1978-01-18; Central Michigan Life

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Energy fee surp/us providing cushion
Winter room,board increase unlikely
byPETEENGARDIO
LIFE Staff Writer
Budgetary juggling last year should leave CMU financially
protected from any sudden jump in natural gas rates this winter,
two Central administrators said,
A $25 "energy fee" which was added into residence hall room and
board fees for 1977-78 has provided the University with a cushion,
said Jerry Tubbs, vice president for Business and Finance.
The fee has provided a $168,000 "buffer zone" against potential
gas and oil price hikes, he said.
Additional breathing room was provided by allowing for a 12
percent natural gas rate increase in the University's 1977-78 fiscal
budget, Tubbs said.
Even the 12 percent estimate appears high, as gas companies
generally are forecasting no more than a 10 percent raise in rates
this year, Fred Shell, Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. spokesperson,
said.
In • addition ,' a mild winter is expected this year-, which would
mean a drop in gas consumption, Shell added.
If prices do soar unexpectedly or an unusually harsh winter hits.
the funds from the energy fee will be used, Tubbs said.      '
"The fee was collected with the understanding that we would not
,use the money until we had some energy problem related to an
incease in costs," he said.
"If the account was not used after a year, it would go toward
energy conservation projects."
So far this year, the University is in good shape with its utility
bills, Tubbs said.
"Overall it has been a considerably good year," he said. "We are in
a relatively good position because we have used substantially less
gas than we did last year even though there has been a price increase. We have riot used the anticipated dollars."
The University also was. aided^by lower energy costs than were
expected last year.
Anticipating oil and natural gas prices to skyrocket during 1977,
the University had overbudgeted its energy expenses by more than
$135,000 last fiscal year, Burney Long, Physical Plant director, said.
That sizable surplus was a main factor in keeping residence hall
room and board rates relatively stable, Tubbs said.
Despite inflation, a $17 dorm room and board rate increase was
made for the 1977-78 school year,
CMU dorm residents pay the lowest • room and board rates
compared to those at other Michigan colleges. Currently, the cost
for one year on the 20-meal plan is $1,460 at CMU.
The overestimate was the result of the outlook for oil and gas
prices which faced administrators in previous years as well as
uncertainty in the market, Long said.
"Rates didn't go up as much as expected," Long said. "One main
reason is because the oil-producing nations did not raise their oil
prices as expected,"
Another factor was the possibility of the deregulation of natural
gas, which seemed strong in early 1977.
(See "Natural gas—" page 11)
Volume 59 No. 44
Mount Pleasant, Mich. 48859
Wednesday, Jan. 18,1978
City, CMU not planning
direct fire alarm hookup
Motion blurring his drumsticks, percussionist Patrick
Emerine, Tennessee . junior, practices . on-. the drums in
Warriner Auditorium Tuesday. Emerine, a member of the CMU
percussion ensemble, will travel with the group to Jackson for a
concert Thursday evening and to Ann Arbor over the weekend to
participate in a series of concerts for a convention of the National
Association of Percussion and Wind Instructors (LIFE photo by
Peter Luke),
by JACKSON TELFER
LIFE Staff Writer
Mount Pleasant and CMU
officials say they have no plans
to install a direct hookup between the city fire department
and campus fire alarms.
The direct hookup would give
persons the opportunity to alert
the fire department immediately by pulling the alarm.
"I think (with a direct hookup)
the opportunity would be there
for a person to pull a false
alarm," Jack Lawson, Mount
Pleasant fire chief, said.
Currently, pulling an alarm iff-
a campus building sends a signal
to a fire alarm panel in the
Department  of  Public   Safety
(DPS) which attempts to
validate the alarm before calling
the city fire department, thus
eliminating many false alarms.
Investigation into the possible
need for a direct campus connection to the fire department
began when faults in the
existing alarm system were
discovered after the Powers
Hall fire Jan. 11.
Charles House;, executive
assistant to the president, said
the idea of a direct connection
has been discussed numerous
times.
Such a system has not been
implemented because the anticipated number of false alarms
would outweigh   the system's
Book referral participation
up slightly over first year
Participation in the Student
Book Referral Service Monday
and Tuesday was slightly higher
than last year, according to
referral organizers.
The referral, designed to save
money for students buying and
selling textbooks, continues
today and Thursday from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m. in the University
Center Ballroom.
"We referred between one-
third and one-half of the books
Monday," referral originator
David Bradke said. "At least 500
Students participated Monday,
but considerably less were using
the service Tuesday," Bradke,
Mount Pleasant senior, added.
As of late. Tuesday approximately 700 books had not
been referred, Bradke said.
Bradke said students are
us;ing the referral earlier than
last year due to a new Drop and
Add schedule which -allows
students to revise their class
schedules by Tuesday.
<:Last year's Drop and Add
process continued through
KrJday of the first week of
classes, which prevented some
students from buying textbooks
unjtil later in the week, Bradke
added.
Students wishing to'use the
referral can obtain referral slips
in the UC Ballroom for books
they need and contact sellers at
their convenience.
Any students wishing to sell
books at the referral still may
pick up selling forms at all
dormitory  lobbies  and  submit
them at the referral.
Bradjce said most of the
referred books have been 100-
level classes. Several books have
been referred twice in case they
were not purchased the first
time they were referred, Bradke
added.
By   saving   participants   ap-
Fall Semester ID
okay for ball game
proximately $3 per book, Bradke
said the referral may save
students nearly $6,500 compared to what they would pay in
local bookstores.
Approximately 50 volunteers
from several organizations
including Student Association,
Residence Hall Assembly, Alpha
Kappa Psi and Trout Hall
pledged almost 100 working
hours at the referral.
usefulness, House and Lawson
agreed.
Lawson claims it costs approximately $1,000 for every
run the fire department makes
whether the runs are false
alarms or actual fires.
Lawson said a less expensive
and equally efficient system
would be to'equip each campus
bujlding with telephones which
would ring directly into the fire
departments*
The phones could be kept
behind glass doors, making them
inaccessible without breaking
the glass, Lawson added.
Lawson said he believes this
set-up would deter pranksters
from using the phones.
But if plans currently underway to install a central
control panel in CMU's Power
Plant are completed, such a
system would be unnecessary,
Burney Long, Physical Plant
direotor, said.
Long said he expects it to take
"the best part of a year from
now" before the panel is installed completely.
"We want to take the present
fire alarm system and hook it
into this central control panel
which would take away our
dependency on other people's
wires," Long said.
CMU's alarm system is
hooked into telephone wires
which has caused the sound
device on a fire alarm panel at
the DPS office to malfunction in
the past.
Robert Schaibly, Physical
Plant safety engineer, said the
panel's sound device often is
triggered by voltage drops when
electrical devices in the DPS
office are turned on.
Long said the central control
panel will be installed because
CMU is "trying to get a self-
contained system. "We want to
make it more reliable b'y running
our own wiring," he said.
The central control panel
would monitor the lighting,
humidity, temperature and
ventilation of every building it
was hooked into, Long said.
"The new panel would also
have wiring running to the DPS
fire alarm panel," he added.
Long said DPS is responsible
for checking fire alarms and
calling them in to the fire
department if they are found to
be legitimate.
John McAuliffe, DPS director,
explained the DPS procedure to
handle reported fire alarms. The
practice was implemented at the
request of the city police
department, he said.
When DPS receives a fire
alarm signal from its fire alarm
panel, the dispatcher on duty
immediately should send a car to
the location indicated on the
panel, McAuliffe said.
If an officer or someone of
authority at the site of the alarm
confirms there is a fire, the
dispatcher then notifies the fire
department.
(See"Alarm-"pagell)
Students who have not yet
received current Winter
Semester 1978 identification
cards may use a student ID card
from last Semester to gain free
admittance to today's varsity
basketball game in Rose Arena.
Ordinarily, only a current ID
card would allow students to see
the contest between the
Chippewas and Miami of Ohio.
But the Athletics Office hat
waived that stipulation because
Winter Semester cards have not
yet' been prepared for a large
ntimber of students.
Miami, the pre-season favorite
—Lack of student input delays registration
review—page 3
—Chuck Mangione to appear at first 1978
CMU concert—page 6
■Cagers meet Miami—page 12
—Freshmen
page 14
flyer, overcoming pressure-
to win the Mid-American
Conference crown this year, will
tip off against CMU at 7:30 p.m.
Glenn Starner, assistant to
the dean of students, said
Tuesday he asked the Athletics.
Office to bend its admission rule
after he discovered a number of
students arrived at the
University Center Ballroom to
pick up their ID cards only to
find no cards waiting for them.
'"We've never had anything
like this happen before,*' he said.
"I don't know what happened,
but an unusually large number
of cards were,not prepared for
students.
"The students have been Very
patient, though; and we are
making every effort to solve the
situation alnd see that it does not
happen again," Starner said.
Starrier said a "vast majority",
of students have found their ID
cards already prepared arid the
remaining cards should be
available "as soon as possible."
If
'Sji
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One of the many students who have learned to save money by using the services of the Student Book
Referral is Julie Campbell, Mount Pleasant senior (right). She is seen here being helped by Lupe Valdez,
Texas senior, who is & volunteer with the referral group (LIFE photo by David Fritz).
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