1994-03-21; Central Michigan Life

              Rain, then mostly
cloudy, windy
Over there!
Global studies minor offered
Page 12
Energy
Poet-savant Tato Laviera
Page 8
Cashen IN AT NCAAs
CMU wrestler an All-American
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Central
Michigan
Report outlines 29 ways to improve Parking Services
By Amy Shiner for the alternative," Yuill said. I         .        '                                                                            ~9
LIFE Assistant News Editor .  Hl thjnk w(? came up wjth fl ge| of workable alternatives that could |    I f+ L( C2k f" P| CI W |T1 ^ M t fYl I O* Hi t
A list of 29 alternatives to improve the current Parking Services on improve the situation here.** I    ■ w i\\U L yJCAy III C I I L I I I I ci I I L
campus have been formalized in a report and could be implemented Montoye said the team was not to impose its judgment about the , ■                              ■                                         I ■ ■
By Amy Shiner
Llf-E Assistant News Editor
A list of 29 alternatives to improve the current Parking Services on
campus have been formalized in a report and could be implemented
pending approval from CMUs Executive Committee.
Among the alternatives are the possible addition of more than 800
parking spaces, new methods to pay parking fines, raising current
parking decal prices and ways of maintaining an improved Parking
Services and increasing revenue for the university.
Jan Wagester, administrative aide to the president, said the Executive Committee has met and is still discussing the alternatives. President Leonard E. Plachta would not comment as to which alternatives
have been considered but is expected to reach final decisions this week.
The Parking Services* Administrative Team was charged in April
1993 by Plachta to "critically and objectively identify alternatives to
current operations in the Parking Services Department." Plachta said
the task is a key part to Phase II planning process.
The team consists of chairwoman Mary Montoye, director of Risk
Management and Insurance; Peter Gorton, campus space planner at
Facilities Management; Ron Griffiths, assistant director of Public
Safety; and Bob Yuill, professor of geography.
On Feb. 14, the report was presented to the Executive Committee
which consists of Plachta, Provost Robert Franke; Kim Ellertson, vice
president for Business and Finance; Russ Herron, vice president for
University Relations; and James Hill, vice president for Student
Affairs.
Yuill said the group met several times in the summer and then once
every week or two weeks during the school year.
"The decisions will be based on the allocations of funds and the need
for the alternative,** Yuill said.
**I think we came up with a set of workable alternatives that could
improve the situation here.*
Montoye said the team was not to impose its judgment about the
viability of an alternative but rather to bring foward factual information and alternatives.
■ Four alternatives were designed to increase revenue for the university, including increasing parking permit fees starting the 1994-95
academic year, assessing parking decal fees for evening commuter
students, revising the fee structure for temporary permits and implementing a tiered pricing system based on lot location.
Recommendations for parking permit fees include an increase from
$25 to $30 for residents and from $50 to $60 for commuters and
faculty/ staff, bringing in an estimated $79,060 in additional revenue.
Montoye said while increasing the fees will be viewed as unfavorable,
the recommendation was reasonable considering factors involved.
"The fees have not been raised since August of 1991,"she said. "Money
is needed for the cost of maintaining the lots."
While students who take classes after 4 p.m. do not have to purchase
a decal to park on campus, the alternative suggests the university
implement an evening commuter decal for $25, which would bring in an
estimated $50,000.
Aside from the revenue, Montoye said the plan would equalize the
unfair expense that daytime students must endure.
Another alternative would require visitors and students to pay $2 for
t hree-day temporary permits and $4 for a seven-day temporary permit.
('urrently. all visitors can receive free permits valid for up to one week.
See REPORT Page 2
Ticket payment might
get easier using credit,
financial incentives
By Amy Shiner
I IF-E Assistant News Editor	
Two alternatives to current
parking operations have been
designed to make payment of
parking fines a little easier.
As part of the Report of the
Parking Services, students and
faculty might be given the
option of paying parking tickets
by use of a credit card.
Mary Montoye, chairwoman
of the Administrative Team
which devised the report and
director of Risk Management
and Insurance, said the option
received medium support from
the team due to the estimated
$2,400 in additional costs to the
university caused by a merchant discount fee charged by
the credit card company.
The university would have to
pay 7 to 9 percent for each ticket
payoff, she said. The transaction volume is estimated to be
high, she said, with a low average of ticket charges.
The option was devised to
encourage faster payment of
unpaid parking tickets which
increased nearly five times
between 1992 and 1993.
According to CMU's Department of Public Safety violation
bureau, there were $24,652 out-
See CREDIT Page 7
Forum puts focus on
improving higher ed
expectations, results
Remarks by Plachta spur
discontent among faculty
By Kelly L. Adams
LIF£ Staff Writer
IFE Photo J iscin Wambsgans
-^ .. .. .. As the best -selling Hispanic poet in the United States, Tato Laviera tours across the country speaking
creative direction his words. He visited CMU for both a creative writer's workshop and a reading of his work. See page 8
for story.
Emmons hints at re-election bid
By Brent Wehner
LIFE Staff Writer
State Sen. Joanne Emmons,
R-Big Rapids, alluded to plans to
run for re-election when she
spoke to a meager crowd of CMU
College Republicans Sunday
night-in Bovee University Center.
Eight College Republicans
ihowed up to hear Emmons
ipeak at an event that was open
o the entire campus and Mount
'leasant community.
Jon Cool, chairman of the
proup, said he was unsure as to
why the turnout was so poor.
He speculated that students
ire getting burned out as the end
€ the semester approaches or
hat they simply have a lack of
nterest.
Emmons said she was glad to
have an opportunity to speak,
and said she realizes the low
turnout is not an indication of
support she has at CMU.
Emmons said she plans to concentrate on simplifying the single
business tax as a main staple in
her campaign, but she will not
make an official announcement
concerning the election until
mid-April.
Emmons said she has a
smaller base of people with the
reapportionment of her district,
and expects a difficult race
through the primary. Emmons*
new district stretches virtually
from Midland to Kalamazoo in a
banana shape.
"There will be some very exciting races on the state level,"
Emmons said.
She spoke about what CMU
students could do to help and
praised the College Republicans
for supporting her in all her previous campaigns, and offered
suggestions for this campaign.
She expressed interest in having
a rally, as well as registering as
many CMU students as possible
for the election.
Cool, Lansing junior,, assured
Emmons that she would have the
support of his group.
Emmons also showed charts of
the benefits of Proposal A, citing
the assessment cap and the
6-mills pert on homesteads as the
two big proponents drawing her
endorsement.
"For homeowners, Proposal A
was money in the bank,"
Emmons said.  "It is incredible
JOANNE EMMONS
that we dropped the income tax
rate."
Gov. John Engler's re-election
prospects were immensely
enhanced with the passage,
Emmons said.
A forum geared to improve
expectations and results of
higher education ended in controversy Friday.
The faculty of the College of
Arts and Sciences sponsored the
conference as a reaction to the
Wingspread Group report "An
American Imperative: Higher
Expectations for Higher Education."
Guy Meiss, associate professor
of journalism, said the conference
was set up to facilitate open dialogue about where CMU stands
now and where it needs to be in
the future. However, some
faculty showed discontent with
President Leonard E. Plachta's
closing remarks.
Plachta's remarks included
criticisms of higher education's
reluctance to change.
MA big problem I have as an
administrator is that there is
such an attitude in higher education in the United States of maintaining the status quo," Plachta
said. **I have a great concern that
the attitude among you and your
colleagues, at other colleges too,
is that somehow we can continue
to be inefficient.
"Education is conducted virtually the same as when I was a
freshman in college. We are very,
very slow at using technology."
Plachta quoted a Forbes magazine article to illustrate what critics are starting to say about
higher education in the United
States.
"It gives me great concern that
the faculty have great authority
without responsibility and gieat
authority without accountably," Plachta quoted.
In closing, Plachta said CMU
faces problems, but none that
cannot be solved.
"Things are not so good, and we
have to wake up to that, but I
think there are great possibilities," he said.
Following the president's
address, Roger Hatch, professor
of religion, apologized to the
panel for Plachta's remarks.
Hatch's statement was met with
applause from some audience
members.
David Smith, chairman of the
Academic Senate and the religion
department, said he thought
Plachta's remarks were "extraordinarily insensitive.
"At an event which had the
idea that the institution needs to
change and to attempt to start a
dialogue about change, to have
the president stand up and say
this is evidence of faculty's
unwillingness to change was
really a spit in the face," Smith
said.
Meiss said Plachta's remarks
ended the conference on a sour
note.
"I was disappointed because I
felt his remarks were highly confrontational," Meiss said. "I could
see the enthusiasm for change
generated over two-and-a-half
hours of the program slip away."
In an interview Sunday,
Plachta said audience members
might have misunderstood his
comments or confused them with
the article, because he was trying
See FORUM Page 7
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