1971-10-15; Central Michigan Life

              CENTRAL
MICHIGAN
Volume 52/ Number 20
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48858
Friday, October 15, 1971
'Weekender'Lemim
More'features, columns,
and entertainment!
CITY COMMISSIONERS
STORY     PAGE 6
Campus larceny rate increases
.%«-*-
By MARK LETT
'LIFE §taff Writer
While it may be better to "be safe than
.sorry," economic factors often shoot that
old adage to pieces.
For example,takethecaseoftheCentral
Michigan University's Business Office and
its theft insurance problems."   .
Going.
As the physical size and student
enrollment of CMU has increased in recent
years, so has the campus larceny rate.
Over $45,000 worth of stolen or lost
property was reported to the Department
of Public Safety for the 1970-71'fiscal
year.
In this calendar year alone, more than
$19,000 worth of lost or stolen property
has been reported to the department.
Although a portion of these figures include
. student' and faculty losses, the overwhelming bulk of the missing property is
University-owned. ,
CMU    pays    mere
In short, the increasing rate of larceny
has gloved Central into a high risk
bracket  for   theft  insurance  coverage.
As Central'-s premiums*, for theft insurance   inch-wormed higher in recent
years, the policy became less and less
practical. Finally, on July 1 qf this
year, theJJniversity Business Office cancelled its theft insurance pplicy with the
Insurance Company of North America
(INA). ^
Jerry Tubbs, vice president for business
and finance, explained the reason for the
cancellation.
"They (INA) slapped us with a policy
including a $1,000 deductible and a $2,500
maximum for .theft insurance coverage,"
said Tubbs, "With those mini mums and
maximums we would rarely be able to
cdllect."    ,>■'■'
Tubbs also noted that the premium rates
for such a policy were expensive.
"When a firm gives you rates that are
so exhorbitant/the policy becomes sort
of useless," remarked Tubbs. "We
shopped around for a better policy, but
after a survey with about a dozen firms
was made and failed to turn up any better
going* • ••
offer, we decided that the policy may as
well be cancelled."
Richard Dam man,--also of the Business
Office, engineered the search for a
practical theft insurance policy. Damman
explained that no company was able to
draw up a plan that would provide CMU
with a satisfactory policy.
fifoisivo    soarcfc
"Based on our past experience, we
couldn't see the advantage of the $1,000
deductible and $2,500 maximum coverage
policy proposed by INA," Damman stated.
"There was one firm that offered us a
$500 deductible policy but the premium
was so high that it negated use of the
policy."
CMU ddes keep a blanket crime coverage
. policy including protection against check
forgery, counterfeit money passed through
the University, fidelity bonding and money
Stolen from the University, Damman said.
There are no provisions, in the policy
for equipment theft coverage outside of
office machines.
Poporfaoofs    allotted
The problem of larceny has affected
all departments on campus, reports Detective-Sergeant Leslie Bonstelle of the CMU
Department of Public Safety?
"Each week we compile a tally sheet
of reported thefts to send to the business
office,", said • Bonstelle. "I would say
that there is nearly $1,000 a week reported lost or stolen." Bonstelle continued, ' "Just  last  week   an  inventory
^W^>Wws   •
Few gather to 	
M oratorium Day rites    ***•
ability of educational media equipment
(movie projectors, tape and phonograph
systems), leaves educational media
property subject to a higher rate of
larceny than that of most departments.
According to Byron Clendening, director   .
of the Educational Media Department, his
department is caught in a bind in pro-,
tecting its equipment from theft.
"Because our equipment is not controlled to the point where it is closely
checked in and put across campus, it is
easily stolen," declared Clendening;. ?'We
paint or grind on a serial number system
which offers some help in recovering
stolen property. This isn't however,
insurance against theft."
"Items of equipment that are common,
and easily moved—you might say anything with handles on them—are the chief
items stolen, along with anything with
resale value." added Clendening.
Passible    corls    exist
Although the larceny rate at CMU is
on the rise, Bonstelle emphasized that
there • are a couple of factors that may
help curb the problem.
"There's no real way we can stop
larceny" related Bonstelle. "We do
get a lot of stolen equipment recovered
through student help, though.
"The climate seems to be changing.   .
Students are coming forward to help us
.recover equipment.    A few years ago,
a student might have been reluctant to
help us out," Bonstelle observed.
The penalty for larceny in Michigan can /
carry a heavy sentence. State laws dictate
that any person convicted of larceny from
a building (including"schools, apartments
and homes) faces a maximum penalty of
four years imprisonment, a $2,000 fine,
or both. Larceny from an automobile
(including trailers) carries a maximum
penalty  of five years imprisonment, a
•   •   •
- Where many thousands have rallied
in the past, relatively small crowds turned
out this year to observe Moratorium Pay
and speak out against the war in Indochina.
At many of Wednesday's demonstrations^" concern also focused on the wage-
price freeze,- voter registration, prison  reform ,'      ;_ and gay liberation.
There were no huge campus or big-
,<sity gatherings as in recent years,; Most
of the events were peaceful and subdued.
-. Six persons fete arrested outside Kir t-
land Air Force Base, N.M., however,
for blocking traffic, state police said.
Another 100 demonstrators, who had
obtained a permit to march to the base,
were dispersed.     •'■■■■'
In New York City's garment district,.
Mayor  John V. /Lindsay drew intense
heckling from abotit two doz^en persons
chanting,   ^ 'Lay    off Lindsay, not city
workers."
Lindsay toid a crowd of 1,500 despite.
the, heckling',thai if political changes are.
i?
.''   '9,0'v ».5'i *JH • '
not made during 1971 and 1972, "maybe
the country won't be worth changing after
that." *
In San Antonio, Tex., about 200 people
joined a peaceful candlelight march to
the federal building for a rally.
At a Chicago hews conference, tapes
of the voices of two men said to prisoners
of war were played by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. One, addressed
to President Nixon, said, "I no longer
want to fight for you or anyone like
you." \. *
-. Dimes taped to a card stating, "Taxes
for" buses, not for bombs," were passed
out to 1,000 subway commuters by the
Philadelphia War Tax Resistance.  1
Other cities with Moratorium Day
observances included Los Angeles; San
Francisco; Miami; Rochester, Ithaca and
Bihghamtoh, N.Y.; Cleveland/Ann Arbor,
Mich; Hartfor, Conn.; Houston; Seattle;
Berkely Calif.; Minneapolis; St. Paul;
Edmond and Norman, Okla.; Pittsburgh;
Lafayette, In. and Lincoln, Neb.
of Brooks Hall completed and submitted
to us. The -sheet listed $17,260 Worth
of missing equipment. Probably the
biggest portion of this was stolen although
some of it may have been simply misplaced."
The missing equipment ran the gamut
from a $25 laboratory stool to a $450
monocular microscope. r Even the CMU
Maintenance Department has been riddled
by larceny. In its inventory report for
last week (Oct. 6-10), the department
listed a series of missing items including
five steel wheel barrows.^  ~\
AV   often   hit  ~
One University area perennially saddled
with larceny problems is the Educational
Media Department (audio-visual). Because of demand for educational media
services across campus, much of the department's equipment is subject to a rather
loose storage arrangement. This, coupled
with the relative mobility and desire-
——^ . .. . ;:y\w
the great rip-off
—— i . ; ■    ,r . ■■i...--  ,       . 1
fine of $1,000 or both. Both charges are
felonies. s
CMU's Department of Public Safety
has demonstrated considerable success in
gaining convictions of .persons apprehended.
"Our conviction rate of those we arrest
is probably close" to 98 percent," said
Bonstelle. "Of those that we apprehend
most are students."   *   ' '
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