Western Front - 1983 March 4

              Food! Like teriyaki Chicken?/7— Whoppers 'n' fries?/9
TThe Wfestern Front
Playoffs
Vikings
will play
for district
crown/8
Vol. 75, No. 16 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Friday, March 4, 1983
Separate science college discussed
Supporters want say in proposed plans
Huxley Dean Richard Mayer
By Elayne Anderson
Preliminary steps have been
taken to split the College of Arts
and Sciences into two separate
colleges.
In an informal meeting Wed­nesday,
faculty and students
gathered to discuss the idea of
having a separate College of
Science.
A "straw vote" taken at the
"meeting showed that most in
attendance favored forming an ad
hoc group to outline how the new
college could be formed. They,
said, however, that they wanted
to be able to reject or modify the
proposal once it's been drafted.
Vice President of Academic
Affairs Paul Ford, who mediated
the session, said the administra­tion
has not taken a stand on the
proposal, but that his job is to
help faculty set the idea into
motion, if that is what they want.
He said it would take several
months before the proposal
would be ready for distribution.
Some people at the meeting
questioned whether Huxley Col­lege
should be included if the
new college is formed, others said
they thought only the "soft scien­ces"
such as sociology should be
excluded.
Dean of Huxley J. Richard
Mayer said he would like to see a
College of Science that would
include all of Huxley as "a college
within a college."
"I don't want to lose the broad
environmental interest that has
developed at Huxley. That would
be a big loss," Mayer said.
One of the major reasons for
having a separate college for
science is that Western could
become noted for its work in
science, Mayer said, making it
more competitive for funds.
"I think that a university,
beyond a shadow of a doubt,
must have great strength in its
science program. I speak as a
scientist," he said.
Speaking in favor of the pro­posal,
Mark Wicholas of the
chemistry department said the
College of Arts and Sciences is too
large for one dean to manage.
Richard Levin of the math
department said he agreed that
Davis' job has become too big. "I
think we could be better repre­sented
by a single dean.
"He (Davis) is not a scientist. He
can't represent science the way it
needs to be," Levin said.
Dean of the College of Arts and
• See SEPARATE/page 3
The belief of bias
stops prison survey
'dead in its tracks'
By David Wasson
A survey on the proposed
building of a prison at Clallam
Bay, which was cancelled
because of phone calls claiming
that the survey would be biased,
has been stopped "dead in its
tracks," J. Richard Mayer, dean of
Huxley College, said.
"There was every reason for the
citizens of Clallam County to
think this was a biased study,"
Mayer said.
"It was very clear to me," Mayer
said. "There were two things
wrong."
Kathy Bennett, who was organ­izing
the survey in the field and
had spoken periodically with
members of the Huxley class, is
under salary from an attorney
working for opponents of the
proposed prison, he said.
Also, Mayer said a money con­nection
existed between funding
of the proposed survey and
Bennett.
Bennett also is a member of a
group known as the "Four C's"
(Concerned Citizens for Clallam
County), which opposes the
building of the prison.
In a telephone interview, Ben­nett
emphasized that the survey
was objective.
She said she had spoken with
members of the class on approx­imately
five different occasions
and was organizing the survey in
Clallam County. She also said she
was a member of the "Four C's."
As far as funding the survey,
Bennett said because of previous
promises from state legislators
for money to conduct an unbi­ased
survey, she spent $100 to
have the questionaires printed
up. But, when it came time for the
legislators to send their checks,
they didn't send them.
"So I guess you could say I did
pay for the survey," Bennett said.
But, Bennett said, it is not true
that she was under salary to the
attorney representing the citi­zens
opposing the building of the
prison. She said she volunteered
her time.
Bennett was not involved in
writing the questionaire. That
was done by students of the
"Social Impact Assessment" class
offered through Huxley, she said.
Phone calls were received Fri­day,
Feb. 18 from some citizens in
Clallam County giving warnings
to University President G. Robert
Ross about continuing the sur­vey.
One of the calls received from
certain citizens in Clallam
County giving warnings about
continuing the survey was from
Gene Olsen, a local cafe owner.
In a telephone interview, Olsen
said he called that day to tell him
the citizens of Clallam Bay have
been "surveyed to death."
According to Olsen, prison
support in the community is
about 85 to 90 percent.
The reason he opposes the
survey, he said, is because it was
set up by the opposition. "That's
no way to run a poll," Olsen said.
"To the citizens of Clallam Bay,
the prison is an economic neces­sity,"
Olsen said.
Burroughs and Woodward
could not be reached for
comment.
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Photo by Blair Kooistra
Tissues in hand, Paula Lukoff (left) and Dara Rothman bid "M*A*S*H"a tearful goodbye after 11
years and nearly 250 episodes at a "M*A*S*H Bash" at the home of Steve Mandel. The party,
sponsored by Western's Israeli Club, was one of dozens last Monday.
Ross says hell pursue 'quick fire' plan
By Jeff Kramer
Predicting "my side is bound to
come out," Western President G.
Robert Ross said Monday he will
continue to work toward shorten­ing
the time required to notify
faculty members of dismissal.
Currently, faculty members
must receive word they are being
let go three academic quarters in
advance, but Western's tenuous
financial condition prompted
administrators to propose a two-month
warning.
That plan, originally drawn up
by Executive Vice President
James Talbot, was unanimously
rejected by Western's Faculty
Senate two weeks ago, but Ross
said he has no plans to abandon
it, although he admitted the
proposal needs polishing.
"We will move forward to
shorten the period, and I think
most of the faculty will be sup­portive,"
Ross said.
Ross accused the Faculty
Senate of acting with emotion in
rejecting the document and
urged them to consider the best
interests of the university.
"If the value that we hold in
common is to keep our academic
programs in place, we need to
shorten the period," he said.
Appearing at a press confer­ence
before the campus media,
Ross also said he opposes legisla­tion
which, if passed, would pro­vide
collective bargaining rights
for faculty.
"It doesn't appear faculty and
students would have much 'to
gain from collective bargaining at
this institution. I don't think they
(faculty) need it."
Ross argued the interests of
higher education would be better
served if faculty, students and
administrators could find areas
of agreement and voice concerns
to the legislature in unison. "We
don't even take time to sit down
together and talk," Ross said.
. Ross identified his two most
pressing goals as obtaining
necessary financial support for
Western and defining the
school's mission as a regional
university.
He affirmed that Western's dis­tinction
of receiving less state
money per student than either
Central Washington University or
Eastern Washington University
could work to Western's advan­tage
in coming months.
"We have an opportunity to
bring it to (the Legislature's)
attention and seek some relief,"
he said.
In addition, Ross remained
optimistic the university could
take independent steps to ensure
the survival of its programs.
He cited efforts to retain stu­dents
as one often overlooked
way of keeping the campus popu­lation
high enough to sustain a
demand for programs. High stu­dent
demand, Ross said, makes it
unlikely a program will be elimi­nated,
regardless of whether it
directly helps the economy.
"Even if we had no interest in
economic development, which
we do, we would still need to
strengthen the technology
department," Ross said.
Ross also called for increased
public relation efforts on the part
of the university.
"I think that if we're confident
about what we have to offer here,
we ought to go out and tell people
about it," Ross said.
The press conference was
taped by Western View and aired
on Channel 10 earlier this week.