Western Front - 1984 April 20

              Committee rejects keg ban policy, 6-2
By Laurie Benton
A controversial brainchild of
some resident directors met its
doom Tuesday when the Hous-ing-
and Dining Committee killed
the proposed "no-keg policy."
The 6 to 2 rejection of a ban on
kegs and keg quantities in all uni­versity
living quarters climaxed a
more than one-hour public
debate on the proposal.
Keith Guy, director ot Univer­sity
Residences, said he will
report the committee's verdict to
Saundra Taylor, vice president for
student affairs, and University
Services Council chairman.
That council could bring the
policy back up, but Guy said he
doubts the proposal will be
resurrected.
Voting in favor of the ban were
Therese Trevelen representing
residence halls staffs, and Hen-rich
Brockhaus, faculty represent­ative.
The Interhall Council, Asso­ciated
Students and Student
Affairs representatives opposed
the policy, as did Betty Glick,
appointee of Kay Rich, Associate
Director for Student Life.
After Glick introduced the
motion to vote, Brockhaus called
for a countermotion to table the
proposal until its "vague" lan­guage
could be eliminated.
But Glick persuaded commit­tee
members the ongoing uproar
over "vague" language was just a
smokescreen to stop the policy.
During public debate, the poli­cy's
opponents said it could
create a police environment in
the residence halls and stop
keggers, which, they said, is one
of the only widely-attainable
social recreations.
They suggested banning kegs
for private parties wouldn't solve
the problems associated with
keggers such as noise, vandalism,
litter and illegal alcohol con­sumption.
Instead, they rea­soned,
regulations already
addressing those problems
should be enforced.
Supporters said the ban would
clarify alcohol regulations and
facilitate their enforcement as
well as prevent large and unman­ageable
crowds from congregat­ing
in small quarters.
"I find it very important to see
the responsibilities we have to
the community," Brockhaus said,
arguing a no-keg policy would
require individuals to be more
responsible.
Chairman Keith Guy said uni­versity
staff members had consi­dered
similar policies in the past,
but arrived at the same thumbs-down
conclusion reached
Tuesday.
Guy explained, "It's tricky to
handle a tough problem with a
simple solution."
He said keg problems can be
dealt with by existing tools and
regulations.
"I think we need to gird our
loins and do that better," he said. WESTERN FRONT PLEASE RECYCLE
Friday, April 20, 1984 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Vol.76, No. 23
Schuler and AS
endorse health
insurance petition
Billy Graham (left), Shelly Scanlan (center), and Steve VanBy learn by doing.
Students handicapped for a day
By Angela Dean
They became "handicapped"
for a day.
They did it to find out how
accessible the campus is for han­dicapped
students. It was a class
assignment for the therapeutic
recreation course, a part of West­ern's
Park's and Recreation
program.
Each student chose which dis­ability
he wanted to examine.
Some wore ear plugs, some put
Vaseline on glasses. But a group
of 10 students who traveled to
class in wheelchairs were among
the most noticed.
Steve VanRy said he noticed
student reaction to be very posi­tive.
When he and some friends
attempted to get over a curb, pas-sersby
were ready to help
Pete Rossen said he noticed dif­ficulties
he usually wouldn't. For
example when he was in the
library he struggled to push the
chairs out of his- way to get
through the aisles. It was even a
struggle to wheel up the slightest
incline because one wheel would
turn faster than the other.
The gym is the one building
without any access for disabled
students. Shelly Scanlan said it
doesn't have any electric doors.
And Wendie Marriott said a stu­dent
wouldn't be able to get to
gym D because of the lack of
elevators.
Billy Graham also had struggles
during his experience. He had a
hard time pivoting through the
bookshelves in the library, and
Sarah Bruce said it was hard to
use the restrooms.
Rossen said it takes time and
planning to be in a wheelchair
because one needs to plan each
route he will take to class.
-Commenting from her position
of limited mobility, Camden
Brewster said, "You have to treat
them like normal people because
they are."
By Carol MacPherson
Evelyn Schuler, director of West­ern's
Health Center, endorses a
petition addressed to complaints
that Western's Student Health
Insurance Plan failed to cover
claims.
The insurance plan should be
reworded for next year, Schuler
said.
But while she wants better
understanding of the current pol­icy,.
Schuler doesn't,see the need,
to offer the additional compre­hensive
medical insurance plan
the petition seeks. The current
policy covers emergency illness
and injury.
Jeanne Mitchell of the health
center said problems occur
because the posters and. bro­chures
about the plan are mis­leading.
People have different
ideas about what constitutes a
life threatening situation, Mit­chell
said.
The policy, however, does
define emergency illness, but will
reimburse students for medical
services rendered only if the
diagnosis meets the definition.
If severe abdominal pains were
diagnosed as requiring an apen-dectomy,
then th||F expenses
would be covered, Schuler
explained. But if the diagnoses
proved the pain was due to a gas
bubble then the expenses would
not be covered.
Schuler stressed the current
policy is a good one, covering
most medical problems encoun­tered
by students. For $37 a quar­ter,
better coverage could not be
found, Schuler said.
A comprehensive plan creates
•abuse of the stystem, Schuler
said. Western had a full medical
coverage plan five years ago and
the venture lost Health Services a
lot of money. One man enrolled
in school only because he needed
surgery, and the insurance plan
provided him wi.th. cheapest,
means to cTo it Schuler safctr
Full medical coverage would
also cost students more money
and Schuler said she doesn't
believe students are willing or
able to pay it.
She suggested students inves­tigate
the current policy and find
out what it does cover, so misun­derstandings
can be avoided in
the future.
Tuesday, the Associated Stu­dents
Board of Directors
endorsed the petition also, after
hearing from discouraged
students the week before.
Sidles challenges new election code
By Pat Bulmer
The first test of the Associated
Students' new election code has
demonstrated the code vaguely
defines a candidate, and when a
candidate comes under AS Elec­tion
Board jurisdiction.
This conclusion was reached
by Election Board members after
a hearing Tuesday night to dis­cuss
a complaint filed Monday by
Andy Potter against Men's
Resource Center Coordinator
George Sidles.
Potter charged Sidles with
breaching the election code by
circulating a petition that did not
list what AS Board of Directors'
position he wanted to run for.
The petition, on which 25 sig­natures
must be obtained before
a person can be declared a regis­tered
candidate, must list what
position the candidate is seeking,
Potter said.
Sidles argued he was not yet a
registered candidate because he
hadn't filed his petition and other
required documents with Elec­tion
Board Chairman Alan Hulse.
"Only registered candidates
are held to the provisions of this
code," Sidles argued. "Therefore I
am not under the jurisdiction of
this board."
Sidles said he had not decided
what AS Board position he would
seek and said so to those who
signed his petition.
People who signed the petition
had agreed to support him no
matter what position he ran for,
Sidles said. "I have not made an
unethical misrepresentation."
Although Sidles was not a "reg­istered"
candidate, the four-member
board unanimously
ruled he was a candidate, non­etheless,
and he did violate the
election code.
However, when board members
discussed what punishment, if
any, should be given to Sidles,
they realized the earlier jurisdic­tion
they had over him no longer
existed.
That was because Hulse tore
up Sidles' petition Monday,
declaring it void. By voiding the
petition, Hulse had—temporarily
at least—voided Sidles' candidacy.
After the hearing ended and
Sidles and Potter left, Election
Board Adviser Lee Thompson
told board members, "Sidles usu­ally
has a method in his madness.
He used this as a forum to dem­onstrate
flaws in the election
code.
"The definition of a candidate
is too loose," Thompson said,
noting the code refers to "pros­pective
candidates," "registered
candidates" and "those who wish
to run for office" without stating
at what point in the candidacy
the election board has
jurisdiction.
But board member Kim Hall
pointed out the board shouldn't
let candidates use loopholes, as
members said Sidles did, to
escape election board authority
and punishment.
Hulse said the board should
consider people as candidates
once they start circulating their
petitions.
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battles back from
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