membership in the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and was the first public university in Texas to establish a core curriculum. The university is also a member of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Association for Core Texts and Courses. Dalquest Desert Research Station The Dalquest Desert Research Station is located on 3,000 acres of West Texas soil north of the Big Bend Ranch State Park. The land was a gift from the late Dr. Walter W. Dalquest, a professor at MSU, and his wife, Rose, on the condition that it be used for scientific research by biologists and geologists. Today, the site is used by professors, students, naturalists, scientists, and educators. Athletics Midwestern State fields 13 intercollegiate NCAA Division II athletic teams. MSU is a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The school mascot is the mustang. The basketball and volleyball teams play at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The football team plays at Memorial Stadium (Wichita Falls). The soccer teams play at the MSU Soccer Field. The softball team plays at Mustangs Park. The tennis teams play at the MSU Tennis Center. Student life The university's campus covers with over 50 buildings uniformly built of red brick with tiled roofs and arched facades. Students can be members of 14 nationally affiliated fraternities and sororities. Sororities on campus include Kappa Delta Chi, Sigma Kappa, Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Phi, Kappa Delta Chi, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Sigma Lambda Alpha. Fraternities are Tau Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Omega Delta Phi, Kappa Sigma, and Kappa Alpha Order. More than 100 other student organizations are on campus, such as the Association for Computing Machinery, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, several musical organizations, and sports clubs such as MSU Rugby. The campus has a newspaper, The Wichitan, and a student-run television channel and production studio, M&G Media. The campus newspaper and production studio are housed in the Mass Communication wing of the Fain Fine Arts Center. Housing and dining services Midwestern State has four residence halls; Legacy Hall, McCullough-Trigg Hall, Killingsworth Hall, and Pierce Hall (the latter of which is currently vacated for construction). It also has two apartments; Sundance Courts and Sunwatcher Village. Dining services went through a major remodel in 2016, adding new storefronts. Dining halls include the Mesquite Dining Hall and Maverick's Corner. New storefronts in the Clark Student