LIFE CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Hockey team enjoys weekly game at Morey Courts, 1B
Central Michigan University
Bush Theatre play “Independence” about dysfunctional family, 3A
| Monday, Feb. 6, 2012
[cm-life.com]
Speaker Series’ funding not set Donations key to bringing in Jane Goodall By Emily Pfund Staff Reporter and Ben Harris Senior Reporter
Regular funding for the Speaker Series remains up in the air, despite a forthcoming appearance from esteemed conservationist Jane Goodall. The Speaker Series Committee has continued to look for speakers to bring to Central Michigan University and the funding to get them here, said Director of University Events Bob Ebner. “The Academic Senate kept (the committee going and part of its charge was to find funds),” Ebner said. “It was never eliminated as a committee, just the funding was.” Ebner said Goodall, who will speak at the CMU Events Center on March 28, will be the fourth major speaker arranged by the committee since it lost regular funding in 2003. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke in Plachta Auditorium in November 2009 and was paid $35,000. The series also brought in British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie in October 2008 and Gen. Wesley Clark in April 2007. “I think it’s good to have high-profile speakers,” said Lapeer sophomore Ellen Meinecke. “It’s good to have people like (Goodall) come to interact with students. I think it’s a great opportunity, and not everyone gets an opportunity like it.” “Maybe not once a year, but every five years or so we should have a speaker like that come to campus, so that while you’re at Central, you can come across a good speaker like that — that way everybody gets a chance,” she said. The committee pays to bring in speakers like Goodall through donations provided by the university president, provost, A SERIES | 6A
FILE PHOTO BY MIKE MULHOLLAND
Few Central Michigan University football fans remain in the third quarter during CMU’s game against Ohio on Nov. 10, 2011 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
FOOTBALL ‘PRETENDANCE’ Attendance doesn’t reach Division I standards
Student counts could have saved Division I status in 2004
By Matt Thompson Sports Editor
By Matt Thompson Sports Editor
Fans and critics of the Central Michigan football team have long doubted attendance numbers announced during games. It turns out they’re right. The athletic department has inflated attendance numbers announced to fans and media while expecting to report a lower number to NCAA about Division I status. Athletics Director Dave Heeke expects that the attendance number submitted to the NCAA Feb. 15 will be lower than the 15,000 average attendance required to be Division I. Programs only have to hit that number once every two years. “We won’t meet that number this year,” Heeke said. “But we’ve met it in the past. And forecasting for next year, we will meet it in the future.” Heeke is confident CMU will reach that 15,000 benchmark during next season’s sev-
An average of 43 people might have kept Central Michigan football in Division I status in 2004. Teams have to average a 15,000 attendance once every two years to keep Division I status: CMU had 15,043. In 2003 CMU averaged 13,919, making 2004 a crucial season in CMU football history, and students knew it. “Students got counted multiple times to help the attendance numbers,” said 2004 graduate Paul Constanzo. “It was a running joke. Everyone knew it was happening. It was well known.” Constanzo, at the time a senior reporter at Central Michigan Life, wrote a column about how he and a friend entered and left the stadium multiple times; They were counted as eight people. Constanzo said another one of his friends was counted “20-plus times.” Herb Deromedi, athletic di-
SOURCE: CMU ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
Figures on total attendance compared to ticket sales.
en-game home schedule that includes Michigan State, Navy and Western Michigan. That still leaves several Mid-American Conference games left to be scheduled, which could include mid-week games that crippled the attendance average last year. INFLATING ANNOUNCED ATTENDANCE Last season CMU inflated attendance figures given to the media, placed in the official game summary and presented on the scoreboard during games. Athletics announced an average attendance of 15,291 for the five home games. The
average paid attendance was 4,473. “All too often I get a chuckle when the answer to the attendance trivia question is shown on the big screen,” said season ticket holder Brian Roberts. “There are rarely as many bodies in the stadium as it says.” The attendance numbers included tickets given away for free, regardless of whether the person who received the ticket attended the game, Heeke said. This created a higher attendance number than actually at the game. A ATTENDANCE | 2A
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Circus fashion rings into Plachta for Cirque de Vogue Event hosted by Organization for Black Unity By Anamaria Dickerson Staff Reporter
DeSheria Holliday strutted across the stage in a black dress Friday night in the Cirque de Vogue fashion show. The event, held in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium at Central Michigan University, was hosted by the Organization for Black Unity. Nearly every seat was filled in the 1,270-seat auditori-
um, and the audience reaction was loud and cheerful as members gave personal shout-outs to their friends in the show. Holliday, a Southfield senior, has participated in OBU’s fashion shows in the past, but Friday’s was her last, as she is planning to graduate in May. “It’s bittersweet,” Holliday said. “It was my last time because my time here is done.” Although it was her last show, Holliday said the show was a lot of fun and her favorite outfit was the black dress she opened with, made by designer Gina Castillo.
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Vendors who provided clothing were in attendance at the show as well, including Inkster-based Zarkpa’s Accessories. Owner Tracy Garley said this was her first time being a vendor at an OBU fashion show. “It was very professional,” Garley said. “OBU was really nice and made sure I received all my jewelry back from the models.” West Bloomfield freshman Elyse Stepney, participating in the show for the first time, said she had a pleasant experience. A SHOW | 2A
rector from 1994 to 2005, said he can’t recall students going in and out for higher attendance numbers, but did say athletics made it well-known they needed a high attendance. “We did make it known how important it was to not only our students, but our alumni and community that we met the requirement,” Deromedi said. While it was important, some think CMU didn’t make the benchmark. “No way there were 15,000 at those games,” Constanzo said. “No way.” Currently, the NCAA would put CMU on probation if it did not reach the requirement. But in 2004 the consequences were uncertain. “We were concerned on what the criteria was for Division I,” Deromedi said. “(The NCAA was) making adjustments to criteria, trying to determine what it took to be Division I. “I’m sure Dave Heeke knows what the ramifications are now.” Some students took the issue of attendance numbers and their potential effect on CMU into their own hands.
A HISTORY | 2A
[ I N S I D E] w SGA to host RSO Spotlight Monday, 3A w Students bring family during annual Sibs Weekend, 3A w Morey Courts’ contest offers cash prize as incentive to get fit, 5A w Cause of car fire Saturday on Broomfield Road unknown, 6A
Tan All You Can ‘Til Spring Break! CHUCK MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Flint junior Briana Page models a dress while standing in front of the show’s male performers Friday night in Plachta Auditorium for the Cirque de Vogue fashion show.
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