Thursday 11/30/17

BRINGING TO LIGHT The State News investigates sexual misconduct at MSU fraternity houses.

Pages 4-5

Illustrated by Daena Faustino

holiday guide edition from the state news

SEE PAGES 6 & 7 FOR LOCAL DEALS AND EVENTS T HU R S DAY, N OVE MB E R 30, 2 017

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News

Riley Murdock City editor city@statenews.com

Homecoming marks largest guest surge in East Lansing Airbnb rentals

BY MILA MURRAY MMURRAY@STATENEWS.COM

Airbnb host communities in East Lansing and Lansing welcomed 1,155 guests during the MSU football season, providing lodging for visitors staying in the city for a home game.

During the Homecoming game vs. Indiana on Oct. 21 to Oct. 22, East Lansing and Lansing saw its largest surge of travelers in the history of Airbnb’s platform, according to a press release.

The spokesman for Airbnb Midwest, Benjamin Breit, said Airbnb is working to provide housing when hotels become overbooked on these kinds of weekends.

He recalled his graduation from the University of Virginia where his parents had to book a hotel room to visit two years in advance and the lack of housing choices at the time.

Now, Airbnb host communities in college towns are becoming common.

“Particularly in Michigan State’s case, not only is it a destination for football weekends, but the team happens to be really good this year,” Breit said. “There’s more excitement both from the Spartan fans themselves and some of these opposing fans.”

Airbnb host Ryan Andrews typically gets inquiries from professors or researchers that have been hired at MSU and need temporary lodging to work. In his listing on the Airbnb site, he advertises his proximity to the Cyclotron and Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, where a lot of his guests work. So far, he said, he’s had only positive experiences.

“With Airbnb everybody’s on their best behavior because I can write a review for them,” Andrews said. “And if it’s not good, somebody

You’re talking about thousands and thousands of people per weekend who want to go to the game, who want to stay and truly experience the community and spend money in the process.

Now they have that option because home sharing is becoming such a factor.”

BENJAMIN BREIT Spokesman for Airbnb Midwest else isn’t going to welcome them into their own home.”

Breit said that over 58 percent of the 110 Lansing and East Lansing residents who share their spaces via Airbnb’s platform are listing just one room in their home to guests.

Some of the reasons for hosts having space available included children leaving for college and in Andrews’ case, issues with roommates.

During last year’s U-M vs. MSU game, Andrews

CAMPUS CENTER CINEMA

Sparty makes an appearance during the Homecoining Parade on Oct. 20 along Abbot Road.

During Homecoming week, Airbnb reported the highest ever amount of guests in East Lansing’s history. PHOTO BY SYLVIA JARRUS

AIRBNB

BY T H E NU MB E RS With Airbnb everybody’s on their best behavior because I can write a review for them.

And if it’s not good, somebody else isn’t going to welcome them into their own home.”

NOW FEATURING

RYAN ANDREWS East Lansing Airbnb host

Nov. 30 Dec. 3 IT

KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

Thurs: Wilson Aud, 9:00 PM & Conrad Aud, 8:30 PM

Fri & Sat: 119B Wells Hall, 8:00 PM Sun: Conrad Aud, 8:00 PM

Fri& Sat: 115B Wells Hall, 8:30 PM & 117B Wells Hall, 7:30 PM Sun: Wilson Aud, 8:30 PM

Dec. 7-9 2

Battle of the Sexes Thurs: Wilson Aud 8:30 PM

Wind River Thurs: Conrad Aud 9:00 PM

Fri: 115 B Wells Hall 7:00 PM

Fri: 119 B Wells Hall 7:15 PM

Sat: 115 B Wells Hall 9:15 PM

Sat: 119 B Wells Hall 9:10 PM

THE STATE N E WS

THURSDAY, NOVEMB E R 30, 2 01 7

hosted two graduate students from U-M. They spent the weekend exploring the city and experiencing East Lansing nightlife.

“You’re talking about thousands and thousands of people per weekend who want to go to the game, who want to stay and truly experience the community and spend money in the process,” Breit said. “Now they have that option because home sharing is becoming such a factor.”

According to the release, hotels in the East Lansing and Lansing area have also had an increasing rate of occupancy, contrary to the belief that Airbnb is taking away from the hotel industry, Breit said.

“Lansing and East Lansing are experiencing a hotel boom,” Breit said. “Hotels are really doing well and I think that’s indicative of the fact that people want to be in this area. They want to be in East Lansing, whether it’s for something that’s related to the university or the football game in this case, or just generally experiencing the region. It’s obviously an increasingly attractive destination.”

1,155 guests at Airbnb host communities Oct. 21-22 homecoming weekend

110

Airbnb hosts in East Lansing

$17

thousand in supplemental income to East Lasing businesses The increase in visitors coming to the East Lansing area has not only helped the hosts and the Airbnb platform economically, a lot of small businesses in the area have felt the effects of the increased revenue too, Breit said.

The city earned $83,000 in supplemental income during MSU’s home football weekends.

“If people are going to be a guest and travel and stay at an Airbnb, that’s somebody else’s home,” Andrews said. “It takes a lot of guts, it takes a lot of trust, it takes a lot of courage to just welcome a stranger into your personal privacy. If travelers look at it that way, I think everybody is going to a have a really good Airbnb experience.”

Contents

McKenna Ross Managing editor mross@statenews.com

ONLINE AT STATENEWS.COM

Country Mill: Judge drops four claims

Preview: MSU Basketball vs.

Notre Dame

Listen Friday: The State News Podcast

Five of the nine claims made in a “religious freedom” lawsuit against East Lansing will proceed.

Men’s Basketball Reporter Michael Duke previews the Spartans taking the floor in the Big Ten-ACC challenge.

Football Reporter Souichi Terada and Sports Editor Sam Metry discuss MSU’s football bowl prediction.

19

BY T H E N U M B E R S

Alleged sexual assaults reported at fraternity houses since 2012.

See pages 4-5

“I covered this team last season — as head coach Tom Izzo trekked his team through ‘uncharted territory’ plagued with inexperience and depth issues. Not many in my position are fortunate enough to get to cover the same team two years in a row and for that, I’m thankful.”

Casey Harrison Men’s basketball beat reporter See page 9

Larry Nassar’s attorney Matt Newburg listens to the judge during the plea hearing on Nov. 29 at the Eaton County Friend of Court. Nassar pleaded guilty to three counts. PHOTO: MATT SCHMUCKER

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Spotlight

Inside the houses: The State News

BY MARIE WEIDMAYER MWEIDMAYER@STATENEWS.COM

A

mid national attention on allegations of misconduct throughout Greek life on college campuses, a State News analysis found nearly 20 alleged sexual assaults were reported at fraternity houses in East Lansing since 2012, though none resulted in criminal charges or convictions.

Several universities recently suspended Greek Life after allegations of hazing, sexual assault and alcohol abuse, including the University of Michigan and Florida State University.

In five years, 19 sexual assaults were reported at fraternity houses in East Lansing, according to East Lansing police reports obtained

by The State News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Data was requested on the 29 fraternities that either are or were part of MSU’s Interfraternity Council, or IFC, and had a chapter house in the past five years. Eleven of the fraternities had sexual assaults reported.

The 19 cases are approximately the expected number, East Lansing Police Deputy Chief Steve Gonzalez said. Only 20 percent of college students report assault, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

At MSU, the highest number of reported assaults occurred at Delta Kappa Epsilon. The house has four alleged assaults reported since September 2015. It did not have any reports before then.

“When you’re looking at the numbers themselves, certainly that shows a spike,” Gonzalez said.

Beta Zeta has the second highest amount of alleged incidents reported, with three reported since March 2015. Beta Zeta operated from

A row of MSU fraternities is pictured on Nov. 21 on Abbot Road. PHOTO: SYLVIA JARRUS spring 2014 to November 2016 in the same house Theta Chi previously occupied. Theta Chi was stripped of its charter in spring 2014, and then operated with former members living in the house under a new organization called Beta Zeta, according to a previous State News article.

Beta Zeta has no national headquarters.

In November 2016, Theta Chi was reinstated on campus, according to the national website.

Theta Chi is now part of IFC. Three fraternities, Delta Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Phi Epsilon all had two reported.

Of the 19 reported alleged assaults, seven occurred on or near St. Patrick’s Day. “I’d more expect them to be equally distributed throughout the school year, especially you might see more during the fall and during the spring when the weather is warmer,” Gonzalez said. “People are outside a lot. That’s when we have more parties and those types of things, higher alcohol incidents. The one thing with the St. Patrick’s Day timeline, too, is that’s general when we see the weather start to warm up again. The question has to be asked, maybe it’s not specifically related to St. Patrick’s Day, but is it more related to the weather and we

17 cases dropped because the victim stopped cooperating with police MARCH

17

7 cases reported on or near St. Patrick’s Day 1 case reported where a male was accused of assulting another male

18 cases reported where a male was accused of assulting a female 4

THE STATE NEWS

THURSDAY, NOVEM B E R 30, 2 01 7

see larger parties, more parties, those types of things during that time frame.”

Alleged cases were also reported in January, September, October and November.

Alcohol use Alcohol and drugs are usually allegedly involved in most cases reported, Gonzalez said.

“In a lot of the cases there is a component of either alcohol or drugs use, to the extent that will vary,” Gonzalez said. “There’s a lot of different facets of why alcohol or drugs are involved in a case, but it is a trend that we see, that a lot of these cases do have some type of a correlation with alcohol or drug use.”

In the 19 cases reported, 16 victims were confirmed to have consumed alcohol, and it was unknown if the other three cases involved alcohol.

In only two cases, the accused was known to have consumed alcohol, but this is usually harder to prove, Gonzalez said.

“Now that the difficulty of establishing whether or not the accused had used drugs or alcohol when the assault occurred, comes with when the report comes into us,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of these reports are made to the police after the fact. So it’s hard to establish independently with a blood test or even first person observations of the officer whether or not that accused had been using drugs or alcohol as well.”

Gender of suspects Only one of the 19 cases details a male allegedly accused of assaulting another male.

The rest were males accused of assaulting females.

“We take those cases,” Gonzalez said. “We take those reports periodically. We don’t have as many of those cases as opposed to a male assaulting a female, but I wouldn’t say it’s unusual to see a case like that. We investigate all the cases equally on the merits of the evidence that we can discover and turn over to the prosecutor’s office. I wouldn’t say it’s unusual to see a case like that, we do take them, but

McKenna Ross Managing editor mross@statenews.com

investigates sexual misconduct we take less of those types of cases than we do the other.”

In the case of a male accused of assaulting another male at Sigma Phi Epsilon in January 2013, the victim alleged he was roofied and unconscious during the rape, police reports said. The victim was examined by a sexual assault nurse examiner, who found “tears and abrasions” in his rectum, reports said.

The case was closed because the victim stopped cooperating with the police and it was never referred to the prosecutor’s office.

Investigation and prosecution Seventeen cases had investigations stall because the victims did not want to pursue an investigation.

“Obviously, we certainly have cases where the victim does not want to pursue an investigation or even if an investigation is done, they don’t want to pursue prosecution,” Gonzalez said. “The reasons behind that are numerous and they’re very individualistic between cases. Regardless, when we have a sexual assault case we will work all of the leads, if you will, that we can, even if the victim does not want to follow through or is uncooperative with our investigators. That’s simply so that we can do our due diligence and take a look into the case and see if there’s anything FACT: there that the police need to Out of the act on or need to refer for 19 cases prosecution.” reported at When a victim is uncoopfrat houses, 16 erative, it limits the leads victims were investigators can follow up confirmed on, which in turn means it to have consumed usually isn’t possible for the alcohol. case to be referred to prosecutors, Gonzalez said.

The remaining two cases were referred to a prosecutor’s office, but both cases were denied warrants due to lack of evidence.

One of those cases was reported to happen at Pi Kappa Alpha in March 2012.

5

The victim said she was drunk and said no to penetrative sex, but the suspect allegedly did not listen to her. The suspect said there was no penetration and the victim never said no.

The case was referred to the Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office, but a warrant for the suspect was denied because the burden of proof was not met.

Follow-up Once a report is made to ELPD, officers first gather basic information where they determine if the alleged assault occurred in East Lansing or on campus, Gonzalez said.

If either the victim or the suspect are affiliated with MSU, the police alert the university of the alleged assault, Gonzalez said.

“What we also do, though, is if the East Lansing Police Department has jurisdiction over the case and we’re going to investigate it, refer it for prosecution, if the victim or the suspect are related to the university we are required to report that to the university,” Gonzalez said.

“Even though we may have legal jurisdiction over the case, the university has mechanisms and resources in place that they can refer to the victim for follow-up care, if you will. We notify the university of the incident so that they can on their end, provide some resources and care to the victim as well.”

MSU has a sexual assault program which “responds to those impacted by sexual violence and works to create a community free of violence and oppression,” according to its website.

Responses The State News reached out to national headquarters, MSU chapters and university Greek Life officials for comment on the alleged sexual assaults.

Representatives said fraternities have specific measures to prevent misconduct.

“We work substantially to try to educate our community to prevent this from happening,” Assistant Director of Greek Life Linda Alex-

ander said. “We also have a good relationship with our Title IX coordinator Jessica Norris.

We meet with her regularly. It is a huge commitment that our campus is working towards, to educate, IFC fraternities specifically.”

Greek Life is also partnered with MSU’s Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Prevention Program, Alexander said.

“All the IFC presidents will be required to go to a training specific for presidents, as well as our risks managers,” Alexander said. “So both of those specific student leaders will have their own specialized training that they go through in the spring. Along with, the rest of their membership will have to attend a sexual assault and violence prevention workshop in the spring semester.”

One alleged assault was reported at Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji, on Jan. 24, 2012.

Because the incident happened in 2012, current Phi Gamma Delta President Jack Rose was still in high school, he said.

“I can tell you that currently we participate in ‘Greeks take the lead’ and a sexual assault awareness speaker comes to our specific chapter to speak about sexual assault,” Rose said in an email. “We also have not had any incidents since that time or since I have been president.”

MSU’s chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon has four alleged assaults reported since September 2015. The chapter gave a statement promising to hold people accountable.

“We are alarmed to learn of past allegations of sexual harassment against unnamed members of our chapter,” the emailed statement said. “We have never been informed of these allegations or related investigation, charges or adjudication concerning chapter members.

DKE will not stand for sexual misconduct in our organization and pledges its full cooperation with MSU and law enforcement. If any members are found responsible for sexual misconduct, DKE will immediately use its judicial process to hold members accountable for their actions. “ Sigma Phi Epsilon’s chapter at MSU was

Sexual Assaults Reported Since Jan. 1 2012

Sexual Assults Reported

4

3

2

1

0

Alpha Gamma Rho

Delta Chi

Delta Kappa Epsilon

Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji)

Phi Kappa Psi

Pi Kappa Alpa (Pike)

Fraternities

Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Beta Zeta

Triangle

Zeta Beta Tau

suspended Aug. 15, so the local chapter could not comment.

There are two alleged assaults at the house, on Jan. 1, 2013 and Oct. 2, 2016.

“We believe that being able to provide a safe and healthy experience for our members is a prerequisite in our mission to being a valued partner in higher education,” the national fraternity said in a statement. “Sigma Phi Epsilon provides training opportunities each year to our members on consent and healthy relationships, and our Live Your Oath campaign teaches brothers how they can help end sexual assault on our campuses.”

The MSU chapter of Zeta Beta Tau had one case reported on Oct. 8, 2015.

“It is unfortunate that situations like these occur in Greek Life, and it is unacceptable for an instance of sexual assault to occur in my chapter,” President Evan Woodford said. “That being said, the Beta Epsilon chapter like all other chapters of Zeta Beta Tau, have a zero tolerance policy towards sexual assault/sexual harassment being committed by brothers of the fraternity. Needless to say, the individual involved in such an incident on October 8, 2015, is no longer associated with our organization.

“The Beta Epsilon chapter prides itself in being a positive impact on Greek Life, MSU, the city of East Lansing, and having the utmost respect for all individuals is our top priority.

We have multiple members of the fraternity who are members of the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Prevention Program (SARV) at Michigan State, and they strive to make MSU and Greek Life a safer place.”

The national headquarters of Zeta Beta Tau declined to comment on the specific case, but did explain the steps it is taking to educate its members.

“We have a few different programs that we do with members of our fraternity and then we also do them in partnership with other organizations,” Assistant Director of Wellness and Harm Prevention Nancy Schwartz said.

“The hope is that out of our 90 chapters, 30 a year are getting some sort of educational program.”

Those programs include an alcohol management program, Green Light Go and Safe, Smart Dating, Schwartz said.

“Our brothers accept the responsibility to participate in society as active and safe citizens, and having that social responsibility in the integrity,” Schwartz said. “That personal integrity, I think, is critical to who we believe that we are as an organization. I think especially more than ever it’s really important.”

The MSU chapter of Phi Kappa Psi declined to comment, deferring to IFC. The MSU chapter of Delta Chi declined to comment.

The MSU chapter of Theta Chi declined to comment because it was not charted during the alleged incidents. Instead, a fraternity known as Beta Zeta resided in the same house.

However, there is no national headquarters for Beta Zeta, meaning no one is able to comment.

The MSU chapters of Alpha Gamma Rho, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Triangle didn’t respond to request for comment.

Sigma Phi Epsilon isn’t an active chapter on campus.

The national headquarters of Alpha Gamma Rho, Delta Chi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Phi Kappa Psi, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Theta Chi and Triangle did not respond to request for comment.

AT STATENEWS.COM: HOW OTHER BIG TEN SCHOOLS ARE HANDLING FRATERNITY DISCIPLINE

T H U RS DAY, NOV E MB E R 3 0, 2 01 7

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Sports

Sam Metry Sports editor sports@statenews.com

Columns: MSU RELIGIOUS hoops is back DIRECTORY

BY CASEY HARRISON

BY MICHAEL DUKE

CHARRISON@STATENEWS.COM

MDUKE@STATENEWS.COM

After MSU’s win over reigning National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels Sunday night, Spartan fans can finally measure the team’s growth.

Su nday ’s w i n su rely washed out the sour taste many fans felt after the Spartans fell to No. 1 Duke earlier this month. After losing to the Blue Devils twice and being blown out by Kentucky and Kansas since last season, Sunday marked MSU’s first marquee win since Miles Bridges and the sophomore class came to campus.

The highly-touted freshmen have turned into a matured nucleus.

Before I get into that, let me say it’s good to be back. I covered this team last season — as head coach Tom Izzo trekked his team through “uncharted territory” plagued with inexperience and depth issues. Not many in my position are fortunate enough to get to cover the same team two years in a row and for that, I’m thankful.

Last year, so often you would see glimpses of what this team could be, but guards were sometimes too selfless and would settle for shots, and a scrappy frontcourt sometimes struggled to pound the ball inside.

There’s no way last year’s team wins that game Sunday.

Miles Bridges is undoubtedly the face of the program and the only thing that can bring the preseason Player of the Year down to Earth would be an injury. His goal is to bring another National Championship to East Lansing and even if he doesn’t, he surely can’t be deranged enough to return for his junior season.

Cassius Winston is MSU’s X-factor. His defense has improved drastically since last season and his scoring ability from the perimeter and driving the lane makes him a dangerous point guard.

Joshua Langford is developing into a dependable, yet still sometimes streaky, shooting guard.

When he gets hot, MSU becomes almost impossible to defend.

With standout scoring performances from Winston and Langford over the weekend, MSU proved its worth even with a limited role from Bridges.

Izzo has repeatedly called Nick Ward a “poor, poor, poor, poor man’s Zach Randolph” but with each stellar defensive performance, another “poor” can be shaved off. He’s physical enough to lock down the defensive glass himself and can score in bunches in the paint.

But before you punch their tickets for the Final Four and crown the Spartans as National Champions, remember there are still kinks to iron out.

MSU displayed a defensive showcase against the Tar Heels, but turned the ball over 24 times.

Until this team cuts down on the turnovers and limits the unnecessary fouls, MSU will be prone to a couple of losses that’ll bring them down a peg.

Fans, however, should be comforted by the win against UNC. MSU proved it can once again win a big game on a national stage. And should No. 3 MSU take care of business against No. 5 Notre Dame Thursday at 7 p.m., the Spartans will cement themselves as a serious contender for a National Championship.

It’s a game MSU should win since it’s at the Breslin Center. It’s also a game that can leave a pungently unpleasant aftertaste.

As you might of already heard, expectations are pretty high for the MSU men’s basketball team. The Spartans entered the season as the No. 2 ranked team in the country in the Associated Press preseason poll, and many media outlets have them pegged to win the National Championship.

I know what you may be thinking, what’s the big deal? Don’t worry, you’re right, the Spartans being widely regarded as a top team in college basketball should come to no one’s surprise.

Under head coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans have earned recognition as one of the elite programs in the nation year in and year out. Along with the seven Final Fours — tied with North Carolina’s Roy Williams for the most appearances in the last 20 years — the Hall of Fame coach hasn’t had a losing season at MSU in his 21 seasons as head coach.

I’d say the Hall of Fame nod was well-deserved.

But this season is different. It’s different from the trial and error-filled expedition last season that featured talented, eager freshmen. It’s even different from the hopeful, yet ultimately disappointing season two years ago, that featured primed, confident seniors.

I’m honored to have the privilege to cover this team in just my first semester with The State News. I started out here as an intern on the sports desk, and after a short hiatus I’m thankful to be back, mainly because of how special this team could be.

The Spartans have all the ingredients of a championship team. Superstar player? Check.

Backcourt and wing depth? Check. Size in the front court? Check.

The Spartans recently won the Victory Bracket championship in the PK80 Invitational after defeating North Carolina in the title game this past Sunday, with their best player, Miles Bridges, sitting out the first game of the tournament against Stony Brook with an ankle injury, and spending the next two games in foul trouble.

The squad was able to withstand the limited availability of their stand-out forward during the tournament, however, due to career-best scoring performances by sophomores Cassius Winston and Joshua Langford against Connecticut and North Carolina.

When you take into consideration the team they were playing against the reigning National Champion Tar Heels, a team that Izzo hasn’t beaten since UNC head coach Roy Williams took over at the helm 14 years ago, the win over the Tar Heels was a season defining moment for the team, albeit being just six games into the season. MSU held UNC to their worst shooting performance in school history at just 25 percent.

The Spartans lost to every blue-blood program they played against last year, including losses against Kentucky, Duke and Kansas. The victory over North Carolina was essentially the biggest win of the majority of the players on the team’s careers thus far.

The Spartans are without a doubt the class of the Big Ten, and if the team is able to get a win over No. 5 Notre Dame — their last remaining non-conference test this season — this Thursday at the Breslin Center, the squad should be in good, championship-level condition the rest of the way.

T H UR S DAY, N OVE MB E R 30, 2017

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Stay up to date at: www.statenews.com/religious

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 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.

Website: www.eastminsterchurch.org 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.greaterlansingcoc.org

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 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.martinlutherchapel.org 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

Religious Organizations:

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 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.universitychurchhome.org WELS Lutheran Campus Ministry 704 Abbot Rd. East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 580-3744 Saturday: 6:30pm www.msu.edu/~welsluth University Baptist Church 4608 Hagadorn Rd., East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 351-4144 Main Service: Sunday, 10 a.m. uinbapt@gmail.com www.baptistel.org

Don’t be left out of the Religious Directory!

Call (517)295-1680 to speak with an Account Executive today

News

Riley Murdock City editor city@statenews.com

What to expect from Center City District

ACROSS

1 Directions home 4 Slow 9 Key of Elgar’s “Symphony No. 1” 14 San Antonio Spurs’ 1993-2002 home 16 Employer of a lizard and a pig 17 Author of the 2011 memoir “My Father at 100” 18 Greek leader?

19 “I __ it!”

20 National League athlete 21 Equilibrium 22 Dale relative 24 Weapon in some supernatural movies 26 Thus far 27 Ship mover 29 Joseph of ice cream fame 30 One of the deadly sins 31 Event with a caller 34 Fruit on a veggie pizza 35 Justin case?

36 Undesirable descriptor for makeup 37 ___-A-Fella Records 38 Thus 40 “Correct, cap’n” 41 Currently airing 43 Hamilton notes

45 Fight like sticks figures?

47 Sch. with a Providence campus 49 __ Vogue 51 Thins, e.g.

52 Three-book Newton work 54 Paper for a letter?

55 Shun 56 Tried to contain 57 Zero out 58 1980s gaming release

DOWN

1 Annotate 2 Onward 3 Symposium groups 4 Big name in anonymity 5 Cheese town 6 Upscale tiers 7 Standard procedure 8 Japanese cabbage?

9 Quartz type 10 Afrobeat star __ Kuti 11 Mouths 12 Realize 13 Pleasantly warm 15 “Harry Potter” father figure 21 Parachute 23 Arabian Peninsula veil 25 “Hello” singer 28 City in central Switzerland

30 Alive 32 LeBron’s birth city 33 Turn away 34 Schwinn component 35 Redwood City locale 36 Door-to-door offerings 39 First to fall in most strikes 41 Elizabeth who plays the Scarlet Witch in Marvel movies 42 Legal orders 44 Wrest 46 “Meh” 48 Concerning 50 Turndowns from the tartan-clad 52 Iberian land, to the IOC 53 Batter of balls?

Demolition begins on buildings on Grand River Avenue to make way for the Center City District project. PHOTO: PETE ATKINS

BY NADAV PAIS-GREENAPPLE NPAISGREENAPPLE@ STATENEWS.COM

Building demolition along Grand River Avenue in downtown East Lansing began last week for the anticipated construction of the new Center City District development project, which is the two 12-story mixed-use buildings that will include apartments and a new Target retail location.

The development is being constructed as part of something called a Tax Increment Financing plan, or TIF, which redirects a percentage of property taxes earned by the city on that property back to the developer to reimburse the company for construction costs, specifically on construction of public utilities.

The agreement that sets up a TIF is known as a brownfield plan.

But with East Lansing still in debt — enough debt to potentially result in cuts to city services — how will this new project impact the city’s finances?

Tim Dempsey, East Lansing’s director of Planning, Building and Development, said that the city will not be losing money on the Center City development.

In fact, the city will be making money from the project.

“All the taxes that we capture currently in that development area are going to continue to be received by the city,” Dempsey said. “We don’t forgo any of that, we continue to capture all those taxes. It’s only the

new value that is redirected into the project.”

According to Dempsey, the developers must pay a yearly $200,000 ground lease payment for the site where the building is taking place, in addition to various other payments to the city and the Downtown Development Authority.

There is also a one-time fee of $600,000 paid to the city for the

Project cost

$125 million Projected annual city revenue collected from Center City

Level: 1

2

3

4

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 SOLUTION TO FRIDAY’S PUZZLE

Get the solutions at statenews. com/ puzzles 9/16/17 11/30/17

© 2017 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

$400,000$500,000 per year

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T H E STAT E NE WS

construction of water and sewer connections for the new property.

According to City Manager George Lahanas, the amount of money that the city makes from the development annually will be “as much as four to $500,000, but those are really estimates at this point.”

Dempsey gave an estimate of around $422,000 in revenue per year.

“Essentially its an equivalent to what the property would’ve generated in tax revenue,” Dempsey said.

“However, the brownfield funds are

primarily being utilized primarily to pay for the parking structure, which the city will own.”

The TIF plan in this specific instance covers the construction of the new parking garage at the Center City site that will replace the Albert Avenue lot that is currently being demolished.

Lahanas said the parking garage will provide additional revenue to the city once it is completed.

According to the Center City Master Development Agreement, available on the City of East Lansing website, the total amount of money that the developer will be reimbursed through the brownfield plan is around $58 million over the 19-year TIF, which begins in 2020.

That includes taxes for the City of East Lansing, Ingham County public schools, CATA, the airport authority, and other entities.

Dempsey said that the recent failure of the East Lansing income tax proposal in the Nov. 7 municipal election would not have any impact on the Center City plans.

“No income tax revenue was projected to be utilized for this project,” Dempsey said. “This project was structured prior to that income tax, and it doesn’t change at all. The only difference is that the income tax had proposed lowering the city property tax millage, which would’ve reduced some of the Tax Increment Financing revenue, but since that failed, that won’t have an impact.”

T H U RS DAY, N OV E M B E R 3 0, 2 01 7

Features

Sasha Zidar Features editor features@statenews.com

MSU students win Silver Pencil

BY GABRIELLE SANFILIPPO GSANFILIPPO@STATENEWS.COM

Seventeen MSU advertising and public relations students visited Shanghai to attend the One Show Greater China Festival, bringing home industry-coveted Silver Pencil Awards.

One Show Greater China is an annual advertising conference run by The One Club, a non-profit organization that focuses on honoring creative work in advertising and design.

For the past three years, MSU advertising teams have brought Bronze and Silver Pencil Awards back to MSU from China.

MSU advertising senior and attendee of One Show Greater, Madeline Guzzo, stated that Pencil Awards are internationally and professionally recognized, and that they hold great significance in the field of advertising .

“Like the Oscars of advertising,” Guzzo said on the awards.

This year, to be chosen for their trip to China, MSU advetising students had to participate in Minds Wide Open, which is MSU’s own advertising competition that took place from Sept. 18-22.

“Participants in Minds Wide Open are selected by faculty recommendations from the best students in their classes ... So not unlike in competitive athletics, the students selected have been considered first by our faculty and then proven themselves once again through their participation in Minds Wide Open,” professor of practice, Henry Brimmer, who accompanied the students on their trip to Shanghai, said via email.

When MSU students arrived in Shanghai, they were arranged in predetermined groups and each group had a MSU Chinese student on their team to assist with translation.

In addition to their original groups, all teams had to find three additional group members and were assigned an advertising professional as their mentor.

“Students in advertising programs from all over China, as well as ours, stood around holding up signs looking for partners with certain skills: videographer, animator, designer, copywriter, etc.,” Brimmer said via email.

Students were then briefed on the client they were intended to create an advertising campaign for: Chevrolet.

MSU advertising management senior, Parker Sessa, explained that his group, named Team CC, wanted their campaign for Chevrolet to be different. After brainstorming ideas, Sessa’s team came up with up with the saying, “Happy is a Chevy” for their campaign.

“Our team’s main focus was creating something that made a statement but was also unique.

We really wanted to stand out because we knew

there would be a lot of great competition.” Guzzo said, who was part of Team Sponge BaoBao. The Shanghai competition was said to be grueling.

“Everyone wants to win. And everyone is willing to put in hard and long hours of work – 14 hour days are not unusual, sometimes more ... with a couple of all-nighters in between,” Brimmer said.

However, long days and stressful work weren’t the only challenges students faced.

Their biggest challenge, as both Guzzo and Sessa explained, was the dense language barrier between the MSU and Chinese students.

“Both of our mentors’ native language was Chinese so they would give feedback in Chinese and our teammates would have to translate it for us. It was really difficult for me not to get direct feedback and not to be able to ask questions immediately,” said Guzzo.

Sessa explained that cultural differences with the Chinese students also created a big obstacle in creating campaigns.

As a company, Chevrolet ad campaigns in America are very different from the campaigns deployed in China.

In creating a new campaign, MSU students faced the challenge of creating a cultural love for the company’s vehicles, similar to that of America’s.

Both Sessa and Guzzo’s teams overcame cultural and language barriers to win Silver Pencil Awards.

However, the weight of winning an award doesn’t stop at on-stage recognition.

Guzzo explained that winning a Pencil Award will enhance her career-hunting experience.

“Our project is probably my favorite in my portfolio currently and I have so many memories to talk about with it at interviews,” said Guzzo.

Brimmer stated that the wins in Shanghai represents a larger win for MSU’s advertising and public relations department.

“In cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Beijing, London, Madrid, etc., where most agencies conglomerate, and where we want to position our students, we are not known for our creative output,” Brimmer said.

“I’d say, we are ‘the best kept secret,’ but need to get the word out. That is why the department backs our efforts to take our students for portfolio reviews in New York, travel to China to compete, and organize Minds Wide Open, our own international award competition.”

Additionally, Brimmer said, experiential learning is often a big focus of teachers today and the group, win or lose, will take home this experience.

“Trust me, they will never forget this trip,”

MSU advertising senior Madeline Guzzo speaks at the One Show Greater China Festival, which took place from Sept. 18 to 22 in Shanghai, China. PHOTO COURTESY: Madeline Guzzo said Brimmer. “There is no challenge within the classroom that lives up to the experience our students have gone through. It tests their mettle, determination, stamina, imagination, creativity and dedication.”

Editor’s note: Madeline Guzzo is a former employee of The State News.

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Employment

Apts. For Rent

Houses/Rent

CAR WASH. Seeking part-time, hourly plus tips. Pre-wash and other duties. Apply in person at 1125 W. Grand River, Williamston.

Call 517-996-6115.

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EXPERIENCED WAITRESS wanted, part time. $15/hr plus tips. For more information email peppinospizza@comcast.net.

AVAIL DEC/JAN- Premium 2 bedrms at Residences above Hopcat and Stonehouse Village above Taco Bell! www.cronmgt. com or 517-351-1177 for more info or tour.

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Extensively Updated. Call/Text: 517-490-3082.

GYMNASTICS INSTRUCTORS/ Strength and Conditioning C o a c h e s : Tw i s t a r s U S A Gymnastics Club is seeking reliable, fun loving, kid loving gymnastics instructors for our boys and girls recreational and team programs. Contact 322-0360.

MSU advertising senior Madeline Guzzo speaks at the One Show Greater China Festival, which took place from Sept. 18 to 22 in Shanghai, China. PHOTO COURTESY: Madeline Guzzo

DEADLINES

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4 PERSON house. Huge bedrooms, right across campus. www.gutowrentals.com or call 517-749-4767.

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Automotive 2008 LEXUS RX 350 with AWD, Navigation, and Many Options.

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Contact Ted at tedhughes1@sbcglobal.net or call (517)-388-2028

STATE N E WS .CO M

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UPCOMING DATES DEC. 7 Sentencing in federal court for three child porn charges

JAN. 12

THE NASSAR

Sentencing in Ingham County court for seven first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges

JAN. 31 A BREAKDOWN BY MADISON O’CONNOR DESIGN BY ALEXEA HANKIN

Larry Nassar listens to the judge as his attorneys discuss something behind him during the plea hearing on Nov. 22, at the Veterans Memorial Court at 313 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing. Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. PHOTO: MATT SCHMUCKER

Sentencing in Eaton County court for three first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges

THE INGHAM DEAL Nassar pleads guilty to

Jail sentence

FIRST-DEGREE CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT CHARGES

Minimum sentence: 25-40 YEARS

(for each of the seven charges)

Maximum sentence: LIFE

THE EATON DEAL Nassar pleads guilty to

3

Jail sentence Minimum sentence: 25-40 YEARS

FIRST-DEGREE CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT CHARGES

(for each of the three charges)

Maximum sentence: LIFE

Michigan Attorney General’s Office will no longer prosecute

115 cases

Michigan Attorney General’s Offices will dismiss

4

counts

and reduce the remaining six to which he did not plead guilty.

SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT Why are we looking at ‘why didn’t the girls speak up?’ Why not look at ‘what about the culture?’

What did USA Gymnastics do, and Larry Nassar do, to manipulate these girls so much that they are so afraid to speak ALY RAISMAN up?”

Two-time USA Olympian

It would be like saying that because of the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused

by Larry Nassar. I didn’t publicly share my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to stay silent and honestly some things were extremely painful.”

GABBY DOUGLAS Two-time USA Olympian

Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving ‘medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years.’ ... It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was ‘treated.’”

MCKAYLA MARONEY USA Olympian

photos courtesy of tribune news service

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THE STATE NEWS

THURSDAY, NOVEM B E R 30, 2 01 7