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cm-life.com
Monday, Jan. 28, 2013
JAMMIN’ WITH JESUS
BIZARRE WIN
Student starts Christian nightclub downtown » PAGE 3A
Wrestling clinches share of MAC title; Borrelli frustrated by team effort, confused by Kent State’s approach » PAGE 1B
Police chief: Abduction surveillance video shows no signs of struggle By Tony Wittkowski Senior reporter
There was no sign of struggle on the surveillance tapes in the Student Activity Center parking lot during the Jan. 16 abduction of a Grand Rapids senior, CMU police chief Bill Yeagley told Central Michigan Life on Friday. “From what we have seen on camera, you couldn’t tell it was an abduction,” Yeagley said. “If you watched it and didn’t know there was an issue, you would say there are just some people getting into a car.” In response, CMU will continue to add surveillance cameras to ensure the safety of students on campus. Yeagley said there are more than 500 cameras scattered around campus, with several surveying the SAC. There are cameras in the entryway that cover portions of the parking lot and different locations within the SAC, he said.
After knowing the abduction occurred and equipped with the knowledge of the vehicle, the police found the incident on camera when the tapes were reviewed. “There is already a longterm plan in our mind where we should be putting more cameras when we can,” Yeagley said. “More and more have been added each year.” Approximately a halfhour before the abduction occurred, a CMU women’s basketball game ended with roughly 900 people filtering out of McGuirk Arena at different access points. However, the crowd did not obstruct the view of the abduction, Yeagley said. “From my perspective, the lot wasn’t isolated and empty, but it wouldn’t be the same thing at the end of a football game when you have thousands of people walking through.”
It usually starts with the “nice guy.” He’s the type of person someone is most likely to meet on campus when one meets multiple people in a short-time frame, Take Back The Night President Amanda Mclain said. He has a pleasant personality, treats you with respect and creates a false sense of safety. According to Director of Sexual Aggression Services Stephen Thompson, 85 percent of sexual assault victims are assaulted by someone they know. Central Michigan University Police Chief Bill Yeagley previously told Central Michigan Life that since 2008, only 12 sexual assaults have been reported on campus, and a majority of assaults go unreported. “Pretty typically, less than 10 percent of those incidents get reported to us,” he said. There are many reasons a victim does not report a sexual assault, Yeagley said. The victim personally knows the attacker, or the victim is worried the community or campus will recognize them. A majority of sexual assault investigations point to alcohol as a factor, he said. “With a high percentage of these incidents, either the victim and/or the suspect consumed alcohol before these incidents occur,” he said. Eric Lee Ramsey, 30, did not fit this model when he
Cajun style
A SURVEILLANCE | 2A
1 in 4 women on campus will be sexually assaulted prior to graduation By Ryan Fitzmaurice Senior reporter
PHotoS BY cHarlotte BoDaK/StAFF PhotoGrAPhEr
Kay Toben of Ithaca grabs her granddaughter’s hand, Abigale Whitford, 9, as she teaches her some dance moves during Night of Louisiana Saturday at Finch Fieldhouse. “This is such a fun event,” Toben said. “I thought I would bring Abigale out and teach her how my husband and I used to dance.”
abducted a Grand Rapids senior outside of the Student Activity Center on Jan. 16, forcing her to drive to a residence on South Crawford Road where he bound her with tape and raped her. Yet, it has illustrated the violence inherent in sexual assault cases. “It’s awful that it took this event for people to come up and pay attention to the issue,” Mclain said. According to a recent study from the U.S. Department of Justice, one in four women will be victims of rape or attempted rape before accepting a diploma. Thompson said the same statistics apply to CMU. “We estimate that 15 or 20 assaults occur every week,” Thompson said. The bulk of those assaults are never reported. According to the Central Michigan University police’s Clery Report, only five cases of sexual assaults were reported in 2011. “Most assault victims just aren’t willing to go to the police or even speak out about it,” Thompson said. Those who do speak out about it rarely do it in a public setting. SAPA receives roughly 300 calls a year from the Mount Pleasant community, a portion of those incidents involving CMU students. But still, Thompson says, CMU has been at the forefront in addressing the issue. A ASSAULTS| 2A
Night of Louisiana brings southern fun to Mount Pleasant By Adriana Cotero | Staff reporter
People pulled out their Mardi Gras beads and put on their dancing shoes for the 22nd annual Night of Louisiana Saturday at Finch Fieldhouse. Drawing Michiganders from all over the state, the night was filled with hundreds of event-goers enjoying traditional hot Cajun and Southern foods, drinks, music Lansing resident Paul Loeffler looks out at the crowd in his Mardi Gras costume while dancing during Night of Louisiana Saturday at Finch Fieldhouse.
and dancing. “I like to think of this night as a big Mount Pleasant block party, so many groups of people come from around the state to celebrate,” Director of University Events Bob Ebner said. “Around this time of the year, the holidays are over, and there isn’t much excitement to look forward to. This gives people the chance to get that cabin fever out of them.” The event hosted two 2013 Grammy-nominated bands: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys and Andre Thierry &
Zydeco Magic. This was Thierry’s first performance at CMU, while Riley has been a recurring performer. CMU alum and Mount Pleasant local Paula Ruter have been attending Night of Louisiana since the early 90s. “I like the music, it’s uplifting and fun. I don’t regularly listen to this type of music, and this event gives me the chance to,” Ruter said. A majority of attendees arrived early to the event, giving them the advantage of finding
seats and enjoying the Louisianian meal served hot. The dinner consisted of French Quarter gumbo, Cajun-crusted chicken breast, New Orleans red beans and rice, Mardi Gras slaw, creole vegetables, bayou blackened catfish and Big Easy cornbread with butter. CMU’s radio station WCMU sponsored the event, and radio director John Sheffler was happy to bring Louisiana to Mount Pleasant for an evening.
“I have worked with many university events, and this was just another great opportunity to use our resources and help put on an event that attracts 600 to 700 people. We put ads in newspapers, advertised over the radio, as well as made flyers,” Sheffler said. “Everyone has their preferred music choices, and while this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it still is a true celebration of American culture.” A LOUISIANA | 2A
Police: crime decreasing, but high-profile incidents up By Ryan Fitzmaurice Senior reporter
Central Michigan University was ranked the fifth-safest campus in Michigan by www. StateUniversity.com, yet, what is statistically a safe campus in a safe community has shown an entirely different face in recent months. Despite a low crime rate on campus, Mount Pleasant perpetrators have shown a greater tendency toward violent crimes, according to CMU
Police Chief Bill Yeagley. “For all of Isabella County, incidents have decreased, and some violent offenses went down as well,” Yeagley said. “Overall (the crime rate is) going down, but the number of things that have gotten our attention have seemed to increase.” Most recently, Eric Lee Ramsey, 30, was shot and killed when he abducted a Grand Rapids senior outside of the Student Activity Center on Jan. 16.
“Evidenced by the amount of high-profile crime, things are different today,” Yeagley said. Yeagley said such highprofile crimes will not be tolerated in any sense by the university police. “The people committing these acts deserve special attention by CMU police, and we are dedicated to giving them the attention they deserve,” Yeagley said. He also said university police have made it a point to be visibly present in response to Jan.
16’s incident, and students have been responding positively to those efforts. Lt. Cameron Wassman said students have been employing Safe Rides more frequently since Jan. 16. Before the incident, there were roughly 200 rides given per week; the number has since risen to between 275 and 300. Although the increase could also be caused by colder weather, Safe Rides has doubled A SAFETY| 2A
chad Daniels performs intimate set in Bovee rotunda By Ryan Fitzmaurice Senior reporter
Chad Daniels didn’t need a microphone to entertain his audience Saturday night. Due to technical difficulties, Daniels performed most of the set without his microphone, which made for a more intimate setting between Daniels and his audience. “Every time I’m about to swear, this mic goes out,” Daniels joked early on. “This microphone is a Christian, we have a Christian microphone in this college.”
The event, sponsored by the Central Michigan University Program Board, packed 210 individuals into the Bovee University Center Rotunda. Daniels, along with being featured on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” has been on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and appeared on “Conan.” In 2009, Daniels was named comedian of the year by the Minneapolis news publication City Pages. The event was called the first major event of the spring semester by Program Board Director Damon Brown.
The audience was impressed by how Daniels interacted with them throughout his set. “I love how he played with the audience,” Grosse Ile senior Zackery Kowalski said. “He was very personable.” Daniels spent a portion of his set making fun of a college student who attended the event with her parents. “When he said that the one girl’s parents had sex all the time, the look on her face was just priceless,” Kowalski said. Daniels followed the exclamation with an observation on growing old.
“I used to assume that if you had gray hair, you weren’t having any sex,” said Daniels. “But they’ve got the kids out of the house, they have all the time in the world.” Another one of Daniel’s targets was a group of four women with whom he bantered throughout the set. They earned the nickname “Mount Shushmore” when Daniels joked the group was talking too much and he needed to see four quiet, stone-like faces. A DANIELS| 2A
ZacK WittMaN/StAFF PhotoGrAPhEr
Comedian Chad Daniels performs his stand-up routine for students Saturday night in the Rotunda room at the Bovee University Center. Daniels has previously appeared on television shows such as Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” and “Conan.”