Central Michigan University’s premier news source and student voice since 1919.
cm
Life
KARATE CLUB
cm-life.com
Students learn self-defense
»PAGE 1B
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014 | MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH. | ISSUE NO. 82 VOL. 95
ACADEMIC SENATE
University announces May grad numbers
Cleaning house
Only 500 students from 2010 ‘boom’ graduating in four years
TODAY IS THE SECOND DAY OF A THREEDAY SERIES DELVING INTO THE SUSPENDED DELTA CHI FRATERNITY AND CMU GREEK COMMUNITY.
By Katherine Ranzenberger Senior Reporter
w A-SENATE| 7A
Mount Pleasant Planning Commission takes action against suspended Delta Chi fraternity
M
By Adrian Hedden | Metro Editor ount Pleasant
The 1007 S. Main St. house was served 29 violations from the city’s Code Enforcement department between 2012 and 2014. Violations range from trash and litter, to improper use of furniture and signage. Next year, the fraternity brothers will likely need to find a new place to live. The 18 Greek houses registered at
officials have had their hands full
with the Delta Chi chapter at Central Michigan University.
CMU averaged seven violations from the city during that two-year period. Delta Chi had the most, followed by Sigma Chi with 26 and both Phi Sigma Phi and Phi Kappa Tau with 25. Most violations served to Greek houses deal with trash.
CLEANING HOUSE | 6A
SUBJECTIVE JUSTICE Investigating the exile of a renegade fraternity MONDAY
TODAY
WHERE WAS THE ALERT?
CLEANING HOUSE LIFE IN GREEKTOWN MAP: VIOLATIONS BY HOUSE
FRIDAY 1A 5A 5A
t t t
LIFE AS A DELTA CHI COLUMN: GUILTY OF SILENCE SUBJECTIVE JUSTICE
t t t
t t t t
Although nearly 2,500 students are graduating in May, only 20 percent of those students are leaving Central Michigan University after four years. University officials have estimated that 2,658 students are still attending CMU from the class of 2010, according to retention data collected by the Office of Institutional Research. “Our four-year graduation rate is somewhere around 20 percent,” said Provost Michael Gealt after Tuesday’s Academic Senate meeting. “It’s one of the things we’re working on improving. Our six-year rate is about 53 to 55 percent. It’s about where other universities are nationally.” That means only 532 of the 2,462 students graduating with a bachelor’s degree are from the 2010 enrollment boom. In October, Central Michigan Life reported that four-year graduation rates were around 20 percent in 2013. According to a 2012 university report, persistence rates for first-time freshman students over the past decade have remained at 75.4 percent or above. Of the most recent threeyear averages, 76.9 percent persisted to their second year, 68 percent persisted to their third year and 64.6 percent persisted to their fourth year. The report also detailed graduation times for an average freshman class, with only 20.6 percent graduating within four years or less and 47.6 percent graduating in five years or less. “We aspire to help each person discover their passion,” said Jason Bentley, director of the Office of Student Success, regarding retention in 2013. “Retention rates are one gauge — like the mileage on your car — and they help tell us if we are making good progress in helping students achieve their goals.” Efforts delving into keeping students at CMU have been met with their fair share of obstacles. Yet university officials hope new strategies, such as offering more in-house financial aid to students, can help keep them here until graduation. Other strategies are being formulated as well, Gealt said. The university is looking to streamline how many credits students can take each semester to get them out in the desired four years. Currently, students are considered full-time at 12 credits a semester. “They cannot finish in four years,” Gealt said. “It’s recommended students take 15 credits a semester to graduate in four years.”
IN LIMBO: SUSPENSION EXTENDED? GREEK LIFE COLUMN: A LESSON LEARNED?
Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on affirmative action Schools cannot use race while considering admissions By John Irwin Senior Reporter
U.S. Supreme Court upheld an amendment to Michigan’s constitution on Tuesday banning the use of race in higher education admission decisions.
In a 6-2 ruling, justices found Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in higher education — approved by voters in 2006 — is constitutional. The court did not strike down affirmative action, as Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion, but it did rule that voters have the right to ban or restrict it at the state level. “This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved,” Kennedy wrote. “It is about who may resolve
it. There is no authority in the Constitution of the United States or in this court’s precedents for the judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit this policy determination to the voters.” Left-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer joined the court’s conservative wing in upholding the ban. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself, while Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor voted against the ruling. Sotomayor wrote in her
dissent that upholding Michigan’s affirmative action ban weakens the ability of minorities to participate in society equally. “The Constitution does not protect racial minorities from political defeat,” she wrote. “But neither does it give the majority free rein to erect selective barriers against racial minorities.” The ruling is the latest decision in a decades-long series of events that have ignited passions from both sides of the issue regarding
who can attend Michigan’s public universities. After 58 percent of voters banned the use of affirmative action in admissions decisions in 2006, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the amendment by an 8-7 margin in 2012. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who appealed the ruling, praised the Supreme Court’s decision in a statement. “Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is w ACTION | 2A