up to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me, and we both cried on the sideline for a bit and shared that moment,” White said. After that game, White said her coach also hugged her and told her she supported her decision, letting her know she’s there for her if she ever needs anything. The positive responses and encouragement she received from her peers, athletes and the coaches shocked her. “I don’t want to say that being black doesn’t really affect me, because it does, it affects my everyday life, but I don’t think about it until I do,” White said. “The importance to me of taking a knee and being one of the few black dance team members is I have that platform, I can represent what is going on, I can be that voice.” White has taken a knee at every home football game and at every basketball game she has cheered for, with the exception of Veterans Day weekend because of criticism circling the movement, claiming it to be “anti-military and anti-American” or disrespectful of the flag, she said. “Both my grandparents were World War II vets,
that has nothing to do with it,” White said. “I was kind of scared in the sense that I didn’t know what people’s reactions were going to be. In the kind of world we live in, I was preparing myself for anything.” But White has not received any negative reactions so far. Not only did she receive support from the athletic community at MSU, her family showed support as well. Her father, who coached high school and college basketball and even played for MSU in the 1970s, was especially proud. But despite the support, she said she still feels like some of her peers don’t understand the protest and what it means. “You have to take them way back because you can’t explain things to people when they don’t want to listen,” White said. “You just have to start with the history of black people in the United States and all that’s gone on since slaves introduced. ... There’s Jim Crow, there’s redlining, all the things that have made African-Americans disadvantaged and disenfranchised in such a way in the United States.” To White, taking a knee is about how close police brutality hits home for her and the choice to protest it peacefully. “There’s a reason, there’s a clear and set reason behind why all of this is the way it is, and we all have to acknowledge that history and make steps to try and repair that,” White said. “When Trayvon Martin was killed, it was kind of like, ‘that really could have been my brother.’ When Sandra Bland was found dead in a police cell, that could have been me.” In reaction to the multiple professional athletes like Kaepernick, NBA point guard Stephen Curry and NFL running back Marshawn Lynch taking a knee during the national anthem, President Donald Trump called for them via Twitter to be fired, suspended and for their fans not to support them. But White said she also saw support for the movement and the education of other social justice issues on the platform as well. “You want them to do something so much, but the only thing that these movements can really bring about is awareness,” White said. “I hope that the awareness can eventually be turned to action and something can get changed.”
MLK Edition
Sasha Zidar Features editor features@statenews.com
Greek life offers minority students chance to express identities, voices BY JAIMIE BOZACK JBOZACK@STATENEWS.COM
MSU’s campus features a variety of races, ethnicities, religions and beliefs. And from there, students have the opportunity to branch out through clubs and activities. The Divine Nine plays a significant role in giving campus minorities a voice. The unique organization includes nine different African-American fraternities and sororities in the National Pan-Hallenic Council that each focus on being a voice to black students. The nine historically black greek letter organizations include: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity. The Divine Nine was founded in 1930 at Howard University and has historically played a role in major civil rights events. Marketing senior D.J. Strong joined Omega Psi Phi in the spring of 2016. “I feel The Divine Nine is a way for the African-American population on many different campuses to actually have some kind of representation,” Strong said. “Here, being a part of The Divine Nine is a big thing … because there’s not many African-American students or minorities, for that matter.” Strong is the Peacekeeper for his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi. He said the fraternity’s motto is, “Friendship is essential to the soul.” Strong said the motto represents coming together.
“We really value the relationships and the networks that we build within the fraternity,” Strong said. “It really comes in handy a lot when you’re graduating and you are not sure what you want to do with your life. There will always be somebody in the fraternity that had your job, or that had your career pathway ... everybody goes through these struggles, but if we can communicate and work together, then we can all be successful.” Strong said being a part of The Divine Nine has been rewarding. He said the nine organizations are all different, but all value a common goal. “Each fraternity and each organization has their own different codes and different views on things, but we all basically strive for the same goal, which is equality and uplifting our communities,” Strong said. Cognitive neuroscience senior Mianna Webber is a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Webber said during the civil rights movement, people had to work extra hard. “There was a lot of separation and segregation going on,” Webber said. “For them to be bold enough in what they were going through as African-Americans back in the 1900s, and to step outside of what they were going through and come together and create these organizations geared towards education, geared towards bettering the community and geared towards community service, to be able to come here after all these great people that came before me is very humbling.” Webber said her sorority focuses on three main points: scholarship, sisterhood and service.
“We really value the relationships and the networks that we build within the fraternity. It really comes in handy a lot when you’re graduating and you are not sure what you want to do with your life. There will always be somebody in the fraternity that had your job, or that had your career pathway ... everybody goes through these struggles, but if we can communicate and work together, then we can all be successful.” D.J. Strong Marketing senior and Peacekeeper of Omega Psi Phi
“That is a sorority that … people in my life that are influences are a part of, so it just felt right,” Webber said. “It felt like I didn’t have to change who I was to be a part of it. It was meant for me.” Furthermore, Webber said anything the sororitiy does also falls under five programmatic thrusts — economic development; edu-
cational development; international awareness and involvement; physical and mental health; and political awareness and involvement. And from a diversity point of view, Webber said she is appreciative opportunities like The Divine Nine exist. “We bring so many different perspectives to the Greek Council,” Webber said. “I’m not saying that one is better than the other, it just provides Greek Life in general with different avenues, different perceptions and different opportunities.” Media and information senior Socrates Montero joined Alpha Phi Alpha in fall 2016 and is the treasurer of the chapter. “One thing I can say is that representation matters at the end of the day, whether we like it or not,” Montero said. “This is something we have to realize as a whole collective, that we don’t see that many upperclassmen who are the same color as you, same ethnicity as you, same language as you or come from the same background as you ... diversity matters, because at the end of the day, this is the future.” Montero said his fraternity allows him to give back to students who might be struggling to succeed. “(The most rewarding part is) the opportunity to give back,” Montero said. “Granted, you can do that without the fraternity, but just being able to show the development that the fraternity gave me before I became a part of it, it just opened up the door for me to spread the same wealth, same wisdom and same knowledge that was given to me upon others who don’t know what they need in life.”
Honoring the Memory of Martin Luther King Jr.
--“to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” Marketing senior D.J. Strong smiles for a photo on Jan. 10, at the MSU Union. He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity on campus. PHOTO: SYLVIA JARRUS
T H U RS DAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 01 8
MSU Jewish Studies @ T H E S N E WS
STATE N E WS .CO M
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MLK Edition
Souichi Terada City editor city@statenews.com
The Detroit, MSU connection: A pipeline linked through education BY MAXWELL EVANS MEVANS@STATENEWS.COM
Detroit is Michigan’s largest city, and East Lansing is home to its largest university. It makes sense, then, these two bigwigs of the Great Lakes State share a history that “goes back a long way,” according to John Ambrose, senior associate director of MSU Admissions. Ambrose said the metro Detroit “tri-county area” — Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties — is an important area for his department to target. He said the university makes an effort to provide crucial services, like financial aid and application help, to city residents. “The vast majority of the concentrated population for the state of Michigan is in this tri-county area,” Ambrose said. “The university and the city of Detroit have been connected. ... Whether it’s government, or civic, or social justice or other kinds of things education-wise, Michigan State University has been involved.” The connection between Detroit and MSU goes both ways; while Detroit students provide MSU with a solid recruitment base, the university also plays an active role in the city’s development as it recovers from a historic decline. An important part of the university’s effort to help Detroit rebuild focuses on students and education. MSU’s Detroit Center is the hub of the university’s outreach to the city. Programs from a community music school to an arm of MSU’s outreach department are housed within the building on Woodward Avenue, providing educational opportunities to prospective students. Ambrose said from time to time, he works from a satellite admissions office within the center.
Jena Baker-Calloway, director of the Detroit Center, said she hasn’t heard any student explicitly credit the center for bringing them to MSU. However, she said its presence in the city not only impacts prospective Spartans, but brings Detroit students bound for all colleges into contact with the research and knowledge found at MSU. “The benefits are innumerable,” Baker-Calloway said. “We’re not just talking about future Spartans, we’re talking about linking the expertise that the university brings to bear in a variety of different areas.” Baker-Calloway said in order to influence young Detroiters to become interested in attending college, there is a need for outreach programs that not only give information, but build relationships. She said she believes the Detroit Center is an example of such a program. “It does aid in terms of having an accessible place to go, as they can have a face-to-face interaction with someone, an actual person, as opposed to doing an online inquiry or making a phone call,” Baker-Calloway said. “It’s a little bit more personal, and I think people appreciate the fact that the center is here.” The College Ambition Program, or CAP, a federally-funded research study being implemented at 11 high schools in Detroit and Lansing, holds this idea of personal interaction at its core. Since its creation in 2011, CAP has provided under-served students with mentoring, college essay assistance and college visits in an attempt to boost enrollment among the cities’ low-income and minority children. In November, the university rewarded CAP’s success by allocating the program a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the National Science Foundation. In addition to funding the existing ini-
“THE BENEFITS ARE INNUMERABLE. WE’RE NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT FUTURE SPARTANS, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT LINKING THE EXPERTISE THAT THE UNIVERSITY BRINGS TO BEAR IN A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT AREAS.” JENA BAKER-CALLOWAY Director of the Detroit Center
tiatives, the grant money allows for more internship opportunities and the implementation of new online resources for member students. Barbara Schneider, a professor with MSU’s College of Education, oversees the study, which appears to be working — through 2015, Schneider said CAP has seen a 12 percent increase in col-
s
plu e c n e g “Intelli er — that characetgoal of true is th
”
. n o i t a c u ed
rtin - Dr. Ma g Jr. in Luther K
Two attendees stand at the College of Education information table at the College Readiness Expo, hosted by MSU’s Detroit Center. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLES SAADIQ AND MSU DETROIT CENTER
lege enrollment among students who otherwise wouldn’t have attended. She said the program isn’t an MSU recruitment tool, but rather focuses solely on getting more kids to college, no matter where they end up attending. “We don’t work just to bring them to Michigan State University, we help them to try and get a very good match for the type of institution that best fits their interests,” Schneider said. “We’ve had students that have gone to (University of Michigan), we’ve had students that have gone to Cornell, we’ve had students that have gone to Morehouse.” Spartan involvement in CAP is wide-ranging, as the program requires people and resources from the university. Among many other factors which go into running the study, Schneider named the graduate students from her lab who assist her on the project and financial aid information collected by MSU as a few important pieces that help her determine how best to assist target students. “We do a lot of work ... to make sure that the kind of services that we’re offering in these schools are really having an impact in terms of what they’re going to do after they graduate from high school,” Schneider said. CAP doesn’t expand its efforts into the largely more-affluent Detroit suburbs, and it doesn’t appear those suburban students require MSU outreach in the same way the city proper does. Although Wayne County — where Detroit is located — is home to over 500,000 more people than suburban Oakland County, Oakland County is actually home to more MSU students. In fall 2017, 8,604 students were from Oakland County, while 5,210 students came from Wayne County. The 2016 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates show Wayne County has a poverty rate more than twice as high as Oakland County. According to a study published in the Harvard Educational Review, “children from poor families are, generally speaking, the least successful by conventional measures” like attending college. Detroit’s struggles with poverty and education are obvious even to newcomers, as they were to pre-law sophomore Johnathon Finch during his summer internship with the Wayne County Health, Veterans and Community Wellness Department. Finch was struck by the lack of funding and infrastructure at Detroit Public Schools. He said it was clear to him how poverty in Detroit is affecting children’s educational opportunities, making MSU’s efforts to promote higher education in the city all the more important. “One of the major things we actually looked at this summer was busing — kids not feeling safe on a bus or riding a bus for two hours to get to school,” Finch said. “That’s just one small aspect, but how even this simple thing, getting bused to school, can affect a child’s education is huge.” The city’s struggles are far from a myth, but Finch said he was also surprised at how his assumptions about Detroit were largely overblown. Finch, who grew up in rural Wyoming, said the internship was his first experience in a big city. He came into the internship with a “stereotypical concept” of what the city would be like, believing mostly bad things about the city. Instead, the position became a learning experience for him that went beyond simply working as an intern. READ MORE AT STATENEWS.COM
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THE STATE NEWS
THURSDAY, JANUA RY 1 1 , 2 01 8
MLK Edition
Madison O’Connor Campus editor campus@statenews.com
How diverse is MSU’s campus?
Stay up to date at: www.statenews.com/religious
Over the span of 10 years, MSU’s total minority student population has grown, some demographics more than others. Here’s how the student body changed.
2006 2016
Chabad House of MSU 540 Elizabeth St. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 214-0525 Prayer Services: Friday night services followed by traditional Shabbat dinner @ Chabad. www.chabadmsu.com
Number of Students Enrolled 45,520 50,344
Eastminster Presbyterian Church 1315 Abbot Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823 Phone: (517) 337-0893 Classes for All Ages: 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship: 10:30 a.m. www.eastminster church.org
Minority Student Totals
Black/ African American
Hispanic/ Latino
Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander
N/A*
57
N/A Asian
Hillel Jewish Student Center 360 Charles St. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 332-1916 Services: Friday night 6pm, dinner @ 7, Sept.- April. www.msuhillel.org
St. John Catholic Church and Student Center 327 M.A.C Ave. East Lansing MI, 48823 (517) 337-9778 Sundays: 8am, 10am, Noon, 5pm, 7pm M,W,F: 12:15pm T & Th: 9:15pm www.stjohnmsu.org
The People’s Church, multidenominational 200 W Grand River Ave, East Lansing, MI 48823 517-332-6074 Sunday Service: 10:30 a.m. with free lunch for students following worship. ThePeoples Church.com
University Baptist Church 4608 Hagadorn Rd. East Lansing, MI 488423 (517) 351-4144 uinbapt@gmail.com www.baptistel.org Main Service: Sunday, 10 a.m
River Terrace Church 1509 River Terrace Dr. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 351-9059 Service Times: Sundays, 9am & 11:15am www.riverterrace.org Riverview ChurchMSU Venue MSU Union Ballroom, 2nd Floor 49 Abbot Rd. East Lansing, MI 48824 (517) 694-3400 Worship Times: Sundays 6:30pm, Fall/Spring semesters www.rivchurch.com
University United Methodist Church & MSU Wesley 1120 S. Harrison Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 351-7030 Sundays: 10:30am Thursdays: 8:00pm Sept.- April www.universitychurch home.org WELS Lutheran Campus Ministry 704 Abbot Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 580-3744 Saturday: 6:30pm msu.edu/~welsluth
1,348
1,360 127
310
American Indian/ Alaskan Native
Greater Lansing Church of Christ 310 N. Hagadorn Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823 (Meet @ University Christian Church) (517) 898-3600 Sunday: 8:45am Worship, 10am Bible Class Wednesday: 1pm, Small group bible study Students call for rides. www.greaterlansing coc.org
Martin Luther Chapel 444 Abbot Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 332-0778 Sunday: 9:30am & 7pm Wednesday: 9pm Mini-bus pick-up on campus (Fall/Spring) www.martinluther chapel.org
2,076
3,340
2,491
2,388
3,523
Total U.S. Students by Race/Ethnicity
33,058
34,412
21.9% 9,439
18.1% 7,581
RELIGIOUS DIRECTORY
Two or More Races
Religious Organizations:
White
Source: MSU Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives 2015-2016 annual report *Prior to 2010, federal guidelines did not consider these individual demographics. THUR SDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018
STATENE WS .COM
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MLK DAY EVENTS 2018 Student Leadership Conference Jan. 13 9 a.m. Check-in, 10 a.m. Conference start MSU Union Am I Complicit or Do I Stand Apart? Jan. 15 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Erickson Hall Kiva Keynote presentation by Karlin J. Tichenor
Lyman Briggs MLK Day Activism Workshop Jan. 15 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. Holmes Hall, Room C-106 ACROSS
1 Draw forth 6 Vitello __ parmigiana: ristorante offering 10 Map out 14 Jeans material 15 Porky Pig or Elmer Fudd 16 Hawaiian dance 17 *Degree earner’s celebration 20 “Life of Pi” author __ Martel 21 Cookie containers 22 Fields of study 23 Off base sans permission, in the mil. 25 Italian volcano 27 *Math student’s pad 31 Big galoots 35 Vermouth bottle name 36 Dazed and confused 38 “Lost” network 39 Pop’s pop ... or, divided into three parts, what the answers to starred clues have in common 42 Foe of Chiang 43 ‘40s coat-and-trousers outfit 45 Quickly looks over 47 Jazz legend James 48 *Lawn repair piece
51 Dick Tracy’s love __ Trueheart 53 Thin stream of smoke 54 Is __: likely will 57 Many a freshman 59 Triangle ratio 63 *More promising job, say 66 Crowd sound 67 Casting-off place 68 The John B, e.g. 69 Requests 70 Tarzan raisers 71 Coin with Lincoln
DOWN
1 Like avant-garde art 2 Aloe __ 3 __ empty stomach 4 Snatches for ransom 5 Flightless Aussie bird 6 Number one Hun 7 Pork cut 8 Bit of unfinished business 9 Cape NNW of Cod 10 Exodus tyrant 11 Attract 12 Opposite of baja 13 Those opposed 18 Perched on 19 Searing utensil 24 Taylor and Fillmore, politically
26 Ensnare 27 Enjoy the field, as cattle do 28 Automaton 29 Neckwear for Fred in “Scooby-Doo” 30 Ship of 1492 32 Set one’s sights on 33 Swiss coin 34 Trudge through water 37 Hornets and yellow jackets 40 Persians on the floor 41 Local landing location 44 Ragged clothes 46 Time-release med 49 Takes an oath 50 Reasons to repent 52 Waiting time at the DMV, seemingly 54 Taj Mahal city 55 Golf instructors 56 Shipbuilding wood 58 Sport with swords 60 Cold War curtain material? 61 Bright sign 62 Catch sight of 64 UV index monitor: Abbr. 65 Sugar amt.
MLK Commemorative March for Justice Jan. 15 3 p.m. MSU Union (1st Floor Ballroom), heading to Beaumont Tower via West Circle Drive
Conjuring What We Need: A Performance by Ariana Brown Jan. 17 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Case Hall, Club Spartan Room
Social Justice Arts Festival Jan. 19 Noon Snyder Phillips Hall in LookOut Gallery
CAMPUS CENTER CINEMA NOW FEATURING
January 11-14 Level: 1
2
3
4
Friday - 119B Wells Hall @ 7:15 & 9:15 p.m.
Friday - 115B Wells Hall @ 7 & 9 p.m.
Get the solutions at statenews. com/ puzzles
© 2017 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.
Thursday - Wilson Aud @ 9 p.m., 119B Wells Hall @ 9 p.m.
Thursday - Wilson Aud @ 7 p.m., 115B Wells Hall @ 8:30 p.m.
SOLUTION TO SATURDAY’S PUZZLE
11/27/17
Happy Death Day
Daddy’s Home 2
Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www. sudoku.org.uk
Saturday - 119B Wells Hall @ 7:15 & 9:15 p.m.
Saturday - 115B Wells Hall @ 7 & 9 p.m. Sunday - 115B Wells Hall @ 7 & 9 p.m. 14
Sunday - 119B Wells Hall @ 7:15 & 9:15 p.m.
T H E STAT E NEWS
Marshall Friday - 117B Wells Hall @ 7:05 & 9:10 p.m. Saturday - 117B Wells Hall @ 7:05 & 9:10 p.m. Sunday - 117B Wells Hall @ 7:05 & 9:10 p.m., Wilson Aud @ 8:30 p.m.
T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 1 1 , 2 01 8
Editorial
Rachel Fradette Editor-in-Chief rfradette@statenews.com
Editorial: Media needs to work to reach minorities — for every story BY THE STATE NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD FEEDBACK@STATENEWS.COM
For years now, The State News’ motto has been simple: “Michigan State University’s independent student voice.” That’s where it starts, and ends — with mistakes on our side. As journalists, we try to cover everything. But we’re not always successful. Even when given a story, journalists can and do mess up. We make mistakes, and one of our biggest is overlooking minority stories. In a 2007 documentary about Penn State University’s student newspaper, the Daily Collegian, black student groups grow increasingly frustrated throughout the year with a lack of diversity in the newsroom’s reporting. That frustration boils over when the students hold a press conference to air their concerns about campus, and the article calls it a “rally” — a term with an intense, angry connotation too easily assigned to black organizers. In this instance, the Daily Collegian lost the trust of its audience. Undoubtedly, The State News has contributed to this distrust within portions of our own audience.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKLIVESMATTER Students who are registered as a full time student and paid The State News subscription fee for the current semester may receive a refund of that fee if they do not wish to support the student newspaper. Refunds will be paid during the first 10 days of classes at 435 E. Grand River. Proof of payment of the fee and a photo ID must be presented. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
We recognize our coverage is too often skewed toward the “white male from Oakland County.” Minorities have always been underrepresented in news coverage, and groups that are included in the narrative are not always represented fairly or accurately. For that, we are sorry. We take full responsibility for the times we’ve been tone deaf or ignorant. In failing to represent those groups fairly and accurately, we do a disservice to not just those audiences, but all of our readers. We recognize talking with minorities and marginalized groups can’t be something we simply do once a year for this MLK issue. Equality is not a trending topic or clickbait. It is — and should be — a never-ending conversation. The best thing we can do to solve the issue is to keep communication lines open both ways. On one hand, we can’t fix things if we don’t realize they’re broken. We need our readers, our voice, to keep us in check. Still, as journalists, the burden falls on us to do more than encourage you to hand these stories to us. We have to actively seek those stories out. This doesn’t just mean reporting on the latest
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act of racism and seeking out predictably angry responses. It’s all too easy to swoop in when issues are aplenty, or when there’s a major news story we can’t ignore. Too often, that’s what “minority coverage” is: something happens that hurts an already-repressed community, and we ask them to relive it and explain why it makes them mad so we can have something to print. We want to go beyond that, and report on the victories Spartans of all backgrounds achieve. MSU is home to Puerto Rican students Angelica Medina-Cucurella and Sylmarie Davila-Montero, who organized a collection drive for hurricane victims in their home country. They serve as one of many examples of the amazing hearts and minds The State News too often overlooks. Minority groups deserve to be recognized for more than their struggles. While personal strife is surely important, only seeking out those stories is only seeking out half the truth. Only seeking out those stories means we’re not doing our job. By committing to changing this, hopefully we can break the narrative that angry voices are the only ones that matter to the mainstream press. This is why newspapers are published: to re-
port on the issues and events that affect everyone’s lives, not just issues and events that affect the majority. We want to make sure we do our part to promote a truly welcoming environment, where saying “your life matters” is a truth, not a catchphrase. We can do better, and we will. That’s our promise to an audience that’s much more diverse than our coverage suggests. We want to be every student’s voice. If you have experienced racial bias or violence and want to share your story, please email editorinchief@statenews. com or call the newsroom at (517) 2955149. To report experienced racial bias or violence to local authorities, call MSUPD at (517) 355-2221 or the ELPD at (517) 351-4220. The State News Editorial Board is made up of the Editor-in-Chief Rachel Fradette, Managing Editor McKenna Ross, Campus Editor Madison O’Connor, City Editor Souichi Terada, Features Editor Sasha Zidar, Sports Editor Jonathan LeBlanc, Copy Chief Casey Holland, Staff Representative Marie Weidmayer and Inclusion Representative Maxwell Evans.
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MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY CELEBRATION January 15, 2018 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM MSU Erickson Hall Kiva, 620 Farm Ln East Lansing, MI 48824
Am I Complicit or Do I Stand Apart? Keynote Presentation by Karlin J. Tichenor, PhD, LLMFT Music by Ward Skillz, Mitten Mayhem Radio 89.7 FM and Spoken Word Performace by Zain Shamoon Free Event. Refreshments will be provided. Sponsored by the MSU SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee https://socialwork.msu.edu/About-Us/Diversity-Committee
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2018 NOON AT THE BRESLIN STUDENT EVENT CENTER Tune in on FOX (TV),
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OVERALL RECORD 15-2 BIG TEN RECORD 3-1 POINTS PER GAME 87 3 POINT PERCENTAGE 41.4%
OVERALL RECORD 14-4 BIG TEN RECORD 3-2 POINTS PER GAME 76 3 POINT PERCENTAGE 37.3%
Miles Bridges 16.9 POINTS PER GAME 7.6 REBOUNDS PER GAME 46.3 PERCENT FROM THE FLOOR
RHA would like to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by asking you to not only remember popular moments in history but to remember the man behind them. He was a Reverend boycotted by churches, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose children were nearly bombed and a Civil Rights leader who was denied the right to live. Speak out about his contributions to society. “…we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” -MLK 16
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THURSDAY, JANUA RY 1 1 , 2 01 8
Moritz Wagner 13.9 POINTS PER GAME 7.1 REBOUNDS PER GAME 54.9 PERCENT FROM THE FLOOR GRAPHICS BY CHRISTOPHER BROWN