Recent win­ter storms have incon­ve­nienced the Ferris State University com­muter demo­graphic and chal­lenged the cam­pus snow removal team.

Over 6,000 Ferris stu­dents are com­muters. There are also many fac­ulty, staff and admin­is­tra­tion mem­bers who com­mute from sur­round­ing areas like Grand Rapids, Cadillac and Reed City.

Ferris polit­i­cal sci­ence pro­fes­sor Christine Bailey is a case in point. She trav­els from Flint to Big Rapids and back twice per week. (more…)

I have been a stu­dent for a long time, with sta­tuses rang­ing from part-time, full-time, time off and overtime.

Many pro­fes­sors have stood before me, and I have stood before many pro­fes­sors. Some of them were good, some bad and a small minor­ity were absolutely bril­liant. Throughout this process of enlight­en­ment, one fac­tor has always held true—my com­plic­ity in the outcome.

As stu­dents, our level of par­tic­i­pa­tion in lec­tures, our out­side research, stay­ing after class to dis­cuss con­cerns and the pres­sure we exert upon edu­ca­tors in quest of mas­tery and under­stand­ing of class mate­r­ial is what helps make the bad ones good and the good ones great. (more…)

Ferris stu­dents shouldn’t lose too much sleep over the U.S. Postal Service’s switch to a five-day mail deliv­ery sched­ule to take place on Aug. 5, 2013.

Letters, mag­a­zines and some small parcels will no longer be deliv­ered to addresses on Saturdays. Packages and pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion deliv­ery will not be affected, accord­ing to the Postal Service’s web page.

Research con­ducted by the Postal Service and inde­pen­dent news out­lets has indi­cated seven out of 10 Americans sup­port the plan. (more…)

Breathing, eat­ing, for­ni­cat­ing and dying. On every sur­face humans touch resides a vast metrop­o­lis of ancient microbes nar­rowly evolved to effi­ciently prey on our flesh.

There is no bet­ter exam­ple of this than at the gym. Scattered through­out the Ferris State University Student Recreation Center and fit­ness facil­i­ties across the nation are seem­ingly innocu­ous plas­tic spray bot­tles filled with an unknown liq­uid solu­tion. To germs, these spray bot­tles may as well be Apache attack heli­copters equipped with hell­fire missiles.

“We are in the busi­ness of sweat,” Ferris Recreation Center Director Cindy Horn said. (more…)