Western Front - 1987 November 17

              best season in decade
Inside
Long process
Sex center to change name
South Africa
Profs comment on native land
2
8
Chloride
WESTERN FRONT
SBSWS^^ WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA. ^HRi^sSHiiftWi
U.S. leadership waning
Bonker tells crowd
of future challenges
By DAVID B. KUESTER
staff reporter
Whether we can afford to continue
our eminence as a world leader is one of
the great issues for the next presidential
election, U.S. Rep. Don Bonker, (D-Ridgefield,
Wash.), said while speaking
Friday at the Wilson Library Presentation
Room.
Bonker, the senior member of the
Foreign Affairs Committee and the
chairman of the subcommittee on eco­nomic
policy and trade, spoke mainly on
America's ability to compete in a global
marketplace and maintain its leadership
position.
"We find that the U.S. still possesses
the political will as well as the military ca­pability
to continue that leadership, but
we're now starting to realize that we don't
have the economic resources to sustain
that type of leadership much longer."
Speaking to the student population,
Bonker summed up America's economic
situation as it affects the next generation.
"My generation, your parents' genera­tion,
is borrowing heavily to maintain our
economic prosperity, but you are the ones
who are going to have to pay it back. For
many, it's going to mean a lower standard
of living."
The immediacy of the problem is evi­denced
by the Oct. 19 crash on Wall
Street, he said.
America has survived slumps before,
but always has turned inward to solve
economic problems. America will have to
turn outward and compete in the global
marketplace, Bonker said.
"We have to think in more interna­tional
terms. We have to do better at ac­quiring
foreign languages," he said. "That
is why this generation is so vital. You
might say that getting into foreign
markets is a pioneering adventure."
Bonker stressed foreign languages,
computer science, engineering and inter­national
business for students willing to
accept the challenge of keeping America
on top.
Education is slipping in America, he
said.
"Whether or not we are properly
training future generations of Americans
to meet this competitive challenge is a big
question."
Bonker criticized the present adminis-
DAN TYLER
U.S. Rep. Don Bonker talked to students about America's future prob­lems
at a speech Friday.
tration for not putting more money into
education.
"There is no way that we're going to
upgrade educational programs without
making an investment. We have to make
a stronger and bigger committment at a
time when we are pressed with deficit
burdens."
He said students also have a role to
play.
"The motivation must be there, too.
It takes a lot of hard work and drive to
excel and excel we must if we are to re­store
our competitive position."
In January Bonker will officially an­nounce
his race for the U.S. Senate seat
being vacated by Dan Evans. He will
compete against Mike Lowry, (D-Seattle),
for the democratic nomination.
"We're pretty identical, you're not
going to see much distinction. My inter­ests
have been on foreign affairs, interna­tional
affairs and environment. I think
Mike's interests have been mostly budget
areas."
Open house tops
awareness week
for geography
By MARK WATSON
staff reporter
National Geography Awareness Week
will feature an open house and lectures
Nov. 15 to Nov. 21 to help students learn
the what of where.
A U.S. congressional resolution creat­ing
geography week is intended to over­come
what recent studies show to be a lack
of geographic knowledge by Americans.
Western's geography department is
participating in the national event in hopes
of generating a greater awareness of the
importance of geography in the Northwest.
"Only 10 percent of our nation's public
schools offer geography in their cur­riculum,"
said Debnath Mookherjee, of
Western's geography and regional planning
department.
"It's not the students' or the teachers'
fault for the lack of geographic knowledge,"
Mookherjee said. "The fault lies in the pub­lic
school system."
She also said students need to know the
importance geography has on trade and
economic interdependence.
"Our intentions this week are to diffuse
geographic knowlege to the campus com­munity
and to reassure the importance of
geography in the Pacific Northwest region,"
Mookherjee said.
The map library in Arntzen Hall will
host an open house from 10 a.m. to noon
today in Arntzen Hall 101. An open house
in the Cartographic Laboratory will be
from 10 a.m. to noon today in Arntzen Hall
24.
"Geography: The Indispensable Dis­cipline"
is the title of a lecture to be pre­sented
by Ronald Boyce, dean of the
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at
Seattle Pacific University and former facul­ty
member of the geography department.
The lecture will be 2 p.m. Wednesday in
Arntzen 4.
A two-day conference on "Potentials
for Geography and Regional Planning
Graduates" begins with registration at 2:30
p.m. Friday in Old Main 340.
Topics and discussions for the
afternoon include teaching opportunities in
public schools and community colleges and
job opportunities in public and private sec­tors.
Mookherjee said Western has a great
deal to offer students wishing to learn more
about our geographic region and its poten­tial.
For more information contact the Ge­ography
and Regional Planning office in
Arntzen Hall 217.
Students OK after fainting in Lecture Hall 3 Nov. 10
By SCOTT M. AYERS
staff reporter
Lecture Hall 3 was evacuated last Tues­day
when two students fainted and another
felt lightheaded during a 9 a.m. class.
The two women who fainted were taken
to St. Luke's Hospital for tests to determine
the cause of their problems. A spokesman
at St. Luke's said it was a case of simple
fainting and that both students were fine.
Lt. Chuck Page of University Police
said the classroom was evacuated as a
precautionary measure, while the building
was checked for the causes of the faintings.
Page said nothing in the room caused
the students to faint, but gave two possible
reasons for the incidents.
He said the second person probably
fainted after seeing the first person faint.
A St. Luke's Hospital spokesman
agreed with this theory.
"The second girl fainted because she
saw the first girl faint," he said. "It happens
all the time."
The first woman who fainted said she
hadn't had much sleep and didn't feel well,
Page said.
The other possibility is there wasn't
enough oxygen in the lower rows of the
room where all three students were seated.
Page said this could have been caused by
the large number of people in the room.
Medics on the scene found an oxygen
deficiency in all the victims, he said.
Steve Kurtz, Western's public informa­tion
officer, said the evacuation was or­dered
because it's unusual for three people
to suffer similar problems at the same
time.
Lecture Hall 3 was the only room inter­rupted
by the faintings, Page said. The po­lice,
however, watched the other lecture
halls to make sure the problem wasn't
caused by something in the building.
When officials were sure no environ­mental
problems existed, the 10 a.m. class
was allowed to meet in the room.