1998-03-18; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
L*%
Volume 79, Number H&- J|
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
Wednesday
March 18, 1998
2 sections 24 pages
Funding increase goes to appropriations committee
By Julia Jones
LIFE Assistant News Editor
The Senate Appropriations Higher
Education Subcommittee has approved
a 6.6 percent increase in funding for
CMU.
The increase is part of a bill to
increase funding for higher education
that will go before the full Senate
Appropriations Committee at 2 p.m.
today at the Capitol building in
Lansing.
Last year the student
funding appropriation for
CMU was $4,290 and earlier proposals this year
would reduce that to
$4,216 because of the increased student population.
This bill passed by the subcommittee
Tuesday would increase that to $4,429
per student.
The 99th District State
Representative   James   McBryde   (R-
Proposed bill would lift per student
funding from $4,290 to $4,429
Mount Pleasant) said in a press
release Tuesday, "We want more people to go to college, so we shouldn't
punish the schools by decreasing their
funding."
Joe Chisholm, CMU's associate vice
president of Governmental Relations,
said, "We're pleased the
subcommittee is interested in increasing (funding)
at a higher rate."
He said, however, there
are several steps in the process to go.
"We do anticipate ... there will be
some give and take through the
process," he said.
"Historically it's  subject to a lot of
change at every stage of the process."
Provost Richard Davenport said, "I
just cannot predict what the outcome
may be. It's so early in the process."
Chisholm said he believes CMU
received one of the higher increases
because of University President
Leonard Plachta's promotion of a funding floor, or minimum, that is built
into this bill.
"(The subcommittee) recognizes
CMU   students   need   an   increase   to
See FUND Page 14A
University
continues
evaluating
PBS' role
■ Plachta denies
connection      between
Brandon, U-M,  Public
Broadcasting
By Joseph McCarthy
LIFE Staff Writer
In the same week Public
Broadcasting had one of the
highest fund-raising days in its
20 years, University President
Leonard Plachta addressed the
Academic Senate on PBS' status.
At the Senate meeting
Tuesday, Plachta distributed a
statement intended to "set the
record straight" about his and
the administration's actions on
the issue of PBS.
"I have been concerned about
some of the imaginative suggestions," Plachta said.
In a prepared statement,
Plachta said, "CMU has made no
decision related to the future of
Public Broadcasting other than
to continue to evaluate the level
of the university's subsidy as
well as the benefits the network
brings to the university in
return.
"To date, the university has
not actively sought discussion
with any other university or
organization about public broadcasting."
The statement does say one
university, which Plachta
refused to reveal, has contacted
CMU for "exploratory discussions" about a possible relationship because of the necessity of
renovating the system to high-
definition television.
Plachta also denied that there
is any relationship between the
possible move of David Brandon,
chair of the Board of Trustees,
and discussions with the
University of Michigan about
PBS. Brandon is actively pursuing a position on the U-M Board
of Regents, but Plachta said U-M
has "not had any discussions
with us.
"It is entirely wrong; there is
no truth to it at all," he said. "...
There has been a relationship
insinuated that is not there."
Plachta said repeatedly that
his intent is to explore all the
possibilities concerning PBS
before making any changes.
"I do want to explore all possibilities. Our goal is not to destroy
broadcasting at CMU. ... I do
hope that we can maintain PBS.
It is time to see if there is a better way of doing it."
Plachta also said he doubted
whether many other schools
want to take over CMU broadcasting responsibilities.
"Fm not sure other universities
See PBS Page 14A	
0
N
n
ERIK S.   SCHERB-CM LIFE
In the spirit and tradition of St. Patrick's Day, Joe Johnson, 23-year-old Mount Pleasant resident, enjoys a sample of the special green beer at the Bird Bar & Grill on Tuesday afternoon.
Green beer is a holiday tradition
By Angie Fenton
LIFE Staff Writer
Reminiscent of a typical night in
Ireland, a multitude of students spent the cold, wet
evening celebrating Saint Patrick's
Day.
According to Mark Newman, manager at Bennigan's, 2424 S. Mission St.,
the original reason for the festivities
was in honor of Saint Patrick, who
drove all the snakes out of Ireland.
"It was a day of drinking to celebrate
it," he said.
However, Newman said the outlandish celebrating and consumption
of green beer was started by
Americans.
"The Irish are into the heavier beers
— the stouts. At Bennigan's we offer
over 100 beers, several of which are
Irish beers, including Guinness, the
original stout from Ireland," Newman
said.
Green beer is nothing more than a
result of food coloring, said Krista
Pohl, Clare senior and administrative
assistant at Fabiano Brothers Inc.,
1219 N. Mission St.
"We add two ounces of food coloring
per keg. Or you can put drops of it into
a pitcher or a glass," Pohl said.
Fabiano Brothers Inc. does not
charge their customers for the added
color, but Newman said once the deci-
See BEER Page 14A
Resolution
may limit
affirmative
action
■   Senate   committee
will look at racial
preferences today
By Julia Jones
LIFE Assistant News Editor
At 1 p.m. today in rooms
402/403 of the Capitol Building
in Lansing, the Senate
Government Operations
Committee will discuss a joint
resolution to amend the state
constitution to prevent preferential treatment in hiring
based on religion, race, sex,
color, ethnicity or national origin.
If passed by the senate and
the house, the resolution would
limit or end affirmative action.
Provost Richard Davenport
said the Academic Senate was
considering passing a resolution to send to the hearing, but
it decided against it and was
not brought up at the meeting
Tuesday.
"A number of people believe
it's an election ploy. We didn't
want to get in the middle of
that," he said.
"CMU has strong affirmative
action statements and policies.
We stand by those," he said.
"We're not going to be directly
involved in the hearing."
Chair of sociology, anthropology and social work, Robert
Newby, said the people who
authored the resolution are
"doing away with racial preferences as if people of color have
preferences in America. That's
simply not true."
Newby said outcomes of legislation like this, should it
pass, would be like going back
to before the 1950s when people of color were totally
"frozen" out of all positions.
"Without affirmative action,
it legitimizes discrimination.
Discrimination is alive and
well in America (and) without
affirmative action there's nothing to combat it.
"Affirmative action is very
important to higher education,
very important to this institution.
"It's a very different place
now than it was 15 years ago. I
would hope the university
would be opposing this initiative," he said.
Newby said he is not planning to attend the hearing
today and said he was under
the impression that it is a
media event to showcase Ward
Connerly, a member of the
University of California Board
of Regents and leader of anti-
affirmative action legislation,
Proposition 209 in California.
See ACTION Page 9A
Merger proposal
goes to board Friday
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
University President Leonard Plachta will present a proposal to
merge the philosophy and religion departments to CMITs Board of
Trustees at its Friday meeting.
Jan Wagester, executive assistant to the president, said he would not
comment on the proposal prior to the meeting. However, the proposal
indicates that he expects the board to support his recommendation.
"After receiving significant input from the department of philosophy
See PROPOSAL Page 14A
INSIDE
r.
Classified             8B-9B
Crossword                  8B
Et cetera               6B-7B
Sports                    1B-5B
■
£C9v.
All 10 CMU wrestlers
place first or second in
MAC Tournament.
PAGE IB
Voices                   4A-7A
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Fax number (517)774-7805
Prof wins lawsuit
By Angela Cook-Reid
LIFE Assistant News Editor
As a result of
a reverse dis-
crimination
suit filed
against
Bowling Green
State
University, a
CMU journalism professor
was awarded
$122,500.
Hartman
John Hartman, professor of
journalism, sued Bowling
Green State University in U.S.
District Court in Toledo in a
reverse suit alleging BGSU's
journalism department hired a
minority professor to sway an
accreditation committee.
Hartman said he applied for a
journalism assistant professor
position in 1994. But the
department       hired       Debbie
See SUIT Page 9A