LIFE Central Michigan University
INSIDE
| Friday, August 26, 2011
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
3A - Plans for biosciences building may be no-go, no guarantee of funding
3A - FA, CMU meet with students to address contract status, confusion EDITORIAL - Media communication key to inform campus community, 4A
cm-life.com
3A — Faculty present art to family, friends once a year
| Mount Pleasant, Mich.
CMU, FA argue contract case today in court By Theresa Clift University Editor and Hailee Sattavara Staff Reporter
Central Michigan University will argue in Isabella County Circuit Court today that allowing the Faculty Association to strike will cause irreparable injury and harm to the university and community. CMU hopes to prevail before Isabella County Judge Paul H. Chamberlain, who previously granted a temporary restraining order against the FA, ordering them back to work Tuesday after a one-day walkout. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. In the court filing obtained by Central Michigan Life, the university claims the following: the strike will result in cancelation of classes if it continues, and all CMU students will suffer irreparable harm by being deprived of the opportunity to complete this semester. CMU also claim international students will suffer irreparable harm since the cancelation of classes will result in CMU’s loss of cer-
PHOTOS BY PERRY FISH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Susan Naeve-Velguth, communication disorders professor, hugs Washington senior Abbie Diaz Wednesday afternoon in the Health Professions building after getting a letter thanking the faculty and staff for their dedication to the students. Diaz and Granger senior Justin Burnham printed more than 1,000 fliers and personal letters and passed them out to every major building on campus. “I feel like a better Central student now because I’ve seen literally every inch of this campus,” Diaz said.
faculty
friends By Jamie Favazza | Staff Reporter
Carson City Senior Justin Burnham and Washington Senior Abbie Diaz pin letters of apology to faculty and staff bulletin boards in the Health Professions building Wednesday afternoon. Burnham and Diaz used their entire printing quota and more to print the fliers and personal letters.
Burnham, a Granger senior, and Diaz, a Washington senior, said they both study anthropology, schedule the same courses at the same time, are roommates, finish each other’s sentences and are planning on attending the same graduate school. “Justin and I met by accident last year after parking next to each other,” Diaz said. “I said ‘Hey, boy in the yellow shirt!’ to get his attention because he looked like someone I’d be friends with. Together, we’ve been taking over the world ever since.” Diaz and Burnham began their latest mission Monday;
“Justin and I aren’t the emotional type; we’re the ‘grab life by the balls and run with it’ people,” Diaz said. “But we were raised in the same way, where we realize the need to respect teachers and education, and we wanted to say thank you to everyone.” So, the pair set out to meet and thank every faculty and staff member on campus. “Whether you’re tenured or not, everyone deserves to be thanked,” Burnham said. There is not a professor at CMU that doesn’t care about students, Diaz said. Burnham said they spent all of Tuesday passing the
deciding to write and distribute personal letters to the professors with whom they are the closest. “When you think of a really great professor that you’ve had and will remember 20 years from now — that’s who we wrote them to,” Diaz said. “I wrote one of my letters to a fierce, passionate professor of theater, Sadie Chandler, who’s not a part of the FA (Faculty Association). She changed what I thought a powerful woman could be and look at me now, doing this.” After writing about 10 personal letters each, the duo decided they wanted to do more.
tification from the Student and Exchange Visitor program. The loss would result in those students being unable to finish their studies at CMU and stay in the country. CMU also claims it could lose $85 million in student federal assistance, and hundreds of employees at CMU would be laid off. Continuation of the strike could also have an effect on athletics, the university claims, stating CMU’s six intercollegiate athletic programs and nearly 200 student athletes will not be abiding by the NCAA bylaws. This would put their seasons at risk. The university cites Michigan’s Public Employment Relation Act and argues work stoppage is illegal, since employees of public universities are “public employees.” Barry Goldman, a Michigan Employment Relations
A CONTRACT | 2A
C.A. of Mount Pleasant, other dispensaries shut down statewide
Duo writes cards celebrating professors, instructors
Best friends Justin Burnham and Abbie Diaz are distributing encouraging letters to every Central Michigan University faculty and staff member. The letter begins, “Dear CMU Faculty and Staff, we would like to express our deep and sincere gratitude for your efforts in the last couple of months and acknowledge the struggles you have been facing.” “After the restraining order on Monday and knowing the faculty couldn’t do anything more, we tried to think of what we could do,” Diaz said. “We saw a lot of students using their time to yell about President Ross, who has awoken a sleeping giant. Rather than keep putting people down, we wanted to bring the faculty up.”
CM-LIFE.COM w Watch for today’s coverage of court hearing between FA, CMU
By Jake Bolitho Staff Reporter
A Mount Pleasant marijuana dispensary closed its doors following a state appeals court ruling Wednesday, and hundreds of similar businesses are following suit across Michigan. In a 17-page opinion released Wednesday, a threejudge panel ruled C.A. of Mount Pleasant, which formerly operated as Compassionate Apothecary, a public nuisance. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act does not permit the sale of marijuana — either by licensed caregivers or licensed patients, according to court documents. Instead, it only creates an exception for its use by such permit holders. The case stemmed from efforts by Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick to shut down the Michi-
letters out, and finished Wednesday evening. “We checked every building, from top to bottom, inside every nook and cranny to find faculty and staff,” Burnham said, who walked around campus for eight hours passing out letters with Diaz. The two said they handed out well over 1,000 letters to faculty, staff and graduate assistants, and used up their CMU printing quota in the process. They also put the letter on their Facebook page, “Props to our professors.” A FACULTY FRIENDS | 5A
gan Street dispensary last year. In a December 2010 opinion, county Judge Paul H. Chamberlain ruled the dispensary to be legal and stated the MMMA does not specify how medical marijuana can be distributed. The appeals court ruling against C.A. of Mount Pleasant is being used as a precedent for other cases in Michigan and overturns Chamberlain’s ruling. The opinion can still be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority. Burdick issued a cease and desist letter Wednesday to C.A. owners, Brandon McQueen and Matthew Taylor. Both complied and Burdick said the ruling not only impacts their operation, but other dispensaries in Isabella County. “Any business operating
A MEDICAL | 2A
Ferris FA travels to campus to protest By Mike Nichols Senior Reporter
Members of Ferris State University’s Faculty Association arrived at Central Michigan University Thursday to show support for the CMU FA. The FFA picketed all afternoon with signs outside Warriner Hall. FFA member Bonnie Wright was one of about ten who drove from Big Rapids to protest the CMU administration. Ferris is not back in school yet, she said, otherwise more faculty would have come. They plan on continuing to support
the CMU FA regardless of the decision made in court on Friday. “If the administration is favored in court, then the support of the faculty will grow,” Wright said. “If this goes on, you’ll see an increase in support from Ferris because we think we’re next.” Wright said the FFA is feeling similar tensions with the administration at FSU. Other members of the FFA shared Wright’s opinion. “We almost went on strike last year and we decided not to,” said Jim Caserta, vice president of the FFA. “As with CMU,
we have lots of issues in terms of academic facility rights and pay that have have not been adequately settled.” CMU FA President Laura Frey brought pizza for the students and FFA, but did not join their picketing due to a temporary restraining order barring members of the CMU FA from picketing. “We’re speaking for them when they can’t speak for themselves,” said former FFA President Mike Ryan. A CMU student protest merged to join the FFA. Quincy senior Andreah Grove has been attending the student protests
on campus and said it was exciting to see other faculty unions coming to CMU in support. “I think it’s great — the support from other FA universities,” Grove said. “I think (CMU and Ferris) FA will stick together.” She said she heard Michigan State graduate students might arrive to protest as well, although Peter Klein, a parttime staff organizer for Michigan State University’s Union of Nontenure Track Faculty, said he did not know of anyone from their group planning on attending. university@cm-life.com
SEAN PROCTOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Livonia senior Colleen Smith, left, stands next to Gladwin senior Kaitlin Thorne, center, and Georgia graduate student Jonathan Barefield Thursday afternoon in front of Warriner Hall as they protest alongside Ferris FA members. “I really want to see my faculty treated fairly and equitably,” Barefield said.
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