Detroit - Wayne State University/DMC Division of Infectious Disease and Gilead Sciences will host a commemoration event and lunch from 2-3:30 p.m. in the Morse Auditorium at Harper Hospital . Contact information is provided.

Western Michigan University and Wayne State have both announced deals to enhance the Kalamazoo scholarship offer.

Television and film producer Jerry Bruckheimer met with 1,600 students in a forum sponsored by WSU, the College for Creative Studies, The Detroit School for the Arts and the Michigan Opera Theater.

The California leader of a ballot campaign to limit affirmative action in Michigan debated the proposal before 1,000 people. "We're always talking about affirmative action as if it's the problem. It's the remedy," Frank Wu, dean of the WSU law school, was quoted as saying in the Detroit News.

WSU's men's basketball team fell 85-65 in an exhibition game against the University of Toledo .

The Hilberry Theatre presents Tennessee Williams' classic play "Sweet Bird of Youth" in rotating repertory now through Jan. 28. A description of the play and ticket information are included. Wayne State University's Black Theatre Program celebrates the life of Rosa Parks Wayne State 's Black Theatre Program launches its 35th season with native Detroiter Denise Nicholas' play "Buses" as its touring show for the 2005-2006 season. The play focuses on the lives of two women, Rosa Parks and Mary Ellen Pleasant, whose influential actions changes history.

Ken Jenschke, a Kalamazoo area resident and father a Western Michigan University (WMU) senior, says The Kalamazoo Promise is a "wonderful thing, a fantastic idea.\'\' But he\'s not happy with an offer by WMU to throw in room and board for graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools. "We\'re talking private vs. nonprivate money -- that\'s my problem,\'\' Jenschke says. "It\'s one thing for private donors to provide full-tuition scholarships for KPS graduates, it\'s quite another for a public institution to subsidize college costs for a specific geographic group. WMU officials acknowledge that they\'ve been getting complaint calls since they announced Friday they would subsidize room and board for four years for KPS graduates who qualify for The Kalamazoo Promise, the district\'s new scholarship program. Western\'s announcement came shortly after Wayne State University announced it was cutting room and board by 50 percent for KPS graduates. John Beacon, WMU vice provost for enrollment management, declined to say how many calls he had received, although he said it was not a lot. It makes perfect sense, he said, for WMU to help KPS students.

Christopher Collins, WSU music professor, took time out from a musical tour of Japan to play at the U.S. Pavilion at the Aichi World Exposition in Japan when WSU played host to symposiums on global business.

John Kill, Visteon Corp.'s senior vice president and president, North America customer group, has received the Socius College award from Wayne State University 's College of Engineering for his support of the university's engineering and management master's program. Kill is also a member of the Board of Visitors of the university's School of Business .

Wayne State Law School Dean Frank Wu, speaking at a Lawrence Technological University forum, said, "We're always talking about affirmative action as if it's the problem. It's the remedy."

Matt Michaels Jazz Quartet: The local jazz pianist performs with the Wayne State University Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra in a tribute to Dave Brubeck. Show starts at noon. Old St. Mary\'s Church, 646 Monroe , Detroit . Free. 313-577-1795.

Thanks to Wayne State University \'s Organization of Black Alumni, Viola Liuzzo, the Detroit civil rights activist who was slain in the South in 1965, is now the WSU alumna she always wanted to be. It\'s a fitting honor for someone who showed how love, courage, compassion and commitment could overcome racial barriers. On the 40th anniversary of her brutal murder by Ku Klux Klansmen in Alabama , the College of Nursing Alumni Association made Liuzzo, the first female martyr of the civil rights movement, an honorary member. Liuzzo had worked as a medical lab assistant before enrolling at Wayne State in 1963. Then, moved by brutal stories and images from the civil rights struggle in the South, Liuzzo went to Selma , Ala. , to join the voting rights march. After the protest, Liuzzo was shot and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan while taking marchers to the local airport. She was 39 -- the mother of five children. The Black Alumni group had urged the university to grant Liuzzo an honorary degree, but WSU had a longstanding policy against posthumously conferring such an honor. Since Liuzzo had wanted to be a nurse, the group asked the College of Nursing to honor her. \"She played such a pivotal role in African-American history,\" said Tara Young of Wayne State University \'s Organization of Black Alumni. \"She was fighting for her best friend.\" Liuzzo exhibited the best qualities of a nurse, and of a human being. By recognizing her, the Wayne State University College of Nursing Alumni Association has honored a civil rights heroine who is too little remembered in her own hometown.

Last night there was an affirmative action debate between Ward Connerly, the former University of California regent who opposes affirmative action and Frank Wu, dean of Wayne State University\'s law school. Connerly is the leader of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, a proposal that would ban the use of racial and gender preferences in government hiring and University admissions in the state, if approved by voters next fall. This year, proponents of MCRI collected enough signatures to place the initiative on the 2006 ballot. Wu said that when you take into consideration the stereotypes of different minorities, \"such as the Asian \'model minority\' stereotype,\" and the varying quality of different institutions, the standards cannot be equally applied. Affirmative action is needed to counteract stereotypes of women and minorities, Wu said. \"We shouldn\'t characterize affirmative action as a handout,\"? Wu said. \"No one is in favor of discrimination on any basis.\"? Wu added that affirmative action supports the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Wayne State renamed one of its newer residence halls for Yousif B. Ghafari of Bloomfield Hills in ceremonies on Oct. 27th. Story features a photo of the dedication. A WSU alumnus and member of the university\'s Foundation board and the capital campaign steering committee, Ghafari gave the university\'s current fundraising campaign a major boost. \"Yousif Ghafari\'s generous gift is a wonderful testimony to his commitment to higher education and to WSU in particular,\" said President Irvin D. Reid.

On Monday, Detroit Branch NAACP President Wendell Anthony announced during a news conference at Fellowship Chapel that a rally is scheduled Dec. 5 to support Michigan \'s affirmative action programs. The event will launch United One Michigan\'s campaign to defeat an anti-affirmative action referendum on the November 2006 ballot. United One Michigan is a coalition of student, business, labor, professional and religious groups.

Wayne State's College of Engineering inducted the following into its Hall of Fame: W. Bloomfield developer Lushman Grewal; Ford research engineer Priyaranjan Prasad, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers vice president Athanacios Nasr, U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center research director Grace Bochenek, retired Visteon vice president of glass systems division Paul Gill and former Medtronic vice president and chief financial officer Robert Ryan.

Howard Shapiro, Wayne State\'s associate vice president for undergraduate programs and general education, was interviewed regarding the Kalamazoo Promise and Wayne State\'s participation. Shapiro outlined the university\'s offer providing a 50 percent reduction in residence hall room charges to Kalamazoo Public Schools\' 2006 graduates who take their full-tuition \"Kalamazoo Promise\" scholarships to Wayne State .

Grand Valley State University is eyeing ways to attract Kalamazoo students armed with free scholarships, as other colleges dangle offers of free or reduced-rate room and board. While officials at other state universities say they are not creating a \"bidding war\" for Promise students, incentives could fly in the coming weeks as the peak season for college applications approaches and schools look for ways to rebound from declining enrollments. Wayne State \'s dorm fee is $4,175 for an academic year. The university is making no firm promises past the Class of 2006. \"This is not a race. It really is a heartfelt gesture on the part of Wayne State to recognize an incredible thing for higher education,\" said Howard Shapiro, Wayne State \'s assistant vice president for undergraduate programs and general education.

Instant tea may be a source of harmful levels of fluoride that can lead to bone pain, researchers discovered, after looking into the case of a woman who drank one to two gallons of super-strength tea every day. Dr. Michael Kleerekoper, a professor of medicine at Wayne State University who conducted a five-year national study of fluoride treatment for osteoporosis in the 1980s, said Whyte`s study shows that anything consumed to excess is not good, whether it\'s \"four gallons of pop or two liters of whiskey. Of all the dietary excess in society today, this is probably not the biggest culprit,\" he said. \"I\'m not minimizing his work, but the problem is one of excess.\"

DETROIT/DEARBORN -- Classes: Detroit Dance Collective, intermediate/advanced modern dance, Monday, Friday at Wayne State ; Wednesday at Ford Center , Dearborn . Free of charge. 810-444-4553 anytime.