1997-02-14; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
hi
Volume 79, Number 61
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
FRIDAY
February 14, 1997
16 pages
Refund
will be in
form of
a check
■  University  will  send
out $40 checks by April 1
By Angela Cook
LIFE Staff Writer	
Qualified students will find
an extra $40 in the mail by
April.
John Fisher, director of
Residences and Auxiliary
Services said all students currently living in the resident
halls, and having a current dining service contract as of March
1 are eligible for the $40 refund.
The refund is scheduled to be
sent by April 1 in the form of a
check, to students at their campus address, Fisher said.
The refund is a result of the
savings generated by the
American Federation of State,
County and Municipal
Employees, Local 1568 bidding
and takeover of the labor portion of Dining Services.
Fisher said the university is
projected to save about
$200,000 as a result of the wage
cut for the semester.
Originally, students were told
the refund might be approximately $130, but this was based
on the projected amount of savings ARAMARICs bid for the
labor portion of Dining Services
would have saved the university.
On Jan. 15, 1996 the university announced it would subcontract the labor portion of Dining
Services to ARAMARK.
Despite this announcement
and refund projection, both the
union and ARAMARK resubmitted bids after an arbitrator ruled
the university did not give the
union fair consideration.
Based on the second bids the
labor portion of Dining Services
was awarded to the AFSCME.
Despite the lower amount,
Fisher said he is happy to pass
the refund on to students.
"We're still relatively pleased
to save the students the money,"
he said.
In the future, "the savings is
going to be in the form of lower
room and board rates than ■what
■would have been," he said.
The refund is pending the
Board of Trustees approval,
Fisher said.
More than 1,000 attend International Expo
Approximately
400 university
students
visit event
By Katie J. Mahalic
LIFE Staff Writer	
More than 1000 people
attended the International
Expo and Study Abroad Fair
Wednesday as part of
International Week festivities.
Approximately 700 local area
elementary students, along
with 300 to 400 students from
the university community
browsed through the displays.
The expo featured 25 booths set
up in the Bovee University
Center Rotunda and Terrace
rooms.
Each country on display was
represented by a CMU student
from that country. Each booth
displayed some of the things
the students felt were significant or important in their country. Ethnic foods could be sampled and traditional wear could
be viewed-
Prisca Gamble, Mount
Pleasant graduate student, was
at the Expo representing the
Dominican Republic. Gamble, a
member of the International
Club, moved to the United
States six years ago and was
proud to be able to show off her
country.
Among the many posters,
Dominican crafts and dress
wear Gamble displayed, viewers were able to get a good idea
of what the Dominican culture
is like.
Gamble said it was good to be
able to expose the elementary
schools to the different cultures
but said, "It's hard to carry a
culture in a pocket."
She emphasized that the
booths only supply the viewers
with a taste of the extraordinary cultures.
Irene Salvador, Venezuela
graduate student and president
of the International Club,
worked at the Venezuela table.
The Venezuelan table was filled
with crafts, dolls and posters.
To bring all of the items to the
United States, she had to bring
them from her country little by
little, Salvador said. Every time
she makes a trip home to
Venezuela,  she brings  back  a
LIFE Photo/Carol Nelson
The expo featured 25 booths set up "n the Bovee University Center Rotunda and Terrace rooms. Each country on display was represented by a CMU student from that country.
little more to show in the next
expo,
CMU students that have participated in the Study Abroad
program were available to talk
at the booths. Some of the countries CMU students have traveled to are Mexico, Australia
and Ireland-
Matt Tichon, Midland senior,
studied in Mexico for one
semester. While in Mexico, he
studied Spanish and also took
classes in anthropology and
political science.
Tichon said he had never
taken a Spanish course at
CMU, but that did not stop him
from the opportunity to be able
to broaden his horizons and
enjoy the culture of another
country.
When Tichon was not studying, he traveled through the
country, sightseeing and meeting many interesting people.
"The experience makes you a
changed person. You become so
much more open to diversity,"
Tichon said.
Shannon O'Brien, Durand
senior,   was   able  to  travel  to
See CELEBRATION Paqe 2
Over 700 elementary students and 300 CMU students
filed past booths representing 25 different coun-
tries.where international students were on hand to
answer questions.
Lansing pollsters compare first loves, marriage
The Associated Press
They called it puppy love and maybe
they were right.
That could explain a poll's findings
that most Michigan residents married
someone other than their first love.
Lansing pollsters EPIC/MRA found
55 percent of Michigan residents did
not marry the first person they fell in
love with, but 28 percent did. Another
12 percent never married and 4 percent did not answer.
Pollster Ed Sarpolus said the poll,
released Thursday just in time for
Valentine's Day, found generational
differences.
For example, 43 percent of those in
the World War II generation married
their first love, while the same was
true of only 21 percent of baby boomers
— the generation that grew up listening to Donny Osmond croon, "Puppy
Love" and lamenting that their young
love was dismissed as immature.
Sarpolus said expanding opportunities for women influenced the change.
"Prior to the mid '50s, they were
encouraged to get married, not go on to
school or go on to college," he said.
The poll of 604 Michigan adults was
taken Jan. 15-20 and had a margin of
error of 4 percent either way.
Marrying your first love was most
The poll also found:
•Most people fell in love by the time they finished high school.
Fifteen percent reported falling in love for the first time between
ages 4 and 13; 17 percent at age 14 or 15; and 28 percent at age
16 or 17. One percent reported never having fallen in love.     ■*
•Among people who are 65 or over, 44 percent married their
first love, while 13 percent of those aged 36 to 40 did. K
popular among those who first fell in
love between the ages of 18 and 21, the
poll found. Of those who married their
first love, 46 percent fell in love for the
first time between the ages of 18 and
21, compared to just 1 percent who
said they first fell in love before turning 14.
I   N   S  I  D  E
J Classified 14-16
i Crossword 15
Phone: 774-3493 g
E-Mail: CMLIf_ec_uvm._v.cmich.edu  %
Fax number: (517)774-7805 &
Central Michigan LIFE Online
Internet address:
http_v_vwxmlifex_ich.edu
___«___ a_*__. :__».__>• .-*_.' ^
Station says strikers may offer to return
Public officials
debate FOIA
bill changes
By Emily Gerkin
LIFE Staff Writer
The Associated Press
A radio station reported Thursday
that newspaper unions on strike for 19
months appear to be preparing an offer
to return to work. A union spokeswoman told The Associated Press that
nothing is firm.
"We don't have any information
about anything for sure," said Nancy
Dunn, a spokeswoman for the
Metropolitan Council of Newspaper
Unions.
"There's been a lot of talk about it
and it's intensified over the last few
days. It wouldn't surprise me at all if
there is a new strategy in the strike
including a back-to-work offer."
Union sources told WDET radio in
Detroit that within the next several
days the unions would make an offer to
return to work, the station reported
Thursday.
The station said one of the six striking locals, Newspaper Guild Local 22,
met Wednesday night with a union
lawyer present and reviewed information about what such an offer could
mean.
Six locals representing about 2,500
workers walked out July 13, 1995,
against The Detroit News, the Detroit
Free Press and Detroit Newspapers
Inc., the papers' business and production agency. The newspapers have continued to publish.
Dunn said a back-to-work offer has
been an option for some time. She said
she  expected   that if an  offer  were
made, the unions also would seek a
federal injunction that would force the
newspapers to give strikers their old
jobs back.
Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the
International Brotherhood of
Teamsters in Washington, said "there
are only rumors on the street" at this
point.
"There's nothing tonight. Tomorrow's
a new day," he said. "All you're hearing
is reports of rumors, not news, not
facts."
But Daymon Hartley, a member of a
union faction that favors more visible
action, said he has heard that an
unconditional back-to-work offer
would be announced Friday by the
international Teamsters organization.
Public officials from around the state are
debating about changes made to Michigan's
Freedom of Information Act.
The sponsor of the amended bill said the
governor's office betrayed the legislature's
trust in making some last-second changes.
The bill was altered during a 23-hour
marathon legislative session Dec. 12 and was
signed by Gov. John Engler in mid-January.   .
Engler said in a written statement that the
bill would improve the process for obtaining
public documents by streamlining how FOI
requests are dealt with.
Rep. Greg Kaza, R-Rochester Hills, who
sponsored the bill, said the way the new bill
reads narrows the definition of what govern-r
ment information the public is entitled to.
"They misrepresented to us what was in the
bill when it came back for concurrence. This
institution is based on trust and in this
instance, trust has been betrayed," Kaza told
The Oakland Press in January, shortly after
the bill was signed.
The three biggest changes made in the bill
surround presidential searches for institutions of higher education, costs for obtaining
material and definitions of what is accessible
under the FOIA.
The seven-page bill prohibits FOI requests
_3*
See FOI Page 2
mm