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cm-life.com
Monday, Oct. 29, 2012
TOTALLY TIPTON
FACE YOUR FEAR
Zurlon Tipton runs through the Akron defense for a career day » PAGE 1B
Event had students eating for a cause Friday night » PAGE 1B
FA to create its own survey of membership to review Ross By Alayna Smith Senior Reporter
The CMU Faculty Association will survey its own members to provide a review of University President George Ross. This is in addition to several leaders of the FA who have already been selected to be interviewed by the three-person Presidential Review Committee, chaired by Trustee Brian Fannon. Interviews with 75 people across campus and the larger community will take place the week of Nov. 12. FA President Laura Frey; Tim Connors, professor of communication and dramatic arts; and Joshua Smith, associate professor of philosophy and religion and FA president-elect were selected to take part in the interview process on Nov. 13. All three confirmed via email that they have been selected to participate but said they do not know yet what that process might be like. According to an email sent by Frey to the FA, the FA will create its own performance review survey of Ross. Frey asked FA members for input regarding topics and specific questions to be included. The survey is expected to be released in mid-November. The FA will also conduct its own performance review survey of Ross in mid-November. The FA Executive Board is currently seeking input from its members on review area topics and specific questions to be included in the survey. Presidential Review Committee member and Trustee John Hurd said presidential reviews have been done in the past. Ross was reviewed following his first and second years as president, Ross told Central Michigan Life last week. A FA | 2A
Former RB Austin White sentenced to one-year probation, fines By Aaron McMann Managing Editor
Former Central Michigan running back Austin White was sentenced to a one-year probation and more than $2,000 in fines and court costs Friday following his April arrest on campus. White, with his attorney Mary Chartier by his side in Isabella County Trial Court Friday afternoon, issued an apology to judge Paul Chamberlain, taking “full responsibility” for his actions. “I have no excuse for my actions,” White said, reading from a prepared statement. “But, like I have been told before, I do not weigh a man on his mistakes, but on how he responds to his mistakes.” White, 20, of Livonia, entered into a plea agreement on Sept. 21 to charges of delivering and manufacturing narcotics, possession of narcotics and maintaining a drug house. CMU police arrested him and former teammate Joe Sawicki in April after detectives said the two grew psilocybin mushrooms in the bathroom the two shared in their Celani Hall room. Prior to Friday’s sentencing, Chartier asked Chamberlain to consider probation for White and not issue a jail sentence. White has matured as a person and is ready to be a “productive member of society,” Chartier said. A WHITE | 2A
BETHANY WALTER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Only several rows of fans sit before the second quarter of Saturday’s football game against the University of Akron at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. The estimated attendance of the game was 10,172.
Ghost town Attendance issues plague home football games: Athletics confident tickets will reach NCAA benchmark
Ryan Zuke | Staff Reporter
Derek van der Merwe said he is confident Central Michigan football will be in compliance with Division I attendance requirements, despite an announced attendance of just 10,172 at the football game Saturday. “We are going to be compliant,” the Deputy Director of Athletics Derek said. “There (are) a couple of different ways to reach for compliance, and we are going to use one of the two mechanisms to be compliant.” When submitting its report to the NCAA at the end of the season, CMU athletics can use either a headcount system or a paid ticket system. Whatever system it uses, the average attendance number must be at or above 15,000. “If you use the paid system, you can make sure you don’t end up below 15,000,” van der Merwe said.
“Other groups can buy tickets; sponsors can buy tickets that help you get to that provision. That’s how other schools in the (MidAmerican) Conference have done it.” After next Saturday’s home game against Western Michigan, van der Merwe said CMU athletics will gain a better understanding of which method it might use to comply. “The Western game is a big game for us,” he said. “We always have very strong attendance at Western, so once we see where we are at after Western week, we can
figure out how things are going to line up going into the last game of the season.” CMU athletics announces the estimated attendance after every game, but that number includes student groups (band, cheerleaders, working staff and possibly players), which cannot be used when submitting its final attendance numbers to the NCAA. So far this season, the average estimated attendance is 17,791. Last year, the average estimated attendance was 15,291, but CMU athletics reported to the NCAA that it was 10,466 — well below the Division I benchmark needed once every two years. But beginning this year, CMU Athletics is using a new method to estimate attendance. It is using scanners for all tickets. “We are continuing to test the scanning,” van der Merwe said.
“Obviously, it’s going to provide greater accuracy.” However, van der Merwe said just how much more accurate the scanner readings are will not be determined until after the season. “Our estimates are still preliminary estimates until we sit down with the auditors,” he said. “I think we are trying to be as careful as possible, making sure they are as close as possible to what the audit numbers will be.” With seven home games on the schedule this season including matchups against Michigan State, Navy and WMU, attendance was expected to see a major increase. But after a crowd of 35,127 Sept. 8 against MSU, CMU has failed to hit the 16,000 mark in any of the other four home games thus far. A ATTENDANCE | 2A
Dance workshop immerses students in African-style movement By Melissa Beauchamp Senior Reporter
Performer, educator and choreographer Karen Prall has moved her body to the beat of the drum for 30 years. As a bossy little girl, she said she would take her friends in the yard and make them dance how she wanted. She then stumbled into African-style dancing in high school and has shared her passion with dancers ever since. Artistic Director of University Theater Heather Trommer-Beardslee took a class at the American College Dance Festival with Prall in March 2012 and was captivated by her teachings. “As we were going across the floor and she was talking and teaching, I knew we had to get her to CMU,” she said. Trommer-Beardslee’s dream became a reality when more than 40 students participated in multiple workshops Friday through Sunday, learning dance from Congo-Brazzaville in Central Africa. With three drummers, students moved with the rhythm. “This type of dance is low to the ground, the knees bent,” Prall said. “It’s different, because they are used
NOVEMBER 2012
Native American
Heritage Month
to legs straight or up, lifting the body. Now I’m telling them to get down.” Standing in parallel position is not easy for dancers, she said. The dance incorporates different pelvic movements, circling the hips and working the head. Muskegon sophomore Misti Conley said she felt the intensity taking her first African-style dance class. “It’s very similar to hip-hop, which I’m more accustomed with,” she said. Conley said in order to submerge into the dance, the culture must be understood. Prall said she felt love from the students and their willingness to learn a different style of dance. Even if students didn’t catch on right away, they “worked it” until they had it down. Trommer-Beardslee said, each day, students were less afraid to make mistakes and were more engrossed with the movement, culture and history. Fraser senior Eric Miller said he found his body could move in different ways than before. He said he was impressed with Prall and her passion for each student to learn. She would take extra time to pull students to the side and slow things up, he said. “It was completely new, and nothing was holding me back,” he said.
TAYLOR BALLEK/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wayne State University Dance Instructor Karen Prall teaches CMU students traditional African dance moves during an African Dance Workshop Sunday afternoon in Rose Arena.
Prall founded the Art of Motion Dance Theatre in 1986 and has performed in venues in the state. She has been an instructor of the dance department at Wayne State University since 2000. She is also director of the first African dance company at Wayne State, “To Sangana.” At the end of the last session Sunday in Rose 127, students gathered in a circle and would come to the middle
joining different dance moves into one. “It’s the drumming that makes you want to move,” Prall said. “It’s all about the rhythm.” She told students to use what they have learned and make it their own. “My heart is dance,” she said. “I will dance until the day I die.” studentlife@cm-life.com
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Levi Horn
Tuesday, November 20th 7pm in Plachta Auditorium
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC