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Faculty Senate passes resolutions urging Board of Trustees for more transparency

The Michigan State University Faculty Senate held a special meeting on Sept. 13 to discuss faculty concerns about the Board of Trustees’ discussion of President Samuel L. Stanley Jr.’s contract.

Stanley and Provost Teresa Woodruff spoke at the meeting, making their first public comments since news broke on Sunday. Stanley defended his Title IX compliance and Woodruff addressed the resignation of former Broad College of Business dean Sanjay Gupta.

Following Stanley and Woodruff’s remarks, the senate moved to pass two resolutions.

The second resolution, introduced by professor of translational neuroscience and senator Jack Lipton, originally stated “The Faculty Senate has lost confidence in the Board of Trustees and believed its members should resign.”

Several senators did not agree with a call for the members of the board to resign. Vice Chairperson Stephanie Anthony introduced an amendment to the resolution asking the board to undergo professional development in order for the senate to “maintain full confidence in its Board of Trustees.”

The faculty senate voted to pass the amended resolution with a vote of 40-14.

Due to a “lack of transparency and shared communication around the current situation related to the Board of Trustees,” this resolution calls for an investigation into the board’s actions by the Office of Audit, Risk and Compliance.

College of Arts and Letters senator and professor Dànielle DeVoss introduced this resolution which was passed in a 49-3 vote.

ASMSU releases mental health resources for students, recognizing National Suicide Prevention Month

Asian Pacific American Student Organization Rep. Connor Le introduced Bill 59-09 at the first Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, general assembly on Sept. 1.

Passed unanimously, Bill 59-09 is a bill to have ASMSU recognize September as National Suicide Prevention Month. It called for ASMSU to release a statement on Instagram on Sept. 10 advertising mental health resources for students.

The curation of the bill has meant a lot to Le, as he lost his high school friend in a battle with suicide.

“Ever since that happened I’ve been a really big advocate with mental health awareness, mental health resources, making sure that those who need it get it,” Le said.

College of Social Science Rep. Alyssa Konesky seconded the bill, and Director of Health, Safety, and Wellness Harsna Chahal helped Le gather resources, make edits to the bill and pointed him in directions that the bill needed.

Konesky said bringing awareness to various mental health resources could potentially help many students.

Following this article on The State news website, are resources listed in the statement.

Meet the candidates: Lisa Babcock talks criminal justice and overcoming imposter syndrome

Lisa Babcock wants voters to know just how far back her Lansing connection goes. She graduated from Eastern High School in 1984, worked at the Burger King in the Frandor shopping center in 1986 when it was the chain’s fourth busiest location in the world and studied law at Michigan State University.

Since then, she’s kept busy. Babcock has been a journalist, political staffer, lawyer and most recently an East Lansing City Councilor. Now, she’s taking on a new endeavor — running for judge of District Court 54b in East Lansing.

A sense of loyalty to her community is what drove her to run for judge. Babcock said that she’s tried to build her legal career around making people feel respected and equal in the courtroom. She believes she could continue that work as a judge.

Respect, she said, is a guiding principle in her views on criminal justice. Babcock has spent her career litigating to keep people with minor offenses from spending life in jail. However, she said she recognizes the delicate balance between this and glossing over the ramifications of crime.

She said that the feelings of anxiety about her qualifications were eventually overcome when she took stock of all of the people encouraging her to run.

Babcock turned her focus to her race. She’s currently running unopposed, but she still finds it important to get out and talk to voters.

Ultimately, Babcock hopes she can have a positive impact on East Lansing as a judge, and that her work continues to be centered around the people in her community.

Based on original reporting by Vivian Barrett, Ashley Zhou, and Lily Guiney.