Before there was journalism at Central, there was ‘Life.’

The staff and students of Central Normal School, a fledgling mid-Michigan teachers college, probably never figured their humble weekly would last this long.

Were they around today, the idea that Central Normal Life would eventually provide a launchpad for thousands of reporters, photographer and editors might leave the original staff slightly slack-jawed.

But their sense of surprise would quickly become pride, as the growth of their tiny paper mirrored the rich tapestry of people and events that have shaped the face of Central and the nation.

Life alumni have spread coast to coast and continue to hit new marks. The first female publisher of the Jackson Citizen Patriot was a news editor on staff. A former editor in chief attained a job as a web producer at the Detroit Free Press just seven months after graduation.

The staff worked through shoddy typewriters and leaky ceilings in the dark, and moving from hall to hall to hall before finding its current home at 436 Moore Hall.

Life brought journalism education to the school, spawning courses and a department. Life brought journalism to life at Central.

You could say the very first journalists at Central walked softly and carried a small, almost nonexistent twig.

“The Bulletin” served as Central’s first official publication until late 1919, when the 14-member staff decided to reorganize the small monthly magazine into a weekly newspaper.

“Go forth, Central Normal LIFE …” read the new paper’s first editorial. “You are a little fellow, just newly created, but you will grow. Do not strut forth arrogantly and challengingly, but walk with a humble spirit.”

The first issue hit the campus of Central Michigan Normal School on Dec. 2, 1919 with a top story on the basketball prospects for the upcoming year. The issue was four pages and cost five cents a copy. The bottom of most stories read “pay your subscription.”

Administrators held firm control over content, with then-President E. C. Warriner as the main editorial writer. Early stories showed a school experiencing steady growth, with headlines prone to hyperbole bordering on propaganda.

New faculty were “heartily welcomed” into the “Normal family.” The paper’s motto was “We make teachers who make good.”

“Slanguage” was bemoaned by mystified English majors, who called attention to weird phrases like to “flunk” out of a class, or the “grind” of intense studying. The president of the college was referred to as the “prex” or “prexy.”

The “Normalites” football team enjoyed steady positive coverage. An editorial in 1921 called for a system reorganization to be more accommodating to casual athletes. The team would become the “Bearcats” in the mid-20s.

Early faculty and staff like Mae Woldt, Ira Beddow, Webster H. Pearce and Clifford Wightman, a former Life editor, pop out of early coverage as recognizable campus building names of today.

President Warriner implored students to “carry on” on Dec. 9, 1925, two days after a Monday fire devastated the Main Administration Building, housing the library and auditorium.

Life slowly reflected the changes at Central, growing into a professional-style paper by 1925. Gone were the propaganda headlines. The management now included sports, society, alumni and news editors. An old English flag adorned the top and the new motto was “all that a man hath will he give his life.”

By the fall of 1927, the paper had become the “Central State Life,” to reflect the new name of the school, the Central State Teachers College. Journalism courses were added in 1928.

Central continued to expand throughout the ’30s and ’40s, through the Great Depression and World War II. Charles L. Anspach, a Chevrolet Motor Co. executive, replaced Warriner as president in 1939.

New dormitories and classroom buildings were added and the campus swelled with thousands of students. The paper began landing on a Wednesday and 1936 saw the first spoof/satire issue, the “Central Rost.”

On Wednesday, July 9, 1941, Central State Life became Central Michigan Life, to reflect the college’s name change to Central Michigan College of Education.

HEADLINES
“Fall enrollment of 950 establishes new record”
Sept. 30, 1925
The first three-year courses begin.

“Mute evidence of destruction wrought by flames in two hours”
Dec. 9, 1925
The Main Administration building is destroyed by fire in two hours.

“Use of new administration building ushers in era of efficient expansion”
April 13, 1928

news@cm-life.com

As the Journalism Department chairwoman, she has witnessed virtually a new cohort of students cycle through the paper’s staff on a regular basis.

Despite this, Marron said various aspects of CM Life “pop into mind” about how the student medium has impacted CMU’s campus.

“I think CM Life is an important contributor to news and information about the university,” she said. “It keeps people informed and it circulates ads that are relevant to the student population and other constituencies on campus.”

Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said the paper has been a means of communication through various factions of CMU, and that there is no real negative consensus regarding the paper’s responsibility to write the facts as they exist.

He also acknowledges CM Life’s ability in “reporting the facts rather than conjecture” in several controversial topics.

“I think a lot of administrators and faculty view CM Life as the main means of obtaining and receiving information,” Roscoe said. “I give CM Life a lot of credit for covering stories that are maybe not complimentary to CMU.”

Associate Professor of Journalism Jim Wojcik was the adviser to CM Life for around 30 years, and he said the publication’s reputation around campus, especially with CMU administration, is one of the many aspects that hasn’t changed.

“CM Life’s job is not to make administrators happy,” he said. “It’s the paper’s role to tell people what is happening and what is the impact of what is happening on them.”

It also has to do with the size of the university’s population, Wojcik said, and the variety of perception people might have.

“You’re on a campus that has 20,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff. I’m sure of those 22,000 people, not everybody is in love with CM Life,” he said. “You judge by a couple of things, you judge by how many people pick up your paper. I don’t see a whole lot of them laying around.”

Through his experiences, Wojcik said the overall impression is that CM Life is a newspaper that is not afraid to deal with some hard issues and raise questions.

He said the reputation the paper turned around in the late-1950s and the paper moving to a thrice-weekly paper over time has helped make it better.

But the real “instant jolt of credibility” came in 1972 in a change of the paper’s structure.

“I think one of the first things we did that really impacted Life is we changed it from a tabloid to a broad sheet,” Wojcik said. “It looked and felt like a real newspaper, even though when it was a tabloid, it use to cover news really well.”

The main purpose of CM Life, Marron said, has been to specifically serve its campus community, leaving outside news to other regional sources despite the interest readers might have in those subjects.

“I think the newspaper’s essentially a campus newspaper. I know it’s distributed in the city of Mount Pleasant, but I would certainly regard it as a student media production that involves campus more so than, say, the city or the nation,” she said. “Rarely do national and international stories make it into this newspaper.”

Roscoe said he’s received notes from CMU alumni and other affiliates in the past who have commented on areas of the publication’s performance, a good example of which is its online coverage.

“(The Web site) is a terrific resource as an archive when a topic occurs that I want to learn more about,” he said. “I received a note from someone who graduated in the late-1980s.”

Roscoe said he has also run across local comment about successful coverage of university athletics.

The inclusion of women’s teams in comparison to men’s teams was a pleasant surprise, he said.

“There’s very good coverage of women’s sports, more so than at other university papers,” Roscoe said. “I’ve been here a long time … (and) I’ve been struck by what high quality it is.”

In an interview with CM Life, University President Michael Rao said an important part of building CMU is asking students to couple the experience learned in the classroom with a business environment.

“We strongly encourage students, if they are journalism majors and they think they are going to be reporters, to start writing for CM Life now,” he said.

news@cm-life.com

“We didn’t have all the issues they have today,” he said. “The diversity of students on campus wasn’t at all like it is today.”

The ’50s saw a strange decade for the staff of CM Life. Many of the 4,000 students on Central Michigan University’s (then Central Michigan College’s) campus were unconcerned with issues around the world, Miller said, including the McCarthy communist cases and the beginning of the Cold War.

CM Life, with a circulation of 3,500, was printed in the Grawn Hall basement. The newsroom saw heavy water damage in the early part of the decade, causing the room to cave in several times during production.

Back then, the staff was encouraged to not report on any major issues happening around campus or the United States, for fear of scaring the general student population.

“With many of the students going home a lot, it wasn’t a major controversial time,” Miller said.

On Dec. 16, 1955, an article appeared on the front page entitled, “Three Centralites Killed, Three Hurt in Auto Crash… Death Rides Shepherd Curve, Tragedy Ruins CMC Holiday.” The story was entirely false, and ran with an editor’s note at the bottom of the story, proclaiming its falsity. The story was meant to be a more of a public service announcement and was to enter a contest involving stories about auto safety. The story was assumed to be true, and CM Life did not win the award.

First-hand experience

Miller said his appointment to editor in chief in 1957 came after the former editor in chief resigned after writing a controversial editorial that did not print.

The biggest change that occurred was the conversion of Central Michigan College to Central Michigan University in 1959. Miller said the campus was completely different than today’s.

“That was a big issue,” he said.

Another major event was the resignation of Charles T. Anspach as university president and the naming of Judson Foust as president, Miller said.

The times were much different than the current CMU, with Tate Hall, a residence hall built in 1956 and torn down in 1997, being the newest building on campus during Miller’s reign.

“(My wife) was the first person to set foot in that dorm,” he said.

After being inducted into the CMU Journalism Hall of Fame in 2004, Miller has seen CM Life grow to adapt to campus.

“I think it’s been an amazing progression to the university,” he said. “(Former Director of Student Publications and associate professor of journalism) Jim Wojcik made some remarkable changes.”

HEADLINES FROM THE 1950s

“CMC Physical Education Plant near Completion: Building to Be Second Largest Field House in State”
October 10, 1951
Finch Fieldhouse opens

“Anspach Named as ‘Man of the Year’ Monday”
January 14,1955
President Charles L. Anspach accepts award from Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce.

“Mrs. Roosevelt Speaks at CMC on World Affairs”
February 25, 1955
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visits in 1955.

“Tuition, Fees Go Up $20 Per Semester Next Fall at State Education Colleges”
March 11,1955

news@cm-life.com

The 1960s were a time of action, protest and tragedy. In one decade, the nation’s youngest elected president, John F. Kennedy and black rights advocates, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were assassinated.

On top of that, roughly 50,000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon was caught in the Watergate scandal that scarred Americans trust in government.

At Central Michigan University, students protested the war along with other issues involving administrators under investigation, and on-campus racial issues.

Current CM Life Advisor Neil Hopp was editor in chief in spring 1966. He was the first editor after the paper moved into the basement of Anspach Hall from “the sheep sheds,” which were primarily temporary war barracks.

“It was pretty much a kind of watershed era. It was the era of Watergate. We were reporters during that time,” Hopp said. “I would say student government, student politics was much more of an issue in the ’60s, it was very active compared to today’s student government.”

The campus was regulated more than today, especially for women, Hopp said.

“It was a different era. That was the era of what we call ‘in loco parentis,’ the Latin term meaning, basically, the college takes the place of parents.”

Hopp and winter-spring 1965 managing editor Emory Daniels said one of the major stories during the decade was a state senate investigation involving the faculty and former University President Judson Foust.

The formal investigation began in May of 1965, and Hopp said he remembers going down to Lansing to cover the proceedings. He said despite the amount of effort put towards the investigation, not much came of it.

“As I recall, nobody lost their job,” he said. “The investigation pointed out a lot of issues involving faculty and administration.”

No one was fired, but Daniels recalled meeting the president after the ensuing story and an unflattering cartoon.

“I remember getting hauled into his office; (Foust) was red in the face,” he said. “I honestly thought I was going to get expelled.”

Daniels was not expelled, but the CM Life staff would later investigate an issue that had really never been brought to a forefront, involving racial discrimination in 1965 in off-campus housing.

“That story caused a ripple across campus,” Hopp said. “I know the administration wasn’t happy with it, but I think it did prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was discrimination in Mount Pleasant.”

Hopp said it was probably one of the first stories on discrimination CM Life ever reported on.

“It was a very gutsy journalistic endeavor by Tom Needels (managing editor at the time), and I think that did open up the flood gates to what was going on here,” he said.

Daniels and Hopp both said that even though CM Life has changed, the experience all CM Life staffers have had helped them pursue careers after college.

“My experience at CM Life was terrific,” Daniels said. “Between my editors and instructors, they really helped me hone my editing and writing skills.”

HEADLINES FROM THE 1960s

“Nazi leader Rockwell coming here”
May 23, 1966
Self-appointed Fuhrer of the American Nazi Party speaks in Warriner Auditorium.

“Draft law defers full-time students”
July 1967
New selective service law extends the basic draft system and makes it possible for certain students enrolled in an accredited college to not be drafted.

news@cm-life.com

Advancements in technology have brought Central Michigan Life a long way from the 1970s.

The computers that rest on the desks in the office were non-existent at that time. Instead, there were typewriters.

“A reporter would sit down and take a sheet of yellow paper, put a carbon on top and another sheet of yellow paper – kind of like a sandwich – and put it into a typewriter and start typing,” said Jerry Morlock, 1979 to 1980 editor in chief, now city editor at the Muskegon Chronicle.

“If you wanted to insert a paragraph, you would have to type it on a separate piece of paper and paste the two together,” he said.

As a CM Life reporter, Morlock recalled working out of a “cave-like,” windowless room in the basement of Anspach Hall. There was a “clakity” old machine that constantly spat out Associated Press wire stories.

“It was in a room by itself. When you were in that room, it was so loud you couldn’t think,” Morlock said.

The lack of technology back then made reporting a bit different from how students do it today, but members of the ’70s staff agree that CM Life was an exciting and cutting-edge experience.

“We still had the same kind of editorial independence; the students still ran the show,” Morlock said.

Steve Morse, editor in chief from 1975 to 1976 and a sports reporter in the ’70s, remembers covering football in what was then Perry Shorts Stadium.

One of his first stories as a freshman was a profile of the man behind the stadium’s name. It was a big story, Morse said, one that the editors at the time were hesitant to put in the hands of a beginner.

“That was the story that motivated me to become a journalist,” he said. “It made me realize that I could do it right, and up until then, I wasn’t sure. I think everyone has a moment in life when they catch on to what they are doing, and that was mine.”

Morse recalled the resignation of University President Bill Boyd in September 1974, and how CM Life put out a special edition on the occurrence.

The newspaper also covered the International Special Olympics, which drew a host of celebrities, including CBS television star Sally Struthers and American actor, writer and director Billy Hayes, to CMU’s campus in 1975, he said.

Outside of work, the ’70s staff socialized at many of the same locations students frequent in Mount Pleasant today. Morse remembered going out for drinks at The Bird Bar & Grill, Sir Richard’s Pub (now the Blue Gator) and Wayside Central.

“We shared a lot of good times, not only in the basement of Anspach (Hall) but also a various ‘watering pools,’” he said, in a humorous tone. “We tended to socialize a lot together.”

Staff members also had many fun times while in the office, working together to get the issue to press. Hard work was commonplace, but could not happen without a little mischievousness.

Darryl Sczepanski, a previous CM Life sports writer, said he met his wife, formerly Nancy Frahm, while working at the newspaper in fall 1970.

“The guys on the Life staff would get bored in the basement of Anspach at night, and they’d pick people up and put them in these big garbage cans full of paper scraps and shove them in the elevator,” he said.

“(Nancy) put up the worst fight in the world and would not go in,” Sczepanski said.

All of the staff, Sczepanski said, had great aspirations for their future journalistic careers.

These aspirations are what set CM Life apart from other college newspapers, because the writers took a stand for quality writing, he said.

“You need to have serious faculty and serious students. (At CM Life) you get a nice mix of all kinds of students, but you have a core group of students who take writing seriously,” Sczepanski said.

HEADLINES IN THE 1970s

“Building starts in October”
Sept. 25, 1970
The Board of Trustees
approves a $1.44 million bid for a new married student housing development (now Kwadin Village Apartments).

“Committee OK’s major in anthropology”
April 7, 1971
The University Curriculum Committee approves a new anthropology major for CMU students. Eight new classes are created for students in the program.

news@cm-life.com

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

The 1990s were a prosperous time for the nation, and the student journalists laboring in the basement of Anspach Hall saw the paper through the transition from word processors to the rise of the Internet.

“There was no Internet, no PCs. We had machines called VDTs … they were basically word processors,” said Todd Schulz, managing editor of CM Life in 1991 and 1992, now working in corporate Communications at Consumer’s Energy.

As the managing editor, Schulz was responsible for the design and layout, which was still done by hand on copy paper.

Leonard Plachta assumed the university presidency in January 1992, and Schulz said a big story was the debate over whether to use the Chippewa name as mascot.

Stories were published about an Adam Sandler appearance at CMU, and an investigative piece on underage alcohol sales.

“We sent out underage reporters to see where they could buy alcohol,” said Bryan Bosch, a photo editor for CM Life in 1997. “We had enough beer and liquor to have a party.”

The story was printed with photos of the establishments that sold the alcohol.

According to Bosch, neither students or the establishments were happy about the story.

Bosch remembers the change to color print pages during his last year, and the extra work it created.

Bosch said the CM Life office was in the basement of Anspach Hall, showing the signs of wear and tear by his time.

“I remember the dingy dark room. It was like this cave with a labyrinth of different rooms,” he said.

The photographers would develop film and scan the photos into the computer.

“I basically spent my four years on campus in the basement of Anspach,” said Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, who works at the Grand Rapids Press, and was an editor for two years in 1996 and 1997.

“I had a unique experience and had a chance to grow into the job by the end of the first year so I kind of knew what I was doing for next year,” she said. “We made mistakes, goofed stuff up, but we were proud of what we accomplished.”

Ackerman-Haywood said a controversial story was the privatization of dining services.

“There was protesting on campus. Several people on campus lost their jobs,” she said. “Students didn’t know what was going on.”

Even though she was busy as an editor, Ackerman-Haywood always found time to write.

“I was always covering stuff. I couldn’t keep my hands off of reporting,” she said.

Bosch remembers having little free time when he worked at CM Life.

“I just remember being extremely busy trying to juggle all the things we tried to,” the current chief photographer for the Monroe Evening News said. “We had high expectations… What helped us was that everyone helped each other.”

Schulz said the competition within the staff was fierce to get beats and move up to editor positions.

“You really had to be good and earn the spots,” he said.

Ackerman-Haywood said she has seen major improvements in CM Life since she left, including embracing new technology and beefing up the Web site.

“I feel like we’re 200 years old. We were just getting started on the Internet,” she said. “It’s a scary time for newspapers, but I feel good about CM Life.”

HEADLINES FROM THE 1990s

“52 arrested at 3,000-person ‘party’”
Oct. 15, 1990
Western Weekend parties turned to riots. At least five police officers were injured.

“Class Schedule Adjustment: ‘The worst day we’ve ever had.’”
Jan. 9, 1991
Many students waited more than four hours to register for classes.

“Twice as Nice”
Sept. 12, 1992
CMU football team beat MSU for the second consecutive year.

“Plachta appointed president”
Oct. 4, 1993
The CMU Board of Trustees unanimously approved Leonard Plachta into the presidency.

“Vegas Bound”
Nov. 14, 1994
Central clinches MAC championship and bowl bid in victory over Bowling Green.

“New UC food court opened for special ‘sneak preview’”
Nov. 3, 1995
The Down Under Food Court opens its doors for the first time.

“Last week’s arrests spark protest at basketball game”
Feb. 5, 1996
Around 15 students displayed signs in support for three students who alleged police used aggressive force during their arrest.

“Music building opens Thursday”
Sept. 10, 1997
School of music chairman Edward Kvet said technologically, the facility is the finest in the state

“Petition against smoking ban being circulated”
Feb. 18, 1998

news@cm-life.com

Moving into the new millennium, the biggest push at Central Michigan Life was the shift towards multimedia and new-age journalism.

Some of the major events CM Life has covered since 2000 are 9/11, the Iraq war, the 2003 NCAA men’s basketball run, the DeMarcus Graham beating case and the January 2008 blackout that darkened Central Michigan University’s campus.

Chris Gautz, editor in chief of Central Michigan Life 2003-2004, was the last editor in chief to lead the newspaper in the basement of Anspach Hall.

“Towards the end we, realized we were part of history,” Gautz said.

The office in Anspach Hall was a cramped space with no windows. The news office was separated from everything else, Gautz said.

“If you hated air conditioning, you were great,” he said.

CM Life now is light years ahead of what it was then, Gautz said.

The years 2003 and 2004 were busy for news. The Iraq war started in 2003, and anti-war protests broke out at CMU. This happened around the same time when the men’s basketball team became a part of March Madness and beat Creighton University in the first round.

It was also a year for the 100th anniversary of CMU Basketball, Gautz said. Dan Majerle of the Phoenix Suns, along with others, returned to CMU.

The northeastern and midwestern United States were darkened by a massive power outage on Aug. 14, 2003.

On Sept. 7, 2003, a 18-year-old male was beaten unconscious after a Sigma Chi social. He was left to struggle for his life after he was head-stomped, according to the story published.

Gautz said big photos were used to draw attention, and on Oct. 15 the 9-1-1 call was published.

Gautz, business reporter for the Jackson Citizen Patriot, said the paper gets better every year.

“The goal is leave it in a better place than you got it in,” Gautz said.

Chad Livengood, editor-in-chief of CM Life in 2005, learned the basics from the basement of Anspach Hall, but moved on to the office in Moore Hall.

“One of the best things I learned at CM Life is how to cover a story inside and out,” he said.

Livengood worked on stories with the state budget and how it related to higher education.

Livengood is now a capitol and politics reporter at the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Mo.

CM Life is consistent in covering events to their fullest throughout the years, Livengood said.

“It was that way when we go there,” he said. “As long as there are good professors and curious students who want to tell the truth.”

Mark W. Smith, Web producer for the Detroit Free Press, was editor in chief of CM Life 2006-2007 and looked into several campus issues.

The CMU Promise began in 2005, but while Smith was editor, a loophole was found in the promise that did not allow fifth-year seniors to receive the promise. The issue was investigated by CM Life, and about 100 students were given back their money, Smith said.

Smith said they shot the first staff video at MAINstage that year to be posted on the Web site. That year, Smith pushed for the Web site to be updated at any time and have the news beat the print edition.

“Web mind set was the biggest factor,” Smith said.

The major change in the newspaper over the years is the attention given to the online product, said Paul Chaffee, editor and publisher at the Saginaw News and member of the Student Media Board of Directors.

“It’s been ahead of the professional community,” he said. “I’m certain CM Life will continue to be a leader on campuses.”

“Some things (at Central Michigan Life) haven’t changed at all,” Chaffee said. “We’ve been blessed with fine editors and very serious young journalists.”

news@cm-life.com

Michael Green took photos of Afghan rebels fending off communist Russia.

Sheila Gruber McClean’s reporting on the state’s social services bureaucracy led to criminal charges and reforms.?

Jim Reindl is a widely respected leader in the news business.

Inspired by the Watergate scandal, Randy Lovely helped expose an important presidential search the Central Michigan University board was holding in secret out of the public view at an off-campus hotel.

Lovely went on to become editor of The Arizona Republic, one of the nation’s largest newspapers.?

These three men and two women are some of the best journalists Central Michigan Life has produced over the past half century.?

They were inducted into the CMU Journalism Hall of Fame in October. Dick Milliman, who is not an alumnus but has hired scores of CM Lifers, also was inducted into the prestigious group.

Having been named the Hall of Fame’s Young Journalist of the Year, I got a chance to attend the dinner and meet these wonderful people.?

I idolize them and want to carry on the torch they have yielded so proudly in the name of CM Life.

For Michelle, Michael, Sheila, Jim, Randy and myself, the drive to tell stories, report the news and have a positive impact on people’s lives began at CM Life – in the basement of Anspach Hall where CM Life reporters and editors used to reside when they weren’t in class or at The Bird.

After accepting my award at the banquet, I sat and listened to these Hall of Famers talk about their careers in the field and their experiences at CM Life.

Green’s work has taken him to nearly every continent. He’s photographed everything from presidents to NFL games to the AIDs epidemic in Africa. Vice President Dick Cheney even asked him to be his personal photographer for the second Bush term, and he politely said no.

He would rather be a journalist than vice photographer-in-chief.

“You have to have a passion for storytelling, passion for people and (passion) for the news business itself,” Green was quoted as saying in a profile story written by CM Life senior reporter Sarah Schuch.

In reporter Andrea Rockafellow’s profile of Reindl, the former editor in chief who led the paper to national prominence put the true value of his career in context.

“It might seem like there is nothing better than reading your name in print on the front page, but the true satisfaction is found in shaping how the rest of the world is learning about events,” said Reindl, an Associated Press executive.

What is so great about CM Life is the next Reindl or Green is currently walking through the paper’s office on the fourth floor of Moore Hall. Who knows, it may be you.

Every journalism student has the potential to write their own ticket at CMU. It’s a place where mistakes are made and learning takes place every day from the reporters and photographers to the editor in chief.

It’s the ultimate training ground for a complex world of self-absorbed politicians, loudmouth football coaches and life’s little problems.?

But best of all, it’s a place to grow up and meet lifelong friends. Three years after graduating, I keep in almost daily contact with some of my closest CM Life colleagues and CMU professors.

Sheila Gruber McClean put it best: “We looked out for each other and we continue to today – there is an instant bond with people you meet when you know they have worked with CM Life.”

Chad Livengood is a former editor-in-chief of CM Life and 2005 CMU graduate. He is now the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader’s state capitol reporter. He can be reached at clivengood@gmail.com.