The debate will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 in a location to be determined.

State Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, confirmed has attendance. Invitations also were sent out Nov. 24 to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Attorney General Mike Cox and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland and Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder.

“It’s a critical time in Michigan right now, and we need to see who the candidates running for governor are so students can get involved and see, ‘Do I like this candidate or don’t I?’” said Hart junior and Campus Conservatives President Bryant Greiner. “The economy’s down, and we know someone is coming in new next year and we want to get students thinking who they are going to vote for in the primaries.”

George, a medical doctor, was elected in 2002 to the state Senate after serving one term in the state House.

Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis and Inside Michigan Politics editor and former Griffin Endowed Chair Bill Ballenger will moderate the debate.

“Bill Ballenger is a pretty big name in the state, so we thought he would be a great moderator to ask the questions,” Greiner said. “With Saul Anuzis being the former Michigan Republican Party Chairman, he’s got the experience, and we thought it would be a good gesture to have him be a part of this.”

Anuzis served as chairman of the state party from 2005 until 2009 and was among the candidates for chairman of the republican National Committee earlier this year. He is currently chairman of Newt Gingrich’s Save Americans Jobs Project.

Ballenger is a former legislator, state racing commissioner and deputy assistant secretary in the administration of President Gerald Ford. He has been editor of Inside Michigan Politics since founding the publication in 1987.

“Without even having all the candidates to respond yet and to already have the two big-name moderators decide to put their faith in us is great,” Bryant said. “We are extremely happy.”

Setting it up

Campus Conservatives is exploring options for a venue for the debate.

“As of right now, things are still up in the air,” Greiner said. “We are currently working to get Plachta (Auditorium).”

Greiner said he is hoping for a lot of interest locally and statewide.

“We look forward to hopefully being on TV to show the campus off in a good way. To show that we have a great place to have debates and stuff like that and to put our names out there as Campus Conservatives.”

Lansing senior Joseph Nelson said the debate would be a great event to bring to campus.

“I think it’s got the potential to be interesting,” Nelson said. “It’s also good to try to spur political involvement on campus because college students tend to be politically apathetic.”

He said although he is liberal, he can still find substance in a conservative debate, and an event such as this should interest all students.

“This will help Republican voters determine the best candidate within their party,” he said. “No matter what your political affiliation is, you should attend this debate.”

One holiday-decorated residence hall room? Priceless.

Grand Rapids freshman Stacy Siereveld, Richmond sophomore Kathryn Van Ha and Illinois freshmen Taylor Galmarini and Hannah Faleer began decorating their study room Nov. 1.
They used lights, a paper fireplace, a decorated tree, Christmas stockings, wrapped presents and much more to deck out their room with holiday spirit.

“We overdo everything,” Galmarini said. “We decorated a little bit for Halloween, but Christmas is our favorite holiday.”

She said the room and door took about a week to decorate, but the process was accompanied by a lot of Christmas music and peppermint mochas.

“We would just get spurts of ‘lets do it now,’ and then work on it for two hours and then take naps and then stay up until 3 a.m. decorating,” Galmarini said. “It took days of brainstorming because we didn’t know exactly what we were going to do. The fireplace on the furnace was a no-brainer but, for everything else, we had to wing it.”

Faleer said the decorations came from her house or were bought collectively with her roommates.

“We had people telling us we decorated too early, but our season ends on Dec. 12 when we have to go home,” she said. “I’m not sure when we are going to take them down. I want to wait until at least after the break.”

Siereveld said not only did they spend time decorating their room, they also took the time to buy gifts for each other and place them wrapped under the tree.

“We all have a class together on Tuesday, so we will probably exchange the gifts after that,” she said. “It will be a nice break during finals week.”

Aside from decorating and exchanging gifts, they also started a new tradition of “sleeping in Christmas.”

“It’s where we sleep out here under the Christmas lights,” Galmarini said. “We take turns going two at a time and sometimes three. It started when I came out here one night because I saw a spider in my room and it made me angry.”

The funding available in Michigan is to help reinstate appropriations cut in the higher education bill. The applications will be reviewed by the Governor’s office with the intent to issue awards prior to the end of 2009.

Interim Provost Gary Shapiro said the funds will be used for need-based financial aid.

“I am very confident that we will receive all of that funding,” Shapiro said. “This is exactly what the state is looking for — targeting the funds at needy students. I would find it difficult to believe they wouldn’t support (our funding).”

He said $450,000 is to be reserved for students with emergency financial needs by discretion of the financial aid office.

Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said all of the funds will be used for need-based financial aid, including some funds used to assist freshmen and transfer students eligible for the Pell Grant and lost the Michigan Promise or Michigan Competitive scholarships.

Trustees elect new officers

The Board of Trustees elected new officers for the 2010 calendar year. Trustee Stephanie Comai was elected as Board chairwoman and will take over for Gail Torreano. Sam Kottamasu was elected to a second term as co-vice chairman, and Trustee Marilyn French Hubbard was elected to a first term as co-vice chairwoman.

Endowment fund investment policy

The Endowment Fund Investment Policy was amended to allow the addition of private equity and credit, non-investment grade, fixed asset classes.

This shift of funds reduces the Investment Grade and U.S. Equities fund ranges by 5 percent.

“Private equity could be funds that aren’t traded over the stock market that are private investments and (the credit fixed class) could be bonds that are not AAA rated,” said David Burdette, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services.

He said all they are changing is the range of each asset class to allow the addition of the new assets.

“All it really does is give our outside fund managers the ability to tweak the investments,” Burdette said. “It decreases the risk and increases the return. We’re diversifying the portfolio, which spreads the risk and also, we believe, will get a greater return.”

Acquisition of confocal microscope

The National Science Foundation has provided a grant of $463,150 for the purchase of a confocal microscope for use by faculty in the areas of developmental biology, cell biology and neuroscience.

Interim Provost Gary Shapiro said the microscope will replace an outdated microscope and will be used for multidisciplinary research and teaching.

“It supports an undergraduate microscopy program, which is the only program of it’s kind in the state, and a very excellent biology department,” he said. “It certainly has an important consequence for our students.”

Authorizer oversight information system

The Center for Charter Schools entered an agreement with Corporate Computer, Inc. in 2003, and the Board of Trustee approved a renewal of the agreement.

The agreement allows the Center to market, sell and distribute the Authorizer Oversight Information System. The system was designed to oversee the schools in the charter. The agreement brought in about $100,000 this year and about $300,000 over the past couple of years, said Trustee Stephanie Comai.

According to a University Communications press release, 80 trees will be removed, 22 relocated and 34 to remain in their existing location. An additional 80 trees will be planted around campus to compensate for each removed tree.

Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of facilities management, said workers will complete the project in phases. The Rose Arena renovations are to be completed by October 2010, the practice gym and wrestling room by December 2010 and the renovations for the Student Activity Center area by February 2011. 

Once construction of the Events Center is complete, new sidewalks in the area will accompany 49 new trees, 34 shrubs and 16,357 perennial flowers.

“It will have a totally new appearance,” Lawrence said. “New sidewalks will be installed because of the change in ground elevation and alignment to the new lobby entrance.”

Annoying, but needed

The fence surrounding the construction area has received mixed reviews from students, even though it will be surrounding Rose Arena for more a year until the construction is complete.

“The fence was annoying the first few times when I had to go around, but it’s good that it’s there,” said Manistee junior John Phillips. “It’s only in the way if I forget about it and take the crosswalk with the light instead of planning to take the other route ahead of time.”

Phillips said the fence is a needed safety precaution and is a necessary evil that comes with construction.

“The fence is a minor irritation, but isn’t construction always annoying?” he said. “In the end, things will look good and we’ll be glad we put up with it.”

Jackson sophomore Kelsey Miller said even though she heard the fence has made some people late for classes, the updates will be a good addition for campus.

“The fence is a little bit of a nuisance, and is not pretty to look at, but it just foreshadows what is to come for Rose, and that is exciting,” Miller said. “I think the renovations definitely need to be done. A lot of things on campus have been renovated and modernized and, with Rose being so small, it needs to match all the other updates on campus.”

Wimbush-Sherrod sued Milford junior Jacob Goodin for unpaid gas and electric bills and won the case on the legal reality TV show “Judge Mathis.”

The incident happened in the spring semester of 2009 and the segment was filmed in Chicago over the summer.

“I took (my roommate) to Judge Mathis because we were both college students and we couldn’t afford to pay the bills,” Wimbush-Sherrod said. “I wasn’t mad at him and I wanted to work things out.”

Goodin was unavailable for comment.

He said he went on the Judge Mathis Web site and submitted his dispute and was called within three days by producers. He was informed that he and his roommate would be flown out for free, be provided meals, spending money and a hotel room.

“The filming took literally two minutes in and out, but we were there for a full day and a half,” Wimbush-Sherrod said. “I hated filming because we didn’t have time to talk or tell the story. We just embarrassed each other on national TV to help them out with ratings.”

‘Didn’t do anything’

He said the producers told him to bring embarrassing pictures of his roommate or any proof that he parties, drinks, or does drugs.

“We were embarrassing each other so bad that we even started to lie since we didn’t have to take an oath,” he said. “We just wanted to look good for TV.”

Wimbush-Sherrod said even though he won the case and received $200 — half his money back — he was unsatisfied with the experience.

“Judge Mathis didn’t do anything,” he said. “He sat up in a chair, laughed at us, yelled for me to shut up when I talked, didn’t look at any facts and then made his decision off of what we were just saying.”

A retired judge of Michigan’s 36th District Court, Mathis has presided over his television court since 1999 and has filmed more than 1,000 episodes. On the series, cases are classified as tort law, which are civil disputes with a maximum $5,000 claim.

“The parties both agree contractually to go on TV and to subject themselves to a ruling and follow the ruling of the TV show’s private court,” said Kenneth Sanney, a faculty member in the finance and law department. “What it seems like is that these courts don’t have any legal jurisdiction — it’s more of a contractual situation.

Sanney said the way the court would enforce their ruling is by bringing a breach of contract lawsuit against the party that didn’t follow the court’s ruling.

“It would just create another lawsuit for a breach of contract,” he said.

It is a way to experience the relaxation and fellowship associated with pipe smoking.

The Order of Collegiate Pipe Smokers is a registered student organization that enjoys the activity and culture of pipe smoking and tobacco. Its purpose is to educate people about pipe smoking and pipe culture and provide a place for pipe smokers to come together and socialize.

Cedar senior Fred Lawrence, Order of Collegiate Pipe Smokers member, smokes his pipe at a Nov. 12 meeting at the future site of the Smokers Club Lounge, 100 S. Mission St. (Jeff Smith/Staff Photographer)

Miller, a Utica junior, formed the RSO in mid-September aiming to meet other college students that share his passion for pipe smoking.

“One of our goals written out in our constitution is that we want to give people a positive view of smoking and show that there are good people who choose to smoke,” he said. “There are a lot of people that already have a negative view on smoking.”

One of the greatest challenges that pipe smokers face as a group are the misconceptions that surround the art of pipe smoking, he said.

“For many people, if they were to see someone smoking a pipe, it is very common to assume that it’s (marijuana) or something of that nature,” Miller said. “It’s really tough to have a good first impression on people when they are willing to automatically assume something negative of you.”

Competition
Other than just enjoying the fellowship of smoking pipe tobacco, the group also partakes in community services and events.

“Right now, we’re looking at doing some dog walking for the Humane Society,” Miller said.

The group recently competed at a pipe smoking competition at the Shepherd Bar and Grill in Shepherd, where Redford senior Andrew Petrevics placed eight.

“Everyone got 3.3 grams of pre-weighed standard pipe tobacco and a total of two matches,” Petrevics said. “We had to light our pipes within one minute and we weren’t allowed to relight after that. Whoever could produce smoke for the longest time was the winner.”

Cedar junior Fred Lawerence has been pipe smoking for three years and could not pass up the opportunity to join the RSO. He said he enjoys all aspects of smoking pipe tobacco.

“For one, it tastes and smells really good,” Lawerence said. “I think the pipes are really cool, and it’s just nice to sit around and smoke pipes with your friends. It invokes conversation and it’s just really nice and relaxing.”

That’s what four teams of students did over the weekend for the fourth annual 48-hour film competition hosted by the Central Michigan University chapter of the National Broadcasting Society.

The competition began at 6 p.m. Friday and ended at 6 p.m. Sunday and was open to all students for a $10 registration fee.

To keep participants from doing extensive preproduction the film competition committee released a list of elements each film must include.

The elements included:

Line – “I can’t help but feel you’re lying to me.”

Location – Stoop

Theme: – Good guys don’t always wear white hats

Prop – Cup of coffee

Scene – A showdown

“A lot of people come up with ideas ahead of time but we hope that by making an elements list that we will keep them from writing or filming anything before the competition starts,” Brooklyn junior and film competition chair Colin Hennessy said. “It helps to keep things in the 48-hour spirit and keeps people from cheating when faced with a challenge.”

The films are to be judged by executive producer of public broadcasting Kurt Wilson. The first place film will receive a $50 cash prize and second place will receive gift cards and other random prizes. The winners will be announced and the films will be showcased with a time to be announced November 30 in Moore 110.

“We like to have outside sources judge the films so that NBS members can participate and non-NBS members don’t think we are playing favorites toward any one team,” Hennessy said.

Saint Clair Shores graduate assistant Garrett Tanner was up for the challenge for the third straight year. This is a chronicling of the making of the short film “Revenge.”

Thursday
6:30 p.m.

Blanchard senior Mike Miserendino sits at the computer in his Jamestown apartment and begins the preproduction for their 7-minute film. As anyone working on a film knows, preproduction is the most important element to the success of a film. On the night before the competition starts, the co-director and producer starts character development.

“You can’t write a script until you have the elements, but there is a certain amount of planning you can do beforehand,” Tanner said. “It’s hard to go in completely blind so in the past what we’ve done is at the very least decide whether we want to do a horror movie or a comedy. If you have a genre than you can basically go where ever you want with it.”

8:00 p.m.

Miserendino writes the script for “Revenge,” a horrific tale of murder and revenge.

10:05 p.m.

The script is finished.

“We decided to do a horror movie, then we decided to do a revenge movie, and then we decided to combine them,” Miserendino said. “After talking with everyone I developed a character that I thought would fit the situation. I wanted a concise plot that would be both horrifying and that would support a revenge movie plot line. We started out with Garrett having this idea for the opening shot and we just kind of built it from that point.”

The basic plot is St. Charles junior Chad Weaver’s character witnesses Livonia junior Matt Reznik’s character murder Riverview junior Devin Jones’ character. Weaver then turns vigilante and murders Reznik in his apartment. When Reznik’s roommate, St. Clair Shores senior Sarah Kamlay’s character finds the body, a showdown ensues.

Friday
6:00 p.m.

Miserendino, Weaver, Reznik, Jones and Kamlay gather with Tanner around his computer in his apartment at Tallgrass and read the elements list.

“We had a rough idea before 6 of what we wanted to do,” Tanner said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve done this. A couple of the elements fit in with the idea we already had but then there was some other stuff where we had to tweak the story.”

7:55 p.m.

After a couple hours of reworking the script, the team was ready to film. They decided to film the most difficult scene of the film first. The scene is a continuous shot from outside of Reznik arriving at his apartment. The camera follows him from the parking lot, inside his apartment and to his desk in his bedroom. The scene features unique lighting techniques.

“Trying to get that from outside was our big thing” Tanner said. “It was difficult figuring out the lighting situation and camera composition.”

9:45 p.m.

After several takes, the team prepares to move to their second filming location on University Street between Michigan and Broadway Streets.

“With limited time you have to have limited locations,” Tanner said. “That makes the process a lot easier than trying to film a bunch of different places.”

10:13 p.m.

The team arrives on University Street and begins to do multiple takes at multiple angels of Reznik’s assault on Jones in an ally. The team uses Miserendino’s camera, tripod and stabilizer to catch the action.

“This is actually the first film I’ve acted in for the competition but it’s just a lot of fun” Resnik said. “The surprise with putting the required elements in and getting together with everyone is just a lot fun.”

11:00 p.m.

The team arrives back at Tanner’s apartment to film the final scenes in the film. They break for cheese, meat and crackers and then it is back to the grind of filming.

Even though they are filming a dark and serious movie, the atmosphere on set couldn’t be more to the contrary as the team constantly quotes movies and cracks jokes.

“These competitions are always a lot of fun and we always have a really good time doing it,” Kamlay said. “That’s why I always make sure I’m on a team. I’m the financial backer and I’m also an idea’s person. I like to throw in my two cents. I’m mostly just an actor because I’m the only girl they know.”

11:23 p.m.

The team begins to film Reznik being chocked from behind by Weaver. Weaver drags Reznik by the neck into the kitchen, which will be the final resting place for Reznik’s character.

11:54 p.m.
While in the kitchen filming Tanner preheats the oven for the frozen pizza.

11:55 p.m.

Filming continues, the team is hungry.

Saturday
12:15 a.m.

The pizza is done. It’s time to eat.

2:45 a.m.

After multiple takes the last scene in the movie is done and the filming for the movie is complete. The team celebrates and moves on to post production with 39 hours and 15 minutes left in the competition.
“The filming was surprisingly efficient,” Tanner said. “The ones we’ve done before it took a longer amount of time. It just kind of fell together. We usually run into some sort of little snags but this time nothing really happened.”

3:00 a.m.

Miserendino arrives back at his apartment and begins editing on Final Cut Pro. The night is young for Miserendino.

7:32 a.m.

The editing is compete. After staying up all night, it’s time for Miserendino to get some sleep.
“I got home and got in the zone,” he said. “I was just excited and wanted to get it done.”

2:00 p.m.

The team meets back at Tanner’s apartment and after watching the edited scenes, begin post production which includes the voice over, music and sound effects.

The voice over is recorded by Weaver and the music is recorded by Tanner, using the various instruments that he had in his house.

“Since I am recording the music I can make it flow with the movie the way I want it too,” Tanner said. “It’s a lot easier than cutting up some audio and trying to make it fit.”

9:00 p.m.

The film is finished, 21 hours before the competition deadline.

“As far as the look of the movie and the sound of the movie I think it is easily our best yet,” Tanner said. “I think that this was one of the better experiences we had. There was no point where everyone got mad at each other. Everyone had a really fun time and we all knew what we were going for at the beginning.”

Tanner said his experience from past years has given him an edge in the competition.

“48 hours seems like a decent amount of time to shoot 7 minutes, it’s not,” he said. “We finished tonight and we are never usually that efficient and so I certainly say that past experience has prepared us for this one.”

Sunday
5:41

Tanner arrives outside the Moore Hall Kiva and submits his teams film after a long, tiring weekend.

“For me it’s just so much fun,” he said. “Even if we place dead last I don’t care, it’s just so much fun being able to go up and see what you can do against other people and see the creative process,” he said. “One of the cool things is seeing what the other teams are doing.”

People spend countless hours on cell phones and social networking Web Sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but do these digital technologies really satisfy people socially?

According to a study released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the size of the average American’s social circle is smaller today than 20 years ago.

The national sample of 2,512 adults found the use of digital technologies are not to blame, since people who regularly use cell phones and the Internet are more social than the average American.

“I think (the idea of) those using Facebook and the Internet (being) more social than those that don’t is based on these Internet users’ propensities to be social, both in the real world and in the virtual world,” said David Kinney, professor of sociology, anthropology and social work.

Why smaller?

Kinney, an expert in youth culture, said he thinks social circles are smaller today for two reasons, both of which are caused by the decline to the “old neighborhood” feeling of community.

“First is due to the dramatic increase in the number and types of structured activities for children after school in which parents are constantly shuttling children from soccer to dance to hockey, etc.,” he said. “This continuous cycle of back and forth reduces the amount of ‘quality time’ with neighbors and even parents of their children’s friends.”

Kinney said the second reason social circles are declining is because of parents overprotecting their children.

“The second issue seems to be parents increased fear, whether real or imagined, of adult predators therefore understandably limiting their children’s freedom,” he said.

The study confirmed people who use social networks are 30 percent less likely to know their neighbors and 26 percent less likely to provide their neighbors companionship.

The new social norm

The study also focused on the size of the average American’s social circle.

The group of close friends for cell phone users tends to be 12 percent larger than for nonusers of cell phones and Internet use contributes to having more diverse social networks.

“I think Facebook is hurting people’s real-life social skills,” Brighton freshman Brendan Murphy said. “Americans are using cell phones and Facebook as a comforting way to think they have many friends instead of going out and making real-life connections.”

Clinton Township sophomore Michelle Huffman said it is becoming the social norm to communicate via texting and social networking Web sites.

“Everyone has been using social networking sites and cell phones for some time now, especially in the college setting,” she said. “It can be a really fast and easy way to communicate and can even help reduce isolation for some people.”

CMU Police provides on-campus students with a safe option for weapon storage.

“For any students that reside on campus, we have a service that allows weapons for hunting or target shooting to be brought directly here and stored here in our secure blocker,” said Capt. Fred Harris.

Harris said not many students use the service — CMU Police had two or three last year.

“They just have to fill out some paperwork and then we attach a card to the weapons,” he said. “When we release them, students just have to leave campus. They can’t take them back to their residential housing units.”

Harris said the weapon storage keeps everyone safe.

“We provide this service to allow students to keep their weapons in a place that is secure rather than keep them in their trunks or housing units,” Harris said. “This can make sure that they won’t be violating university policy.”

Harris said weapons are not allowed in the residence halls.

Hunting land

Students seeking to hunt deer on public land when firearm season opens Sunday will have to travel to the edge of Isabella County and beyond.

According to the Department of Natural Resources, the closest public hunting land is the Edmore State Game Area bordering Isabella and Montcalm counties. After that, hunters will have to travel out of county to find public hunting land.

While State Game and State Forest land is sparse in the area, hunting on private land may give hunters better results.

Isabella County Undersheriff Laude Hartrum said people hunting on private land need to make sure to follow the proper procedures.

“When people go out to hunt on private land, they need to have a note from the property owner that states that they have permission to hunt on that property,” Hartrum said. “They have to carry that note with them the whole time when they’re hunting.”

The festival will feature a variety of award-winning films from around the world that range from five to 24 minutes in length.

“We are showing one night of highlights from last March’s 47th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival,” said assistant professor of libraries Stephanie Mathson. “It is one of the oldest film festivals of its kind, featuring short films, experimental films and animated films. It doesn’t focus on full-length feature films like most other festivals do.”

Mathson said there was 30 films in the Ann Arbor festival and they chose seven for Thursday.

She said the reason she chose this program was to feature the Best Michigan Film Award winner “A City to Yourself” by director Nicole MacDonald.

“It’s about Detroit and how the economic decline hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing,” she said. “It’s looking at the fact that the population is shrinking, which means that the roads are less congested and there are different kinds of housing becoming more cheaply available. I thought that film would draw people because it is something positive about a subject that is so bleak.”

The films in the festival range from the winner of the Funniest Film Award, “Video Terraform Dance Party,” featuring director Jeremy Bailey of Toronto as a nerd, to “Passages,” an animated film about child birth.

“I think it is a great alternative kind of programming that we offer,” Mathson said. “Especially for students that are interested in the arts and media and in alternative sorts of films.”

Executive Director of the Office of International Education and former film professor Mark Poindexter said the festival provides students with a unique chance to view films with little risk involved.

“With a feature film, you are taking the risk of watching a movie for a couple of hours and disliking it,” Poindexter said. “Most of the films at this festival are only a couple of minutes long, so you’re not really taking any risks. I’ve yet to go to any festival where I didn’t leave without seeing a film I thoroughly enjoyed.”