1995-12-01; Central Michigan Life

              Central
Michigan
LIFE
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 1,
1995
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 39
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
©1995 CM LIFE
SPORTS
Comedian Dave
Chappelle stops at CMU
Starring in the sitcom
"Buddies." Dave
Chappelle is far along on
the road to success.
But at 8 p.m. Monday,
that road will bring him to
Central's Warriner
Auditorium for a rare
stand-up comedy performance.
PAGE 8
CAMPUS
CMU students learn the
true meaning of irx>tivation
Motivational speaker
Bret Eastburn, spoke to a
crowd of approximently
100 students about how
he deals with having no
arms and no legs.
PAGE 3
u
(517) 774-3493
12 PAGES
Central loses at buzzer
to Boilermakers
The CMU basketball
team nearly pulled off a
major upset of Big Ten
champion Purdue
Wednesday night. The
Boilermakers pulled it
out,78-76, thanks to a tip-
in by forward Brandon
Brantley with one second
left.
PAGE 6
ARTS
&
Concerns addressed at Board liaison meetings
I
By JULIE KEMPAINEN
LIFE Staff Wnter	
Members of the CMU Board
of Trustees met with representatives from the Academic Senate
and the Student Government
Association Thursday night.
During the Faculty-Trustees
Liaison Committee meeting,
Acadmic Senate chairwoman
Susan Conner, chairwoman and
professor of history, proposed
four items to be addressed by the
board.
The future of public broadcasting was Conner's firBt
concern. The Senate Committee
for Public Broadcasting's report
on the future disposition of
public   broadcasting   was   the
basis of Conner's proposal.
Recommendations include
producing debate and issue
programs, promoting and using
faculty in productions, making
the PBS facility available as a
classroom and involving
students in production and
development.
"It has only been a liaison
relationship between faculty and
public broadcasting," Conner
said. "Therefore, as you consider
what could be made better, we
offer these suggestions that have
been on people's minds for a long
time and are not at all revolutionary."
Technology was the second
topic she brought up.
"We  encourage the  Board to
Water treatment plant
opening delayed until
mid-to-late December
By JEFF HAYWOOD
LIFE Staff Wnter	
The opening of Mount Pleasant's new $8.5 million water
treatment plant has been
delayed.
The plant had been scheduled
to be working by this week, but
glitches with the plant's
computer control system have
pushed back the start-up date.
Malcolm Fox, a plant super-
-irfirir anlil ll is atiii ■waaSiaiw
exactly* when the plant will open.
Fox said the plant will open
-possibly in the next few weeks,
but certainly by Christmas."
Besides the control problems,
Fox added that there were only a
few details like minor cleaning
and some painting left to
complete.
Carlton Phillips, Mount
Pleasant water superintendent,
said he had no idea how much
more the delay was costing, but
the project is still within the $8.5
million budget.
Phillips said the plant is
designed to meet the needs of a
growing city. The plant will
produce eight million gallons a
day, more than enough to
support Mount Pleasant, which
uses an average of 2.7 million
gallons a day.
"In 20 or 30 years, if the city
needs more water, it can add a
block of filter cells and a water
clarifier and be able to produce
12   million   gallons   a   day,"
Phillips said the new plant
will improve the clarity of the
water.
"If you pick up a glass of water
now, you will see a slight tint of
yellow from all the iron," Phillips
said. "The plant will remove the
iron and soften the water.
"With softer water, you can
use less soap when you're
bathing or washing and there
will be less water spots."
Phillips added that most
people would no longer need to
use a water softener.
Local organizer calls
Wednesday PFLAG
meeting a success
By REBECCA MESSER
LIFE Staff Wnter	
Members of Parents,
Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays met with
university officials Wednesday
to talk about recent anti-gay and
lesbian incidents at CMU.
Mount Pleasant PFLAG
organizer, Carol Messick, said
about 35 university officials,
faculty, students and PFLAG
members from around the state
attended the meeting in the
Terrace Room of the Bovee
University Center.
The meeting, intended to
gather information about
anti-gay and lesbian incidents on
campus aa well aa give information to CMU officials and
students on how to make CMU a
safer place for gays and lesbians,
waa a success, Messick said.
The meeting was positive and
informative," she said. "As
parents, we want CMU to be a
safe place for all students as well
aa faculty and for people to
accept differences."
Messick said she was
impressed with the PFLAG
members who attended.
"The turn out of PFLAG
members from around the state
of Michigan gave a lot of support
to the students at CMU," she
Gay and lesbian program
directors from other universities
gave suggestions during the
meeting to make CMU a more
positive place for homosexuals,
Ronie Sanlow, the director of
gay and lesbian programs at the
University of Michigan, said the
best way to be proactive against
gay and lesbian crimes is to
include sexual orientaion in the
CMU Board of Trustee's
Non-Discrimination and Affirmative Action policy.
Also offering advice
Wednesday was Jeff
Montgomery, director of the
Triangle Foundation — a
Detroit-based organization that
monitors crime and violence
against gays and lesbians,
Messick said.
Montgomery said CMU seems
to exhibit "very bad leadership"
when it comes to this issue.
He said leadership needs to set
the tone that violence and crimes
will not be tolerated against
anyone no matter what their
race, gender or sexual orientation.
Capt. Ron Williams, associate
director of Public Safety, assured
the group that his department
was taking the matter "very
seriously." *
DPS is continuing an investigation of the vandalism
incidents. The university is
offering a $1,000 reward for
information leading to the arrest
and conviction of the person, or
persons who committed the
crimes.
In the lower level of the UC,
the video "Straight From the
Heart" was shown and there was
a booth for students to obtain
information and ask questions,
said.
continue with its technology
initiative," Conner said. "Among
top priority, they must include
faculty access to computers."
Conner said if faculty
members couldn't obtain access
to computers on campus, they
would be of no help to the
students.
"If we continue to move toward
computer innovation in
technology, the priority is that
faculty have access first. They
must get priorities for funding in
order."
Reorganization is a concern
which will be addressed this
spring in an open forum, hosted
by the President's Task Force,
that will decide what kind of
reorganization is appropriate for
the university.
The last issue Conner
addressed was the university's
vision statement.
"We suggested the university
link the vision statement with
the Mission Statement and the
Academic Mission Statement,"
she said. "The Vision Statement
should not be written in a
vacuum. In essence, it should be
extracted from both documents
and is really the basis of what we
are and will be in the future."
Lisa Diaz, SGA president,
addressed several student
concerns during the Student-
Trustees Liaison Committee
meeting.
Main concerns addressed by
the^vi-A were the quality of food
in the Down Under Club, university reconstruction, technology
fees, campus safety and the
closing of Barnard and Tate
halls.
Diaz, East Lansing junior,
reported negative feedback from
students about the high prices
and low quality of food in the
newly remodeled Down Under
Club.
"The only concern and real
issue is the food cost," Diaz said.
"That is the issue, what are we
receiving for our money." The
SGA compared prices with fast
food chains in Mount Pleasant to
the prices of comparable items
found in the Down Under Club
See LIAISON Page 2	
TREE
SHAKING
Laura AHan of Waidman
liar family s farm, which ara foe t
Attorney drops lawsuit against CMU
By CHRIS C. DAVIS
LIFE Staff Writer
A lawsuit filed against CMU
by former PBS Director Bill
Grigaliunas' attorney relating to
an advertisement pertaining to a
university official was dropped
Wednesday from the Michigan
State Court of Claims.
The lawsuit was filed on
grounds that CM LIFE breached
a contract to publish an advertisement regarding Russ Herron,
vice president for University
Relations.
Grigaliunas was fired from his
position Sept. 29. Herron then
assumed Grigaliunas' position.
The advertisement was placed
by David Kerr, an attorney with
Kerr, Carol an and Associates,
205 S. Main St. The ad, which
appeared on page 14 of Wednesday's CM UFE, asked readers to
come forward if they had any
knowledge of Herron's reputa
tion for telling the truth.
The suit claimed a written
agreement was reached between
CM LIFE'S advertising department and Kerr Nov. 17, and that
a CM LIFE advertising
representative approved the ad
for publication Nov. 20.
Jim Wojcik, CMU's director of
Student Media, said he told Kerr
the ad would run assuming
CM LIFE'S attorney, Scott
Straddard, approved the ad and
a signed acknowledgement from
the party Kerr was representing
was sent.
After both conditions were
met, the ad was published.
"We reached an agreement
with (Straddard) on the
Wednesday preceding Thanksgiving," Kerr said. "We agreed
that if CM LIFE printed the ad
on Nov. 29, we would drop the
lawsuit."
Straddard was unavailable for
comment.
Kerr said a few respondents to
the ad have come forward, and
he hoped more would follow.
"I would assume anyone who
would like to respond would
think things over vary carefully
before deciding to do so," Kerr
said.
Wojcik said the lawsuit had
been "a smokescreen" from the
time it was filed.
"Mr. Kerr's lawsuit was
frivolous, premature and a waste
of everybody's time," Wojcik
said.
Wojcik said the decision to run
the ad was made because the two
conditions set forth in his Nov. 19
memo to Kerr were met, and not
because the lawsuit was filed.
Eileen Jennings, university
counsel, said she was happy the
lawsuit waa dropped,
"We didn't think the suit had
any merit*, but we are happy to
have this behind us," sh
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