1997-09-19; Central Michigan Life

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entral Michigan 1_1 J_ Ji.
Volume 80, Number 12
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
FRIDAY
September 19, 1997
12 pages
Computer problem delays 1,200 refund checks
By Jeff Haywood
LIFE Assistant News Editor
About 1,200 financial aid refund
checks planned to be distributed
Thursday were unavailable to students
due to a computer problem.
Bonnie Samsel, assistant coordinator
for Receivable Accounting, said CMU is
trying to help approximately 100 students who went to the Student Service
Court in Bovee University Center but
walked away empty handed.
"What we are doing is for anyone who
came in (Thursday) looking for a check
can still pick it up„tomorrow," she said.
While the checks for those 100 students will be available Friday in the
Student Service Court, any students
who didn't ask for their check Thursday
will   have  to  wait  a   few   more   days.
Samsel said all the other checks will be
mailed out Friday and should arrive to
students Saturday or Monday.
"Because not a large number of students pick up their checks and most of
the time we mail a majority of them, we
are going to mail them out Friday,"
Samsel said.
"We have to stuff the checks into
envelopes and have them ready to cen
tral mail by 11 a.m.," she said. "There is
no sense in holding them here for the
weekend."
The delay was caused by a problem
with a series of nightly computer jobs
which update information for departments across campus.
Samsel said the refund checks were
scheduled to be processed Wednesday
night along with several other computer
jobs on campus.
But a problem with some of
Wednesday night's jobs forced
Computer Services to restore some past
data which bogged down the process. As
a result, Samsel said the decision was
made to complete the jobs which are
needed to carry out day-to-day operations across campus and the processing
of refund checks was delayed.
Donations
to CMU
exceeds
$4 million
By Bridget Perkins
LiFE Staff Writer
During the 1996-97 fiscal year,
CMU received $4.46 million in
donations — the largest amount
ever raised in any one year.
University Advancement,
Public Broadcasting and
Athletics collected 40 percent
more in donations during the
last fiscal year.
Annie Stafford, associate vice
president for        University
Advancement, said most of the
donation increases to her office
were from alumni.
"We're very lucky. Sometimes
people believe it is important to
give back. They got a good education at CMU and part of their
success was because of their
education," she said.
Donations made to University
Advancement totaled $2.29 million.
Stafford said she is very
pleased with the 44 percent
increase in donations to
University Advancement.
The phonathon, where students talk directly to alumni in
attempts to reconnect them with
the university, was one of the
strategies Stafford said she
believes helped increase donations this year.
Donated money is generally
used to fund scholarships, program support, speakers and
internship programs.
Stafford said she hopes for
another increase for next year,
and while she has many goals,
she said she is still being realistic about it.
She said she would like to see
a 10 percent increase in
University Advancement's fund
raising next year.
"We hope to raise $2.5 million
just for our part next year," she
said.
"I am very pleased. We've seen
a lot of changes in the office the
last two years," she said. "This
was a better year than I expected — sooner than I expected."
Some donated money solicited
See DONATIONS Page 2	
TEACHING GROUNDS
BRYAN BOSCH • CM LIFE
Brett Cohen instructs his HST 324 African Americans to 1915 class in the courtyard on the south side of Anspach Hall Thursday. Cohen said he noticed other
classes heading outdoors and asked his students if they wanted to have class outside. "I never had such an overwhelming response, YES!," he said.
Search for vision complete
University finishes statement search for less than $10,000
By Jeremy Russ
LIFE Staff Writer
CMU's Board of Trustees two-year
search for the perfect vision statement
has been completed at a minimal cost to
the university, officials say
Trustee Roger Kesseler said the search,
which has been looking at perfecting a
vision statement, has cost the university
less than $10,000.
Kesseler said the board has been working on the vision statement with the help
of Richard Dolinski, president of Dolinski
Associates,   Inc.   of Midland,   who   has
donated his time to the board.
Dolinski, who is on the school board in
Midland and a member of the Board of
Trustees at Delta College, said it is his
form of community service.
Dolinski agreed that he has been work-
ing on the vision statement with the
Board of Trustees for about two years, but
he added it has not been continuous.
He said it is common for an organization, such as a university or corporation,
to take anywhere from 2 weeks to 5 years
to come up with a good vision statement.
It is very important for an organization
to have a vision statement, he said, but it
is not really the vision statement that is
important — it's the concept behind the
vision statement.
Dolinski paid a vision statement is sort
of a compass bearing for an organization.
Dolinski said he suggested the board
look at where it wanted to be in five years
and use that as a basis for a vision statement.
The board did so and had University
President Leonard Plachta take a rough
draft to different members of the campus
community for their input.
According to Dolinski, it is very important that the board get the input of the
campus community on what they think
would make a good vision statement.
"It isn't going to be something where
you can go alone into the mountains and
come down with a tablet saying, 'I have a
vision,'" Dolinski said.
The original vision statement stated,
"Central Michigan University: First
choice for learning, value and success."
The results of the information gathered
See VISION
Pag
e 2
Fair provides info for students
wanting to study outside U.S.
IN SI D  E
By Kevin Peabody
LIFE Staff Writer
Studying abroad has become a popular idea for
students at CMU, as hundreds of students were in
attendance at Wednesday night's Study Abroad
Fair.
According to Dianne DeSalvo, Study Abroad
coordinator, this was a great turnout and more
than she had expected.
DeSalvo said the question most commonly asked
of her was, "Where can I study a certain subject?"
She said that people wanted to know where good -
places are to study a particular field.
A large number of countries were represented at
the fair, including Australia, Russia, Greece,
Mexico and Austria.
Booths throughout the Bovee University Center
Rotunda Room had CMU students that have studied abroad, coordinators of the study program for
that country and students who have come from
another country to talk to students about it.
Two of the many foreign representatives at the
fair ■were John Ryan from Ireland and Marcela
Schmidt from Chile.
Ryan and his friends at the Ireland table said the
Irish are great people who are really interested in
Americans.
Ryan said he now notices how much bigger
America is than what he is usually exposed to in
Ireland.
One difference between CMU and his homeland
university was that at his Irish university the
buildings are all together so someone could go from
class to class "without actually going outside, he
said.
FURTHER INFO
For more information on
studying abroad, contact
Dianne DeSalvo at 774-
4308.
Schmidt, who rep-
resented
Universidad Austral
de Chile in Valdivia,
Chile,   said,   "It's   a
beautiful    place    to
travel and study."
Schmidt said this
is because Chile has so much to see, but is also
small enough that a visitor would be able to see
quite a bit of it.
She said other than the culture, studying in
Chile is a lot like studying in America, because
they offer almost the same courses, such as business, medicine and anthropology.
Schmidt said there is a "tuition exchange" pro-
See STUDY Page 2  -
Eviction, suspension
of Smith discussed
The CMU football team
heads to Louisiana to face
Louisiana Tech.   See pg 6
Classified
Crossword
Et cetera
Sports
Voices
11
11
8-9
6-7
4-5
To reach CMUFE
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E-Mail: CMLIFE6anuvai.av.anich.edu
Fax number(517)774-7805
Central Michigan UFE Online
Internet address: http_ ____ilife^mich.edu
By Angela S. Vandenberg
LIFE Staff Writer
Even though Damiekco Smith,
a former CMU student, has been
punished through the penal system, he feels he is enduring a
much stiffer penalty from CMU
— eviction from campus housing
and a one year suspension from
school.
Damiekco is on probation for
pleading no contest to domestic
violence and guilty to possession
of marijuana, both of which he
has paid fines for. Damiekco said
he is relieved the whole situation
is basically over with, but his
recent experiences with CMU
regarding the incident left him
very displeased.
"It just leaves a bad taste in
my mouth because the school
turned its back on me when I
needed it," he said.
Damiekco is referring to being
evicted by CMU. from
Washington Apartments after a
wrestling match with his brother, Tamiekco, got out of hand and
Tamiekco was injured. However,
• the eviction came before a judge
determined Damiekco's sentence
and before he was found guilty of
anything. Damiekco is still in
Mount Pleasant living in an
apartment off campus.
Rae Goldsmith, associate vice
president for Public Relations
and Marketing, responded to
Damiekco's comments on eviction, saying, "CMU cannot talk
specifically about Mr. Smith's
situation because certain student academic and disciplinary
records are protected by law
through the federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy
Act."
However, Goldsmith did say
that when students violate their
lease for any reason, the university has a right to evict them.    .
See COMMENT Page 2
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