Energy | Tribe going green, building wind turbine, 6A
Mistakes cost CMU in loss at Northwestern, 3A
Editorial President needs to interact more with students, 4A
Central Michigan Life
Monday, Sept. 27, 2010
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
University bond debt drops to $160 million Five campus entities must pay off debt By Carisa Seltz Senior Reporter
CMU’s long-term bond debt has dropped nearly $30 million since 2008, with no immediate plans to take out additional bonds. The university has an accumulated a $160,681,655 bond debt for campus projects as of June 30. It would take until 2036 to pay off the current bond debt if no additional borrowing takes place, which is an unlikely scenario, said Barrie Wilkes, associate vice president of Financial Services and Reporting. The debt would be lower if the uni-
Photos by jeff smith/staff photographer
Holland senior Patrick Meyer, left, Florida junior Luke King, Chesaning junior Jesse Lorencz and Grand Haven sophomore Nick DeWitt, the creators of Merrill Men at Arms, show off their homemade foam weapons after a battle Friday outside of Merrill Hall.
Battle studies Merrill Men at Arms take fighting seriously
T
he warriors of Merrill Hall take up foam arms when they walk into battle. They call themselves the Merrill Men at Arms and the campus of Central Michigan University is their battlefield to clash across. Grand Haven sophomore Nick DeWitt started the assembly of homemade swords, spears and arrows his freshman year. “I started doing stuff like this in high school and when I got here other people were interested in it too, and it just grew from there,” DeWitt said. The group was created to provide anyone with an opportunity to battle to the death, only temporarily of course. Kevin Meyer’s weapon of choice is the bow and arrow. “I played with swords last year and didn’t do so great,” the Holland sophomore said. “I had these arrows at home that I made when I was in cub scouts, so I decided to switch to archery.”
Not just for the guys This year, Merrill Men at Arms integrated females when the hall went co-ed, said Chesaning junior Jesse Lorencz. Macomb freshman Katie Freeman is their newest female member. “I’ve been doing this for eight
Options available for those unable to manage payments
Student loan default rates at CMU are bucking the national trend. The national student loan default rate for the 2008 fiscal year was 7 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 2007 and 5.2 percent in 2006, a New York Times recently reported. However, the federal loan cohort default rate at CMU for the 2008 fiscal year was significantly lower at 2.3 percent. The number is lower than the 2007 fiscal year’s figure, 2.9 percent. The federal loan cohort default rate is the percentage of the school’s Macomb freshman Katie Freeman is attacked with a foam weapon Friday during a Merrill Men at Arms battle outside of Merrill Hall.
years,” Freeman said. “At home though, we really get into it. We dress up and go to renaissance festivals.” Freeman said she classifies herself as a live action role player, or LARPer. Although Freeman is one of a few girls out on the battlefield, she has no problem keeping up with the guys. “Yeah, Katie kills me all the time,” said Alto sophomore Kevin Wilder. Their epic battles aren’t just freefor-alls; there are rules to the game, Lorencz said. If you lose two limbs, you’re dead, while a hit in the torso or back is a called a “one-hit death.” The person who makes the kill cannot make the call, he said. “The person being hit decides if they were hit or not,” Lorencz said. “This works out pretty good because knowing this rule often stops arguments mid-game.” Freeman said people don’t worry about the rules too much. She said even after people die, they can play ghost by “following people
around poking them saying ‘ghost.’” There are a few variations of the game, Freeman said. Most often, they have two captains and pick teams, but sometimes they play a game called “general.” In general, the game starts out as a free-forall, where the players collect team members by killing people. “If you kill someone, then they’re on your team. If you have really skilled players, it can last forever,” Freeman said. Roscommon junior David Bradley doesn’t worry about winning. “I’m notorious for my kamikaze moves,” Bradley said. “Sometimes I just go in for a cool move even though I know I’m going to die.” Bradley said he loves participating in battle for the stress relief and the workout. “We’re just out here to have fun,” he said. studentlife@cm-life.com
A Bond | 2A
CMU loan default rate lower than national average
By Heather Hillman Senior Reporter
By Nora Naughton | Staff Reporter
versity had not taken on large building projects in the last five years, he said. “Today, I’m not aware of any projects the university will take bonds out for,” he said. “That could change tomorrow.” The bond debt in June of 2008 was $190,262,649. The Education, Health and Human Services Building, Health Professions Building and the five newest residence halls are some of the recent projects financed by bonds. Wilkes said CMU issues bonds when the university has a large project that cannot be financed when state appropriations and donations are not sufficient.
borrowers who default on their loan prior to the end of the next fiscal year. Approximately 80 percent of CMU’s on-campus students receive federal aid of some kind, a number that will eventually include Stevensville freshman Patricia Cudahy. Though Cudahy did not have to take out any loans this year, she said she will eventually need to and admits not being well-educated on the subject. “Getting loans make me really nervous — it’s really intimidating,” Cudahy said. “I feel like for a lot of students, their only option is to go to school, so they do whatever it takes to get there without thinking about what the consequences of having so many loans will be in the future.” For students who do default on their student loans, the financial
A Loan | 2A
Alcoholic energy drinks could include more warnings State agency fears they may be confused with non-alcoholic drink varieties By Gabi Jaye Staff Reporter
Vibrant alcoholic energy drink labels may soon carry a heavier warning of their content’s potentially ill effects. The Michigan Liquor Control Commission decided Sept. 9 to examine the alcohol warning label on the beverages because they are easily camouflaged. This could allow the commission to change individual product labels to further reveal the possibility of “intemperance or intoxication.”
Determining the size of the warnings will be done on a case-by-case basis. It also states the drinks can be “detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the general public,” said Andrea Miller, Michigan Liquor Control Commission public information officer. “We’re concerned about the health and safety of the citizens of Michigan,” Miller said. “You can tell that these drinks are confusing law officials because they look like a regular energy drink.” Examples of these drinks include Sparks, Four Loko and Joose. The beverages contain between 5 and 12 percent alcohol per volume. Miller said the drinks cost about $5 a can and are often sold next to non-
A drinks | 2A
ROTC travels to Fort Custer By Mike Nichols Staff Reporter
AUGUSTA — The second squadron of CMU’s Arrowhead Company became a band of brothers this weekend. The ROTC cadets learned how to survive the battlefield at the Field Training Exercise at Fort Custer in Augusta. Two CMU companies and one Ferris State University company united for three days. “We met on the bus and we’ve never been together until now,” said Mount Pleasant junior Evan Fredrickson. “We were supposed to have three more people but they didn’t show up.” Second Squad had only five mem-
bers, making them the smallest unit. Fredrickson led Second Squad’s roster of Metamora sophomore Byron Nolde, Edmore sophomore Jonathan Bucao, Jackson freshman David Rudolph, and Farmington Hills sophomore Victor Calugar. Most of them brought along military experience — Bucao’s parents were both in the army and Fredrickson and Nolde are in their third year of ROTC. Rudolph joined the reserves last May and is going to college to become an officer. Calugar was eager to earn some of his own. He wants to get into the Rangers and eventually the Special Forces. “Rangers lead the way, so I want to be a ranger,” he said. “If I don’t get killed
maybe I’ll make it a career.” On Saturday, companies endured three rotations of exercises. The drills forced cadets to make and execute a plan and evaluate their ability to lead under stressful conditions. The cadets moved planks and ropes over pylons raised over either stones or pools. They had to move the entire team and mock ammunition across the field without touching objects marked red ground or water. Second Squad was the only group to complete the three courses within the given timeframe. Mike Grabowski was one of the observers to grade their A ROTC | 3A
Paige Calamari/staff photographer
Madison Heights senior Casey Allison leads his squad through hand and arm signals Friday night during the ROTC Field Training Exercises at Fort Custer in Augusta. FTE was designed for cadets to gain experience in learning, teaching and executing various military procedures.