Xander Walsh car­ries a heavy load around the Ferris State cam­pus, but he’s not com­plain­ing. He wants to add a few more ounces to his right hip.

Walsh has fash­ioned a black gun hol­ster while on cam­pus to raise aware­ness for the con­cealed carry of a pis­tol on Ferris grounds. Currently, state law pro­hibits the carry of a con­cealed weapon on uni­ver­sity property.

“People can carry in a lot of places around Michigan, and we trust the good, hon­est, law-abiding cit­i­zens to do so. We don’t think that the right to carry [a pis­tol] should end when they come onto cam­pus,” Walsh, Ferris junior in pro­fes­sional golf man­age­ment, said. (more…)

Correction April 25: David Lebin’s name was printed as “Lieben” and the atten­dance of last year’s Autumn Alive was 541, instead of the 451 that was printed.

Ferris stu­dents won’t have to travel to Grand Rapids to attend a large scale con­cert, as Ferris’ Music Industry Management Association (MIMA) has announced next year’s Autumn Alive plans.

Changes to the annual per­for­mance include a four or five act show on two dif­fer­ent stages with a DJ booth placed in between the two.

“When I go to most shows, I feel bored by the end of it because I’ve been stand­ing in the same spot. But with this, I can move and go watch the DJ per­form,” David Lebin, gen­eral mem­ber of MIMA, said. (more…)

The Michigan Avenue busi­ness opened April 2. Since then, busi­ness has been “phe­nom­e­nal,” accord­ing to Brian Thompson, man­ager of Nawal’s Mediterranean Eatery. The com­pany offers a num­ber of prod­ucts, rang­ing from Mediterranean lunch and din­ner to gourmet cup­cakes and desserts.

“She [Nawal Braden-Swart] offers daily lunch and din­ner spe­cials, which are Mediterranean entrées. Everyday it’s a dif­fer­ent entrée,” Thompson said. “People come in look­ing for a menu; she doesn’t have a menu. It’s what’s on the board is what’s served, which has really taken off quite well. People have gone on Facebook, and we have almost 1,000 likes just within two weeks.”

Not only have peo­ple liked the com­pany on Facebook, which can be found by search­ing ‘Cupcakes by Nawal’ in the Facebook search bar, but many have com­mented on the page, explain­ing what they like most about the food, busi­ness as well as the peo­ple. (more…)

The prob­lem, as always, is parking.

The Big Rapids Community Library ren­o­va­tion project is slated to begin this sum­mer, bring­ing some changes to FLITE and park­ing. The $860,000 ren­o­va­tion will improve the weight lim­i­ta­tions of a build­ing that was designed to be an ele­men­tary school, not a library.

“All of our book­shelves are along the out­side walls because our floors are not rated to hold the weight of book stacks, so a lot of the space we have in the library is not usable,” Miriam Andrus, the library interim direc­tor, said. (more…)

No head­lights

On April 21 at 1:03 a.m., offi­cers stopped a vehi­cle with­out its head­lights on. The inves­ti­ga­tion revealed the dri­ver to be in pos­ses­sion of mar­i­juana. The dri­ver was lodged in the county jail.

Failing to stop

On April 20 at 1:19 a.m., offi­cers per­formed a rou­tine traf­fic stop in Lot 16 after a vehi­cle failed to obey a stop sign. The inves­ti­ga­tion revealed the dri­ver to be in pos­ses­sion of mar­i­juana. The dri­ver was lodged in the county jail. (more…)

“The Vagina Monologues”

On Thursday, April 25, the annual event “The Vagina Monologues” will take place. Although the event was first sched­uled to take place in March, it was resched­uled due to a wide­spread power out­age that closed Ferris’ Big Rapids cam­pus and affected the greater Mecosta County area.

The event is put on to raise aware­ness of vio­lence against women. (more…)

Growing up, Ferris sopho­more social work major Robert Gaudette had a secret so great it nearly destroyed him.

For years, he lived a dou­ble life and allowed only those clos­est to him to see the parts of him he thought they would accept.

According to Gaudette, he could never have imag­ined a time when he would share his story with his best friend, let alone with an audi­ence of strangers, but Monday night, he did just that. Gaudette, along with other Ferris stu­dents, spoke at the Queer Monologues, which was held in BUS 111 as part of Pride Week. The event was hosted by D-SAGA, the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance. (more…)

The excuse “Blackboard shut down” when try­ing to sub­mit an assign­ment will not suf­fice for tech savvy Ferris State professors.

The Course Activity Overview option gives edu­ca­tors the abil­ity to sort stu­dent data in rela­tion to Blackboard access. The inter­nal soft­ware pro­gram tells pro­fes­sors specif­i­cally how much time a stu­dent spent com­plet­ing assigned work on Blackboard.

If a Ferris State stu­dent claimed he or she attempted to turn in an assign­ment, but was booted off the pro­gram, the pro­fes­sor will be able to ver­ify the claim. (more…)

“So many times as a sur­vivor we know in our head that we are not alone, but that doesn’t nec­es­sar­ily get us to move,” Tracy Howard said, her voice strong and sincere.

Howard, Ferris senior in social work and mem­ber of the Social Work Association, is not only a sup­porter for sur­vivors of domes­tic abuse, child abuse and sex­ual assault, but also a sur­vivor herself.

Her past has given her the pas­sion to stand up and reach out to peo­ple who have expe­ri­enced sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tions. She has taken on the role and respon­si­bil­ity to be the head of putting on the annual event Take Back the Night, which is designed to empower sur­vivors of domes­tic abuse, child abuse and sex­ual assault. (more…)

Broken win­dow at Brophy

On April 13 at 11:17 a.m., offi­cers were dis­patched to Brophy Hall in regards to a bro­ken win­dow. The inves­ti­ga­tion revealed a sus­pect in the inci­dent. The report was for­warded to the Office of Student Conduct and the prosecutor’s office.

Malicious destruc­tion

On April 14 at 1:45 a.m., offi­cers responded to a mali­cious destruc­tion of prop­erty in progress in Lot 61. Officers inves­ti­gated the inci­dent by wit­ness accounts, and a sus­pect was iden­ti­fied. The report was for­warded to the Office of Student Conduct and the prosecutor’s office.

Smoking and drinking

On April 12 at 12:03 a.m., offi­cers responded to a report of sub­jects smok­ing mar­i­juana in Lot 4. The inves­ti­ga­tion revealed sev­eral sub­jects smok­ing mar­i­juana and drink­ing alco­hol. One sub­ject was arrested for an out­stand­ing war­rant. The sit­u­a­tion was referred to the Office of Student Conduct and the prosecutor’s office. (more…)