Celebrating Life S A G I N A W C H I P P E W A T R I B A L C O L L E G E 21 ST ANNUAL POW WOW THIS WEEKEND! March 20-21, 2010 See page 2B for more information census promotion on campus, 5a Wrestlers out of NCAA championship bracket, fight for All-America status, 1B [cm-life.com] Mount Pleasant, Mich. Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Central Michigan Life Friday, March 19, 2010 opera | Theatre and music combined for weekend performances, 3A By Carisa Seltz Staff Reporter Some are fuming mad and seeing red over Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proclamation to encourage Michiganders to eat healthy greens. Michigan’s hunter and meat communities promptly re- sponded to Granholm’s deci- sion to make Saturday “Michi- gan Meatout Day,” saying it is demeaning to Michigan’s en- tire agricultural industry and proves her willingness to cater to special interest. The proclamation encour- ages Michiganders to forgo eating meat for one day to promote a healthy diet. It was referred to as “unconscionable and an insensitive slap in the face to Michigan’s livestock and dairy farmers” by Michi- gan Farm Bureau President Wayne Wood, in a press re- lease. “It’s inconceivable to us that the governor could stoop to this level of telling people what they should and shouldn’t eat based on the philosophies of ‘food elitists,’” Wood said in the statement. Not only was the governor’s rationale for encouraging resi- dents not to eat meat in her proclamation “misleading and incriminating,” Wood said, but it’s “unbelievable” that the governor decided to declare Meatout Day on the same day as National Agriculture Day. “Her action is blatantly de- grading to Michigan consum- ers and farmers, and is de- structive to Michigan’s entire $71.3 billion agriculture in- dustry,” Wood said. Encouraging hEalthy Eating Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for the Governor, said the Gra- nholm Administration did not see the proclamation as belit- tling to farmers, hunters or meat-eaters. The proclamation promotes a “habit of healthy living by consuming a diet that is rich with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and by staying active.” It also delves into why eating meat can sometimes be unhealthy and encourages us- ing fresh ingredients to make unique recipes. Boyd said Granholm made the proclamation because the Michigan field office for the Great American Meatout Day requested it. Farm Bureau finds beef with state Meatout Day Officials say health initiative a ‘slap in the face’ A MEAT | 2A st. patty’s patrol Police find body behind Sam’s Club @CMLifeSports Don’t miss live updates from this weekend’s NCAA Wrestling Championships in Omaha, Neb. on Facebook on twitter on Video facebook.com/cmlife TALK WITH US: Are you going to participate in Meat- Out Day? Why or why not? See one lucky student win $25 to the CMU Bookstore from the SGA Spirits and Traditions Committee. cm-life.com What’s on the Web A look at what you can find off the printed pages Area police see ‘average’ amount of activity for midweek holiday Photos by jeff smith/staff photographer Central Michigan University Police Officer David Coffman gives a student driver a sobriety test during a traffic stop Wednesday night on West Campus Drive. The student was arrested after failing the test. CMU Police Officer David Coffman checks a driver’s license on his computer during a traffic stop Wednesday night on East Bellows Street. The department had four cars on the road to handle St. Patrick’s Day complaints. By Sarah Schuch Senior Reporter Central Michigan University officials are breathing a slight sigh of relief after learning cuts to state appropriations next year may be smaller than ex- pected. The State Senate Appropria- tions Committee approved a 3.1 percent cut on Wednesday to state aid for public universi- ties. For CMU, that means a cut around $2.5 million in state appropriations, taking into ac- count what has come in during the current fiscal year. David Burdette, vice presi- dent of Finance and Admin- istrative Services, said the university is prepared for the potential cut. Last year, the cut was about was the same, except there was about $2.4 million in stimulus money to help. “I think we are right where we need to be,” Burdette said Thursday of the proposed 3.1 percent cut. “For today, that’s good news.” The bill will go to the Senate floor next week. If approved there, it will go to the House, said Ellen Jeffries, deputy di- rector of the Senate Fiscal Agency. “These are not decisions that I enjoy making,” said State Rep. Bill Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, of cuts to appropriations. “When your revenues are down 25 percent ... the universities are probably already making deci- sions on what they are going to have to do.” If the House and the Senate’s bill drafts have differences, the next step will be conference meetings to come to an agree- ment, Caul said. The hope is to have budgets final by the end of June, he said. But whatever the final decision Proposed state cuts less than expected Proposed 3.1 percent cuts for universities w SVSU - $894,000 w EMU - $2,451,900 w CMU - $2,584,400 w WMU - $3,535,200 w MSU - $9,149,200 w U of M - $10,199,600 A STATE | 2A By Ryan Czachorski Senior Reporter T he steps in a field sobriety test might seem simple to some. But when the individual Central Michigan University Police Of- ficer David Coffman suspected of drunk driving Wednesday night lifted his leg counting one-one thousand, two-one thousand, those steps were a challenge. The driver was arrested around 10 p.m. after a preliminary breathalyzer test and, for Coffman, St. Patrick’s Day had reached its peak. “This’ll probably be as good as it gets,” Coffman said. “They start to drink so early, this is their 3 a.m.; It’s just the dynamic of the night.” Coffman describes Wednesday night’s atmosphere as “like a busy welcome weekend, but it’s only one night.” Despite the night’s party atmo- sphere, CMU Police had their normal load of four cars on the road. Coff- man said the department would have enough vehicles to handle com- plaints, and Mount Pleasant police would more likely be overloaded. Mild weather conditions contrib- uted to increased partying in the city of Mount Pleasant, with many people staying outside as opposed to going to bars, said Dave Sabuda, public information officer for the Mount Pleasant Police Department. The MPPD arrested four people for operating under the influence of alcohol and handed out one ticket for a minor in possession. It also received seven calls for loud parties, with the earliest coming in at 7:55 a.m. “For the amount of people you had in the area,” Sabuda said, “it was average.” The Isabella County Sheriff’s Department saw even less action, arresting only one drunk driver on a motorcycle after the bars closed at 2 a.m. The department also handed out four MIPs. sga | Two presidential candidates begin their campaign, 4A By Amelia Eramya Senior Reporter A body was found behind Sam’s Club around 7 p.m. Thursday, the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department said. “We’re still doing the investi- gation,” Sheriff Leo Miodusze- wksi said. “We’re just process- ing the scene.” The sheriff’s department, along with the Mount Pleasant Fire Department, were inves- tigating the scene as of 11 p.m. Thursday. No further informa- tion was available at press time. Stay tuned to cm-life.com for more information as it be- comes available. [email protected]cm-life.com See the Web site Friday for breaking updates on this story. A ST. PATTY’S | 2A A body was found around 7 p.m. Thursday behind Sam’s Club, 4850 Encore Blvd. No fur- ther information was available at press time. CoUrtesY of mAPQUest.Com
Transcript
21st Annual Pow Wow March 20-21, 2010Rose Center
For more info:Native American ProgramsBovee 125, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859989-774-2508cmich.edu/powwow
Cel
ebra
tingLi
fe
Grand Entry Saturday 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.Sunday NoonHead Veteran: George MartinMC: Sonny SmartHead Dancers: To be picked dailyArena Director: Dave ShananaquetHost Drum: Tha Tribe
Admission PricesGeneral public $7Elders and children $5Weekend pass $12CMU students and SCIT tribal members FREE with I.D.Sponsors Central Michigan UniversityNative American ProgramsNorth American Indigenous Student OrganizationSaginaw Chippewa Indian TribeSaginaw Chippewa Tribal CollegeStudent Budget Allocation Committee
Three Fires American Indian Science and Engineering Society
CMU is an AA/EO institution (see cmich.edu/aaeo) UComm 8296
21st Annual Pow Wow
March 20-21, 2010
Rose Center
For more info:
Native American Programs
Bovee 125, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
989-774-2508
cmich.edu/powwow
Cel
ebra
tingLi
fe
Grand Entry
Saturday 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Sunday Noon
Head Veteran: George Martin
MC: Sonny Smart
Head Dancers: To be picked daily
Arena Director: Dave Shananaquet
Host Drum: Tha Tribe
Admission Prices
General public $7
Elders and children $5
Weekend pass $12
CMU students and SCIT tribal members FREE with I.D.
Sponsors
Central Michigan University
Native American Programs
North American Indigenous Student Organization
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College
Student Budget Allocation Committee
Three Fires American Indian Science and Engineering Society
CMU is an AA/EO institution (see cmich.edu/aaeo) UComm 8296
Celeb
ratin
g
Life SA
G
INAW CHIPPEW
A
TR IBAL COLL
EGE
21ST ANNUAL POW WOWTHIS WEEKEND!
March 20-21, 2010See page 2B for more information
census promotion on campus, 5a
Wrestlers outof NCAA championship bracket, fight for All-America status, 1B
opera | Theatre and music combined for weekend performances, 3A
By Carisa SeltzStaff Reporter
Some are fuming mad and seeing red over Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proclamation to encourage Michiganders to eat healthy greens.
Michigan’s hunter and meat communities promptly re-sponded to Granholm’s deci-sion to make Saturday “Michi-gan Meatout Day,” saying it is demeaning to Michigan’s en-tire agricultural industry and proves her willingness to cater to special interest.
The proclamation encour-ages Michiganders to forgo eating meat for one day to promote a healthy diet. It was referred to as “unconscionable and an insensitive slap in the face to Michigan’s livestock and dairy farmers” by Michi-gan Farm Bureau President Wayne Wood, in a press re-lease.
“It’s inconceivable to us that the governor could stoop to this level of telling people what they should and shouldn’t eat based on the philosophies of ‘food elitists,’” Wood said in the statement.
Not only was the governor’s rationale for encouraging resi-dents not to eat meat in her proclamation “misleading and incriminating,” Wood said, but it’s “unbelievable” that the governor decided to declare Meatout Day on the same day as National Agriculture Day.
“Her action is blatantly de-grading to Michigan consum-ers and farmers, and is de-structive to Michigan’s entire $71.3 billion agriculture in-dustry,” Wood said.
Encouraging hEalthy Eating
Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for the Governor, said the Gra-nholm Administration did not see the proclamation as belit-tling to farmers, hunters or meat-eaters.
The proclamation promotes a “habit of healthy living by consuming a diet that is rich with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and by staying active.” It also delves into why eating meat can sometimes be unhealthy and encourages us-ing fresh ingredients to make unique recipes.
Boyd said Granholm made the proclamation because the Michigan field office for the Great American Meatout Day requested it.
Farm Bureau finds beef with state Meatout DayOfficials say health initiative a ‘slap in the face’
A Meat | 2A
st. patty’s patrol
Police find body behind Sam’s Club
@CMLifeSports
Don’t miss live updates from this weekend’s NCAA WrestlingChampionships in Omaha, Neb.
onFacebook
ontwitter
onVideo
facebook.com/cmlife
TALK WITH US: Are you going to participate in Meat-Out Day? Why or why not?
See one lucky student win $25 to the CMU Bookstore from the SGA Spirits and Traditions Committee.
cm-life.com
What’s on
the WebA look at whatyou can find offthe printed pages
Area police see ‘average’ amount
of activity for midweek holiday
Photos by jeff smith/staff photographerCentral Michigan University Police Officer David Coffman gives a student driver a sobriety test during a traffic stop Wednesday night on West Campus Drive. The student was arrested after failing the test.
CMU Police Officer David Coffman checks a driver’s license on his computer during a traffic stop Wednesday night on East Bellows Street. The department had four cars on the road to handle St. Patrick’s Day complaints.
By Sarah Schuch Senior Reporter
Central Michigan University officials are breathing a slight sigh of relief after learning cuts to state appropriations next year may be smaller than ex-pected.
The State Senate Appropria-tions Committee approved a 3.1 percent cut on Wednesday to state aid for public universi-ties.
For CMU, that means a cut around $2.5 million in state appropriations, taking into ac-count what has come in during the current fiscal year.
David Burdette, vice presi-dent of Finance and Admin-istrative Services, said the university is prepared for the potential cut. Last year, the cut was about was the same, except there was about $2.4 million in stimulus money to help.
“I think we are right where we need to be,” Burdette said Thursday of the proposed 3.1 percent cut. “For today, that’s good news.”
The bill will go to the Senate floor next week. If approved there, it will go to the House,
said Ellen Jeffries, deputy di-rector of the Senate Fiscal Agency.
“These are not decisions that I enjoy making,” said State Rep. Bill Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, of cuts to appropriations. “When your revenues are down 25 percent ... the universities are probably already making deci-sions on what they are going to have to do.”
If the House and the Senate’s bill drafts have differences, the next step will be conference meetings to come to an agree-ment, Caul said.
The hope is to have budgets final by the end of June, he said. But whatever the final decision
Proposed state cuts less than expected
Proposed 3.1 percent cuts
for universities
w SVSU - $894,000 w EMU - $2,451,900 w CMU - $2,584,400 w WMU - $3,535,200 w MSU - $9,149,200 w U of M - $10,199,600
A State | 2A
By Ryan CzachorskiSenior Reporter
The steps in a field sobriety test might seem simple to some.
But when the individual Central Michigan University Police Of-ficer David Coffman suspected of drunk driving Wednesday night lifted his leg counting one-one thousand, two-one thousand, those steps were a challenge.
The driver was arrested around 10 p.m. after a preliminary breathalyzer test and, for Coffman, St. Patrick’s Day had reached its peak.
“This’ll probably be as good as it gets,” Coffman said. “They start to drink so early, this is their 3 a.m.; It’s just the dynamic of the night.”
Coffman describes Wednesday night’s atmosphere as “like a busy welcome weekend, but it’s only one night.”
Despite the night’s party atmo-sphere, CMU Police had their normal load of four cars on the road. Coff-man said the department would have enough vehicles to handle com-plaints, and Mount Pleasant police would more likely be overloaded.
Mild weather conditions contrib-uted to increased partying in the city of Mount Pleasant, with many people staying outside as opposed to going to bars, said Dave Sabuda, public information officer for the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
The MPPD arrested four people for operating under the influence of alcohol and handed out one ticket for a minor in possession. It also received seven calls for loud parties, with the earliest coming in at 7:55 a.m.
“For the amount of people you had in the area,” Sabuda said, “it was average.”
The Isabella County Sheriff ’s Department saw even less action, arresting only one drunk driver on a motorcycle after the bars closed at 2 a.m. The department also handed out four MIPs.
sga | Two presidential candidates begin their campaign, 4A
By Amelia EramyaSenior Reporter
A body was found behind Sam’s Club around 7 p.m. Thursday, the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department said.
“We’re still doing the investi-gation,” Sheriff Leo Miodusze-wksi said. “We’re just process-ing the scene.”
The sheriff’s department, along with the Mount Pleasant Fire Department, were inves-tigating the scene as of 11 p.m. Thursday. No further informa-tion was available at press time.
Stay tuned to cm-life.com for more information as it be-comes available.
cm-life.comSee the Web siteFriday for breakingupdates on this story.
A St. patty’S | 2A
A body was found around 7 p.m. Thursday behind Sam’s Club, 4850 Encore Blvd. No fur-ther information was available at press time.
CoUrtesY of mAPQUest.Com
2A || friday, March 19, 2010 || Central michigan Life cm-life.com
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today
w “have a heart for haiti,” a 90-minute cardio class, takes place at 5 p.m. in Student Act iv ity Center MAC Gym No. 1. There is a $3 minimum donat ion charge.
Saturday
w natural health layman’s course “a Foundation in natural health” takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Naturopathic Community Center, 503 E. Broadway. The cost ranges from $89 per class to $499 for the series of si x classes. w Mary ann Beckwith gallery’s grand opening takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Education and Human Services Building, in the hallway adjacent to rooms 115 and 117.
Sunday
w “Slammin 4 Soldiers,” an evening of slam poetry, takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. at Kaya Coffee House, 1029 S. University Ave. The $10 registrat ion fee includes a T-shi rt. Admission is $5 for students with I.D. and $7 for others. Proceeds benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. A cash prize will be awarded to the best slam poet.
In Monday’s paper, the story "Alumni return to town for rock band reunion" should have stated The Leonards will perform at 11 p.m. Saturday at Rubbles. Mark Slocum is no longer part of the band; the other member is Greg Arvanigian.
Central Michigan Life has a long-standing commitment to fair and accurate reporting. It is our policy to correct factual errors. Please e-mail [email protected].
EVENTS CALENDAR
10 percent chance of precipitation
70 percent chance of precipitation
10 percent chance of precipitation
today High 56/Low 34 Partly Cloudy
SaturdayHigh 39/Low 25 Light Snow
SundayHigh 43/Low 27Partly Cloudy
meat |continued from 1A
“It’s a national group that organizes the great Ameri-can Meatout Day and the Michigan office requested a proclamation for the state of Michigan,” Boyd said.
She said the governor’s office receives hundreds of requests per year for proclamations and said no one should read too much into the politics of Meatout Day.
“We will also be declaring Saturday Agriculture Day in the state of Michigan to coincide with National Ag-riculture Day, which is on Saturday,” Boyd said, noting
the Michigan Department of Agriculture requested that proclamation.
In the Michigan Agriculture Day proclamation, Granholm encourages Michiganders “to help celebrate this day with meals made with a variety of local Michigan ingredients, including but not limited to meat, vegetables and dairy products.”
College Democrats Presi-dent Brad O’Donnell said the outrage that ensued from the governor’s proclamation is ridiculous.
“It’s another controversy that powerful lobbies decid-ed it’s in their best interest to throw a fit about,” the Clin-ton Township junior said.
is, the outcome will not take effect until Oct. 1.
The amount cut could change depending on wheth-er revenues change in the near future, but the committees now are going off of assump-tions, said Jennifer Bowman, chief of staff to State Sen. Tony Stamas, R-Midland.
The state’s revenue essen-tially could go up or down, she said.
“At this point, I don’t think anyone sees revenue going up,” Bowman said. “There will be, I believe, cuts in every budget. I think we are just go-ing off of data we have right now. There are a lot of moving parts.”
If the amount stands, Bur-dette said CMU is ready, but it could change next week. He said it is still too early to tell if the cut in appropriations will affect tuition rates. This is only step one of the budgetary pro-cess, Caul said. The final out-come is yet to be determined.
The state needs to make sure the budget comes out balanced, he said. And at the very least, the state is looking at a $1.7 billion deficit.
The 3.1 percent is consis-tent with what Gov. Jennifer Granholm thought would be needed last year, Caul said, noting the only difference was last year cuts were offset with stimulus money.
“I’m hopeful that we can keep the cuts to a minimum,” Caul said.
Follow us ontwitter at @cmLiFefor the latest news!
ViDeoCheck the site for a video from Thursday’s Census tour on campus.
Wild ‘N‘ Out The Delta Sigma Theta soror-
ity hosts “Wild ‘N’ Out,” a night of comedy and improv, at 6:13 p.m. today in Pearce Hall 127. The event is $1. For more information, contact Sara Kirkland at (313) 806-4450
Annual Equity Conference
The 20th Annual Equity in the Classroom Conference takes place from Sunday to Tuesday at the Soaring Eagle Inn and Con-ference Center. The conference focuses on strategies and devel-opment retention for impacting equality for targeted students. The theme is “Increasing the college graduation rate of under-represented students.” Hosted by Central Michigan University, the featured speakers are Ms. Brandy Johnson-Faith, Dr. Bryan Cook, and Dr. Carlos Cortes. For additional information, contact the Multicultural Education Cen-ter at 774-7319.
Volley For A CureStudents can compete six-on-
six in a co-ed volleyball tourna-ment from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Student Activity Center. The team fee is $30 and pre-reg-istration is required. The winning team will receive a Volley For A Cure Championship T-shirt. A raffle also takes place to raise funds for cancer research. The raffle prizes include golf rounds at Hawk Hol-low and Eagle Eye Golf Course. Admission is free for the general audience, but donations will be ac-cepted. To register, contact Nicole Kress at (313) 525-0158 or e-mail [email protected]
Sidewalk Committee
Union Township is looking for residents to join the Sidewalk Prioritization Committee. The committee meets yearly to dis-cuss sidewalks in Union Township, said CMU Biology Professor Philip Hertzler, a commissioner on the committee. “They’re gonna be looking at the needs for sidewalks in the township and recommend-ing the priority for construction of those,” Hertzler said. Students are encouraged to run for the two-year position, he said. Those interested can contact Woody Woodruff at 772-4600 ex. 241.
If you have an interesting item for Life in Brief,
Angela Gawne dreams of someday traveling across Eu-
rope performing in histori-cal opera houses.
The Flint senior said she loves the way opera de-mands perfection.
“It combines everything, and it’s more challenging,” she said. “You get all aspects of different cultures in just one thing.”
Gawne is just one of many students preparing for “Don Giovanni,” an opera com-posed by Wolfgang Ama-deus Mozart that takes place at 8 p.m. today and Satur-day, and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Music Building’s Staples Family Concert Hall.
During rehearsals, the cast and crew have turned the Music Building’s green room into an otherworldly place.
It is a realm of purgatory for men in 18th-century blouses and tights to check Facebook pages and women in decorated gowns to text their friends and do home-work.
Jack Eikrem paced about,
listening to the baritones and sopranos on stage dur-ing a Wednesday night per-formance.
The Mount Pleasant fresh-man hopes to someday per-form at to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
“(Opera is) the most beau-tiful music ever written,” he said.
Eikrem is the son of James Eikrem, temporary faculty of communication and dra-matics arts at Central Michi-gan University.
Jack grew up with opera often playing in his house.
Though he always had a love for it, he was halfway through high school be-fore he felt called to the art form.
“At some point, I consid-ered it a legitimate career, which is something I’d never done before,” he said.
He said the melodies, orchestration and soaring drama of opera are what attracted him to the perfor-mance style.
“What’s not to like?” Eikrem said.
Saginaw senior Joe Leibin-
ger wants to conduct opera orchestras at a university.
He is drawn to the art by the unique connec-tion it forges between its performers and the com-poser — in this case, a man from more than 200 years ago.
“It’s the communication of notes on a page actu-ally meaning something to people,” Leibinger said.
Gawne caught her breath backstage Wednesday and adjusted the period dress she rented from the Cincin-nati Conservatory of Music. It was very intricate — and heavy.
She enjoys all aspects of
opera, including the vocal performance.
“Not everyone can get to the Met (the Metropolitan Opera House),” Gawne said. “But you can get to Grand Rapids.”
studentlife@cm-life,com
Photos by jEff sMith/staff photographerSchool of Music students Allendale graduate Paul Melcher, left, Munger senior Zach Krieger and Rochester Hills senior Thomas Walkenhorst perform a rehearsal of ‘Don Giovanni’ on Wednesday in Staples Family Concert Hall.
The oldsong and dance
Student opera “Don Giovanni” set
for weekend performancesBy Connor Sheridan | Senior Reporter
If you go...
w What: "Don Giovanni"w When : 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sundayw Where: Staples Family Concert Hallw Cost: $10 for public, $7 for students, seniors
By Heather HillmanStaff Reporter
Katie Austin was once de-nied a Pell Grant when she ap-plied.
The Livonia senior is one of many students nationwide who could benefit from a stu-dent loan bill expected to go before the U.S. Senate within the next several days.
The bill could raise the maximum amount of money available through federal Pell Grants, allowing more stu-dents to be eligible to receive the loans.
“Every dollar that I get comes from financial aid or student loans,” Austin said. “I’m definitely in favor of the bill.”
According to previous re-ports, 6,275 students enrolled at Central Michigan University as of last fall hold a Pell Grant. The maximum amount of
loan money available through a Pell Grant is $5,550. The new legislation looks to raise that maximum to approximately $6,400.
Reps. Joe Courtney, D-N.Y., and Tim Bishop, D-Conn., held a phone conference with college reporters Wednesday to discuss the bill, which will be an updated form of the Stu-dent Aid and Fiscal Responsi-bility Act passed by the U.S. House in September.
The bill was initially thought to save $87 billion in taxpayer
money over the next 10 years by making all college loans direct lending with the gov-ernment, rather than using private lenders to distribute the funds.
However, after a reanalysis, congressional Democrats now believe the bill will only save $67 billion because of univer-sities making the transition to direct lending on their own. When this happens, Bishop said, the money saved cannot be used toward increasing Pell Grants’ maximum.
As more universities contin-ue to make the switch, Bishop and Courtney said it is crucial the bill be passed quickly in order for students to benefit.
“This is a very hopeful time for those who care about help-ing students,” Bishop said. “I’m very optimistic that we’re going to get this passed.”
Financial job loss?Many private student loan
lenders, such as Sallie Mae,
Bill could increase funds available for Pell GrantsEffort could save up to $67 billion
Coldwater junior Chelsea Hart and Allendale graduate student Paul Melcher perform a rehearsal of Don Giovanni Wednesday in Staples Family Concert Hall.
A loans | 7A
By Sherri KeatonSenior Reporter
Ulana Klymyshyn cannot recall missing any of the pow-wows held at Central Michigan University.
“I like sitting in bleachers and looking down at danc-ers because there is a swirl of color and movement; it’s really wonderful,” the director of the Multicultural Education said.
The 21st Annual Pow Wow will take place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Saturday’s
grand entrances are at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday’s is at noon.
The event is free for CMU students, $7 for the public and $5 for children and elders.
Colleen Green, director of Native American Programs, said the powwow is a way for people to gather and make friends.
“It’s like a big reunion, also a place where you can meet peo-ple,” Green said. “In our cul-ture, we like to have these big reunions where we can come together and meet new people
as well as see old friends and family.”
Green said the powwows are invitations to the community
to explore Native American culture. The event will include dancers, drummers and ven-dors selling Native American crafts.
“When you go to a powwow, we have an emcee (who) will talk about the different dances that we have, and who will give an explanation of what kind of dances there are,” Green said.
Josh Hudson, president of the North American Indigenous Student Organization, has at-tended powwows throughout his life and said they are great social gatherings.
“To me, it’s a really beautiful experience,” the Mount Pleas-ant junior said.
The event will include a dance and drum contest, Green said.
“I think it is very important for the community because we live in such a diverse society now sometimes we forget about the different cultures, so it is a way for us to give back and say, ‘We’re still here, we’re still strong,’ and we invite you in to share in our culture,” she said.
Powwow celebrates native american life, cultureIf you go...
w What: "21st Annual Pow Wow"w When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundayw Where: Rose Arenaw Cost: Free for students, $7 for the general public and $5 for elders, children
By Maryellen TigheSenior Reporter
Michigan’s job climate could be heat-ing up.
On Tuesday, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation said it would pump $742 million into business proj-ects statewide with a series of tax credits over the next 10 years to create around 7,000 jobs.
The investment will benefit 13 busi-ness projects, affecting numerous in-dustries from life sciences to homeland security.
“It’s going to be localized to where those companies are investing,” said Brian Anderson, president of the Middle Michigan Development Corporation. “I think it provides an excellent opportu-nity for any educated workforce.”
Fortu PowerCell, an international de-veloper of rechargeable batteries, will receive about $12.6 million in tax cred-its to start operations in Muskegon, and Masco Cabinetry Co., a manufacturer of kitchen and bath cabinets, will get $5.7 million for job retention, among others.
Anderson said Michigan lacks a work-force to fill specific skills and said it is not unreasonable to predict job creation from the tax breaks.
The state Department of Energy, La-bor and Economic Growth recently re-leased a prediction of “Michigan’s HOT 50” jobs, pegging health care as one of the fields expected to see the most growth in the next seven years.
“I think it’s a good outlook in Michi-gan,” said Burton graduate student Desirae Delbridge. “If we all stayed in Michigan, we would all have jobs lined up by the time we graduate.”
Delbridge is studying to be a physi-cian’s assistant , one of the strongest jobs, with more than 20 percent job growth predicted before 2016.
There are a record number of jobs that require bachelor’s and associate degrees on the job forecast, DELEG economic analyst Bruce Weaver said.
“It’s just a sampling of some of the oc-cupations in Michigan that are expected to have above average growth,” Weaver said. “Growth in occupations like heath care and tech jobs, and less jobs avail-able in manufacturing ... Those trends are similar across the country.”
Michigan jobs may be overall a little heavier in engineering and manufactur-ing than other states because of invest-ments in the car industry, he said, but most places require similar techniques and skills to get a job.
Dennis Dunlap, director of Alma Michigan Works, said 50 percent of the jobs attained are because of networking,
7,000 state jobs promised$742 million being pumped into projects
A Jobs | 7A
Staff reports
Four deans were named fi-nalists for the College of Busi-ness Administration and will hold open forums.
Charles Crespy, currently a professor at the University of New Mexico, will have his forum from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday in Grawn Hall’s Pier-pont Auditorium.
Gary Koppenhaver, a profes-sor of finance and chairman of the finance, insurance and law department at Illinois State University, will have a forum from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wednes-day in Pierpont Auditorium.
R. Edward Bashaw, dean of the College of Business at Tex-as A&M University-Texarkana, will have a forum from 2:30 to 3:30 Thursday in Pierpont Au-ditorium.
Shawnee Vickery, professor and co-director of the Insti-tute for Entrepreneurship at Michigan State University, will have a forum April 7 with a time and location to be an-nounced.
Tom Moore, Dean of Librar-ies and chairman of the search committee for the CBA dean, said the goal is to name a dean by the end of this semester.
“(The finalists) have fine credentials and are good pros-pects for becoming an excel-lent dean,” he said.
The Student Government As-sociation Presidential Election will feature a familiar face and a new one.
Current Vice President Brit-tany Mouzourakis and Troy ju-nior Evan Agnello are running for the position. The two will square off in a debate at 7 p.m. March 30 in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium.
Agnello will be joined by vice president hopeful Jessica Rich-ard, a Highland junior. The two jointly have three years of expe-rience in SGA, though they are
not participating currently, and are focusing on SGA funding and restoring tailgating.
The pair is using the slogan, “We Deserve Better.”
“Student budgets are going up while everything else is go-ing down,” Agnello said. “Ev-erybody’s hurting — we’re just trying to lead by example.”
Agnello said there needs to be a new face leading SGA.
“We think there should be new leadership,” he said. “We also feel we are up for the chal-lenge.”
Mouzourakis, a Garden City senior, is campaigning with Muskegon senior David Breed
as her candidate for vice presi-dent. Breed has three years of SGA experience, currently as membership officer and aca-demic liaison to the senate.
Their mission statement is “Unrivaled SGA experience, coupled with a proven commit-
ment to students.” Mouzoura-kis intends to focus on student advocacy, making strategic alli-ances with administration and a dedication to diversity.
“We want to help protect the campus programming fund and look into using renewable energy,” she said. “By having solar and wind energy, the state recognizes the benefits and the funding will go up.”
Both candidates made light of student stipends, which pay for SGA members’ salaries.
“These bonuses come out of student fees,” Agnello said. “We’re hoping to give back to the students by forming a
scholarship with the money.”For Mouzourakis, the deci-
sion is not that easy.“The members who are eco-
nomically challenged wouldn’t be able to do anything,” she
said. “Stipends will be trimmed down, but we won’t get rid of them.”
Both candidates can spend up to $350 of their own money to campaign, through methods such as signs, chalk, T-shirts and tale tents in the cafeteria. Campaigns started Monday.
Voting takes place April 5 through noon April 11. Students can vote at vote.cmich.edu and will be asked to use their global identification in order to vote. A winner will be named April 12.
4A || Friday, March 19, 2010 || Central Michigan Life www.cm-life.com[NeWs]
By sherri Keaton Senior Reporter
Jolie Masters is rediscover-ing her “vagina.”
And on Friday, the Kent-wood sophomore and a group of women will “look” at their private parts and come to un-derstand how beautiful they are.
It is all part of “The Vagina Monologues,” a stage perfor-mance taking place at 7 p.m. today and 2 and 7 p.m. Sun-day in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.
“A lot of women don’t re-ally look at it,” Masters said of vaginas. “They’re like, ‘That is weird or gross,’ and then they realize, ‘I’m a woman. I have a vagina and it is beautiful.’”
The production features 23 females and is focused on ending violence against wom-en.
Masters said the production is freeing and relates to every woman.
“I have become a lot more open — I say ‘vagina’ in normal conversations. To be this free is awesome,” Masters said.
Tickets are $5 for students, $7 for the public and $10 at the door. Advance tickets are available at the Central Box Office.
The event is sponsored by the Organization of Women Leaders and proceeds benefit Sexual Aggression Peer Advo-cates.
Kentwood senior Mara
D’Amico, president of OWL and co-director of the show, said the purpose is to raise money and awareness, an idea that began from the Mono-logue writer, Eve Ensler.
D’Amico said the message of womanhood is one many of the actresses are passionate about.
“They brought something
really special to the show and I think it is going to be a great performance because people will experience a wide range of emotions. They’re going to learn a lot,” D’Amico said.
One of the performance pieces, “The Memory of Her Face,” focuses on the differ-ential treatment of women across the world.
This is a message Griffin McMath, an actress and Troy sophomore, said was hard, but necessary, to convey.
“It took me a lot of strength the first time I read it,” McMath said. “I had to stop my audi-tion; I bawled my eyes out. It’s a moving role, and I have been able to open my eyes to issues I didn’t know about.”
Bay City senior Holly Mc-Daniel said she wants to at-
tend because of the message.“I feel like it is a great way
to celebrate being a woman,” McDaniel said. “Being a wom-an means embracing our fem-ininity with pride.”
w What: "The Vagina Monologues"w When: 7 p.m. today and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundayw Where: Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditoriumw Cost: $5 for students, $7 for non-students and $10 at the door.
By Maryellen TigheSenior Reporter
Construction of an addi-tion to Mid Michigan Com-munity College was ap-proved Wednesday by the Union Township Planning Commission.
The Herbert D. Doan Cen-ter for Science and Health Technologies, on the corner of Broadway and Summer-ton roads, is set to host the 15,000-square-foot addition. Gwladys Austin, MMCC’s vice president of Institution-al Services and Technology, said the addition will house the bookstore and student services.
“All requirements have been met,” said Stacie Tewari, project engineer from Rowe Professional Ser-vices Company, the group in charge of the project. “We will be relocating some of the landscaping that was done in the last phase.”
Some of the landscaping will create a screen on the property line shared with Toni’s Dance Studio, 5920 E. Broadway St., Tewari said.
The commission agreed the screening would only be needed on the south prop-erty line.
“I don’t see the view really changing that much to the east or the west,” said Zon-ing Administrator Woody Woodruff. “For some peo-ple, it is a relief to finally know what is going to be in that big field.”
The project should not require an expansion of MMCC’s parking lot, Tewari said, and it has been ap-proved by the Isabella Coun-ty Transportation Commis-sion. There also is tentative approval from the Mount
Pleasant Fire Department based on slight parking and fire hydrant movements.
The MMCC Board of Trust-ees first approved the ex-pansion, which will cost $3 million, in December, col-lege spokesman Matt Miller said in January.
This building will include sidewalks to allow for po-tential expansion of Broad-way and Summerton roads, Tewari said.
The commission did not require an extension of the sidewalk to the south edge of the property, Commis-sioner Alex Fuller said, as it is considered unnecessary.
“We either do it now or wait until there is sidewalk to hook up to,” he said.
Other businessTownship officials cre-
ated a committee of Wood-ruff, Commission Chairman Philip Squattrito and Com-missioners Fuller and Betty Wagner, Central Michigan University’s director of ad-missions. The committee will recommend revisions to the current signage ordi-nance.
The ordinance encom-passes all road-side signs. Commissioners on Wednes-day specifically discussed signs off of Pickard Road.
“We (the Zoning Board of Appeals) are getting a lot of requests now for LED light-ing, and there’s nothing in the ordinance to refer-ence wattage or illumina-tion,” said Commissioner Sara Spencer-Noggle, who sits on the ZBA. “The other
question is if they are even appropriate for residential use.”
Signs are already up that rotate numbers and letters and they are working fine, Woodruff said. There are many state regulations for signs that will serve as ex-amples for the township’s revisions.
MMCC building expansion OK’d by Union TownshipCommittee alsocreated to address signage regulations
Brittany Mouzourakis
Evan Agnello
SGA presidential candidates begin their campaign
Use your voice
Student Government
Association presidential election:
w Voting takes place April 5 through April 11.w Connect: vote.cmich.edu
File photo“The Vagina Monologues” had three shows last February. The monologues focused on women from around the world and how they view their womanhood.
“All requirements have been met. We will be relocating some of the
landscaping that was done in the last phase.”
Stacie Tewari, project engineer from Rowe professional Services Company
www.cm-life.com[NeWs]
Central Michigan Life || Friday, March 19, 2010 || 5A
By David VeselenakOnline Editor
Angela Hernandez said vol-unteering for the United States Census is her way of saying “thank you” to Mount Pleas-ant.
“I’ve lived here for four years,” the Allen Park senior said. “It’s kind of my way of giv-ing back.”
Hernandez was one stu-dent volunteering at the Cen-sus tour that came to campus Thursday. Students, city and Census Bureau officials dis-persed bags filled with items such as coffee mugs and mini footballs as a reminder to mail in census forms.
The tour is one of 13 of its kind going across the country to promote participation in the census.
“This is phenomenal we’ve had this kind of coverage,” said
Zaf Khaja, a partnership spe-cialist for the U.S. Census Bu-reau. “The response has been overwhelming.”
Khaja said the tour has fo-cused especially on college campuses because this age group, especially, may be confused as to where they count.
“You are the young folk and you will define what we are as a nation,” he said. “If you don’t define it, who will?”
Where the mOney gOesStudents are required to fill
the census out in the place where they live a majority of the year. On-campus students will get a form from their resi-dent assistants and return it to them. Off-campus students can mail their forms back, or return them to the Bovee Uni-versity Center or City Hall, 320
W. Broadway St.Census data is used to ap-
portion more than $4 trillion in federal funding over the next 10 years, as well as reapportion congressional and state legis-lative districts, said Mike Price, media specialist for the Census Bureau.
“Representation in Congress is what makes democracy work,” he said. “We want every state to have their representa-tion.”
Farmington Hills junior Zac Cohen, who lives off-campus, said he has not gotten his census form yet, but said the information at the tour was helpful.
“Once I get mine, I will (fill it out),” he said.
Jeff Gray, director of plan-ning and community develop-ment for Mount Pleasant, said the city will eventually be able to track how many forms have been returned.
“Our goal is to keep that re-sponse rate up there,” he said.
Two journalism students will receive the Lem Tucker Scholarship this year in-stead of one.
The scholarship, which gives high school students full tuition funding for four years and a supplementary award for room and board, is traditionally given to one student at a dinner and awards ceremony in Detroit. But CMU decided to forgo the ceremony this year.
Odille Parker of Holland and Logan Patmon of South-field are this year’s recipi-ents. Steve Smith, director of Public Relations, said the time came to make chang-es in accordance with the struggling economy.
“The decision is a reflec-tion of economic condi-tions,” Smith said. “The uni-
versity decided the money would be better spent award-ing a second scholarship to a deserving student.”
The cost of the dinner and ceremony for 2009 was $50,000. Smith said remov-ing the dinner would allow a second scholarship to be given out.
“The value is $80,000 each,” he said.
The Lem Tucker Scholar-ship is named after CMU alumnus Lem Tucker and was created 14 years ago to encourage and promote success for minorities in journalism.
the WinnersParker and Patmon had
to stand out in many differ-ent areas of the application process to earn the award, Smith said.
He said there are several requirements, including a persuasive essay, letter of recommendation and cop-ies of their work.
Patmon is editor in chief of the Southfield Jay, his school’s newspaper.
“I have been on my school paper for 2 years,” Patmon said. “I have a radio person-ality on my school radio sta-tion. It’s a political and news show.”
He said he plans to double major during his time at CMU and explore the legal side of journalism.
“I want to double major in journalism and political sci-ence,” Patmon said. “I’d like to become a specialist in international law. I want be one of those people who are called in as specialists and interviewed as an expert.”
Parker said she plans to
focus on print journalism.“I like feature writing,”
Parker said. “I’m interested in traveling all over to differ-ent places and writing about what I see. Of course, I also wouldn’t mind writing in a magazine about fashion.”
Parker said she has been involved in several aspects of the journalism field while in high school.
“I was the editor of my school yearbook and I write for La Community Voice/La Voz. It’s a bilingual newspa-per in the area,” Parker said.
Tucker scholarship goes to two this yearUniversity forgoes ceremony to free award money
Libby MarCh/StAFF photogRApheRStockbridge senior Jacqueline Upshur works on a window painting Thursday at Greentree Cooperative Grocery, 214 N. Franklin St. It is Greentree’s 40th year in business, and Upshur is volunteering to make art for the occasion.
By emily PfundStaff Reporter
Alfie Kohn is not happy with the current education system.
Kohn, an author and ac-tivist, spoke of education re-form and progressive educa-tion Wednesday to a packed French Auditorium in the Ed-ucation and Human Services Building.
“Whoever said we couldn’t get a crowd out on Saint Pat-rick’s Day?” said Kathryn Koch, interim dean of the College of Education and Hu-man Services, when intro-ducing Kohn.
Kohn, featured on the “To-day Show” and the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” has written 11 books on the subjects of hu-man behavior, education and parenting, and signed books at a reception after his pre-sentation.
He criticized the “tradi-tional” education system in place for the majority of the country, which he said leads to low quality of learning, in-creases the gap between rich and poor, creates more be-havior problems and causes students to lose their curios-ity and intrinsic motivation for learning.
He also criticized the MEAP and other standardized tests, which he said “dumb down learning even as scores rise.”
Learning, Kohn said, should be based on understanding rather than simply being able to regurgitate facts.
“The progressive class-room is focused on sense and meaning, not the ‘right an-swer,’” Kohn said.
An ‘educAtiOnAl herO’Kohn encouraged the audi-
ence, which included many students from Central Michi-
gan University’s education program, to use more pro-gressive discovery-oriented methods in their classrooms and to put less emphasis on achievement and standard-ized tests.
He also had harsh criti-cism for America’s “No Child Left Behind” system and the educational system at large. Kohn’s presentation was lightened by his use of humor and sarcasm and often broke into humorous anecdotes.
His speech was part of the T.R. Johnson Speaker Series put on by the education pro-gram.
Professor of teacher educa-tion and professor develop-ment Norma Bailey suggested Kohn for the series.
“I’ve read his books for years,” Bailey said.
Bailey called Kohn her “ed-ucational hero” and credited his books with helping her
grow as an educator.“I’ve known about him for
about 20 years. He was the first person I recommended (for the series),” Bailey said.
Paige CaLaMari/StAFF photogRApheRPRSSA chapter president Angela Hernandez, an Allen Park senior, passes out promotional bags during the 2010 Census Road Tour Thursday morning in front of the Bovee University Center.
“the decision is a reflection of economic conditions ...
the university decided the money would be better spent awarding a
second scholarship to a deserving student.”
Steve Smith, Director of public Relations
cm-life.comCheck the Web sitea video fromthe Census tour.
voices[cm-life.com/category/opinion]
6A
central Michigan Life
Friday, March 19, 2010
Hours after Gov. Jennifer Granholm made the announcement, news surfaced that Short, 57, is a convicted scam artist with a long history of jail time and embezzlement. He was on parole in Genesee County and build-ing the business out of the bedroom of his friend’s mobile home.
Background checks seem like a simple and effective way to make sure incidents like this don’t happen. Yet somehow, officials failed to take such protective action.
For a state that had to temporarily shutter government work to balance an overdue budget last year, it’s baf-
fling that millions of dollars would be given away without so much as a simple check and balance. This is a huge embarrassment, and state of-ficials need to be 100 percent sure of where taxpayer money is going.
Short’s criminal record is atro-cious. According to the Detroit Free Press, he has a long history of embezzlement and serving jail time, including a 6-year sentence for steal-ing money from a Muskegon County business. He has been in and out of prison since then for multiple parole violations and owes the state nearly $100,000 in restitution for the dam-
age he has caused.So while our elected officials are
giving tax breaks to felons, the state’s educational level is brutally on the decline, families are literally living off unemployment and young people are leaving the state as soon as they can for lack of work.
Instead of putting the money where it needs to go, government officials are blindly giving money away with-out as much as a second thought.
The real kicker in the situation is that Short was discovered by Flint city process server Patrick Clawson and not the government officials that made the initial mistake.
“I unraveled this guy’s past in 15 minutes with an Internet connection. Why in the hell couldn’t anyone in the state do this in months of negotiating a tax credit with this fellow?” he ques-tioned in the Free Press article.
It’s a good question that our state’s bumbling leaders can’t seem to answer.
If the government is planning to dole out millions of tax dollars to individuals in the state, they should first check into where the money is actually going. State officials who approve the tax breaks should per-form comprehensive background checks.
The government needs to check all current businesses that have received huge tax breaks and government funding. With this big of a debacle, it’s not farfetched to think other companies or people are scamming money as well.
This is another sore eye for Michi-gan. Politicians in Lansing shouldn’t have to be reminded how to do their jobs but, apparently, that’s not the case. Stop being inept and think before you spend.
The promise of new jobs and growth in Michigan is always heartwarming. But if this is the state government’s ap-proach of hoping for the best, citizens can only expect the worst.
State government officials on Wednesday an-nounced a $9.1 million tax credit for Richard Short thinking his fledgling company, Renewable
and Sustainable Cos., would bring 765 jobs to Flint.
EDITORIAL | State should do background checks before doling taxpayer money
Central Michigan Life welcomes let-ters to the editor and commentary submissions. Only correspondence that includes a signature (e-mail excluded), address and phone number will be considered. Do not include attached documents via e-mail. Letters should be no longer than 300 words and commentary should not exceed 500 words. All submissions are subject to editing and may be published in print or on www.cm-life.com in the order they are received.
[letters to the editor]
Stinkin’ it up
Deodorant is your friend, especially with
warmer weather
CHRIS TAMLYN [CENTRAL SQUARE]
[our readers’ voice]
At the end of it all
Graduation. It’s the cheese at the end of a long
maze known as college, the holy grail earned after years of sleepless nights and countless assignments.
But as I find myself bustling through my last semester of college, there’s a schizophrenic panic that’s slowly overtaking me. Where will I go? Can I find a job? The world may be wide open in front of me, but the infinite horizon is every bit as terrifying as it is exciting.
Truth be told, I’ve never really thought much past graduation.
What’s occurred to me after 5 years of strain and constant learn-ing is that college isn’t about getting that perfect job. It’s not about working for the coveted 4.0 GPA or reaching a level of elitism.
It’s about growing up, working your way out of new and confusing situations. It’s about using tools you are given to make the world a better place. It’s about meeting complete strangers and turning them into friends.
Professors have warned me how tough the job market is. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported unemployment at 10.4 percent at the end of February, news that expecting graduates don’t want to hear.
What most professors fail to tell their students, though, is that they have the upper hand. Technology is moving at a blistering pace. My gen-eration is right there moving along with it, learning about new skills before they are even implemented in the classroom.
Compound that with the social and adaptive skills that every col-lege student needs to earn a degree, I’d wager that recent grads have more to offer than they’re told.
So when I walk down that long aisle after my name is called out, when I look out over the crowd of my fellow graduates, there will be comfort in knowing that I made it through and learned more than just what’s written on a piece of paper.
The past five years have given me enough experience to know I can make it in the real world, even if I don’t get that perfect job.
central Michigan Life
“Island Park. I can relax over
there and play sometimes.”
Suneth Kalapugama, Sri Lanka
graduate student
C M Y O u | Where is you favorite place to go out in Mount Pleasant?
jake may/Staff PhotograPher
the library. It has everything: food,
comfort and friends.”Lynn Lee,
Korea freshman
“My apartment, actually. 40s are much cheaper
than buying beer at the bar.”John Klein, reed City
senior
Coco Joe’s. It’s a nice
environment. Very good food.
It’s just a nice setting.”
Sabreen Sharrief, Inkster senior
Brian Manzullo, Editor in ChiEf | Will Axford, VoiCEs Editor | Heidi Fenton, Managing Editor | Eric Dresden, UniVErsity Editor | Jackie Smith, MEtro Editor
EdIToRIAL Brian Manzullo, Editor in Chief Heidi Fenton, Managing Editor
Joe Borlik, Student Life EditorJackie Smith, Metro Editor
Eric dresden University EditorAndrew Stover, Sports Editor Ashley Miller, Photo EditorWill Axford, Voices Editor
david Veselenak, Online EditorChelsea Kleven, Lead Designer
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
– The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Michigan has received some-thing this year that has been very rare in recent years — a warm, pleasant mid-March.
However, as the weather warms up, there is one thing every last person who will spend an ex-tended period of time in a college classroom must remember to do daily.
Wear deodorant.It seems simple, it seems silly,
and most people do it every single day. However, in a warm class-room, it only takes one sweaty nonconformist to ruin it for everybody.
This is a good rule for all year round, but it becomes more im-portant when the heat and the hu-midity get the sweat glands pump-ing, and that lecture hall slowly turns into a pressure cooker.
This soon after spring break, I’ve already noticed that certain ripeness during a class.
Someone who does not wear deodorant indicates many things about themselves by their choice not to do so. It says they can’t spend $2.50 and 10 seconds a morning to take a step toward per-sonal hygiene.
It says they have too little con-sideration for the people around them to prevent a sweaty stink from reaching their nostrils.
It also tells you things about that person based on what they will not be doing. They will not be making new friends. They will not be trying to win over a romantic interest. They will not be going to a formal event or a job interview.
As mentioned earlier, most people simply apply deodorant after they get out of the shower as a part of the morning routine. De-odorant is cheap and easy to ap-ply, and there is no reason to not wear it. Sadly, my nostrils often tell me this is not the truth.
In a class of 40 people on a warm day, it is guaranteed that 39 of them will have put on deodor-ant that morning. But there’s always that one guy.
I don’t understand That Guy’s reasoning. Does he just have no regard for personal health or hy-giene? Is he protesting or making a statement?
Does he hate people?That Guy is a difficult creature
to understand, and he rarely takes the time to explain himself. Whatever the reason, his stink is indomitable and it overpowers everybody within a 10-foot radius.
But it’s just deodorant. There is no good reason not to wear it. That Guy has no reason to exist.
As easy as it is to actually apply deodorant, it’s just as difficult to walk up to somebody and tell them, “Homeboy, put on some deodorant.”
But a little thing like that is the kind of thing that can really stifle and taint the college education process.
So if That Guy is reading this — and I hope he is — homeboy, put on some deodorant.
Brad CanzeColumnist
I am writing in regard to the recent salaries awarded to the Uni-versity President and the new Dean of the Medical College.
It is hard to believe that a dean of a specific college of the university will be making a total of $35,000 more than the president of the university in base salary. I do not believe that a dean’s salary should exceed that of the presidents.
Taking other medical school dean salaries into consideration should not have been done. It should have been what the university can afford.
The salary of President Ross is far too high of an amount of money. Why is it that the six-letter word “interim” can cause a pay decrease of nearly $150,000? Kathy Wilbur did a much more than adequate job for the university in the time she served, and she did it on nearly half the salary of President Ross.
The university seems to be com-plaining that they are going to be losing money because of all of the
government cutbacks. If they were to eliminate the outrageous bonus amounts (maximum $70,000 for President Ross, and a maximum of $150,000 for Yonder), and somehow create a lesser salary amount for the faculty, it would help.
If the university truly wants to help its students with fiscal man-agement and the cost of college, they would come up with a way to help keep tuition at lower rates. One of these solutions could be to lessen the salaries of the administration of the university.
Tanner M. ParmentierCommerce Township Junior
On behalf of the more than 630 members of the Central Michigan University Faculty Association, I want to welcome President George Ross back to campus.
We all recognize the economic and political challenges facing our campus, state and nation.
We hope that President Ross can provide the stable leadership the campus needs in order to chart the immediate and long term future for CMU.
Over its 40-year history repre-senting a diverse faculty of schol-ars, teachers, artists, coaches, librarians, and counselors, the Faculty Association has built a foundation of mutual respect and collaboration with the adminis-tration.
We are committed to continu-ing this culture of cooperation so as to ensure a bright future for the students, faculty, and staff at CMU. We are hopeful that we can build a strong relationship with Presi-dent Ross and his administration to assist in designing constructive ways to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
So along with the entire campus, the CMU Faculty Association wish-es to welcome back President Ross and his family upon their return to the Mount Pleasant community.
Timothy Brannan, PresidentCMU Faculty Association
Administration is overpaid amid CMU budget cuts
Central Michigan Life is the independent voice of Central Michigan University and is ed-ited and published by students of Central Michigan University every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters, and every Wednesday during the summer. The online edition (www.cm-life.com) contains all of the material published in print.
Central Michigan Life is is under the jurisdiction of the independent Student Media Board of Directors. Articles and opinions do not necessarily reflect the position or opinions
of CMU or its employees.Central Michigan Life is a member of the Michigan Press Association, the Michigan
Collegiate Press Association, the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Newspaper Business & Advertising Managers Association.
Central Michigan Life’s operations are totally funded from revenues through advertising sales. Editions are distributed free throughout the community and individuals are entitled
to one copy. Each copy has an implied value of 75 cents.Non-university subscriptions are $1 per mailed edition. Copies of photographs published
in Central Michigan Life or its online edition (www.cm-life.com) are available for purchase at http://reprints.cm-life.com
Central Michigan Life’s editorial and business offices are located at 436 Moore Hall, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859, telephone 774-3493.
Will Axford Voices Editor
CMU Faculty Association welcomes Ross back
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www.cm-life.com[NeWs]
Central Michigan Life || Friday, March 19, 2010 || 7A
By Connor sheridanSenior Reporter
Central Michigan Univer-sity has an app for that.
It unveiled “CMU Con-nect” on March 4 as a new application for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, intended to inform users of happenings on campus.
The application is avail-able for free on Apple’s “App Store.”
It includes access to CMU news, campus maps, weath-er and opinion polls among other features.
“It was a main goal for us to connect current stu-dents, prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni and overall fans of CMU to the institution in a unique and dynamic environment,” said
Steve Smith, director of pub-lic relations, in an e-mailed statement.
The app’s design was con-tracted to Straxis Technology by University Communica-tions for $4,300 annually.
The Campus News section of the app features news from CMU’s Media Channel. It also links to Central Mich-igan Life’s sports stories, but not its news stories.
Smith said CMU Con-nect is the school’s first iPod Touch or iPhone app, and he believed it is the first among the Mid-American Confer-ence schools.
Paw Paw senior Jaimie Pineda tried the app on her iPod Touch and said she was impressed.
“I really like the setup,” she said. “It’s very Apple.”
Pineda said she enjoyed the news, videos and polls. It allows people to stay more up to date with everything going on around campus, she said.
Pineda hopes future ver-sions will include even more
interaction between indi-vidual users of the program and the university, such as moderated blogs.
“It would give the univer-sity a better idea of what students want,” she said.
expAndingUniversity Communica-
tions is looking to release the application for Android-powered devices, Blackberry phones and Apple devices.
Though CMU Connect does not currently interface with CMU’s information technology systems, Roger Rehm, the vice president of Information Technology and chief information officer for CMU, said he anticipates building on it.
“We’re certainly planning to make more services avail-able through mobile devic-es,” Rehm said. “The app’s a good first step.”
Though the features that may make their way into the app or similar spaces need to be evaluated, some possibilities include course
schedules and bill pay, he said.
He said iPhone apps spe-cific to universities are still fairly rare.
According to its press re-lease, University of Califor-nia, San Diego was the first public university to release a mobile app that gives ac-cess to course information.
That school’s app emerged on the technology scene in June 2009.
In February, Grand Rapids Community College intro-
duced an application which is integrated with Black-board, the release stated.
University launches CMU Connect for Apple devicesApp cost Central $4,300; could expandto Android
have voiced concern about the new legislation possibly resulting in job loss for those in the financial industry. Bish-op and Courtney agree these claims hold no validity as the bill does not eliminate private
lending, but merely directs taxpayers’ dollars toward stu-dents and their families rather than banks.
“The direct student loan program will still rely on pri-vate contractors to service loans,” Bishop said. “There’s no question that the benefit to students will make up for it.”
Courtney said they hope
to use $40 billion of the $67 billion savings exclusively to raise the maximum amount of money given by Pell Grants.
To accelerate the process, the bill has been partnered with the health-care reform bill to spare funds. That, Bishop said, was the intent all along.
and 60 percent are never advertised and are filled through network connec-tions.
He recommended incom-ing students look at the list of jobs and figure out which
one they are interested in. “Be specific in your train-
ing, start building your job network ... Those are keys,” Dunlap said.
“When you do that, if you can do that, then you’ll get a job in Michigan.”
Central Michigan Uni-versity physician’s assistant students are generally not worried about finding jobs
in Michigan or anywhere else, Eric Rocker said.
“I don’t think anyone of us would have a problem get-ting a job anywhere,” the Newberry graduate student said. “Most of last year’s stu-dents had two to three job offers before they gradu-ated.”
FRIDAYMidwest2. Ohio State 9:35 p.m.15. UC Santa Barbara
4. Maryland 9:40 p.m.13. Houston
5. Michigan State 7:20 p.m.12. New Mexico State
7. Oklahoma State 7:15 p.m.10. Georgia Tech
West1. Syracuse 9:30 p.m.16. Vermont
3. Pittsburgh 2:45 p.m.14. Oakland
6. Xavier 12:25 p.m.11. Minnesota
8. Gonzaga 7:10 p.m.9. Florida State
South1. Duke 9:30 p.m.16. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
4. Purdue 2:45 p.m.13. Siena
5. Texas A&M 4:45 p.m.12. Utah State
8. California 9:45 p.m.9. Louisville
East2. West Virginia 12:15 p.m.15. Morgan State
4. Wisconsin 2:50 p.m.13. Wofford
5. Temple 12:30 p.m.12. Cornell
7. Clemson 2:35 p.m.10. Missouri
First RoundGames
GMAC Bowl costs CMU Athletics Dept. $188,903
Searching for GloryCMU wrestlers have shotat bronze finish in Omaha
Staff Reports
No CMU wrestlers will have a chance at a national title after Day 1 at the NCAA Wrestling Champi-onships in Omaha, Neb.
After picking up first-round wins to advance in the championship bracket, seniors Matt Steintrager, Conor Beebe, Tony D’Alie, Steve Brown, Tyler Grayson and redshirt freshman Ben Bennett all lost in the Round of 16.
Sophomore 133-pounder Scotti Sentes was eliminated from the tournament after losing 5-0 in Consolation Round 2 to Okla-homa’s Kendric Maple. Sentes de-feated UC Davis’ Brandon Low 8-3 in his Consolation Round 1 match after getting pinned in his pig-tail match to start the day for the Chippewas.
CMU went on a seven-match win-ning streak following Sentes’ open-ing round loss to tie for third place overall as a team with 15 points.
Beebe, D’Alie and Grayson all pulled upsets against seeded wres-tlers to advance to the second round.
Junior 184-pounder Mike Mill-er advanced to the first round by beating No. 10 Mike Puccillo (Ohio State) in the pigtail match, but lost to Chatta-nooga’s Jason Mc-Croskey 5-2 to fall to the consolation bracket. Results of
his Consolation Round 1 match against Nebraska’s Josh Ihnen were unavailable at press time.
Senior 197-pounder Eric Simaz and No. 7 heavyweight Jarod Trice also fell to the consolation brack-et with losses. Simaz wrestled American’s Daniel Mitchell while Trice faced Oklahoma’s Nathan Fernandez in Consolation Round 2. Results were unavailable as of press time.
Check cm-life.com for updates throughout the weekend and join the live chat at the start of tomorrow’s ac-tion at 9:30 a.m. on the Web site.
Senior strives for All-Americahonors at first NCAA tourney
Matt Steintrager came to Central Michigan University with plen-ty of accolades — but
it has taken him longer than most to add more in college.
Along with being a state cham-pion his senior year in high school at Detroit Catholic Central, Stein-trager also placed second at Senior Nationals and Junior Nationals.
Like most Central wrestlers, he took a redshirt his first year to get ac-quainted with collegiate wrestling. However, after a rather success-ful season competing unattached, Steintrager was unable to secure a starting spot in the Central Michi-gan lineup with Luke Smith com-peting for the team at 125 pounds.
A year later, Steintrager again was not able to get into the starting line-up, despite taking fifth at the Michi-gan State Open. His only two losses in the tournament came to Angel Escobedo of Indiana and Michigan State’s Franklin Gomez, both wres-tlers who would later win national titles.
After three years of not crack-
ing the starting lineup, Steintrager took his Olympic redshirt and went through a rough patch academi-cally.
“It was a little demoralizing at times,” he said, “but I constantly picked myself up.”
While Steintrager had seen others around him quit the team because of lack of matches, wrestling to him was too important.
“It crossed my mind, and I thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’” he said. “But it was never as strong as the drive to continue. It was never that close.”
Coach Tom Borrelli has seen wres-tlers like Steintrager — wrestlers who have great accomplishments coming into college, but cannot quite get into the starting lineup.
“If someone really enjoys the sport and feels that they can accomplish big things regardless of how much they get the opportunity to wrestle, I think it is those guys that stick it out,” he said. “It is the guys who get frustrated about not being the
By Matthew Valinski | Staff Reporter
A starter | 2B
seniOr First-year starter wrestling FOr third-plaCe Finish
Friday, March 19, 2010 | section B
Central Michigan life
spOrts weekendcm-life.com | The softball team competes in the IU Classic over the weekend
By Lindsay KnakeSenior Reporter
Central Michigan University and the Athletics Department spent $188,903 to send the football team to the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala.
Total game costs were $561,133, which included lodging and transpor-tation, but CMU received a $350,000 travel allocation from the Mid-Amer-ican Conference and earned $22,230 in ticket sales, which helped offset the costs.
Football team transportation was $153,288 and lodging was $113,735.
The football team and coaches spent five days and four nights in Alabama, said Senior Associate Athletic Director Derek van der Merwe.
“All that is required,” he said. “They require you to stay in a certain hotel, they require you to stay there five days, four nights, require you to attend cer-tain events.”
Band transportation was $176,211 and both the band and cheerleaders’ lodging cost $37,848.
The GMAC Bowl required CMU to bring the cheerleaders and the March-ing Chippewas to participate in bowl events.
“The band is not an Athletics De-partment unit, so ... the university provided the dollars necessary to take the band to the game,” said Athletics Director Dave Heeke.
The band flew in the day before the
game and stayed one night.
“That’s all outlined in the bowl agree-ment that’s negoti-ated ahead of time between the league, which is all of our 13 schools, and the bowl,” Heeke said.
All staff, players and band left imme-diately after the game to save money.
The non-team official travel party included staff members, university personal, the president, fund-raising staff and radio crew. Their transporta-tion and lodging totaled $16,288.
Other expenses included $6,163 in entertainment, $3,000 in promotion and advertising and $54,600 in equip-ment and supplies.
“We took the team to a movie one
night, we did a couple of small donor functions,” Heeke said. “A very mini-mal entertainment expense.”
The department ran print and radio ads to spur ticket sales and printed media.
Money also was necessary to extend the season an extra month, which in-cluded 20 more practices.
“We’re ordering more tape, more medical supplies, any equipment re-pairs that had to be done,” Heeke said.
Bowl requirements also necessitated applying different logos to the players’ uniforms.
ExtEndEd valuE
Heeke said the true value of the bowl game could not be measured to the Athletics Department.
Team had to meet certain guidelines set by Mobile-based game
A gMaC | 2B
Dave Heeke
Record: 24-4 (two pins)
Losses to: w Andrew Long (Iowa State)w Zachary Sanders (Minnesota)w James Nicholson (Old Dominion)w Brad Pataky (Penn State)** Match today
Won 2010 MAC Championship at 125
Steintrager file
“It was a little demoralizing at times, but I
constantly picked myself up.”
Matt Steintrager, senior
Round of 32
James Knox (Maryland) 2
No. 8 Matt Steintrager (CMU) 3
Sentes out; rest stillalive for All-Americafinish over weekend
Mike Miller
photo IllustratIon by Matthew stephens and andrew stoverCMU senior Matt Steintrager looks for a third place finish at the NCAA Championships in Omaha, Neb., after going 1-1 on Day 1 of the tournament. This is Streintrager’s first year as a starter.
By Aaron McMannStaff Reporter
With Mid-American Con-ference play less than a week away, CMU baseball coach Steve Jaksa looks to finalize lineups and a pitching rotation this weekend when it travels to Normal, Ill., for a series with Il-linois State.
CMU (6-6) plays four games in three days, beginning with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. today. Originally scheduled for Sat-urday, the doubleheader was moved in anticipation of in-clement weather.
“Baseball’s a game of getting yourself ready to play every day, a little different than some,” Jaksa said. “You have to have some consistency in your ap-proach to playing the game.”
Senior Jesse H e r n a n d e z (1-1, 7.56 ERA) gets the start in Game 1. H e r n a n d e z allowed six earned runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings in the team’s
7-3 loss against North Dakota State on March 13. Sophomore Trent Howard (1-1, 5.68 ERA) starts Game 2.
The Chippewas follow up with junior Jake Sabol (2-1, 3.10 ERA) Saturday and sophomore Rick Dodridge (1-1, 1.93 ERA) Sunday.
“This is a weekend we want to look at our rotation and the lineups we have,” Jaksa said. “(Robbie) Harman’s back in, so that throws a little different mix into it. This will give us an
opportunity to solidify some things and get guys playing to-gether that haven’t played to-gether.”
WEdnEsday WinSenior third baseman James
Teas went 4-for-5 with three RBIs to help CMU beat Concor-dia 13-3 Wednesday, its second win in as many days.
Teas hit a two-run home run in the first inning that gave CMU the lead after falling be-hind 1-0 early.
“It’s good to get the bats going early,” Teas said. “I was happy to get some runs on the board. It’s always key when the other team scores to answer back as soon as possible.”
CMU maintained a 2-1 lead before Concordia scored a run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game. The Chippewas answered with three runs, in-cluding a two-run double from senior first baseman Tyler Kip-ke (3-for-5, 4 RBIs).
The Chippewas had a five-run, two-out rally in the seventh inning highlighted by a two-run home run from catcher Jordan Adams (2-for-4, 3 RBIs) to seal the win.
“We had a few innings there
where we kind of stood still,” Teas said. “It was good to get a lot of runs at the end.”
Junior Matt Faiman (1-0) got the win in his first career start, allowing one earned run on four hits in five innings pitched.
Head Veteran: George MartinMC: Sonny SmartHead Dancers: To be picked dailyArena Director: Dave ShananaquetHost Drum: Tha Tribe
Admission PricesGeneral public $7Elders and children $5Weekend pass $12CMU students and SCIT tribal members FREE with I.D.
Sponsors Central Michigan UniversityNative American ProgramsNorth American Indigenous Student Organization
Saginaw Chippewa Indian TribeSaginaw Chippewa Tribal CollegeStudent Budget Allocation CommitteeThree Fires American Indian Science and Engineering Society
CMU is an AA/EO institution (see cmich.edu/aaeo) UComm 8296
SAG
INAW CHIPPEW
A
TR IBAL COLL
EGE
www.mt-pleasant.org/2010census
Be sure to drop off your completed census form at City Hall 12pm – 6pm on March 23 - 25, or at CMU’s Bovee UC 11am – 5pm on March 30-April 1 for your chance at winning a
$250 OR $500CASH GIVEAWAY!
Are you a resident of the city of Mt. Pleasant?
starter right away and don’t really believe in the benefit of hard work that usually end up quitting.”
a chancE to startWhile Streintrager admits it
was not the best of times for him through the first three seasons, he still wanted to be a part of the CMU wrestling tradition for his last year.
However, just like in pre-vious years, if he wanted to wrestle, he was going to have to earn it.
Senior Conor Beebe had switched places in the line-up with Scotti Sentes at 125 pounds, and Steintrager was going to have to beat out the three-time and now four-time NCAA qualifier for a spot.
Borrelli said nothing was giv-en to Steintrager this season. Everything had to be earned.
“He had to really make the varsity because Conor made the decision to go down to 125,” he said. “I really didn’t know who the starter would be.”
But Steintrager took the starting spot and beat Beebe twice in the process, once at
the Intrasquad match and the other at Midlands. Steintrag-er took fourth among heavy competition.
Steintrager said this season just proves why he believed all those years of waiting for his time.
“Sometimes, it was hard, but I pushed through and proved it this year,” he said.
this sEasonThe senior quickly moved
up the rankings as the season wore on and, after dominat-ing the Mid-American Con-ference competition while going 8-0 (including a first-place showing at the MAC tournament), Steintrager was given the eighth seed enter-ing the NCAA tournament.
Streintrager won the first round of the tournament Thursday morning. And de-spite losing in the second round to Penn State’s Brad Pataky, Steintrager is still vy-ing for a third-place finish.
“I always knew that I was good enough to do it (wrestle collegiately),” Steintrager said. “If I would’ve just fallen apart, I would have always been that guy who knew he could have done it, but didn’t.”
2B || Friday, March 19, 2010 || Central Michigan Life cm-life.com/category/sports[SportS]
Team looksto solidifyrotationfor MAC
b a s e b a l l
Four-game seriesprecedes start ofconference games
ashLey MiLLer/photo edItorFreshman left-handed reliever Dietrich Enns pitched two innings of relief and struck out three, while giving up one unearned run and walking three.
Jesse Hernandez
“Bowl games are not profit. It’s the extended value that helps grow a university,” he said.
The GMAC Bowl was a tremendous reward for the team and an opportunity for CMU to be exposed in a dif-ferent geographical market, he said.
Additionally, the GMAC Bowl was the only game that evening and received one of the largest viewing audienc-es of the bowl season. Aside from the five Bowl Cham-pionship Series games, the GMAC Bowl was one of the most watched bowl games, drawing an audience of 3.52 million, van der Merwe said.
“You just can’t measure that exposure,” Heeke said. “It’s also a chance for us to celebrate the excellence that is occurring in our program. We believe that helps reflect
on the whole university.”The GMAC Bowl helps in-
spire alumni to be connected to CMU and donate back to the university, and generates pride among the staff faculty and students, he said.
“That, I think, is what bowl games are all about,” he said.
JonEs’ contract
When former football coach Butch Jones left CMU to take the head coaching position at the University of Cincinnati, his contract re-quired that he pay $700,000 to the university for leaving early.
“The contract outlines that he’s responsible to pay that to the university,” Heeke said.
Although CMU has not re-ceived the money, the Ath-letics Department has been in contact with Jones and Heeke fully anticipates Jones will pay the university by the May 16 deadline.
Brown back in Mount pleasant on eve of Chippewas’ pro day
By Aaron McMannStaff Reporter
Antonio Brown is return-ing to Mount Pleasant on the eve of CMU’s Pro Day.
The former CMU wide re-ceiver returns to the town he called home for three years at 2 p.m. Saturday for a charity event at O’Kelly’s Sports Bar & Grille, 2000 S. Mission.
Brown, a junior, declared his intentions to enter the NFL Draft after CMU’s 44-41 double-overtime win against Troy at the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6 and moved back to Miami to begin train-ing. He is represented by nationally renowned sports agent Drew Rosenhaus.
“I’ve been doing the same thing I have been doing, preparing for the NFL Com-bine,” he said. “I’ve been working on the little things and working on my (football agility training) and a lot of speed work right now. Right now, it’s just maintaining my eating habits and continuing
taking pro-tein.”
W h i l e B r o w n would not s p e c u l a t e on the spe-cifics of his draft projec-tion, he said he feels he will leave the board early. Scout.com ranks Brown as the 27th best available wide receiver in the draft.
“I stand in a really good po-sition,” he said. “I went to the combine and hit the bench press 13 times and weighed in really well. I think I really separated myself from a lot of guys on the big stage.”
Brown caught 301 pass-es for 3,176 yards and 22 touchdowns from 2007-09 for the Chippewas. He also returned three punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns and was instrumental last season in leading CMU to a 12-2 overall record and a No. 23 Associated Press ranking.
Brown joins quarterback Dan LeFevour as the two most touted CMU players to enter the NFL Draft, scheduled for April 22-24 in New York.
“That’s a true blood to me,”
he said of LeFevour. “I’ve been friends with him ever since I got on campus and our relationship became re-ally, really tight. I worked out with him every summer and it’s a blessing and I’m glad I will have him.
“It’s great to see both of us reap the same benefits and doing the same thing.”
charityBrown will sign autographs
and take pictures with all pro-ceeds going to benefit Mount Pleasant’s Partners Empow-ering All Kids program.
“My goal is to give back to the kids and make sure they’re happy,” Brown said. “The community gave me a great opportunity to play football. As a walk-on, I earned a scholarship, and one of the reasons I’m in the position I am is because of the community.”
Check Monday’s issue for an update on the CMU football team’s start to spring practices.
Spring Practice
The CMU men’s basketball team was eliminated in the Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season last week with a 69-60 loss against rival Western Michigan.
Senior Reporter Daniel Monson talked with coach Ernie Zeigler about the team’s 15-15 finish, the program’s status and its future.
Daniel Monson: After hav-ing time to put it in perspec-tive, was this a successful season?
Ernie Zeigler: Overall, when you look at our season, we accomplished a lot of things and continued mak-ing steps forward. It’s kind of hard to say when you look at us getting the second road win against a BCS conference team in the program against South Florida, and probably the best non-conference win in the conference.
And we were the MAC West champs and finished over .500 in c o n f e r e n c e play, and the seasons Bitzer and Harman had, those were
definite things for us to feel good about.
At the same time, one of our goals was to have a win-ning season, and I think our team knows and we’ve talked about it in our team meeting (Monday), that was something that we came up short on. It was somewhat of a bittersweet season in that we accomplished some good things, but definitely left some things on the table.
DM: The last time you had to replace seniors like you have to next season was when the five departed two years ago with Giordan Wat-son leading the way. Next season, you have five ju-niors coming back, but how
do you replace two guys like guards Jordan Bitzer and Robbie Harman?
EZ: I don’t think you re-place those guys. Those two, just like Watson and that first senior class, those guys were part of turning the culture around. Now you’re losing Robbie and Bitzer and (Chris) Kellermann and (Brandon) Ford, and those guys were a part of putting our program in the position to do something it’s never done before, which was to win back-to-back division titles since the league has gone to divisional play.
They established another milestone in our program. I think it is somewhat déjà vu in that when Watson gradu-ated and that class gradu-ated, everybody was kind of wondering who was go-ing to step up. The seven guys who are returning, the challenge is now on them. If you were to ask that answer right now, I’d probably have to try to give you the win-
ning lottery numbers. At the same time, I have
a strong feeling that we’re going to have someone emerge.
DM: Junior Jalin Thomas said Satur-day he would consider next season a dis-appointment if the team doesn’t reach the NCAA Tournament. Do you feel the same way?
EZ: I love the fact Jalin feels that way because that means he already has in his mind he’s going to be very determined to help improve our team next season. But I think it’s a little early to talk about team goals when the team hasn’t been fully as-sembled as of yet. My expec-tations are to continually raise the bar. The next thing to do is to have a winning season.
DM: You have commit-ments from four players — 6-foot-10 center Nate VanArendonk (Grand Ha-ven), 6-foot-3 guard Derek Jackson (Cleveland, Ohio), 6-foot-8 forward Colin Voss (East Grand Rapids) and 6-foot-8 forward Jevon Harden (Detroit). You also have two scholarships re-maining. What can you tell me about those guys and the recruiting situation?
EZ: I think all of them en-hance our athletic ability. Colin Voss is a very multi-skilled, athletic, physical power forward who can score inside and out. He’s also a good rebounder and a physical player. He’s going to have an opportunity to come in and compete right away for a spot in the rota-tion up front.
Nate VanArendonk is an-other very athletic post player who is just starting to play his best basketball. He’s another very agile, athletic post player who has good hands. He’s going to have the opportunity to come in and compete up front as well.
Jevon Harden is a 6-8, ex-tremely athletic defender, rebounder, shot blocker. He’s raw offensively at this point, but he’s going to give us another athlete similar to Marcus Van in terms of his ability to make plays around the basket and change shots. I’m really excited about what those three bring to our frontcourt.
Derek Jackson is a very skilled combo guard who has the ability to play the point and off-guard position. Very good scorer, extremely tough leader, very athletic and very good on the ball defender as well. With the departure of Robbie and Bitzer, he’s go-ing to have every opportu-nity to compete right away for a spot in our backcourt. They’re all going to have great leadership from our five returning seniors.
Central Michigan Life || Friday, March 19, 2010 || 3B
Zeigler: Someone will emerge after departures
FIle photo by Matthew stephensCMU coach Ernie Zeigler led CMU to two consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division titles and a 15-15 record in 2009-10.
“It was somewhat of a bittersweet season in that we accomplished
some good things, but definitely left some things on the table.”Ernie Zeigler, CMu men’s basketball coach By Nick Conklin
Staff Reporter
CMU gymnastics coach Jerry Reighard said the team is seeking perfection as the sea-son nears the Mid-American Conference Championship on March 27.
But for now, the team looks to stay healthy and confident in the regular season finale against Bowling Green. The Chippewas face the Falcons at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“I feel pretty comfortable,” Reighard said. “The time off helped them be ready for this week. We are really stressing perfection, and this is when we find out who can stand up and who cannot.”
The health of the team was a question mark early in the year with injuries affecting se-nior Jessica Suder and junior Andrea de la Garza. However, Suder returned in the fourth week of the season to help lead the team on the beam, and she ranks second in the confer-ence with a 9.875 high. de la Garza has been able to com-pete throughout her injuries and scored higher than a 9.8 in
all her events against Arizona State.
Senior Katie Simon said the team can only worry about what it can control.
“We’re trying to stay healthy,” she said. “It’s just little things you can’t do anything about, because we still have a lot of work to do this season.”
Reighard said the mental state and confidence — espe-cially of some of the younger gymnasts — have improved. One of his examples was fresh-man Emily LaFontaine.
“I feel like Emily has gained a lot of confidence, and she believes she can compete at this level ... she has really come a long way,” he said.
LaFontaine has excelled on the uneven bars and the floor exercise. Her highest bars score came last weekend against Ball State, where she posted a meet-high 9.8.
BoWling grEEn The Falcons enter the meet
tied for first in the MAC with a 4-0 record. However, their four league wins have come against teams in the bottom of the league, all of which CMU (10-2, 3-1 MAC) previously beat.
Breanne Guy leads BGSU with an all-around high score of 38.875 (Northern Illinois).
FIle photo by Matthew stephensFreshman Emily LaFontaine scored a meet-high 9.8 on the uneven bars last week and a 9.775 on the floor exercise last weekend against Ball State.
gymnasts have lasttune-up for MaCsReighard looks for healthy,confident finish
