1998-01-14; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 46
Mt. Pleasant,   MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
Wednesday
January 14,1998
18 pages
University to address student
retention problem at conference
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
In an effort to improve student retention rates which
have been declining for the last
eight years, CMU is hosting a
university-wide Student
Retention Conference.
"We have lost approximately
one percent per year over the
last eight years," said Provost
Richard Davenport, noting a
3.8 percent decline during
1996-97. "We took some steps
to curb retention about five
years ago, but that didn't seem
A-Senate:
Graduate
students
will not
teach UP
By Julia Jones
LIFE Assistant News Editor
A policy restricting graduate
students from teaching university program courses has been
upheld by the Academic Senate's
General Education Council.
In May, the Academic Senate
was asked to look into the policy
and an open faculty forum was
proposed. The forum was held in
November, and the council voted
to keep the policy at its Dec. 2
meeting.
A proponent for keeping the
policy, Merlyn Mowrey, associate
professor of Religion, said she is
pleased with the councils decision to uphold the policy, and the
fact it's willing to take further
steps to assure quality education
in the university program.
"It's one of the most explicit
ways we can demonstrate our
commitment to high quality
undergraduate education," she
said. "Keeping the policy is one
way to demonstrate our effort in
putting our best teachers in
those classrooms."
David MacLeod, professor of
Histor>r, who was the interim
chair of the History Department
at the time of the forum and presented the proposal to the council, said, "Of course we're disappointed. We thought we had a
proposal that would have made
for some good classes, but the
council wanted to be cautious."
MacLeod said there is no next
step for this proposal at the present time and the department
won't be appealing the decision.
The proposal would have benefited graduate students who
need the experience teaching
introductory level courses,
MacLeod said.
"The number of people
involved would have been quite
small," he said.
Mowrey said she wants to
stress this is not a conflict among
departments and she is not
doubting the History
Department's ability to place
qualified graduate students to
teach the courses.
"It is one way Central has distinguished itself from its peer
colleges and universities,"
Mowrey said.
to solve the problem."
The university considers the
declining retention pattern
among college freshmen a serious problem, Davenport said.
The retention of fall 1996
new freshmen was 69.9 percent
— a significant decrease from
the 73.4 percent retention rate
of fall 1995. According to a
report by CMU's Institutional
Research and Planning, this
drop in student retention
accounted for an unexpected
loss of 105 students and
approximately   1,500   student
credit hours last fall.
This decline has caused CMU
to fall slightly below the
national retention average.
However, university officials
hope the conference, scheduled
for Jan. 23, will help CMU
retain more of its students in
future years.
"The intent is to generate
some of those ideas and strategies at the conference," said
Bruce Roscoe, Dean of
Students.
The goals of the conference
are   to   increase   awareness   of
the issue, examine and profile
CMU students and form strategies for increasing retention
rates.
John Gardner, a nationally-
renowned educator, student
retention specialist, freshman
advocate and scholar of the
freshman year reform movement, will be one of the guest
speakers. Also speaking, will be
John Matlock, assistant vice
provost and director of the
Office of Academic
See RETENTION Page 2
Students' reasons for not returning
to CMU
Freshmen
Sophomores
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SOURCE   CMU Enrollment Profiles & Project»ons. Fall '97
LIFE Graphic by Knsty LeVassfur
Percha paints Powers
New teacher
education fee due
in three weeks
SABRINA BURTON • CM LIFE
Andy Newman, Percha Paint & Wallpaper employee, paints over the rough spots in the practice
rooms of Powers Hall in order to restore the building's natural beauty on Monday. See page 8.
By Doug Fisher
LIFE News Editor
A new $50 fee for admission to
the Teacher Education program
hasn't caused any backlash from
students — yet.
Lynne Snyder, associate director of Teacher Education and
Professional Development, said
she hasn't received any calls
from students or parents complaining about the new fee.
The fee affects all students
applying for admission to the
Teacher Education program.
The fee must be paid at the
Cashier's Office in Warriner
105. The receipt and other
admission materials must then
be turned in by 5 p.m. Feb. 6 at
the Teacher Education office in
Ronan 203.
The one time, non-refundable
fee will help fund the Teacher
Education Mentor and
Information Center in Ronan
302, as well as help cover the
cost  of processing  the  applica
tions, help increase student services and help offset the hiring
of an additional office employee.
Students who have already
been admitted to the program
are exempt from the fee. Snyder
said the department sent out
1,600 letters to students informing them of the fee.
"We get 4,000 students down
the pipeline," Snyder said.
"That's a lot of people to keep
track of
Applications to the program
have been on the rise in recent
years and more office help was
needed. Snyder said the department went from processing
about 600 applications per year
a fc-w years ba;k to about PZG
applications last year. Only 300
students are accepted to the program each semester.
"I think it will help as long as
they use the money for what
they say they're going to use it
See TEACHER Page 2
Suspects sought in
city rape case
CSC suspect demands payment
By Jeremy Russ
LIFE Staff Writer
A 25-year-old female CMU student from China reported to the
Mount Pleasant Police
Department that a 23-year-old
Mount Pleasant male attempted
to sexually assault her Jan. 2.
The case is still open and the
suspect has not been contacted
yet.
Charlie   Lyons,   officer  for   the
Mount Pleasant Police
Department, said officers were
dispatched around 4 a.m. to a
home on the 600 block of W.
Broomfield Road for a reported
disorderly male who was banging
on the door of the home.
When they arrived, the man
was not there, but the resident of
the home, the 25-year-old woman,
reported the man had tried to sexually assault her.
The woman told the officers she
See CSC SUSPECT Page
17
By Jeremy Russ
LIFE Staff Writer
On Dec. 29, a 20-year-old
female CMU student reported to
the Mount Pleasant Police
Department that she was the
victim of rape that morning.
Charlie Lyons, officer for the
Mount Pleasant Police
Department, said an officer was
dispatched around 3:30 p.m.,
Dec. 29 to the emergency room of
Central Michigan Community
Hospital to make contact with
the woman.
Lyons said the woman had met
a man at Wayside Central, 2000
S. Mission St., sometime
between midnight and 2 a.m. He
asked her if she "wanted to go to
a party and she accepted. She
went with the man, who she did
not know before this time, to an
unknown address, Lyons said.
The woman said this was the
last thing she remembered
before she awoke around 10 a.m.
and discovered she had been
raped.
The woman said she found her
undergarments had been taken
as well as $15 from her wallet,
Lyons said.
The woman said the incident
happened between 2:30 a.m. and
10 a.m. on Dec. 29.
Lyons said the woman went to
the hospital, where, upon receiving treatment, she talked to
police.
He said the woman is not sure
who the man was, but she possibly remembers his first name
and thinks he was possibly a
member of a fraternity.
She described the man as
about 20-years-old, having a
slim build and dark hair, Lyons
said. She could not remember
what type of clothing he was
wearing.
Lyons said the woman
described the suspect as driving
a white or black Chevy Blazer or
Jeep.
Lyons said there has been
some suspect development and
two men have been contacted
about the incident, but the case
is still open.
One of the suspects contacted
reportedly was not at the
Wayside that night. The other
suspect does not drive the
described vehicle, but drives a
white Ford Tempo.
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The CMU Chippewa men's
basketball team struggled to
a 1-7 record over the break.
See the full story on page 10.
Search for Charter Schools director underway
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
Less than a week after Blanche Fraser
announced she will leave her position as
Director of CMU's Charter Schools — the
search committee that selected her during
the summer has reconvened to select her successor.
"There is a search underway," Provost
Richard Davenport said. "The search committee has already interviewed two candidates."
The two candidates were among the finalist pool when the initial search was conducted less than a year ago and both were interviewed Monday.
Fraser   notified   university   officials   last
Tuesday of her plans to resign effective Feb.
1 and begin work the following day as vice
president of development for the Edison
Project, which is a private company that
manages public schools based in New York.
Since the initial search was conducted less
than one year ago, the eight-member committee headed by Kelvie Comer, dean of
Education and Human Services, may select a
another candidate from the first pool of applicants without conducting a national search.
Comer said the committee did not recommend one candidate or the other, but reported back to Davenport on each applicant's outstanding qualities.
'What we did was look at the strengths of
each candidate," Comer said.
"I think all of us would have preferred that
there not be changes, but what you do is hire
the best people and move on," he said.
While the search committee is considering
hiring from the original pool of candidates,
Davenport said, "That doesn't guarantee that
we will appoint someone from that pool."
Davenport would not specify who was
interviewed for the position, but did indicate
that one of the candidates is a current
employee of the Charter Schools' Office.
There is no specific time line to fill the position, but Davenport said the university
intends to find a replacement very soon.
"Either we are going to make a permanent
See CHARTER Page 2