online | students should watch for phishers, 3A | avoiding the hangover Football team looks to avoid loss, 1B
‘Waring’ it out| Fest, Fair gives a look at the football team, free stuff, 3A
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Central Michigan Life
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
Board OKs $22 million for medical school Enarson: cost is on ‘low side’ for construction By Jake May Senior Reporter
A $22 million approval Thursday marks the medical school’s largest financial advance and Central Michigan University’s largest commitment to the project to date. The Board of Trustees approved the $22 million for the construction of a 62,000-square-foot addition to the Health Professions Building to house CMU’s School of Medicine.
Add that to the already $2 million trustees set aside for engineering and architectural design, and the project has a budget of $24 million. “That’s actually on the low side,” said Cam Enarson, interim dean of the medical school. He said the project’s cost is low when compared to other institutions and universities with new medical school buildings. Enarson used examples such as the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa., and Texas Tech’s medical school, both built from scratch for larger-scale estimate by space provided. Commonwealth has an estimated 190,000-plus-square foot A trustees | 2A
Trustees add money to Brooks Hall project By Hilary Farrell Senior Reporter
CMU’s Board of Trustees approved $750,000 needed to complete Brooks Hall renovations. The project began in August 2008, said Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of Facilities Management, and includes installing heating, ventilation and air conditioning for the building. Steve Smith, director of public relations, said
Small fish in a big pond
the required funds are coming from the school’s deferred maintenance fund. The fund covers projects such as this one, as well as emergencies such as a broken water pipe, he said.
PREVIOUS ISSUES Before school started, CMU learned Brooks Hall was not brought up to city fire codes. The weekend before school began, Facilities Management worked almost nonstop along with other contractors, Information Technology and various other departments to remedy the situation.
A brooks | 5A
Professor grades now on the Portal By Griffin Fraley Staff Reporter
Many students wonder what their professors are like before they attend their first class. The Student Government Association has helped to do that. A link was added to the Central Michigan University Portal, which allows students to view a grade distribution for the spring 2009 semester and includes every professor on campus, said SGA President Jason Nichol. “We want to increase transparency between students and their professors,” the Mount Pleasant senior said. “This gives students more purchasing power when selecting which professors they will have.” To view the distribution, students can go the Portal, click Academics and then on Grade Distribution Reports for Spring 2009, under the General Academics category. “We’re using this as momentum for our big project this year, which is getting (student opinion surveys) forms online,” Nichol said. photos by chris bacarella/staff photographer
Garden City sophomore Laura Stark puts an insect into a cup held Thursday morning by Okemos freshman Sarah Morley as Sterling Heights freshman Jenna Patrico looks at the process at the Chippewa River. The girls collected samples and were testing the quality of the river with their BIO 110 class.
BIO 110 students trek down Chippewa River to examine its water quality By Aaron McMann | Staff Reporter
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Bloomfield Hills freshman Matt Unitis hands an insect found in the Chippewa River to Garden City sophomore Laura Stark Thursday morning.
[inside] NEWS w New Pizza King restaurant opening by month’s end, 3A w Roundabout at Main, Mosher opening next week, 5A
sports w Sports Editor Andrew Stover breaks down Saturday’s game, 3B
CM-LIFE.com w Check the Web site for another video on the Education and Human Services Building.
weather w Mostly sunny High 73/ Low 40
raverse City freshman Natalie Sutherin got a chance to learn some biology in an atmosphere different from what her and her classmates are used to — the Chippewa River. “Can I put those waders on?” she asked as other members of her class exited the water Thursday morning. A biology | 2a
In the open Grades distributions are available on CDs in the Charles V. Park Library, but SGA Vice President Brittany Mouzourakis feels is not enough. “The resources are already available, but in a mostly unusable medium,” the Garden City senior said. “This is also more effective than other reviews because they are mostly outliers.” SGA is aiming to complete the project by the beginning of the spring semester, Nichol said. Nichol anticipated there would be more resistance to the plan, but he said has not seen any. Tim Brannan, president of the Faculty Association, said there is no prevailing opinion on the SOS forms moving online one way or the other. university@cm-life.com
Attorney gives lowdown on students’ legal rights Editor’s Note: Senior Reporter Jake Bolitho sat down with local attorney Todd Levitt to talk about students’ legal rights, including alcohol and privacy issues. Jake Bolitho: What exactly is defined as open intoxicant? Todd Levitt: Open intoxicant is being in public with an open container of alcohol. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a can of beer or a bottle of beer — it can be in a glass. It’s somewhere out in the public domain with alcohol present. JB: With that being said, what is defined as “public?” Can it be as simple as just
standing on a sidewalk in front of your house? TL: If you’re on the sidewalk with a can of beer, even if there’s a couple drops in it, that’s open intoxicants. You can be in a motor vehicle and, quite often, people are charged with open intoxicants in a motor vehicle as passengers and as drivers. Here’s an example: there’s four people in a motor vehicle and there’s one beer in that car. All four of those people could be charged with open intoxicants... if you’re inside your house drinking a beer, that’s not open intoxicants. JB: If a police officer asks a student to submit to a breath-
alyzer test, can they choose not to? TL: There was actually a case law that resulted from something that occurred here on the campus. Police officers were randomly approaching students with no justification or probable cause and asking them to submit to breathalyzers. That’s an invasion of your (privacy)... any time you intrude into someone’s privacy, you have to have a warrant for that. JB: What if someone is pulled over on the road? Do the same rules regarding breathalyzers and warrants work in that situation too?
TL: No because, at that point, the officer has already done enough investigation to justify them asking you to submit to a breathalyzer. Based on all their observations (and) the sobriety test, they can justify that. JB: Let’s say someone is holding a nuisance party and the police show up at the door. Does that person have to let them in? TL: I think people have a right in their private residence to have more than five, 10, 15 or even 20 people over and it should not be considered a nuisance. In defense of the local law enforcement, quite
cm-life.com Check the Web site to view more from the Q-and-A.
often, they’ll give the homeowner a warning... More often than not, a police officer has to be invited into the residence. There’s a couple exceptions: one, they have a search warrant. If somebody is being injured or there’s a violent crime taking place, then they have a right to protect the public and that could be an exception to the search warrant. metro@cm-life.com
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