Western Front - 1980 May 9

              THE
VOL. 72, NO. 28 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1980
Campus police want guns
The long arm of the law may soon be in reach of a handgun if the
restriction preventing campus officers from carrying weapons is lifted.
The pistol above belongs to a Bellingham police officer, (photo by
Charles Loop)
by GARY LORENTSON
The no-guns policy went unchal­lenged
for almost five years. Uni­versity
President Paul Olscamp
commissioned the campus police
on Dec. 11, 1975, giving them the
right of arrest, but not the right to
carry guns.
But the April 19 murder of
Robert Schlewitz, for the first
time, brought forth serious discus­sion
to change the no-gun policy.
Now wives of the campus police
are publicly fighting to arm their
spouses while the campus police
lend private support.
One campus police officer said
they have tried for several years to
change the policy by going through
administrative channels. But he
said it has taken the publicity of the
murder and the push of the wives
to move Olscamp to form a com­mittee
concerning the policy.
Olscamp named Don Cole, vice
president for business and finan­cial
affairs, to head the committee.
Its findings are expected in Sep­tember
or October, Business Man­ager
Jack Cooley said.
R.G. Peterson, director of
Safety and Security, said his men
are dissatisfied with the no-gun
restriction and some are consider­ing
resigning because of it. "I will
definitely lose some of my men" if
the policy isn't changed, he said.
Two campus police officers who
requested anonymity, (called Steve
and Tom hereafter) said resigna­tion
is a possibility if they cannot
be armed.
All the officers believe they
should carry guns.
"We take the same risks as the
Bellingham police, but don't have
any protection," Steve said.
Steve said some officers are con­sidering
filing a lawsuit against
Western. The grounds for such a
suit are that the police have been
given the responsiblities of thejob,
Parking raise rejected
by CINDY KAUFMAN
The Faculty Senate rejected a
parking proposal from the Parking
and Transportation Committee
Monday that would have raised
next year's fees more than 100
percent.
Discussion at the Senate meet­ing
termed the proposed increase
"punitive," with vague goals and
implied the proposal was not
well-researched.
Jim Schuster, parking and
transportation committee chair­man,
refuted the accusations.
Senate President George Witter
said a modified proposal still could
pass the senate and reach the.
Board of Trustees for considera­tion
at its June meeting.
Witter said Tuesday a confer­ence
committee may be set up soon
to negotiate a proposal acceptable
to the Business and Finance Coun­cil
that would not be overthrown
by the Senate.
The conference committee
probably will include two
members from the senate, two
from the BFC and one from the
parking committee. It would have
to find acceptable compromises by
May 19, the day of this year's last
senate meeting.
Witter declined to speculate
what changes might be included.
Ed Plumlee, of the business
department, spoke on behalf of West­ern's
staff at the meeting, saying the
"punitive nature" of the proposal
surprised him. He said staff
employees couldn't afford the
increase, adding, "You don't see
Georgia-Pacific charging its
employees to park."
Senate member George Kriz
agreed it is punitive to force people
onto bus lines that already are
overcrowded.
Greg Sobel, a student member
of the parking committee, admit­ted
the proposal's punitive nature,
adding he sympathized with
employees resenting parking fees.
Jim Schuster, committee chair­man,
said later, "With this system,
people will be paying much less
than they ever have before."
As for paying to park, Schuster
said, "Hell, I resent it, too. That
means I have to pay to work here.
But I do it."
The $ 120 annual fee for a closer
campus spot, such as near the
administration building, would
cost a driver less than 50 cents a
day, he said. A driver sharing the
50 percent carpool reduction with two
passengers would pay 8 cents a
day. "And that's for close lots,"
he said. "For the peripheral lots
they'd be paying even less."
Sobel said students paying $96
per academic year would pay 60
cents a day, or 3 cents a day if they
would carpool.
He admitted the policy wasn't
specific in parts. He reminded the
senate the committee had been in­structed
by the administration hot
to work out specific details, but to
design a general directive plan.
The committee's intents, Sobel
said, were to expand the parking
by redesigning lots, encourage bik­ing
and busing and "make West­ern
a leader in the community and
perhaps a model for other
institutions."
Senate member Howard Mit­chell
said the proposal implies a
tax on those who use cars. Though
state and community officials urge
gas conservation, "taxing its use is
continued on back page
but haven't been given the proper
tools to do that job.
The wives, led by Darken Page,
wife of Chuck Page, wrote letters
to the trustees, the Bellingham
Herald and the Front and con­tacted
Greg Sobel of the Asso­ciated
Students Board of Directors.
One trustee, Marvin Eggert, said
at the May 1 trustees meeting he.
feels the police should be armed,
while the other trustees remained
uncommitted. The AS board
reached a consensus at its April 22
meeting that its members oppose
arming the police.
Olscamp has said the campus
police will not be armed as long as
he is university president. "He has
never given us a reason" for his
position, Peterson said. Olscamp
will not comment on whether
campus police should have
weapons.
Western is the only four-year
public institution in Washington
that does not have an armed cam­pus
police force, Peterson said.
The officers are instructed to call
the Bellingham Police Department
if guns are ever needed, he said. No
officer has ever been shot at West­ern,
he added.
Only the professionally trained
campus police could carry wea­pons
if the policy was changed.
The student security officers,
whose duties are much more
limited, would not be armed.
AS President Kathy Walker said
that people at Western are "spe­cial"
and are less likely to be crimi­nals
than the general population.
"Western is not a violentenviron-ment,"
she said. In those instances
when guns are needed the Bel­lingham
police can be called, she
said.
But Peterson said people from
Western are not committing the
serious crimes. "Better than 95
percent of the hard-core crimes are
committed by non-university peo­ple,"
he said. Hard-core crime is
such things as burglary, theft, and
arson, he said.
He said Western is attractive to
potential criminals because the
large numbers of people allow
them to blend in and it has a repu­tation
as a safe place to commit a
crime.
Western had the highest number
of arrests for one year out of four
universities that responded to a
survey by Security in 1977. West­ern
had 405 total arrests that year,
compared with the second highest
total of 311 at the University of
Washington. The UW has 35,000
students. Western has 10,000.
"Guns are a deterrent," Peterson
said. "A person who would nor­mally
commit a crime will think
twice if he sees a policeman with a
gun."
Walker said arming campus
police will only force the criminals
to arm themselves. Peterson dis­agrees,
saying that the sort of per­son
to have a weapon will carry
that weapon regardless of whether
' the police are armed. Also, he said,
many people off-campus are
unaware the campus police are
unarmed.
Steve and Tom gave many
instances of close calls and near
misses when a gun was almost
necessary. Steve said "I have had a
gun pulled on me and a knife
pulled on me."
Two weeks ago, a man later dis­covered
to be a convicted murderer
from California, was arrested in
Red Square for "acting weird."
That man is now in Western State
Hospital in Steilacoom after being
apprehended by campus police.
Three times this winter, campus
police went to the home of Dave
Duncan for an arrest and had
"hostile confrontations" with him.
Duncan later opened fire from his
Garden Street home after threaten­ing
to kill campus police officer"
No one was injured.
The campus bank has beei
robbed three times in the past 1C
years, Tom said. Once the robbers
were armed with a shotgun and a
handgun, he said.
Steve said, "I feel like my hands
are tied. I can't protect myself or
someone else."
Tom said he felt "helpless."
Though he said he isn't afraid to
continued on back page
Western announces
budget cut proposal
by STEVE VALANDRA
and NINA McCORMTCK
Reductions in Western's
operating budget should have
little effect on the quality of
education next year, but the
long-term effects are another
matter, James Talbot, vice pres­ident
for academic affairs, said
yesterday.
Talbot announced plans for
reductions in several depart­ments,
which includes the loss
of 30 to 40 non-academic jobs
and cuts in overall university
services.
The cuts are necessary, Tal­bot
said, to meet Gov. Dixy Lee
Ray's request that Western trim
its 1980-81 operating budget by
$901,000.
The biggest chunk of the
reduction—$360,000—will be
made in the physical plant
budget, which handles mainte­nance
and custodial services.
Students and faculty also will
have to get used to shorter
library hours as a $120,000 cut
is set for that department, Tal­bot
said.
Library administrator Robert
Lawyer said yesterday the
library next year will close at 10
p.m. Monday through Thurs­day
instead of midnight. On
Fridays it will close at 5 p.m.
rather than 6 p.m. On Sundays
it will be open from 1 to 10 p.m.
instead of its current noon to
midnight operation.
Lawyer said he could not dis­close
whether any jobs will be
cut.
Such reductions could con-continued
on back page