1997-04-14; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 80
Mt. Pleasant,   MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
MONDAY
April 14, 1997
12 pages
'Right to Know': not required for faculty, staff
By Matthew J. Roberge, Jr.
LIT F St aft Writer	
While some students have lost their on campus
jobs for not attending a "Right to Know" training
session, faculty and staff members are not given
the same ultimatum.
The "Right to Know" sessions are mandated by the
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration's 29
Code of Federal Regulation
1910.1200.
Deborah Barker, manager of Student Personnel
Services, said Student
Personnel Services runs a
check every semester to
make sure student employees have attended the session. She said this is
done because "it's the law."
Federal gov. requires chemical training for all employees
Right to Know
•The university is
required by the federal government
.ind the State of
Michigan's 1987
Right to Know law
to train all of its
employees (faculty,
staff and students.)
She said she was unaware the training session
only covered chemical hazards associated with
campus jobs.
All new student employees this academic year
who had not attended a "Right to Know" session by
Dec. 8. 1996 were terminated.
Barker said it was hard to tell how many students were actually terminated. Many students on
the payroll were no longer actually working for the
university.
There were 12 "Right to Know" sessions this
semester.
Barker said this allowed all students who
expressed a desire to get their jobs back an opportunity to regain their positions.
A standard letter sent out to all students who
had not attended the session on Sept. 29, 1996 by
Barker  said,  "The  University   is   required   by  the
federal government and the State of Michigan's
1987 Right to Know Law to train all of its employees (faculty, staff and students) . . . Failure to
attend a Right to Know session this term may
result in the loss of your job next term."
While some students were terminated for not
going to a "Right to Know" session, the policy is not
as strictly enforced when it conies to ('MIT staff
and faculty members
Mary Senter, president of the Faculty
Association, said. "Faculty members are invited to
attend a new faculty orientation in the fail, but
some do not attend."
don Darrow, assistant vice provost and director
of Faculty Personnel Services, said, "We urge
everyone to attend. We think it is in their best
interest, but. we do not monitor or follow up oxer
here."
Senter said she attended a "Right to Know" session a while back. She said, however, "there is no
contractual wording regarding the sessions."
Jon Kujat, coordinator of Safety Programs, said
almost all employees from secretaries to professors
face some form of a chemical hazard on the job.
Kujat said new faculty and staff employees
attend a "Right to Know" session as part of their
orientation session.
There are going to be some people who slip
through the cracks," Kujat said. "I don't have any
jurisdiction to hire or fire."
June Stefanko, manager of Employment
Services, said, "If an employee does not attend the
orientation session it is the supervisor's responsibility to make sure they receive training."
Student employees hired this semester will not
receive their "Right to Know" training until the
St
KNOW Page 2
Computer
virus
invades
Grawn lab
By Jeff Haywood
Ut-B Assistant Managing Editor	
Students using the Grawn computer lab last week found themselves locked out of their own files
by an unwanted "helper."
Several word processing programs allow users to set passwords to keep other people from
reading the file, but Thursday the
password feature turned against
the users.
Kevin McNees, student lab
manager and Otsego junior, said
several students began complaining early Thursday morning that
when they tried to open their
Microsoft Word documents, the
program requested a password —
something that the students had
never previously set — thus effectively locking the students out of
their own work.
"To my knowledge, we've never
had anything here like this
before," McNees said.
After several students reporting the same problem, Grawn
computer       manager Tim
Knickerbocker began searching
for solutions on the Internet.
Knickerbocker eventually
called a Microsoft technician and
pin-pointed the problem as the
"helper" computer virus.
"We have the newest virus
detection software. I'm not sure
how the virus got through,"
McNees said.
McNees said the helper virus
operates in the Microsoft Word
environment and activates on the
10th of each month. Each time a
user closes a file on the 10th, the
virus changes the password on
that file to "help."
"All they have to do is enter
"help" as the password," McNees
said. "It doesn't damage the file or
anything."
McNees said they began cleaning the virus off of files Thursday
afternoon, but the virus was still
hanging around.
"We had a gentleman (Friday)
who had a file infected with the
virus," he said. "But we ran the
virus protection program on it
and cleaned it up."
There is still a chance some students' files are infected. McNees
suggests having students run
their floppy disks through virus
scanners or call the Grawn computer lab at 774-3966 if they think
their disk is infected.
AcilaClXTSJ DdCiC
The Night
LIFE Photos/Brandon Sullivan
A crowd gathered in front of Warriner Sunday evening in support of the end of domestic violence and the abuse of women.
They proceeded to Island Park in their support of the cause.
More than 300 attend annual march against violence
ft
E Staff
Despite the cold weather,
approximately 300 students,
staff and faculty joined forces to
protest violence against women
and children in the 18th annual
Take Back the Night March
Sunday.
"I've never been (to the
event), so I thought it would be
great to see what it's all about,"
said rJodi Kanger. New Buffalo
senior.
Tracy        Scryzypek, New
Baltimore junior, said, "We had
a speaker come and talk to us at
Phi Sigma Pi and that's why I
came."
For the first hour in the
Warriner MalL 95.3 CFX was
broadcasting live.
Jennifer Taylor, Weidman
sophomore       and       Volunteer
('enter representative hosted
the event along with Kevyn
Aiken, executive secretary of
Academic Affairs.
"Just because issues are
about women doesn't mean only
women should get involved,"
Taylor said.
Aiken said, "When people
become victims they can't contribute to society, then we lose
people."
Mayor Gerald Cassel was oil
hand to read the city's proclamation that April 13 would be
declared 'Take Back the Night"
Day.
"We are dedicated as a community to be assured our
streets are safe. Where there is
violence we want to show love,"
Cassel said.
See MARCH Page 2	
LIFE Photo/Brandon Sullivan
MC's Kevyn Lloyd Aiken and Jennifer Taylor look on as Mount
Pleasant Mayor Gerald Cassell reads the Take Back the Night
Proclamation prepared for Sunday evening's rally.
RED
Hacker
Highlights
The Red Hacker Tournament
took place this weekend at the
Student        Activity        Center.
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Morton's
position
may take a
year to fill
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Writer
CMU may not have a permanent replacement to head the
Institutional Diversity office
until next summer.
Cornel Morton, assistant vice
president of Institutional
Diversity, announced last week
he would be leaving CMU on
June 27 to take a position at
Kent   State
Kl AC TION
University.
Provost
Richard
Davenport
said planning for a
new search
is in the
early stages
but they
will look for
someone to
step in on
an interim
basis.
"Typically
these
searches
usually
take about
s i x
months," Davenport said. "I
would suspect a year from this
summer we will find someone to
Till the position."
It will be tough for CMU to
find someone to Till the position
mid-year since it causes hardship on the institution a candidate is currently working for, he
said.
"First of all we're disappointed he's leaving after such a short
stay," Davenport said. "In the
long run for him personally, it's
a good career move."
DAVENPORT
"We fully
understand his
decision and
we support
him "
See REACTION Page 2
I   N   S   I   I>   E
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To reach CMLIFE
rhone   774-3493
E-Mail  CM LI FE&cmu vm.csv.cmich.edu
Fax numbf r (517)774-7805
Central Michigan LIFE Online
Internet address
http://www.cml ife.cmich.edu
The CMU softball team won a
double header against Ball
State on Friday. Saturday's
games were cancelled due to
the weather
See Page 6