1992-12-02; Central Michigan Life

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Wednesday, December 2, 1992
Weather
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MID
30s
MID
20s
HIGH
TODAY
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TONIGHT
90% chance of snow
Arts & Entertainment
Dancing our way
Famous Christmas ballet performance coming to CMU
Page 8
Sports ~m>k^k^ 3^i£i_«^
Waterlogged
CMU men's basketball downs Lake Superior
Page 10
Central
Michigan
VOLUME 75. NUMBER 38 ;,
© 1992 CM LIFE
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
< (517) 774-3493
16 PAGES
Vestaburg woman
suing Sheriff's Dept
for wrongful death
By Brian D. Bel!
LIFE Editor
A Vestaburg woman is suing the Isabella County Sheriffs Department for its role in a June 9 automobile accident which caused the death
of her son.
The suit was filed in October in Isabella County Circuit Court by Gale
Jensen, personal representative of the estate of Herschel Jensen Jr..
and seek_. more than $10,000 in damages under the Michigan Wrongful
Death Act, court documents stated.
Jensen's 18-year-old son was killed when the car he was riding in was
struck broadside by Deputy John William Leonard shortly after midnight near the 1500 block of" S. Mission Street.
At the time, police reported Leonard was heading south in response to
a call for assistance when he hit the vehicle Jensen was in as it
attempted a left turn into a business on Mission.
The suit's allegations, which the sheriffs department denies and
maintains are untrue, state Leonard was guilty of one or more negligent
acts, including:
■ driving his vehicle heedlessly, carelessly and negligently, and in
willful and wanton disregard of the rights and safety of others;
■ operating his vehicle without due caution and care, at a speed and
in such a manner as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or
property;
■ operating his vehicle on the highway at a speed greater than would
permit him to stop within the assured clear distance ahead and negligently and carelessly failing to stop within that distance;
See LAWSUIT Paqe 2
Plachta attends GLASS meeting
By Dee Sayers
I IEE Staff Writer
President Leonard E.
Plachta provided encouragement and support Tuesday
evening for GLASS members in
their quest to end homophobia
on campus.
"My position, and hopefully
the administration's position, is
fair treatment of students and
the community," Plachta said.
"We don't want to tolerate beha-
vior that picks on people
whether they are of a minority
or of a majority.'*
Plachta said he attended the
Gay and Lesbian Association for
Student Support meeting to
initiate a step in the direction of
administrative support for gay
and lesbian students.
About 25 people including
CMU faculty, students. Mount
Pleasant High School students
and members of the Mount
Pleasant community attended
the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting
involved having Plachta hear
concerns directly from gay and
lesbian students, said Paul
Emmett, GLASS co-president.
LIFE Photo/Dawn Abbott
President Leonard E. Plachta talked with GLASS members Tuesday evening at the Wesely Foundation.
One question posed by the
education coordinator for
GLASS, Jeff Hart, Sturgis
senior, addressed the problem
of homophobia and discrimina-
The primary focus of questioning addressed homophobia
on campus and how the administration could help alleviate
the problem.
tion from faculty and what steps
the administration could take to
reduce it.
See GLASS Page 2
President addresses
A-Senate concerning
low quality students
By Tanrtara Snyder
LIFE Staff Writer
LIFE Photos/Bonnie Morrison
(Above) Tobias Hensier, 2, of
Mount Pleasant watched
intently as his brother
Jonathan, 4, enjoyed creating
his own cookie design at the
Holiday Festival Monday
evening at the Bovee University Center. (Right) Mount
Pleasant Mayor Susan
K. Smith and CMU President
Leonard E. Plachta threw the
switch to light up the Christmas tree in front of the UC as
part of the opening ceremony
of the Fourth Annual CMU Holiday Festival.
CMU has gone through an ugly metamorphosis in declining quantity of students as well as quality for the past four years. President
Leonard Plachta told the Academic Senate Tuesday.
"I'm concerned about the quality of students who come here and don't
come here," Plachta said.
More freshman enrolled in English courses need remedial help, said
Sharon Stevenson, assistant professor of English and academic senator.
"The English Department doesn't offer remedial English," she said.
Stevenson suggested CMU develop a remedial English program with
Mid-Michigan Community College to assist this growing number of
academically needy students.
Plachta is calling for a more direct solution to existing problems. The
University must get its act together, he said.
CMU admitted 85 percent of freshman applicants for enrollment in
this term, according to the President's report which was presented to
the Board of Trustees in October. One fourth of these students scored
below 19 on ACT's.
Six percent of this year's admitted crew scored higher than 26 on the
ACT, half the combined average of students attendingstate universitie-
s'in Michigan.
"We're not so choosy with who we say yes to anymore," Plachta said.
Thaddeus Zolty, associate professor of political science and academic-
senator, suggested the "administration interuptus" of past couple years
contributed to the dilemma.
Plachta agreed, adding, "I truly think collectively in recent years < the
administration) had a weak short-term run attitude."
See PLACHTA Page 2
FA, University name
bargaining teams
By TJ Bucholz
L ]FE  News Editor
When it comes to negotiating
contracts with its faculty, CMU
officials are bringing in a hired
gun.
Negotations between the administration and the Faculty Association for a new contract are
scheduled to begin in February,
earlier than in past years, said
Roger Hatch, co-chair of the FA
bargaining team.
"We're pleased that bargaining
is starting this early," said
Hatch, professor of religion.
"We've never started this early
before."
Leading the University's bargaining team is Thomas P. Hus-
toles of Kalamazoo, a partner
with the law firm of Miller, Can-
field,  Paddock and  Stone.  Hus-
toles, a faculty bargaining contract expert, has negotiated contracts for three other Michigan
universities — Northern Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and
Western Michigan — as well as
many community colleges and
secondary schools.
"Because of Bill Dunham
retiring, its left us with a gap that
we needed to fill quickly," said
Rae Goldsmith, CMU Public
Relations director. Dunham was
assistant vice provost before
retiring in 1991.
"Historically, we've always had
someone in-house to deal with
our negotiating," President Leonard E. Plachta said. "But
because of minimizing admin-
strative hiring as o result of our
budgetary crunch, I came to the
See CONTRACT Page 6
SERVING,THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR MORE THAN 70,YEARS