1980s: Friendships form amidst changes

File Photo

The 1980s were an era of controversy and technological change at Central Michigan University and Central Michigan Life.

“Toward the end of my time, the journalism department got the very first computer terminal,” said David Fritz, the fall 1980 managing editor.

Fritz, now the executive editor at The News Leader in Staunton, Va., said the first computers were barely usable. Journalism’s reliance on them would expand over the decade.

“It was one of those things you kind of sat and marveled at because it was supposed to be the future of the business,” he said. “It was still just a glimmer at that point.”

Notable events of the decade included former cheerleader Craig Gable being kicked off the team for having hair that was too long, and 1975 to 1985 University President Harold Abel resigning amidst controversy.

The Sigma Epsilon fraternity had its charter revoked because of allegations of gang rape.

The newspaper created its own fair share of controversy, including a photo of black football players holding toy rifles, which many believed was racially insensitive because no white players in the photo were holding guns.

“That was a very innocent mistake,” said journalism temporary faculty member Tim Fitzgerald, the CM Life photo editor at the time. “I don’t remember editing the photo, but I remember the uproar the next day.”

Keith Naughton, the Detroit Bureau Chief for Newsweek, who was a CM Life staff member from 1980 to 1982, called the technology in the newsroom at the time “stone age” with “glue pots all over the place.”

“Research was much different, much more labor intensive,” said John Barnes, CM Life editor in chief in fall 1981. Barnes is now the metro editor at the Grand Rapids Press.

“You spent more time elbow-deep in documents, especially for the local news gathering,” he said.

For the encyclopedic facts and contextual data that can mostly be found online these days, reporters would spend hours in the library or interviewing experts on the phone.

“What hasn’t changed is the importance of shoe-leather journalism,” Barnes said. “Getting out of the office, getting away from your desk and seeing people face-to-face, making those connections.”

Fitzgerald said CM Life was the defining aspect of his time at CMU. Many student journalists over the years have lost themselves in the frenzy of newspaper production, often to the detriment of their grades.

“I came to CMU to work for CM Life,” said Fitzgerald, a former Associated Press freelance photographer. “The journalism department was secondary to me. Being at all my classes was secondary. CM Life was my life. I lived it.”

Fritz echoed those sentiments.

“You didn’t let your classes get in the way of your education,” he said. “You spent your time in the Life office more than you did the classrooms, but you came away with such a valuable skill set and the ability to think on your feet.”

The dedication to the newspaper often resulted in strong, lasting friendships.

“We were like a bunch of brothers. It went from fist fights to kissing each other, depending on the day,” Fitzgerald said. “Those are still some of my best friends.”

Barnes said the name “Central Michigan Life” was well-known among editors and publishers around the state and country.

“CM Life was well recognized as a very prominent, very respectable college newspaper,” he said. “It got you in the doors.”

Fritz, who recruits college students for Gannett newspapers, said his ears perk up when he hears a job applicant comes from CM Life.

“I know that if they’ve worked for Life for any period of time, that it’s a seal of approval of sorts,” he said. “Someone who you know has been tested.”

HEADLINES IN THE 1980s

“U.S. Senate stalls aid”
Sept. 15, 1980
U.S. senate rejects a compromise bill to provide grants and loans to college students.

“SGA to ask county to reconsider public transit”
Oct. 28, 1981
SGA urges the Isabella County Commission to reconsider appropriation of funds to the ICTC.

“Biker Killed”
Oct. 25, 1982
A 20-year-old Isabella County resident died when struck from behind a vehicle.

“CMU action toward parties in limbo”
Sept. 26, 1983
VP for Student Affairs, James Hill, considered disciplinary action toward an estimated crowd of 3,000 at a party.

“BCA conditions anger students”
Feb. 6, 1984
Broadcast students angry over lack of faculty, prerequisite courses, condition of equipment.

Senior Reporter Garret Ellison contributed to this report.

news@cm-life.com