1998-11-18; Central Michigan Life

              88^8^
Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 81, Number 35
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
79 years of serving the community
Wednesday
November 18, 1998
18 pages
Plachta to deliver first fall address in two years
By Renee Lutz
LIFE News Editor
University President Leonard
Plachta will give a fall address —
his first in more than two years
— to the university community
this afternoon in Bush Theatre,
located in Moore Hall.
Plachta makes the address
usually once a year, but has not
given an address since Oct. 17,
1996, said Jan Wagester, execu
tive assistant to the president.
A reception with coffee and
cookies will take place from 3:30
p.m. to 4 p.m. preceding Plachta s
address in the hallway outside
the Moore Hall Kiva, Wagester
said. His address will immediately follow the reception.
"(The president) possibly will
be out there (at the reception) . . .
typically, he would be mingling
with    the   crowd,    but   I   can't
promise that or guarantee that,**
Wagester said.
Wagester said she could not
disclose any information regarding the nature of the president's
address, but said a copy of his
speech will be distributed across
campus (via the same distribution as Centraline) Thursday.
"I certainly cannot talk to you
about those things prior to the
speech," she said.
In the Oct. 1996 address,
Plachta spoke on several campus
issues, including the need for
expansion of Kelly/Shorts
Stadium (which was completed
this year), the accreditation of
the university by the North
Central Association and ongoing
issues such as student retention
and recruitment.
During his last address,
Plachta also discussed the inte
gration of the College of
Extended Learning with the
main university campus, the
ranking of CMU versus other
Michigan public universities in
regards to tuition and fees and
fund-raising efforts for various
departments and projects on
campus.
Wagester said the addresses
generally have taken place in
Bush Theatre, as is the case this
year. An attempt to move the
address to the music building
this year failed, due to another
group being scheduled in the
room of choice, she said.
"We wanted the large recital
hall in the music building, but
(Bush Theatre) is the venue of
choice. He has given addresses at
Bush Theatre several times. It's
See FALL Page 17	
President
meets with
PBS staff
By Liz Wishaw
LIFE Ed.tor
University President Leonard Plachta met
with the Public Broadcasting staff
Wednesday to discuss his charge by the
Board of Trustees to look into whether or
not Public Broadcasting should stay at
CMU.
Most of the 25 staff members attended
Wednesday's meeting held in the offices of
Public Broadcasting and it wasn't considered a special meeting, according to one
Public Broadcasting staff member.
"He basically told us nothing has changed
in the past few months," said the source,
who asked not to be identified. Plachta also
has met with the Public Relations and
Athletics departments as part of his semester meetings with the university departments that fall underneath his direction.
Plachta did not return messages left to
his office or home on Tuesday.
Plachta, who must report his recommendations about Public Broadcasting to the
board by December 1999, discussed with the
Public Broadcasting staff that he-still has
some unanswered questions about the TV
and radio stations. Some of those questions
involve the high cost of the transition of
CMU's Public TV system to digital television.
See PBS Page 6
New software
cause of
directory delay
By Danielle N. Smith
LIFE Staff Writer
Campus phone directories should be here
this week, according to a university administrator.
Rae Goldsmith, associate vice president for
Public Relations and Marketing, said the
delay was caused by the university's conversion to the SAP Human Relations System software, which wasn't allowing the correct faculty and staff information.
Goldsmith said, "When we converted to a
different software, we got a few uneventful
surprises."
Goldsmith said there haven't been too many
complaints from students and faculty.
"We often receive calls simply asking when
the directories will be out, hut never complaints. Most of the students and faculty
understand that the circumstances are
beyond our control," Goldsmith said.
Tonia Price, switchboard operator for the
Telecommunications department, said it has
had a higher number of phone requests due to
the delay of the phone directory.
"It hasn't really made things more hectic for
me as a switchboard operator, but it will be
nice to get the directories out," Price said.
Melissa Thelen, Portland freshman, said
she was glad the directories are coming out
soon.
"We have needed them for a long time. I'm
See DELAY Page 18	
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E-Mail: CMLIFEecmuvm.csv.cmich.edu
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Cental Michigan LIFE Online
Internet address http://www.cml.fe.cm.ch.edu
CHRISTMAS FN NOVEMBER
Festival kicks off holiday
season, raises money
RYAN WOOD • CM LIFE
Sarah Henley (top), Ortonville freshman, and Gwen Gregory
(above). Waterford sophomore, touch up peppermint sticks and
candles Tuesday. The decorations are part of the Santa Land area
at the Festival of Trees which will take place this weekend in the
IET building.
By Kelly Taylor
LIFE Staff Writer
Santa Claus is coming to Mount
Pleasant early this year to help United
Way raise money for the Volunteer Center.
The "1998 Festival of Trees" will take
place Thursday through Sunday at the
Industrial Engineering and Technology
building. Displays will include 27
Christmas trees, 13 wreaths and a Santa
Land.
Trees have been decorated by volunteer
designers, and will include themes such as
teddy bears and Victorian style, said
Cathy Brown, director of the Isabella
County Volunteer Center.
"It's a great wav to start the holiday season, really just get into the holiday spirit
and support a great organization like the
Volunteer Center " Brown said.
The IET Building is currently being decorated for the event, and designers will be
setting up their trees between 8 a.m.
today and noon Thursday.
United Way Volunteer Marcy Stout said
this year's event will be spectacular, due to
the number of student volunteers that
have turned out to help. Stout said 25 students have volunteered so far, which is
three times as many as last year.
"Everything is coming together wonderfully," Stout said. The volunteers are very
enthusiastic and very helpful. They're
willing to do any job we want them to do."
The number of donors who will be
attending the preview party at *his year's
See FESTIVAL Page 2	
Academic Senate settles concerns from past meetings
By Heather VanDyke
LIFE Assistant News Editor
Tuesday's Academic Senate meeting
resolved several issues which carried
over from the Nov. 3 meeting, one of
which concerned the possible "slighting" of ethnic groups on campus.
Sen. Laura Zionts, counseling and
special education instructor, voiced her
concern at the last senate meeting
about on-campus Hispanic student
organizations not getting as much
recognition as other non-Hispanic orga
nizations.
David Williams, assistant vice president for the Office for Institutional
Diversity, said 12 years ago, CMU
began celebrating Hispanic Heritage
Week each spring. Also, the university
started observing national Hispanic
Awareness Month in September.
Williams said the Office for
Institutional Diversity "takes the lead"
in sponsoring Hispanic Awareness
Month, Native American Month in
November, Martin Luther King Week
in January and Black History Month in
February.
"I did meet with (the) Senate to
respond to the question raised about
Minority Student Services involvement
in Kwanzaa and other ethnic celebrations."
Williams said the office is adding
Asian American celebrations to its programming this year.
"We provide very little support for
our Asian students," Williams said.
"(The Office for Institutional Diversity)
did provide leadership for Hispanic
awareness celebrations and we will
continue to supply resources for these
celebrations."
Zionts also said powwows were not
considered a "second" celebration, but
often Hispanic Awareness events are.
Williams reiterated that his office
will continue to provide support for
Hispanic celebrations.
In response, Zionts offered a sugges-
See A SENATE page 17	
Some on-campus offices may stay open over winter break
By Liz Wishaw
LIFE Editor
Certain on-campus offices will remain open
between Christmas and New Year's Day again this
year, but exactly which offices are yet to be determined.
University President Leonard Plachta has
encouraged the university vice presidents to consider the possibility of staying open during the
break between Christmas and New Year's Day,
said Rae Goldsmith, associate vice president of
Public Relations and Marketing.
For the first time in many years, some of the-
student-orientated offices, such as Admissions,
had limited hours last year during this time.
"We wanted to try it and see how it went,"
Goldsmith said.
She said prospective students and vendors still
need access to the university and the president
felt that if there is interest among these people,
the offices should stay open.
"That thought is if they are kept open, we are
not turning away people who are important to us,"
Goldsmith said.
She said this policy is under discussion all the
time. "I checked with three people and there is no
decision to change the policy. It's on an office-by-
office basis."
Kim Ellertson, vice president of Business and
Finance, has already sent a memo to the offices he
supervises asking the managers of these departmental units to determine whether it is appropriate for their office to remain open during this time.
These offices are the Student Activity Center,
Residence and Auxiliary Services, Staff Personnel
Services, University Health Services, Facilities
Management,   Budget  and   Planning,   University
See OFFICES Page 2