With a focus on recent traf­fic inci­dents, new uni­ver­sity task­force is look­ing to increase pedes­trian safety

In light of the recent stu­dent death and other vehicle-pedestrian related inci­dents on cam­pus, the uni­ver­sity has begun tak­ing mea­sures to ensure bet­ter stu­dent cross­walk safety.

Robert von der Osten, Chair of the Strategic Planning and Resource Council (SPARC), said, “The coun­cil iden­ti­fied the need for a task force to inves­ti­gate how we can improve the safety of the cam­pus, espe­cially the inter­ac­tion of vehi­cles and pedestrians.”

He added that the Facility Master Plan, which was devel­oped last year based on input from the cam­pus com­mu­nity, has a long-range plan for the cam­pus design and dis­cusses the need to address trans­porta­tion issues. (more…)

Although quit­ting smok­ing frees peo­ple from cig­a­rettes, many peo­ple gain weight…lots of weight sometimes.

Quitting smok­ing is a smoker’s great­est lib­er­a­tion. Kicking the habit can take years and over­com­ing the huge chal­lenge is part of what makes being released from nico­tine bondage feel so good. No more wor­ry­ing about can­cer, heart dis­ease and an early death from the count­less other dis­eases peo­ple acquire from cig­a­rette smoking.

I have been a smoker for seven years. At my worst, I smoked a pack and a half of cig­a­rettes per day. I did not know I was addicted to smok­ing until I began try­ing to quit cold turkey three weeks ago. Since then I have chewed on straws, bit­ten my nails and fid­geted a lot. I have also inhaled food like a vac­uum. I went from hav­ing three small meals a day to eat­ing every­thing in site all day long. In three weeks, I have gained nine pounds.

Weight gain is one of the many rea­sons why peo­ple have a hard time quit­ting smok­ing, espe­cially women. A female friend of mine said weight gain is the very rea­son she has not attempted to quit because she’s strug­gled with her weight all her life that she would rather risk can­cer than be fat.

According to the Mayo Clinic, most peo­ple typ­i­cally gain between 5 to 10 pounds. within the first three weeks of quit­ting. The myth is that there is con­stant weight gain. However, once the first cou­ple of weeks are in the can, the urge of the oral fix­a­tion of smok­ing dies down and so does weight gain.

The rea­son why so many peo­ple gain weight while quit­ting smok­ing is that nico­tine is an appetite sup­pres­sant. Nicotine slightly increases metab­o­lism and assists in burn­ing calo­ries. When peo­ple quit smok­ing, their appetite and metab­o­lism return to nor­mal, which may leads to weight gain. Also, people’s abil­ity to smell and taste food improves dur­ing this process, mak­ing food more appealing.

Quitting some­thing you like to do really sucks. The truth is, I did not quit smok­ing because I wanted to improve my health. I decided to quit on a bet with my boyfriend and since I hate when he is right, I will just have to suffer.

Even though quit­ting often means weight gain, exer­cis­ing seems like not too hard a task to incor­po­rate into one’s life. Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Human Health and Service’s Weight-Control Information Network advises that peo­ple not try to lose the weight while quit­ting smok­ing because it will lead to smok­ing relapse. Although doing both things at the same time would be the ideal, I sup­pose I will have to sup­press my van­ity. I guess I’d rather be chubby than have cancer.

Campus Fun

Nov. 2–20

“Dark Light” Photography Exhibit, 11 a.m. — 4 p.m., Rankin Art Gallery

Nov. 18

FSU Symphony Band Fall Concert, 8 p.m., Williams Auditorium

Bond Hall Date Auction, 7 — 9 p.m., Bond Hall Lobby (more…)

Tina Muir and the women’s cross coun­try team look to fin­ish the sea­son strong

Muir, a junior from St. Albans, United Kingdom, has been liv­ing in the United States for four years. She left her fam­ily and moved to Michigan at the age of 19 to pur­sue an edu­ca­tion and to run cross coun­try and track.

“I really wanted to come to school over here exactly for this rea­son because of how sup­port­ive every­one is,” said Muir.

Muir won the Midwest Regional event by 10 sec­onds over Mary Ballinger of Southern Indiana University. Ironically, Southern Indiana is host­ing the NCAA-II National Championships on Saturday in Evansville, Ind. Muir said she is capa­ble of a very high finish.

“Anywhere in the top 10 is a pos­si­bil­ity, but I’d really like top five,” said Muir. “That would be a good goal right now.”

Muir has already piled up many achieve­ments this sea­son as she won the GLIAC and Regional Championships and was named the conference’s “Runner of the Year”. She, along with fresh­man Anna Rudd, was named to the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II All-Midwest Region Team. (more…)

Women will be look­ing to shock and awe in NCAA tour­na­ment to close out season

Ferris was one of the 64 teams selected to take part in the tour­na­ment. Ferris is the sev­enth seed in the Midwest Region and will take on second-seeded Lewis University (27−4). Lewis (Ill.) is cur­rently ranked 11th nation­ally. The Bulldogs fin­ished the reg­u­lar sea­son with a 19–11 over­all record.

The team will be look­ing to per­form at a high level in order to pull the upset and avenge their 3–0 defeat to Lewis ear­lier this sea­son in the GLVC Crossover tour­na­ment. Coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm believes that this team’s hard work and tena­cious­ness will ben­e­fit them.

“As always we are just going to have to take care of play on our side of the court,” said Brandel-Wilhelm. (more…)

Several econ­o­mists from Ferris’ col­lege of busi­ness will be answer­ing health care ques­tions relat­ing to reform in the United States.

“Health Care Reform: The Economists’ Points of View” will fea­ture speak­ers from right here on cam­pus. Presenters include Ashraf Afifi, pro­fes­sor of micro­eco­nom­ics, pub­lic finance, and econ­omy of the European Union; Abdi Ferdowsi, pro­fes­sor of var­i­ous courses in eco­nom­ics; William E. Smith, pro­fes­sor of finance, man­age­ment, and law courses; and Roy McLean, pro­fes­sor of micro­eco­nom­ics and macro­eco­nom­ics. (more…)

Board of Trustees approves new degree to pre­pare stu­dents for sus­tain­able, green design

A new bach­e­lor of sci­ence in archi­tec­ture and sus­tain­abil­ity degree was approved at the Nov. 6 meet­ing by the Ferris Board of Trustees.

According to a press release, the bach­e­lor of sci­ence in archi­tec­ture and sus­tain­abil­ity degree will uti­lize exist­ing course­work from degrees includ­ing the asso­ciate in applied sci­ence degree in archi­tec­tural tech­nol­ogy, bach­e­lor of sci­ence degree in facil­i­ties man­age­ment and com­mu­nity stud­ies minor.

Tom Oldfield, Dean of the College of Engineering Technology, said the pro­gram will edu­cate stu­dents on real-world issues of green build­ing and pro­vide them edu­ca­tional expe­ri­ences that embrace sus­tain­able build­ing tech­nol­ogy prac­tices. (more…)

Being broke is, in many respects, a key fix­ture in col­lege culture.

Every stu­dent has that story about liv­ing off of jam for a week and most col­lege grad­u­ates have devel­oped a strong aver­sion to Ramen noo­dles by way of their col­lege experience.

This Goodwill shop­ping, scroung­ing for cash men­tal­ity though, is some­thing that I am see­ing less and less. With the sup­posed “neces­sity” of cell phones, $300 mp3 play­ers and clothes that have that pre-worn look for a new-sticker price I have to won­der how stu­dents are com­ing up with all this spare cash.

Answer: Many of them are charg­ing it. (more…)

Bond Hall Date Auction

On Nov. 18 Bond Hall will be host­ing its Date Auction. It will take place in the Bond Hall Lobby from 7 to 9 p.m. All pro­ceeds from the event will ben­e­fit the American Heart Association. For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Rachael Bradford at bradfor@ferris.edu.
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