1995-11-20; Central Michigan Life

              Central
Michigan
MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 20,
1995
icl;-iif-hsW
-	
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 36
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
©1995 CM LIFE
SPORTS
EK
Central routed by
arch-rival Western
Central's football team
took one on the chin
against chief rival
Western Michigan
Saturday in Kalamazoo.
The 48-31 loss ended the
Chippewa  season at 4-
7, their worst campaign in
34 years.
PAGE 8
LIFESTYLES
(517) 774-3493
14 PAGES
November Is AIDS
Awareness Month
The Wellness Resource
Center is promoting educational awareness of
HIV and AIDS in conjun-
tion with AIDS
Awareness Month.
Included among the
activities is a candlelight
vigil on Dec. 1.
PAGE 12
With this
(issue CM LIFE
[ceases publica-
kioft until
Monday, Nov. 27.
Haave a Happy
[Thanksgiving
(break*
Barnard, Tate may be demolished
By TODD FETTIG
LIFE Editor	
Central may be saying "bye,
bye" to Barnard and Tate halls.
University officials are asking
CMU's Board of Trustees to
approve the demolition of the
former residence halls, which
were vacated in spring 1993.
Vice President of Business and
Finance Kim Ellertson, who
made the proposal to the
trustees, declined to comment
Sunday.
But according to a written
proposal included in the Board's
agenda packet for its Dec. 1
meeting, reopening the buildings
■wouldn't      be      economically
Mainframe
could be
replaced
By REBECCA MESSER
LIFE Staff Writer	
In the CMU Board of
Trustees' new agenda package,
President Leonard Plachta has
proposed the replacement of
CMU's mainframe computer.
The current mainframe, an
IBM 3O90-180T (24 MIPS), has
reached its maximum capacity
and is affecting student, faculty
and staff productivity.
A MIP stands for millions of
instructions per second and
refers to the speed of the
mainframe.
Plachta was unavailabe for
comment.
According to the proposal, the
mainframe will be replaced by a
new 58 MIPS to improve access
and response time for all users.
New operating software also will
be purchased. The new software
'will increase transaction speed
by 142 percent and memory by
33 percent.
The proposal states that the
cost to replace the mainframe
will be $2 million: $1.3 million
for the purchase of the
mainframe, $724,500 for
operating system software
changes and $9,000 for electr-
See COMPUTER Page 2
Proposal says hanging on to the
two residence halls isn't practical
practical for CMU.
CMU officials cited declining
occupancy rates and rising
maintenance expenses for
closing the residence halls.
Housing officials later
proposed opening Tate Hall as
alternative campus housing for
juniors and seniors. But that
plan carried with it a $61,000
price tag for start-up costs.
"Due to the great availability
of low-cost, off-campus housing,
it would not be prudent to
renovate the halls into apartments," says Ellertson's proposal
to demolish the buildings. "Also,
the space is not appropriate for
academic purposes, nor is it
practical because of the location
of the buildings."
The university has saved
about $1.4 million annually in
staff and utility expenses since
the buildings closed, according to
Ellertson's proposal.
By demolishing the buildings,
CMU stands to save another
$260,000 annually in utility and
maintenance costs.
The project's expected to cost
about $1.45 million, with funding
coming from the 1995-96 Capital
Budget. Savings would help fund
the budget and should pay for
the cost of demolition in about
five years, the proposal states.
The $1.45 million figure
includes   $760,000   for   leveling
Barnard, $475,000 for demolishing Tate and $200,000 for
relocating the Military Science
Program, which is housed in
Barnard.
But Lt. Col. Rodolfo Diaz-
Pons, chairman of the military
science department, said the
possible move doesn't worry him.
"The university has assured us
that whatever the decision is
they will provide adequate facilities for us," Diaz-Pons said. "It's
a university decision. In that
sense, we're like any other
academic department."
CMU Board of Trustees
members could not be reached
for comment.
Uneventful weekend at WMU
By REBECCA MESSER
LIFE Staff Writer
This year's
Central/ Western weekend
came and went and according
to police officials in Kalamazoo
it was a pretty quiet one.
According to Sgt. Brian
Crandall, of the Western
Michigan University Department of Public Safety, the
weekend was not that different
from any other weekend at
Western.
It was a basic Friday and
Saturday night for us. I don't
think there was any real
increase in activity," Crandall
said.
There was also no increase in
complaints, he said.
He said there were problems
during the game with people
throwing snowballs on the
Field.
"A lot of people got ejected
from the stadium for that," he
said.
According to the Kalamazoo
police, "a lot was going on, but
there "were no major incidents "
Students from CMU and
WMU have organized student
patrol groups since 1992, to
help curb violence that has
occured after previous
CMU/ WMU football games.
Brian Leder, WMU coordinator for Peace*N Together,
said the weekend went unbelievably well.
"The weather was nice and
Western won so there was
every reason for people to be
out partying but they weren't.
Everything was very well
contained," he said.
DPS replacing 'poor
quality' parking decals
CMU parking decals for the
1995-96 school year are being
replaced with new ones because
of poor quality, according to a
letter from CMU's Department
of Public Safety.
The letter stated many decals
have been reported lost or stolen
because they can be easily
removed from the glass.
This year's decals were of a
lesser quality than those bought
in the past, the letter stated.
DPS   will   be   distributing   new
permits to all holders.
The new decals will be
displayed inside of vehicle
windows, the letter stated.
The decals are being sent out
and must be displayed by Nov.
27 for faculty, staff and commuters and Dec. 1 for residents.
Jean Lindley, assistant vice
president of Facilities Management, referred all
questions to Ron Williams,
associate director of DPS.
Williams refused to comment.
•w    -"—'   -*   —-—»--» ^  ^--^. -. ^--   „ ^^ ,    j_t_-_5    win     Dt"    uwuiuuvuig    **«?-- v~ in in iu» reiuocu lAt bUllUIICllV.
ARAMARK bid means 89 employees could lose jobs
a-a-aaaa_a-a-a»-a_iia_a»^-ai ^    ,_ «_^« _^ _i_ - -_.. k««^c ~r Aircr<iLri? - r_i A-~*i+u    nositions that ARAMARK will be     having ARAMARK managers.
By ANDREA SMELLER
LIFE Staff Writer	
The future of 89 Dining
Service jobs hangs in balance as
the university considers whether
to accept a bid from ARAMARK
to subcontract a portion of the
labor.
Members of the AFSCME
Local 1568 met with university
officials Nov. 12 and received a
copy of ARAMARK's bid to
subcontract a portion of dining
services labor.
Rae   Goldsmith,    director   of
Public    Relations,    said    the
American   Federation  of State,
I County and Municipal
Employees Local 1568 represen-
tives have until Dec. 28 to come
up with reasons why subcontracting to ARAMARK would not
be beneficial to the university.
If ARAMARK wins the bid,
which was submitted Nov. 11,
there will be a loss of 89 Dining
Service union jobs from the
university. Only those hired
before Oct. 31, 1979 will be
guaranteed their jobs.
Goldsmith said ARAMARK
has already made a bid to CMU
to take over a portion of the labor
in the Dining Services.
"One of the reasons for the
changes in Dining Services is to
better meet the needs of
students and in turn
maintaining low costs and
providing more opportunities, as
well as our responsibility to
make the most of room and
board funds," Goldsmith said.
"The   bidding   is   now   in   the
hands of AFSCME," Goldsmith
said. "They have the benefit of
knowing what ARAMARK bid."
Details of ARAMARK's bid or
the union's list of benefits for not
having ARAMARK subcontract
employment are not available at
this time. Goldsmith said.
Linda Philo, president of
AFSCME Local 1568, said union
members mainly are concerned
with job security. She also
expressed concerns that if they
had to reapply for the
ARAMARK jobs there would be a
cut in hourly wages and loss of
some benefits.
Goldsmith said the university
knows that bidding out to
ARAMARK is hard for the union
because of the loss of jobs. But,
she said that the union has a
competitive opportunity for the
positions that ARAMARK will be
hiring.
Current employees would be
given preference over new
employees for the vacancies.
"It's hard to speculate on the
pay rates," Goldsmith said. "Our
current rates are more than
similar positions in the region.
. We won't know until we go over
the bids."
Goldsmith said AFSCME has
to come up with its own bid by
late December.
Philo also said CMU's idea of
saving money by bringing in
ARAMARK was not working.
She said it cost the university
$300,000 a year to hire
ARAMARK managers.
Goldsmith said there was still
a savings of $150,000 built up by
having ARAMARK managers.
"There is a $150,000 savings
above and beyond the $300,000,"
Goldsmith said.
Goldsmith said by building up
this savings they were able to
use this to keep room and board
rates for students down.
Despite the fact that the rates
went up this year, Goldsmith
said the increase would have
been much higher without the
savings.
After the university receives
the bid from AFSCME, CMU will
take 30 business days for discussions on the bids and will make a
final decision at that time.
Kim Ellertson, vice president
of Business and Finance, and
Paul Hayward, ARAMARK
district manager, could not be
reached for comment.