1997-10-17; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 80, Number 24
Mt. Pleasant,   MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
FRIDAY
October 17, 1997
14 pages
CMU, tribe unite to build Native American center
By Liz Wishaw
LIFE News Editor
CMU and the Saginaw Chippewa
Indian Tribe will be working on several
new initiatives in the next few months as
plans for a Native American Cultural
Center on campus become a reality.
The tribe will be donating a total of
$14,000 during the next two years which
the university will match, said Stan
Shingles, interim assistant vice president
for Institutional Diversity.
"The cultural center's development will
be an equal partnership among CMU and
the tribe in developing," Shingles said.
Indian atlve  student      University ivill match $14,000 donation;
?orm__t.edlonto alJving student organization will give $3,500
$3,500 to the project.
Shingles said the center will be housed
on CMU's campus and officials are looking at models that already exist. The location of the center is speculative at this
point, he said.
CMU is looking to hire a consultant to
help develop the project in the direction
the two groups want it to go. he said.
' .Vith the Chippewa athletic moniker.
it helps us  expand  and educate  people-
about the Native American culture,"
Shingles said.
Martin Reinhardt, director of Native
American Programs, said the primary
focus at this point is to get the constituents on all three sides together to
discuss the plans for the center.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for CMU
and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe
to  work   together  and   we're   looking  to
build a relationship
(with the tribe),"
Shingles said.
Another       initiative
between  the  tribe  and
CMU is a $4,000 gift from the tribe for
programs in the diversity area.
Those eligible for the funds are Native
American Programs, Minority Student
Services, the Multicultural Center,
Women's Studies Programs, Gay and
Lesbian Programs and Student
Disabilities Services.
The money will be given to the six area
directors after they submit written pro
posals for their program ideas.
Three of the programs will be on
CMU's campus and the other three will
be held on tribal land.
Also, $3,000 in funding from the tribe
was approved for use by Native American
Programs. The money will be used for
continuing promotion of Native American
programs, Shingles said.
Funding also has been approved for
CMU's Powwow April 4. The figures are
unknown at this time as to how much the
tribe is giving, Shingles said.
See CULTURE Page 2	
Ma ki ng
the
grade
Support group working to make
single parents' lives a little easier
By Angela Cook
LIFE Staff Writer
W' hile students are working hard with
issues such as classes, extracurricular
activities and a social life, some students are faced with another important aspect in their lives — a child.
In an effort to help themselves as well as other single parents deal with the issues that arise with being
a single parent on campus, two single parents are
beginning a support group - PALS which stands for
Parenting Alone with Loving Support, said Kate
Edwards-Chase, Shelby senior and co-founder of the
group.
The group, which is in the planning stages, wants to
help the lives of single parents work a little easier.
It will focus on supporting single mothers on campus
by having workshop style meetings to learn about
issues student parents deal with on a daily basis. Some
of the topics  include:    _______________________________________
"It's like a juggling
act and some of the
balls are starting to
fall."
KATE EDWARDS-CHASE
Shelby senior and
co-founder  of PALS
recognizing stress m
themselves and their
children, managing
stress, time management and other related topics.
Edwards-Chase
said the lives of single
parents    on    campus
are sometimes  different when it comes to
issues they face,  and    -_-_—_____-__-____________--___________.
the group would focus on those issues by attempting to
come to solutions which they could benefit from.
Single parents on campus are often juggling an education, their children, a job and other issues and the
group would help single moms leam to handle it all,
Edwards-Chase said.
"To keep my grades above passing, that right now is
my single biggest challenge," she said. "It's like a juggling act and some of the balls are starting to fall."
Durinda Myshock, Mount Pleasant junior and the
group's other co-founder, said the group members will
prioritize their main concerns and utilize the already
existing resources on campus and perhaps establish
new ones depending on the needs of the group.
Julie Christensen, Lake Orion senior, agreed her
needs as a single parent pursuing an education are
slightly different than those of other CIVIU students,
Schedule printing error
fixed; class info is correct
See SINGLE Page
12
SABRINA BURTON • CM LIFE
Nicole  Briggs,  Ludington   senior,  enjoys   playing  with   her  3-year-old   son
Hendrix, on the new jungle gym at Northwest apartments Tuesday evening.
Jeff Haywood
LIFE Assistant News Editor
Students who picked up a
spring semester class schedule
Tuesday morning might have
the impression that CMU is
offering fewer classes next
semester.
Registrar Karen Hutslar said
a printing error at Central
Michigan Newspapers left some
of the 21,000 class schedules
with missing pages or with big
dark marks covering the pages.
"We knew something was
wrong with them because we
had some delivered to our office
and we also had some students
stopping by and asking us what
was wrong with the schedules."
she said.
Hutslar said the defective
schedules were only available
Tuesday morning. CMN workers
picked up the schedules Tuesday
afternoon     and     21,000     more
SCHEDUI__ KET-__RNS
■ Students needing to
exchange an old schedule for
a new one may go to the
Registrar's Office located in
Warriner Hall.
schedules were printed up that
night and made available
Wednesday.
"If any students have one of
the old schedules, they can bring
it by the office and we'll give
them a new one," Hutslar said.
Contrary to some rumors
Hutslar said she has heard
around campus, all the classes
listed in the defective schedules
were correct.
"They had some problems producing some of the schedules,"
she said. "But the class information is correct to the best of our
knowledge."
Deregulation of electric
industry would open
independent market
By Kevin Hackney
LIFE Staff Writer
A blue-light special on electricity?
Don't laugh, it just might happen.
Lisa Thibdaue, executive director of rates and regulatory affairs
for Consumers Energy, confirmed
this Wednesday in a speech at
the Mount Pleasant Country
Club.
Thibdaue's speech, which was
sponsored by Middle Michigan
Development Corporation, concerned the impending deregulation of the electric industry and
was aimed at businesses located
in and around the Isabella
County area.
"Our world is about to change,"
Thibdaue said.
She said the electric industry
may soon become deregulated,
meaning that Consumers
Energy's 1.5 million customers
will be given the option of purchasing electricity from any independent generating source they
wish.
"It's one of the greatest transitions anyone has ever envisioned," she said.
Thibdaue explained the
demand   for   deregulation   arose
nearly a decade ago when price
discrepancies in energy rates
appeared across the L;nited
States.
She said business executives
began asking questions when
kilowattv__our prices wrere found
to be lower in some regions of the
country and higher in others.
The proposed restructuring
plan will allow commercial businesses and eventually consumers
the option to "shop" until they
find electricity rates they are satisfied with, thus eliminating
nationwide "skewing" of energy
rates, Thibdaue said.
The plan, which is currently
being debated by national and
state legislatures, designates the
years 1998 to 2001 as "phase-in"
years, Thibdaue said. During this
four year period, independent
generating sources would entertain interested clients by bid
only, she said.
This measure was inserted to
avoid an "America Online situation where everyone wants in
and there's no capacity," she said.
Beyond 2001, the bids system
is dropped and the market
becomes free and open to anyone,
See ELECTRICITY Page 2
1 Ki S I E> E
Central will take on second place
Kent a! 2 p.m. Friday and third
place Ohio at 1 p.m. Saturday at
Kelly/Shorts Stadium. See page 9
Classified
Crossword
Et cetera
Sports
Voices
13
13
10-11
8-9
4-5
Mixed reactions arise
from study of state audit
By Emily Gerkin
LIFE Staff Writer
In the wake of a state audit which
found several problems with CMU's
Charter Schools, Michigan politicians
and experts have different interpretations about what the audit means.
The report, conducted by the Office
of the Auditor General, showed the
Charter School Office of CMU needs
to improve its oversight in authorizing public school academies and its
internal system of monitoring the
charters.
"These findings support the very
things we have been concerned
about," said Speaker of the House
Curtis Hertel, D-Detroit. "I am more
convinced than ever that we must
take   steps   to   ensure   that   charter
school students are getting the education that they should or the education their parents think they are getting."
Rep. Pat Gagliardi, D-Drummond
Island and chair of the House
Oversight Committee, said "This confirms my suspicion that the CMU
Charter School Office has been very
liberal in granting charters to anyone
who applies, but very lax in providing
oversight once the charters are
granted.
"Since CMU receives hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year from the
state to do this, obviously the money
is not being well-spent."
See FINDINGS Page 2	
PONY
SHOW
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TONY CEPAK • CM LIFE
Kevin Priest, left,
shows a pony. Buck,
to CMU's School
Readiness Integrated
Preschool students
Thursday
afternoon to
celebrate
"Animal Week .