1992-09-02; Central Michigan Life

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Arts & Entertainment
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They call me brandon?
Legend Bruce Lee's son in his first film
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Several teams in hunt for MAC volleyball crown
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Central
Michigan
Residence halls crack down on alcohol
Amendment and clarification
made on drinking policy
By Darron J. Markwood
l IFF Assistant News Editor
Amendment to and clarification of CMU's residence hall
alcohol policy means closer regulation of drinking by people of
legal age.
Approved in late August and
effective immediately, the policy states that a hall resident of
legal drinking age may only
drink in the room of another
21-year-old resident if that person is present, said Grant
Skomski. Northwest Campus
Manager for Housing.
In addition, the policy was
clarified to state that guests of
underaged residents are prohibited from bringing alcoholic
beverages into the room if a resident of legal drinking age is not
in the room, Skomski said.
The policy changes are
intended to alleviate past problems and possible inconsistencies in dealing with alcohol-
related situations involving
minors, he said.
If a RA comes to a resident's
door to investigate excessive
noise and the incident looks
alcohol-related, it's nearly
impossible for the RA to make
the right decision, and stiidents
or guests might receive wrongful accusation, he said.
"Now it is cloarcut."
Interpretive evidence such as
beer cans or bottles might show
an incident involves alcohol, but
ultimately it's up to the RA to
determine how to deal with the
situation, Skomski said.
The changes are expected to
eliminate possible confusion
concerning alcohol policies and
make it easier for RAs to make
correct judgment calls.
And RAs tend to agree with
Skomski, saving the policy
might prove an asset in the
future when such situations
arise.
Stacie Rubin, Carey RA, said
the policy "will lower inconsistencies and make her job easier.
"It's easier, because no one in
Students have mixed feelings
over 'guest' portion of policy
By Erik Nehring
LIFE Staff Wnier
the room is allowed to have alcohol," said Rubin, Marion senior.
Mark Hess, Herrig RA, said
the new policy benefits RAs
while lessening problems —
problems which occur most frequently during special events.
"Most problems occur during
MSU, Western, or Homecoming
games. because friends,
brothers and sisters come up,"
said Hess, Waterford senior.
He said he believes people
visiting CMU often come
expecting a weekend of party-
LIFE Illustration/Bonnie Morrison
ing, which may lead to violation
of Housing alcohol policies.
"The old policy was somewhat
ambiguous and was left a gray
area," he said.
If RAs had to deal with a possible alcohol violation, they
might encounter a 21-year-old
guest claiming responsibility
for alcohol in a room with under-
aged residents, Hess said.
This problem is eliminated by
See POLICY Page 2
Students are not above the law when it comes to the new alcohol
policy within residence halls.
The policy states a guest aged 21 and over cannot consume alcohol
in a room where the residents are not of legal drinking age. Legal
drinking age students, however, can drink alcoholic beverages in the
room if a person of legal drinking age is in the room with them.
But most students are not complaining about the policy's rules for
minors, but the complaint for the policy for guests of legal alcohol
drinking age.
i      "For the guests that are of age, it's unfair," said Stacey Rizzuto,
Troy junior. "It's a violation of their rights."
Rizzuto added she agrees with the majority of students who say a
guest of age should hold the right to drink responsibility if they so
choose.
"That's really, really wrong," said Melissa Kinnick, Troy freshman. "My friend had a guest in their room that was 21 years old. He
had a case of beer."
"The Resident Assistant in the hall made him dump all the beer
out even though he was 21," she said. "The minors in the room were
not drinking."
"When you are 21, you can drink when you want to drink. If I was
21 and someone made me throw it out, I wouldn't," said Martice
Berry, Detroit freshman.
See REACT Page 2
College
voucher
system
proposed
By Christopher Dunne
! IFF St;*ff Writer
A proposal designed to make
Michigan universities compete
for students and state aid was
recently criticized by University
officials.
"I think it would be dangerous." said Kim Ellertson, vice
president of Business and
Finance. "It's something that will
have to be studied further."
The plan was patterned after a
similar program in the K-12 system, which provides a voucher to
parents who choose to send their
children to a local private school.
More than $2 billion is provided
by the state for this purpose,
allowing parents to "shop
around" for the school of their
choice.
The overall project, developed
by Deputy Director of the Department of Management and Budget
John Kost, was created as part of
an Engler administration project
on privatization of government
services. Kost called the higher
education proposal "a radical way
to create a competitive environment.
" Instead of the $1.3 billion we
now appropriate to universities,"
Kost explained, "why not give it
to students and parents and let
them choose where they want to
go and let the universities compete?"
University officials were less
enthusiastic about the plan,
which has little chance of becoming reality. "I don't see much in
the way of support for the
voucher system," said Greg Morris, executive assistant to the
President for Governmental
Relations. "It was singled out as
something they probably
wouldn't look at."
See VOUCH Page 2
Heels  Over  Head
Students complain
about lack of legal
parking spaces
By Karen Joseph
LIFE Staff Wnter
LiFE Photo/Dustin A. Wyman
Jason Trombly, New Boston freshman, rides The Original Gyro during the Student Opportunities Fair
Monday evening at the Student Activities Center.
A 1990s version of musical
chairs currently being played at
CMU; it's known as musical
parking spaces.
Trying to find a legal parking
space at certain times of the day
has driven some motorists to opt
for what they consider the next
best thing, an area that isn't a
designated parking space.
"I saw many violations, too
numerous too mention," said
Capt. Ron Williams, DPS associate director.
"I think one contributing factor is
the fact we don't have people in
the booths like we should have."
Williams attributed the lack of
parking attendants in many
parking lots because of budgetary
concerns the University is currently facing."
"As this point, budgetary concerns make , it very difficult to
cope with the parking problems
we currently have," Williams
said. "I do expect the problem to
calm down within the next couple
of weeks."
Students, however, are forced
to cope with more immediate
parking problems.
"I looked down every aisle,"
said John Devries, Gladwin
sophomore, as he emerged from
his illegally-parked vehicle. "This
is the only place I could find."
Students frustrated with the
current situation were desperate
to leave their cars somewhere
before dashing off to their first
class meetings.
"There aren't many options if
you live off-campus," said Carmen Curry, Tecumseh junior.
"There just aren't many other
lots."
Undoubtedly, portions of this
inconvenience   will   be   resolved
within the next few days and by
the second week of class, many
See PARK Page 2
Pedestrian hit by
car, sprains ankle
Students walking around campus should keep in mind that stop signs
for cars don't guarantee the safety of pedestrians crossing the road.
Stacy Black, Drummond Island sophomore, was hit by a car Monday
morning at the intersection of Franklin and Preston streets, in front of
Finch Fieldhouse.
"A car was coming to the stop sign as I was crossing the road, and the
guy just didn't stop at the stop sign," she said. "He told the police the sun
was in his eyes and he didn't see the sign."
The driver-side bumper hit Black's left leg, severely spraining her
ankle and leaving bruises and scratches, she said, adding she sustained
no other injuries from the accident.
No criminal charges were filed against the driver, and Black said she
does not plan to file a civil suit-
Two unknown men stopped when they saw the accident, and one
stayed with Black while the other called 911, Black said.
"I want to thank the two guys who helped me out," she added.
Black is still somewhat shocked she was struck by a moving vehicle,
she said.
"It's something you don't expect — to walk out into the road and have-
someone miss a stop sign and hit you," she said.
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