Director hopes to expand Erb Essentials this summer
EMU convenience store Erb Essentials is looking to expand its selection of products following the recent decision to ban tobacco sales from the store.
EMU Food Service Director John Costello said the store will work to add new product lines over the next few months. One of the products he hopes to add is a sushi display, which an outside supplier would fill daily.
He said he will have to wait until the end of the school year to evaluate the store’s budget and profitability before making plans. He hopes Erb Essentials will have $15,000 to $20,000 to spend on refurbishing the store and adding 400 square feet to it, which will give it a “cleaner” and “fresher” look.
Costello told the Emerald on April 29 that the impact of the tobacco ban will potentially decrease secondary sales, which are products bought in addition to tobacco products. He added that the store will lose about $100,000 in sales and $25,000 in revenue because of the ban.
Costello said most of the changes in products and store appearance will happen over the summer and Erb Essentials will no longer sell tobacco by the time students return in the fall.

— Lisa Catto

Scholars will discuss 9/11 aftermath Saturday
Surveillance, gendered militarism, violence in the media and other issues of post-Sept. 11 America are just some of the topics several visiting scholars will address in the ethnic studies spring symposium.
“After 9/11: The New Militarism and the Question of Belonging” a series of keynote speeches and discussions also will feature a talk by San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival director Chi-hui Yang, and the screening of Jason DaSilva’s 2004 documentary “Lest We Forget.”
The free one-day symposium will take place Saturday in the EMU Ben Linder Room from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will feature speeches by ethnic, gender and post-colonial studies scholar Kum-Kum Bhavnani and Moustafa Bayoumi.
“The events of Sept. 11, 2001 have shaken the stability and coherence of the United States in ways that surpass the tumultuous period of the Vietnam War and the social movements of that era,” a press release for the event stated.
The symposium is co-sponsored by the Multicultural Center Ed Coleman Series, the Coalition Against Environmental Racism, the Center on Diversity and Community and the Center for the Study of Women in Society.
Visiting ethnic studies Professor Nerissa Balce, an organizer of the event, said she hopes the symposium will be a public intellectual discussion of criticisms of the war on terror and the war in Iraq.
“We hope to bring immigrant issues into the conciseness of students and community members,” Balce said. “Asian and Arab immigrants are being targeted and racially profiled. We hope the symposium brings support for immigrant rights.”
Multicultural Center co-director Alex Gonzalez said he looks forward to the symposium to “find out how different communities are being affected.”
“It will be interesting to find out what other scholars are working on,” he said. “It’s going to help further my studies by getting different perspectives.”
The afternoon panel discussion at 2 p.m. will include scholars Peter Chua, Robyn M. Rodriguez, Nina Ha, Mariam Lam and Irum Sheikh.

— Lennon Bergland