Book released at Earth Day 1993 by Spunky Duck Press, ISBN 0-9636687-06-6, $4.95 UPDATES SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK IN SMALLER GREEN TEXT. Deception WMU administrative deception concerning the Asylum Lake Research and Business Park has apparently been a standard operating procedure toward the citizens of Kalamazoo, the WMU student body and faculty, and even the administration's own committees. The Name of the Park When the research and business park was introduced to the community, WMU called it a "research park" with research and development identified as the fundamental purpose in the Report to the Faculty Senate. Since that time, "business" has been added to the title, and currently only 5-6% of the park's grounds are expected to be dedicated to research. The Institute for Water Sciences and Geology Core Lab, currently situated on WMU's campus, could easily fulfill this requirement. Despite the inclusions of business to the park, Hammer, SIler, George Associates emphasized in their analysis of the plan that the park couldn't succeed with only research and business, that industrial tenants would be required. THE ACTUAL PARK BUILT IS CALLED THE "BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARK" Infringement on the Asylum Lake Parcel WMU promised that the park wouldn't infringe on the Asylum Lake property, north of Parkview Avenue, the University Research Park Study Committee citing Parkview Avenue as the boundary to construction. However, the recent summary plan includes re-routing Parkview Avenue through a portion of the Asylum Lake parcel, freeing 30 acres for development. THE CURRENT CONSTRUCTION HAS NOT EXTENDED NORTH OF PARKVIEW AVENUE. Construction Costs and the Student Body Breaking promises is nothing new for the administration of WMU. With the surge of development on campus mirroring tuition increases, the claim that campus construction is independently funded was initially suspicious. Although some new buildings are funded in this manner, renovation of the Gary Center and the Miller Auditorium parking ramp are not. New construction costs may be covered in part or totally by donations, but building maintenance are typically always derived from tuition. Students believed that the Miller Auditorium parkign ramp was being constructed in response to the parking crisis students endure daily. No, the parking ramp has been constructed for theater patrons, although students may utilize the facility by paying the meter. Students already pay $90 per semester to park on campus. Dodging the Opposition Public opposition concerning the park is circumvented through various means. When meetings are held outside the Kalamazoo area, students bound to campus by their classes are unable to attend. The Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting at the Omni Hotel in Detroit rather than the Bernhard Center when the park summary plan vote was scheduled. At ALPA president Mark Hoffman's request, Representative Dale Schugars called and asked that the vote be postponed until the Trustees could meet in Kalamazoo. He was told that WMU is autonomous from the state and may hold their meetings wherever they please, and consider issues as they arrive on the schedule. The plan, "A Concept for a Research and Business Park Kalamazoo, Michigan," was released on March 15, 1993, allowing precious little time for interpretation by park adversaries before the Trustees meeting four days later. In the past, the Board of Trustees has considered volatile issues such as tuition hikes during scheduled semester breaks, when students are likely to be away from campus and unavailable for opposing comment. Apparently the Trustees have turned to temporal and geographical tactics to minimize accommodation for the voice of adversity. By considering the summary plan so soon after its publication at a remote location, the Board of Trustees averts disagreemtn. Such scheduling is ethically reprehensible. The Phantom Plan Maneuver Despite the distance, three students traveled to Detroit to voice their opposition to the summary plan, requesting postponing the vote until the Trustees could meet in Kalamazoo. Eric Adler, president of Students for a Sustainable Earth (SSE), presented almost 300 petition signatures requesting delay of the vote. They were ignored. When Adam Beal, member of SSE, expressed his concern at this distant Trustees meeting, each point he made was thwarted by the presentation of new information previously absent. Beal noted the tax-exempt status that the state-owned park would bear as unfair to competing businesses. Changing their answer from the previous week, the Trustees informed him that they planned to include over 200 acres of the property on the tax roll. When Beal cited a popularly-published figure of 75% failure rate for university-related research parks, James Visser stated that the University of Rochester doctoral dissertation upon which that figure is based was misinterpreted. Finally, in response to Beal's request that WMU consider alternative sites, such as abandoned warehouses and office buildings, the Trustees stated that since the university already owned the land (and without the burden of taxes) that they could do a much better job than a commercial developer while still considering ecological issues. By changing park parameters without public notice, opponents appear to be misinformed; their credibility is undermined. Belittling a student that has traveled over 100 miles to speak before an already intimidating Board of Trustees is deplorable. I GUESS I DIDN'T MENTION THE IDENTITY OF THE THIRD STUDENT - IT WAS ME, DOK TAEL STEVENS Mock Decisions The ultimate insult was when a pre-printed press release, stating unanimous Trustee vote passing the summary report, was distributed mere minutes after the actual vote occurred. Whether the meeting was mere formality or not, to release a prepared statement so soon after the event was tactless. Intimidation In a related issue, SSE disassociated themselves from their sponsor, the Environmental Studies department, when they were given the choice of either accepting silence concerning the research and business park or disassociation. The students were told that the administration was threatening budget cuts to the supporting academic department, so they removed themselves from the program. The administration allegedly told the Environmental Studies department that, if they continued to produce students such as those in SSE who oppose the research park, that perhaps the department wasn't needed at WMU. On February 10, 1993, an editorial in The Western Herald concerning this event entitled, "Friction between WMU, SSE hindering academic progress" was accompanied by a news article on the same topic. President Diether Haenicke called the students and faculty involved, including Herald Editor-in-Chief Cameron Tinsler, asserting that academic intimidation never occurred. Without a paper trail, the credibility of the SSE students was called into question. President Haenicke and Environmental Studies program director David Hargreave filled an opinion page with letters to the editor disavowing the incident. Personal attacks were levelled at the news reporter, opinion columnist, SSE student leaders and the new SSE advisor, Roger Ulrich of the Psychology Department. At the Herald advisory board meeting February 19, 1993, the credibility of the column was questioned. Despite the resolution that accurate reporting had occurred, the opinion columnist Dok Tael Stevens, as well as all of the opinion staff, were banned from writing about the Environmental Studies department, SSE and the Asylum Lake Research and Business Park. Stevens was additionally placed on one-week of editor-requested vacation. Since that time, her articles have been erratically accepted and her weekly publication day, Tuesday, is often filled by other authors. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently investigating the situation. OKAY... SO I COULDN'T AFFORD TO SUE THE WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, EVEN THOUGH MY LAWYER TOLD ME I HAD AN AIR-TIGHT CASE. I DIDN'T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY AS A COLUMNIST TO JUSTIFY THE COST OF GOING TO TRIAL. ON ANOTHER NOTE, I WON SECOND PLACE IN THE DETROIT FREE PRESS AWARDS FOR COLLEGE OPINION WRITING - SO I MUST NOT HAVE BEEN SUCH A 'NAIVE' AND 'UNINFORMED' AUTHOR AS I WAS ACCUSED OF BEING... Circumventing the University's Own Committees In planning the research and business park, students aren't the only victims of unethical behavior. The Campus Planning Committee (CPC) that typically would have planned the research and business pakr was foregone in favor of a University Research Park Study Committee created specifically for the task. Perhaps the administration viewed the CPC as incapable or opposed to the park development since some of its members are affiliated with the Environmental Studies department. By skipping the CPC, the administration circumvented any perceived obstales to their goal. These perceptions may have been well-founded. The Campus Planning Committee voted to oppose the modification because they weren't convinced that altering Parkview Avenue would affect traffic flow, and to honor the promise not to touch the Asylum Lake parcel. Ignoring Science The University Research Park Study Committee has only one scientist, Dr. W. Thomas Straw of the Geology Department. The remainder of the members are business professionals and professors. With the environmental sensitivity of the site, inclusion of professors from biology, environmental studies, agriculture and perhaps chemistry would seem necessary. However, scientists have been largely excluded from the planning process. Deception and WMU's Promises With deception running deep in the veins of the WMU administration, citizen, faculty and student trust is severely crippled. The mysterious absence of the deed covenants and restrictions from the most recent summary plan indicate that WMU cannot be expected to keep any of its written or verbal promises to the community and the ecosystem of Asylum Lake. BACK TO THE HAVEN: A TREATISE ON ASYLUM LAKE TABLE OF CONTENTS |
HAVEN: A Treatise on Asylum Lake |
Asylum Lake Controversy Kalamazoo County, MI |
Book released at Earth Day 1993 by Spunky Duck Press, ISBN 0-9636687-06-6, $4.95 UPDATES SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK IN SMALLER GREEN TEXT. Deception WMU administrative deception concerning the Asylum Lake Research and Business Park has apparently been a standard operating procedure toward the citizens of Kalamazoo, the WMU student body and faculty, and even the administration's own committees. The Name of the Park When the research and business park was introduced to the community, WMU called it a "research park" with research and development identified as the fundamental purpose in the Report to the Faculty Senate. Since that time, "business" has been added to the title, and currently only 5-6% of the park's grounds are expected to be dedicated to research. The Institute for Water Sciences and Geology Core Lab, currently situated on WMU's campus, could easily fulfill this requirement. Despite the inclusions of business to the park, Hammer, SIler, George Associates emphasized in their analysis of the plan that the park couldn't succeed with only research and business, that industrial tenants would be required. THE ACTUAL PARK BUILT IS CALLED THE "BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARK" Infringement on the Asylum Lake Parcel WMU promised that the park wouldn't infringe on the Asylum Lake property, north of Parkview Avenue, the University Research Park Study Committee citing Parkview Avenue as the boundary to construction. However, the recent summary plan includes re-routing Parkview Avenue through a portion of the Asylum Lake parcel, freeing 30 acres for development. THE CURRENT CONSTRUCTION HAS NOT EXTENDED NORTH OF PARKVIEW AVENUE. Construction Costs and the Student Body Breaking promises is nothing new for the administration of WMU. With the surge of development on campus mirroring tuition increases, the claim that campus construction is independently funded was initially suspicious. Although some new buildings are funded in this manner, renovation of the Gary Center and the Miller Auditorium parking ramp are not. New construction costs may be covered in part or totally by donations, but building maintenance are typically always derived from tuition. Students believed that the Miller Auditorium parkign ramp was being constructed in response to the parking crisis students endure daily. No, the parking ramp has been constructed for theater patrons, although students may utilize the facility by paying the meter. Students already pay $90 per semester to park on campus. Dodging the Opposition Public opposition concerning the park is circumvented through various means. When meetings are held outside the Kalamazoo area, students bound to campus by their classes are unable to attend. The Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting at the Omni Hotel in Detroit rather than the Bernhard Center when the park summary plan vote was scheduled. At ALPA president Mark Hoffman's request, Representative Dale Schugars called and asked that the vote be postponed until the Trustees could meet in Kalamazoo. He was told that WMU is autonomous from the state and may hold their meetings wherever they please, and consider issues as they arrive on the schedule. The plan, "A Concept for a Research and Business Park Kalamazoo, Michigan," was released on March 15, 1993, allowing precious little time for interpretation by park adversaries before the Trustees meeting four days later. In the past, the Board of Trustees has considered volatile issues such as tuition hikes during scheduled semester breaks, when students are likely to be away from campus and unavailable for opposing comment. Apparently the Trustees have turned to temporal and geographical tactics to minimize accommodation for the voice of adversity. By considering the summary plan so soon after its publication at a remote location, the Board of Trustees averts disagreemtn. Such scheduling is ethically reprehensible. The Phantom Plan Maneuver Despite the distance, three students traveled to Detroit to voice their opposition to the summary plan, requesting postponing the vote until the Trustees could meet in Kalamazoo. Eric Adler, president of Students for a Sustainable Earth (SSE), presented almost 300 petition signatures requesting delay of the vote. They were ignored. When Adam Beal, member of SSE, expressed his concern at this distant Trustees meeting, each point he made was thwarted by the presentation of new information previously absent. Beal noted the tax-exempt status that the state-owned park would bear as unfair to competing businesses. Changing their answer from the previous week, the Trustees informed him that they planned to include over 200 acres of the property on the tax roll. When Beal cited a popularly-published figure of 75% failure rate for university-related research parks, James Visser stated that the University of Rochester doctoral dissertation upon which that figure is based was misinterpreted. Finally, in response to Beal's request that WMU consider alternative sites, such as abandoned warehouses and office buildings, the Trustees stated that since the university already owned the land (and without the burden of taxes) that they could do a much better job than a commercial developer while still considering ecological issues. By changing park parameters without public notice, opponents appear to be misinformed; their credibility is undermined. Belittling a student that has traveled over 100 miles to speak before an already intimidating Board of Trustees is deplorable. I GUESS I DIDN'T MENTION THE IDENTITY OF THE THIRD STUDENT - IT WAS ME, DOK TAEL STEVENS Mock Decisions The ultimate insult was when a pre-printed press release, stating unanimous Trustee vote passing the summary report, was distributed mere minutes after the actual vote occurred. Whether the meeting was mere formality or not, to release a prepared statement so soon after the event was tactless. Intimidation In a related issue, SSE disassociated themselves from their sponsor, the Environmental Studies department, when they were given the choice of either accepting silence concerning the research and business park or disassociation. The students were told that the administration was threatening budget cuts to the supporting academic department, so they removed themselves from the program. The administration allegedly told the Environmental Studies department that, if they continued to produce students such as those in SSE who oppose the research park, that perhaps the department wasn't needed at WMU. On February 10, 1993, an editorial in The Western Herald concerning this event entitled, "Friction between WMU, SSE hindering academic progress" was accompanied by a news article on the same topic. President Diether Haenicke called the students and faculty involved, including Herald Editor-in-Chief Cameron Tinsler, asserting that academic intimidation never occurred. Without a paper trail, the credibility of the SSE students was called into question. President Haenicke and Environmental Studies program director David Hargreave filled an opinion page with letters to the editor disavowing the incident. Personal attacks were levelled at the news reporter, opinion columnist, SSE student leaders and the new SSE advisor, Roger Ulrich of the Psychology Department. At the Herald advisory board meeting February 19, 1993, the credibility of the column was questioned. Despite the resolution that accurate reporting had occurred, the opinion columnist Dok Tael Stevens, as well as all of the opinion staff, were banned from writing about the Environmental Studies department, SSE and the Asylum Lake Research and Business Park. Stevens was additionally placed on one-week of editor-requested vacation. Since that time, her articles have been erratically accepted and her weekly publication day, Tuesday, is often filled by other authors. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently investigating the situation. OKAY... SO I COULDN'T AFFORD TO SUE THE WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, EVEN THOUGH MY LAWYER TOLD ME I HAD AN AIR-TIGHT CASE. I DIDN'T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY AS A COLUMNIST TO JUSTIFY THE COST OF GOING TO TRIAL. ON ANOTHER NOTE, I WON SECOND PLACE IN THE DETROIT FREE PRESS AWARDS FOR COLLEGE OPINION WRITING - SO I MUST NOT HAVE BEEN SUCH A 'NAIVE' AND 'UNINFORMED' AUTHOR AS I WAS ACCUSED OF BEING... Circumventing the University's Own Committees In planning the research and business park, students aren't the only victims of unethical behavior. The Campus Planning Committee (CPC) that typically would have planned the research and business pakr was foregone in favor of a University Research Park Study Committee created specifically for the task. Perhaps the administration viewed the CPC as incapable or opposed to the park development since some of its members are affiliated with the Environmental Studies department. By skipping the CPC, the administration circumvented any perceived obstales to their goal. These perceptions may have been well-founded. The Campus Planning Committee voted to oppose the modification because they weren't convinced that altering Parkview Avenue would affect traffic flow, and to honor the promise not to touch the Asylum Lake parcel. Ignoring Science The University Research Park Study Committee has only one scientist, Dr. W. Thomas Straw of the Geology Department. The remainder of the members are business professionals and professors. With the environmental sensitivity of the site, inclusion of professors from biology, environmental studies, agriculture and perhaps chemistry would seem necessary. However, scientists have been largely excluded from the planning process. Deception and WMU's Promises With deception running deep in the veins of the WMU administration, citizen, faculty and student trust is severely crippled. The mysterious absence of the deed covenants and restrictions from the most recent summary plan indicate that WMU cannot be expected to keep any of its written or verbal promises to the community and the ecosystem of Asylum Lake. BACK TO THE HAVEN: A TREATISE ON ASYLUM LAKE TABLE OF CONTENTS |
