OOC3 Recap

Not many people were aware that ASMSU had indeed adopted the "It's On Us" campaign. For those that did, the outlook was generally positive. Most students were pleased that their student government was taking a leadership role and joining with other organizations in supporting this critical campaign.
 Most believed that the campaign would indeed have a positive effect, especially with ASMSU's support.
However, not everyone believed so. Michigan State junior Harrison Jones said that he felt that ASMSU should not be involved in the campaign and that ultimately the campaign would be ineffective. According to Jones, "the people who are going to get behind the campaign are the people who are the people who are advocating for the stopping of sexual assault on campus." Jones also indicated that mandatory education programs would be more effective then awareness.
"I think that more required educational programs would be more effective," Jones said.
Because the campaign is less then a year old, preliminary reports on it's effectiveness will not be available for some time.

OOC 3 Preview

According to a White House Task Force report, one in five women will be sexually assaulted in college. In response the White House has instituted the "It's On Us" campaign in an effort to raise awareness and end sexual assault on college campuses. Earlier this year it was announced that Michigan State University is currently undergoing a Title XI review by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Since then, Michigan State has overwhelmingly adopted the "It's On Us" campaign. Furthermore the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, recently adopted the campaign following a November meeting. ASMSU is the student governing body for the student population on campus so the fact that the campaign has a strong voice among it's student population is a welcoming sign. However it remains to be seen if the "It's On Us" campaign being adopted by the student government will have any profound impact on either it's mission or sexual assault at MSU.

MM#2 Recap

Why do students leave student sections early? There have been lots of answers. The main issues seem to be weather and lack of interest on the part of the students. But can you really blame them? Ayalla Ruvio, a professor at the Eli Broad College of Bussiness at Michigan State University says that students are simply fufililing a need for affiliation.
"People who go to football games have a very strong affiliation need, they need to belong and be seen as being belonged to a group," Ruvio said. Affiliation falls into Love and Belonging in Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs, and is the reason, according to Ruvio, that students buy tickets in the first place. Ruvio believes that students buy tickets and attend games in order to feel apart of their student body and their university as a whole. However, when the outcome of the game is seemingly clear and the affiliation need is fufilled, students will generaly leave the game out of convenience. This is true underlying cause of students leaving games early,
"They fulfill the basic needs of affiliation," Ruvio said.

JRN MM#2 Preview

There has been a disturbing trend across the country at college football stadiums. Students are leaving their seats early, or not even showing up at all for college football games. The causes seem to stem from high ticket prices, unfavorable start times, more lopsided games, and even fatigue.
Like many schools across the nation Michigan State University has had to combat early departures in the student section. Despite consistently selling nearly 13,500 student tickets over the past five years there have been visible gaps on several occasions in the student section at Spartan Stadium.
When asked why students may decide to leave a game early, MSU Associate Athletic Director Paul Schager said that there are three factors that play a key role; opponent, weather, and kick-off time.
Schager said that a night game against Nebraska was a perfect example of all three of those elements in effect. "It rained early and often, it was a lopsided game, we were up 27-3, the weather conditions were poor, and it was a long game," Schager said. That game, which started at 8:00 pm and lasted for over four hours, was one of the longest games in Spartan football history and featured a predominately empty student section by the 4th quarter.
Schager also indicated that fatigue may play a key role in students deciding to leave early.
"Students might not necessarily like to sit in one place or do one thing for four hours," Schager said.