margo gets win no. 1,000, 1B
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Friday, April 23, 2010
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Strutting across town Men walk through Mount Pleasant wearing high heels to raise awareness.
Central Michigan Life
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
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Staff, senior officer wages frozen for 2010-11 University cites economic outlook, appropriations By Amelia Eramya Senior Reporter
Central Michigan University will not raise salaries for professional and administrative staff and senior officers for the 201011 fiscal year. According to Thursday’s P&A Communicator, a newsletter sent to Professional and Ad-
ministrative staff and senior officers, the decision was made “after a thoughtful and considerate assessment of the economic outlook, the perpetual decline in state appropriations and the necessity for modest tuition adjustments.” Maxine Kent, associate vice president of Human Resources, said it was spurred by the high level of financial uncertainty in Michigan, especially at public universities. “(We) have looked at a number of things to help,” Kent said.
About 70 percent of CMU’s budget costs go toward the salaries and benefits of CMU employees, she said. More than 700 employees make up the professional and administrative staff, which includes academic advisers, resident assistant directors and heads of major units on campus. Senior officers on campus, such as vice presidents, associate vice presidents, deans and associate deans, include about 40 employees across campus. Kent said several higher education institutions are freezing
salaries to help employees in difficult financial times. She said CMU will not implement budget-related layoffs for professional and administrative staff and senior officers, assuming the budget scenario does not worsen. “(We) will not need to lay off employees in order to balance the budget,” Kent said. Benefits Professional and administrative staff and senior officers will see a small increase in medical coverage costs.
CMU is a self-insured institution, and the employees and their families are using preventative services and wellness activities to keep themselves healthy, Kent said. “(Our) rates for medical went up a very small amount,” she said. “Prescription drugs and dental plans went down, which is very unheard of.” Currently, professional and administrative staff and senior officers pay eight percent of medical, prescription drug and dental coverage. Employees can choose be-
tween two medical coverage plans — a base plan and a less coverage plan. The base will increase 3.2 percent and the less coverage plan will increase 1.2 percent for active employees. Kent said fewer people select the plan with less coverage. She said CMU’s self-insured premiums are 15 percent lower than premiums of comparable coverage at other universities in Michigan. She said CMU was moving toward getting employees to A Wages | 2A
CMU to enforce computer lab printing limit
$10 worth of free pages for students per semester
By Connor Sheridan Senior Reporter
The days of printing 20page PowerPoint presentations in Central Michigan University’s computer labs may soon be numbered. A new student printing service will launch during the Summer II semester and will allocate $10 worth of free pages to each student, equal to 250 black-and-white or about 31 color pages per semester. Per page, it equals out to paying four cents for black and white or 32 cents per page for color. Additional print credits can be purchased in $2 increments — 50 black and white pages — at a time. “We’re not looking to make a profit on this,” said Roger Rehm, vice-president of Information Technology and chief information officer. “We’re looking to make people responsible about what they need to print.” Rehm said electronic methods of submitting assignments, such as through Blackboard, will be encouraged. He said the 250-page print limit likely will not be a permanent solution but, instead, the first of many steps toward updating the student computing situation around campus. This could eventually include students being allowed to print from home and pick up documents from on-
How much to print? Starting this summer, CMU is limiting each student to $10 worth of free pages to print on campus per semester. w Black-and-white pages: 250 w Color pages: About 31 campus computer labs. “I think, in a few years, we’ll find far less reliance on those big public labs,” Rehm said. Rehm said graduate students often need to print out much longer documents or assignments than undergraduates and may need to be given special consideration based on the service’s results. The 250-page quota was inspired by data from the print labs suggesting about 75 percent of students print out no more than 250 pages per semester. Saginaw Valley State University uses the same limit, Rehm said. While the issue may mean big changes for students who rely on the print labs, Clarkston senior Angela Zott approves of the measure. “I think it’s a good idea, because a lot of people waste paper,” Zott said. Last semester, CMU cut hours in the previously 24-hour Grawn and Woldt computer labs, cutting an estimated $80,000. The university budgets about $350,000 per year on the public labs. university@cm-life.com
photos by libby march/staff photographer
Freeland junior Kelly Laatsch watches her Sign Language Interpreter, Jennifer Libiran, while working on a group project in EDU 345: Science Methods in Elementary Education class Thursday morning in the College of Education and Human Services Building. Laatsch is studying to become an elementary teacher to work with deaf children.
life in monaural Student thrives in ASL community By Connor Sheridan | Senior Reporter Laatsch talks with her sign language interpreter, Jennifer Libiran, on the way to print a paper Thursday morning outside Fabiano Hall.
K
elly Laatsch is a citizen of two worlds: one of sound and one of sign. She is a deaf person with a cochlear implant, a small device implanted in her left ear which allows her to hear sounds and voices. The 20-year-old Central Michigan University junior from Freeland wants to teach deaf children after she graduates. “It’s not a challenge — it’s just their life,” she said. Laatsch was born deaf, and her parents, Tom and Lori Laatsch, started teaching her American Sign Language around 18 months after she was born. Her entire family can hear, but are extremely supportive, she said. Lori Laatsch even took a community college course
EARTH DAY | See page 5A for the story
in ASL when Kelly started to learn it. Tough decisions As their first child, Kelly said things would have been tough enough without the necessary extra considerations. She was only nine and
matthew stephens/senior photographer
best option. “I’m actually really happy — if they waited, I wouldn’t hear as well,” Laatsch said. The issue of cochlear implants in children is so contested because it involves balancing the deaf communal
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Provost Shapiro drops interim title; pay increases by $56,000 By Eric Dresden University Editor
Rockwood sophomore Kim Donoghue holds up a shirt to see how it looks on her boyfriend, Mason sophomore Jared Clapsaddle, Thursday during CMU’s Earth Day celebration at Warriner Mall.
not yet old enough to be responsible for her own welfare when she received her first cochlear implant, an extremely controversial issue in the deaf community. Laatsch is glad her parents gave her time to grow and develop before they ultimately decided it was the
Gary Shapiro is officially Central Michigan University’s second-in-command after serving two stints as an interim. University President George Ross named him provost on Thursday afternoon, nine months after Shapiro took the job temporarily. “I felt I could contribute to the university,” Shapiro said. “I’m just delighted. I’ve been successful at this university … (I’m) hoping to help students, faculty and staff.” Shapiro the former dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Be-
havioral Sciences, took over for Julia Wallace, who left to become provost at Saint Cloud State University last July. He also served as interim provost in 2007 before Wallace took over. Gary Shapiro Director of Public Relations Steve Smith said Shapiro will make $253,000 annually — $56,000 more than the $197,000 he received as interim provost. Wallace made $200,000 annually before she resigned. Smith said the provost search was conducted internally.
“Personally, I think it’s a great hire,” he said. Shapiro said he is happy to continue working with Ross, whom he worked alongside while serving as interim provost in 2007. Shapiro said he knows the two work well together. “(Ross) has always been very honest and forthcoming,” he said. Shapiro said he has been at CMU for 31 years. He said the next focus will be on replacing interims in the near future. “Early in the fall, we want to conduct searches for interim positions,” he said.
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