1997-01-20; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 50
Mt. Pleasant,   MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
MONDAY
January 20, 1997
14 pages
CMU plans tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
CMU will commemorate Martin Luther
King Jr. during a week-long "Celebrating A
Community of Diversity," celebration.
The following events are scheduled this
week:
•Monday night there will be a
"Recognition Dinner" in the residence
halls' dining commons. The dinner will
include many of King's favorite foods.
•A "Student Issues Forum" and candlelight march will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday
in Anspach Hali 162. The discussion is an
open forum for students to discuss diversity issues. After the forum, the march will
begin at Anspach Hall and end at Warriner
Auditorium.
1929-1968
•Tim Wise, director of the Youth Anti-
Prejudice Project, will speak at 8 p.m.
Monday in Warriner Auditorium. Wise is
the author of "Little White Lies: The Truth
About Affirmative Action and Reverse
Discrimination."
•"Family Feud: Diversity Style," will
take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in
the Carey Dining Commons in the Towers.
The game will focus on questions related to
diversity.
•On Wednesday, Morris Dees will speak
at 8 p.m. in Warriner Auditorium. Dees is
the founder of the Southern Poverty Law
Center and has won a series of precedent
setting lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan.
•"African American Contributions to the
United States Armed Forces," will be presented by the Military Science
Department from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday in
the Bovee University Center Auditorium.
•Also on Thursday,        Diversity
Representatives will have events for each
residence hall on campus. Students should
contact their Diversity Representatives for
specific information about events and
times.
•The "5th Annual Unity Ball" will be on
Saturday. Dinner will be at 7 p.m. and
tickets are $5 for students and $7 for faculty and staff and must be purchased by
Tuesday-
Area offers
unique niche to
women clergy
By Angela Cook
LIFE Staff Writer
Every church may not be ready
for women clergy, but Mount
Pleasant churches seem to be
because they are tapping into a
new source of leadership that
was not used 30 years ago.
Tina Moreau, associate pastor
of St. Mary's Catholic University
Church, is an equal member of
the pastoral team. She said she
oversees many student groups,
preaches once a month and has
an equal vote when it comes to
decision making within the
parish.
She said she would not have
the same opportunity out East or
in other regions of the United
States, and she might not have
had this opportunity 30 years
ago.
She attributes her opportunity
to the women that went ahead of
her in Catholic ministry.
"Th^re were many women
ahead of me to pave the way so I
could be here today," she said.
It's not all smooth sailing in the
Catholic Church for women,
according to Moreau.
cannot be priests or
Some men within the
Church are not ready
women to have the same power
as they do.
"I believe it comes down to
power and authority," she said.
Nevertheless, the community
has been very accepting, Moreau
said. "The people were very
open."
Moreau said there are definitive advantages to having women
in a leadership position in the
church. It gives a good balance to
the church.
"I think a woman's experience
of church is different from a
man's experience of church," she
said. "Our diversity can combine
in such a way that you get a better church."
Women
deacons.
Catholic
to allow
She also said allowing women
to take leadership positions in
the church allows the congregation and community to see that
women can do more than sing in
the choirs, bake communion
bread and lectern.
"We have more to give from the
wealth of our experience," she
said.
Connie Bongard, associate pastor of the First United Methodist
Church, said she also has been
welcomed into the community
with open arms.
She attributes a portion of this
feeling to a strong female base in
the congregation.
"We have a strong group of
women here," she said. "There is
a strength here of female support."
The First United Methodist
Church has been ordaining
women since the '60s, but it was
a hard road for Methodist women
to be ordained, she said.
Bongard said it was not easv
for her, but she maintains it is
not easy for anyone, male or
female, to become a minister.
"I do not feel the hierarchy of
the church has moved as quickly
as the world in equality," she
said.
She said while the church of
Mount Pleasant has no qualms
about having a woman in the pulpit, other Methodist churches do.
"There are churches that do not
want and would not feel comfortable having a woman as a pastor," she said.
Bongard said a woman is able
to reach out to members of a congregation that a man may have a
harder time reaching.
"The mother instinct you have
can reach out to a child," she said.
One of the obstacles she does
run into as a female pastor is the
equality  of pay.   People   assume
See CHURCH Paqe 2	
LIFE Photo/Ryan Wood
Connie Bongard, associate pastor at First United Methodist Church, is one of many female
clergy members in the Mount Pleasant area.
'Geographer in residence' decides to stay in Mt. Pleasant
By Liz Wishaw
LIFE Assistant New:
Editor
LIFE Photos/Thomas Cousineau
Michael Libbee, director of the Michigan Geographic Alliance program, was selected as a "geographer in residence" by the
National Geographic Society's Geography Education Program.
A geography professor will earn many "frequent
flyer miles" in the next year with his new appointment by the National Geographic Society.
Michael Libbee, professor of geography, was
recently named by National Geographic Society's
Geography Education Program as "geographer in
residence."
Instead of moving to Washington, D.C. for the
year, he chose to stay in Mount Pleasant for his
appointment. Libbee is the first "geographer in
residence" to not live in Washington, D.C.
Libbee commutes every other week to
Washington, D.C. for his half-time appointment,
which grew out of a consultant job with the society.
He leaves Tuesday evening and returns Thursday
or Friday and completes some of his work while he
is in Michigan, he said.
Libbee is happily married with two children,
who he said have adjusted to his travel arrangements.
"It's working reasonably well. The kids are at an
age where they don't miss me as much as they
would have at one time. I try not to be away for
more than three nights at a time," he said.
Libbee also team teaches an undergraduate
geography   course   and   is   the   director   of  the
Michigan Geographic Alliance, located on CMU's
campus.
The National Geographic Society, the world's
largest non-profit organization, expanded it's program to include geographic education 10 years
ago, Libbee said. To do this, they established 50
state geographic alliances. Libbee. along with
Western Michigan University's Joe Stoltman, put
together the Michigan program.
Libbee is coordinating educational projects as
part of his geographer in residence assignment,
many of which originated as part of his original
contract with the society.
One of the projects Libbee is working on,
"Family Geographic Challenge," started in
Michigan. The project uses teacher consultants
across the country to teach kids and families to
incorporate the use of maps as they watch the
news and learn about geography. Libbee said
20,000 families nationwide participated in the
challenge last year.
A second project of marketing sets of maps to
schools as an alternative to the traditional pulldown maps is not going as well as Libbee expected.
The third project is offering teachers National
See AWARD Page 2	
Return
checks
increase
sales
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Writer '_
The distribution of students'
financial aid checks and the cold
weather has sparked students
to spend money at some Mount
Pleasant area businesses during a normally slow month for
sales.
Approximately $22 million of
federal direct and indirect loans
were disbursed into students'
receivable accounts last weekend scid Bonnie S.Tmsel sssis-
tant coordinator of Receivable
Accounting.
Part of the $22 million pays
for students' tuition, fees and
room and board, and anything
left is given back as a refund
check.
On Sunday, Samsel said the
portion of the $22 million disbursed to students as refunds
was not yet able to be determined.
Valerie DePew, Traverse City
senior, said her refund check
went to pay for rent and a few
other bills, but she had some
left for entertainment.
"I've been able to buy groceries, and it's given me a little
extra money for entertainment
that I don't usually have,"
DePew said.
Kevin McQuaid, head manager at Dunham's Sporting Goods,
2129 S. Mission St., said sales
have increased sharply since
Wednesday and overall were up
70 percent for the week.
The cold ; weather has contributed to most of the sales
during the past week, McQuaid
said.
"This is typically a slow time
of the year and the students
have definitely made a positive
impact on sales," McQuaid said.
"Students are buying big ticket
items like Columbia Ski
Jackets, boots and warm-ups."
The cold weather and influx of
checks to students has helped
sales at Hungry Howie's Pizza,
111 S. Mission St., according to
Adam Green, head manager.
Green said deliveries were up
20 percent on Friday and business has been steady since students came back to town.
"We do a lot of business with
the college. Students make up
approximately 30 percent of our
yearly sales," Green said.
Not all area stores have benefited from students' wallets or
from the weather.
Tom Ball, head manager at
Wherehouse Records, 2308 S.
Mission St., said he has not
seen a significant jump in sales
during the past few days.
"We've seen a steady amount
of traffic since school started,
but I think the weather may be
holding some people back," Ball
said.
Earon LaCroix, Kalkaska
sophomore, said she's spending
her entire check on rent.
"Every last penny of my
refund check went to rent,"
LaCroix said.
Tammy Cotter, leasing agent
for Edgewood Apartments, 712
Edgewood Drive, said many students on financial aid have been
paying their rent.
"We have a lot of people
assisted by financial aid,"
Cotter said.
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