As winter retreats and the sun shines, Kyle DeBord and Kirk Bunker take the opportunity to venture outdoors, chuck discs and make some extra cash.

The Mount Pleasant High School students make several trips a week to the disc golf course on the corner of West Campus Road and Mission Street, to the right of the Fairfield Inn, 2525 University Park Drive. There they not only play the increasingly popular sport, but wade through the waters of the course’s foggy pond to retrieve and later sell discs which missed their marks.

DeBord estimates he has made more than $100 selling others’ lost property, but said he has more fun playing the 18-hole course than disc-fishing in the usually cold, less-than-clear waters.

“It is a good time. We really just come out when it’s nice to have a little fun,” he said.

Kyle Millerd and Zak McGraw, Oxford seniors, agree the course is a good time, despite their tendency for keeping DeBord 16, and Bunker, 17, in the disc-pond-retrieval business.

“We’ve lost a couple discs out there,” Millerd said, shading his eyes and looking toward the disc basket at the first hole, figuring out the best way to avoid the pond in the wind.

Millerd is one of the large number of students and community members who utilize the course on sunny days. The sport is inexpensive, fun and challenging, said Laurie Braden, associate director of programming for University Recreation. Braden helped plan and open the course in April 2002.

Three University Recreation tournaments within the last year were filled to capacity. Mike Botwinski, Grand Rapids senior, and Jason Wilson, Dundee senior, recently formed the Disc Golf Club of CMU.

“There are many people so unaware of disc golf, but it is growing. It’s getting big time,” said Botwinski, club president. “Now that we have a course at CMU, we figured it was due time to get a club going.”

About 100 to 150 rounds were played weekly last summer and Braden said she expects no less this summer.

“I know the course has been well utilized. I have gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback. People are really happy we have a course in Mount Pleasant,” she said.

Play is free for course visitors and inexpensive for University Recreation to maintain, as the property is already taken care of through a previous university contract.
]]> http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/28/newspinonspringfun/feed/ 0 http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/formeradrosedies/ http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/formeradrosedies/#comments Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Danielle QuisenberryCentral Michigan Life http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/formeradrosedies/ Chris McCarty

Former CMU Athletic Director Dan Rose never forgot names and faces, even years after first learning them — and Central and the Mount Pleasant Community soon will not forget him.

The man after which Rose Arena is named died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at Isabella County Medical Care Facility, 1222 North Drive, in Mount Pleasant. He was 95.

A coach and teacher, Rose would walk into the classroom the first day of school, consult his attendance book, identify faces and come to class the following day knowing all the students’ names.

“Once he met you he never forgot you,” said his son Dan S. Rose, a retired Chippewa Hills basketball coach and teacher.

He never used notes to teach his health education courses and could remember basketball plays from games long past, said family friend Olga Denison.

“He had a tremendous mind and memory,” said Clarence Tuma, a student and player for Rose. “He would know everyone on campus. There isn’t anyone who can do that now.”

After World War II, Tuma decided he wanted to go to college and set out to hitchhike from the Detroit area to Mount Pleasant. Rose picked him up and not only brought him to Central, but introduced him to former President Charles Anspach, former football Coach Ron Finch and the dean of students.

“I have never been so welcomed in such a short period of time,” Tuma said.

This type of behavior was typical for Rose.

“More than anything he valued and respected people,” his son said.

Rose used these principles to guide his basketball teams. He began coaching Central basketball in 1937.

“He was tough, and you became tough. He wouldn’t put up with anything, fair but firm,” said friend and former CMU basketball player Ted Kjolhede, who served as athletic director after Rose retired in 1972.

His players often called him a friend. He allowed them to call him “Danny” and in the late 1930s and early 1940s he was considered an honorary member of the “Cherry Street Gang” — a group of athletes who were the first to live unsupervised off campus, Denison said.

Rose’s trademark was a long cigar and he often played harmless practical jokes on unsuspecting staff members, Kjolhede said.

He once told a rookie track coach he could practice hurdles in the halls of Warriner, which the trusting young coach did, and knocked down the president, Kjolhede said.

Despite the fun, Rose’s teams won more than 65 percent of the games they played.

“He was very successful as a basketball coach,” said Herb Deromedi, CMU athletic director.

Before becoming basketball coach he played basketball at University of Michigan from 1927 to 1930. There he helped his team beat University of Notre Dame, a school who told him he was too small to be a player.

“He was physically not very tall,” Rose’s son said. “There was a lot of energy packed into one small package.”

That energy spilled over into the Rose’s later years. Most people, once their health requires them to enter a medical care facility, only live two or three more years. Rose spent 11 years in the Mount Pleasant facility, his son said.

After graduating, Rose, who grew up in Rogers City, coached former President Gerald Ford at South High School in Grand Rapids. Rose called Ford, who attended the Rose Arena dedication in the 1970s, a friend.

In 1932, Rose married Bobbie Stacy in Grand Rapids. They raised two children.

“He was a family man, very jovial,” said Mary Thatcher, his neighbor of more than 25 years.

He temporarily abandoned his CMU duties in 1942 to serve in the U.S. Navy, for which he acted as a Lt. Commander. He also was a past president of the Mount Pleasant Lyons Club, served on the Mount Pleasant Board of Education and was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 209 S. Franklin St.

After his retirement, Rose still frequented CMU athletic events, acting as a good-will ambassador, “bragging up Central,” his son said.

“He is a fixture at CMU,” Denison said. “One of the last of the ancient Central boys.”

He is survived by his daughter Sandra Bellinger and her husband Page Bellinger of Moline, Ill., Dan S. Rose, two grandchildren and two great-grand children. He is preceded in death by his wife, who died in 1984.

Memorial contributions can be sent to the Bobbie and Dan Rose Memorial Fund at CMU. Envelopes are available at Helms Funeral Home, 330 S. University Ave.
]]> http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/formeradrosedies/feed/ 0 http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/zoningboardwesleyssignviolateslaw/ http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/zoningboardwesleyssignviolateslaw/#comments Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Danielle QuisenberryCentral Michigan Life http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/zoningboardwesleyssignviolateslaw/ Repeated vandalism did not force the peace-promoting sign in front of the Wesley Foundation, 1400 S. Washington St., to come down.

But the Mount Pleasant Zoning Board of Appeals said the controversial sign violates city law, prompting free-speech rights accusations.

The board unanimously voted “no” on Foundation Chaplain Director Eric Stone’s motion for a 60-day variance from the city’s signage requirements, which state no church property in a residential zone may have more than 24-square-feet of sign, during a Wednesday meeting at the Mount Pleasant City Hall, 401 N. Main St.

“Nothing they said tonight proves that they are worthy of a variance from the law,” said Mount Pleasant Building Official William McCracken. “We are not trying to make a political statement or deny free speech. We are just trying to enforce the codes.”

When the square footage of the 24-feet by 4-feet sign, which reads “We Value all Life(;) End the Cycle of Violence,” and the other three signs on the foundation property are added together, the foundation is about 115 square feet over the city’s allotments.

“They are way over,” said Mount Pleasant Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Pete Tolas.

Pending Stone’s receipt of requested paperwork proving the board followed proper variance application procedures, the foundation may have to remove the sign from its current home Monday.

“There’s been a lack of free speech in this city,” said Mary Irvin, Wesley Foundation research assistant. “This sign is about how we support nonviolent peace activism.”

Only about nine out of 10 variance requests are granted and none over sign regulations of this degree, Tolas said.

“We don’t grant variances, and we’re not out to do it,” said Wyn Derry, board member.

The board may grant variances when surrounding residences and businesses do not object.

Neither the Christ the King Lutheran Chapel, 1401 S. Washington St., or the St. Mary’s University Parish, 1405 S, Washington St., object.

“We don’t have a problem with it. It has been up for months,” said James Krach, the pastor at Christ the King.

McCracken said this was not enough to justify breaking the codes. The sign also is a visual obstruction that hinders driver’s views, he said.

If the Wesley Foundation was not in a residential zone, the problem would be lessened. Sign restrictions are tightest in those zones, McCracken said.

The church would have been alerted of the violation sooner, but McCracken was not aware the foundation was not a part of university property.

“I have no jurisdiction on university land,” he said.

The sign has been in place since October.

Community members complained to McCracken regarding the sign. He checked into it and found the foundation was separate from the university and therefore subject to city regulations. He notified Stone March 25. Stone then paid the city $250 to request a variance.

When a citizen applies to the zoning commission for an exception of the rules, the board is required to alert all surrounding properties within 300 feet of the questioned property as well as make sure a notice of the hearing appears in print.

Stone said he doubted there was a notice in the Morning Sun and said he was certain Concord Apartments, 1110 West Campus Drive, were not notified, but are within 300 feet of the building. If the board cannot supply such proof, there will be a re-hearing at the next monthly meeting.

McCracken said he was certain official protocol had been followed and promised Stone would receive such proof by Monday.

“If the board has not followed procedure, then I will get the sign (to stay) up for 30 more days,” Stone said.

However, if the board is within the rules, the foundation will comply and remove the sign.

McCracken said he would allow a 4-feet-by-4-feet sign, which is still beyond what is allowed.
]]> http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/25/zoningboardwesleyssignviolateslaw/feed/ 0 http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/23/finalexamscanaffectoneshealth/ http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/23/finalexamscanaffectoneshealth/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Danielle QuisenberryCentral Michigan Life http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/23/finalexamscanaffectoneshealth/ Anxiety, depression, headaches, stomach difficulties; these are just a few of the unpleasant side effects of students scurrying through the final, stress-filled weeks of the semester.

It is common during this week and next week for students to visit University Health Services and the Counseling Center with issues related to pre-exam stress, said Sarah Campbell, Health Services director.

“The stress during exams often leads to a breakdown of the immune system,” Campbell said.

Often students are up late studying, eating improperly and neglecting to service their bodies as they would during less-stressful periods, she said. This can lead to infection or respiratory issues.

It is important for students to ward off the temptation to procrastinate or promote disorganization, because this increases stress and makes it more difficult to perform self-care activities, said Helen Leemaster, assistant director of the Counseling Center.

“Self care when possible. Take a walk or go to the Student Activity Center,” she said.

Dearborn junior Shannon Webster knows the benefits of exercise.

“I feel better when I go for a nice long run,” she said.

Webster spent much of her Easter weekend working on a long paper, which cost her much energy and some sleep.

However, exercise helped her deal with these deficits, she said.

If students are unable to deal with this stress on their own, they can utilize services available on campus.

Attend some events in order to achieve balance and take small study breaks to prevent a sense of being overwhelmed, Leemaster said.

“We encourage students, if they are experiencing stress, to seek help sooner rather than later,” Campbell said.

Families with small children are not the only ones who should formulate plans of action for dangerous weather or fire disasters.

Students need to prepare as well.

It is important to know what to do and who to contact in case of an emergency, and students should know where to go in case of a fire, tornado, bomb threat or other danger-imposing event, said Marc Griffis, Isabella Country Emergency Management coordinator.

Griffis spoke of emergency preparedness Tuesday to a small group of Mount Pleasant parents at Ganiard Elementary School, 101 S. Adams St.

“Turn your anxiety into action by making a plan,” he said. “Who really sits down and puts a fire plan together?”

Cami Moll, Zealand senior, said she does not have a plan. Her and her four roommates living in Chippewa Village, 1825 Crawford St., have never chartered a course for fire evacuation or identified possible shelter in extreme weather.

“It is easy not to ever think about things you expect will never happen to you,” she said.

Students are adults and should come up with their own plans for disaster, said Carme Shafer, manager of Edgewood Apartments, 712 Edgewood Dr.

“They are all college students. We don’t have fire drills,” she said. “If there is a fire, call 9-1-1. It is common sense.”

Each apartment is equipped with a smoke detector that alerts tenants of possible problems, but the fire department is not notified unless a tenant makes the call.

In the residence halls, there are fire alarms on every floor and smoke alarms in each room. When alarms go off, the CMU Police immediately are contacted. They then determine whether there is a legitimate problem worthy of fire department action.

In extreme weather conditions, the residence halls are the safest place to be, said Shaun Holtgrieve, Residence Life associate director.

“The cinder blocks aren’t homey, but they are safer than home,” he said.

When a tornado comes, it is best to take cover in an area without windows. The safest place in a residence hall room is the bathroom, where there is no threat of falling glass.

At Park Place Apartments, 1401 E. Bellows St., fire alarms immediately alert the fire department and tenants fill out emergency contact information when they apply to rent.

“Knowing who to contact and having a communication plan is important,” Griffis said.

Nick Nevins, Lansing senior, who lives in Park Place Apartments, has given little consideration to such procedures.

“I don’t know where I would go in a tornado,” he said. “I suppose I would just hang out under the dining room table.”

There are simple, quick things that people can do to assure readiness. Have a jug or two of water handy in case of a power outage or fill up the bathtub when there is threat of bad weather, Griffis said.

The wall fell and John Carroll heard the screams, but it was not until later, when he saw the diamond ring on her left hand, that he realized who was screaming.

The former Central Michigan Life news editor heard his fiancé, Cheerie Anderson, then a Cheboygan sophomore, who became the first and only Central Michigan Life photographer killed on duty. She was taking pictures of a fire that quickly consumed the Cole’s Campus Store and much of the University Plaza — a grouping of companies located where the Student Book Exchange, 209 E. Bellows St., is now.

It happened 40 years ago today.

Carroll was able to first identify Anderson’s body, placed in the street after it was recovered from the rubble, by the ring she wore. He had given her the ring at Christmas time, four months prior to the accident. They had planned to marry in August 1963.

Anderson and Carroll had been driving, spotted a fire truck and followed it to the scene. Anderson was taking pictures of the blaze with Carroll’s camera in the front of the building while Carroll, a volunteer fireman in his hometown of Marshall, assisted a fireman who was alone on the scene. A falling cornice, an artificial building front, killed her and two other CMU students, Thailand exchange student Matthew Teng Tychachaiyawongse, 23, and Robert Powers, Marshall sophomore, 20.

“It was one of the most catastrophic things that had happened at that time,” said Tom Needels, then-managing editor at Central Michigan Life.

The school was small at the time — about 6,000 students — and the occurrence was huge, he said.

“I remember it well,” said Evelyn Bovee, a former secretary to the president. “You don’t forget tragedies like that.”

It was speculated the fire began in the back room of Jack’s Campus Grill, located within the mall, and spread up the wall to the second floor, catching the remaining complex aflame.

“It is not whether or not a restaurant has a fire, it is when a restaurant has a fire,” said Hudson Keenan, a retired public school teacher and a witness to the fire.

Keenan and several others working at the paper were the first to assemble a list of the casualties and injuries, which they submitted to the police and Red Cross, said Needels, who now owns a small advertising firm in Farmington Hills.

Bob Wheeler, senior vice president at Firstbank, 102 S. Main St., was one of those injured. Then an 8-year-old spectator, he was standing in the front of the building near the three students killed when the brick crumbled to the sidewalk.

“There was this big explosion and the whole building went up really fast,” he said.

Wheeler saw the smoke from his parents’ home on Douglas Street, two blocks away, and decided it was a more than worthy excuse to abandon his yard chores. Wheeler and his brother were looking up into the burning windows when the cornice exploded. Both were among the 13 injured.

“My curiosity got the best of me,” he said. “It was not a smart move. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Immediately after the accident, Wheeler was forced to wear a body cast and a leg brace, but he now has no trouble with his formerly broken legs.

Air caught between the building’s false front, which was attached to the top story by chains, caused the explosion, breaking the chains loose and causing the cornice to fall.

“It was a really big story at the time. With the loss of life it was pretty tragic,” Keenan said.

It was doubly tragic for Carroll, who also lost his high school classmate and fellow CMU band member, Powers.

“I was in shock at the time,” Carroll said. “I couldn’t believe what had happened.”

Anderson and Carroll had met at Central, where both were in the band. Anderson was a music major who played the clarinet and Carroll played drums.

It wasn’t until after they began dating that Anderson decided she wanted to pursue journalism as well.

“She was very enthusiastic,” Carroll said. “She would have made a fine journalist.”

Carroll, who wanted to be a press man at an early age, convinced her she was better suited for reporting.

She had planned to work for the Cheboygan Daily Tribune that summer.

Carroll worked hard to report fairly on the accident, investigating the Mount Pleasant fire department’s effectiveness and sufficiency of equipment as compared to other towns of comparable size.

“I tried hard to be objective. I was not trying to blame the fire department for Cheerie,” he said.

Some change was brought about. Money was appropriated by the City Commission to purchase new equipment.

“It was kind of fun as a kid journalist to bring about some change,” Needels said.

The Mount Pleasant fire department is now one of the best in the state for its size, said William Yeagley, director of Public Safety.

“None of the equipment they have is more than five years old,” he said.

The city manager and commission do a good job of allocating proper amounts of funds to maintain a properly trained and equipped fire staff.

The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe also gives 2 percent of slot-machine earnings to be dispersed among area government agencies, which helps assure the Mount Pleasant fire department is well-funded, Yeagley said.

Having this sort of funding and equipment in 1963 would have helped, but it would not have brought Anderson back, Carroll said.

Looking back, he said his life would have been different in many ways.

“Life is a game of what-ifs. How my life would have been different had she lived, I can’t always say,” he said. “At one time maybe we would have bought our own newspaper.”

Carroll went on to marry his wife Harriet in 1964.

They have two children and several grandchildren. Carroll is retired from State Farm Insurance Company in Marshall, where he supervised publication.

A new university plaza was built in 1963.
]]> http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/07/cmusdeadliestblazeremembered/feed/ 0 http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/04/geographicbeetobuzzatcmutodayinuc/ http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/04/geographicbeetobuzzatcmutodayinuc/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Danielle QuisenberryCentral Michigan Life http://www.cm-life.com/2003/04/04/geographicbeetobuzzatcmutodayinuc/ Greg Burghardt

Michigan’s brightest middle-school students will have the opportunity
today to compete for the state geography crown during the annual Geographic
Bee.

Students who scored in the top 100 on a statewide geographic exam — given
to all individual middle school geographic bee champions throughout the state
— are invited to participate in the “National Geographic”-sponsored
event. It begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Bovee University Center Rotunda.

The winner will proceed to the national level where he or she will compete
for a $25,000 scholarship.

“There are some really bright kids. These kids amaze us every year with
what they know,” said geography Professor Wayne Kiefer, Michigan director
of the competition.

Michigan has a credible record. In 14 years of competition, four were Michigan
national winners, and one took third place.

“No other state is close to that record,” Kiefer said.

The students, fourth through eighth graders, typically are well-rounded, average
kids who participate in sports and music, he said.

This year is a little different because there are 20 female participants.
In years past, only four to six girls were involved, said Kiefer, who has directed
the competition since its start.

“We are encouraged by this. We want more young ladies to participate,”
he said.

Such an event is helpful for kids, said Amy Striegle, a geography teacher
at Hamilton Middle School in Hamilton. “Anything to promote geography
literacy is good thing.”

Charlie Hoffman, one of Striegle’s eighth-grade students, will compete.

“I am excited for him. I think he will do a good job,” she said.

The winner receives $100. Second place is awarded $75 and third place is given
$50. Only the top winner goes to the national bee.

“Kids grow through this experience. They learn a lot about competition,”
Kiefer said.

CMU simply is a host for the event, because of its central location. The university
is not a sponsor.

Everyone is welcome to attend free of cost. Kiefer said he expects the UC
Rotunda to be “brimming with people,” mostly participants’ parents.

Student body presidential candidate John Kaczynski stood by his ideals despite criticism from more experienced competitors during Wednesday’s presidential debate.

Kaczynski, Mount Pleasant junior, and his running mate, George Whittaker IV, Bay City senior, suggested internal reorganization and reallocation of Student Government Association funds. They were met with criticism because they have no prior involvement in SGA and hold unique positions and unfamiliarity with SGA laws and practices.

Presidential candidate Sean Johnston, St. Clair Shores sophomore, and his vice president hopeful Pinckney sophomore Brandon Wulf, as well as incumbent Nicole Wright, Clinton Twp. junior, and her running mate Susan Grostick, Rockford sophomore, who all have completed prior work with the SGA, expressed doubt if Kaczynski and Whittaker had the appropriate experience for the job.

Kaczynski told the 40 audience members that SGA should aid in mending budgetary woes by trimming SGA costs and reallocating the money saved to the university.

“We want to put someone in power who understands the student body,” he said.

Johnston, current House leader, said SGA and university policy prohibit reallocation of money specifically set aside for SGA. During a cross examination period during the first portion of the debate, Grostick said the current House structure is not in need of revitalization.

“If I get elected, I am not going to walk in there and say, ‘I am Emperor Kaczynski.’ If things are working fine, I won’t touch them,” Kaczynski said.

All the candidates agree budget issues indicate things are not working fine and all expressed commitment to making sure those issues are addressed.

Wright said she plans to inform students about potential cuts, saying she now is conducting a survey to see what services students prioritize.

Johnston’s campaign calls for less change and more involvement in SGA. The organization, he said, is the most potentially powerful — and underutilized — on campus.

“We need to assume a more active role as students (in) deciding what needs to be done,” Johnston said.

Wright said SGA is supposed to represent the student body, and programs are key to interesting people and making them active.

“Programming is very important,” she said.

The three presidential candidates may attract more students than usual to the voting booths next week.

‘The candidates are out there campaigning and getting the word out and getting students involved,” said Ithaca senior Adam Ebnit, elections director.

Sarah McVey, Roseville junior, said she would like to see changes in SGA.

“I think SGA has become stagnant for far too long and it needs a whole new fresh perspective,” she said.

The polls are open Monday through Thursday.

Lake Superior State University prepared for cuts this year by trimming its budget in the fall before the two reductions to higher education funding occurred.

LSSU officials anticipated a cut and reduced the university’s operating budget by $700,000 during the previous semester, while cuts in state appropriations amounted to $500,000, said Scott Smart, Business and Finances vice president at the university.

“We sat down as a cabinet and decided costs had to go down,” he said. “With the cuts in the fall, we have been able to withstand recent cuts.”

The university president and vice president formed a cabinet to discuss and determine which services are the highest priority for students, Smart said.

Smart said next fiscal year poses another problem — Gov. Jennifer Granholm recommended earlier this month a 6.5 percent reduction to higher education funding for next fiscal year.

To tackle this, LSSU plans to make controlled tuition increases, he said.

“Nobody likes tuition increases,” said Billy Romp, LSSU sophomore. “I do not want to pay more for school than I already do, but I guess you cannot really change any of that.”

The university hopes the added burden will not become unbearable for students, Smart said.

“There will certainly be tuition increases, but I hope we don’t see any excessive tuition increase,” Smart said. “I think that is an inappropriate response.”

LSSU also plans to ask its unionized staff for salary concessions, he said.

“The university faculty and staff doesn’t deserve such reductions,” Romp said.

Academics have not suffered any reductions as of late, though the university has cut some of its support staff, Smart said.

“We are not filling any open positions,” he said.

LSSU has put new expansion projects on hold, Smart said, but the university allowed one building project to reach completion.

“So far, we have not seen anything too major cut, but when they do take something away, I want to know about it,” Romp said.

Smart said health care costs have doubled in the last five years and will continue to rise.

“This comes at a difficult time, (with) less state funding and increases in health care, which is becoming tremendously expensive,” he said.

Wayne State University plans to prioritize academics in the governor’s budget battle, accepting administrative cuts and hiring freezes as necessary casualties.

Similar to many other state universities, WSU has cut back by lessening the flow of funding to administrative departments and leaving available positions vacant throughout the university, said Vanessa Rose, WSU budget director.

WSU, similar to other schools dependent on state appropriations for operation, was forced to slim down spending amounting to $3.8 million after Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced a 1.5 percent reduction in January.

The reduction did not come as a shock to WSU.

“The cuts were certainly not unanticipated,” Rose said. “We began strategizing for anticipated cuts last fall.”

The money to cover the reduction was found mostly through eliminating administrative support positions and some academic support positions.

Some departments were hurt more than others, said Stephen Calkins, a professor in the university’s law school.

“The law school was not on the verge of doing some hiring like some other departments, but for a number of units, the hiring freeze had serious consequences,” he said.

The library officials were unable to make necessary hiring decisions.

“These are the unfortunate consequences for students and faculty alike,” Calkins said. “It is not very much fun to be the target of budget cutters, but we are the targets and we have to deal with that.”

The university also is attempting to conserve energy and cut out waste, such as excess paper production and mailings, in order to save money and the environment, Rose said.

However, cuts have been made and the school will continue to operate smoothly, Rose said.

The concern now is the anticipated cuts for next year, which the university is afraid will impose a much greater financial burden than in past semesters, she said.

WSU has formed two commissions that have been at work putting together reports and preparing recommendations for saving methods in the fall.

The commissions have not yet released their findings, but they have spent a great deal of time weighing different options, Calkins said.

The commissions will announce final recommendations in the next couple of weeks, he said.

Some graduate study programs will be eliminated and graduate students will have fewer course of study options, Calkins said.

“Other student programs will be streamlined and consolidated to cut costs,” Rose said.