Western Front - 1984 April 24

              WESTERN FRONT PLEASE RECYCLE
Tuesday, April 24..1984 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Vol. 76, No. 24
Gary Hart wins 48 percent
in Whatcom delegate battle
Dan Pike, Associated Students vice president for external affairs,
argues for a regional state university tuition freeze amendment to
the platform, of the Whatc'pjn County:_ Dempcratic^Cqnvenlipn
Saturday.
'•»•*!.• •'Vi1*'*-*-.'
By Bob Bolerjack
Whatcom County Democrats
reaffirmed Sen. Gary Hart's vic­tory
in last month's precinct cau­cuses
Saturday, handing the pre­sidential
hopeful a substantial
win over Walter Mondale at the
county convention.
Nearly 350 delegates from the
40th and 42nd Legislative Dis­tricts
spent all day at Sehome
High School electing delegates to
June's state convention, wran­gling
over platform issues and lis­tening
to campaign speeches.
The final tally of county dele­gates
to the state convention is
Hart, 28 delegates (48.3 percent);
Mondale, 18 delegates (31 per­cent);
and 12 uncommitted dele­gates
(20.7 percent).
In last month's precinct cau­cuses,
from which Saturday's
convention delegates were
selected, Hart won 56 percent of
the vote; Mondale 25 percent; 13
percent of the vote was uncom­mitted;
and Jesse Jackson took 2
percent.
The 42nd district's uncommit­ted
block nearly failed to garner
the minimum 20 percent of dele­gate
votes required to earn
representation at the state
convention. ?"
After the Credentials Commit­tee
accepted two late-arriving
uncommitted delegates, the
block sat just short of representa­tion
at 19.83 percent. Amid pleas
ftxim the-iloor. .to,;a*und~.x)flUhe-«
figures and award the block a
share of state delegates, in walked
an uncommitted delegate who
said car trouble had forced her to
arrive late.
After much loud haranguing
and two disputed voice votes, the
late delegate was accepted by the
convention and the uncommit­ted
block won representation.
"The convention voted not to
disenfranchise us," said relieved
uncommitted delegate Ed
Simmers. "We saw the spirit of
democracy in action."
Dan Pike, Associated Students
vice president for external affairs
and an organizer of Western's
"Students with Hart" club, was
less thrilled with the decision.
"As a Hart supporter, I was dis­appointed
to see they got their 20
percent, because it took delegates
away from us," Pike said. "But I
can't really complain because it
was consistent with the conven­tion's
earlier decision to seat late
delegates."
But Richard Otis, Western pres­ident
of "Students for Mondale,"
saw the action as a boost for his
candidate.
"Mondale people would rather
see uncommitted delegates
(more so than Hart supporters)
because we have a stronger
organization," he said, adding he
;i&.Gonfident,.mast^uncommitted.
delegates eventually will throw
their support to Mondale.
Late in the day, delegates
debated more than a dozen pro­posed
amendments to - the
county party platform.
Pike introduced a successful
amendment to the education
plank calling for a tuition freeze at
regional. state universities at 20
percent of actual cost, and at
state research universities at 23
percent. The original plank
covered only community
colleges.
Pike said his amendment
reflects recommendations made
by the Council for Postsecondary
Education in 1976, and resembles
a tuition freeze bill killed by the
Legislature earlier this year.
"I think it will help point out to
government officials that (the tui­tion
freeze) is an issue that's
important to people," he said. "I
didn't think it was consistent to
include only community colleges
in the freeze."
Other platform amendments
included a statement encourag­ing
public schools to do more .to
prepare students for employ­ment,
stronger language in sup­port
of a nuclear weapons freeze
and arms control negotiations
with the Soviet Union and a
proposal calling for an immediate
. J i See HART, pageA^y^-^^k^^^^^^^i.^^
Regional college misuse a 'shame,' Ross says
By Stanley Holmes
"The under-utilization of
regional universities by the state
is a shame in terms of programs
and access to students," Western
President G. Robert Ross told an
audience of administrators in
Bond Hall Thursday.
It was the first in a series of
open meetings Ross will have
with segments of Western. Next
week Ross will meet with faculty,
students and classified staff in
three different meetings.
Ross said he found it frustrat­ing
that two or three legislators
literally control funding for
higher education.
Next winter, Western will make
its budget requests to the
Legislature.
Ross said the meeting was
called to "ask for creative ideas
and suggestions, put them
together as part of a cohesive
biennial budget and present it to
the Legislature."
Most of the discussion cen­tered
on ways to enhance the
quality of education and services,
which, because of budget cuts,
has affected Western's ability to
provide excellent academic
programs.
High on the list of suggestions
and complaints from the admin­istrators
was, of course, money.
They pointed at the state Legisla­ture,
which controls Western's
funding.
In an exchange of ideas, Ross
and the administrators pin­pointed
programs which were
hurt by budget cuts.
As for planning, one adminis­trator
said Western was restricted
"by the legislative rollercoaster."
Others emphasized the need to
simplify the planning process.
"In terms of planning," Ross
said, "the threat we have is that
the ballgame may be changing
and our attitude is not."
The final half of the meeting,
Ross concentrated on the evalua­tions
of his job performance, to
which he said 32 of 37 adminis­trators
responded. He said most
of the comments were favorable,
although some, he said, were dis­appointed
with his performance.
He read one in particular. It
said, "The president (Ross) has a
zero personality."
As the group laughed, Ross
remarked, "Now Ive had many
people say all sorts of things
about my personality — but
never did anyone mention a
zero."
For his knowledge of national
trends in higher education, his
familiarity of Western and his
relationship with the media, the
local community and Olympia,
he said he was given high marks.
He would not, however, hand
out the figures to the audience.
Ross than went on to answer
questions from administrators.
When asked about his role as
p. ssident, he said, "I see myself
as a facilitator, and my highest
priority is to get resources for the
university."
Ross added, "I was surprised to
find Western was much more
conservative than I anticipated.
The students are much more
serious than I thought they were,
also."
'Every university different'
Sherwood stresses individuality
By Dan McDonald
Joan S. Sherwood said she
would not come to Western with
preconceived solutions to prob­lems
if she was chosen as the new
dean and vice president of stu­dent
affairs.
Sherwood, the first of three
finalists interviewed for the posi­tion,
answered questions at a
public meeting Friday in. Old
Main 340.
"Every university is different,"
said Sherwood, the assistant vice
chancellor for student services at
the University of Missouri —
Kansas City.
"They have different sets of
problems and even different solu­tions
to the same problems. If I
were to come here, I would not be
coming with a preconceived
notion of yes, we're gonna do this
and no, we're not gonna do this,'
because for Western that might
not be the right answer."
Sherwood, a 1956 graduate of
Kansas State University and a
Ph.D. from the University of Kan­sas,
answered questions from a
group of 30, mainly student
affairs, people.
The merger.of dean of student
affairs has encountered criticism
from administrators who say it's
unrealistic for one person to do
both jobs. •
Joan Sherwood
Sherwood doesn't think the
consolidation of the two posi­tions
will cause any problems.
"I understand the reasoning
behind it," Sherwood said.
"(Western's President G. Robert)
Ross, when he was at the Univer­sity
of Nebraska, was both a vice
president and a dean. Having
done that himself, he felt whoever
comes here can do that."
The soft-spoken Sherwood
answered questions for an hour-and-
a-half. She expressed con­cern
that very few students
attended the meeting, saying
" t h e y ask the toughest
questions."
Sherwood said she had been
confronted by students privately.
They asked, among other things,
if she was in favor of a student
position on the Board of Trustees.
"I have no objection to that,"
Sherwood recalled telling them.
"I think they can provide some
valuable input."
Sherwood credited "very keen"
budgetary skills as one of her
strengths. She talked about work­ing
at campuses which were
expanding and she had to justify
everything she wanted to do. At
the same time she has been
• See SHERWOOD, page 2
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