Last Tuesday night many students and faculty gathered in the Centennial Dining Room of the Rankin Center to listen to Student Government President Amber Balmer’s State of the Student Union Address.

Balmer started off by thanking everyone for stopping by and said how nice it was to see the faces of students who were interested in what Student Government is doing for them.

“It is Student Government’s 50th anniversary this year” she said. “We are striving for excellence in our 50th year.”

She then began reflecting back on all that Student Government has accomplished since the beginning of the school year.

This year was the first year for the Blues and BBQ festival that took place at the home opener football game this past fall. The event featured live music and food for those in attendance. Over 500 students, community members, faculty and staff attended to help raise almost $2,500 through ticket purchases.

Following Blues and BBQ, Student Government’s second annual campus wide food drive, “Coming Together for the Holidays,” began the holiday season. This year over 7,000 pounds of food was raised, 35 percent more than last year, and it was all donated to local food pantries near the Big Rapids area. The food was enough to supply the food pantries for up to three months

“I thank every person who participated in that event,” said Balmer. “It really did bring campus together for a great cause.”

Student Government also brought back its legal services which allow students the opportunity to discuss with a licensed attorney on any legal issues free of charge.

Appointments can be made by filling out a short informational form that is available in the Student Government office, located across from Huntington Bank in the Rankin Center, or online on the Student Government Web site.

With the help of several campus departments, the readership program which distributes copies of USA Today, Detroit Free Press, and New York Times around campus will continue for the remainder of the year.

Student Government’s United Way Committee had planned to bring some mid-winter festivities to Ferris students with its Mid-February Freeze-Out that was to take place this Saturday.

The event was designed to be an ice sculpting competition called “Icy Features of Castles and Creatures” that would allow different RSOs and student groups to compete for various prizes for their sculptures. Due to the prospect of warming weather and rain, the event had to be cancelled.

One upcoming event that Student Government is currently working on is the eighth annual WILL (Women Investing in Leadership and Learning) Conference that will take place on March 26 and will feature various speakers.

This year’s theme is “Transitioning from College Life to Professional” in hopes of providing information to young adults that are about to enter the workforce in a time of economic crisis.

Along with the WILL Conference, another upcoming project is the BIG Event, a community- wide service project taking place on April 18. Volunteers come together to work on various odd jobs such as painting, washing windows, and raking leaves for Big Rapids residents.

Finally, Balmer concluded her speech by addressing a new scholarship offered to Ferris students, from the money raised at the Blues and BBQ event. The first ever Student Government Scholastic Leadership Award will be awarded this year at Student Government’s awards gala.

The scholarship will award $1,000 to a student with at least a 3.0 GPA and leadership experience. To be eligible students will need to fill out an application, submit an essay, a résumé and letter of recommendation. To obtain an application or more information about the scholarship visit the Student Government Web site or the Student Government office.

Carly Root, a senior in public relations said, “I think that new scholarship they’re doing is a really great thing because it’s not only our professors recognizing our achievement and successes, but also our peers.”

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is looking to make Michigan government spending more transparent by creating a Web site that makes state financial information available to citizens.

He has been traveling around the state recently getting the word out about this idea.

“In this day and age it is incredible that government spending isn’t available online,” said Cox in a recent interview.

He also discussed how this is the first time that the technology is there to make this information readily available to citizens. He believes that we have a right to know how our government is spending its money and this will make it that much more available.

Using the analogy of iTunes, Cox said the listeners can get a preview of their song, but can’t access activity of their government’s spending. He believes this information should be available and easy to obtain.

As an effect of this plan, Cox believes that the governor will be much more critical about her spending, knowing that everyone can see it. He also stated that recent scandals with various government officials have shown a need to know what the government is doing.

Cox referred to John McCain and Barack Obama and their sponsorship of a federal bill to have a Web site for all of the spending by the national government, and that there is no reason we should not have this at the state level.

Cox came up with this idea about 13 months ago and has done three state-wide tours to promote it. He said that he is now trying to get public pressure to get a bill passed.

Cox’s other concern is energy. He stated that we cannot make a complete transition to wind and solar energy, and that clean coal and nuclear technologies still need to be looked at as an important energy source.

In a recent statement, Cox said President Obama and his Energy Secretary designee Steven Chu are right in that coal and nuclear power are a critical part of our energy future. Chu is a Nobel Prize winner and a leading voice for energy and technology in the new administration.

“Instead of imposing a moratorium on clean coal technology, Michigan should be doing everything possible to help companies expedite new plants and new technologies,” said Cox.

The Attorney General has been visiting many different colleges in both the lower and upper peninsulas to spread his message effectively.

Cox’s main priority right now is the transparency in government spending. The governor presented her budget on Thursday which prompted him to get the word out.

Purdue University, Central Michigan University, Indiana University and Ferris State University; what do these universities have in common?

Among other things, these institutions are home to proficient debate teams.

While it might be news to some, the Ferris State University Debate Team has been around since the university’s inception in 1884. More recently, the team has been established within its competition under the leadership of past coaches such as professor Gary Horn and Dr. Kristi Gerding-Scholten.

The team this year is currently in transition to find a new coach and for the time being is under the direction of interim steward Dr. Neil Patten.

Patten’s philosophy when he agreed to take the temporary position at the start of the fall semester was “I’ll take the job to simply keep the team afloat during this year of transition.” He also said, “I really didn’t expect the team to do well this year, but boy was I wrong.”

This year’s debate team consists of nine individuals. Members have varying majors and range from fourth year to first year.

The team’s senior captains Kelly Cothery and Jessica Nelson joined their freshman year and have been instrumental in leading the team during this year’s transition.

Debate competitions are structured by team members that compete in pairs and are given a position on an assigned topic.

Topics range from education and health issues, to political issues such as the happenings in the Gaza Strip. Each pair is allowed 15 minutes of preparation before they take the floor and defend their position. The teams are judged on their ability to discuss their position, their speaking skills, and the strength of their arguments.

This year the team has competed in tournaments throughout the state. Ferris’ team members have established their place in the competition by claiming titles such as best speaker, debate champions, and sweepstakes finalists.

Besides the experience in researching and communicating, the individuals on the team also receive scholarships ranging from $200 to $750. These scholarships, as well as the team’s funding, is provided through a Ferris endowment fund. The fund is financed by past members and supporters in the hopes that the debate legacy will continue at Ferris.

Nelson noted that although the debates cover a wide range of topics, there are some “unwritten rules” when it comes to what you can and cannot talk about. Nelson said, “Issues such as religion and abortion are not debated because personal emotions come into play and they have been debated so extensively.”

Nelson also said, “The primary goal of the debates is education and they are designed in a way that any educated college student would be able to compete.”

Debate, in its many forms, is a way to create support for new initiatives or reaffirm the status quo.

Cothery and Nelson are not able to compete next year because debate is limited to four years. This year is Nelson’s ninth year of debate as she started debating in eighth grade. Both Cothery and Nelson said they will be returning to help out on the team next year. Cothery said, “When debate has been such a large part of your college experience you can’t simply brush it off and walk away.”

The team has two more competitions to attend this year including the Pi Kappa Delta Nationals held at Louisiana State University. The team continues to practice, gather research and learn from each other in order to be ready for the events to come.

Free printing for the residence halls and West Campus Community Center has returned after being terminated in January.

Student Technology Services (STS) eliminated printing because of the overuse of paper and printing resources. When STS announced that printing services would no longer be available, many students were outraged.

“I hated walking to FLITE in the cold to print a paper that could have been printed at the front desk,” said Buck Getz, technical and professional journalism major and McNerney Hall resident. “It was frustrating.”

Terminating residence hall printing services was a last resort for STS when students overused printing resources.

“We didn’t want to end printing services,” said John Duman, Coordinator STS. “Increases in printing cost caused our decision.”

A page on the STS Web site, stated a budget of $10,500 for fall and spring semester. During the fall 2008 semester, more than 1,050 reams of paper had been used in the halls for printing. Other expenses that include paper, toner and imaging drums also contributed to the depletion of the yearlong allocation.

STS worked with Information Technology and Housing to accumulate emergency funding to provide students with free printing for the remainder of the year. STS is currently investigating options to reduce paper and printing misuse in the future.

The solution is intended to provide printing privileges for students while maintaining the printing budget. STS remained quiet about the company and product option choices for the printing solution. Without a permanent solution in place, STS is also unsure whether the emergency fund will sustain students’ demands.

Many hall directors and students reported that residents misused their printing privileges.

“I saw people print off song lyrics, pictures to hang on their walls, and ridiculous amounts of pages,” said Liz Tomasek, education major and Travis Hall resident. “Most printing is not used for homework.”

Tomasek believes the university needs to monitor students’ printing usage more closely.

Institutions like Western Michigan University and Muskegon Community College (MCC) monitor printing through a login system and setting limitations. WMU limits each student 200 to 400 pages per semester. Twenty pages are limited to MCC students per day.

Utilizing a portion of the students’ tuition to fund yearly printing is how many colleges allow “free” printing.

“The amount we pay for tuition should allow us to print want we need,” said Getz. “If a community college can do this, so can Ferris.”

“Fire and Water” Exhibit
From Wednesday, Feb. 18 through Friday, March 6 in the Rankin Center Art Gallery the artwork of Kendall College graduate Alina Poroshina will be on display. The exhibit will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free to view. For more information contact Carrie Weis at x2536.

Black History Symposium: From Martin to Tupac
On Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Rankin Center Dome room there will be a film screening, symposium, and an interactive technology workshop that present the program Martin to Tupac: Political assassinations. This event is free and open to the public. For more information contact Michael Wade at x5029.

Fall Hall Sign Up
On Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the front desk of all residence halls students have the opportunity to sign up for a different room within their current hall. If you wish to sign up for a different room in a different hall you may do so on Thursday, Feb. 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Rankin Center Dome Room. For more information contact Diane Johnson at x2992.

2nd Annual Honors Program Art Show
On Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Rankin Center Founders Room 238 the second annual honors program art show will be presented. The show features many kinds of artwork made by students in the Ferris honors program. There is no admission fee for this event. For more information contact Bruce Dilg at x8265.

Weight Management in College
On Thursday, Feb. 19 from 11 a.m. till noon in Science 102 there will be a presentation concerning weight management in college as a part of the Academic Support Center Speaker Series. There is no admission charge and everyone is invited to attend. For more information contact Julie Urick at x3543.

Communication Counts
On Thursday, Feb. 19 from 11 a.m. to noon in Williams Auditorium there will be a series of four skits with discussion that deal with the issue of bullying. This presentation was given at a number of local schools and deals with a number of forms of bullying including online social network bullying. This event is free and open to the public. For more information contact Brooke Moore at x3633.

Arts and Lectures: The Hugo Wolf Quartet
On Friday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. in Williams Auditorium the world renown Hugo Wolf String Quartet will display their musical talents in Big Rapids, MI. This event is free to attend and open to the public. For more information contact Cate Arroe at x2070.

Saline Fiddlers
On Saturday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. in the Wink Arena and again at 7 p.m. in Williams Auditorium. The fiddlers will perform music from a variety of genres including American folk fiddle, jazz, and Celtic. For more information contact Bruce Dilg at x8265.

Notice:
Ferris Grounds Department has collected all bicycles. If your bike was collected you may now come pick it up from the Campus Police.

Notice:
Parking Lot 41 will be closed on Friday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. concerning the new Optometry Building project. All vehicles assigned to the lot must be moved by 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 and can be stored at any red residential lot for the weekend. All vehicles must be back in their assigned lot by midnight on Sunday the Feb. 22.

False Alarm
On Feb. 11 at 1:22 p.m., the smoke alarm was activated in the Science Building. It was a false alarm with a malfunctioning detector in a heat vent.

Hit and Run
On Feb. 10 at 2:25 p.m., there was a report of a hit and run in Lot 32.

Window Busting
On Feb. 7 at 2:40 a.m., there was a broken window in Hallisy Hall. The damage occurred in the East stairwell on the 4th floor.

Two car accident
On Feb. 6 at 3:25 p.m., there was a report of a two car accident in Lot 4.

Remember to Always Lock Your Lockers
On Feb. 9 at 1:15 p.m., there was a theft complaint at the Student Recreation Center. A purse was stolen from an unlocked locker in the women’s locker room.

Hall Snooping
On Feb. 6 at 12:30 a.m., there was a trespassing complaint in Hallisy Hall. Officers assisted the hall director in locating a subject who was a non-student residing in the hall.

Never Drink and Drive
On Feb. 8 at 1:54 a.m., a traffic stop took place on Ferris Drive near State Street. The person was stopped on driving without headlights on. The driver was intoxicated and lodged in the county jail for OWI. The passenger was cited for MIP.

Intoxicated Minor
On Feb. 8 at 4:40 a.m., officers assisted Clark Hall staff with an intoxicated subject. The subject was MIP and was ticketed.

Free Gas!!
On Feb. 5 at 10:40 p.m., dispatch received a report of a gas drive off at Wesco near the expressway. FSU police stopped the vehicle on State Street and turned the situation over to the Sheriff's Department.

Are you sure this is your car?
On Feb. 5 at 8:30 a.m., officers were called to the Automotive Center with a suspicious complaint about an automobile situation. The situation was referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Ticket Totals:
From Feb. 5 through the 12th, public safety identified 372 violators. Each violator was ticketed for a total of $4,290. Actual amount depends on whether the ticket was paid, voided, or reduced.

The message that Ruckus users found in place of their music was short and sweet. “Unfortunately the Ruckus service will no longer be provided, thanks,” appeared after a period of Web site management on Feb. 6.

This memo came with no prior warning or consultation to the provider’s 3,500 Ferris students and millions of other college students. John Duman, Ferris coordinator of student technology services, said, “I had heard a rumor from other universities around the country that something was up but we weren’t given any details.”

Ruckus was a free music downloading service geared specifically towards college students. When the site was launched in late 2004 there was an $8 monthly subscription fee. Two years later the service shifted to an advertisement supported service and offered the music free of charge to any college student with a valid university email.

The site allowed access to over three million songs that were all protected by an embedded license which prevented burning or syncing to audio devices. It also had labels on songs that had excessive foul language or sexual content.

Ruckus, originally owned by Battery Ventures and Shelter Capital, was praised by the music community for providing an alternative to illegal file sharing, which continues to be a major problem on college campuses.

According to Duman, the service termination may be largely due to Ruckus being purchased last year by Total Music, a joint venture between Sony and UMG.

Duman said, “Total Music has been struggling for awhile and my guess is that Sony finally pulled the funding.”

With Ruckus gone, Duman and his team are working to provide Ferris students with new ways to obtain music legally. Technology Services has composed a list of radio stations and other music providers that will be available shortly on the Student Technology Services Web site under the “Ruckus” tab.

This list includes free music providers such as Yahoo Music, Pandora Radio, iLike, playlist. com and OnlineRadioStations. com, as well as legal pay sites including iTunes and Napster.

The service that is most comparable to Ruckus is Spiralfrog, which Duman states his students have been testing out. Spiralfrog allows any user to set up an account which will grant them access to over three million legal downloads similar to Ruckus.