Western Front - 1987 February 27

              AS votes for football election
By Lori Robinson
staff reporter
Students will have the opportunity to
vote on Western's football program in a
referendum election tentatively scheduled
for March 11.
The Associated Students Board of
Directors authorized the special referen­dum
in response to student requests.
Football coach Paul Hansen has
requested increased funding for the pro­gram
in an attempt to bring the team to a
competitive level. Hansen has revised and
compromised his proposal since his
appearance before the AS Board.
Jan. 28, the AS Board recommended to
President G. Robert Ross the football
program be discontinued.
The board based its recommendation
upon Hansen's original proposal to Ross,
which requested $250,000 for the upgrade
of facilities and equipment used by the
team. Annual costs in the original prop­osal
were $100,000.
The revised proposal requested a
$20,000 increase, from the current $37,000
to a proposed $57,000.
Concerned school officials who have
been struggling to fund existing programs
at present levels have questioned the
increased expenditures for one program.
To measure opinion and answer ques­tions,
the Athletic and Recreation Com­mittee
has been conducting open meetings
for the past two weeks.
At the open meeting Feb. 12, AS Presi­dent
Terri Echelbarger received an infor­mal
request from students for the AS to
address the issue in a campus-wide
election.
Echelbarger discussed the possibility of
a special referendum election with
Micheal Degginger, AS election board
chairman. Wednesday she presented the
AS board with a proposal for the special
election.
The board approved the $350 cost for
the election, which included salary costs,
advertising and ballot tallying by the
Whatcom County auditor's office. The
board also agreed upon the two questions
on the referendum ballot.
The questions on the ballot will be:
• Should Western continue in an inter­collegiate
football program?
• Should funding to football be
increased if it means decreasing funding to
other programs?
The board discussed and approved the
special election rapidly because of time
constraints. Echelbarger said the special
election requires three weeks' prepara­tion.
Postponing a decision until the next
meeting would have pushed the election
into finals week.
The Western Front Please recycle
VOL. 79, NO. 12 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27,1987
Committee votes
to keep football
Recommendation
doesn't address
funding program
By John Sleeper
staff reporter
The Athletic and Recreation
Committee recommended yes­terday
to retain Western's foot­ball
program—but postponed
making a decision on funding
specific areas Viking coach Paul
Hansen has requested.
" The vote to retain the program
was unanimous, ARC Chairman
John Utendale said.
"No one thing influenced the
committee's decision," he said.
"But the support to retain the
program was overwhelming."
The committee forwarded the
recommendation to Western
President G. Robert Ross and
the University Services Council
for further review.
USC Chairwoman Saundra
Taylor said the council will meet
at 8 a.m. Tuesday to review the
report and make its recommen­dation
to the Associated Stu­dents'
Board of Directors.
"1 don't see any reason why we
can't make the recommendation
that day," she said.
The AS Board recommended
Jan. 28 to eliminate the football
program.
In its report, the ARC recom­mended
the "football program
be continued and given ongoing
support as an integral part of the
total educational, social, cultural
and recreational experience
which we offer at Western."
According to the report, an ad
hoc committee will review the
football budget and develop a
• see FOOTBALL, p. 3
Picture this lltilfflilRI
Art major Susan Cranston takes advantage of a blooming photo opportunity near College
Conflict continues as AS
asks WSL head to resign
By Clay Martin
staff reporter
After a one week delay, the
Associated Students Board of
Directors voted Wednesday to
formally request the resignation of
Washington Student Lobby
chairman Dean Bushue.
The request came in the wake
of a war of words between
Bushue and AS members Terri
Echelbarger, president, and Dan
Wood, vice president for Exter­nal
Affairs.
The resolution, which was
passed by a 6-2 vote, claims
Bushue is "unable to fill his
duties as local chair of the WSL,"
because of his current legislative
internship in Olympia.
Bushue and WSL Vice Chair­man
John Wyble, who also is in
Olympia on an internship, were
on campus earlier this week to set
up a collection booth at spring
quarter registration.
They also distributed fliers
supporting WSL efforts and
accusing Echelbarger and Wood
of lying in order to create a scan­dal.
The flier states in part, "Teri
(sic) Echelbarger and Dan Wood
are trying to use you for their
own political gain!!"
"Terri attacked us with ques­tionable
comments and we need
to let the students know exactly
what's going on," Bushue said.
One issue of conflict on the
WSL flier is a suggested lobby
organization known as West-
PAC. Bushue said he opposes
the idea because it would not be
funded by the students and
would not be accountable to
them.
"The thing about WestPAC
replacing WSL is a blatant lie,"
Wood said. "It's not my inten­tion
to replace WSL. WestPAC
is only an idea. I do intend to
pursue the idea though."
WSL at-large member Craig
Chucka said he thinks the flier
was a bad idea. "It's not going to
help the WSL," he said.
"This paper is filled with lies,"
Wood said while looking over
the flier in his office Wednesday
morning.
"I'm glad Dean and John came
up here to raise money for
WSL," he said. "But I think they
did it in the worst possible way.'
It's senseless to do personal
attacks like that."
While working the WSL
booth Monday, Bushue said, "I
don't want to be in conflict with
Terri and Dan; I want to work
with them. There's a lot of
important issues right now and if
we could work together doing
things for students at Western,
instead of slandering the WSL, it
would be much more beneficial
for the students."
Wyble, who had announced in
January his intention to resign as
vice chairman, has now changed
his mind and will continue to
serve the position.
Jackie Dye, a Western stu­dent,
currently is filling Wyble's
responsibilities as vice chairman.
Wyble said he'll return to cam­pus
at the start of spring quarter.
Bushue and Wyble also have
appointed Michele Wilson, a
junior in political science, to the
position of secretary/treasurer,
recently vacated by Mike Sando.
Wilson opposed the resolution
at Wednesday's meeting.
"Nothing will come of it," she
said of the AS resolution. "(The
AS board) is not in a position to
know what goes on in Olympia,
so it's not in a position to know if
he's effective or not."
At the AS meeting, Wilson
said she is the new WSL chapter
secretary/ treasurer. She later
retracted and said she is serving
in the position until the local
WSL board votes on Sunday.
Campus police are
armed with radar
By Jerry Tegarden
staff reporter
By spring quarter, campus
police will be using radar guns to
enforce speed limits on campus
and adjacent city streets.
A memo from R.G. Peterson,
director of Western's Public
Safety Office announced the use
of the radar guns.
The police are responding to
years of community complaints
about speeding vehicles.
Fall quarter, an ad hoc com­mittee
of 21 st Street users lob­bied
the administration to do
something about the danger of
speeders on the narrow street.
The committee included faculty,
staff and students.
Campus police are concerned
about areas with high density
vehicle and pedestrian traffic,
campus police Lt. Lee Brown
said.
Radar areas include: East Col­lege
to parking lot 10G, 21st
Street from the visitors center to
the parking area behind Carver
Gym, Buchanan Towers and sur­rounding
area, Highland Drive
from the water tower to Nash
Hall, and High Street to North
Garden bypass.
Western already has the radar
units and officers will begin
training with instructors from
Bellingham Police Department
during the first two weeks of
• see RADAR, p. 3
Quote of the Week
"Western is a gold mine. I don't think they recruit
very well. They should be a powerhouse."
—Orson Christenson, Eastern Oregon Unviersity football coach,
about Wetern's recruiting habits.