LIFE CENTRAL MICHIGAN
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Central Michigan University
| Friday, Jan. 27, 2012
Collectors gather to swapstamps, stories at monthly meetings, 6
[cm-life.com]
Ticket prices for MSU football game set at $55 Event remains free for CMU students By Matt Thompson Sports Editor
Central Michigan football tickets against Michigan State may be impossible to come by for non-students
and season ticket holders. CMU athletics did state students will comprise the largest group of ticket holders for the MSU game on Sept. 8. A committee of student leaders and campus partners will meet to determine allotment and distribution methods. Beginning next year students will now have their campus ID’s scanned while
Potential emails between FA, MEA sealed
entering the gates. Students will have to get a digital ticket loaded onto their CMU ID to be scanned on gameday. Season ticket holders and Chippewa Club members will have the first opportunity to buy tickets and CMU athletics expect it will sell out before the general public has the opportunity to buy tickets June 1. After reserving student
seats, contracted seats MSU gets and what athletics is assuming 7,000 tickets to season ticket holders there will not be that many tickets remaining to buy up. The price for the MSU game will be $55 with no discount for anyone. The price last season was $20 for an adult at a single game. This year it will be $22 with premier Western Michigan and Navy games cost-
ing $30 and MSU $55. It is the third time CMU will have in seven home games. “We have a monumental football season ahead of us that is going to provide our fans with a historic opportunity,” said Director of Athletics Dave Heeke. Adult season tickets will cost $160.
Bodies frozen in place turned the heads of passersby in the Central Michigan University Bovee University Center Thursday. The attention was exactly what the frozen bodies wanted. Ten students supporting Alpha Lambda Omega Christian Sorority performed a standstill flash mob at 11 a.m., while wearing red and purple shirts. Their goal was to draw attention to the hand-written messages on their shirts which read either, “He loves me,” “He saved me,” or “Ask me about him,” along with a reference to John 3:16. “The shirts represent no matter who you are and what you do, God loves and wants you to
WMU, Navy w $30 for adults MSU
Date not set for CMU website redesign launch
BAS K E T B RAW L
By Lonnie Allen Staff Reporter
mixed with sand and dropped in parking lots to help create friction on the ice, Lawrence said. In 2007-08, when Mount Pleasant saw more than 70 inches of snow, the university purchased 900 tons of salt. CMU pays $60 per ton of salt, Lawrence said. Ice, however, is difficult to manage, and salt fails to work when temperatures fall below 15 degrees Fahrenheit. During a string of days last week, lows reached near zero, leaving the salt relatively ineffective. Lawrence said streets with salt and traffic are much more effective than
The university website redesign is close to being completed, but may have to wait until the end of the academic year until it is ready to launch. Vice President for Information Technology Roger Rehm said the purpose of the redesigned website is to target individual audiences instead of flooding them with unnecessary information. ICentral, launched in summer 2010 to replace the former CMU portal, will be replaced with Central Link for student use. The new cmich.edu will be redesigned to serve as a public tool for resources and information on the university, Rehm said. “We are proposing to rebuild the cmich.edu site so it’s specifically for the public,” he said. “Also to build and replace iCentral with a much-broader Central Link site so that it is really constructed specifically for the CMU community.” Renee Walker, associate vice president of public relations and marketing, said a new website has been one of the university’s goals since University President George Ross’ transition to president in 2010. The new site, a $550,000 project that was awarded to Blue Chip Consulting Group, will provide a central location to gather and communicate information that is specific for the user. “There is information the public really wants to know, and we should provide that user experience to get the information they need,” Walker said. “Internally, there is information folks need to know, and we should give them that opportunity to have a good web experience and get the information they need to be successful.” She said most content located on cmich.edu and iCentral, as it stands today, doesn’t hold content in a way that can be used easily. When the new cmich.edu debuts, the iCentral address will
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A WEBSITE | 2
ANDREW KUHN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A benches-clearing brawl broke out during the first half of Wednesday night’s women’s basketball game between Central Michigan and Ohio University at McGuirk Arena. Ohio’s Porsha Harris and Central Michigan’s Jas’Mine Bracey were ejected following the altercation, and the Chippewas went on to beat the Bobcats 67-53.
Three suspensions following fight at women’s game By Matt Thompson Sports Editor
Three Central Michigan women’s basketball players are suspended following a fight during a game Wednesday night against Ohio at McGuirk Arena.
CMU forward Jas’Mine Bracey and Ohio forward Porsha Harris started the fight after play had stopped. Both players were ejected. In the aftermath three Chippewas, Jessica Green, Crystal Bradford and Bracey, were suspended for two games by
the Mid-American Conference. Only Harris was suspended for Ohio, also two games. “The behavior of the involved student-athletes was unacceptable and has no place in basketball,” stated MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon
INSIDE w More coverage, 7 w Visit cm-life.com for a video of the fight Steinbrecher. sports@cm-life.com
Facilities Management salting less this year By Tony Wittkowski Staff Reporter
Central Michigan University students and faculty noticed the icy sidewalks and streets when the snow hit last week. Especially Adam Thiesse. The Jackson sophomore has class early in the morning during the week and found himself slipping more times than he would have liked. “The sidewalks are very icy in the morning,” Thiesse said. “I’ve slipped multiple times walking to my 8 a.m. (class).” That’s because Facilities Management has salted sidewalks and parking lots less than prior years. But that’s be-
cause there is less snow than usual and colder temperatures. “This year we have had very little need for salt compared to last year,” said Steve Lawrence, vice president of Facilities Management. “The amount of snowfall has been very small.” One of the things most don’t know is that salt does not work as well when the temperature falls below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, Lawrence said. “They get salted when conditions warrant it,” he said. “When people walk on the sidewalks after it snows, they pack it down, making it harder for FM grounds keepers to shovel it up.”
Facilities Management workers plow and lay salt on lots and sidewalks on campus between midnight and 7 a.m. “Last year we brought in retired FM ground keepers to help when it really snowed,” Lawrence said. “There are three retired grounds keepers that have agreed to come in case they are needed.” Universities, through stategovernment funding, typically buy an abundance of salt per academic year, Lawrence said. CMU normally purchases about 750 tons of salt; 70 percent of which is used on sidewalks and a few selected parking lots. The remainder of the salt is
Christian sorority performs standstill flash mob in UC By Mike Nichols Staff Reporter
w $22 for adults
w $55 for all, no discounts
By Eric Dresden Editor-in-Chief
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Not released to public following FOIA request
Prospects are dim that voting totals will be released from the Faculty Association’s contract ratification earlier this month. Any potential emails between Faculty Association President Laura Frey and the Michigan Education Association are sealed, according to Central Michigan University officials. A Freedom of Information Act requested by Central Michigan Life, seeking any email conversation between Frey and the MEA from Jan. 11 to 20, was rejected by General Counsel Manuel Rupe. “This is in accordance with Howell Education Association MEA/NEA v. Howell Board of Education, a Michigan Court of Appeals decision from 2010, which concluded that the release of emails involving internal union communications would only reveal information regarding the affairs of a labor organization, which is not a public body,’” Rupe said in an email. The FOIA request was filed in hopes of determining final vote totals from the recent FA ratification of a contract with CMU on Jan. 12. Three quarters of the FA voted, but totals and numbers have not been released. Members will receive a 1.25-percent raise and a $830 lump sum in 2012-13 and a 1.5-percent raise with a $835 lump sum for the 2013-14 academic year. New faculty members for the College of Medicine will not be a part of the union, according to the agreement.
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be a part of the family,” said sorority member Elizza LeJeune, a Detroit senior. The students remained motionless in the Rotunda for five minutes before heading downstairs, where they spent another five minutes frozen in place. Some stood checking their phones. One girl was bent as if tying her shoe. Detroit senior Melody Brown filmed the flash mob on her iPad. She said it was fun watching people walk by, then stop when they noticed the frozen bodies. “I saw people doing doubletakes,” she said. “They were smiling and looking on.” Warren junior Mike Wilson was working at Microchips when he caught sight of frozen people standing outside his door. Wilson did not know why they were fro-
zen, but said it was interesting. “It reminded me of the flash mobs that you see online,” Wilson said. “I also thought it maybe was an art project.” Steven Lambert, a CMU alumnus from Grand Rapids, said he knew it was a flash mob when he saw bodies in matching shirts freeze. Like Wilson, Lambert said he was uncertain about the message until he saw the verse on the shirts. “I saw ‘John 3:16,’ so I’m guessing it was some sort of faith-based group,” Lambert said. “I saw it and was like, ‘Oh, OK. Something’s going on.’” Sorority member Maquia Agnew said the group’s idea for a flash mob came after watching a flash mob video done by Grand A MOB | 2
[INSIDE] w Math dept. supports A-Senate’s vote of no confidence, 2 w Broadcasting dept. expresses concern after MSU merges broadcast, radio, 3 w Safety against stalking pushed during Wednesday night SAPA event, 3
VICTORIA ZEGLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Southfield senior Marquitta Swann stands frozen in place with others in the hallway during a flash mob Thursday morning in the Bovee University Center. Alpha Lambda Omega Christian Sorority members organized the flash mob.
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