Catch Up On ELi's Reporting From this Week
What's been going on in East Lansing?
We’re officially two months into 2025, as we enter March with spring (hopefully) right around the corner.
The ELi reporting team wrapped up February by bringing some important stories.
Michigan State University’s first Black faculty member, David W.D. Dickson, faced repeated hurdles when looking for housing in the city.
With Black History Month concluding this week, Reporter Dustin DuFort Petty brought a story detailing the challenges MSU’s first Black faculty member, David W.D. Dickson, faced when looking for housing in the city. The story includes the perspective of Robert L. Green, a civil rights hero who led the battle against the city's racist housing policies, and worked at MSU at the same time as Dickson. Read Dustin’s story here.
Library Board approves strategic plan.
After collecting input from nearly 1,200 residents and spending nine months developing its new strategic plan, the East Lansing Public Library (ELPL) Board of Trustees approved the plan at its Feb. 19 meeting. The plan, which will guide ELPL for the next three years, reflects the library’s mission, vision and core values. The plan will be introduced formally to the community at a special March 17 meeting. Read Reporter Ayah Imran’s story about February’s ELPL board meeting here.
Technical mishap causes scare for Whitehills Elementary School staff.
On Feb. 14, an announcement went over the Whitehills Elementary School PA system that there was an intruder near the school cafeteria. With staff professional development being held, students were not on-site, but staff were put into a lockdown. Eventually, the announcement was traced back to the high school, which was holding emergency preparedness training. Read about the incident and changes the school district has made in reaction to the mishap in Managing Editor Luke Day’s story.
ELPS deputy superintendent uses family history to teach district third graders about racism in the U.S.
Teaching young learners about stains on our nation’s history can be a challenge, but a critical one for school districts to overcome. ELPS Deputy Superintendent Glenn Mitcham is telling district third graders the story of how his father’s path crossed with Martin Luther King Jr. Wrapped within the story are lessons about how Black Americans faced discrimination in the military, higher education and more. Read Luke’s story recapping Mitcham’s presentation here.
City meetings ramp back up next week.
As is usually the case, the start of a new month brings a rush of city meetings. Next week, there are nine city meetings on the docket.
Monday (March 3), the Transportation Commission and Seniors Commission each meet. Tuesday (March 4), the Board of Review gathers and City Council will hold two meetings–one a regular meeting, and before that a special meeting to discuss the BWL franchise fee lawsuit settlement in closed-session. Wednesday (March 5), the Zoning Board of Appeals and Police Oversight Commission each convene. Then on Thursday (March 6), the Downtown Management Board and Housing Commission each gather. When meeting agendas are posted, they can be found here.
East Lansing name origins: Charles and Elizabeth
This week in Dustin’s newsletter-exclusive column, he brings us the name-origins of a pair of intersecting streets: Elizabeth and Charles.
Charles Henry Chase was an editor of a newspaper in Ithaca, Michigan and a childhood friend of developer Horace B. Angell (he’s made several appearances in this feature). Chase became encouraged to try his own hand at development.
He helped develop water and sewers to residents of an early East Lansing subdivision. A well and windmill were built to pump water to homes from a 64-foot tower.
The intersecting Charles Street and Elizabeth Street in downtown East Lansing are named for Chase and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Church Chase.
The couple rest together in Lansing’s Evergreen Cemetery.
Thank you for supporting our work.
ELi is a nonprofit news service that is able to operate due to the generosity of our readers. To support our work, consider subscribing to an East Lansing Insider membership. Subscribers have stories emailed directly to them even before they are published to our website. Here is a list of ways you can help ELi continue our work.
