LIFE CENTRAL MICHIGAN
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Central Michigan University
| Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
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[cm-life.com]
Two departments endorse A-Senate no confidence vote By David Oltean Senior Reporter
Two departments have endorsed the Academic Senate’s vote of no confidence against University President George Ross and Provost Gary Shapiro. The sociology, anthropology and social work department and the philosophy and religion department, both in the College of Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences, voted to endorse the move this month. The Academic Senate passed the initiative by a 52-percent
majority on Dec. 7, and faced an abrupt rejection from Board of Trustees Chairwoman Sarah Opperman. Robert Noggle, chairman of the philosophy and religion department, said no members of the department opposed the endorsement at the first meeting of the semester last Friday. Noggle said the department, has attempted to call upon the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees to answer to some of the issues in the Senate resolution. “A vote of no confidence is a
George Ross
Gary Shapiro
pretty serious matter and if the board has confidence in the administration, that’s fine,” he said. “But the fact that the board paid no real attention to the concerns in the senate resolution shows a lot about the char-
acter of the board.” The endorsement does not stem from the bargaining and contract issues, but rather from how the administration has handled shared governance, the development of the College of Medicine and academic prioritization, Noggle said. “The problems raised in the senate motion are issues that really have nothing to do with the bargaining situation,” he said. “The reason behind this really has much more to do with shared governance.” Brigitte Bechtold, chairwom-
an of the sociology, anthropology and social work department, said her department’s endorsement stems from a lack of joint governance throughout the university. Of the 45 department members present at the first meeting of the semester, Bechtold said the endorsement was unanimous. “Central to all of these (endorsements) is the issue that the administration has disregarded and ignored the principle of joint governance that underlies everything we do at CMU and in fact underlies the accredita-
tion of many of our programs,” Bechtold said. The responsibility lies with the board of trustees to acknowledge the different departments’ concerns, she said. “The board of trustees has basically reaffirmed support of the president and provost,” Bechtold said. “But the question now is, how many more departments now have to express these same sentiments before the board will realize that there is a serious problem?” university@cm-life.com
F A C U LT Y A S S O C I A T I O N
Some members unhappy with ratified contract Several cite bruised relationship with administration By Catey Traylor Senior Reporter
Faculty members are sharing mixed emotions after the Central Michigan University Faculty Association ratified its new contract Thursday. While most faculty members declined to comment Tuesday, the few that made statements were unhappy with the ultimate result of the contract and see a long road ahead before relations on campus will return to normal. James Hill, a professor of political science, is among those who feel the relationship between the union and administration is severely damaged. “The wounds are very deep,” Hill said. “This will take some positive outreach to the faculty by the administration to begin what I think will be a long healing process.” Both sides bargained for more than seven months, dating back to the summer, before finally coming to an agreement last week. Under the ratified deal, pay for faculty members remains frozen for this year before increasing 1.25 percent plus $830 for the 2012-13 academic year and 1.5 percent plus $835 in 2013-14. The FA had proposed increases of 2.2 percent in the spring semester, 3.7 percent next year and 3.9 percent in 2013-14. Sociology Department Chairwoman Brigitte Bechtold
‘ A l l f o r o ne! O ne f o r al l ! ’ Student playwright’s production of ‘The Three Musketeers’ to premiere Thursday in Kiva By Ben Harris | Senior Reporter
Although the play he authored, choreographed and is acting in will premiere on Thursday, Chris Krause’s work is far from over. Krause, a Sanford senior, said he spent about two years writing a script for “The Three Musketeers.” It will be performed starting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Moore Hall’s Townsend Kiva. There will be a talk back session with the audience after Sunday’s show to help feed Krause ideas for script revision. “I really hope people come to the show and give me feedback, because I really want to improve the script,” Krause said.
New Lothrop junior Josh Schieffr plays as Jussac during rehearsal for “The Three Musketeers” Monday evening in the Moore Hall’s Townnsend Kiva.
Krause adapted his version of the play from the novel “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas. He has choreographed all the fights for the production and is playing the role of D’Artagnan.
props and that some of their costumes were borrowed from Midland High School. “It’s kind of a minimalistic show — we have to do with what we have,” he said. Krause said there has been a relatively short re-
“I love stage combat and I love the story,” he said. “I’m really excited for this.” The production has had to do with minimal props and costumes. Krause said the cast of 24 members had to find their own costumes and
Central Michigan University and the Mount Pleasant community came together for several events on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The day’s events started with the CommUNITY Peace Brunch which was followed by a march, ending with a candlelit vigil in downtown Mount Pleasant. The brunch, hosted by the Multicultural Academic Student Services in the Bovee University Center Rotunda, included keynote speaker and Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce President Lisa Hadden,
an oratorical contest and a performance by the Christ Central Choir. The three finalists in the oratorical contest each gave a speech about how they would abolish poverty, a theme of King’s work. Flint senior Donnesha Blake said she had a lot of desire to give a speech about King because of how he fought for equality. “I heard about the oratorical contest from my McNair scholar director and I knew I wanted to do it based on the subject,” Blake said. “My ideas for the speech came from race and ethnicity courses I’ve taken here at CMU and specifically equality,
hearsal period, but the cast has come a long way nevertheless. Although the play is a student production Keeley Stanley-Bohn, associate
James Hill, political science professor
A PLAY | 2A
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CM-LIFE.COM w Visit the website for reporting, video coverage of MLK week and that’s what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for.” The march, which began at Bovee University Center and ended downtown at Mount Pleasant Town Square, was also held by MASS. Assistant Director of MASS Keisha Janney said she was slightly surprised by the turnout of people who came to show their support of King. A MLK | 2A
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“The wounds are very deep. This will take some positive outreach to the faculty by the administration to begin what I think will be a long healing process.”
Community observes MLK Day By Anamaria Dickerson Staff Reporter
said the tension between the faculty and staff is one of many problems left to solve. “I am disappointed by the outcome,” Bechtold said. “I don’t think this is a good contract. I think that faculty and administration relationships still have a lot of issues and the contract is only one of several.” Katherine Rosier, a professor of sociology, anthropology and social work, declined comment regarding the nature of the contract, but said she has faith in those in charge. “I support my leadership. I don’t want to say anything contrary to what they are saying,” Rosier said. “With that, I trust members of the board and (FA President) Laura Frey to convey the overall feeling of the Faculty Association.” As outlined in the document, faculty from the College of Medicine were excluded from decisions made in the contract. “I think the medical school faculty exclusion is an issue that will come back to haunt the FA in the future,” Hill said. “I cite a colleague’s observation in saying that if this is the best we can get when CMU is relatively flush, I wonder what future contracts will be like when finances are tighter.” Bechtold said the faculty have to continue the fight if they want to see changes made in the future. “I think the faculty members have to make clear to the administration that they will not settle for a bad contract in the future,” she said. “I know that there are plans to work for a better contract in future meetings.”
[FACEBOOK] CHARLOTTE BODAK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Macomb junior Diana Sanchez walks with her friend, Lansing junior Kayla Walker, while holding a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day commUNITY Peace March Monday afternoon on the campus of Central Michigan University.
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