1978-04-19; Central Michigan Life

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Volume 59 No. 78
©lS78Centr»l Michigan UFE
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859
Wednesday, April 19,1978
CMU to receive  I
DART bus service
Making music out of tin cans was incorporated by Allen Otte of the Black Earth Percussion ensemble
into a composition entitled "Hit or Miss." The piece,which was written by Otte and fellow member Gary
Kvistad.was one of many performed by the ensemble in Warriner Auditorium Tuesday. The group is
from the Cincinnati Conservatory (LIFE photo by Peter Luke).
by JACKSON TELFER
LIFE Staff Writer
The Isabella County Transportation Commission (ICTC) in-.cooperation with the Downtown Business Association (DBA) will begin offering a new'bus service Monday for CMU to and
from the downtown Mount Pleasant area.
The new service, titled the "Downtown
Shuttle," will cost 10 cents for a one-way ride,
Gorden E. Nartker, ICTC manager, said.
"Basically, this is an experiment for the next
three weeks to see if such a system works,"
Nartker said. "If the merchants like it and enough
people ride on it, we may try to get into a full-time
operation next fall before school begins."
Picktip points in the CMU vicinity for the new
route will be at the Towers; Lot 44, near Merrill
Hall; the University Center and the Student Book
Exchange Co., 209 E. Bellows St.
In the downtown area, pickup points will be the
Town Center, bounded by Main and Broadway
streets; the County Building, 200 N. Main, and
the Municipal Building, 120 S. University Ave,
The timetable for the shuttle will begin at 1
p.m. leaving from the Towers to the downtown
area. From then on it will run from the Towers in
one-half hour increments until the last bus leaves
at 4:30 p.m.
Likewise, buses will run from the downtown
area starting at 1:15 p.m. and continue at one-half
hour increments until the last bus leaves at 4:45
p.m.
This new system will have a different bus than
ICTC's Dial-A-Ride Transportation (DART)
system, Nartker said.
The shuttle buses will have a sign in the
window and be "battleship grey and white with
an orange stripe down the side," Nartker said.
The cost for the shuttle is 20 cents per round
trip, 80 cents less than present DART rides, he
added.
To make up for lost revenue, the DBA is
planning to pay whatever costs are needed for the
ICTC to break even, Nartker said.
Mark McManus, DBA president, said the DBA
is offering this service to CMU because "we want
to let college people know where the downtown
area is so we will be able to tap some of the
college market. If it is successful, I think it could
be a great benefit to the downtown area and the
University."
Trudeau's petitioning unnecessary?
byTIMCUPRISIN
and
JOEGITTER
LIFE Staff Writers
A re-petition drive to get a
new Student Association (SA)
constitution on the SA's upcoming ballot may have been
unnecessary.
The re-petition effort was
prompted by an unfounded
accusation made last week by
graduate at-large representative Richard Kerr questioning
the legality of Student Body
President Steve Trudeau's
original petition effort.
However, an official with the
state Attorney General's Office
Tuesday said, "We are unaware
of any state statutes which
regulate student governments."
It is up to the University and
the student government to
decide the legality of the
petitioning procedure, Assistant
Deputy Attorney General Mike
Nickerson, said.
Assistant to the Dean of
Students Sharon George said to
her knowledge, no University
regulation pertains to student
petitions.
"That is,usually set up according to an organization's own
constitution or guidelines," she
said.
The SA's constitution contains no provision covering
petitions.
The re-petition drive, needing
approximately 1,600 student
signatures, was not completed
Tuesday.
"The SA doesn't have to go along with state
law."—Richard Kerr, graduate at-large representative
"\
-RHA sets 20-mile watkathon for Special
Olympics—page 5
-Johnson smiles despite rain—page 11
—CMU pair named MA C's best—page 13
Early Tuesday evening,
approximately 600 signatures
had been collected, SA Elections
Director Dan Ranger said. The
verification deadline was
midnight Tuesday, Ranger
added.
At the SA Board of Director's
April 12 meeting Kerr, Mount
Pleasant graduate student,
incorrectly charged Trudeau, St.
Clair Shores senior, circulated
the petitions in violation of an
unspecified state law.
"I don't believe you petitioned
properly and I think you'll have
to do it again," Kerr said at the
meeting.
Kerr said Tuesday he based
his charge on a 1970 petition
drive, in which he took part, to
include on a Michigan
referendum an amendment to
Michigan law to decriminalize
marijuana.
All the petitions were voided
by the state because they were
not properly prepared and did
not clearly spell out what was to
be included on the ballot, Kerr
added.
"What that's saying is it's
perfectly okay for me to circulate a petition without giving
the students any idea of what's
on it's, Kerr said. "That's like
having people sign a blank
contract or a blank check.
"That means I can petition
anything for anything without a
document. That's fraud," Kerr
said.
"Realistically, I don't care if
they put the constitution on the
ballot or not. And it will pass
with 10 percent of the student
body voting, just like it passed
last year. ■       • *
"The SA doesn't have to go
along with state law. They never
have before," he added.
Ranger, Ionia freshman, said
there still is a chance the repetition effort could collect the
necessary student signatures.
But even if it didn't, he added,
the constitution would likely go
on the SA's May 3 and 4 ballot.
"If no state law applies, I will
consider the first petitions valid
and ignore the second," he said.
"The first petitions will still be
valid for the May election,"
Ranger explained.
"I would call them valid if
asked to render an opinion. It's
not a vote on the constitution,
but a chance to vote on it. Some
people signing the petitions
could have been putting it on the
ballot to vote it down," Ranger
added.
Tuition boost awaits
budget cuts
byPAULRAU
LIFE Managing Editor ■
While the amount of next fall's tuition hike
remains uncertain, University budgeting officials
are predicting trouble in.Lansing for CMU's
recently enlarged appropriation.
State Senate action last week tentatively
added $200,000 to Central's funding level for
1978-79 for a figure approaching $27.3 million.
But Gov. William G. Miiiiken suggested only
$27.1 million for CMU, and additions by Senate to
other state schools have put the total higher
education bill $13 million over the governor's
recommendations.
Those high levels, GMU officials say, must
come down.
"The legislature has loaded the bill up, and that
looks to my mind like it might be trouble," Jerry
Tubbs, vice president for Business and Finance,
said Monday.     .
"It's unusual to see the funding bill loaded up in
an election year, but it'sigot to come back down,"
he added.
Tubbs said the legislature may impose a
prorated decrease, where the state would remove
a set percentage from the recommended appropriation of each state-funded college or
university.
Central's suggested funding level now stands
at 13.H percent more than last year, but Tubbs
said if a prorated decrease is levied CMU may
lose not only the $200,000 boost from the Senate
for special projects, but also part of the 13 percent appropriation base.
Arthur Ellis, vice president for Public Affairs,
agrees the legislature may find budget cuts
necessary.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see the House of
Representatives cut the bill back a little, and a
prorated decrease is the easiest way to do it,"
Ellis said, typifying that method as a last-ditch
effort.
Hanging in the balance is the size of the tuition
increase CMU students will be asked to bear Fall
Semester.
Tubbs set a projected increase rage from $2 to
$3.50 per credit hour for undergraduate Michigan
residents, saying the. ultimate increase will
depend oh the final amount legislature gives
CMU in 1978-79.
Resident undergraduates now pay $24 per
credit hour.
Tubbs said he is "reasonably sure" a request
for a tuition increase will be brought to the Board
of Trustees at its next meeting April 26, but said
the size of the tuition hike would not be decided
until the day before that session. .
Undergraduate tuition at CMU has increased
in price by 63 percent since the 1971-72 school
year when tuition was $15 per credit hour.
Authors stress questions
Sex: how to explain?
by BECKY WHITCOMB
LIFE Staff Writer
"Mom, where did I come
from?"  a  child  asks.  Very
often the mother's reply is:
"Go ask your father."
So the story goes, but
today's parents are realizing
the need for responsible sex
education, according to a
CMU sociology professor and
student who recently wrote a
book on the subject.
"Many parents do not feel
adequately informed, besides
feeling uncomfortable
discussing sex with their
child," said John Petras, coauthor of the soon-to-be
published book titled
"Learning About Sex: A
Guide for Children with An
Introduction for Parents."
"Children learn about sex
through television, Movies
and their peers. The real
question is not whether they
should learn. They should
receive factual information
and that's why there is such a
need for parents to discuss
this information' with the
child," Petras, sociology.
porfessor, said.
Jennifer Aho, sociology
student who co-authored the
sex education book with
Petras, noted the volume
contains questions' for
children to ask themselves
and their parents,
"The book deals with
things the child can identify
with," Aho, Mount Pleasant
junior, said.
"We want to promote the
child feeling good about
himself and sexuality. Most
Mionks .deal with .onfr.-the
reproduction aspect of sex.
We treat sex on a continuum.
"The child is a sexual
being from birth. Besides
reproduction, other topics
included in the book are
menstruation, masturbation,
menopause, venereal disease,
birth control and sex offenders," Aho said.
"Masturbation is a part of a
child's sexual development
and usually the child is made
to feel guilty about it. We try
to explain in the book that it's
OK. Hopefully, they'll feel
better about themselves,"
Aho said.
Aho and Petras agreed
compiling the book was more
difficult than either of them
expected.
"Children's books often are
written on an adult level.
Many children's ideas about
sex come from misunderstanding what they read,"
Petras said.
Jennifer Aho and John Petras