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UNIVERSITY:
Sherry Knight among semifinalists for VP of communications search » PAGE 3A
ELECTION:
Stabenow has huge lead in polls heading into Tuesday » PAGE 3A
cm-life.com
Monday, Nov. 5, 2012
STUDENT LIFE
SOCCER
CMU students embrace not-so-average pets » PAGE 3A
Women lose MAC tournament title game, still hope for NCAA bid » PAGE 1B
Obama, Romney make their final case for Tuesday election By John Irwin Elections Coordinator
With Tuesday’s end to the campaign season quickly approaching, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are looking for any edge they can find. On Saturday, Romney unveiled a new television ad and stump speech line criticizing Obama for telling a crowd that voting for him would be “the best revenge.”
“Vote for revenge?” Romney asked supporters at a weekend New Hampshire rally. “Let me tell you what I’d like to tell you: Vote for love of country. It is time we lead America to a better place.” GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan echoed Romney at a Saturday rally in Ohio, turning Obama’s 2008 campaign slogans against him. “We don’t believe in revenge,” Ryan said. “We believe in change, in hope. We really do.”
Obama’s “revenge” comments were made at a Springfield, Ohio, rally on Friday after supporters booed when the president mentioned Romney. “No, no, no, don’t boo — vote,” Obama said. “Vote. Voting is the best revenge.” The Obama campaign defended the comments, saying the boos came after Obama blasted the Romney campaign for releasing misleading ads suggesting Chrysler was outsourcing its Toledo manufacturing jobs
to China because of the 2009 auto bailouts. The ad has been criticized as hugely misleading by several fact checkers and officials from Chrysler and General Motors. For his part, Obama is presenting himself as someone voters know and trust and Romney as a political opportunist. “You want to know that your president means what he says and says what he means,” Obama said at a Saturday Ohio rally. “And after four years as
president, you know me.” Since the first presidential debate last month, Romney has been presenting himself as someone who can work with members of both parties to break through gridlock. CMU political science professor and chairperson Orlando Perez said Romney would have his work cut out for him, though. “Given the likely partisan division of Congress after the election, I don’t think Romney will be able to garner any more
bipartisanship than Obama,” Perez said. A RealClearPolitics polling average finds both virtually tied, with Obama slightly ahead 47.5 percent to 47.3 percent. metro@cm-life.com
CMU’s grad student union to bargain for healthcare
Murder suspect pastor at area church, cared for 3 year old
By Annie Harrison Senior Reporter
By Shelby Miller Senior Reporter
The Graduate Assistant Union at Central Michigan University is the only graduate student union without health insurance in Michigan, union president Michelle Campbell said. Campbell, a graduate assistant in the English language and literature department, said the GSU was organized in 2009 and has only bargained for one contract so far. Of the graduate assistant unions in the state, CMU’s GSU is the newest union compared to those at other universities in Michigan. Campbell said it’s her understanding that the original bargaining team went into bargaining wanting health insurance, but the administration was not interested in providing it. As a compromise, the GSU agreed to a stipend for full-time graduate assistants. The 2010-13 bargaining agreement states that CMU will provide a wellness allowance of $175 during the academic year 2012-13. “That doesn’t do much,” Campbell said. Many graduate assistants are covered under auxiliary plans, Campbell said, such as their parents’ health insurance or an international student plan. She said the GSU has not had any official grievances as far as someone not having any health insurance. Other universities across Michigan provide medical insurance for graduate student organizations. The contract for Wayne State University’s Graduate Employees Organizing Committee states that medical insurance is available to all employees covered by the contract. Insurance provides coverage to the employees and their spouses and dependents to the same extent as it is provided to the members of the
A Friday night vigil brought friends and family of 24-yearold Rebekah Gay together, celebrating her life and mourning her death. Police say 55-year-old John Douglas White, a pastor and ex-convict, murdered Gay around 2 John Douglas White a.m. Wednesday morning in her home, 3303 S. Coldwater Road, in Broomfield Valley Mobile Home Park, where she lived several houses away from White. Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski told Central Michigan Life Friday Gay’s autopsy was currently taking place in Grand Rapids, and it will take awhile for results to be known. Mioduszewski said White beat Gay’s head with a rubber mallet and slipped a plastic zip-tie around her neck to strangle her. The news comes as a shock to congregation members at the Christ Community Fellowship, 3554 S. Gilmore Road, where White was pastor for the past three years, the Associated Press reported. Before his arrest Thursday, White asked church members to begin a prayer chain for Gay, who was still missing at the time. White was arraigned Thursday in the Isabella County District Court on charges of open murder and first-degree, pre-meditated murder and ordered jail time without bond. White served prison terms for assault with intent to murder and for manslaughter and was released in 2007, CBS News said. White deposited her body in a stand of pine trees off Coldwater Road and parked her car behind The Barn Door, 3029 S. Coldwater Road, after the murder, police said.
A UNION | 2A
CHUCK MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Central Michigan University assistant professor of leadership studies Dr. Eric Buschlen works with groups in his LDR 200 class, Introduction to Leadership. Buschlen was honored this month by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, the leading association for the advancement of the student affairs profession.
Leading by example Eric Buschlen awarded for excellence in leadership program By Alayna Smith | Senior Reporter
Visitors to the Leadership Institute webpage are greeted with a banner proclaiming “Leadership is Central.” But what makes the leadership program at Central Michigan University so definitive? Though there are a handful of leadership majors and minors available at universities across the nation, CMU is the only Michigan university to offer the minor. Eric Buschlen, assistant professor of leadership studies, recently received the Outstanding Contribution to Student Affairs through Teaching Award for the Mid-West by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. The award recognized him for his work in coordinating and teaching the leadership minor at CMU, as well as contributing to the professional development of
his colleagues and students. Communications Professor and Leadership Council Chair Diane Krider, who teaches one of the required courses for the leadership minor, said she knew Buschlen was destined to be a great leader when she met him in his senior year of college. “Behind any successful program is at least one champion, and Dr. Buschlen is indeed the leadership minor champion,” she said. “One need not look further than the awards he has won and the growth of the program as evidence of his outstanding work and com-
CHUCK MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Central Michigan University assistant professor of leadership studies Dr. Eric Buschlen hands back papers in his LDR 200 class.
mitment to the leadership minor.” Had he not been able to make important connections to campus and student affairs programs when he was a student, Buschlen said, he would have ultimately just become another statistic as a dropout. “As a first generation student, I felt lost, as many students do,” he said. “But
I found Student Affairs, and they took the time and invested in me along with some outstanding faculty. What I do now is give back the attention they gave me as a freshman who needed guidance. That’s what everyone’s job is at the university, to provide support to make sure (students are) not a statistic.”
A BUSCHLEN| 2A
A WHITE | 2A
Freshmen, sophomores take in first Central-Western weekend By Charnae Sanders Staff Reporter
With visitors filling up extra space in the residence halls, parking lots full of people tailgating and proud Chippewas and Broncos sporting their school colors, it was clear Saturday’s rivalry game was a big deal. Since the Central/Western game was played in Kalamazoo last year, this weekend was the first time freshman and sophomore Chippewas got to witness
the rivalry on their home turf. “My first Central/Western game experience was a lot of fun,” Clark Lake sophomore Curine Demeuse said. “It was what I certainly expected it to be like, big and have everyone all over the place, but it was good to see everyone come together. I really liked that, because a lot of people haven’t been to the last couple of games.” Though the home team did not end up with the victory, several students still had an
entertaining weekend. Demuse hung out with friends and felt as if her expectations for the game were met, despite the loss. “That was the bummer about it,” Demuse said. “It was still a lot of fun to see everybody come together. I’d rather have it be a close game than not having a chance at all.” Freshman Meita Porter enjoyed her first Central/ Western game experience, despite the disappointing 42-31 CMU loss.
NOVEMBER 2012
Native American
Heritage Month
“It was a good experience,” the Farmington Hills native said. “It was the rivalry game, and for some people, it was the first one. So, it was really cool. I didn’t want to miss it. So I made sure I went.” Saginaw freshman Brianna Haynes said the most exciting thing about Saturday was the rivalry in general. “I love the atmosphere and how into it everybody was,” Haynes said. A WEEKEND | 2A
TRISHA UMPFENBACH/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Lambertville freshmen Erica Jilek, left, and Taylor Phillips chat about their first Western weekend Saturday afternoon outside Wheeler Hall. “Tailgate was fun, till the cops came and kicked everyone out,” Phillips said.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Levi Horn
Tuesday, November 20th 7pm in Plachta Auditorium
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC