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Welcome to The 1909, the podcast that takes an in-depth look at The State News’ biggest stories of the week, while bringing in new perspectives from the reporters who wrote them.
Welcome to the 1909 your home at the state news for everything happening on campus and around Lansing. I'm Lilly Guiney. So as we approach the end of the school year, we've got a lot of campus news to catch you up on that will be important for next year. So this episode will contain a lot of that will also recap a student march to end gun violence Professor struggles with a new normal after the shooting. And then a couple minutes of just good news about MSU is resilient oak, a truths weathered storms literal and figurative for hundreds of years. So let's get into it. So I wanted to start us off today with some news that I know those of us here at the State news are really pumped about strange matter coffee will be opening a new location in the MSU union this coming fall. The first floor Cafe will feature its full menu of drinks and several food items including popular doughnuts and vegan items. A local company announced the addition and an Instagram post on April 11, alongside a rendered image of the space by East Arbor architecture. This will be strange matters third location MSU culinary services also posted the announcement on the eat at state Instagram. We are thrilled to bring strange matter coffee to the Union Building assistant vice president of culinary services Rebecca Solecki said in the post. There coffee is not only delicious, but also sustainably sourced which aligns with our values of promoting environmental stewardship.
The new coffee shop comes after the union's Biggby location closed earlier in 2022. Currently, the main coffee shop on campus is the Starbucks in wells hall where students can stand in line for up to 45 minutes. Some students said they hoped the new store will make getting coffee and baked goods quicker and easier. Information Science freshmen Caroline Parent goes to Starbucks multiple times per week. So she's looking forward to strange matters arrival on campus. I'm excited because I feel like the Starbucks lines are way too long, especially in wells in 1855 parents said being at the Union since they reopened it after everything would be a nice thing like here's coffee welcome back. So I'm excited. I know I myself am excited to start by the new union location come September. And for anyone hoping to check out strange matter in the coming weeks. You can find them on Michigan Avenue about five minutes from campus. I'm a big fan of their honey cinnamon latte. Iced and with oat milk of course. onto some City News a car accident. On the intersection of Lake Lansing road and Coolidge Road in East Lansing left two dead and six wounded two weeks ago. Kai Edward Ljubicic has been identified as one of the two who died like Ljubicic's family has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his memorial. The donation page deadly object loved creating music, writing and animals and that he was happiest by water with his friends and family. Kai was 19 years old and although he left us way too soon, he will forever leave a lasting impression on our hearts. The GoFundMe page wrote he was forever learning and furthering his education. Out of the six crash survivors to have been discharged from the hospital. One survivor remains in critical condition and the restaurant stable condition including a survivor who was airlifted to the University of Michigan Hospital. The chair of the committee searching for Michigan State
University's next president has shared an updated timeline and new details. This comes just days before six plan community input sessions where students and staff can share their thoughts on what they want out of MSU next leader MSU trustee Dennis Denno who has been tapped to lead the search hopes to have a job description by June so the executive search firm Isaacson Miller can begin picking candidates. He said ideally the board would announce its selection by Thanksgiving in November. The vacancy was created in October 2022 When former president Samuel L Stanley Jr. Resigned citing a loss of confidence in the board. The board has appointed former provost Theresa Kay Woodruff to act as president in the interim Denno is a newcomer to MSU board he and fellow Democrat Rene Kentucky Jefferson were elected in November to 2022. In a recent interview with W k AR Board Chair Rima Vassar said she selected Dan out to chair the committee precisely because of his inexperience at MSU, describing him as quote unquote untainted. Dental said he took that as a compliment saying he doesn't come in with any baggage alliances or preconceived notions. Dental will be joined on the committee by fellow trustee Brianna Scott, a Democrat elected in 2018, who will serve as Vice Chair trustees cannot be Jefferson and Dan Kelly will also sit on the committee that said they're currently soliciting names and ideas for the full search committing committee and that they're hoping to have it completed in time for a series of community listens listening sessions beginning later this week. Daniel said his ideal size for the committee is in the low 20s and that he hopes it will represent not just the various groups at MSU but quote every corner of the state of Michigan Deno said he also quote doesn't have permission to be more specific about the members or makeup. The 2019 committee which selected Stanley
contain students, faculty, alumni and administrators, in addition to trustees general would not comment on how he hopes the new committee will differ, saying that they are starting fresh and not modeling their committee on previous searches. A committee of Michigan State University administrators is deciding how to spend the $1,084,014 raised in the wake of a deadly shooting on campus in February. The reservoir deemed the Spartan strong fund was spill was filled by 4241. donors and aided portion aided by portions of proceeds generated by officially licensed Spartan strong merchandise. The committee's work will start with a recommendation to interim president Woodruff regarding initial distribution of the funds according to an email from assistant vice president of engagement Alison Gaudreau to the committee obtained by the state news. The committee is tasked with monitoring the funds balance and spending and with determining an application process for students seeking portions of the funds according to in the email. There isn't currently a firm timeline for when the funds will be distributed. According to MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olson, he did say the university will quote communicate with students in the community what funds are available and how to access that when possible. dressed in green and white students left class to walk from Berkey hall to the Spartan statue on Wednesday, April 12. To honor victims of gun violence and push for gun violence prevention legislation. The protest took place just short of two months after the mass shooting on our campus before the beginning of there before we getting there walk the crowd of students took a moment of silence outside of the front doors of Bercy hall where two students were shot and killed in the February 13 shooting. On the walk to the Spartan statue the group chanted names of the three MSU victims along with several other victims of gun violence. psychology's Jr, and CO organizer Maya Manuel well said the event felt like an opportunity to channel her grief into action. And while who grew up in
Manuel said she's had several people she knows died and experienced gun-based violence. This is something that was important to me on a deeper level than just what happened on February 13. Men law said we just want to offer students opportunities to do as they wish and walk with us and really take the opportunity to have their voices be heard and share the names of those who have been lost to gun violence one last time. As gun violence prevention bills make their way through the Michigan State Legislature, meanwhile, said she hoped the walkout would serve as the final pressure to get gun legislation passed into law. She said she also hopes the government introduces mental health-related bills to sitting around the Spartan statue men while and other students spoke about how students can help push for gun legislation including voting and contacting their representatives for men while she said the most important thing is to continue using her voice to fight for change. The night of February 13 Victor Rodriguez Pereira who emailed his students to see if they were safe. There had been a mass shooting and MSU was in a shelter-in-place as authorities tried to apprehend the gunman. Rodriguez Pereira and assistant professor had been on campus just an hour earlier, and his students were still there scared and hiding. It didn't feel real. He said the next day was a blur. It wasn't until at least 24 hours after the shooting that he fully realized what had happened. After that. He said the rest of the week was sort of a mix of anger and sadness and a lot of emotions. But during that week, he
and all other MSU faculty had work to do. They had to figure out how to approach next Monday's class what was expected of them what would they say to their students. And how could they get through work and when they two were grieving. Though the university required professors to hold class that week, many did not immediately jump back into course content. Rodriguez Pereira sent a survey to his students to hear their needs and expectations. The consensus was that they weren't ready to resume work. Rodriguez Pereira felt uncertain and anxious for what lay ahead. But he knew he was glad to see his students again. That first class back we just got together and just talked about it. And we just talked about how we felt he said it was very emotional because it's not always easy to share that part of yourself so willingly in person. It was very sad. It was very heavy. I don't think I've ever taught a
class so heavy. And I don't think I've ever had such a personal experience with my students ever. One James Madison College professor who wish to remain anonymous said returning to class was one of the hardest moments of his career. He wanted the class to be a space for students to process the tragedy and be together but he was ill prepared. He sought advice from mental health professionals to ensure he would not cause further harm or trigger his students. He learned he should focus on discussion discussing feelings rather than experiences. We use that time to just be together and reconnect and process. He said I thought it was really meaningful to reconnect as a classroom community at that time, but it was hard and it was heavy. All of us had our own mix of grief, fear and anger during that time. I just tried to make space for people to be where they needed to be and take care of themselves and to make sure that they all felt supported. The same time professors had to determine how to adjust syllabi course scheduled course content that could be triggering. Many allowed students to attend class virtually and cut portions of their syllabi altogether. Nearly all decisions were in the hands of professors which Rodriguez Pereira said acted as a double-edged sword. Sometimes carrying this honest of this heavy responsibility without clear direction in some
areas has felt heavy, the anonymous professor said, on the other hand, I do really appreciate that
they've put their faith in us to find a way forward and I feel supported enough. No professors realize that the administration was put in a, quote, impossible situation and did the best they could. The circumstances push more work on to faculty. Not only did they have to reorganize their courses, but they also provided emotional support for students. Rodriguez Pereira didn't want to call this work a burden. He said he was honored to support students because it was an essential part of his job, and he did it willingly. But it was also unexpected and unpaid labor, and he didn't feel qualified to do it. I've just made myself available for students. He said, Because I don't have any training and counseling or therapy. I don't know what to tell them or how to help them in that way. Because many faculty were constantly in support mode for students and sometimes their own children who needed help processing the shooting, they had little time and energy to support themselves. The anonymous professor said his own emotional processing got lost behind everything else causing extreme fatigue and difficulty concentrating. I don't know if it could be any other way. He said in the wake of something like this, there aren't any easier clear answers, and no clear way forward. My colleagues and I are doing the best we can and I see my colleagues just pouring themselves into supporting our students as well. I hope that when the semester is over, professors are able to do their own processing and kind of
recover and recharge. Rodriguez Pereira said several weeks passed before he could function normally again and sleep properly. He described the experience as a painful uphill battle for Associate Professor Celeste Campos Castillo adapting to her students needs was helpful in her own recovery. When the shooting occurred, Campos Castillo was in a unique position because she had just started working at MSU in January, that she hadn't been here for long she soon felt the grief especially when she thought about the phases she would never have the chance to see. She was not yet teaching classes, but she was helping students with research projects, as much as she could tell her students to refocus their attention on more flexible projects without immediate deadlines. In turn, giving her students time to grieve allowed her to grieve as well. At that moment, I knew I couldn't handle any extra stress because of what was going on. And so I was very careful to make sure that whatever work I was doing was fairly easy going that I could stop if I needed to campus, Castillo said, she said the sports zone shown by other faculty was the most conducive to her healing. They shared resources and discuss their
successes and struggles of returning to class. I was appreciative of the email exchanges among the faculty in my particular department and how they approached getting back to work and interacting with students, she said, I gleaned that the important values that were set forward for anyone who was interacting with students which were to be flexible, hear them out, but also just to show them that you are there and you care for them and appreciate them. That's it for our news roundup today. And we know what that means. It's time for a couple of minutes of just good news. Today we'll be listening to culture reporter Ellie Young's story about an oak tree that's reminding members of the MSU community of the power of resilience. What is now a severed trunk on the northeast corner of the MSU museum was once a giant flourishing white oak tree, a Quercus alba to be exact. The resilient oak tree thought to be the oldest tree on campus has lived an estimated 375 to 400 years. Although it's taken a series of losses in its lifetime. It's still standing and thriving today. Following a terrible thunderstorm one July
evening in 2016, now retired professor of plant biology and curator of the Beale Botanical Garden Frank Tilluski discovered giant the giant remains of what had been blown off of the resilient oaks trunk, he sanded down a sample to count its rings. Not only did he discover that the tree has stood there since well before campus was established, but he also found evidence of trials the resilient oak had been through LSU plant recorder Carolyn Miller said there were pieces of metal found sticking out of the trunk indicating it was one of many trees cut by MSU when it was first established in an effort to make the trees more bushy. Unfortunately, cutting the trees at their apical meristem or parts where sprouts form left a tree is vulnerable because rainwater can easily seep into the trunk and rotted out. To combat this MSU place metal caps on the trees. Many didn't survive, Miller said but the resilient oak made it through. In a more traumatic event. The resilient oak weathered the storm in 2016 After taking heavy damage, it loses its leaves every fall. It pushes out new leaves every spring and summer and it's still going Miller said, it really is pretty remarkable to see the College of Arts and Letters Do you and
Chris Long's office overlooks the tree and he said he was inspired by its perseverance. To reflect this he created the named resilient oak. That image of the tree that had suffered during a storm so badly and yet still stands and still lives and still grows. And now we see seven years later still really thrives is a wonderful metaphor for resilience long said. Part of the resilient oaks beauty is that it's older than MSU. It serves as a powerful reminder that you can withstand some challenges and suffering and still go on and thrive. It grew up with MSU it suffered as MSU suffered and yet it still persists, long said generally learning is a process that requires failure and the ability to be resilient through that and find ways to grow. On said the resilient oaks shedding each fall is a vital piece of its symbolism, as it is
weathering yet persistent. The resilient oaks current survival mechanism also represents MSU. Long said the only reason the tree still thrives is because it's interconnected with its surrounding trees by a network of roots. When there's a tree in distress in the system, there's a mechanism by which some nutrients are provided from other trees to support the tree in distress long said, there's an important metaphor there around our network of relationships and community that we have here at MSU. Long said it's critically important to protect the old trees on campus because each one has a story to tell their history is a vital part of our campus. They're some of the most precious beings on our campus long said, not only do they provide us with oxygen to breathe, but they also stand as a symbol of the enduring power of the campus and the enduring importance of education. So I really loved reading that story, and I hope you enjoyed hearing it. Next time I'm walking by the museum. I know I'll be keeping an eye out for the resilient oak. That's all for our episode today. So we'll see you next week. You can find the 1909 every Monday wherever you get your podcasts and signing off from East Lansing. I'm Lily Guiney.