Bell tower changing tune, scheduled in time for graduation, 3A
LIFE CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan University
| Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Mount Pleasant: Rock City? 1B
[cm-life.com]
“It is not organized well at all, you have to search to find the portal and it is the weirdest set up. It just looks strange.”
By Catey Traylor Senior Reporter
Next year’s undergraduate tuition rates and a name change for Central Michigan University’s off-campus and online programs are among topics to be discussed at Thursday’s board of trustees meeting. Traditionally set during a July board meeting, tuition rates are being discussed earlier in order to allow students adequate time to plan financially. CMU increased undergraduate tuition for the 201112 academic year by 3.47 percent, $12 per credit hour, last July, the lowest increase among the 15 Michigan public universities. Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed a budget that includes a 3-percent increase in state funding for universities that keep tuition increases to 4 percent or less. Many students are hoping tuition rates don’t face a major increase. “I obviously want tuition
Cory Brzak,
Midland sophomore
“I find this way of easing us into the new website by email and videos a week before extremely annoying,” he said. “I don’t have time to watch videos.” Charles Hastings,
SITE UNSEEN
By David Oltean Senior Reporter
A recently-introduced Michigan Senate bill may reduce retiree benefits for public employees enrolled in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System, including some at Central Michigan University. The legislation, Senate Bill 1040, would require select teachers and administrators enrolled in MPSERS to pay about 10 percent more for health premiums, increase salary contributions toward benefit pensions and reduce a portion of the cost for school districts. Testimonies will be presented for the bill during the Senate Appropriations Retirement Subcommittee’s April 11 hearing. Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, was the primary sponsor of the legislation and released a written statement regarding the proposed bill, highlighting the $45 billion liability caused by MPSERS. “In 2013-2014 the Office of Retirement Services estimates that school districts will pay a total of about 31 percent of MPSERS employee payroll into the retirement system to cover the costs of school retirement,” he said in a released statement. “This is roughly equivalent to 20 cents of every education dollar set
Website launch comes up short with campus community By Lonnie Allen | Staff Reporter
University Communications and the Web Task Force have said the April launch date was determined based on the effect it would have on the university community and its operations. CMU, based on user feedback, sent out an email Monday saying iCentral would remain accessible through the end of the semester. Links to both Central Link and iCentral were provided in the message. The public website, cmich.edu, was unavailable for much of Tuesday as IT officials worked to correct an internal error.
In a previous story, Vice President for Information Technology Roger Rehm said iCentral was to be replaced by Central Link when the new website was launched. Because of the launch date, the Web team discussed leaving iCentral available throughout the project, but the final decision to leave it up was made over the weekend. The primary driver for the decision was feedback from students regarding the timing of the launch. Charles Hastings, assistant professor of anthropology, said he has not tried
called launching the new system Monday, with finals approaching, irresponsible and rushed. “I don’t like that they switched it this close to finals,” he said. “I think they should have waited until summer. It is bad timing, there is a lot of stress already because of finals (and) we don’t need any more. It took me about 15 minutes to find the (portal) connection link.” the new website and called preparations for the launch, a string of video announcements sent via email, “a waste of time.” “I find this way of easing us into the new website by email and videos a week before extremely annoying,” he said. “I don’t have time to watch videos.” Hastings said Sarah Buckley, coordinator of marketing and events for the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, sent an email Monday alerting CHSBS faculty and staff about external pages, which do not match
rates to go down, but if they were to remain the same, that’d be OK,” said Detroit sophomore Jourdan Bender. “I really can’t afford anything higher, and the quality of education we get for the amount we spend is, in my opinion, worth it.” Vice President of Development and External Relations Kathy Wilbur declined comment through University Communications while Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services David Burdette could not be reached for comment Monday and Tuesday. According to a release sent by the board of twrustees, room and board rates for students living in residence halls will also be discussed at Thursday’s meeting. Macomb sophomore Andrew Venditti said although he doesn’t live on campus, for the sake of incoming freshmen, rates should be decreased. ABOARD| 2A
Proposed legislation may increase MPSERS health payments
assistant professor of anthropology
A week of emails and instructional videos preparing the Central Michigan University community for the new cmich.edu launch was considered unsuccessful by many. The new design of cmich.edu is being blamed by students and faculty for adding frustration to an already stressful time of the year. Muskegon junior A.J. Balkema said he is not a fan of the website and
Trustees to set tuition rates, room and board Thursday
the internal pages and there were some missing links on the college home page. Her email also informed CHSBS that they were working with OIT to fix the problems. Midland sophomore Cory Brzak said he was confused by the organization of the home page. He said he didn’t see the purpose to launch on Monday and called navigation on the site “ horrible.” “It is not organized well at all,” he said. “You have to search to find the portal and it is the weirdest set up. It just looks strange.” AWEBSITE| 2A
aside to pay retiree pension and health care costs. Skyrocketing retirement system costs in conjunction with the $45 billion unfunded liability will ultimately incapacitate our school districts. It is imperative that the system undergo significant and necessary reforms that will ensure stability for the future of retired school employees.” Along with increasing the cost of health premiums and benefit pensions, the bill would require current teachers to work until age 60 to qualify for retirement health care. Current retirees’ pensions would remain unaffected by the legislation, though contributions to the existing retiree health plan would increase by 10 percent. Employees hired after July 1, 2012 will remain to be required to make a 2 percent contribution to a 401K health plan, which will be matched by employers. Sen. Mark Jansen, RGrand Rapids, sponsored the Senate bill along with many other recent reform bills. Deborah Drick, Chief of Staff for Jansen, said the MPSERS reform is necessary as the retirement plan continues to be a liability for Michigan. ABILL| 2A
‘Planet Money’ team brings economics, humor to Warriner Hall By Paulina Lee Staff Reporter
Chuck Miller/staff photographer
Adam Davidson, co-host of NPR’s “Planet Money” podcast, stands on stage Tuesday evening in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium giving a presentation on pop economics. Davidson was joined by his co-host Alex Blumberg. “One of the secrets of the ‘Planet Money’ team is that no has an economic background,” Davidson joked.
When thinking about the future of the U.S. and the current state of the economy, one has reason to ask, “How screwed are we?” That was the question “Planet Money’s” Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson posed to the audience of about 300 attendees Tuesday night in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium. The live talked based on their popular NPR segment was presented by Central Michigan University’s Public Radio. The show aims to explain the economy in terms
that anyone can understand. Blumberg and Davidson walked out to a standing ovation, and were greeted by a row of high school boys lifting up their shirts to display “Planet Money” written out across their chests in brightpink duct tape. The festive fans were part of a group from Petoskey High School. Davidson said America in a way has two economies. “A good economy exists side by side with a really bad economy, that will exist in both the short and long run,” he said. Then they provided background. Blumberg said since the 1970s, for about 80 mil-
lion Americans, there has been virtually no economic growth, with some who are worse off than their parents. He said this phenomenon masked as earning was replaced by borrowing. “In the old system — auto plants, mill, steel plants — you would start as a high school drop out or an immigrant, maybe with limited English, but there were jobs you could start with your body,” Davidson said. “There was little technical school. You learned on the job. Now low-skill jobs are disappearing rapidly.”
93 Years of Serving as Central Michigan University’s Independent Voice
APLANET MONEY| 2A
[INSIDE] w CMU funding model similar to those at WMU, EMU, 3A w City Commissioners study wording of anti-discrimination ordinance draft, 3A w Dinner Dialogue talks politics, stereotypes about women in Yemen, 5A