1981-11-20; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Vol. 63 No. 35
® 1981.CM LIFE
Mount Pleasant, Mich. 48859
12 pages
Friday, Nov. 20,1981
Assaults are
inflated issue,
Abel says
by JOHN BARNES
LIFE Editor
and CHRIS STEVENS
LIFE Staff Writer
Citing police report statistics,
President Harold Abel
Thursday said the sexual assault
issue on campus had become
overblown and urged students
to avoid a paranoic syndrome.
At a two-hour-long impromptu
meeting with student leaders
and administrators —including
Department of Public Safety
Director John McAuliffe —Abel
said the situation "is not nearly
as hazardous as it may seem."
"Statistically, I think it looks
like there is more violence,"
Abel said, but added, "I don't
think it's near as serious a
situation as it would seem."
Representatives from Student Government Association,
Women's Health and Information Project, Student Foundation, escort-service promoters
Sigma Phi Epsilon and CM LIFE
made up the student contingent
while representatives from Student Affairs, Housing Office,
Business and Finance, Admissions and Information Services,
as well as Abel and McAuliffe,
comprised the administrative
group.
Citing statistics prepared by
McAuliffe, Abel said there have
been 21 assault complaints on
campus to date, compared to five
for a comparable period last
year. However, 11 of those were
this summer and 10 this
semester, he said.
"One reads the paper without
differentiating between assaults
and one assumes all these are
sexual, I think," Abel said.
Of the 21 incidents, six have
been sexual assault complaints,
but most involved relatively
minor fourth-degree incidents,
Abel said, such as unsolicited
kissing or "fanny patting."
"I am wondering if we are
caught in a pattern here that we
(See "Assaults"—page 12)
How to prevent
sexual attacks
by TERRI FINCH
LIFE Staff Writer
The woman was hitchhiking — her first big mistake.
The man who picked her up seemed nice enough. He said he'd
drop her off at the hospital where she worked. But he suddenly took
a "detour," which led to a deserted parking lot. Then he raped her.
The scene is from a movie shown Tuesday night in the Woldt-
Emmons lobby. But the situation was real. Sexual assault is becoming an increasingly harsh reality on the CMU campus.
Steve Thompson, assistant' professor of phsyical education,
teaches the "Self Defense For Women" class on campus, and spoke
to a group of about 50 students Tuesday on preventing sexual
assault.
Until the assailants are apprehended, the possibility of future
sexual assaults on campus increases, Thompson said. As rapists continue to go unpunished, the fear other potential rapists have of getting caught diminishes, and the idea of committing sexual crimes
becomes more of a reality, he said.
It's a frightening situation, but one that can be avoided with the
application of a four-step procedure developed and taught by
Thompson.
"Rapists follow a pattern — over 50 percent of all rapes are premeditated," Thompson said. "The situation is just the way they
want it."
It's up to women, he added, to keep themselves out of that situation.
Thompson calls his self-defense strategy an "option philosophy."
"Every woman is different," he said. "There are things some
women can do that others can't."
(See "Prevent"—page 2)
Park deer
loses life
to poacher
by MIKE STRONG
LIFE Staff Writer
Bucky and the other deer at Nelson Park
were safe from deer hunting season until
Wednesday night.
On that evening an unidentified person or
persons killed Bucky for unknown reasons.
It is still not known exactly how the two-
year-old buck, who weighed 100 to 110
pounds, was killed.
According to police reports, the poacher
apparently killed Bucky and then cut the
fence wire and started to drag the stag to a
car. The carcass was dragged along the footpath toward Island Park, past Riverview
Cemetery, across the railroad tracks and to
a street just off Pickard Street. The dead
animal then was apparently loaded into a car
and the poacher drove away.
Police officials said there were two sets of
footprints around the scene of the crime and
there were three or four pools of blood in the
area.
This is not the first incident involving the
Nelson Park deer, said Rob Flynn, director
of the Mount Pleasant Parks and Recreation
Department.
"Last year somebody opened the gate to
the pen of the park's deer and the deer ran
loose. We recovered most of them, but we
lost a big buck," Flynn said. "I just think it is
sickening that there are people in this world
who would do something like killing a deer.
It is ridiculous and I am very upset with the
entire thing."
Bucky's death also caused a great deal of
anger in the family who raised the animal
before donating him to the park, Flynn said
(See "Deer"—page 12)
CM UFE/Jim Hitchcock
d
Third callback possible
University fears budget cut
by JAMES ISELER
LIFE News Editor
Although colleges are not included in a recent state budget
move, CMU administrators still
fear the worst in terms of state
aid allocations.
While still claiming a budget
cut is not being planned, state
Budget Director Gerald Miller
advised state departments
Wednesday to earmark 4 percent of their current year
budgets for possible cuts — but
did not include colleges or other
school aid in the request.
However, Central administrators are standing by
earlier predictions that the state
is   not   done   cutting   1981-82
higher education appropraitons.
President Harold Abel said
Thursday the move to target
certain funds for elimination is
the "first sign" of the possibility
of future cuts.
In conversations with budget
officials in Lansing, Abel said he
was told the state is not planning another executive order
budget cut in this fiscal year.
"I asked if 'not planning' a cut
means the same as 'there won't
be' a cut and I didn't get an
answer," Abel said.
Following the second of two
executive orders trimming Central's current allocation by more
than $1 million, Abel said he expected another cut, possibly in
the 2 to 4 percent range.
"They're not planning a cut.
We have to," Abel said.
Vice President for Business
and Finance Jerry Tubbs echoed
Abel's predictions.
"I have not had formal indications, positive or negative,"
Tubbs said. "Informally, we've
got the word there's more apt to
be a cut than not be a cut," he added.
Although colleges and universities were not asked to set more
money aside, CMU has a right to
be "gun shy," according to Fred
Whims, director of the Education Division of the state budget
office.
Whims said there are two fac
tors affecting the state's budget,
and subsequently, higher education, which must be dealt with.
One is the federal revenue
sharing funds from which
Michigan gets some of its
money. The other variable is the
state's economic position. If
revenues do not pick up as officials hope, another cut could
become necessary, Whims said.
The further targeting of current budgets would set aside
about $70 million for possible
cuts to balance the state's
budget. This comes in the wake
of a $270 million executive order
last month in which Central lost
$954,000.
Prosecutor finds no township wrongdoing
by SHEILA GRUBER
LIFE Ass't. News Editor
Union Township officials got a vote of confidence Thursday from the Isabella County Prosecutor's Office.
After investigating charges of "nepotism" and
township awarding of bids, Chief Assistant County Prosecutor Thomas Plachta said he has found
"no information regarding wrongdoing on the
part of Union Township officials."
Unsatisifed with an earlier opinion by township
counsel James Stein, a local citizens group had requested the Prosecutor's Office render an informal opinion on charges of nepotism and conflict of
interest against members of the township's planning commission,
Regarding the charges of "nepotism" against
Township Clerk Marion McDonald, and four other
members of her family on the township payroll,
Plachta said he found "no constitutional or
statutory prohibitions against it."
The other matter Plachta was asked to investigate,  the awarding of bids,  also lacked
substantial evidence of wrongdoing, according to
Plachta.
The citizen's group, who requested the opinion,
led by Guy Meiss, assistant professor of journalism, has been calling for a master plan of
development for the township to base re-zoning
decisions on since August.
At Thursday's planning commission meeting,
members voted on a list of 25 residents who have
volunteered to work on the plan. The number of
citizens and planning commissioners to be involved in the process however still is uncertain, with
the commission agreeing to wait until a professional consultant has been hired to make the final
decision.
"They (planners) work with this every day and
know what's best to work with," Commission
Chairman Harold Verleger said, suggesting commissioners wait to get a final committee up until
after a planning consultant has been hired.
A final decision will be made by the Union
Township Board of Trustees sometime before the
"first of the year" Verleger said.
In Brief
"Autumn Celebration," an all-campus dance,
gets under way Saturday at 8 p.m. in Finch 113*
114. The dance is sponsored by Chicanos
Organized for Progress and Action and costs $1..
Campus
A music marathon
for two deceased
members of CMU's
music program begins
this evening.
page 3
Students voice their
opinions   about   Program Board's scheduling this semester,
page 3
Sports
CMU's men's
basketball team has
been picked to finish
last in the MidAmerican Conference,
page 9
Index
Arts and Leisure 6
Classifieds  11
Comment ............... 4
Doonesbury   4
Horoscope  12
Off the Wire  2
Sports 9
Spotlife 12
Weather 12
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