1992-12-04; Central Michigan Life

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Friday, December 4;H992 j
Weather
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20s
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Cloudy, 80% chance
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Arts & Entertainment
Ballet for the holidays
The Nutcracker plays to a full house in Warriner
Page 8
Sports
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Grapplers hit the road
CMU wrestling team travels to Penn State duals
Page 10
Central
Michigan
VOLUME 75. NUMBER 39
© 1992 CM LIFE
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
(517) 774-3493
16 PAGES
CMU submits state funds request
By Eric Baerren
! IhE  Copy F-ditor
University officials are hoping to grab more bucks from the state
coffers for fiscal year 1992-93.
CMU submitted its Program Revision Request last week to the
Department of Management and Budget in Lansing.
The PRR includes additional funds requested on top of the current
funding CMU receives from the state.
The total budget CMU has proposed to the state is $63.1 million, a
jump of (-5.7 percent, said Greg Morris, legislative counsel for Governmental Relations.
For fiscal year 1992-93. CMU received $o9.2 million.
Additional funds requested will help fund several areas, including
the following:
■ $1.3 million to put towards financial aid programs;
■ $600,000   for  library  acquisitions  to  help  keep  up  to  date  on
periodicals and journals;
■ $700,000 for professor research and:
$618,000 for opening and one year of maintenance costs of the
Dow Science Complex and Brooks Hall.
CMU also requested an additional $000,000, he said.
The additional funds are hoped to bring CMU up to levels equivalent with other universities and give CMU some flexibility in its
budget, he said.
"Higher education is not static," he said. "It's a changing enterprise.
"We have to add new programs and remove others."
The next step in the budget process is approval of the requests by
thi' Board of Trustees, he said.
The PRR was submitted before Board approval because it was
submitted before the next Board of Trustees meeting, hi' said. There
was no November Board of Trustees meeting.
The request was filed with a note stating it was pending Board
approval.
However. Morris said he doesn't expect any problems from the
Board.
Budget cuts might
target more areas
By Jeffrey J. Rush
I Iht-  St.tff Wnter
The reports are ali"*in hut one,
and President Leonard E.
Plachta has determined the University must identify other areas
for possible budget cuts.
Kim Rllertson, vice president
for Business and Finance, said
reports from five of six administrative teams charged by
Plachta to investigate alternate
methods of operation for six non-
academic areas were submitted
to him within the last six weeks.
The   reports  were   intended  to
MMCC
denied
space on
campus
By Tracy Tomczak
M i d -M ich iga n Community
College's desire to offer classes on
CMU's campus won't iikelv
become reality.
Richard Davenport, vice provost for Academic Affairs, said
CMU denied MMCC's request.
"To my knowledge we have not
rented or leased anv space," he
said.
MMCC makes such a request
at least once a year, he said.
The most recent request for
space on CMU's campus came
about three or four weeks ago,
while Davenport said he was
away on medical leave.
University officials denied the
request because there is no space
available, he said.
"F.vcn if there was space available. 1 think such a request would
be scrutinized carefully," Davenport said.
He said if CMU allowed MMCC
to move classes onto CMU's campus, the two schools might end up
competing with each other.
When questions regarding the
possible deal between the two
schools were posed to President
Leonard F. Plachta at Mondays
Academic Senate meeting, he
said he was unaware of the
request.
"1 have a strong desire to have
CMLT cooperate with community
colleges throughout Michigan."
Plachta said. "But I am not eager
to supply space to a competitor."
Jim Scott, Academic Senate
chair and associate professor of
office and information systems,
said he knows little about the
request.
Scott   said   he  thought  MMCC
See MMCC Page 2
LIFE Photos/Ken Willow
(Above) Participants in the vigil for the homeless tried to stay warm inside their
tent near the Park Library Pond Wednesday night. (Right) Amy Platz, Clinton
Township sophomore (left), and Brent Heilig, Clarkston freshman (right) warm
up by a trashcan fire at the vigil. (Below) Brad Astutz, Whitehall freshman, read
poetry by Mark Frost formerly of Alma — now homeless — as Carrie Scott,
Mount Pleasant resident looks on. See story on page 14.
Some veterans find it tough adjusting to college life
By Fred Kelly
.T.iH Wr^er
On applications Merri Matti-
son checks two boxes indicating
she's a minority.
Female and veteran.
This specific reason is why
Mattison, Cadillac graduate student, said she created the Student Veterans Service Organization last year. The organization
will become a professional fraternity named Chi Gamma Iota in
January.
"Associating with students like
myself makes it (adjusting to col
lege) easier," said Mattison, 2H,
who served as a medic in the
Army from 1986-19*9. "I wanted
to meet students like myself.
"I view us like a minority, just
like blacks and others."
She said group members try to
help student veterans adjust to
the college lifestyle arid students'
at t it udes.
"1 didn't tell people my first
year < I was a veteran )," said Mat-
tison, group coordinator. "People
watch too many Rambo movies.
I've had people say you can kill a
person with your bare hands.
"1 was a medic. I save people
with my hands."
For about 200 veteran students
attending CMU, the toughest
adjustment might involve leaving the disciplined environment
of" the military for the relaxed
atmosphere of college.
"You come out of a structured
environment, where you get up at
a specific time; work at a certain
time," said Ken Wehner,
41-year-old Mount Pleasant
sophomore.
Wehner said he participated in
the Persian Gulf" War, completed
12 years in the Army, and finished eight years in the Marine
Corps in Feburary, before coming
to CMU to major in teaching.
"Here it's different. If you don't
want to get up, you don't."
Filling in free time also provides difficulties for Wehner.
"For me, it's difficult." Wehner
said. "In the military, you go to
the field for seven or eight
months at a time. You are there
for 24 hours.
"At school, you go to class for
three to four hours, then you go
home and study or watch televi
sion.   It's   not   boring, just   different.'*
We liner's wife, 33-year-old
Mount Pleasant freshman,
Debbie Wehner, also finds it even
harder adjusting time.
She said she lived on or near
military bases for the last 20
years, including a stint in the
Navy from  1977 to 19S2.
"I enjoyed moving around,
traveling and meeting people,"
said Debbie Wehner, a business
administration major. "It can get
boring here. It's quiet."
See VETS Page 2
help the University meet the
Phase II goad of permanently eliminating $3 million from CMU's
budget, Palertson said. Phase II
cuts were announced in February, with the first part completed
with the elimination of 17 faculty
positions, a budget reduction of
$1.4 million.
But the Executive Committee,
comprised of Plachta and several
vice presidents, has examined
team recommendations to determine   feasibility   and   concluded
See REPORTS Page 2
'Gateway'
sculpture
in final
By Erik Nehring
I  IFF  Staff Writer
A mound of dirt lies waiting
for the serpent to arrive.
The construction site at the
corner of Franklin and Preston
streets currently sits dormant,
readied for the arrival of the centennial sculpture.
The sculpture, entitled "Gateway," in its final stages of production, could be ready for transport
to the site hy the middle of" the
month.
There have been some delays
in the project, said Marykaye
Murphy, administrative assistant for the Board of Trustees.
"I hoped the sculpture would
have been here six weeks ago,"
she said. "Hopefully, we'll see it
on campus by the middle of the
month."
The sculpture is currently in
the production process, which
has many complicated stages.
Charles McGee, the artist for
the sculpture plans to supervise
the coordination of the construction and fabrication to make sure
everything conforms to the work
he has created.
Currently, the sculpture has
moved from K & M Machine
Fabricating, where the construction and fabrication took place.
It now rests in the hands of
Advanced Coatings, a Grand
Rapids based company.
"The sculpture is in a warehouse in Holland," said Tim
Walenga, an Advanced Coatings
See SERPENT Page 2
Smell of 'bad
electricity'
causes alarm
in Grawn
The Mount Pleasant Fire
Department responded to a
Department of" Public Safety fire
alarm Tuesday evening in Grawn
Hall, but apparently there was no
fire.
The alarm was in response to
what Sgt. Duane Hazelton of the
Mount Pleasant Fire Department called the smell of bad
electricity.
Earl Morrow, director of facilities operations for Facilities
Management, said the odor
stemmed from the failure of an
exhaust fan.
Repairs are scheduled for
today. Morrow said.
SERVING THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR MORE THAN 70 YEARS
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