B-ball team to face Purdue
Changing hands
Transcending the page
Council of Graduate Students to elect new president
Comic book artist and writer Nate Powell to visit E.L.
campus+city, pG. 5
features, pG. 6
Sophomore guard Gary Harris
statenews.com | 2/20/14 | @thesnews Michigan State University’s independent voice
Julia Nagy/The State News
sports, pG. 8
A State News 2-part series addressing student safety in East Lansing. Part 1: On-Campus.
po l i t i c s
Calling safety into question
House subcommittee reviews proposed higher ed funding
In the wake of high-profile violence, officials address campus emergency preparedness
By Simon Schuster
By Olivia Dimmer odimmer@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
I
t happened at Purdue. It happened at Ferris State. And on Jan. 31, it happened here. The past two months have been tumultuous for MSU. Reports of shootings at other Big Ten and state universities, particularly even a shooting death near MSU’s own campus, have shaken the stu-
dent body and left MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon with one grim reminder: No one is immune to violence. This sentiment, which Simon first explained in the wake of the Purdue University on-campus shooting in January, was reiterated at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting. The reminder prompted her to address outright what she referred to as “destructive behaviors,” including peer-to-peer violence. Other violent crimes, such as sexual assault, also have been concerning to university staff and students.
Several sexual assaults have been reported on campus this school year, and university estimates indicate only one in five rapes on campus ever reach officials. D u r i ng her com ment s, Simon seemed at a loss as to how to handle the recurrence of “destructive behavior” appropriately. “I’m really perplexed on how best to deal with this,” Simon said. “We are limited about what we can do in terms of the difference of the university and it’s access to programs and opportunities into a residence hall. We are also limited in what can hap-
pen in places that are near us, but not of us.” Such was the case with the Cedar Street shooting. Hospitality business sophomore Dominique “D.J.” Nolff died on Feb. 1 after he was shot the night before in his apartment on the 200 block of Cedar Street. The shooting happened at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 31. Two hours and 20 minutes later, MSU police sent out a text alerting students to the shooting. Many university officials say the school is adequately preSee SAFETY on page 2 u
charity
sschuster@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
LANSING — A recommendation for funding Michigan’s public universities that would restore MSU to about half of the funding cut during Snyder’s first year in office was reviewed by the House Higher Education Subcommittee Wednesday. Gov. Rick Snyder’s recommendation calls for a 6.1 percent increase from the previous year, which equates to a little over $15 million. Snyder recommended returning $76.9 million to universities in the upcoming fiscal year. Robbie Jameson, t he State Budget Office’s director of office of education and infrastructure, said half of the funds will be allocated to universities based on the levels before Snyder took office. The other half would be appropriated through a system government officials refer to as performance funding. It quantifies university performance through a number of factors such as sixyear graduation rates, the number of degrees completed and the amount spent on research and development. This year, Snyder’s proposal included the number of Pell Grant students as a marker of performance funding. MSU had almost 10,000 Pell Grant recipients two academic years ago. Kyle Jen, fiscal analyst for the higher education budget, said different ways of measuring performance lead to discrepancies in proposals
from the governor, House and Senate. “This’ll be the third year the discussion revolves around performance funding,” Jen said. “The differences between the House and the Senate and the governor’s proposal are really just a function of which performance meters they choose and how they implement them.” Snyder also proposed the establishment of a $100 million competitive bond aimed at increasing and retaining engineering graduates in Michigan. According to the proposal, the fund would be used for “capital improvements related to the construction, expansion, renovation, repurposing and equipping of facilities.” Institutions such as MSU would have to submit requests for propos- Kyle Jen, al and would Fiscal compete with analyst each other for for higher education the funds. The College budget of Engineering spent about a year working with the governor alongside other engineering schools on the proposal, the college’s acting dean and engineering professor Leo Kempel said. He said Michigan businesses have a shortage of engineers. “The economy is evolving
“ “This’ll be the third year the discussion revolves around performance funding.”
See FUNDING on page 2 u
Past state budget amounts 300 Synder takes office Jan. 1, 2011
Julia Nagy/The State News
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Human biology junior Nico Harrington bikes Tuesday at Powerhouse Gym, 4790 S Hagadorn Rd. Harrington is training for a charity event with his members of his fraternity, Pi Kappi Phi, this summer to bike more than 800 miles across Florida.
Students prepare to bike 865 miles
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By Emily Jenks
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ejenks@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
Nico Harrington and Karl Ochs will finish their finals in May with visions of Florida running through their minds — but not for the sandy beaches or resort hotels. Harrington and Ochs will be bicycling more than 800 miles through Florida with about 35 of their Pi Kappa Phi fraternity
brothers from across the nation for a charity event, Gear Up Florida. The event, organized by Push America, has participants bike 865 miles from May 8-24 to raise and personally donate money to families with disabilities. Push America is a nonprofit organization owned and operated by Pi Kappa Phi members that focuses on aiding people with disabilities with fundraising and construction projects.
Harrington, a human biology and premedical junior, rushed Pi Kappa Phi his freshman year because he was inspired by a fraternity brother who did Gear up Florida who told stories about his experiences, he said. “That’s what I want to do,” Harrington said. “I want to be the reason why (disabled people) are here today or had a surgery to help them.” Ochs, a biochemistry and molecular biology sophomore,
was more hesitant about signing up because of the cycling aspect, he said. “I ended up wanting to do it because I always think its important that if you’re able to do charity events and raise money that you should,” Ochs said. The organization’s values — ability, teamwork, empathy and integrity — are evident in Gear
See BIKERS on page 2 u
0 2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
Fiscal year KEY Granholm
Snyder
House
Senate
Enacted
H ou se an d S en ate d raf t p rop osal s b ased of f th e g over n or ’s recommen d ati on . Di f feren ces are i ron ed ou t b efore th e f u n d i n g i s en ac ted i n to l aw.
source: michigan state legisl ature grpahic by paige grennan
bangladeshi worker visits campus in human rights effort By Michael Kransz mkransz@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
A student group is campaigning for MSU to take further action in protecting the human rights of sweatshop laborers who could be facing inhumane conditions. In an effort to rally students into pressuring administrators for a policy change, the MSU chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops hosted a Bangladeshi garment worker, who shared her story of surviving a factory collapse that claimed more than 1,100 lives. Through a translator, Reba Sikder told of how she left home for the textile factories at age 14,
eventually earning $90 a month for 450 hours of labor. At the Bangladesh factory that collapsed in 2013, structural damage was noted and dismissed, and the workers, Sikder included, were threatened with being fired if they did not return into the building. W h at fol lowe d, Si kde r described, was a horrifying experience of entrapment — hours of searching in the dark for an escape out from under the massive pile of rubble. The survivors were surrounded by their mangled and dead coworkers, and some resorted to drinking bodily fluids to survive. It is unclear whether the factory produced university-
affiliated apparel, but United Students Against Sweatshops International Campaign Coordinator Garrett Strain said MSU should take further steps to make sure a similar disaster doesn’t happen in the factories of the brands they do business with. For MSU to aid in preventing similar factory disasters, Strain argued the university should require their licensed brands to sign an accord on fire and building safety that would hold them responsible for repairing and renovating factories in Bangladesh with hazardous conditions. “None of us want to see an See WORKERS on page 2 u
Executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity Kalpona Akter, right, translates for Rana Plaza factory collapse survivor Reba Sikder during a talk hosted by the MSU United Students Against Sweatshops on Wednesday in the Union. Danyelle Morrow/The State News