Today’s weather forecast is predicting cloudy skies with a high of 37 degrees and a low of 33 degrees.
MSU assembling Rapid Response Teams to navigate policy changes under Trump
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz sent a campus-wide email Friday addressing “strong concerns regarding potential changes to federal laws, policies and regulations” enacted under President Donald Trump that could affect certain university programs and initiatives.
The email, cosigned by Interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko and Board of Trustees Chair Kelly Tebay, explained the university’s plan to tackle possible changes.
The university has been planning for the new Trump administration since before his inauguration on Monday.
Last week, Guskiewicz told The State News that part of that plan included examining certain issues with a set of “tiger teams,” a military term for groups with experts with different backgrounds who work together on specific problems.
In the latest email, Guskiewicz said the process will “tap into the expertise” of university leaders and stakeholders.
This update comes during a time rife with concerns that certain executive orders and policies signed by Trump would affect MSU’s ability to continue programs without interruption.
Toward the end of the email, Guskiewicz acknowledged the uncertainty and concern many have been experiencing in light of recently announced executive orders, saying that the university remains committed to research and educational excellence, inclusivity and dialogue.
MSU ‘Stuff the Library’ book drive aims to provide diverse literature for school libraries
Since 2020, an integral part of MSU’s Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative celebration has been the Stuff the Library book drive.
Every year from Martin Luther King Jr. Day through Feb. 28, members of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee, the MSU Alumni Office, the Center for Community Engaged Learning and the MSU Student Food Bank collect physical book donations and monetary donations in an effort to put more books that celebrate diversity and represent students of many backgrounds into school libraries.
This year, the school district receiving the donations is Lansing Public Schools.
Center of Community Engaged Learning Assistant Director KC Keyton was once a student in Lansing Schools. As one of the people who came up with the idea for Stuff the Library, he is excited to have a close connection to where these books are going.
MSU communicates directly with Lansing School District to ensure that the books purchased using the donations they receive match what the district is looking for.
Book donations can be dropped off at the MSU Food Bank in Olin Health Center and monetary donations can be given online through the drive’s Crowd Power page.
New MSU Broad Museum exhibit focuses on food justice, agriculture in Michigan
A new exhibition at the Broad Art Museum closed up yesterday, focusing on food justice and its wide-ranging implications in Michigan. Looking at the history and impact of agriculture in the state, the collection explored “questions of food knowledge, production, scarcity, and consumption,” according to the museum website.
The exhibit was split into sections on farmworkers and existing food knowledge before leading into labor rights and overconsumption, and then centering Michigan.
As part of the museum’s research process for the exhibit, workers assigned to the project visited local farms in 2023 to learn more about farmworker communities.
The table centerpiece of the exhibit was put together by Fankhänel, an architecture historian who specializes in exhibition design. The table is a mix between a farmhouse table and an artist’s design table. On top is a collection of barns from the MSU Museum’s collection, selected with the intention to showcase the “different purposes” a barn can have.
Multiple pieces also come from Turkish artists, part of the Ambiguous Standards Institute. The institute seeks to draw attention to single-use items when it comes to food and other things deemed necessary, like egg cups or outlets designated by country.
The end of the exhibition was marked by another table, this time for dining. Surrounding it is a series of photographs that depict many of the farms that researchers visited early on in the curatorial process. The table itself lists different resources in the MSU and Greater Lansing area to learn more about food justice and consumption.
Based on original reporting by Demonte Thomas, Hannah Locke and Ria Gupta.