By Ociel Torres Staff Reporter “You talked. We listened!” is the heading on the many posters plastered all over campus, from designated bus stops to residence halls. There is a new program currently in the works at Western Michigan University, and although it’s only a trial period, it could prove to be of great use [...]
By Nathan Palcowski Staff Reporter On Jan. 22, 2012, not only did Penn State University and the rest of the college football world lose a coach, they lost an icon. Legendary football coach Joe Paterno passed away from lung cancer at the age of 85. Paterno had been the head football coach at Penn State [...]
Bethany Bohlen Photo & Art Editor Charles-Curtis Sanders is a senior at Western Michigan University, majoring in theatre performance and minoring in dance. Q. What are your schedule & lifestyle like as a theatre student? A. To be a theater major, you have to be nocturnal. We rehearse, perform, set up, and strike (tear down) [...]
By Katy TerBerg Staff Reporter Norman Finkelstein, a prominent critic of Israeli policy in the Middle East, will speak at Western Michigan University on Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. in the North Ballroom of the Bernhard Center. The title of his speech is “How to Resolve the Israel-Palestine Conflict.” A son of Holocaust survivors, Finkelstein [...]
By Ted Yoakum Staff Reporter The inventory inside the typical Western Michigan University student’s backpack is becoming more precious than ever, with laptops, tablets, e-readers and other gadgets all competing for space against the stalwart of the American educational system: the textbook. However, in this era of hyperconnectivity, where people can access the Internet on [...]
Erin Gignac News Editor He walks down the alley and steps in the cage. Hands wrapped, pep talked, mouth guarded and probably breaking a sweat, Hector Garcia sizes up his competition. “It’s weird because one of the biggest guys I remember fighting was so stocky looking,” said Hector Garcia, a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. “I [...]
By Jake Adams Staff Reporter On Jan. 18, if you didn’t know about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), by the end of the day you at least knew that it existed. What it is, why it’s there and why it has caused so much fuss would have required some investigation, but not much. Type [...]
By Kelly Mason Staff Reporter Kalamazoo has transformed into a winter wonderland. Over the past week, lake-effect snow has blanketed the southwest region of Michigan, leading to the annual road plows and salt trucks moving across campus and the city. Western Michigan University uses snow melt systems at the entrances to most of the buildings [...]
By Kassie Charnley Staff Reporter The Humanities Center in Knauss Hall welcomed Brian Kalt, associate professor of law at Michigan State University, for an ethics lecture on the Ninth Amendment on Friday, Jan. 20. As stated in the Constitution, the Ninth Amendment declares that “the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be [...]
By Liz VandenHeede Staff Reporter An important factor in the success of many local businesses made a very late arrival this year. Snow and all of Michigan’s unpredictable winter weather impacts all kinds of people and businesses, especially ski resorts and winter sports parks. “We didn’t open until January 4 this year—the latest opening I [...]
Katie TerBerg Staff Reporter Few students can claim that they are financially stable, and with the influx of the Michigan “college tax,” their resources might become even more scarce, according to Bridge Magazine. Currently, Western Michigan University holds the eighth highest college tax rate of any public university in Michigan. In recent years, Michigan’s higher [...]
By Erin Gignac News Editor Clean water is scarce. Bathing conditions are tough. Most people still live in tents. Americans might associate these living conditions with homelessness in the United States. However, this is the daily condition of people living in Haiti. In Port Au Prince, thousands are still living in unacceptable conditions, President John [...]
The Western Herald sat down with Branden Lewis, candidate for the 27th season of The Real World. Q: Tell us about your opportunity for The Real World TV show? A: Well, pretty much around last September, when the 26th season started, was when I saw auditions for the 27th season. I quickly submitted an email [...]
By Gabi Crowley Staff Reporter As far back as Western Michigan University’s Public Safety Department Police Captain Carol Dedow can remember, the university has always received complaints concerning the lack of student parking on campus. Campus is considered “pedestrian-friendly,” according to WMU Admissions’ web page. Most parking lots are exterior to main campus, causing students [...]
By Baxter Gill Staff Reporter Tensions in the Middle East have been building for as long as many Western Michigan University students can remember. Between OPEC oil price manipulations, Israeli rhetoric and counter rhetoric, Iraqi wars and most recently, the Arab Spring, the Middle East is in the news so often that Americans might not [...]
By Catie Dymond Staff Reporter After all the Christmas cookies and New Year’s celebrations, it is time to hit the gym and start the new year off right. Western Michigan University offers many opportunities for its students, faculty and staff to stay in shape and prepare to meet New Year’s resolutions. “Typically, we have about [...]
By Ted Yoakum Staff Reporter College students are used to looking for that next jolt of energy to help power them through the following hour of dull lectures, whether it comes via a venti cup of Starbucks coffee, a can of Rockstar energy drink or from a vial of Five Hour Energy. Owners of electric [...]
Writer’s block is a foreign word in T. Geronimo Johnson’s vocabulary. Rough drafts should flow fast, furious and free. “That’s when you discover a lot,” he said. Johnson’s poems and short stories earned him a spot as the visiting writer and professor in the Department of English at Western Michigan University for spring 2012. He [...]
Tayler Cattera Staff Reporter The 2012 presidential election is now in full swing and candidates’ promises and proposals of how to fix the many problems facing America have been heard across the country. But there are some people that are more than skeptical that any of these promises will be met after the election because [...]
Baxter Gill Staff Reporter Set in Detroit’s early boom years, D.E. Johnson’s newest book “Motor City Shakedown” paints a fascinating backdrop for an exciting tale of organized crime and revenge. On February 7, D.E. Johnson will be in Kalamazoo to promote and lecture for his newest book. Mixing historical figures and events with a fictional [...]
Taylor Larson Staff Reporter Every few weeks, the eggshell walls of Gwen Frostic change colors, though not from buckets of paint—rather, the gallery transforms into a whole new space by its décor, the works of student artists. Transformed from sculptural installations to yards of spun fabric, proactive charcoal sketches, stuffed animals, or highbrow, avant garde, [...]
Kelly Mason Staff Reporter “My bill for Western was $41,000 for both semesters.” That’s how much freshman Quincy Sadro had to pay for his first year in college as a member of the aviation college at Western Michigan University, the third best school in the country for aviation. In addition to tuition, room and board, [...]
Nathan Palcowski Staff Reporter Coming to the East Ballroom of the Bernhard Center on Thursday, Jan. 26 is an event simply referred to as the “mini Bronco Bash.” Western Warm-Up is an event put on for transfer students that are new to Western Michigan University. The Western Warm-Up is a way for not only [...]
Ociel Torres Staff Reporter One of the main goals for Western Michigan University is to create a safe and diverse learning environment for all of its students. Now that there are a growing number of international students coming to WMU, it seems that CELCIS, a leading program at WMU, can take the pledge of diversity [...]
Emily Midling Staff Writer The neighborhoods around downtown Kalamazoo are getting a facelift. The Kalamazoo Land Bank has just completed construction on two new houses in the North side, with plans to do even more construction in the six neighborhoods that surround the downtown area. The houses, which are in the 1000 block of North [...]
Erin Gignac News Editor Most people have been locked in their residence hall bathroom one or two times by their prankster roommates. However, being trapped for an entire weekend presents some unique challenges, which involve consuming copious amounts of toothpaste and using toilet paper for chilly nights. “It’s total survival mode in the dorm bathroom,” [...]
Jake Adams Staff Writer There is an $8 fee that is stamped onto the cost of attending Western Michigan University titled the “Sustainability Fee.” Among the $400 worth of fees, less than the actual amount WMU’s Registrar’s Office’s webpage says the average full time student paid per semester during the fall of 2010, the $8 [...]
Ted Yoakum Staff Reporter With temperatures averaging in mid to high ‘40s and constant rain showers, one could easily mistake the early weeks of 2012 with the wet and mild conditions of April rather than Michigan’s usual cold, bitter and snow-covered January. However, students shouldn’t start stowing their parkas and scarves away just yet, as [...]
Ted Yoakum Staff Writer When Western Michigan University Professor Benjamin Ofori-Amoah spoke with a handful of students enrolled in WMU’s community and regional planning program last fall, he recalls not expecting the controversy that would break out over what he felt was a relatively minor issue. Ofori-Amoah, the head of the relatively new major, said [...]
By Craig Manning Western Herald When NPR began the From the Top program as a radio experiment in 2000, their aim was to support and showcase the talents of young musicians throughout the United States, but nobody expected it to become a staple in the NPR line-up. 12 years later, From the Top remains one [...]
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