1998-10-02; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 81, Number 15
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
79 years of serving the community
Friday
October 2, 1998
12 pages
CMU, city discuss housing shortage, Western weekend
By Laura Michels
LIFE Staff Writer
Off-campus student housing
could be a problem next year if
CMU lifts its requirement for
sophomores to live on campus.
It was one of the major concerns addressed by a committee
of CMU administrators and city
commissioners at a special
Wednesday meeting at City Hall.
"If there is an influx of students on the way out (of the residence halls) we may not have
enough (off-campus) housing,"
said Mount Pleasant Vice Mayor
Mike Pittsley.
Union Township Supervisor
Jim Collin said student housing
is already becoming difficult to
find.
"It's really hard right now for
people to find occupancy," Collin
said.
Building more ofF-campus student housing is not an option at
this point, said City Manager
Paul Preston.
"There really is no ability for
either the city or township to
build more units," Preston said.
The main reason why no new
apartment complexes can be
built soon is due to sewer capacity, Preston said.
"Right now, the township doesn't have the sewer capacity (to
build more units) and won't, for
two to three years," he said.
However, Fisher said not all of
the sophomores will take the
option   of   moving   off  campus,
which is tentatively set for fall
1999.
He speculates that only
around 200 sophomores will
move out of the residence halls
"It's a misconception to think
2000 to 3000 students will leave
(the residence halls)," he said.
Fisher said although the
option to move off campus may
be open to sophomores, Central
isn't pushing anyone out of the
residence halls.
If the sophomore requirement
is lifted, "we (will) still encourage sophomores to live on campus if they wish, and allow them
to move off if they wish . . . It's a
voluntary thing They can live
there (in the residence halls) if
they want to, but we are not forcing them out," Fisher said.
Another concern by Vice
President of Business and
Finance Kim Ellertson, regarding the possible problems stemming from having the sophomore
requirement lifted was
addressed. Ellertson said problems may arise if the residence
halls are not filled to capacity.
"We can manage 5,300 spaces.
We don't want to get caught with
only 5,100 (students living) in
the residence halls," Ellertson
said.
One option the committee is
considering is continuing to give
a discounted rate to students
who volunteer to  live  in  a  five
See CMU/CITY Page 2	
Burdick: Open
Meetings Act
not violated
By Liz Wishaw
LIFE Editor
CMLFs Board of Trustees and the president did not
violate the Open Meetings Act in April during closed
door meetings, according to a decision released
Wednesday.
But Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick is still
investigating another incident that was brought to him
Monday regarding a possible violation of the Open
Meetings Act by the board at an earlier meeting this
year. Burdick said in a statement that he has no further comment until he can look into the matter.
Burdick was out of town and could not be reached for
comment Thursday.
Rae Goldsmith, associate vice president of Public
Relations and Marketing, said Thursday that the university is aware of Burdick's investigation into another
alleged violation of the act.
"We are aware of their prosecutor's additional question and we are looking into it very seriously at this
point. Our intention is to respond to him directly as
quickly as possible," Goldsmith said.
The first investigation was the result of two complaints filed with the prosecutor's office about an April
7 meeting between University President Leonard
Plachta and Trustees David Brandon, Roger Kesseler,
Sid Smith and Jerry Campbell that may have been illegal.
Jim Wieghart, professor emeritus of journalism, and
David Smith, who at the time was the president of
CMLFs Faculty Association, both filed the complaints
with Burdick's office, asking for an investigation into
the April 7 meeting.
Both asked that Burdick determine if the Open
Meetings Act had been violated at this meeting because
See OPEN MEETINGS Page 2
Gubernatorial
candidate to visit
Mount Pleasant
By Angela S. Van den berg
LIFE Assistant News Editor
It's Fieger time!
Or at least it will be for awhile when Michigan
gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger visits CMU
at 3 p.m. Wednesday to speak to students, faculty and
residents in front of Warriner Mall.
The event is fully sponsored by Women Initiating
Social Equality (W.I.S.E.).
Irene Kepler, president of WISE
and Sterling Heights junior, said it is
important for WISE to bring Fieger
to campus because both he and
WISE are supporters of social equality.
"One of his political spiels is that
he's not a politician and there's no
reason to believe what he's saying
about freedom, justice and compassion to all people isn't true," she said.
Fieger also supports "a very liberal" woman for attorney general, Kepler said.
*Tt*s also important we have a governor in Michigan
who supports freedom of choice, both for abortion and"
assisted suicide," she said.
People in the age 18 to 25 demographic group have
a history of not voting because they think it does not
affect them, Kepler said. While she said that may be
true in Engler's case, she thinks Fieger is different.
*. . . and I think that's true with Engler because he
caters to the rich Republican which many students at
CMU aren't."
Fieger will be a governor to support poor people,
the elderly, young people and people of color, Kepler
said.
Kepler said WISE is upset about welfare recipients
being required to be drug tested before they can get
state monies. That is something she said Fieger
wants to change.
"That's been just horrible for women across
Michigan," she said.
The governor salary of $120,000 a year will be
donated by Fieger to several charities should he be
elected governor.
The closer we get to having people like him in
office, the closer we get to having a woman in office,"
Kepler said.
The event will be moved to the Bovee University
Center if it rains.
HEGER
To serve and protect'
 .	
	
JEFF ROSCZYK • CM LIFE
Sergeant John Vinson was recently promoted at the CMU Police department after only 29 months of service here. Vinson can be seen all over
campus from 4 p.m. to midnight, but no matter where he is, most times he's wearing a smile.
Vinson promoted to sergeant for CMU Police
By Matt Edick
LIFE Staff Writer
John Vinson's goal is to become a
police chief someday and after
being promoted to sergeant at the
CMU Police department, it looks
as though he's well on his way.
After only 29 months of service,
Vinson is in charge of the administrative duties of the 4 p.m. to midnight shift. In addition, he also is
responsible for patrolling campus
and responding to complaints. His
position became effective Aug. 18.
The new position places Vinson
somewhere he wants to be.
"Going from officer to sergeant is
a big change in responsibility," he
said. "But I am very happy to have
received this promotion to
sergeant. I have always enjoyed
working and attending school here.
It feels very good to be given this
opportunity to further serve the
people here."
Upon graduating from CMU in
1993, Vinson attended the Wayne
County Regional Police Academy.
He took a position with the Battle
Creek Police department for over a
year before going on to the Royal
Oak Township Police's multi-jurisdiction narcotics unit.
Vinson worked for Royal Oak for
two years and it was a job he
enjoyed because of the opportunity
it allowed him to be near his family, consisting of his mom, dad and
13 brothers and sisters.
After a little more than two
years in Royal Oak, Vinson decided
to take a position with the CMU
Police while he pursued his master's degree in administration with
a concentration in public administration, a degree that Vinson graduated with in May. But this was
not before he and his team helped
bust several drug houses in the
Detroit area.
"We'd raid the house and confis
cate everything," he said. "Then
we'd take the dealers into custody
and put an officer on the front
porch to pose as a dealer."
Unexpectedly, an officer with
Vinson one night was in his usual
place when another drug dealer
did a drive-by shooting on the
house. A high-speed chase ensued
and the occupants of the vehicle
were taken into custody, Vinson
said.
Some might think stress such as
this would get an officer down, but
Vinson said he doesn't let it bother
See VINSON Page 12	
City commissioner proposes restrictions
on student housing north of Bellows
\ s i n e
By Angela S. Vandenberg
LIFE Assistant News Editor
In order to restore peace to his own
neighborhood, City Commissioner John
Scahse is asking the city commission to
look into a partial elimination of student housing north of campus.
Recent occurrences of rowdy students, parties and vandalism in the
areas near Main and University streets
were on commissioners* minds Monday
night at their meeting, which is where
Scalise first mentioned the proposal he
has drafted that asks that the area
north of campus be rezoned into a residential area.
The current houses in that area were
at one time residences but over time
were changed to mostly student housing, he said.
The streets which would be affected
include Washington, Main, University,
Franklin, Lansing, Fancher, and
Kinney streets.
This would mean fraternities, sororities and students living in this area
would be allowed to have only two
unrelated persons living in one residence. However, this is not to say there
would be no exceptions, he said.
"If we (decide to) zone residential,
service clubs could be exempt," Scalise
said. "I don't foresee telling ail the fraternities to go away."
The efforts of some fraternities to go
alcohol free is something Scalise
applauds and he is hoping it will spill
over to other residents in the area.
In response to the complaint about
making a few rowdy students represent
the whole CMU population, Scalise
said, "it's not a couple — it's about
1,000."
Scalise said he knows there are a lot
of legal issues that go along with what
he is proposing. Rezoning would not
mean landlords would have to restructure the houses to accommodate only
two people because the city has a general rule that doesn't require changes
to be made under such provisions, until
someone just comes along and does it.
Warm weather is what Scalise attributes some of the recent craziness to,
but he said this is a problem that has
been going on for over a decade.
"The students or whoever they are
need to realize this is their warning.
Now either they shape up or they ship
out."
He said residents are expressing to
him that they no longer want to tolerate students "terrorizing" their children by drunkenly screaming in the
night, or vandalizing their yards.
"No one has the right to be defecating
on bushes or ripping up yards," he said.
"People should not have to live that
way."
Scalise said the city spends tens of
thousands of dollars a year to increase
public safety in the area he is concerned about.
"The entire city is footing the bill for
this travesty," he said. "If we weren't
dealing with this garbage, we'd put
that money somewhere else, but
instead we're out babysitting a bunch
of. . . babies."
It is "up in the air" when the city and
the planning commission will meet to
discuss Scalise's idea. Other commissioners are interested, he said.
Scalise said his proposal and comments at the last city commission meeting do not reflect on the whole student
body in any way.
"It reflects on those doing it," he said.
The other commissioners could not
be reached for comment.
The women's volleyball team
lost to WMU Wednesday. See
page 6 for details.
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