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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
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Heeke named to NCAA athletic directors committee ‘Honored to be one of 10 directors around the country...’ By Kristopher Lodes Managing Editor
Dave Heeke has many duties that go along with being the athletics director at Central Michigan University. Along with managing the ins-and-outs of all 16 athletic programs, Heeke is on the Division
I Baseball Committee, the second-highest grossing championship in the NCAA behind the Final Four, Heeke has been named to NCAA President Mark Emmert’s new 10-member Athletic Director Advisory Group. “I’m honored to be one of 10 directors around the country to serve on an
advisory committee with Dr. Emmert to help with communication between the NCAA, executive committee and the athletic directors,” Heeke said. “Over the years ... the voice of the athletic directors in NCAA governance and decision making has kind of been lost.” Emmert said that’s one of the key reasons he formed the committee.* “It’s clear right now where the association has gone, it’s pushed the
pendulum too far in one direction,” Emmert said in the interview with Wall Street Journal. Dave Heeke “It really has cut athletic directors out of the national discussion.” Heeke said his role in the group is to represent the non-automatic qualifier
schools, which are schools in of conferences that do not automatically qualify its champion into football’s Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Six of the 10 athletic directors come from schools in automatic qualifier conferences (Kentucky, Kansas State, Connecticut, Clemson, Arizona and Ohio State). “I’m very cognizant of my position being one of the non-AQ conference ADs, so I have a different representation,” Heeke
said. “How can I represent non-AQs, how can I keep perspective overall for the betterment of college athletics with that in mind?” The Wall Street Journal reported that Emmert’s decision to form the group came as a surprise as there has been a nearly 20-person group that served in the same role as the new council. A HEEKE | 2
UAW reaches second tentative agreement with university Ratification voting begins today CM Life Staff Reports
After rejecting a previous agreement, UAW Local 6888, which represents Central Michigan University’s office professionals, has come to another tentative deal with the university. The union’s bargaining team agreed to terms with CMU on Monday, and members will vote this afternoon in the Bovee University Lakeshore Room and on Thursday in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium. The current contract with the university is set to expire on Monday. The new agreement is similar to the contract CMU and its supervisorytechnical employees agreed to last week. Like that contract, the one the UAW tentatively agreed to would give office professionals a 2.5-percent base wage increase during the 2013-14 school year followed by 0.5-percent increases during the following two years, according to an email UAW Local 6888 President Karen Bellingar sent to union members. The agreement, if ratified, would have office workers contribute 10-percent
UAW LOCAL 6888’S TENATIVE AGREEMENT w Wage adjustments
- 2013-14: 2.5% base increase - 2014-15: 0.5% base increase - 2015-16: 0.5% base increase w Insurance rates
-Office professionals to pay 10% toward premiums
*Positions can be filled with a temporary employee for up to 12 months.
toward their health insurance. It would begin on Monday and take the workers through June 2016. Last week, the UAW members overwhelmingly rejected a previous collective bargaining agreement, with 75-percent of its members rejecting it. Details of that contract are unknown. Bellingar could not be reached for comment in time for publication. Check cm-life.com for more as this story develops this week.
CMU professor Merrill’s sentencing date rescheduled for July 23 CM Life Staff Reports
William Lord Merrill, the former Central Michigan University professor convicted of possession of child pornography, had his sentencing delayed until July 23 by the U.S. District Court in Bay City. Merrill, 58, was previously set to be sentenced on July 11 by Judge Thomas Ludington. One of Merrill’s attorneys, confirmed the delay, but it remains unclear why the court decided to reschedule the sentencing for nearly two weeks. Merrill, who taught, among other courses, classes on Internet censorship, was arrested for possession of child pornography Dec. 19. He entered a guilty plea in March, admitting to receiving child pornography. In exchange for the guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped a second charge of the same crime and another count of child pornography possession. He faces between five and
20 years in prison. He is currently free on bond. Merrill resigned from CMU in November. William Lord Merrill According to court documents, Merrill knowingly received child porn on or about July 26, 2003. The items of the pornographic material had been mailed, shipped or transported by a computer. The former professor said he knew the material constituted child pornography as defined by Title 18 in the United States Code 2256. The FBI seized Merrill’s hard drive from his CMU office, in addition to the hard drive that contained child pornography. Merrill allegedly possessed more than 65,000 images of child pornograph news@cm-life.com
INFOGRAPHIC BY MARIAH PROWOZNIK/LEAD DESIGNER