1977-02-02; Central Michigan Life

              ;MU seeks okay
or arena project
byJIMREINDL
LIFE Ass't. News Editor
A formal request for the state
legislature's approval for
preliminary planning of a
proposed ice arena here will be
filed soon, President Harold
Abel announced Tuesday.
In a text prepared for
delivery at the Academic Senate
meeting Tuesday, which was
cancelled, Abel said he has
reviewed the report of a committee he appointed in
November to study the issue.
"I am directing Vice President
(for public affair Arthur) Ellis to
prepare a Use and Finance1
Statement for an ice facility at
this University to be submitted
to the Joint Capital Outlay
Committee of the legislature for
its consideration and approval," i
Abel said. ;
The Joint Capital Outlay
Committee must approve any
project to be financed through
"bonded indebtedness" before a
private bonding company will
agree to sell the bonds. "Bonded
indebtedness" is a debt incurred
through financing a project with
bond sales.
The Joint Capital Outlay
Committee will conduct much
the same kind of investigation
Abel's ad hoc advisory committee did.
Once the committee receives
CMU's request for planning
approval it will be "at least a
couple of months" before it
completes its work, Bill Roege,
committee staff member, said.
In an interview with WCHP
radio Tuesday, Abel said he
expects an arena could be
operating on campus as soon as
the end of 1978.
The University has said it will
use money from the General
Fund, used to retire debts, to^
help finance the arena. Abel has
said $200,000 of this debt
retirement money will be
available in fiscal year 1977-78.
In his prepared repott, Abel
again cited administrators'
concern that the University
might lose the $200,000 through
a reduced state appropriation if
it does not begin a non-academic
1
Volume 58 No. 51
Pleasant, Mich
Wednesday, February 2,1977
"All of our major competitors for students
a/ready have such facilities. It is entirely possible
that some students would be turned away by the
lack of an / ice j facility •' who would not be
specifically attracted by its presence"—President
Harold Abel
building project, such as an ice
arena.
"The funds which are
available as the result of retired
debt service obligations might
be available for other General
Fund purposes. They might, on
the other hand, be deducted
from the next state appropriation on the ground that
the need for them has expired.
The latter is more likely to be
the case," Abel said.
He said it was a matter of
"policy" the University use the
money for a non-academic
building because the state pays
for classroom buildings.
Abel also said it is "highly
unlikely" the capital outlay
committee would approve a
building with no revenue
producing capability.
An ice arena could produce
revenues through fees charged
to skaters and through renting
the arena. Administrators have
said the arena would be
maintained through user fees.
The arena committee, chaired
by Kendall Folkert, Religion
Department chairperson,
questioned whether holding the
$200,000 would be "advantageous in terms of student
fees."
"Non-expendjture of the funds
might serve briefly to retard the
general rate of rise in student
fees, but the impact of such non-
expenditure would be negligible
as affecting the University's
ability to attract and retain
students. Any gains would be
short-lived," Abel responded.
In connection with attracting
students to CMU, Abel said an
ice arena wouJld have a positive
effect.
"All of our major competitors
for students already have such
facilities. It is entirely possible
that some students would be
turned away by the lack of an ice
facility who would not be
specifically attracted by its
presence," Abel said.
"An ice facility has become
one of those indicators of
development the absence of
which has negative implications
concerning the campus environment as a whole," he added. (
An ice arena has been labeled
as the top building priority in
the School of Health, Physical
Education and Recreation. The_
idea surfaced in 1974 when a
committee was appointed to
study the feasibility of building
an arena here.
In 1975 the Board of Trustees
authorized the administration to
submit the necessary request to
the legislature for its approval.
Abel told the Academic
Senate in November the
University must file its request
with the legislature in 'early
1977. It was then he appointed
his ad hoc advisory committee.
t4&W&~
The Organization of Black Unity began its month-long celebration of Black History Month with
opening ceremonies Tuesday night at the Religious Center. Starting things off by singing the black
national anthem are Stanley O. Daivs, Inkster sophomore and Brenda Smiley, Flint sophomore. (LIFE
photo by Cathie Clayton).
Commissioners meet today
City, union tentatively agree
by PAUL RAU
CM LIFE Reporter
The city of Mt. Pleasant and
striking Local 1606 were successful in reaching a tentative
agreement on all economic and
non-economic contract issues
after 10 hours of negotiations
Tuesday.
The, agreement must be
approved by the City Commission and the membership of
Local 1606 of the American
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
"We were able to reach a
table agreement, a complete
proposal including all economic
and non-economic issues. The
details of the settlement are not
available at this point since the
agreement is still subject to
approval by both parties,"
Walter Oliver, AFSCME
-Council 11 president, said.
City officials also declined to
comment on any specific parts of
the settlement. City Manager
William Barrons said the City
Commission will convene at 4
p.m. today to study the new
Bundle up!
i
CMU further reduces building heat
by STEVE BENNETT
CM LIFE Reporter
Temperatures in CMU
buildings are being turned down
to 65 degrees and corridors in
these buildings are being turned
down to 60 degrees, according to
Jerry Tubbs, vice president for
business and finance.
Tubbs also announced the
temperature in classroom
buildings will be lowered on
weekends. "The temperatures in
classroom buildings will be
lowered to 50 degrees about 3
p.m. Fridays and not raised until
5 a.m. Monday morning," Tubbs
said.
Tubbs, chairperson of an
energy committee composed of
representatives from each
school on campus, said the move
was made to conserve energy
further and participate more in
saving gas.
Turning the temperatures
down will take the rest of this
week, according to Burney
Long, director of the Physical
Plant.
"Turning the temperatures
down will save CMU about
$12,700 per month or about 10
CM LIFE
features
season
There are some advantages to
having a long and cold win-
ter-the traditional winter
activities can be experienced for
a longer period. In today's CM
LIFE, a specjal guide is
presented to these winter activities in the Mt. Pleasant area.
per cent of the monthly heating
bill," Ed Naretto, superintendent in charge of utilities for
the Physical Plant, said.
Tubbs said CMU has conducted an energy conservation
program for almost three and a
half years and further reductions will be drastic and expensive.
"We've come up with a couple
of plans if Michigan gas is
reallocated to other states,"
Tubbs said.
Tubbs said Saturday classes
will be re-located in the
University Center or * dorms.
Another alternative would be to
have two weeks of spring break
and make up the extra week at
the end of the semester.
"All decisions are based on
whether the federal government
decides to reallocate fuel;"
Tubbs said. "We're completely
at their mercy."
Monday evening the U.S.
Senate approved ' emergency
legislation to deal with the
natural gas shortage by
reallocating fuel supplies between states and temporarily
lifting price controls. The
measure was approved by a 91-2
vote and now goes to the House
of Representatives.
The House leadership has
indicated in .order to speed the
legislation to President Carter,
there will be an attempt to
approve the Senate version
rather than the amended version which came out of the
House Commerce Committee
earlier Monday. The amended
version called for price ceilings
on natural gas.
Tubbs said if the measure
goes through, colleges such as
Wayne State, which has no
dorms, would not have very
many problems shutting down.
CMU, however, has almost 50
per cent of its student
population on campus and not all
of them could return home.
Married students almost would
have to stay.
"We're taking calls and fixing
all the little things such as
dripping faucets, doors which
will not tightly close and other
things." We've even passed out
rolls of plastic paper for married
students to tape over their
windows," Tubbs said. Married
housing buildings do not have
storm windows.
Tubbs said his group will
make suggestions to various
departments and pass them to
the Physical Plant.
collective bargaining
agreement. Barrons said no
further statement will be issued
by the city until he has a chance
to talk to the commissioners.
"There will be no union
membership vote until the city
has agreed to the new contract,"
Dale Latta, administrative
assistant to Oliver, said.
Union officials said' a membership meeting to ratify the
contract is subject to the
availability of the meeting hall.
Local 1606 shares the hall with
six other local unions.
"Both parties made drastic
concessions to reach an
equitable agreement. We're
looking forward" to the
possibility of the employees
going back to work on Thursday," Oliver said.
Although neither party would
cite specifics of the proposed
contract, union officials said
economic issues were the last to
solve.
"In the final analysis, the
economic issues were the big
stumbling block," Oliver said.
Union bargaining committee
members were quiet and
withstrained when the union
officials announced the table
agreement. Latta said, "I don't
think either side got everything
they wanted. But the best
agreements are probably when
• neither side is entirely
satisfied."
Barrons agreed, "If
everybody is slightly unhappy,
it's probably a good agreement."
The negotiations followed the
same pattern as last Thursday's
meeting with only two members
from each bargaining committee
meeting at the same time.
Barrons and labor attorney
Phillip Nantz met two on two
with union representative
James Rughruff and Oliver in
the restaraunt section of the
Holiday Inn, 5665 E. Pickard
Road. Both bargaining teams
credit the two on two format
for simplifing the bargaining
process.
"It takes some pressure off
the bargaining committees and
makes a more open type of
discussion possible,'" Anne
Freling, Local 1606 president,
said.
The Holiday Inn was chosen
as the site of the bargaining
sessions because to meet in the
City Commission chambers, the
union members would have to
cross their own picket lines.
(See "Strike—" page 5)
Anti-FA move begins
Free Faculty distribute cards
by PAM KLEIN
LIFE News Editor
The move to oust Central's
Faculty Association (FA) got
underway Monday when about
30 Free Faculty members met to
distribute authorization cards
requesting the decertification
vote.
Thirty per cent of the faculty
must sign the cards for the
Michigan Employment Relations
Commission (MERC) to
authorize an election. Free
Faculty leaders said they hope
to have the necessary 180
signatures by Feb. 15 but added
they would gather as many
signatures as possible by March
1.
The "window period" during
which a decertification election
may be attempted began
Tuesday and continues through
March 31. All signatures must
be filed by then, but Free
Faculty leaders said the earlier
deadline was necessary to
validate the signatures before
filing.
During the meeting, Free
Faculty leader Robert Anthony
presented the group's rationale
for signing the cards, saying
there is no evidence the CMU
faculty benefit from any of the
$177.50 paid in dues to the FA.
Of the $177.50, Anthony said
$6 is paid to the local FA; $4.50
for political action; $135 to the
Michigan Education Association
(MEA); and $30 to the National
Education Association (NEA).
The FA is an affiliate of the
MEA and NEA.
Free Faculty members have
said they object paying dues to
the FA because most of the
money is sent to the MEA and
NEA and is used for political
purposes which may be contrary
to that of the faculty member.
The statement also said many
Free Faculty believe compulsory unionization is 'unprofessional',.that it results in
'academic mediocrity' and that
"nothing in the growth of faculty
unionization in higher education
suggests that these
organizations have been a
positive factor in raising the
level of an institution's academic
distinction."
George Stengren* another
Free Faculty leader, said the
wording of the authorization
cards, while not the wording
Free Faculty would like, is
required by MERC and may
cause some people not to sign
the cards.
"It's going to make it tough,,
Stengren said. "It's not the same
to say let's have an election for
democratic purposes."
Wording on the cards states,
"As an employee of Central
Michigan University covered
under the terms of a Collective
Bargaining Agreement with the
Central Michigan University
Faculty Association I hereby
assert that I no longer desire to
be represented 'by the Central
Michigan University Faculty
Association for the purpose of
collective bargaining.
Earlier Ronald Johnstone, FA
president, had cautioned all
faculty to be aware they were
rejecting the FA by signing the
cards. He said faculty members
could express a vote of confidence in the FA by not signing
the cards, thereby not even
scheduling an election to decide
the issue "once and for all.
However, Anthony, associate
professor of business and administration, said the Free
Faculty's rationale was faculty
members indifferentjto opposing
the FA should sign the cards "to
demonstrate your commitment
to the democratic process for
our faculty as well as for other
citizens."
Anthony added the decertification move was not
necessarily an anti-union effort.
"If the FA is decertified... and
the faculty wishes to form an
independent union or affiliates
with another labor organization,
(See "Decertification—" page 5)
ltisid&
— City obtains land for
new water tower
project—page 3
—Sorority, fraternity
rush begins
today—page 8
— Central cagers hope
to end two-year
jinx—page 9
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