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In the news today: For our first story of the day focusing on social justice, MSU students protest for support of transgender students following anti-trans rights demonstration. For our second story focusing on community from Impact 89FM news, MSU's decade-strong anaerobic digester: transforming leftovers (and manure) into renewable power.
Creators & Guests
What is The State - A Podcast from The State News + Impact 89FM?
The State is a daily rundown of the headlines that matter to the East Lansing, MI community.
This is The State for Friday, April 19th where we bring you the headlines that matter. I'm Rachel Fulton.
For our first story of the day focusing on social justice,
Students peacefully protested outside the Hannah Administration Building on Monday to advocate for MSU to adhere to diversity, equity and inclusion standards in support of transgender and gender non-conforming students. The protest was a response to a demonstration held in Brody Hall on April 4 that students deemed transphobic.
The gathering consisted of students seeking to share their experiences with trans visibility at MSU, as well as demand change from administration.
According to the MSU freedom of speech webpage, though hate speech has no legal definition, "the term often refers to speech that insults or demeans a person or group of people on the basis of particular attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender." Furthermore, the university states that while it condemns hate speech, "there is no hate speech exception in the constitution."
The previous demonstration at Brody Hall included signs reading "Men can't be women," "Women can't be men" and "Do no harm," a reference to a medical and political advocacy group that opposes gender-affirming care and DEI efforts.
However, according to Student Life and Engagement spokesperson Kat Cooper, the only requirement to set up a table like the one on April 4 is that the students doing it have to be a registered student organization. Other than that, she said SLE does not make decisions about what is considered free speech and that MSU "cannot judge based on the content of what (RSOs) want to share."
Speeches took place calling on the administration to take more action regarding hate speech on campus and questioned why students are the first to take action in the face of hate speech.
For our second story focusing on community from Impact 89FM news,
Unbeknownst to many Michigan State University students enjoying their meals at dining halls, their leftovers contribute to powering the campus.
One-third of food produced in the U.S. is wasted, with a significant portion ending up in landfills, where it generates methane, accelerating climate change. To make the campus even greener, MSU built the South Campus Anaerobic Digester (SCAD), a facility that converts organic waste into renewable energy and valuable fertilizers.
It's not just food waste that's processed by the anaerobic digester but also cow manure from the MSU Dairy Teaching and Research Center.
Developed in the fall of 2013, the SCAD is the first university-owned anaerobic digestion facility. In its decade of operation, it has processed more than 60,000 tons of manure. The implementation of the SCAD is responsible for reducing 42% of the carbon footprint for both waste streams.
As a campus-based digester, its primary goals are to handle campus waste and conduct research to discover the next generation of technology to better serve the communities more sustainably.
The digester is an above-ground steel tank capable of holding 300,000 gallons. The facility is located on MSU's south campus near the intersection of College and Bennett roads.
Every day, waste from local restaurants, dining halls and manure from the 250 cows at the MSU Dairy Farm is transported to the SCAD.
The anaerobic digester has many benefits, including landfill and wastewater diversion, the production of renewable energy and fertilizer, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and effective odor control.
MSU recently received state funding to renovate the university's dairy and greenhouse facilities. MSU will be constructing a new on-campus dairy farm that will be able to house 680 mature cows.
The expansion is expected to be operational by 2026 and it reinforces MSU's commitment to a greener and more sustainable future.
To end our last episode of the week, here are a few announcements!
Today's weather forecast is predicting sunshine along with some cloudy intervals with a high of 51 degrees and a low of 36 degrees. For the rest of the weekend, it looks like it will be partly cloudy skies with the temps in the lower to mid 50s.
Next, here is the MSU home Athletic line-up for the weekend...
Starting off with Baseball, they'll play Penn State for a weekend-long series kicking off tonight at 8:05 P.M., tomorrow at 3:35 P.M., and Sunday at 1:05 P.M.
Next, Softball will take on Illinois for a weekend-long series with tonight at 5 P.M., tomorrow at 1 P.M., and Sunday at 1 P.M.
Then, Football will host the Spring Showcase tomorrow at Spartan Stadium at 2 P.M.
Finally, Women's Tennis will take on Nebraska tomorrow at 11 A.M. and then Iowa at 11 A.M. on Sunday.
For our final announcement, thank you so much for an incredible semester and school year for The State! I'm thrilled to announce I'll be coming back in the fall with more daily news for you for the whole school year! Fun fact, I've been the host of this podcast, going on 4 years so next year will be my last but it will be a great time and I hope you join me on that journey!
Thank you for joining us for The State... Produced by The State News and Impact eighty-nine F-M. You can find us online at State News dot com and Impact eight-nine F-M dot org. Good luck on finals spartans, have a great summer, and we'll be back in the fall with more.