Today’s weather forecast is predicting cloudy skies with a high of 49 degrees and a low of 36 degrees.
MSU board approves campus infrastructure changes
Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees approved several agenda items that revise existing university policies and make changes to university infrastructure.
That includes leasing two buildings on Hagadorn Road, renovating the packaging building and Campbell Hall, and revising a policy on how the university names buildings and facilities.
A budget is planned for new major infrastructure changes to Campbell Hall, which was built in 1939 and is one of the oldest buildings on campus. Work will begin May 2024 with an expected reopening in August 2025.
The resolution states, “The project will address major building systems including life safety and accessibility, along with mechanical, electrical, building envelope, and finishes. The upgrades will improve student gathering, study, and residential spaces. The project will include renovations to space to support MSU Honors College programming in the former dining room area.”
The board also consented to enter into long-term leases for 4660 Hagadorn Road and 4700 Hagadorn Road, which are currently sites of MSU Health Care Pharmacy.
The lease will allow MSU Health Care to “consolidate and brand their clinical practices as well as expand and grow the practice offerings in the Mid-Michigan healthcare market,” according to the resolutions.
Another approval includes a plan for renovations to the packaging building, which will provide more lab and study space in the building.
MSU produces 40% of the packaging engineers in the industry and offers the only packaging PhD program in the country, according to the board resolution.
The board also imposed stricter rules for naming campus buildings and facilities, after a donor who went on a racist tirade had his name removed from a university lab in October.
The changes outline a more detailed process for changing or removing previous naming, and expanding the role and composition of a Naming Committee which advises the university president on proposed names or changes to names.
The committee will now go through “thorough, factual investigation of the proposed honoree,” according to the updated policy.
FAFSA recipients must wait until April for financial aid following delay
The U.S. Department of Education announced that Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, packages will be delayed until April.
The department’s mathematic formula incorrectly overestimated the annual income of low-income students’ households, meaning they would earn less than what they need in financial aid as a result of this error.
Now, the department won’t send students’ FAFSA data to their universities until early-to-late March, two months later than their previous date of late January.
MSU student groups hold menstrual product drive for Gaza
Students United for Palestinian Rights, or SUPR, Arab Cultural Society, or ACS, and Planned Parenthood Generation Action, or PPGA, partnered to hold a Menstrual Product Drive for Gaza through yesterday in room 206 at the Michigan State University International Center.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, over 690,000 menstruating women and adolescent girls in Gaza have limited access to menstrual hygiene products, as well as inadequate water, hygiene, toilets and privacy.
Menstruating individuals have also been taking pills to delay their period since October. PPGA president and chemistry senior Rylee Warne said that the menstrual products will be donated to Mother Being, an organization based in Egypt, to bring the products to the border and into refugee camps.
Based on original reporting by Owen McCarthy, Theo Scheer, Willow Symonds and Ridhima Kodali.
