Dawson hitting his stride after recovery
Flu season decreases Red Cross blood donations
MSU’s interesting and unknown places
SPORTS, PAGE 10
FEATURES, PAGE 7
CAMPUS+CITY, PAGE 5
Animal science junior Kaytie Woodard JULIA NAGY/THE STATE NEWS
Weather Partly cloudy High 19° | Low 13° Three-day forecast, Page 2
Michigan State University’s independent voice | statenews.com | East Lansing, Mich. | Thursday, January 24, 2013
P R I VACY
MSU EMAIL NOT COVERED BY PRIVACY ACT LEGISLATION By Kellie Rowe rowekell@msu.edu THE STATE NEWS ■■
Although new legislation protects students from nosy employers demanding passwords to their social media and email accounts, students’ MSU email passwords still can be accessed by university officials. The Internet Privacy Protection Act prohibits employers and educational institutions, such as MSU, from requiring employees or students to provide their passwords to email or social media accounts. However, passwords to privately-owned email accounts, such as msu.edu or a company account, are not protected by the new law. According to the law, employers and universities that dismiss, punish or fail to admit a student who does not provide passwords to applicable accounts will be penalized. House Bill 5523 was signed during Michigan Legislature’s lame duck session in December and took effect immediately.
Bill creator state Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, said in earlier decades, privacy intrusions were physical — someone rummaging through another person’s mail or peeping into their living room window — but now everything’s digital and private lives are online. “I think that it’s important to ensure that our privacy laws are updated to reflect that change,” Nesbitt said. Nesbitt said he worked on the bill with MSU’s Assistant Vice President for State Affairs David Bertram, who felt the original wording of the bill was unclear as to whether MSU could require students provide the university with passwords to their MSU email accounts. “It made it look like we couldn’t have any oversight of regulation over email accounts that we give out to students,” Bertram said. The bill was changed to include language that con-
TWO
a tale of
CITIES Recent laws discussed by East Lansing City Council highlight differences in visions for future
See PRIVACY on page 2 X
T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
New roads could mean increased cost at pump By Kellie Rowe rowekell@msu.edu THE STATE NEWS ■■
Driving over potholes and broken concrete on the way to class could become a thing of the past, but it might mean increasing fuel taxes or raising the state sales tax to 8 percent. During his State of the State address last week, Gov. Rick Snyder announced his goal for 2013: reconstructing Michigan’s roads. In East Lansing, the Michigan Department of Transportation has plans to makeover Grand River Avenue and Michigan Avenue in March. The roads are slated to be resurfaced and upgraded with 8-foot-wide sidewalks, new traffic signals and intersection improvements. But Snyder admitted fixing roads, as well as bridges and harbors, will come at a cost. In his address, Snyder said Michiganians pay at least $81 more in vehicle repairs than surrounding states from unkept roads. To fund construction, he presented a “user tax” — that is, Michigan residents should be
willing to fund the $1.2 billion project because they use roads throughout the state daily. This week, lawmakers put together two tax proposals to fund construction. One would increase statewide sales tax. The other would tax drivers at the pump. The first plan would hike the state’s sales tax from 6 percent to 8 percent. The extra money raised from the 2 percent increase would be dedicated to fund road construction. Michigan already has a higher sales tax compared to the nation’s 5.1 percent average. Five states have no sales tax, and six have the highest tax rate at about 7 percent, according to the Sales Tax Institute. Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, created plan B, which includes taxing gasoline at the wholesale level and increasing vehicle registration fees, but the plan still is in the works. “Over the next couple of months, I will continue to See TAXES on page 2 X
By Michael Koury
The 50-50 ordinance, which restricts restaurants in East Lansing from having alcohol sales exceed 50 percent of total revenue in a 90-day period, was put in place in the late 1980s to control excessive drinking in the city. Although council members discussed eliminating the requirement for businesses to report alcohol sales, the requirement remained in place. “I think it’s a worthwhile goal not to have a large number of bars that just sell alcohol,” Councilmember Kathy Boyle said. When the Black Cat Bistro, a new restaurant coming to downtown East Lansing, was approved by the council, East Lansing Mayor Diane Goddeeris expressed concerns that “the money is in the alcohol versus the money in the fine dining.” Although the bistro was approved by the council, the decision
kourymic@msu.edu THE STATE NEWS ■■
“East Lansing: City of the Arts.” A banner with these words hanging across an abandoned building on 100 W. Grand River Ave. signify the new identity the East Lansing City Council envisions for the city. East Lansing also goes by another nickname seen on its website, “East Lansing: the Home of Michigan State University.” Despite both calling East Lansing home, city officials’ and students’ visions for the city don’t always align. There have been mixed reactions among students and businesses to rules regulating college havens such as bars and hookah lounges in the area. East Lansing City Council is faced with accommodating 43,000 full-time students at a school with a party reputation while dealing with about 48,579 permanent residents whose idea of a fun Friday night might not necessarily mean a trip to the bars. “All the rules are trying to strike a balance,” said Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett. “There are negative behaviors. ... Rules are intended to address those concerns.”
To read an editorial on the future of East Lansing, see page 4 to approve the restaurant’s liquor license was postponed. The recently proposed hookah lounge ban, which is set for a public hearing at council’s Feb. 5 meeting, would prohibit cigar bars and specialty tobacco shops, including hookah lounges, from establishing in East Lansing. Triplett said the ban is intended to create a diversity of businesses and address public safety, such as reducing residents’ exposure to the health effects of smoking. “If there are too many of any type of establishments, it makes downtown a less attractive place for peo-
The goal In the past several months, East Lansing City Council has discussed several ordinances meant to help the city, but it might have created red tape for services catering to a college crowd.
More online … To see restaurants affected by the 50/50 law, visit statenews.com.
See EAST LANSING on page 2 X PHOTO ILLUSTR ATION BY JUSTIN WAN/SN | ART DIRECTION BY K AYLEY SOPEL/SN
Women’s basketball team has core in bench Senior forward Courtney Schiffauer, left, sophomore center Jasmine Hines, junior guard Klarissa Bell and sophomore guard Kiana Johnson celebrate on Jan. 17, 2013, at Breslin Center. The Spartans beat the Hawkeyes, 65-54. — Julia Nagy, The State News See BIG OFF THE BENCH on page 9
RESEARCH
Mich. schools help boost economy with research By Samantha Radecki radeckis@msu.edu THE STATE NEWS ■■
For the most part, it was research that brought Bingwei Xu to MSU from Beijing. As MSU’s research initiatives put the university on top nationally for its involvement in the University Research Corridor, or URC, a collaboration between MSU, University of Michigan and Wayne State University, Xu and other MSU community members are recognizing the economic impacts of this cooperation on Michigan. According to the 2012 Economic Impact Report of the URC, the universities generated $15.5 billion
toward Michigan’s economy — a number URC Executive Director Jeff Mason said is spread throughout the state in company development and the growing number of working professionals. In 2011, URC research expenditures exceeded $2 billion, and its research and development growth rate was number one among the nation’s six other research clusters — a 43 percent increase during the past five years, according to the URC report. Of the $2 billion the triad had in 2011 for research and development, 60 percent came from federal grants, about 30 percent came from the universities’ pockSee RESEARCH on page 2 X