RISE chalks up sidewalks in honor of Earth Day Doctoral student Kate Glanville draws with chalk Tuesday outside Bailey Hall. Betsy Agosta /The State News
statenews.com | 4/23/14 | @thesnews
FEATURES, pG. 5
Michigan State University’s independent voice trustees
Room and board price hikes on the horizon for most students
Construction ahead for East Lansing
Home plate advantage
Several roads to close for repair during spring and summer
Baseball team defeats Toledo 4-2 at home
campus+city, pG. 3
sports, pG. 6
Farmers in Training Each year, several students dig deep to learn the art of organic farming
By Olivia Dimmer odimmer@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
Students will have to pay $344 more in food and housing fees next year after the MSU Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a 3.95 percent hike to double room and silver meal plan packages. Overall, the rate for room and board will rise to $9,154 in the 2014-15 year. The board approved the hike unanimously and with no public comment.
Room and board fees will be raised to $9,154 in the 2014-15 year in a 3.95 percent hike approved by the Board of Trustees Residential and Hospitality Services Vice President for Auxiliary Enterprises Vennie Gore said during the meeting one of the main reasons for the increase was a concern about pork, beef and corn scarcity following a recent drought in the West. “Food will be a very volatile cost this year,” Gore said. Although no fee increase was applied to Spartan Village, the board voted to increase the cost of living at University Village by 2.2 percent. This is the first increase the apartment complex has had in three years, Gore said. The new rate at University Village will total $705 per person per month for a four-bedroom apartment. The decision to raise room and board fees came just one day after MSU Students United petitioned the trustees to place a freeze on all tuition. After being presented with the petition, which had more than 3,000 signatures, Board of Trustees Chairman Joel Ferguson maintained that he would continue to do what was best for MSU. He See HOUSING on page 2 u
photos by erin Hampton/The State News
Lansing resident and assistant instructor Russell Honderd harvests parsnips April 16 at the MSU Student Organic Farm on College Road. Students go through hands-on training for nine months to receive a certificate from MSU Student Organic Farm and MSU Department of Horticulture. Lansing resident and assistant instructor Russell Honderd harvests parsnips April 16 at the MSU Student Organic Farm on College Road.
By Michael Kransz mkransz@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
A
lthough most students apply what they have learned in lectures by writing term papers and filling out multiplechoice exams, some students display their knowledge out in the field with dirt-caked hands.
For those studying at the MSU Student Organic Farm, the coursework is dictated by each growing season, and failing an assignment means less food on the table. After class, horticulture junior Michael Klacking travels past agricultural research centers and down
dirt roads to the 15-acre farm located on the grounds of the Horticulture Teaching and Research Center near the southern edge of campus. Klacking is a member of the farm crew, a group of graduate and undergraduate students who work on See FARMERS on page 2 u
To view a timeline of the Student Organic Farm’s history, visit statenews.com/multimedia.
G R A D U AT i o n
capitol
Beaumont Tower opens for seniors
U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Michigan’s affirmative action ban By Sergio Martínez-Beltrán smartinez@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
Family community services senior Rachel Nurenberg and human biology junior Clinton Korneffel listen to Williamston resident Sally Harwood play the Carillon on Tuesday during a tour of Beaumont Tower. The graduating senior tour was put on by MSU Association of Future Alumni, Senior Class Council and University Activities Board. — Erin Hampton, SN See the story on page 3
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan’s affirmative action ban, preventing MSU and the state’s 14 other public universities from using race as a factor in their admissions processes. The ruling overturned a 2012 decision by U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found Michigan’s affirmative action ban in violation of the 14th amendment ’s equal protection clause. But the court ’s ruling alone will not likely affect MSU’s current admissions policies. A d m i n i s t r ator s h av e b e haved c aut iou sly i n recent years, instead favoring surrogate metrics such as socioeconomic status and
She also said that the unigeographic area to achieve a more diverse student body on versity “can’t grant preference campus. of treatment based on race of Sp e a k i n g w it h r e p or t- students.” ers Tuesday, MSU President In 2006, Michigan voters Lou Anna K. Simon stopped passed an amendment to the short of calling the ruling a state constitution stating that hinderance to the university’s Michigan universities “shall recruiting efforts. not discriminate against, “I t h i n k it or grant preferential would have treatment to, any indipermitvidual or group on ted us to the basis of race, Our admission employ sex, color, ethnicprocesses have always some ity, or national stratorigin in … pubconsisted of a holistic egies lic education.” review.” and tacThe measure tics that passed with 58 are, by percent of Michsenior advisor to definition, i g an voters in Pres. Simon a bit more support. direct,” Simon Black Student Alliance said. President Tyler Clif ford “Our admission process- said even though he was not es have always consisted of a against admitting students holistic review. We take into to college based on universal account a lot of factors,” Pau- standards, he is worried about lette Granberr y Russell, a senior advisor to Simon, added. See COURT on page 2 u
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—Paulette Granberry russell,