Hockey team shows skills in shoot out challenge
Opinion: Cuts to film industry incentives hurts state
BP gas station might be replaced with apartments
SPORTS, PAGE 8
OPINION, PAGE 4
CAMPUS+CITY, PAGE 5
Freshman forward Connor Wood DANYELLE MORROW/ THE STATE NEWS
Weather Partly cloudy High 35° | Low 25° Michigan State University’s independent voice | statenews.com | East Lansing, Mich. | Tuesday, February 12, 2013
BASKETBALL
OLD RIVALRY RENEWED AS NO. 4 U-M VISITS MSU By Dillon Davis davisdi4@msu.edu THE STATE NEWS ■■
Derrick Nix remembers the first time he played Michigan. More than that, he remembers a lesson he learned in a practice days before it. During the 2009-10 season, then-freshman Nix readied for one the nation’s fiercest rivalries along with Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers and the rest of then-No. 5 MSU men’s basketball team. But playing around in a mid-January practice resulted in a sharp and succinct tonguelashing from a couple of the team’s most notorious leaders. It was a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.
See page 7 for five things MSU must do to win tonight “(Draymond Green) and Raymar Morgan kind of put me in my place,” Nix recalled Monday. “They were like ‘This isn’t a regular game. You’re playing Michigan.’ I didn’t know how much it meant and it just rubbed off and now I feel the same way.” Now a senior, Nix said he’s carried a similar intensity into the practices leading up to Tuesday’s showdown with No. 4 Michigan. And this time around, the team needs every ounce of intensity Nix has to spare. The No. 8 Spartans (20-4 overall, 9-2 Big Ten) host the Wolverines (21-3, 8-3) at Breslin Center (9 p.m., ESPN) in the first-ever matchup between the two teams
More online … To see players and coaches discuss the U-M game, visit statenews.com.
See MICHIGAN on page 2 X
Wired up, ready to go By Simon Schuster and RuAnne Walworth THE STATE NEWS ■■
ADAM TOOLIN/ THE STATE NEWS
More online … To hear students’ takes on new technology coming to campus, visit statenews.com/multimedia.
said. “The changes that have occurred in the last 10 to 20 years are just fantastic. Very, very rapid.” Plugging in MSU has a staff of dozens focusing solely on technology issues, such as programming, troubleshooting and day-today student help calls. MSU’s Information Technology , or IT Services, staff along with the general faculty at MSU work together to give students the best programming and technological help they can. Brendan Guenther, director of MSU’s IT Department, said technology is important for the classroom, but more important is ensuring students and faculty alike know what’s at their fi ngertips. “People need to believe in the influential effects of technology,” Guenther said. “Tech-
Owl City plays to sold out crowd Owl City lead singer Adam Young performs Monday night at The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing.
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Two reported assaults on campus this weekend, including one rape, are under investigation by MSU police. MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said on Saturday an 18-year-old female student reportedly was sexually assaulted in Wonders Hall, and two female students said they were physically assaulted by an intoxicated
entered the unlocked room of an 19-year-old female student in Snyder Hall, locked the door behind him and slapped her, McGlothian-Taylor said. She was able to get away and enter the room of a 20-year-old female on the same floor, McGlothian-Taylor said. The male reportedly entered the second room and grabbed one of the women, at which point the other woman sprayed him with pepper spray. To read the full brief, visit statenews.com. DARCIE MORAN
entirely in 2015 , but this closure of MSU’s interactive program for students does not mean every classroom automatically will switch to Desire2Learn. This date solidifies the end of an era for MSU class programming, merging into a better online source for students and staff, Guenther said. “For now, our focus is helping
those get on the new technology services fi rst, so it all looks better than ANGEL,” he said. From Blackboard to ANGEL to Desire2Learn, MSU IT Services has focused mainly on ensuring these course management systems’ proper performance, but Punya Mishra, See TECHNOLOGY on page 2 X
Marijuana dispensaries ruled illegal THE STATE NEWS
male in Snyder Hall. The reported rape in Wonders Hall occurred after a female victim went with a friend to the residence hall, where a group of individuals were drinking alcohol. After laying down to go to sleep, the female was reportedly assaulted by an individual that had been with the group, McGlothian-Taylor said. It is unknown whether the suspect is a student, she said. Also in the early morning hours of Saturday, a 20-yearold male student reportedly
JULIA NAGY/THE STATE NEWS
Wires at the data center in the Computer Center on Monday. The university’s data is stored in a secure facility in black metal cabinets.
GOVE R N M E NT
rowekell@msu.edu
See CONCERT on page 6
TWO ON-CAMPUS ASSAULTS REPORTED
nology is only as useful as the ways in which you know you can use it.” From courses on library management to basic PowerPoint use , the IT staff helps computer-based skills come second nature to interested professors. Not only does MSU encourage staff to take these refresher courses, it supports faculty workshops such as The Explorations in Instructional Technology Brown Bag Seminar, Guenther said. In reality, many of the older professors are stronger in the field of classroom technology and willing to spend more time learning about it than younger professors are, Guenther said. A remaining question with students and staff is what the gradual switch between the programs ANGEL and Desire2Learn will hold for MSU. ANGEL will be shut down
By Kellie Rowe
— Justin Wan, SN
CRIME BRIEF
MSU focuses on becoming hightech in digital age Computer Engineering senior and IT Services employee Pedro Rodriguez talks with packaging senior Jack Sherwood about an issue with his computer Monday at the Computer Center. Technology at MSU is becoming a more integrative part of the learning environment.
walwor12@msu.edu, schust61@msu.edu
MSU is a university in revolution. Throughout the 21st century, the university has become more interconnected as laptops have multiplied in lecture halls and the resources students use to learn gradually have begun to shift online. Some experts argue these changes are part of a paradigm shift in education. Others believe although the method of delivery might evolve, the fundamentals of education will remain unchanged. This debate aside, one thing is certain: The digital era is changing the way MSU educates. In her Bolder by Design plan slated to be presented at today’s State of the University, President Lou Anna K. Simon has included implementing new ways to use technology in classrooms. It recently was announced the billiard room in the Union , which has been opened since the 1950s, will be transformed into a high-tech classroom after spring break. Richard Brandenburg is the associate dean for graduate programs and assistant dean for undergraduate programs at the College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. Brandenburg was an undergraduate at MSU in 1965, later joining the faculty in 1978, and has seen MSU transition to a more digitally-integrated learning environment. Although Brandenburg does not allow laptops or cell phones to be used in his classrooms because they cause distractions, he understands the new avenues for communication technology opens. “(Technology) certainly has changed communication between students and faculty and students and their instructors,” Brandenburg
Three-day forecast, Page 2
Michigan law enforcement officers now have the authority to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries after a new court ruling was issued Friday, potentially forcing thousands of county residents to fi nd a new way to purchase the drug. The Michigan Supreme Court issued a 4-1 ruling Friday affi rming medical marijuana dispensaries can be shut down under Michigan’s public nuisance law. Medical marijuana no longer can be sold between patients — only between caregivers and patients registered with the state. The ruling came from a lawsuit Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and former Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick fi led against Compassionate Apothecary, a marijuana dispensary in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Compassionate Apothecary’s membership program between Michi-
gan-registered patients and caregivers violated the state’s marijuana act. Burdick said the shop was a public nuisance, and the voters who approved the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act in 2008 didn’t vote to allow businesses to sell marijuana. Instead, they voted for an exception to allow only those with serious medical problems to use marijuana. Brad Forrester, a caregiver and a program director of Michigan’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said this doesn’t necessarily mean dispensaries have to close down immediately, but it does mean courts view the shops as illegal and county law enforcement can prosecute them if they choose. Forrester said the new ruling could make it more difficult for Michigan residents to access medical marijuana. “This is also a restriction to a patient’s health care choices, and this is a restriction of their civil liberties,” he said. Schuette praised the courts for clearing up misconceptions about the medical marijuana act. “Michigan’s highest court
Top counties for medical marijuana Top 6 patients Wayne 14,736 Oakland 11,117 Macomb 8,319 Genesee 8,231 Kent 6,002 Ingham 4,893 Total: 124,131
Top 6 caregivers Wayne 5,515 Oakland 4,425 Macomb 3,542 Genesee 3,336 Ingham 2,276 Kent 2,246 Total: 50,188 SOURCE: MICHIGAN.GOV
clarified this law is narrowly focused to help the seriously ill, not an open door to unrestricted retail marijuana sales,” he said in a statement. Forrester said he knows of at least 10 Michigan dispensaSee MARIJUANA on page 2 X