MSU football, tailgating

Michigan State University is a Big 10 university so most of the students and staff  take Saturday football games pretty serious.

Wearing the paraphernalia, rocking the face paint, screaming your heart out. Those aren't the only ways to show your spirit. Perhaps the most popular expression of school spirit is evident in tailgating.

Tailgating is one of the largest social events that happens at MSU. There's food, shouting, giveaways, companionship, oh and of course drinking.

Despite MSU's reputation of being a party school, tailgating is the only time when drinking on campus is allowed. and the rules and regulations are pretty restricting. The most enforced rule being no drinking in the facilities.

But a bill is currently in Michigan legislature that will allow universities like MSU to serve alcohol in their facilities if they have a liquor license.

This bill, SB 502, is currently waiting for further review by the house and is slated to take affect in October 2012.

MSU Social Norms

Despite MSU's reputation of being a party school, statistics don't support this reputation.

MSU Social Norms, hosts the "Ducks Campaign" that was created by a group of Advertising students from a 2006 ADV 486 class. The movement was created to promote the idea of drinking safely and in moderation and to prove that MSU students were doing those exact things.

The Ducks Campaign is advertising statistics in a enjoyable and friendly manner. T-shirts and posters are posted around campus and given out to the students with various sayings and statistics.

MSU Social Norms has a Facebook page with this picture and many other images for the campaign.

The campaign maintains its success because of its casual approach to the idea of drinking. Instead of the typical approach of making drinking seem bad and less desirable, they help students learn how to drink safely. 

Inclusion at MSU

Let's explore Inclusion at MSU a little deeper...

MSU's Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives was created to serve as an "institutional focal point for promoting inclusion and diversity at Michigan State University".

The office aims to promote inclusion through the foundations of equity, education, outreach and research. The office's main goal is the core value of "inclusivity" being incorporated into the campus.

The inclusivity webpage should be used to help students to learn about the university's "rich heritage and to read and listen to stories from students, faculty and staff who are part of the MSU community".

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon released a statement on diversity and inclusion that states: "Valuing inclusion means providing all who live, learn and work at the university the opportunity to actively participate in a vibrant, intellectual community that offers a broad range of ideas and perspectives."

Follow the links to explore specifics on the value of inclusion on MSU's campus.

MRULE at MSU

The Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience (MRULE) at MSU is a registered student organization that supports inclusion in the residence halls across campus.

MRULE engages residents in thoughtful discussions through presentations, interactive exercises and various other programs that they host. Through these programs, residents become more conscious of cultures and diversity that they may not have learned about before through interaction with their peers.
These interactions are achieved through Round Table Discussions once a week, Community Service Project once a semester, Community Building Trips once a semester and Monthly Specials.

There are three MRULE teams situated in South Complex, East Complex and Brody Complex of campus. 3-4 student leaders of various backgrounds, coordinate and host the programs for residents. Meetings are once a week and depend primarily on the neighborhood of the session you're attending.

Vumundzuku-bya-Vana-Our Children's Future (VVOCF) is based in Zonkizizwe, South Africa and is a non-profit youth center that supports orphans whose parents died from HIV/AIDS. MRULE has partnered with VVOCF through a Pen Pal Program, study abroad programs, internships and fundraising that they recognize as their main project.

Go to mrule.msu.edu to learn more about their meetings, project and history.

Michael Scott GIFs

A recent form of Internet formatting that has began to rise is the Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF. The biggest benefit of the GIF seems to be the ability to add animation in an image. 

Typically, the images are used for comedic relief on blog sites such as Blogger or Tumblr. 

Someone has created a website dedicated to Michael Scott, of The Office, which has the best GIFs that have been created thus far. This is a great resource for anyone interested in learning a little bit more about the show and is great for comedic relief.

Check it out. 

Bios of cast from "The Office"

The Office airs Thursdays on NBC at 9 pm.

With the recent retirement of Regional Manager Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) from The Office, there have been a few changes in the cast of the show. Here's a list of the new cast with a brief biography to accompany.

Robert California: California, played by James Spader, is a recently joined cast member as the newest CEO of Dunder Mifflin Sabre. Spader is probably most recognized by his roles as attorney Alan Shore on "The Practice" and "Boston Legal" where he was awarded three consecutive Emmy Awards playing the same character on different series. 

Kellie "Erin" Hannon: Hannon, played by Ellie Kemper, joins the cast as the newest receptionist, replacing Pam Beesly (Kate Flannery). Kemper has starred in the films "Bridesmaids", "Get Him to the Greek" and "Somewhere". She attended Princeton and originates from St. Louis, Missouri. 

Check out their next episode this Thursday, November 10th at 9pm. 

Greetings from Ashleigh

This is my blog for JRN 200! I have a Tumblr...but I figured it probably wouldn't be best if my prof followed that one so...here I am.

I've tried Blogger a few times. Hopefully it's easy to navigate. We'll see!

Enjoy =)