1979-11-26; Central Michigan Life

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Central Michigan
LIFE
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Tuesday: cloudy and cooler. Highs in
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Vol.61    No.3B
©   Central Michigan LIFE
Mount Pleaaant. Michigan 48859
Telephones 774-3493 - 774-3830
12 pages
Lower drinking age on 1980 ballot?
Hoping the presidential election will increase the turnout among
younger voters, a state legislator is organizing a petition drive to
place a referendum for a 19 year old drinking age on the 1980 ballot.
"There is always a larger turnout in presidential elections,
especially among younger voters," Richard Fitzpatrick, D-Battle
Creek, said. "This will give us a better chance (of lowering the legal
drinking age)."
Fitzpatrick, chairman of Citizen's for a Fair Drinking Age, a
Lansing-based group organizing the campaign, said he thinks this
drive will be more successful than those staged previously because
it is being sponsored primarily by persons between 18 and 21 years
of age.
"The campaign the last time was based around bar owners and it
was unsuccessful. For it (the campaign) to be successful, the ones
who must work on it and organize it are the 18 to 21 year olds. It will
depend on whether they are apathetic or get out and work on it.
Every indication we have is that they will get involved," Fitzpatrick
said.'
Fitzpatrick said he became involved with the campaign when he
heard some complaints about the 21 year old drinking age from
people in his district.
"Some young people in my district had come to me and were
upset (about the higher age) and wanted to know the process to
change it. I made the challenge to them that if they were willing to
make the commitment to the drive, I would help them get organized
and let them work out of my office " Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said he thinks the drive has another advantage over
the one staged by bar owners because it is more organized.
f ,.
Main Street U.S.A.
-CM UFB PHOTO BY ROGER HART
Main Street in Mount Pleasant is like any, other Main
street across the country as Christmas decorations have
-been put in place to greet shoppers during the holiday
season. Christmas is 30 days away.
Student finds rocks redeeming
What do students think about
rocks these days?
Walter Rohn's job is to find,
out and report back to a group
whose .interests are very rocky,
indeed: Gamma Theta Upsilon,
an international geographical
honor society.
Rohn, Frankfort . senior,
recently was elected as a
student representative at a
national convention.
"My job is to seek feelings of
th-? students in the
organization," he said. "They
communicate any problems they
.have and I relate them back to
the executive board."
v
What do students think about rocks
these days?
Rohn applied for the position
in April and sent a resume to the
executive board of Gamma
Theta Upsilon. Those applications were narrowed down
to three and he was elected from
that group.
The geography society is
composed of honor students who
become lifetime members.
Through his new position, he
will travel to natiqnal meetings
throughout the United S tates.
Rohn has been treasurer of
the campus chapter since its
reactivization in 1976.
Currently, there are approximately 50 students, involved in the campus group, In
addition, some GMU faculty also
belong to the international
organization.
Rohn said 'the student
representative position will help
his career —environmental
planning—when he graduates.
Walter Rohn
"This is what is making a difference over last time. We are
starting a year ahead of time."
Fitzpatrick said the group, which has coordinators on 41 state
college compuses, is attempting to collect 350,000 signatures.
"276,500 signatures are legally required, but based on past
campaigns, we figure we will lose quite a few signatures," he said.
The representative said the petition signers also will be asked to
donate $1 to help finance the campaign.
The Citizen's for a Fair Drinking Age is sponsoring a press
conference Tuesday in Lansing for persons involved in the campaign, Fitzpatrick said.
He also said seminars will be conducted to train people to involve
the local community in the drive.
RHA will not
back rebates
by MIKE WRIGHT
LIFE Staff Writer
Despite strong persuasion
from Central's chapter Public
Interest Research Group in
Michigan, Residence Hall
Assembly will not support a
rebate program, RHA President
Don Shay said.
Shay, Saginaw senior, .said at
the group's Nov. 19 meeting he
thought overcrowded rooms are
not fair, but rebates are not the
answer.
"Since room and board rates
would go up," Shay said, "we
(the assembly) decided against
it."
Besides RHA members, the
meeting also was attended by
CMU's PIRGIM chapter
coordinator Tim Ingalsbee and
financial advisor Greg Hoffman.
Shay said rather than risk
high dorm costs through
rebates, overcrowded rooms
should be equipped with extra
desks and equipment.
Ingalsbee, Portage
sophomore, disagrees.
"Expanded occupancy is not
expanded space," he said. "More'
desks and another closet would
just limit the student's space
even more."
"The minority is getting
screwed in this situation,"
Ingalsbee told the RHA
members. "The administration
is saying to the over-crowded
students 'You are chosen to
become a cushion for the
University to keep other rates
low.'"
Shay said RHA members
talked to students about the
issue. "There just didn't seem to
"Since room and
board rates would go
up, we decided
against it "—Don
Shay, RHA president
be an overwhelming need
rebates," he said.
for
, "The administration feels
since students aren't speaking
out through the administrative
channels, they feel nothing is
wrong," Ingalsbee said.
Ingalsbee, however, said since
students living in overcrowded
rooms didn't seek help from
RHA, the assembly doesn't
think there is a problem.
Ingalsbee said RHA isn't
doing anything to cure the
problem and PIRGIM's
proposals are ineffective.
"There's been a lot of ideas, but
what concrete has been done?"
Ingalsbee asked.
In a letter to LIFE, Shay said
RHA is sympathetic to students
living in "oversubscribed"
rooms, but also must look out for
the "best interests of all
students within the residence
hall system,"
Ingalsbee said PIRGIM still is
circulating a petition calling for
rebates. The petition will be
presented to CMU's Board of
Trustees at its Nov. 28 meeting.
UHS forum set
The Student Health Issues Committee will conduct an open forum
for students to voice comments concerning the University Health
Services Tuesday at 7 p,m,,
Fielding questions and comments will be Ed Brown UHS ad
ministrator and Howard Varney, UHS director.
The forum will be conducted in the Lake Michigan room of the
University Center.
In Brief
The deadline for dropping a class or withdrawing from the University for the 1979 Fall
Semester is 5 p.m. Friday. A student who drops
a class, before then receives a "Wn loir passing
work of P- or better and an "E" for failing work.
Drop cards are in the Registrar's Office,
Warriner fcoU
Community
The Mount Pleasant
City Commission,
through a zoning
change, has paved the
way for building of a
local Meijer Thrifty
Acres outlet.
Iiage3
The CMU men's
basketball, team
defeated the
University of Windsor-
in     a     pre-season
exhibition game,
page 8
Index
Arts and Leisure .....
Classifieds	
...11
Comment'.	
•... 4
Doonesbury ........ 1
>... 4-
Horoscope..'.	
...11
Off the Wire	
i Sports.,	
... 8 v
Spotlife.............
..ii
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