1998-05-04; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan .Li lr1 h,
Volume 79, Number 9Q%7
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
Monday
May 4, 1998
16 pages
Plachta gets 4 percent raise
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
Despite protests from many in the CMU
community, the Board of Trustees awarded
University President Leonard Plachta a 4
percent raise Friday.
The raise, which will bump Plachta's
salary up from $175tOOO to $182,000 per
year, was approved unanimously by the
board along with a vote of confidence "for his
efforts in implementing the vision of the university, ' . . . to be the preeminent university
in the MAC.m
The   board   evaluated   Plachta's   perfor
mance during a closed session early Friday
morning during what Trustee Roger Kesseler
described as an "engaging discussion."
Kesseler said he asked the other trustees
to give Plachta a numerical rating based on
the following criteria: personal development,
organizational management, resource allocation and utilization, external relations and
development and overall performance.
After a discussion of the president's
strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments, Plachta was excused from the meeting and the board reviewed a survey of other
university   presidents'  salaries   at   the   14
Michigan universities.
The raise was given, not only on the basis
of the review, but was also to remain competitive with other university presidents*
salaries in the Mid-American Conference,
Kesseler explained.
"(The raise) would bring him to the average of the MAC universities and slightly
above the average for the 14 Michigan universities, but that's based on data that will
logically move upward," Kesseler said.
Based on the performance of the president
See RAISE Page 8	
The President's       alary
Leonard Plachta's salary Increases over the past
n4i,oco i     fouryeare:
lm-w -        $i6Q,ooo~i
1997-9*-
$175,000  j
O ■^Pwfcj^^^^^P  J
fK-Sd?;
How Plachta compares to other presidential
salaries In the MAC (13 schools surveyed)
High - $206,000
Low - $134,500
Median - $184,400
A/erage - $181,908   .
••OimcE   ROOKM KEHSLER-REPORT TO THE BOARD
KRESTY LEVASSrUR • LUTl GRAPHIC
PBS now
supported
by all
trustees
■ Board members
unanimously pass
pro-PBS resolution
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
Contrary to the widespread
belief that CMU's Board of
Trustees was looking to get rid of
Public Broadcasting — the group
unanimously approved a resolution to "reaffirm" its commitment
to keeping the stations.
That is, PBS will be okay until
at least 1999
This decision came less than
24 hours after more than 350
students, staff and faculty members rallied in support of keeping
Public Broadcasting.
At the start of Friday's open
session, board Chair David
Brandon proposed a four-part
resolution he drafted in support
of PBS.
"The thought behind my draft
of the resolution was the fact
that it was my perspective that
there was a tremendous amount
of misinformation out on campus
in a variety of ways, that I think
misstated at least my personal
views on what should and
shouldn't be happening to Public
Broadcasting," he said.
Vice President for University
Relations Russ Herron, who has
said he was fired as the result of
his public support of PBS, was
surprised by Brandon's change of
perspective.
According to Herron, Brandon
once criticized him for supporting PBS and questioned what
"team" Herron was on.
"Given his vote Friday, you've
got to wonder what team he's
on," Herron said.
While Brandon's proposal
came unexpected to many, he
said he drafted it to clear up a
series of misconceptions.
"I think embodied in this resolution is the ability to clear up an
See SUPPORT Page 2
See ya letter animator
ErikS.  Scherb-CM LIFE
CMU's alligators were taken to their summer home on Beaver Island Friday afternoon. One alligator has been kept at CMU for
seven years and is five feet long, another has been at CMU for five years and is three and a half feet long.
Beaver Island summer haven for CMU 'gators
By Kevin Hackney
LIFE Staff Writer
Two of CMU's best kept secrets were
revealed on Friday as two
American alligators were transported from campus to their summer home
on Beaver Island.
The nameless alligators had been residing in Brooks Hall for the duration of the
academic year and will spend the summer
at CMU's Biological Station before returning to campus in late August.
So how did CMU end up with two alligators?
"We inherit them," said James
Gillingham, professor of biology and direc
tor of CMU's Biological Station on Beaver
Island, approximately 70 miles from
Charlesvoix.
"Students or folks in the area will pick up
an alligator illegally over spring break and
bring it home as a pet. They find out the
'gators aren't easy to care for or get too big,
and drop them off at the department. . . We
don't go out looking for alligators."
One of the alligators has been under
department supervision for five years, and
measures three and a half feet. The other
is five feet long, and has been with CMU for
seven years.
As not to compromise the safety of the
alligators    or    the    public    in    general,
Gillingham does not reveal the exact location of the alligators, revealing only that
they reside "somewhere" in Brooks.
"They live in nice facilities, they're well
cared for, and they eat well," he said.
"We hold all the necessary permits
required to keep the alligators . . . and
they're fairly tame. If they would bite it
would be because they saw someone's hand
or finger and thought it was food."
Gillingham said the alligators are not
used for research or testing, but are an educational tool used primarily by professors
See GATOR Page 9
Budget restructuring plan will be presented to A-senate
By Doug Fisher
LIFE News Editor
After two years of work, Provost
Richard Davenport said he's ready to present the budget restructuring plan to the
Academic Senate Tuesday.
Budget restructuring, scheduled to
begin July 1, is a plan to redistribute
funding by giving deans and department
chairs of the several colleges more power,
Davenport told the Board of Trustees at
its meeting Friday morning.
"We're interested in having greater
budget authority at lower levels of the
university," Davenport said.
Even though the program will begin in
a few months, 1998-99 will be used as a
training year for the 1999-2000 school
year, when the program will be fully
implemented.
Davenport said the first year of the program will be resource neutral. "No
department will be negatively impacted,"
he said, because departments will work
from a similar budget they used this year.
Davenport said a lot of training will
take place in the first year so deans and
department heads will have a chance to
evaluate the plan.
He said goals of the program are to:
•Have better informed managers to see
how costs effect each academic program
and individual classes.
"We want them to know some programs
are extra expensive to offer," Davenport
said.
•Reallocate resources among the several departments.
•Realize better entrepreneurial behavior and look for new revenue sources.
•Reward good management by using
carry-over funds. Rather than force a
department to spend all its leftover funds
at the end of the year, these funds can
carry over to the next year and be used
for "big items."
SeeBUPGET Page 16
$920,000 allocated for Warriner Hall renovation project
By Doug Fisher
LIFE News Editor and
Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
Warriner Hall is getting a
much-needed upgrade soon and
students will be spending a little
more on room and board next
year.
These were just two of the
many items passed by the. Board
of Trustees at its Friday meeting.
The board passed a $920,000
plan to refurbish Warriner
Auditorium and the lobby areas
on the second and third floors of
the hall.
"It's horrible. If you want to feel
bad, go visit the auditorium,"
Trustee Roger Kesseler said.
The project will be funded by
1998-99 Capital Budget and/or
external sources, including the
possible sale of seats in the audi
torium.
About $120,000 of the allocation will go towards the second
and third floor lobby areas and
the remaining $800,000 will pay
for the auditorium's renovation.
Provost Richard Davenport
said the auditorium, which holds
close to 1,300 people, may end up
with about 200 fewer seats, but
more foot-room for added comfort.
University President Leonard
Plachta said the auditorium is
"pretty worn out" and it could be
refurbished for a "relative bargain."
"We could dress it up, as well as
make it more comfortable for
(tall) people like you and me who
are not comfortable currently,"
Plachta said.
The expansion of the auditorium   would   also   include   better
lighting, new paint, carpet, curtains, and roof, as well as "an
expanded stage.
Plachta said the stage is old
and doesn't fit the current
demands.
Board Chair David Brandon
said to do it right, which includes
tearing down a wall and adding
better dressing rooms, the price
SeeRENOVATE Page 2	
Students
voice
opinions
to board
By Angela Cook-Reid
LIFE Assistant News Editor
Frustrated students and faculty voiced their opinions about
recent CMU administrative decisions at Friday's Board of
Trustees meeting.
For the first time in recent
years, the room was filled to
capacity with people who wanted
to address the board during its
public comment session.
•James Jones, professor of foreign languages, literatures and
cultures and chairman of
Academic Senate, commented on
the issue of budget restructuring.
Before he spoke, he said he
wanted to make it clear he was
commenting on the issue and not
on any one person. Also, he
wanted to make sure the faculty's opinions were clear now
because they will not be able to
address the board again until
September.
He said at the morning meeting when budget restructuring
was presented, several of the
board members listened to the
report with enthusiasm.
"I want to remind you of some
of the issues the provost didn't
mention and to urge to proceed
along this path with great caution," he said. "First, very few —
if any — of the universities
with the size of CMlTs funding
have chosen to use such a budget
system. You will note the names
that (Provost Richard
Davenport) used this morning
are all those of major research
institutions, not smaller comprehensive universities."
Jones also said the university
underwent a major academic
restructuring only a year ago. He
explained that none of the faculty was consulted on the academic restructuring decision until
after it was made.
"What may be appropriate in
See COMMENTS Page 7
CMU's baseball team said farewell
to Coach Kreiner this weekend with
four victories over N. Illinois.
Classified 9
Crossword 9
Et cetera 8
Sports 6-7
Voices 4-5
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