1998-05-01; Central Michigan Life

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Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number &&*&>
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
Concerns
expressed
about
closed
meetings
■ Faculty addresses
trustees about Open
Meetings Act
By Joseph McCarthy
LIFE Staff Writer
The Board of Trustees Faculty
Liaison Committee saw a more
crowded room than usual
Thursday when more than 30 students showed up for the 7 p.m.
meeting in the President's
Conference Room.
Students holding signs with sayings such as "Dump Plachta," and
"No more closed meetings,"
observed and participated in the
meeting.
James Jones, chair of the
Academic Senate and professor of
foreign languages, literatures, and
cultures, voiced concerns about
the closed meetings.
Jones said the recent concerns of
students and faculty over board
actions were caused in part by the
closed meetings. He said several
trustees had expressed "bewilderment" over the reasons behind the
concern.
"Part of the answer... is this next
agenda item," Jones said, referring
to the closed meetings.
Jones said the meetings were
"held seemingly in secret," and
were designed to be "barely within
the legal limits" which the Open
Meetings Act outlines.
Jones said the meetings have
See FACULTY Page 14
Opinions
vary for
upgrade
funding
■ TV stations attempt
to find funding sources
for federally mandated
digital upgrade by 2003
By Jeremy McBain
LIFE Staff Writer
Even though the final cost
estimates for the federally-
mandated digital upgrade for
television stations have not
been determined, some Public
Broadcasting stations are
already looking for funding.
Others, however, are confident with the potential funding
and have very few worries
about the digital upgrade in
2003.
Michael Walenta, general
manager ofWGVU AM-FM and
TV at Grand Valley State
University, said, "I've got other
things I'd rather deal with."
He said he is not really worried about it because he is
holding high hopes for at least
matching funding from the U.
S. Congress for the upgrade.
"They mandated this change.
They should pay for half of it, "
he said.
Walenta said the estimated
cost just for the new transmitters required to send out the
digital broadcasts ia $3 million
to $5 million per transmitter.
Tom Endres, director of
Business Services for PBS at
CMU, said the cost for the digital upgrade, which has been
mandated by Congress to be
done before 2003, is only speculative right now.
"It's too broad and too wide to
be known at this point," he
said. "It's too early to tell. Tell
See UPGRADE Page 2	
78 years of serving the community
Friday
May 1, 1998
14 pages
Crowd protests Plachta's actions
TONY CEPAK • CM LIFE
Approximately 350 students, faculty and community members gather in front of Warriner Auditorium Thursday afternoon to rally
their support for PBS and call for President Plachta's resignation.
Protesters rally to support PBS,
call for Plachta's resignation
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editcr
and Renee Lutz
LIFE Staff Writer
As CMU President Leonard Plachta
sat in his office in Warriner Hail
Thursday, approximately 350 students,
staff and faculty members gathered on
the lawn outside his office to rally for his
resignation.
Armed with megaphones and posters,
protesters gathered to express displeasure with a number of issues ranging
from the possibility of CMU transferring
its Public Broadcasting stations to
another school, the March 30 firing of
Russ Herron, vice president for
University Relations, and the businesslike atmosphere on campus.
The focus is on Plachta's resignation,"
said John "Jack" French, Mount
Pleasant graduate student and event
organizer. "Hopefully, if nothing else, we
will accomplish keeping PBS. I think a
showing like this is enough to put the
administration on edge and make them
a Little nervous."
Plachta declined comment Thursday
evening as students paraded through
the halls of Warriner chanting, "Hey, hey,
ho, ho, Leonard Plachta has to go," and
peered at him through his first floor
office window.
Rae Goldsmith, CMUs associate vice
president of Public Relations and
Marketing, said the rally was not that
out of the ordinary.
"It's a college campus, certainly students are expressing opinions about
campus issues. They have a right to do
that," she said. "We typically don't have
a problem with it and we're letting them
do that."
Protesters holding signs waved to secretaries and administrators looking out
of windows in Warriner Hall. A petition
calling for Plachta's resignation was distributed by demonstration leaders to the
crowd.
Demonstrators' signs had such phrases as: "People before profit" and "Gonna
Brush that Plachta Off Our Teeth."
Adam Miller, who just completed his
term as SGA president, said, "I think it's
amazing and great to see this many people out in support of something this
important, not only to America, but to
the university as Public Broadcasting."
See PROTEST Page 14	
TONY CEPAK ♦ CM LIFE
"Hey, hey, ho, ho, Leonard Plachta's got to go,"
PBS protesters shout as they march outside of
Warriner Hall.
Filmmaker/author tackles issues
AUTUMN FLUTUR • CM LIFE
Michael Moore, producer of "Roger and Me" and his new movie,
'The Big One," entertained a full house in Warriner Auditorium
Wednesday evening.
■ Michael Moore
comments on local,
national events
By Lindsay Allen
LIFE Et cetera Writer
Laughter, enlightening commentary and a hearty round of politics were the main items on filmmaker/author Michael Moore's
agenda Wednesday night in
Warriner Auditorium.
Moore attempted to begin his
talk with a series of out takes,
including censored footage of his
television program *TV Nation."
However, technical difficulties prevented the showing of all but
about 90 seconds of tape.
Still, the crowd of more than
1,000 cheered and Moore made his
entrance from the rear of Warriner
Auditorium. He took the stage
with a copy of Wednesday's CM
LIFE in hand and a knowing
gleam in his eye.
"Thank you very much, Mr.
Leonard Plachta," he said. The
crowd responded with wild
applause and laughter.
Moore jokingly said he had borrowed CMU President Leonard
Plachta's VCR to show the video
clips and Plachta had explained
the VCR was not in good working
See MOORE Page 7	
reported
in halls
A 21-y*«-oU female CMU student i^wted sfra wa» sn> imlly
assaotted in a reci&mce hall
around 8 pjm. Mcrniay by a male
friend.
She also had several kerns of
clothtnf 3er room by
another smHH
Capt. Ron ' giams, of the
CMUB [female does
not, atth
cute^buitfc
William* m female had
been at a local bar having a few
drinks when -she met the male
and a ose|enumd*
He aajtdtte female Md the two
ytt^lefr went back to her residence
hall room and eveafcually her
friend began to make passes at
her. She then asked him to leave.
She went into her bathroom
and heard her room door dose.
Trunking her mala friend had
left, she came back into her room
and proceeded to go to had.
However, her male friend was
still in the room and when she
got into her bed he followed and
sexually assaulted her.
Receipts
show
uses of
SGA
funds
By Doug Fisher
LIFE News Editor
Hosiery, spray paint, donuts,
candy and pop were just a few of
the items CMU students paid
their government to use and
consume in the past year.
According to receipts and
invoices obtained by CM LIFE
under the Freedom of
Information Act, the Student
Government Association purchased these items with its
$34,425 student-paid budget
since August.
SGA President Adam Miller,
Paw Paw senior, declined comment, saying he and the SGA
executive board are unable to
comment on the issue because
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See SGA Page 7
Students
meet with
trustees
to discuss
issues
By Ebonii Broadus
LIFE Staff Writer
The President's Conference room
in the Bovee University Center
was filled to capacity Thursday
night for the final Student/Trustee
Liaison committee meeting.
Former Student Government
Association President Adam
Miller, Paw Paw senior, began the
meeting by informing the Board of
Trustees that SGA is currently
under an internal audit.
Miller offered to answer any of
the board's questions regarding the
matter, but there were no questions from the board.
Then Miller introduced the
Student Issues Survey that SGA
conducted with the assistance of
Svetlana (Lana) Ivanitskaya,
Russian graduate student.
The SIS was mailed to 1,000 students with a 34 percent response.
The SIS was designed to represent
a variety of student issues and concerns.
Board of Trustees Chair David
See STUDENTS Page 2	
Classified
Crossword
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To reach CM LIFE
Phone: 774-3493
E-Mail: CMLIFEecmuvm.cftvcmich.edu
Fax number «17)774-7805
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