1997-03-17; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 69
Mt. Pleasant,   MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
MONDAY
March 17, 1997
16 pages
Engler's budget
does not 'give
the real picture'
LIFE Staff Reports
Gov. John Engler has granted Michigan universities the highest budget proposal
amount ever, over $1.5 billion.
Overall, the increase from last year is 3.5 percent,
while operating funds will increase by 2.5 percent.
Under the proposed budget, CMU will receive
$69.5 million.
Joe Chisholm, assistant vice president for governmental relations, said the 3.5 percent increase
does not "give the real picture."
"There is a 2.5 percent increase in our funding
from last year, and the extra 1 percent is just moved
from another budget," Chisholm said. "It is not new
money."
Among the 15 public universities in Michigan,
CMU ranks 14 in the amount of money it will
receive under Engler's new budget, receiving
approximately $102 more per student, a drop from
last year's tenth place ranking.
Wayne State University is ranked first, with $235
in funding per student, and the University of
Michigan-Ann Arbor will receive $214. Only Grand
Valley State University is ranked lower than CMU,
receiving $99 per student.
Although a combination of different factors determines a school's funding, Chisholm said the funding
See BUDGET Page 11	
Board
plans to
update
policy
■ Non-discrimination
policy will be studied
by ad hoc committee
By Jennifer Ackerman
'Low funding = rising tuition'
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor	
Low per student funding from the
state leads to rising tuition costs.
University President Leonard Plachta
said in a presentation to the Board of
Trustees on Friday.
"We have historically been badly
underfunded,"
Plachta said, noting
that CMU receives
$4,060 in per student
funding from the
state.
"That makes us
14th among the 15
schools in per student funding," he
said. "What we gel
from the state affects what we do about
tuition."
Only Grand Valley State University
receives less funding than CMU. with
a per student allocation of $3,960.
During the last five years, CMU has
ranked in the top one-third of appropriation increases to the base budget
and has received additional funding for
technology and charter schools, but the
university lags behind when it conies
to per student funding.
Plachta said across-the-board
increases  in state funding for higher
PLACHTA
education do not help the university to
bridge the gap between itself and higher funded schools.
"I have great concern with across-
the-board increases," he said "If you
continue with across-the-board
increases year alter year it only widens
the gap. That's where we've been victimized year after year. . . If it continues, it puts us in a worse position."
Ctov. John Engler has recommended
a 2.5 percent across-the-board increase
this year, but Plachta is hoping for
more.
"The standard going across-the-
board just doesn't serve us," he said.
"Our goal this time is to convince the
state that if we don't get it from the
state, we have to get ii from the student.--."
To illustrate his point, Plachta said it
would take CMU 51 years to catch up
to the average per student allocation if
all other universities received 3 percent increases anil CMU received 4
percent increases.
According to Plachta"s report, CMU
needs to outperform Western Michigan
University by 27 percent and Michigan
Stiite University by -S3 percent to keep
the gap from growing during fiscal year
1998.
Trustee Mitch Kehetian expressed
frustration with the low levels of per
10,000
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Michigan Universities
1996-97 appropriation funding per student
CMU is ranked
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student funding CMU receives from
the state.
"We keep getting penalized, maybe
because it's a middle class school,"
Kehetian said. "They say okay Central,
we're going to help you catch up, and
everyone takes two steps forward and
we take one. It's unfair.
"They say they're politicians — I say
the hell with them. It's time we start
barking back at them," Kehetian said.
'There is an absence of any long
range plan within the state for higher
education," said Trustee David
Brandon. ". . .We should be bending our
leaders" ears (to devise) a strategic
plan."
Plachta will present his budget
request to the Michigan House of
Representatives Wednesday in
Lansing. The Senate hearing will take
place April 25 on campus.
LIFE Ed-Tor
After almost a year of regular
requests to change the university's non-discrimination policy to
specifically include sexual orientation, the Board of Trustees
has formed an ad hoc committee
to study the issue.
In a presentation to the board,
Eileen Jennings, university
counsel, outlined CMU's board
and presidential policy statements on discrimination.
The current policies, which
have not been updated since
1972, do not specifically mention "sexual-orientation."
The basis of discrimination
varies in each federal and state
law and the university's affirmative action plan complies
with current legal requirements. However, no Michigan
civil rights laws or applicable
federal laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
"It's not against the law to discriminate on the basis of sexual
orientation, but there are two
places in the (affirmative action)
plan that clearly prohibit discrimination," Jennings said.
CMU's non-discrimination
policy is broader than the law
requires, Jennings said, reporting that "most other universities
have a board policy prohibiting
discrimination."
Jennings listed a number of
options the board can pursue in
reference to this issue. It can do
nothing, adopt a board policy
that would prohibit discrimina-
Big Wheel Keeps
on turning
LIFE Photo/Kent Robinson
Aldo Bigleone, a printmaker for 31 years from Argentina, gave a seminar on print
making techniques Saturday morning in Wightman Hall. Bigleone was first
drawn into printmaking when he studied in France under a professor who introduced the art of wood printmaking.
Trustees approve $40 refund
Board also OK's construction for additional parking spaces on campn
s
By Am
LIFE Sta
iff Writer
See POLICY Page 11
PBS raises
$232,696
CMU's annual spring Public
Broadcasting fund raiser signed
off the air Sunday night with
$232,696 in pledges.
Monte Higgins, station manager, said the final total could be
higher once all the honorable
pledges have been confirmed.
The "Festival 96" fundraiser
last spring netted $258,095.
The telephone fund raiser
began on Feb. 27.
The $40 refund and construction for additional parking spaces on campus were
among changes to the university officially
approved by the Board of Trustees Friday.
A rebate of $40 will be issued to students
currently living in the resident halls and
who hold a current board contract with dining services as of March 1, 1997.
John Fisher, director of residence and auxiliary services, said the refund will be in the
form of a check and will be mailed out to student's residence hall addresses by April 1.
"It's going to happen in the next two
weeks," he said.
This is a one time refund, Fisher said.
"We're very pleased to pass on some of
these savings," he said.
In other business:
•The board approved the renovation of
parking lots eight and 12. They will be
expanded on the site previously occupied by
Barnard and Tate residence halls. Up to
$540,000 from the capital budget was allocated for the project.
Peter Gorton, campus and space planner
for facilities management, said the expansion will add 268 spaces and may add an
additional 35 depending on construction
bids.
After construction there will be a total of
413    spaces   or   448   spaces     __^^__^___
depending     on      the     bids,
Gorton said.
Ronald Williams, associate
director of CMU Police, said
additional parking is needed
on the north end of campus
for commuter students and
these additional parking
spots will fill that need.
Lisa   Diaz,   East  Lansing
senior,        and        president        of       Student
Government Association, said with the .addition of those parking spots, the parking fee
of $100 now seems more rational.
"I think this makes our fee more justifiable," she said.
•The board passed a resolution to contract
for the construction of the new athletic facilities. The cost of the project is not to exceed
"We're very pleased
to pass on some of
these savings/'
JOHN FISHER,
Director of residence and
auxiliary services
$28 million and funding will come from the
proceeds of general revenue bonds.
•Additional   residence  hall   suites  will  be
renovated, three in Merrill  I hill and two in
Beddow Hall,  into accessible suites for persons with disabilities.
_________        Carol  Wojcik,  coordinator
of Student Disabilities
Services said additional
suites need to be added
every year because the
turnover of students leaving
the residence hails to live
off campus is smaller
among students with dis-
___^_->^_^__  abilities.
"It's really hard to iinil
services in the community that are accessible," she said.
Wojcik said the suites should be handicap
accessible by the beginning of the fall semester. Currently, there is no waiting list of students needing suites that are renovated for
students with disabilities.
•The   board   also   approved
SCHLEEDE
$1
llion
See BOARD Page 2
Associate
dean
takes job
atEWU
By Rachel Sprovtsoff
LtPF Staff Water	
When a career opportunity comes up,
take it.
That's what John Schleede,
associate dean of the College of
Business Administration and
professor of marketing and professor of marketing and hospitality services administration, did
when he was
offered a job as
dean of the
College of
Business and
Public-
Administration
at Eastern Washington
University in Cheney, Wash.
"It was a difficult decision,"
he said.
Schleede has been a member
of CMU's faculty since 1979 and
was chosen as associate dean
three and a half years ago. He
has also served twice as chair of
marketing and hospitality services administration.
"I've really enjoyed the last
three and a half years," he said.
"I've met and worked with a lot
of great people."
Schleede will start his new
job July 1 and said his wife, who
is an advisor in the business
department, will also be leaving
CMU to work at EWU.
Schleede said he saw an
advertisement for the job and
applied.
"It was a great career opportunity," he said.
James Hoffman, provost and
senior vice president at EWU,
said in a press release, "We are
especially pleased to have a person of his background and
strengths join us as dean of this
college."
Schleede said even though it
will be hard to leave Mount
Pleasant and CMU, he'll take
many memories with him.
"I'll always be a Chippewa,"
Schleede said.
Terry Arndt, dean of Business
Administration, said Schleede
will be missed when he leaves.
"1 am happy for John but sad
we're losing a quality individual," Arndt said in a press
release. "He has been an outstanding associate dean and
will be hard to replace."