In light of October being Domestic Violence Awareness month, a group of Fabiano and Celani RAs held an open mic night in the Woldt lobby Tuesday night.

“This is my first year on staff,” said Flint junior Quentrese Cole. “I’m glad to be apart of this.”

More than 70 CMU students dressed in purple, the color of domestic violence, came to watch the 10 acts that performed. During the show, the audience voted for their favorite act by putting change in the bucket with the act’s name on it. The team successfully raised $123 in donations.

The winners of this year’s open mic night were the singing and guitar playing act of Troy junior Griffin McMath, Detroit junior Justine Easter and Center Line sophomore Lael Johnson. They performed the song “Praise You in the Storm” by Casting Crowns.

“We try to make it a reoccurring event to raise money for causes,” said Detroit senior Ashley Watters, Fabiano RA and co-coordinator of the event. “This time we wanted to do something lesser advertised cause so we chose domestic violence.”

Watters has an internship at a women’s help center and has witnessed first hand the problem of domestic violence, which she feels needs more attention in society.

With a crowd of around 100 people,  the team raised $220 last year in change donations that they later donated to Relay for Life. The money raised in last’s night event was donated to the Bay Center Women’s Help Center located in Bay City.

“We are a non-profit organization, so we rely solely on these types of events and random donations,” said Jessica Gregory, a coordinator at the shelter. “One in four teenagers are in an abusive relationship by the age of 15 and we are trying to change that.”

University President George Ross brought plenty of pizza and pop to share at the Calkins Hall Council meeting Tuesday and a joint Fabiano, Emmons and Woldt meeting Wednesday. He will also speak at the Robinson Hall Council meeting 9 p.m. Tuesday before finishing his three-council tour.

Central Michigan University President George Ross shares with students one of his many stories from college Tuesday night in the basement of Calkins Hall. (Victoria Zegler/Staff Photographer)

“I was impressed that he was very down-to-earth and personable and I can tell he actually cares about the students,” said Cathy Warner, Calkins Hall director.

Warner and Ross began talks of a visit to Calkins Hall in early September.

Ross had received a forwarded e-mail from Warner detailing the several positive events that happened over Welcome Weekend.

“That made me want to come and talk to the students,” Ross said.

Both meetings began with a brief introduction followed by a pizza break. Afterward, there was a long session of question and answers.

The questions asked by students ranged from Ross’s favorite part of his job to the budget. Ross told students he would try to find time for them if they wanted to meet or have lunch with him. He said he has already hosted dinner at his home for the Centralis Scholarship winners.

Budget issues

Ross said the university has been working to keep its budget under control in light of recent cuts by the state. He said $5.4 million was cut from the budget prior to a $2.3 million reduction in state funding last month.

One of these changes involves the university self-insuring its employees. Ross said CMU has saved about $11 million dollars this way so far.

“I promised to do this without layoffs or furloughs and I kept my promise,” Ross said. “We’re assessing the efficiency of every program on campus in an effort to control cost.”

Ross admitted to not knowing the answers to some of the questions asked by students, and said such questions should be compiled and sent to him.

Also discussed in the meetings were the university’s progress in creating a greener campus and plans to build new graduate housing.

Ross told students about the sustainability institute, whose focus is to achieve a more environment-friendly campus.

One of their successes, Ross said, was the burning of wood chips instead of natural gas. The steam produced is better for the environment and the decision to stop using natural gas has saved the university $1.4 million so far, he said.

Westphalia senior Tamara Boswell said she is happy Ross decided to visit some of the residence halls.

“Wanting to hear from us and wanting to hear our input was really genuine,” she said.

Shaun Holtgreive, associate director of Residence Life, said 49 cameras were installed in Merrill, Sweeney, Beddow and Thorpe halls. Upgrades were implemented to the cameras in Saxe, Herrig, Celani and Fabiano halls, as well as the Towers residence halls.

“It gives us the ability to monitor doors and respond to unauthorized doors being propped open,” Holtgreive said.

The cameras on the exterior of the residence halls are next to entrances and side doors, as well as in the main areas of the floors. Holtgreive said the cameras on top of buildings did not provide the quality of picture he was looking for.

He said the parking lots and building perimeters of campus will be left up to Central Michigan University Police, not Residence Life.

“We have got the areas of concern for us (covered),” Holtgreive said.

Cost: $150,000

The cost for the cameras’ wiring and software for Merrill, Sweeney, Beddow and Thorpe halls was $150,000, Holtgreive said. The upgrades to the Towers area, along with Fabiano, Saxe, Herrig, and Celani halls did not cost Residence Life because it was equipment they already had, said Coordinator of Residential Security Ben Witt.

CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley said there are more than 300 cameras on campus. He anticipates more cameras will be installed in parking lots and on buildings throughout the campus as remodels and money permits.

He said CMU Police has regular meetings on safety and security for the campus.

“Lighting, the design of the building and cameras are all discussed,” Yeagley said. “Whenever there is a renovation done to a building on campus, we give our input on where cameras should be installed.”

CMU Community Police Officer Mike Sienkiewicz said the cameras are used for mostly after-the-fact situations. It is a tool of review if needed. However, there is some live monitoring, he said.

“I have it set up in my office so, if I need to, I can watch the main areas where people move the most,” Sienkiewicz said.

Those include the main entrances of the halls and the stairwells, he said, which, in the past, have had incidences of vandalism and crime.

Witt said the cameras enhance safety and improve on current systems that work in residential security.

“They are an invaluable resource,” Witt said. “We also have a change in philosophy by adding security to the perimeter instead of only concentrating on the interior.”

North Campus residence halls are older buildings, and camera installation is yet to be determined, Holtgreive said.

“We are still evaluating to upgrade or replace those facilities,” he said. “Once that decision is made, we will then know where we stand on camera installation.”

“You’re so cute when you lick your butt,” said Livonia sophomore Alleah Webb.

Webb was one of four contestants playing scenes from a hat in FEW’s Line Is It Anyway Thursday night in the Fabiano, Emmons and Woldt Halls lobby. In scenes from a hat, the host pulled slips of paper from a hat and asked contestants to act out what immediately came to mind.

The event was modeled after the television show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway,” an improvisational comedy show where contestants take turns acting out skits and playing improv games.

Webb used to watch the show all the time as a child, and signed up for the event because she likes the show and likes attention.

The other three contestants were Battle Creek junior Jeremy Erskine, Holt sophomore Dylan Clauson and Kalamazoo junior Daryl Kuipers. They competed for a $10 and $15 Meijer gift cards and a Best of Whose Line DVD.

About 20 students showed up to watch the comedy show Thursday.

Troy senior Kyle Patru, the host of FEW’s Line, said he wanted to get people laughing.

“Hopefully, (we will be) getting a lot of people here to wind down after classes,” he said.

Games played in FEW’s Line include scenes from a hat, the dating game, props, party quirks, and superheroes. All of the games involved the contestants thinking on their feet and competing to impress the judges with their wit.

Other questions asked during scenes from a hat were what is one thing you would say to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, what was one thing you would change about CMU, and what would you say to the people living below you in your residence hall room.

Erskine, the winner of the program, was in an improvisation group his senior year of high school.

“I just like to make people laugh. Laughter makes people feel better,” he said.

Although a relatively small number of students attended the event, those who did attend had a blast.

Audience member Jordan Kantola, a Ravenna junior, thought it was pretty funny and well put together.

“I’ve always been a fan of what FEW puts together program-wise, so I thought it would be fun to come watch,” he said.

The bright pink-clad ladies of Fabiano, Emmons and Woldt Halls faced off against the maroon-wearing women of Saxe, Herrig and Celani Halls in a Powder Puff match Thursday
at Kelly/Shorts Stadium to raise money for breast cancer research.

“I’m super amped up,” said Davisburg sophomore Jessica Frick. “I love football and I love SHC.”

Spring Lake freshman Emily Rosencrants jokes with her team in the pre-game warm ups as they try to create an end zone celebration dance Thursday night at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Saxes/Herrig/Celani won 22-0. (Matthew Stephens/Presentation Editor)

Frick was on the winning team of SHC, who beat FEW 22-0.

Cheering for SHC were LaPeer freshman Dante Harris and Dansville freshman Travis Konen.

Lake Orion junior Lauren Drury catches a pass and runs past the Fabiano/Emmons/Woldt defense Thursday night for the powder puff game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. (Matthew Stephens/Presentation Editor)

Harris said he came to the game because he loved football and wanted to watch his resident assistant play.

Konen had a similar reason for showing up.

“The girls on my floor are playing and it’s something to do,” he said.

Harris and Konen agreed the game had a good cause.

“My aunt has breast cancer, so I should come,” Harris said. “It’s a very important issue with women and men.”

Let’s play

Springlake freshman Emily Rosencrants said her RA motivated her to take up the quarterback position for the SHC team.

“The RA lives across the hall, and she’s like, ‘Hey — like to play football?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah,’” she said.

Having people in her family dealing with this issue really hit home with her, Rosencrants said, and it was great to be able to show her support by playing at Kelly/Shorts.

“It’s a great cause, especially with having all women playing,” she said.

John Johnstin, Herrig Hall’s Residence Hall Director and defensive coordinator for SHC, arranged the second annual event.

The original idea for a Powder Puff football game came from one of Johnstin’s residents last year, and has since become a tradition.

He said he was hoping to eventually open up a similar event to other areas of campus.

“We would really like to get something worked out, maybe with South Campus,” he said. “Maybe work out campus-wide events open up to all residence halls.”

Johnstin said he hoped the event would raise as much money as possible, especially since the crowd had to deal with the biting cold.

“We’re going to raise as much as we can, hopefully at least $100,” Frick said.

Johnstin said he just hoped the participants would have a fun and safe time with no injuries.