Western Front - 1988 November 8

              The Western Front
VOL. 80, NO. 54 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8,1988
By Don Hunger
of The Western Front
Agriculture degree may save Outback
and determine graduate opportuni­ties.
If these academic programs can
be developed, then the committee
should decide how the Outback and
other university land can be used,
Miles said.
Fairhaven students involved with
the Outback program protested re­moval
of the composting toilet be­cause
it has a permit from the What­com
County Health Department and
see OUTBACK p. 12
Coupon book
earns $12,000
for AS fund
By Erika Williams
of The Western Front
A committee formed to examine
the future of Fairhaven College's
Outback Farm has begun work To
design a degree in agriculture, using
the Outback as a learning tool and
possibly saving it from destruction.
The organic garden, orchard and
related structures of the farm are
under current revision and assess­ment
by two campus organizations.
The office of Academic Affairs and a
joint Fairhaven-Huxley Sustainable
Agriculture Committee are working
to balance use of the property with
conflicting demands.
The Outback will remain "as is
for the foreseeable future," with ho'
further construction or destruction of
facilities, said Sam Kelly, vice presi­dent
for Academic Affairs.
Physical Plant crews Oct 25 began
"risk management" procedures at the
Outback. They dismantled the com­posting
toilet, sauna and hot tub and
secured the cabins from future habi­tation,
Kelly said.
The work was requested by Kelly,
Assistant Attorney General Wendy
Bohlke and Vice President of Busi­ness
and Finance Peter Harris, Kelly
said.
The two wooden cabins, built in
the 1920s, were closed to residents
last month.
The committee was formed at
the requests of Fairhaven Dean Dan
Larner and Huxley Dean John Miles
to evaluate the potential of an aca­demic
program in "sustainable and
ecological agriculture and appropri­ate
technology," Larner said.
Faculty members Gary Bornzin
of Fairhaven and Ernst Gayden Huxley
head the committee, which also con­sists
of students from the colleges, he
said.
Miles said the committee must
outline a program of worthy and viable
options during the remaining weeks
of the quarter. It must design a cur­riculum
and field lab, assess student
interest, contact potential professors
ffl»9 Blue
Bonus Book
Delegates learn about democracy
By Doree Armstrong
of The Western Front
Four delegates from Central America took
a whirlwind trip through Bellingham to learn
how democracy works in the United States.
They spoke through interpreters to a group of
citizens and students at a dinner and open
forum at Western Friday.
Ricardo Gonzalez Vargas, editorial sec­tion
editor of the Costa Rican La Prensa Libre,
said the group was pleased for the opportunity
to learn about the U.S. election process and to
get to know the American people.
"We didn't come here to represent any
government," he stressed.
"We've really had the chance to appreciate
that you here have the opportunity to say what
you believe, when you want, (and) to whom
you want," Vargas said.
"This is really what we would like to be
able to do ourselves in our countries and we
hope that it won't be too long before that will
be the case."
Other delegates were: Miguel Angel
Montepeque, Guatemalan congressman, sur­geon
and member of the Solidarity Action
Movement; Walter Reinery Castellanos Sauceda,
an assistant of the Honduran Consejo Munici­pal
Districto Central (Council for Better City
Government); and Tomas Arita Valle, aide to
Carlos Flores, the Honduran Liberal party
presidential candidate.
The group came to Bellingham as part of
the International Visitor Program of the U.S.
Information Agency.
George Drake, Western's assistant to the
president for international programs, said the
four were invited to the United States to be
shown U.S. electoral processes at work. He
said Bellingham was chosen as a way to show
them "democracy in small-town America."
All of the delegates repeatedly thanked
Drake, members of the community and U.S.
citizens for making their visit possible.
They spent the week finding out how the
initiative and referendum processes work, how
taxes are levied, had lunch with members of
political and protest groups and attended a
public debate by candidates running for the
state Legislature. They will spend the next two
~~ see SPEAKERS p. 3
The Big Blue Bonus Book, the coupon
book by the Associated Students, is on stable
ground despite rumors to the contrary, said
bonus book organizer Brian Prosser.
A b o u t
$12,000 was | ^@i
earned from the
first publication,
Prosser said. Of
that amount,
about $4,000 was
used for printing
and other ex­penses.
Prosser
believes that fig­ure
will eventu­ally
be reduced.
The Bonus
Book is a fund-raising
project
published by the AS to create money for stu­dent
scholarships.
Prosser said he has received calls from
about 20 Bellingham businesses who thought it
might be discontinued.
Confusion began when former AS board
member John Gray, a former employee of the
Bonus Book, contacted businesses about ad­vertising
in "The Student Survival Kit," a
similar coupon book that he now promotes. He
said the businesses asked him questions he
could not answer about the Bonus Book's
future. He advised them to call the AS.
"I just told them that I no longer worked
(with the Bonus Book), so I couldn't answer
any questions," Gray said.
Prosser said the rumors won' t hurt the book
in the long run.
"We've worked everything out," he said.
AS President Tammy Fleming said the
bonus book originally was started by Prosser
and Gray, who presented the idea to the AS
Board last spring. It was approved with the
stipulation that it be reviewed quarterly.
Advertising was gathered over the summer
and the first edition was published in the fall.
Each student who bought books in the Co-op
received a copy of the book.
see COUPON p. 2