LIFE Central Michigan University
INSIDE Muslim students discuss challenges of food options during Ramadan, 3A CM-LIFE.COM - Check out the website for coverage of President Ross’ speech, fact finding meeting
| Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
cm-life.com
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Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Alpha Kappa Psi members keep busy, promote business connections, 1B
Lamba Chi Alpha frat suspended Charter revoked four years by all-Greek Judicial Board By Andrew Dooley Student Life Editor
Photos By Charlotte bodak/staff photographer
Livonia sophomore, Sarah Bartosik, gives directions to students while working at the Information Desk in the Towers residence hall complex, Tuesday afternoon. “The best part of my job is definitely being able to meet lots of different people.”
Diligent ‘Deskies’
Going beyond giving directions; student style customer service By Brad Canze Staff Reporter
They sort mail, safeguard students at night and ration out toilet paper — but for residence hall desk associates the job is all about the people. “Interacting with people is the biggest thing,” said Rockford sophomore Ryan Darby, a desk associate in the Towers residence hall complex. “Just helping people, and being comfortable with conversations.” It is the job of “deskies,” as they are commonly known, to provide services to the residents in their halls, but also to assist them in getting information about the residence halls and the university at large. “Our main thing is customer service,” said Towers Desk Manager Amanda Johnson, a Warren junior. “We get questions, ‘Hey, can you help me with this homework?’ We get lots of crazy questions.” Johnson said although most of their work is customer service, sometimes it is also parental assurance. She said the parents of residents will often call to ask questions, asking for confirmation their child is behaving and going to classes. “They’ll call and check up on their children,” Johnson said. “I had to tell someone, ‘No, your son is in the building. He’s standing right here.’” Dillon Stanco, a Romeo junior, said he took a job as a desk associate at Saxe/Herrig/Celani for several reasons, ranging from convenience to future opportunities. “I applied to be a (resident assistant), and if you’ve already been a
A frat | 5b
Coaching planned for online courses Sault Ste. Marie sophomore, Nicholas Modglin, laughs while telling Livonia senior deskie, Sarah Bartosik, a story about working at the desk, Tuesday afternoon. “This is my first job” said Modglin, “It is really nice to meet lots of different people.”
desk worker, it looks a little better,” Stanco said. “Also, I like living on campus. I like not having to walk or drive to go to work.” Stanco, a disc jockey and PSA director at Modern Rock 91.5, said while working late-night and earlymorning shifts is difficult, it allows him to do some man-on-the-street publicity for the student-run radio station. “All the customer service experience I’ve had helps me talk to everybody,” he said. “And I cheaply plug Modern Rock constantly while I’m working.” Stanco said unless a Detroit Lions game is on while he is working at the desk, the radio dial is always tuned to the station of his other on-campus job. Johnson said odd situations come up sometimes while working the night shift, but she tries to
take them in stride. “I was new, didn’t know what to do, and a guy all the way from Thorpe (Hall) came in taped to a bed,” Johnson said. “He was sober and he had his ID, he was just taped to a bed. About 10, 15, guys were carrying him up to Wheeler (Hall).” Johnson said while she allowed the resident in since he had his ID, resident assistants quickly saw and reprimanded the resident taped to the bed and those carrying him. She is now in charge of training desk associates for the Towers, and said doing so helps with her career aspirations of becoming a teacher. “It’s interesting, trying to come up with different ways to get people to retain information,” Johnson said. “This job definitely prepares you to deal with all sorts of personalities.” studentlife@cm-life.com
Mount Pleasant dies in rollover; pedestrian hit by car Monday CM Life Staff Reports
A rollover accident involving a jeep killed 22-year-old Mount Pleasant resident Thomas Gary Painter on Saturday morning. The crash took place at about 3:30 a.m. on North Shepherd Road in Denver Township. Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said speed and alcohol appeared to be factors in the accident. Painter was not wearing his seatbelt. After fishtailing the jeep went off the road and overturned, throwing Painter out of the jeep before it eventually landed on top of him. His passenger, 17-year-old Mount Pleasant resident Adam Jacob Cronkite was wearing his seatbelt and was uninjured in the crash. A 26-year-old Mount Pleasant man was hit Monday morning on the corner of Washington Street and High Street. “There was a vehicle headed eastbound driven by a Mount Pleasant woman,” said Mount Pleasant Police Public Information Officer Jeff Browne. “The pedestrian crossed the street
The greek community is still reeling after Lambda Chi Alpha lost their charter for the next four years. The all-Greek Judicial Board decided last week an incident at the Lambda Chi house located at Deerfield Village Apartments, 3400 Deerfield Road, violated greek policies and guidelines. The group was moved out of the house by Friday afternoon. In an email to alumni about the situation, Alumni President Ryan Collins said the situation involved non-members drinking at the Lambda Chi house. “What allegedly happened was, there was an incident regarding alcohol during an event at the house,” Collins said in the email. “Two students (non-brothers) were tapped out and taken home. These two were later on taken to hospital with alcohol-related issues.” Collins would not comment to Central Michigan Life on the issue. Tristan Nelson, Ypsilanti senior and chief justice for the all-Greek Judicial Board, said the situation
was serious enough to warrant the four year suspension. “It’s never easy to suspend a chapter; no one wants to see that,” Nelson said. “It’s not an easy thing to do but we felt it was the right thing to do at the time.” Nelson said the trial was conducted soon after the event to make sure participants were unbiased, and to prevent rumors from spreading about the nature of the incident. “We just didn’t want a lot of speculation flying around,” he said. Nelson said the four year suspension was designed to give the fraternity a fresh start. “In four years the people who are here now should mostly be graduated,” he said. Nelson said Lambda Chi Alpha violated the risk management rules and policies outlined by the Fraternal Information and Programming Group, and therefore put its insurance policy at risk. “If we don’t follow certain procedures we aren’t covered by fraternity insurance,” he said. Jordan Miller, associate director of chapter services for Lambda Chi Alpha’s national office, said the national organization supported the decision to suspend the charter. “With the decision of the university came the decision of the general fra-
Jeff Smith/Photo Editor
A woman surveys the damage to her Chrysler minivan after colliding with a red GMC acadia around 4:20 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Broomfield and Elva streets.
against the signal and was hit.” Browne said the driver had a green light. The pedestrian was taken to Mount Pleasant Community Hospital, and the
incident is still under investigation. Two car collision Tuesday afternoon resulted in more damage A police | 2b
Contract with Inside Track costs about $200,000 By Annie Harrison Senior Reporter
Central Michigan University is partnering with InsideTrack to prepare new online students taking classes. InsideTrack provides a type of orientation for students who are new to online classes, said Jody Hassen in an email. Hassen, director of student services and enrollment management for ProfEd, said coaching through InsideTrack will help students set aside time for classes. “This is a new service that will be provided to the CMU online student that will more closely align with the services that a student attending a face-to-face on-campus or off-campus location would receive,” she said. The contract with InsideTrack is about $200,000 with an expected 10 percent to 20 percent return on investment, Hassen said. Many non-traditional students are balancing work, home responsibilities and school and don’t have the opportunities to interact with face-to-face services in an online environment. “Our goal is to have InsideTrack’s coaching services to provide tools for students to help them balance these competing pressures,” Hassen said. InsideTrack Director of Program Development Chris Tilghman said in an email CMU does a great job helping students engage with their digital classroom, but online learners often require additional structure and support to thrive in this learning environment. He said InsideTrack’s experience with thousands of students each year suggests community support beyond the classroom is vital to success. “Coaching provides a bridge that not only links students to the myriad resources that CMU has to offer but also keeps students connected to their educational experience through regular, personalized contact,
93 Years of Serving as Central Michigan University’s Independent Voice
motivation, and support,” he said. Engaging students early and offering support throughout their college experience increases their ability to stay in college and graduate prepared for a career, Tilghman said. InsideTrack coaches work one-on-one with students to clarify where they want to go in college and beyond, map out a plan for getting there and provide guidance along the way, he said. “This process is energizing,” Tilghman said. “It helps students understand that everything they do toward their life goals is meaningful, important and worthwhile. It is inspiring for them to connect with someone who knows who they are, who cares about them and supports the effort they’re making to achieve their goals.” Tilghman said InsideTrack has conducted more than 55 controlled studies of its service and consistently found that their coaching improves college graduation rates by 15 percent. Hassen said online enrollment at CMU has experienced strong growth from both off-campus and on-campus students, with a 20 percent increase each year for the past three years. “We attribute this growth to new programs, new courses and students’ needs for more flexible courses in scheduling,” she said. CMU decided to partner with InsideTrack because it identified the need for coaching services for students and did not have the staff resources to meet this need, Hassen said. CMU monitored InsideTrack’s customer base and checked references from other institutions. Hassen said she is unaware of other Michigan institutions that use InsideTrack, but the fact that other major universities such as Columbia University and Penn State University use InsideTrack influenced their decision. “In order to provide the best service for students, we needed to work with experienced service providers in this area,” she said. university@cm-life.com