Western Front - 1983 February 25

              Skiing cross-country/7— The meaning of 'M*A*S*H'/11
The Western Front
::^r"" ...
WinevitaS^lf
Vol. 75, No. 14 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Friday, February 25, 1983
Western might expand technology program
Ah, Wilderness!
The birds aren't tame, but they're used to cross-country skiers
along the "Little Muddy" trail at British Columbia's Manning
Provincial Park, where Western student Kerry Lyons feeds a
Photo by Blair Kooistra
curious observer part of.her lunch during an excursion spon­sored
by Western's Outdoor Program. Laurie Jervis, sore mus­cles
and all, recounts the trip on page seven.
Fee split agreements
cause fiscal disparity
By David Wasson ,
Forthe second weekin a row, the Services and Activities Fee Split
Committee heard testimony concerning Housing and Dining's
budget.
It began last Friday with John Havland of the Budget office
illustrating the disparity existing between the percentage agree­ment
and the actual money distribution from S & A to Housing and
Dining.
It continued on Wednesday with Director of Housing and Dining
Keith Guy presenting his projections for the 1983-84 Housing and
Dining Budget.
Havland attributed the disparity to the difference in the fee split
agreements between full- and part-time students. Full-time stu­dents
pay about $25, while part-time students pay about $15 to
Housing and Dining.
Havland implied that if the difference in part-time student's fee
distribution were to be revised, the disparity wouldn't be as great.
According to budget records, revising the part-time students' fee
distribution would mean those students would contribute more of
their fees to the Housing and Dining System. It also would mean
less money would go into the budgets of Associated Students and
Related Activities.
Eleven percent of Housing and Dining's budget is drawn from
student fees, 76 percent from room and board charges and 13
percent from other sources, according to a Housing and Dining
system handout.
Guy said he is looking at alternatives to operating without taxing
students who don't live in residence halls.
"Western students currently enjoy the lowest room and board
rates in the state," he said.
Guy's projections included three possible courses of action.
The first is based on a projected 8 percent drop in occupancy
and a 5 percent increase in rates, which would result in a system
loss of $178,265. Under this plan everyone who wanted could live in
main campus residence halls, as opposed to students living in
Fairhaven because of lack of room.
The second possibility is to implement an 8.4 percent increase in
• See FEE/page 3
By Don Jenkins
A bill before the State Senate
Education Committee would
require regional universities,
including Western, to work with
community colleges in "key eco­nomic
areas" to establish four-year
technology programs lead­ing
to baccalaureate degrees.
Clyde Hackler, technology
department chair, said the bill
reflected a long-time legislative
interest in establishing four-year
technology programs in popula­tion
centers around the state.
Central Washington University
would establish programs in the
Tri-cities area, Eastern Washing­ton
University in Spokane and
Western in the Puget Sound area.
Sen. H.A. "Barney" Goltz (D-Bellingham),
a member of the
Senate Education Committee,
said he supports the bill and
expressed confidence in its pass­ing
the Education Committee, "It
looks like it's going to go."
Hackler said he favored the bill,
but has been too busy to actively
support it.
Hackler speculated that the
main thrust for the bill came from
people who completed a two-year
technical program at a
community college, and wanted
further training but could not
leave their home areas because of
other commitments.
Four-year technology degrees
aren't available for many people
in the population centers of
Washington, and sometimes a
baccalaureate degree can be the
difference between whether a
worker gets promoted, Hackler
said.
Community colleges could
• See TECH/page 3
Legislature expected to say no
to Western's $5 million request
By Gordon Weeks
and Peggy LoetteSe
The chances of the Legislature
granting Western's request for an
additional $5 million to match the
increases at other state regional
colleges doesn't seem promising
• as the state lawmakers struggle to
raise revenue for the next
biennium.
The request" for additional
funds, designed to strengthen
undergraduate programs and
high technology programs such
as computer science and elec­tronics
at Western, was made by
Executive Vice President James
Talbot before the House Sub­committee
on Education Appro­priations
in Olympia Tuesday.
With Gov. John Spellman's
budget proposal for higher edu­cation,
Western would receive an
11.9 percent increase, compared
to the average 18.8 percent
increase for all other state-supported
four-year institutions.
This is at least $1,000 per student
lower than Central Washington
University, the next lowest of
regional institutions.
"Their (the subcommittee's)
reaction was 'What can we do
about (lower fund appropria­tions)?'
" Talbot said. "I said give
us five million more dollars.'"
Representatives had little reac-
James Talbot
tion to the request but seemed
concerned about the difference,
Talbot said. "There is a realiza­tion
that it is unfair, but I don't
know if it will translate into
money. Any show of sympathy is
lucky."
With the failure of Gov. Spel­lman's
tax package, the future of
higher education remains
uncertain.
"At least we knew that some
revenue was going to be raised
(with Gov. Spellman's package),
now we don't know what is going
to happen," Legislative liaison
Brad Hendrickson said. "Western
might get part of (the money), like
the funds for computer science
programs. The Legislature likes
high-tech right now."
Legislators are sympathetic to
the fact that Western is receiving
less money than other regional
institutions, Hendrickson said.
"I think they were surprised to
hear it," he said. "It's hard to get
money out of anyone these days."
Senator H.A. "Barney" Goltz (D-Bellingham)
said the outlook for
higher education looks pessi­mistic.
"It doesn't look very good. The
governor has really destroyed the
Democratic plan for stabilizing
the revenue picture. We don't
know if the revenue will be ade­quate
to meet the governor's
budget proposal (which restored
some funding to higher educa­tion),"
Goltz said.
"I think that Western is entitled
to a more favorable cost per stu­dent
appropriations. We should
be rewarded for having the lowest
cost per student. We might be in a
better position if we were
rewarded for things like that,"
Goltz said.