Western Front - 1988 July 12

              SMART
Western star shines
as youth adviser
p.5
Theater
Summer Stock
returns for 17th year
p.5
Activities
Inexpensive
summer fun
p.6
rLA'KEWOCD"
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT;
ASSOCIATED STUDENTS
v PRIVATE PROPERTY -,
The Western Front
VOL. 80, NO. 38 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA TUESDAY, JULY 12,1988
Board decommissions campus police force
By Jenny Shuler
staff reporter
The status of Western's police
force will be reduced to security
force by Sept. 1 because of a July
7 Board of Trustees decision.
As an alternative to arming
university police, trustees voted 5-
to-2 in favor of a resolution to
hire local police agencies for
armed university protection, and
abolish university police, decom­missioning
its officers to security
officers.
The city of Bellingham will
enter into a cooperative arrange­ment
with Western to provide an
appropriate level of security for
the university and its surroundings
in the most cost-effective manner.
Estimated cost of hiring city
police is $150,000 to $175,000
yearly, said Bellingham Police
Chief Donald Pierce.
Western is a state institution
and doesn't contribute to city
funds, Pierce said. The state
recognizes campus security needs
and provides funds for protection
accordingly. The cost of increased
city protection will be met by
readjusting the budget.
" W e ( u n i v e r s i t y ad­ministrators)
have been meeting
with Bellingham police to estab­lish
a situation in which we can
enhance the level of coverage in
such a way that campus (resi-
Froderberg and Peterson approach difficult and heated issue from opposite ends of the gun.
dents) will probably have more
protection than they do at home,
said Al Froderberg, interim uni­versity
president.
"Bellingham police will be ex-p
e c t e d to respond to any
dangerous situations on campus
and treat it like a high-intensity
city area," he said.
"The university will work
within the existing budget," said
Froderberg. "Funding will be ob­tained
by making our present
force smaller and creating dif­ferent
classifications of officers."
Decommissioning police to
security will necessitate a reduc­tion
in wage, Froderberg said.
But he said the university will
make an effort to place the
demoted officers in positions of
employment for which they are
qualified, if they so desire, he
said.
The resolution was proposed
after the board voted not to arm
university police.
Instead of merely disallowing
the gun request, board member
Craig Cole motioned that the
board pursue a cooperative agree­ment
with local agencies regard­ing
armed police services. Ad­ministrators
were to report back
to the board by December 31.
Froderberg, who favored
arming university police, acted on
the board's decision and immedi­ately
began negotiations with city
authorities.
Because of time involved in
adjusting the city's budget, Bel­lingham
Mayor Tim Douglas set a
September 15 deadline for the
agreement. As a result, Froder­berg
presented the resolution to
the board at the July 7 meeting.
Board member Larry Taylor,
who voted against the resolution,
doesn't agree city police will pro­vide
as good a service to the
campus community as university
police.
"I don't see the rationale," he
said. "Campus police understand
the community more than city po­lice.
Why bring armed police to
our community who don't know
our campus?"
University police Chief
Robert Peterson also is con­cerned.
He said the resolution is
possible only if the working en­vironment
is guaranteed safe.
The danger to the officers will
always be there, said Peterson.
"You're not going to relieve
the danger to security or police
because it's always going to be
there," he said.
If the police force is reduced
to a security service, it will not be
permitted to respond to numerous
calls that come in, Peterson said.
See campus, p.8
Gardner's visit pleases students
Gov. Gardner greets three representatives of SMART program.
By Bridget Treloar
staff reporter
Gov. Booth Gardner was
greeted with faces full of excite­ment
and anticipation while he
made brief visits with students
from the SMART program on
campus Thursday.
Summer Motivation and
Academic Residential Training
(SMART), modeled after a pro­ject
conducted at the University
of Texas A & M, is being tested
at Western and the University
of Washington this summer.
The eight-week program is
designed to encourage the 57
9th and 10th graders to think of
furthering their education, and
to show they can succeed.
Western has committed to co-host
the program for two years.
Gardner was invited by the
Higher Education Coordinating
Board (HEC), one of the five
agencies acting as the steering
committee for the program, to
observe the students in the
classroom and at work.
Veronica Perez, 16, Karim
Scott, 15, and Isham Fish, 15,
were chosen by their SMART
teachers as escorts for Gardner.
They were representatives for
the 57 students.
Gardner wanted to know
what the kids were learning
from the program. He asked
about their on-campus jobs, and
how they heard about the pro­gram.
The participants of SMART
come from disadvantaged or
low-income households, said
Carolyn Brown, a program in­structor.
"The kids know they are dis­advantaged.
It won't surprise
them to hear it stated," she said.
This doesn't mean they are
problem kids or special educa­tion
students, said Brown.
"It just means they come
from a background where they
may not have the opportunity to
get away from home or experi­ence
college life," Brown said.
Students were nominated by
high school teachers, counselors
and parents. After nominees
were chosen, applications were
filed for final selection by com­munity
service agencies in the
n o m i n e e s r e s p e c t i ve
hometowns.
The program stipulates stu­dents
attend 20 hours of class
See youths, p.2
Bond Hall spraying halts
By Don Hunger
staff reporter
The spraying of Bond Hall
with "Sure Klean" has been post­poned
until Aug. 22-26, to mini­mize
public contact said Jose Har­rison,
Western campus safety of­ficer.
Harrison insisted "Sure
Klean" isn't a threat when used
correctly. The error at Bond Hall
arose from a misapplication al­lowing
the chemical to come in
contact with indoor workers.
" 'Sure Klean' has been pre­viously
used at Western without
mishap," Harrison said. "It's very
similar to a latex paint, in that it
uses the same hydrocarbon dryers.
The dryers suspend the main in­gredient
(in this case, siloxane)
until its applied, then evaporates.
It's the evaporating fumes you
smell, and just like paint, they're
hazardous in high concentra­tions."
Application of this and any
chemical on campus is determined
by the manufacturer's "material
safety data sheet"(MSDS), which
cites hazards and user precau­tions.
These precautions, such as
"health hazard data" and "special
protection information" are inter­preted
in forming guidelines for
the product's use, Harrison said.
"For 'Sure Klean,' the MSDS
cites a hazardous exposure limit
of 100 parts per million in any
volume of air. This level would be
difficult if not impossible to reach
in outdoor use, which explains
why our workmen weren't wearing
respirators. However, in a con­fined
space where that level's pos­sible,
we'd insist upon them," he
said.
Two phone calls were
received from Bond Hall employ­ees
complaining about physical
discomfort associated with the
spraying said Patti Grahn, Safety
Office secretary. These were for­warded
to Harrison. He eventual­ly
heard from one caller whom he
advised to leave the building. No
cases of related illnesses were
reported at either St. Luke's or
Western's Health Services.
Harrison admitted Physical
Plant and Safety Office super­visors
were at fault for allowing
the chemical to come in contact
with Bond Hall occupants.
"Workers were doing their
jobs correctly. If anyone should be
reprimanded it should be the su­pervisors
for not telling the
people in the building to keep
their windows closed. If we had,
this (contact and nausea) might
have been avoided."
As a result, future chemical
use in and around buildings will
be preceded by a memo circu­lated.
The purpose is to avoid un­necessary
fear and guard against
See hazardous, p.2