Western Front - 1980 February 8

              Front VOL. 72, NO. 9 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1980
Security officer angry over ignored alarm
Haggard Hall searched by firemen as students mill in halls
Apparently some people in
Haggard Hall forgot what to do
when a fire alarm sounds, or they
chose to ignore it.
Tuesday morning, Western
Safety and Security officers
Charles Page and John Browne
responded to a fire alarm in
Haggard Hall. Four units and one
ladder truck from the Bellingham
Fire Department also answered
the call. The alert was a false
alarm.
When Page and Browne arrived
at the building, they said they
found several classes still in session
and "quite a few" students in the
halls.
Page, visibly angry, said, "We
expect people to get the hell out of
the building when an alarm
sounds."
He said he could not believe
people still were in the building. He
met one faculty member who said
several students had asked him
which way to go to get out, Page
said.
Page said he met another faculty
member who said he could not see
any reason to evacuate since
Haggard Hall is a concrete
building. "He asked me, 'What's to
burn?' " Page said.
The ceiling tile, wood cabinetry
and plastics in the building would
burn, possibly releasing noxious
fumes that might be invisible and
odorless, Page said.
Sgt. Browne said most people
die in fires from fume and smoke
inhalation, adding that chemicals
used by the chemistry and biology
labs could escape and not be
noticed physically.
Fire alarms are not pulled only
for a fire, Page said.
"We pull the alarm to evacuate
the buildings quickly in case of a
bomb threat," Page said. "We feel
it is important to get the students
out fast and explain later."
A radioactive storage vault is in
the basement of Haggard, Page
said. If radioactivity ever leaks out,
the fire alarms would be pulled to
evacuate the building. "Imagine
what might happen if no one left,"
he said.
Some students returned to the
building before the all clear signal
was given and ran into firemen,
who were still searching the
building, Page said.
"Dumb, that is really dumb,"
Page said. "When the alarm stops,
it doesn't mean the building is safe
to enter."
If the alarm was set because of a
bomb threat it might take several
hours to search the building, Page
said.
Page said during a large fire in
Higginson Hall several years ago,
he had to go from floor to floor to
evacuate everyone.
Battalion Duty Chief Ole Olson
said he was not upset by the
response of the people in the
building. Alarms are usually
ignored during classroom hours,
he said.
Western's policy and procedure
manual and the Revised Code of
Washington have no evacuation
procedure established for Western's
buildings.
Security Lt. Lee Brown said
security has a policy to make sure
the building is evacuated.
"We leave it up to the students
and faculty to use common sense
and leave the buildings," he said.
Several students and faculty
members, asked if they had
evacuated, said they had.
One biology faculty member,
who would not give his name, said
he was confused at first because
some classes did not leave, but he
did evacuate later.
Gerald Kraft, chairman of the
biology department, said he had
not heard of any classes not being
evacuated. If security had
problems with evacuation no one
has contacted him yet, he said.
—Sue Mitchell
Conscientious objectors organize early
Students who want to convince the
government they are morally opposed to
war had better start building their cases
now.
That is the message of Western student
Kelly Turner, who has plans to organize a
club for conscientious objectors.
Persons planning to file for conscien­tious
objector status, if the draft is rein­stated,
"should go home tonight and
carefully write a letter saying 'I am
opposed to war, I have always been
opposed to war arid I always will be
opposed to war'," Turner said.
This letter should stress' the person's
beliefs and values rather than making a
political statement such as, "I am
opposed to the war in Afghanistan,"
Turner said.
The letter should be notarized and
sent to everyone the person knows,
Turner said. He suggested friends,
teachers and employers.
The purpose of the letter is to publicize
the person's beliefs well in advance of
draft registration.
"It is very important to register for the
draft as a conscientious objector,"
Turner said, because it is harder to con­vince
a draft board "you morally oppose
war if your belief has never been made
public."
Turner said registration as a conscien­tious
objector is important because it is
the only legal means a person has to
oppose being sent to war,
"If you refuse to register, you are
breaking the law," Turner said, "and it
just gives them an excuse to come and get
you."
Turner said he is trying to tell people
they can abide by the regulations and still
avoid going to war.
Turner said he is not sure whether a
new club will be formed or if he will work
through existing organizations.
He said he plans to form a coalition of
groups which oppose draft registration
or reinstatement, along with a group of
conscientious objectors.
Those interested in discussing mem­bership
in the club should contact Turner
or Bill Bailey at Western's Outdoor pro­gram
in Viking Union 113.
—Fred Obee
Howard's recognition policy; revival fails
;•?&*,?
The Associated Students Board of
Directors Tuesday defeated an attempt
by board member Jack Howard to revive
the controversial recognition policy
debate.
Last year's board approved the policy,
which restricts campus Christian groups
from using campus facilities forreligious
worship instruction. This policy was
challenged in court by Christian groups.
The decision is pending.
Howard asked the board to address
two questions to Assistant Attorney
General Stuart Allen. He wanted to ask
Allen whether the AS had a right to
withdraw from the suit and what impact
that would have on it.
Howard sent a letter to Allen asking
whether the board could submit a brief
reversing its previous position as defendr
ants in the lawsuit. Allen sent the letter
back asking that the question be raised by~
the board as a whole.
He said he felt the board should know
its options.
"We're not bothering to collect any
more information on our options," How­ard
said.
Board member Greg Sobel disagreed.
"We can't withdraw from the suit,
that's a pointless question," he said.
This year's board has yet to confront
the subject. AS President Kathy Walker
originally wanted to take the board into
executive session because of the "sensi­tivity"
of the matter. Walker later de­cided
to keep the meeting public.
Dan Moore, board member, was wary
of the matter. -
"I would like^o stayv^^r frbjin ^iny- >
.AS BOARD OF Directors vote 'no' on attempt to revive recognition policy (photo by Tom Haynie)
thing like the recognition policy as pos­sible,"
he said.
In other matters the board:
• Denied funding for the Washington
Associatipn of University Students
(WAUS).
WAUS is an organization designed to
represent state university students at
Olympia.
Board members said they doubted they
were getting their money's worth. "We
ver&much support thejcpnc^ptofarstater •
wide organization, but unless they get
their act together we're not going to be
pumping thousands of dollars into their
organization," Sobel said.
He added that WAUS has presented
no evidence that anything they have done
in Olympia has directly benefited West­ern
students.
• Kathy Walker, acting as Budget
Authority for the board, informed it she
was revoking its privilege to use the
Xerox v machine: Board members now
have to submit material they wish to have
copied to the AS secretaries. Previously,
the.members had complete access to the
machine which is located near the VU
information desk.
Allen Cote, board member, pointed
out the new policy was accepted practice
in other departments.
Board members Dan Moore and Bill
McRae attempted to override Walker's
action but the motion failed.
—Andrew Potter