LIFE CENTRAL MICHIGAN
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monday, march 16, 2015 | MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH. | ISSUE NO. 66 VOL. 96
Life in brief Quidditch
Students travel around the country to volunteer »PAGE 3A
Fire destroys apartment Students displaced Sunday after Jamestown fire By Malachi Barrett News Editor
CMU’s Quidditch team, the Centaurs is gearing up for the Quidditch World Cup held in South Carolina in April. Read about the game, and what it will take for the team to make it into the tournament. w 3A
Editorial
Three local fire departments responded to a single apartment fire Sunday that caused substantial damage to Jamestown Apartments PP Building 16. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Mount Pleasant Fire Department Lt. Rick Beltnick. No one was injured in the incident, residents of unit 16 were not present when the fire started. w Fire | 2A
Courtesy Photo | Zac Ewer
Students watch as Jamestown Apartment PP 16 catches fire March 16 in Mount Pleasant.
Obama announces student aid measures
The drive for universities to stay competitive in the NCAA causes exponential spending, something smaller universities cannot realistically sustain without hurting students. w 4A
Student Aid Bill of Rights includes new complaint center By Ben Solis Staff Reporter
basketball
Claire Abendroth | Staff photographer President George Ross visits with Central Michigan Life’s advertising staff March 4 in Moore Hall.
No Easy
The men’s basketball team lost to Buffalo in the MAC Tournament Championship game Saturday. w 1B
Gymnastics
Answers University President Ross discusses tuition increase, graduation rate By Sydney Smith News Editor
The CMU gymnastics team clinched the 2015 MidAmerican Conference regular season title with a win over Western Michigan University Sunday. w 5B
CORRECTION In the March 6 issue The Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions was misrepresented as The Herbert H. & Mary A. Dow College of Health Professions. It was also reported that Jodi Brookins-Fisher and Stephen Nkansah-Amankra are part of the Community Division, they are actually part of the Community Health Division. Central Michigan Life regrets these errors.
A handful of people knew University President George Ross was a candidate to be the next president of the University of Nebraska before it became public. During his interview, an official from UN asked Ross what his relationship was like with the board of trustees at Central Michigan University. Ross told the official about sharing the news with Bill Kanine, the chair of the board. “I said, ‘Bill Kanine knows that I’m sitting here today, interviewing for the presidency,’” Ross said. “That’s my relationship.” After choosing to remain at CMU, Ross received a lot of support. He said students, faculty and staff knew it was a great opportunity for him, but said they’re glad he stayed. “University of Nebraska is a pretty big, spectacular place, but I’m happy with the decision I made,” he said. “CMU is a pretty spectacular place, too.” Being honest is important to Ross, he said, and he keeps integrity and character in mind with every decision he makes for CMU and its staff, faculty and students. Central Michigan Life sat down with Ross to speak about leadership, student success and
Claire Abendroth | Staff photographer President George Ross visits Central Michigan Life offices March 4 in Moore Hall.
the future of the university. Most students expect that tuition will increase every year. As the cost of tuition nears $400 per credit hour, do you envision CMU ever having to draw a line the university can’t cross? ROSS: Tuition doesn’t sit in a vacuum. There is an inverse relation between state appropriations and tuition. As I testified before the Senate subcommittee of education, 17 percent of the budget is coming from the state. In the last 35 years it was north of 70 percent. I’m proud to say, as I’ve said to the committee, the last five years since I’ve been president, we’ve had
the lowest increase in tuition of the 15 universities. We strive to do that. We can’t operate on state funding even though we’re called a state university. We are trying constantly to convince the legislature to invest in higher education. If you look at tuitions across all 15 universities in the state, it’s not something that’s unique to CMU. Tuition is rising all over the country. In Michigan, universities are eligible for increases in funding if they meet prerequisites in the state budget, including the tuition cap of 2.8 percent. What would have to happen at CMU to w ROSS | 5A
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President Barack Obama announced an executive action that will offer greater consumer protections for students paying back academic debt. Obama unveiled the “Student Aid Bill of Rights” at the Georgia Institute of Technology on March 10, and discussed the measure during a conference call with Central Michigan Life and other student media across the country March 11. The Student Aid Bill of Rights, Obama said, would help set a standard of values for lenders and collectors as they interact with borrowers who might have trouble paying back their loans. “Yesterday I took new action that streamlines and improves how the federal government interacts with students when it comes to student loans, and helps students cut through the bureaucracy and get faster responses about their loans,” Obama said. “We’re going to have to do things on the federal level, the state level and at the university level to really mobilize the entire country on this issue of college affordability.” Obama called his action a “set of principles that declares simple values that we want everyone to sign up for.” The action also calls for loan repayment assistance measures, like a new federal complaint system for borrowers and a new system for setting up payments. Other measures include tracking state student debt data for reference, which Obama hopes could jump-start legislative and regulatory changes to lower student debt. The new complaint center will act as a one-stop destination for students to keep tabs on their outstanding debt, said U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Duncan joined Obama on the conference call to answer questions, along with Under Secretary Ted Mitchell and James Kvaal, the deputy director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council. During his conference call with student journalists, Obama stressed the importance of grants, work study programs and other forms of financial aid as being essential to affording higher educaw Obama | 5A