Western Front - 1988 February 23

              Features
Central American
activism flourishes
in Bellingham
p.6,7
News
students donate
Sports
Vikings can clinch
division with win
tonight at SFU
p.9
Please recycle The Western Front
VOL.80, NO.12 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA 98225 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23,1988
i^^^^^WS Alycien Van Droof
HEC Board lifts standards
By David Kuester
staff reporter
The Higher Education Coor­dinating
Board last week apj
proved its recommendation to the
Legislature for tougher admis­sions
standards as part of the
Master Plan for the state's univer­sities.
The state Legislature ap­proved
parts of the Master Plan
Feb. 5, and a joint resolution be­tween
the House and Senate
separated several elements, in­cluding
the admissions policy, for
further study by the HEC Board.
According to the recom­mended
policy, beginning in 1989,
admission to universities would be
based on a formula that includes
high school preparation, standard­ized
test scores and grade-point
average. Community colleges
would maintain their open-door
policy allowing admission to all
applicants.
High schpol preparation re-_
quirements^OTld'includier';; four-years
of English, three years each
of mathematics and social
sciences, two years each of foreign
language and science, and one
year of electives from the above
subjects.
The board approved post­ponement
of this requirement un­til
1991 to allow state high schools
time to adjust curriculums.
HEC Board plan faulted
By John Wyble
staff legislative reporter
The Higher Education
Coordinating Board's plan to
create branch campuses in
Washington is based on in­complete
research, said a Cen­tral
Washington University
professor.
Kenneth Hammond, ad­dressing
an audience of Western
faculty members in the Wilson
Library Presentation room Fri­day,
said the HEC board used
data from only one academic
year to determine the need for
satellite universities in urban
areas such as Spokane and
Tacoma.
The plan would allow the
University of Washington to es­tablish
a branch in Tacoma,
while Washington State Univer­sity
would open a branch in
Spokane.
Hammond said the data
used to illustrate the deficiency
of high school graduates going
to college in urban areas came
from only the 1985-86 academic
year and included only four-year
public universities.
See PLAN on p.3
The standardized tests to be
used are the Washington Pre-
College Test, the Scholastic Ap­titude
Test (SAT) and the Amer­ican
College Test (ACT).
Robert Thoeny, the HEC
Board's executive director, said
eventually only the SAT and ACT
would be used.
"The formula weights (grade
point average) twice as much as
test scores, and if GPA is down,
tests scores must be way up," said
Board Chairman Chuck Collins.
The formula would base ad­mission
for first time students on
the probability of achieving a 2.0
GPA their freshman year. The
board, however, set a 2.5 mini­mum
GPA for maintaining enroll­ment
at all the state universities.
The research institutions --
the University of Washington and
Washington State University --
are required to admit students
with at least an 80-percent prob­ability
of achieving a 2.0 GPA.
See HEC on p.3
Voting booths open Thursday Chuckanut property
By Erin Earles sale may affect park
staff reporter
Students will get two op­portunities"
this week to voice
their opinions on issues facing the
Associated Student Board.
An open forum today and an
election Thursday will pose three
questions to students.
The issues are whether Uni­versity
Police officers should be
issued guns on duty, whether the
AS Board should be cut to seven
positions from its current nine
and whether to change one of the
director at-large positions to a
vice presidency, the position of
director at-large to University
Residences' to a vice presidency.
To cut two board positions
the AS bylaws will have to be
revised. If the referendum is ap­proved,
the director at-large to
University Residences' position
would become vice president for
Residence Life.
The forum on the three
referenda will take place at 1 p.m.
today in the Viking Union
Lounge.
Students also can obtain an
information pamphlet on the
referenda in the Viking Union.
The pamphlets contain pro and
con s t a t e m e n t s about the
referenda prepared by Western
students.
1. Should full-time, commissioned University Police be authorized to
carry firearms?
2. Should Western's Associated Students by-laws be amended to
create a seven-member board of directors, eliminating the Aca­demic
Policy Council and the at-large directors of Communica­tions
and the University Services Council?
3.'Should the AS by-laws be amended to change the title of at-large
director to University Residences to the title of vice president for
residence life?
By Michelle Hurst
Statements in favor of arming
the University Police include:
"We expect the protection of
armed police when we leave the
campus. We should not settle for
less on campus," and "Student
employees ("greencoats") and
parking checkers will not be
armed."
Statements against arming the
University Police include: "The
nature, history and frequency of
crime at (Western) does not war­rant
armed police," and "Armed
police is a symbol that Western is
not an open educational setting.
We should not send that mes­sage."
R e s u l t s of the arming
referendum, designed to measure
student opinion, will be sent to
the Board of Trustees. The
trustees are slated to make a deci­sion
on arming the campus police
at the March 3 meeting.
The two referenda about the
AS Board, if passed, would
change AS by-laws.
Students can vote between 9
a.m. and 3 p.m. Feb. 25 at stations
in front of Arntzen Hall, Miller
Hall and the Viking Union. Stu­dents
also can vote during dinner
hours at the VU, Ridegeway and
Fairhaven dining halls.
Absentee ballots, available in
the VU finance office, must be
turned in by 5 p.m. Feb. 24.
Election Board Chair Darrell
Cox said he expects election
results to be available Friday.
staff reporter
Ninety-eight acres of shoreline
is for sale, including popular
Clayton Beach, and the state is
being urged to buy the land and
incorporate it into Larrabee State
Park.
The land, which includes 5,000
feet of beach and tidelands, is
being offered for $1 million by co-owners
Micheal Shupe and
Howard Baker of Alaska.
John Soine, of Gray and Asso­ciates
Realtors of Bellingham,
said the land has been for sale for
many years. The owners bought
the land in 1984 with the intent of
residential or condominium devel­opment.
Economic changes in
Alaska, however, forced them to
put it up for sale, they said.
Split down the middle by the
Whatcom-Skagit county border,
the property is surrounded on
three sides by Washington's oldest
state park. It has more coastal
frontage than the park itself.
The Puget Sounders, a
Bellingham-based environmental
interest group, is concerned a
residential area developed in the
middle of Larrabee would distract
from the park's solitude.
Director of the Sounders,
Arnie Klaus, said his group wants
state money freed up in the cur­rent
legislative session to buy the
land for the park.
State representatives Harriet
Spanel and Dennis Braddock,
both Bellingham democrats, are
leading the fight in Olympia.
Spanel's legislative aid, Jeff
Morris, said funds to purchase the
beach are included in this year's
supplemental budget proposal.
The representatives also have re­quested
the property be placed at
the top of next year's state park
land procurement list.
"The people here are suppor­tive
of this, but the fact is, there
just isn't a lot of money," he said.
The recent interest in preserv­ing
the area has been sparked by
the efforts of community aware­ness
groups like the Puget
Sounders. Their concerns are
shared by many community mem­bers
who do not want to see pub­lic
access to the coast blocked.
"I've been taking my students
to the beach for over 30 years,"
said Charles Flora of Western's
biology department.
See PROPERTY on p.3