1979-02-23; Central Michigan Life

              V"
t
Volume 60 No. 60
'   1979   (Vmra! Mlrhi|?an I.IKE
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859
Friday, February 23,1979
Trustee, student talk 'enlightening'
by TOM HENRY
LIFE Staff Writer
CMU trustees and members from a rejuvenated student
liaison committee agreed Wednesday's meeting between the
two—the first of its  kind  in  more  than  seven years—,
established productive interaction.
"It was very enlightening; I finally found out the Board of
Trustees were people," Bonnie Beresford, Panhellenic Council
president, said.
"It was refreshing because we never get any contact from
students," Trustee Lloyd M. Cofer said. "(The meetings) are
very beneficial because we want to know students' ideas."
The Student Affairs Committee, originally formed in 1972,
has been inactive until a request for more student input was
made   at   the   board's   January   meeting   by   Chairperson
Lawrence D. Rahilly.
Beresford, Birmingham senior, said the meeting, which took
place prior to the board's February meeting Wednesday,
proved to be more productive than she expected.
"They were more receptive than I anticipated and were
interested about us as people. I was just delighted and
pleasantly surprised," she added.
Beresford was named as a student leader to the group by
Dean of Student Affairs James Hill and Student Body
President Jim Marshall, who serves as the committee's sole
permanent member. Other students are picked at random.
Topics discussed with trustees included Student
Association's upcoming University Health Services survey
and faculty evaluations.
Some trustees agreed SA should conduct faculty evaluations
"If we are ineffective in teaching, I think we lack the purpose of a university. Students should make their voices heard,"
Trustee James M. Umphrey said .
Torches formed in the
shape. of the Special
Olympic logo were lit
Wednesday night at
Schuss Mountain in
Mancelona and the third
annual Winter Special
Olympics were underway
for 850 olympians.
- CM LIFE PHO TO BY STEVE FECHT
Special athletes 'perfect, just great'
by BERNADETTE JOZWIAK
LIFE Managing Editor
MANCELONA-Some of
them can barely talk audibly
and others need canes or
wheelchairs to get around. All
of them are mentally impaired to some degree.
Handicapped, or so society
decrees.
But, for the past two days
and for perhaps the first time
in   their   lives,   that   didn't
matter—not to these
athletes, these "special
people" participating here in
Mancelona and Bellaire at the
third annual Great Lakes
Region Winter Special
Olympics which will draw to a
close tonight.
It was this entire event
that was opened with an
appropriate measure of pomp
and circumstance Wednesday
by  the   game's   head  coach
Brad Van Pelt, outside
linebacker for the New York
Giants.
Many toes and fingers
surely froze before the
mountainside torches arranged in the Special Olympic logo
were lit. Each celebrity guest
was introduced as he or she
rode down the chairlift to the
speaker's platform and before
the   games   were   officially
opened with the lighting ol
the Olympic torch.
Even after the Olympic
torch ceases to glow on
Schuss Mountain today, the
memories that it has
illuminated will continue to
burn greatly.
Such memories are like
those  experienced   by  such
Special Olympians as 13-year-
old Peter Lawrence, from
Louisville, KY. and Mary
Brenner, 14, of area 23. They
are just two of the approximately 850 mentally-
impaired athletes. Their
victories, though, seemed
especially hard and, when
won, were something to be
especially proud of.
(See "Special Olympics—" page
7)
Board
obeys
Kelley
ruling
by JIM FISHER
LIFE News Editor
CMU's Board of Trustees,
with several members still
grumbling over restrictions in
the state's Open Meetings Act,
no longer will meet privately to
receive information from administrators.
Following their monthly
meeting Wednesday, several
trustees said the board will
comply with a recent state
attorney general's opinion which
says such sessions are illegal.
"It's the law of the land and
our position is that we will abide
by it," Trustee Lloyd Cofer said
of the opinion. "Nobody wants to
go contrary to the law -1 know I
don't."
For the first time in four
months, the trustees Wednesday did not move into closed
session after their regular
meeting. The board had been
meeting privately after its
public sessions to discuss
pending litigation, which is
allowed under the Open
Meetings Act, and to receive
information, which is not
allowed.
Acting on a request by state
Sen. John Engler, R-Mount
Pleasant, Attorney General
Frank Kelley recently released
an opinion which said the
(See "Trustees—" page 2)
Legislators oppose 'hinted' CMU cutback
b> PETE ENGARDIO
LIFE Ass't News Editor
If Gov. William Milliken intends to make higher
education suffer the brunt of Michigan's financial
problems this year, he will meet stiff resistence
by legislative leaders.
Although CMU and other state schools almost
certainly will lose part of their 1979 state
allocations, Rep. Gary Owen, D-Ypsilanti, said
Thursday the House will not accept the reductions he thinks the governor's office has in mind.
Milliken is expected to order a reduction of 1 to
4 percent in allocations to colleges and universities to offset a deep state budget deficit. Gerald
Miller, state budget director, said Tuesday higher
education will be the target of most of the budget
cuts.
Owen and Sen. William Huffman, D-Madison
Heights, say Miller is advocating a 4 percent
reduction, although Miller has denied that
amount.
"That has been the hint by (the governor's
office)," Owen, chairperson of the House Higher
Education Subcommittee.said. "We are not going
to accept that."
Huffman, chairperson of the Senate's Higher
Education Subcommittee, agreed the legislature
would not sustain a 4 percent cut, but he does
anticipate a "minimum of 2 percent."
Huffman said Milliken instead will have to
make up more of the estimated $125 million
deficit out of the 19 executive departments,
elementary and secondary education and by
"hiring no positions period" to fill Michigan's
approximately 1,600 government vacancies.
Owen and Huffman also disagree with Miller on
when such cuts will take effect. If they begin
before July 1, the end of CMU's fiscal year, the
University will finish 1978-79 with a substantial
deficit.
Miller flatly stated that "no way" *viU the
money be withheld during the current fiscal year.
But Owen said "I'm sure they will begin before
then," Huffman agreed.
"I know it will have an adverse effect on all
schools," Huffman said. "I don't know how in the
hell Central can give up money already expected.
It's going to be tough."
A 4 percent cutback in CMU's $27 million
appropriation would mean Central will wind up
nearly $1 million in the red.
Central officials have said losses in state funds,
; whether or not they come this fiscal year, will not
mean   cutbacks    in   campus    programs    this
semester. But they will mean very tight financial
years ahead.
The large state deficit primarily is due to
overexpenditure by the legislature and unanticipated costs, a House fiscal analyst said. Social
services, mental health and corrections programs
are suffering the biggest deficits, he said.
In brief
Nominations for honorary degree candidates
now are being accepted at the Board of Trustees
Office on the University Center's second floor.
Anyone can nominate an individual for an
honorary   de.gree.„
Persons interested in making a nomination
should supply background on their candidate's
qualifications.
Campus
CMU's two public
television stations are
gearing up for a 16-
night telethon to raise
money for operational
costs.
Page3
cocmu-TO
nt
Sports
Fresh off a victory
over Oakland
University, Central's
women's basketball
team faces Western
Michigan tonight.
Page 9
Index
Classifieds  \\
Comment 4
Doonesbury   4
Entertainment 6
Horoscope. \\
Off the Wire 2
Sports  8
Spotlife..... — n
TV Listings. 10