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Greater Lansing United Nations Association plants peace pole on campus
When members and visitors of the Michigan State University community walk through the courtyard behind Wells Hall and the International Center, they are now greeted by a new addition to the landscape.
On Sept. 20, the Greater Lansing United Nations Association (GLUNA) planted a peace pole in commemoration of the UN’s International Day of Peace which is on the 21st. Now, that peace pole will stand on MSU’s campus for many years to come.
The choice to have a peace pole on campus was an important one, past president and board member Lynn Bartley said.
The peace pole is a six-sided cedar pole. On each of the six sides, the words “May Peace Prevail on Earth” are written in two different languages, for a total of 12 different languages.
Lynn said that the languages represent the world and individuals of the world.
GLUNA is a citizen membership organization made up of volunteers and has been in existence since 1959. The organization welcomes people of all ages.
The Peace Pole was part of a greater initiative called PeaceQuest to recognize the International Day of Peace. PeaceQuest has been a part of GLUNA since 2015.
PeaceQuest takes place throughout the month of September with events held almost every day. Some events are organized by GLUNA, but the initiative is in collaboration with many other community organizations and groups.
Now that the peace pole is planted and has its home at MSU, Lynn occasionally goes to sit near it and watch as people notice it and study it for the first time.
Ingham County residents struggle with quality, affordable housing
The Ingham County Health Department’s (ICHD) Health Impact Assessment (HIA) supports the lingering concerns from students that Ingham County residents have a lack of quality and affordable housing in East Lansing.
The county’s Health Impact Assessment was conducted through the Innovative, Collaborative, Empowering Fair and Affordable Housing Initiatives (ICE) housing plan, a 5-year strategy for improving housing conditions. HIA provides background information on health concerns in relation to housing so that the ICE housing plan can better suit these issues.
The HIA concluded that communities in Ingham County are facing a crisis in the availability of safe, healthy and affordable rental housing.
While students struggle with rent, they also face a number of concerns at their rental properties including broken shower doors, broken refrigerators, broken stoves and holes in ceilings that haven’t been replaced or fixed.
Housing maintenance, affordability, fair housing, access to community services and the need for a variety of housing options were the top five priority housing issues in the survey included in the HIA. There is a shared understanding among the community and students that these housing issues need to be addressed.
The HIA found that students affected by the lack of affordable housing are most likely to cut back on healthcare necessities to cover their housing costs. Other evidence has also linked unaffordable housing to high stress and poor mental health.
As students continue to face issues involving the quality of housing and its affordability, students recommend creating more student housing, creating policies to combat unfairness among landlords, as well as action on the proposed ICE housing recommendations. Other resources that residents can utilize include The Housing Resource Guide for residents seeking questions concerning housing.
Infrastructure Planning and Facilities welcomes new campus planner
A large population of Michigan State University students get around campus on electric scooters. If you happen to see someone scooting around on a razor scooter, however, it will likely be MSU’s newly hired campus planner, Brandon List.
Brandon was hired in August of this year to replace Steve Troost, who has been the campus planner for the past two decades.
As a campus planner, Brandon must gain a deep understanding of MSU’s campus and how people use it. His role is to help guide the physical development of campus, from academic buildings to bike routes.
In December of 2023, MSU’s board passed Vision 2050, which is the Integrated Facilities and Land Use Plan that lays out the goals for the physical development of campus within the next 30 years.
The main goals of Vision 2050 include the academic and research sectors, campus life and arts and culture. Brandon said that the university is seeking to consolidate these sectors and make campus more convenient and efficient for students, staff and faculty.
When making these decisions about efficiency, Brandon works with people and groups across campus from architects to the committee for public art on campus.
Prior to coming to MSU, he was often hired by universities to work on specific projects.
Now, Brandon works at MSU and is able to touch many different projects and collaborate with a much larger array of departments.
When making all of the design decisions for a project, Brandon has to pay close attention to the people on campus, a process made easier by his razor-scooter.
He said, “are we designing or planning for how we want people to use campus, or how we know they’ll use campus.” “There’s that delicate balance of those two directions. That’s sort of the art and science of my job.”
Based on original reporting by Hannah Locke and Jessica Pruitt.
