1995-02-15; Central Michigan Life

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Michigan LI ■  E
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1995
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FRE
HISTORY
IN LOCAL BJ^VCK
CHTJItCECES
SEE PAGE 6
Meeting set to review
3 grievances filed
for fired DPS officer
City will listen; SGA delays boycott
By SCOTT ANDERSON
LIFE News Editor
Three grievances concerning the recent firing of a DPS officer
prompted the scheduling of a meeting Thursday between union officials
and university administrators.
If the grievances cannot be resolved during the meeting, the union
will seek arbitration, Spidell said.
Jack Shively, a 21-year veteran of CMU's Department of Public
Safety, was fired following an alleged phone conversation between
himself and Capt. Ron Williams. Shively said the conversation became
heated and he was fired three days later.
Williams said it would be inappropriate to comment on any incidents
leading to the dismissal, but said he would attend the Thursday meeting.
Shively also plans to attend the meeting and said he would wait to file
the civil suit he planned last week against the university for "defamation of character" until after the grievance process has been completed.
According to Patrick Spidell, Police Officers Association of Michigan
business agent, he and Les Rosan, DPS officer and local union president, also will attend the meeting with Jim Wood, assistant director of
Employee Relations, and other administrators.
The three grievances focus on the necessity of a sick-leave form
Williams allegedly asked Shively to fill out in less than three hours, a
"harassing" phone conversation and the "unreasonable and unjust"
discharge of Shively, Spidell said.
Jean Lindley, assistant vice president for Facilities Management,
and Wood would not comment.
Mayor calls
threat on
downtown
businesses
'misdirected'
By HEATHER N. LaFAVE
LIFE Staff Writer
The Student Government
Association decided Monday to
postpone its threatened boycott
on downtown businesses after
Mount Pleasant City Commission members invited SGA to
attend a Traffic Com mi tee meeting to discuss alternatives to
parking meters north of campus.
Chris Weed, SGA treasurer
and Port Huron senior, said after
Monday's presentation at City
Hall, the postponement will continue while the talks are underway.
"As far as the boycott is con-
LIFE Photo/JENNAH SPTTZLEY
Adam Machcinski, Troy junior, addressed the issue of parking
meters on Main Street at the Mount Pleasant City Commision
meeting Monday night.
cerned, it's being held off for now.
It is only one of many possible
tactics. The commission has
shown us an act of good faith in
agreeing to work with us," Weed
said. "But we're asking students
who receive city parking fines to
pay their tickets in loose pennies."
Although the commission did
not act on the proposal at its Monday meeting, Commissioner Ken
Bovee said the commission
agreed to discuss possible alternatives and solutions with SGA.
"As a commission, we meet
with the university. If representatives    of   your   organization
would like to talk this through,
I'd be happy to comply," Bovee
said.
During the Monday meeting,
Mayor Don Sowle said such a boycott would be inappropriate.
"To threaten a boycott downtown on people who were not
responsible for the installation of
the meters is misdirected," Sowle
said.
Randy Peterson, SGA senator
and Mount Pleasant graduate
student, said the invitation to
attend the Traffic Committee
meeting came after SGA members presented their proposal to
the commission for the removal of
parking meters north of campus
on Douglas, Washington, Main
and Franklin streets. The meeting will take place later this week
or early next week, Peterson said.
At the commission meeting,
Don Keko, SGA member and
Sterling Heights senior, and
Peterson presented SGA's arguments that, among other things,
the meters unfairly take advan-
See METERS Page 7	
Trustees Smith, Brandon to field
student questions at open forum
By DAN BEHMER
LIFE Staff Wnter
Two members of the Board of Trustees will listen to student queries over tuition fees, privatization and anything else that students might be curious about at an open forum taking place tonight.
Trustees Sid Smith and David Brandon will
answer questions at the forum beginning at 8 p.m.
in the Lake Michigan Room of Bovee University
Center.
Brandon, who is chairman of the SGA liaison
committee, said he is prepared to talk about "any
subject matter" regarding trustee issues.
"It will be interesting for me to find out what
questions students will ask," he said.
Brandon said he thinks students might ask howl
board members are appointed and how decisions'
are made.
Smith said he is prepared for students questions
on tuition and "the delineation between the Board
of Trustees' and administration's duties."
"The forum wasn't prompted by any particular
issue," Smith said. "The student liaison committee
just thought it would be a wonderful thing to do."
Brandon said he "meets regularly with members j
of the student government," but he said this is the |
first open forum in which he has been involved.
The forum is being coordinated by the Student I
Government Association liaison committee to facili-
See FORUM Page 2	
Former student's defense calls CSC
charge by 17-year-old 'a web of lies'
By TRACY TOMCZAK
LIFE Staff Writer
MUSIC
MAKER
LIFE Ptx>toAliOV KLEVORN
Marc Raima, Grand Rapids freshman, spent some time Tuesday night
practicing Tchaikovsky's "Doll's Burial" on tha mirimba.
Scott Alexander's lawyer told a newly selected
jury Tuesday that the story of being awakened to
unconsensual sex from the 17-year-old girl accusing
the former CMU student of third-degree criminal
sexual conduct was a "web of lies."
"I submit to you," Mark Kowalczyk, who is
defending Alexander, told the jury of seven men and
seven women during opening statements, "that she
is caught up in a tangle of lies, a web of lies."
He said the alleged victim's story is unbelievable
and has several inconsistencies that will come out
during the trial, which was postponed for one day in
Isabella County Circuit Court.
The alleged victim, who was 16 at the time of the
Sept. 5 incident, told the jury that she fell asleep in a
bedroom in Timber Creek Apartments, 3300 E.
Deerfield Road, after being sick from drinking
about 20 ounces of beer and some vodka and Squirt.
She testified that she woke to find Alexander
having sex with her.
Third-degree CSC involves sexual penetration by
force or coercion or with someone between the ages
of 13 and 16. Alexander also is charged with four
counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
If convicted, Alexander faces up to 15 years in
prison. He pleaded not guilty to the five counts.
The girl testified that after her friend, Stephanie
Wilk, finished work, the two girls picked up two of
Wilk's male co-workers.
They later picked up Alexander, who was an
acquaintance of Wilk's friends, and he purchased a
fifth of vodka, of which the alleged victim had "a
couple sips," for the minors, the alleged victim testified.
The group talked about getting more alcohol, she
said. "Everybody was trying to get money around to
buy beer," she said. "I took a couple of sips of my
See TRIAL Page 2	
Reported CSC Feb. 5 was 3rd degree
CMU Department of Public Safety officials
released that an alleged criminal sexual conduct
incident, reported Feb. 5, was a third-degree
offense.
The report was made by a female student who
said she was sexually assaulted on campus during
the week of Jan. 23 by a male student.
Third-degree CSC involves sexual penetration
using force or coercion or with a victim who is at
least 13 years of age and under 16 years of age. It
also can mean the suspect knows or has reason to
know that the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless.
A third-degree CSC is a felony punishable by up
to 15 years imprisonment upon conviction.
The ages of those involved and the exact location
where the alleged incident took place have not been
released.
HAMMER
TIME
MAC TITLE WITHIN
REACH FOR CMU
SHOT-PUTTER
SPORTS page 8
COME ON
DOWN!
Student gets a
chance to win cash
on "Price is Right"
ETCETERA page 12