Western Front - 1988 January 26

              Please recycle The Western Front
VOL. 80, NO. 5 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA 98225 TUESDAY, JANUARY 26,1988
Primate research again under scrutiny
Prim's lab work questioned
by two Bellingham residents
By Jeff Williams
staff reporter
Two citizens concerned with
animal rights want answers re­garding
primate research at West­ern,
but their attempts to gain
specific information from the
psychology department and school
administrators have met with op­position.
Bellingham residents Silvana
Clark and Judith Spear have
focused their attention on Merle
Prim and his animal research with
primates in the psychology depart­ment.
Their goal, they said, is to
find out about Prim's past and
present research with the mon­keys.
They said their long-range
objective is to see the lab shut
down.
The two started a letter-writing
campaign in May 1987, at­tempting
to gain information
about the research. Their last
push for access started in Decem­ber
when they sent packets of in­formation
explaining their plight
to the Humane Society, interim
Western President Al Froderberg,
the Board of Trustees and media
representatives.
"We can't get any informa­tion,"
Spear said. "(Prim) hasn't
written any articles. We did a
search and couldn't find much.
We're talking years and years of
having those monkeys and noth­ing
published. We can't even get
what he's doing currently."
Prim has been conducting re­search
on Macaque and Rhesus
monkeys in his lab in the base­ment
of Miller Hall since 1969.
He has seven monkeys in cages in
the lab now, and has had as many
as 10 in the past.
"The problem is, they believe
I do certain things," Prim said.
"They have no data. Because I
don't answer, they think I'm
hiding something. They forget
about free speech. I don't have to
answer them if I don't feel I have
to."
Prim said the monkeys are
being used in cognition (learning)
experiments that measure the
animal's "event-related poten­tial."
He stated the event-related
potential of a monkey is "asserted
to be the end of the decision­making
process and the beginning
of the response." The potential
that is measured in the monkey's
brain is believed to be the un­derlying
basis for learning in
monkeys.
Spear and Clark said that if
the research is funded with tax­payer's
money, they believe the
public has a right to know what he
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Bellingham residents Silvana Clark (left) and Judith Spear want
department to make public his primate-research findings.
is doing in his lab.
Prim, however, said his opera­ting
budget comes mostly from his
own pocket. And a lesser amount
comes via an anonymous grant
from the Western Foundation.
Richard Thompson, chairman
of the psychology department,
said Prim has used only $198 of
the psychology department budget
since July. Last year he used
$1,089 of the budget.
Prim said he has refused to
answer any specifics about his re­search
because of what he sees as
an authority problem. He said
checks already are in place at the
university. He must abide by
Animal Welfare Committee
guidelines and state regulations,
Andrea Lightburne
Merle Prim of the psychology
which cover the care and treat­ment
of animals. He said he sees
no need to add an external review
of what he is doing.
"I will not allow them that ex­ternal
review authority," Prim
said. "There are procedures; we
follow those procedures."
See PRIM on p. 12
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By Marisa Lencioni
staff reporter
The Activities Council yester­day
voted to recognize the rugby
team as an Associated Students
club, bringing the sport back to
Western's campus.
Seven members of the council
voted 'yes' and two abstained —
because of vague wording in the
guidelines for a club. The major
point of debate among Activities
Council board members was how
much time rugby as a club would
spend in competition.
"I'm not sure how to answer
that," responded Steve Biggs,
representing rugby at the council
meeting. "We plan to have a num­ber
of activities provided, like
coaching and refereeing clinics.
But if out of 120 people participa­ting,
60 play and 60 watch, they're
still involved in competiton, so I
can't really give an estimate."
The men's rugby club was
suspended from campus as a uni­versity
club sport fall quarter after
some members' alleged involve­ment
in the vandalism of Sigma,
Mathes and Fairhaven residence
halls Oct. 28. The suspension is in
effect until the 1989-90 school
year, when the club may apply to
the Club Sport Council for re­instatement.
When rugby lost club sport
status it also lost $1,200-$1,500 an-
See RUGBY on p. 12
Faculty turns down gun request
Western's university police
force was given the thumbs down
last night by the Faculty Senate.
The senate voted against a po­lice
request to carry handguns
while on duty. The senate also
recommended the university po­lice
force be down graded and
converted into a security force
whose officers would not have the
powers of arrest.
During debate on the issue,
senators asked why Western
should have its own police force,
which costs about $500,000 a year
to operate, when better-trained
police officers from the city of
Bellingham already are called to
campus to handle serious matters.
University police officials
were not available for comment.
The senate recommendation
now goes to the Board of
Trustees, which may decide the
handgun issue at its Feb. 4 meet­ing.
Last Wednesday, the Associa­ted
Students Board of Directors
scheduled a Feb. 18 special elec­tion
for the issue. It is uncertain,
however, if trustees again will
postpone a decision on the hand­gun
issue.
University police officers
asked the trustees last September
to change the policy that prohibits
officers from carrying handguns
on duty. The trustees decided to
review the policy, but offered stu­dent
and faculty groups time to
research opinion on the issue.
Student and faculty forums
sponsored so far have been poorly
attended, senators and AS board
members said.