1992-04-10; Central Michigan Life

              SERVING THE
CAMPUS COMMUNITY
FOR MORE THAN
SEVENTY YEARS
Central
Michigan
LIFE
FRIDAY
April 10, 1992
VOLUME 74, NUMBER 78
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
c   1992 CM LIFE
(517) 774-3493
12 PAGES  !
Officials say party over
County seeks new injunction against infamous bash
By Crystal Harmon
I IhF  Puiff Writer
After five years without the
infamous out-of-contro! exam
week parties, Isabella County
Circuit Judge Paul F. O'Connell
will decide whether an injunction to prevent the End of the
World is in order.
Isabella County Prosecutor
Larry Burdick will present the
State of Michigan's case for a
new injunction to Isabella
County Circuit Court Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
As of Wednesday afternoon,
no one had filed to appear at the
hearing to defend the End of the
World.
"A couple of people have made
inquiries, but no one has filed to
appeal-." he said.
Burdick filed a complaint
March 20, seeking to initiate an
injunction similar to the one
that expired last May.
This year's injunction encompasses a larger area than the old
one. The affected area is bordered by High to the north. Bellows on the south. Pleasant to
the west and Franklin to the
east.
Fifteen residents of the area
proposed for injunction were
served a copy of the complaint,
and the order also was run in
local news media and posted at
the County Building.
If granted, the injunction
would warn the public that violations of certain crimes will be
punishable by additional sanctions while it is in effect. Also,
anyone planning to participate-
in such a party could be held in
contempt of court.
From 198;"> to 1 991. t he End of
the World parties were effectively ended by a series of temporary restraining orders and a
four-year permanent injunction
issued in 1987. The parties
before that time took place on
the Thursday of exam week and
were similar to Western
See INJUNCTION Page 7
Substance-free living total
low in CMU residence halls
By Crystal Harmon
I !K-  Stiff Writer
Many Michigan college students are searching for roommates who don't smoke, drink or
use drugs — but the tides of
change have not yet reached
Mount Pleasant.
Substance-free options are
available on several of" the campuses of Michigan's 15 public
four-year colleges, including:
B The University of Michigan,
where 1,500 residence hall
spaces of its 10.000 were
reserved this year for students
who pledged not to smoke, drink
or use illegal drugs in the rooms.
That     fell     700    short    of   the
demand.
B Michigan State University,
where 1.600 of the 15.500 campus residents are in alcohol-free
sett ings.
B Western Michigan University, with 150 students in a nonsmoking, alcohol-free area.
Many others among the 6,000
hail dwellers request non-
drinking roommates, but the
university had no estimate of
the number.
B Northern Michigan University, where 20 of the 1.350 students living in residence hails
are in substance-free rooms and
abstain off-campus as well.
H CMU.    where    12    students
Shell
LIFE Photo/Bonnie Morrison
Mike Gleason, Reed City sophomore (front) helps carry 'Ima's'
casket down Main Street during her funeral procession Thursday
evening.
Theta Chis, fellow Greeks
mourn a tire-tracked turtle
By Christopher Richardson
! if-f-  -=.t .ff VV'" —
It's one of those things that makes you reflect on life.
The hearty battle cry of' "Cowabunga dude!" was silenced by an
ICTC tire late April  1.
IMA. "the best turtle mascot Theta Chi ever had," was put out of
her misery after a slow and painful death, said Todd Palmer, Theta
Chi social  fraternity member.
"We aren't sure if she had mono or if she was just really bored, but
she seemed to be suffering for a while." the Bloomfield Hills senior
said.
So to honor IMA, a 23 pound. 16-year-old turtle of Irish descent,
Theta Chi held a procession down Main Street, a funeral and an Irish
wake Thursday.
"We had to show respect for- IMA. it's onlv appropriate." Palmer
said.
"Turtle Power" took on a whole new meaning as about 35 member*
of Theta Chi escorted IMA's homemade red casket down Main Street,
past about 50 members of various Greek organizations and Mount
Pleasant residents who came out to pay their- respects to IMA.
Theta ("'hi notified all social Creek organizations in advance of the
See IMA Page 2
LIFE Photo/Bonnie Morrison
Members of Theta Chi fraternity pause for a moment of prayer before the burial of their long-time pet
turtle 'Ima' behind their house on 803 Pleasant St. Thursday evening.
Tragic twist precedes campus talk
By Brian D. Bell
I lr-fr  A«;s'^!,int News f-ditor
Although Bob Egan reached
out to enlighten about 200 people
at a homophobia presentation
Wednesday, the- circumstance
that brought him to CMU is a
tragic one.
Egan is the new president of
the Michigan Organization for
Human Rights, an advocacy
group for gays and lesbians.
Jim Dressel. immediate-past
president of MOHR and forme r
three-term state legislator, was
the originally scheduled speaker
for the school year's third and
final installment of the Provost's
Seminar Series 2000, which
focused on issues of oppression.
Severe illness forced Dressel to
find a substitute speaker for the
FRANKE
program, and
a little more
than a week
ago. he died of
complications related
to AIDS.
"He was a
tireless crusader for gay
rights," Provost Robert
Franke    said.
"I was with Jim when he died,
when he took his last, breath. I
stood across the bed with his sisters and mother on one side, and I
and another person from the
MOHR office on the other side of
the bed," Egan said. "In that
moment    of   Jim's    last    breath.
th
ere   were  seven   people
th<
"So tonight I think it's fitting that
I draw attention to Jim Dressel in
his death, and in a sense commemorate him by dedicating this
event tonight to his memory.
"He will be sadly missed."
Egan, former MOHR vice
president, was a close friend to
Dressel.
room who lost someone very dear
and significant in their lives."
Dressel spent the last 16
months of his life working to
bring MOHR back into a financially viable organization, he
said.
"His family didn't find out
about that until the day he died."
Egan said. "They were on the
other side seeing a son who was a
legislator, who was a significant
person in the community as a
whole and it was hard for them to
deal   with   the  fact   that   he  had
died of AIDS."
Having feelings of homophobia
is OK, he said, because such feelings are present in everyone.
It's how one acts on these feelings that is important, he said.
But to talk about homophobia,
it's necessary to establish a
definition of the term. Egan said.
The simplest definition is that
it's a fear of people who are spiritually and physically attracted
to people of the same sex, he said.
"I have a confession to make to
everyone here," he said. "I'm a
gay man. 1 have been that way
since I was five years old.
been out almost 10 years . . .
I stand before you at the
young age of" 37, and I'm
homophobic.
See SERIES Page 2
I've
and
ripe
still
INDEX
News  3
State. Nation, World  3
Opinion  4
Police Log  6
Sports  8
Arts. Entertainment  10
Comics  11-12
Classified Ads  11-12
Crossword  12
WEATHER
Cloudy Friday. A 70 percent
chance of light rain during the
afternoon. High 45 to 50. Periods  of min   Friday  night.
among the 6,000 on campus
requested an alcohol-free living
environment.
Vice President for Student
Affairs James L. Hill said Central administrators are looking
into further        promoting
substance-free housing at
CMU.
"But we don't necessarily like
to make a differentiation
between substance-free rooms
and other rooms becau.e all
illegal drugs are outlawed in the
dorms," he said. "So is alcohol to
those under 21."
Rebecca    Watters,    Sterling
See LIVING Page 2
Hundreds
join hands
in fight to
beat drugs
By Karen Joseph
and Jason Kinkle
LIFE Staff Writers	
CMU students        joined
together to show their opposition
against drugs during a rally in
front of Warriner Hall Wednesday.
The fourth-annual Hands
United Against Drugs rally,
sponsored by Residence Hall
Assembly and Alpha Sigma
Alpha social sorority, featured
guest speakers interim President
Leonard E. Plachta and Sally
Hiner, member of the Partnership for Circle of Health.
Plachta's speech addressed
the growing epidemic of drug
abuse and society's need to end it.
He said he was pleased at the
number- ol' participants.
"This is evidence in the fact
that people are getting more concerned. We, as a society, need to
take it very seriously," Plachta
said.
Between 300 and 400 students
joined hands and sang songs
during the rally. The circle
stretched from just in front of
Warriner Hall to Bellows.
One of the biggest factors leading to the success of the rally was
the unseasonably warm weather,
with temperatures reaching
upward toward 60.
"The weather was great," said
co-coordinator Brenda Rost,
Calumet junior and RHA representative. "It was definitely in
our favor."
In an interview after the event,
Plachta said laws concerning
drugs are part of the problem and
need to be more consistent.
In some parts of the country,
the laws are too lax and in some
places too harsh, he said.
"In part," he said, "we need to
change the laws as part of the
solution."
In addition, he said the difference between alcohol and drug
abuse is that "(drugs) aren't
socially accepted," while alcohol
is.
The key "is to make (alcohol)
less acceptable," he said.
Greeks constituted the vast
majority number of participants,
as they spent a good amount of"
the time involved in spirited
noise making.
About 75 percent of those
assembled were Greek, said co-
coordinator Alpha Sigma Alpha
member Leigh Ann Panczak,
New Baltimore senior.
The Greeks were encouraged to
attend by sorority or fraternity
leaders as a part of the Greek
Week events, Rost said.
Each Greek organization that
attended received points for the
See HUAD Page 7