Western Front - 1984 April 3

              PLEASE RECYCLE
Tuesday, April 3, 1984 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Vol. 76, No. 18
Tech conference invitations 'disturbing'
By Ron Judd
Eight hundred invitations to a
conference on technology at
Western that say new tech pro­grams
will be added soon are "a
little disturbing," a Council for-
Postsecondary Education official
said yesterday.
Invitations to the open-house
conference, sent to media and
high-tech industry officials
nationwide, state that "three
engineering technology pro­grams
will be added soon" at
Western.
But proposals for electrical,
mechanical and civil engineering
tech have yet to be submitted to
the Council on Arts and Sciences
Curriculum (CASC), the first step
toward gaining university
approval.
If Western approves them, the
proposals must be submitted to
Recent tests of Environmental Studies building ventilation system
discovered 18 screens which severely choked the system,
. preventing air from circulating.
Fiberglass fumes
remedied in VRI
By Christine Valdez
Fans installed March 6 in the
Vehicle Research Institute lab
seemed to have solved the prob­lem
of noxious fiberglass fumes.
Members of Huxley, Geology
and Watershed Studies in the
Environmental Studies building
agree the fans installed by Senior
Facilities Engineer Larry Johnson
currently are working
David Brakke of Watershed
Studies said he hasn't smelled
any fumes since the fans were
installed.
"I wish this hadn't taken so
long. It essentially took a threat of
a lawsuit to get them to do some­thing,
which is not great but at
least things are happening,"
Brakke said.
"I haven't noticed any problem.
All I want to do is breathe. If
things continue as they are now
we're satisfied," Geology profes­sor
Don Easterbrook echoed
Brakke's relief.
In a Feb. 17 memo sent to Uni­versity
Safety Officer Walt Sprin­ger,
Easterbrook threatened to
take legal action if the problem
the Council for Postsecondary
Education, which would conduct
an extensive program review
before approving or denying the
proposals.
Neil Uhlman, CPE officer in
charge of tech development, said
he was disturbed that Western
would advertise the programs as
if they were already approved.
Western has received no indica­tion
from the CPE that that was
the case, he said.
A letter from Uhlman to West-em
indicated that the CPE and
H i g h - T e c h C o o r d i n a t i ng
Board would delegate new pro­grams
to the universities, Uhlman
said.
"Maybe it's time we reiterated
that position to Western," he said.
Uhlman said he has not spoken
to anyone from Western about
tech since a Feb. 10 tech summit,
during which tech chairman
Paul Rainey presented Western's
plans.
Uhlman said the CPE has had
problems before with programs
that have been advertised as
"soon-to-be-impletnented" when
doubt existed. Students often are.
attracted to such programs, only
to find that no program exists, he
said.
Uhlman also noted that the
advertising places undue pres­sure
on the CPE, which is forced
to critically review a program the
public believes has been
approved.
Elich, who had not seen the
invitation when contacted by the
Front, suggested that Rainey may
have written the text for the invi­tation
anticipating that the pro­grams
would have been submit­ted
to CASC before the April 14
conference.
But George Gerhold, Arts and
Sciences associate dean and
CASC chairman, said Rainey had
indicated he would not have the
proposals ready for the first CASC
meeting April 12. Since the prop­osals
were not expected to come
to CASC until May, the language
of the invitations was "justified
optimism" on tech's part, Ger­hold
said.
If CASC approves the pro­grams,
they would have to clear
the Academic Coordinating
Commission and the Faculty
Senate, a process that could take
"a couple of months," Elich said.
• See TECH, page 3
'Mysterious' screens
Fan probe finds 'baffles'
By Shelley McKedy
Eighteen "mysterious" screens
blocking airflow were discovered
last Wednesday in the Environ­mental
Studies Building.
The screens, called "baffles,"
are nowhere in the blueprints of
the building and were found after
tests were made during spring
break to determine if toxic fumes
are being adequately sifted from
29 small compartments called
hoods, in which numerous sub­stances
such as hydrochloric
acid, suphuric acid and mercury
are conducted by Huxley College
and the technology and geology
departments.
Senior Facilities Engineer Larry
Johnson said the 18 baffles
affected all 29 of the hoods to var­ying
degrees. He said, "There's
about two hoods for every baffle."
the building. . ... H^^i^^S6 - ^ - ^ 6 . - ^ 1 " ^ ^ - , ^ ..
" Another fan^ cost $7,000,
icle Research Institute was increased air flow by 200 percent.
was not solved. He alleged the
fumes were toxic and were
endangering his health.
VRI Director Michael Seal said
fiberglassing had been going on
continuously since the fans had
been installed.
"It's fine, it works, and that's all
we're concerned with," Seal said.
A more energy-efficient system
will be installed in about a
monfh-and-a-half, Johnson said.
The new system will be more effi­cient
than the temporary system
because it can be turned on only
during fiberglassing hours.
Seals said the temporary sys­tem
uses 190 horsepower. John­son
has reworked the system to
use 90 horsepower.
Johnson said the problem is
solved unless something arises
during the smoke bomb test to be
conducted during the next high
south wind.
The test consists of releasing
smoke in the glass area where the
fiberglassing is done, and watch­ing
how it comes out of the roof.
If problems arise, Johnson said
the roof line will be modified. He
added the tests will not affect the
rest of the building.
responsible for hazardous fiber­glass
fumes emanating from that
lab.
The tests, which cost $300,
were the result of a controversy
last month when the Vehicle
Research Institute—where the
Viking cars are built—was shut
down after Geology Professor
Don Easterbrook threatened to
sue the university if the fiberglass­ing
activities were not halted.
The tests last week were the
first to be conducted since a 25-
horsepower fan costing $45,000
was installed nearly three years
ago, despite numerous com­plaints
to high-ranking Western
officials. Director of Public Safety
R.G. Peterson finally filed the
request to have the testing done
late last quarter.
The ventilation system serves
Before, some of the baffles had an
intake pressure of 50 feet-per-min-ute.
But anywhere from 100 to 150
feet is required for safety. Facili­ties
and Operations Coordinator
Eric Nasburg said he is checking
with regulatory agencies to see
what they "recommend for fume
hoods that are housing the kinds
of chemicals used in the
building."
Under state law, employees
protected by workman's com'
pensation have the right to file a
complaint with the state
Department of Labor Industries
to request an inspection if they
believe unsafe or unhealthy con­ditions
exist in their workplace.
More testing on the fume
hoods is scheduled to ensure
proper air flow levels now exist.
No one knows how the baffles,
which are flat sheets of metal
with one-quarter inch holes
drilled throughout, got in the
large orange tunnel-like risers in
the center of the building.
Johnson speculated that they
were to compensate for a lack of
air balance. "It's a Mickey Mouse
way to balance the air in the
hoods."
Physical Plant Director Bob
Hascall said the baffles beqame
"cloggedwitfi dust and dirt arid"
created even further ventilation
problems.
But as for now, Hascall said he
thinks the problem is solved. "It
appears the issue is dead," he
said.
Members of the three depart­ments
housed in the building are
not so sure. Geology department
chairman Ned Brown reported he
smelled fumes one day after the
extra fan was recently installed
near the VRI lab to combat nox­ious
fiberglass fumes dispersed
by the faulty ventilation system.
"Were in the dark. We just don't
know what's going on," he said.
One Western student
arrested at Ft. Lewis
By^Dave Wasson
Several Bellingham residents,
including at least one Western
student, were arrested during a
demonstration Saturday outside
Fort Lewis near Tacoma for not
obeying a police officer.
Protesting the dispatch of
about 800 military personnel
from Fort Lewis to Honduras, the
demonstrators were released on
their own recognizance later that
day.
Western senior Scott Renfro
praised the Washington State
Patrol for the way they handled
his arrest.
"The Washington State Patrol
handled the situation very well,"
he said. "They did not abuse their
authority."
Facing the protestors were
about 40 military personnel
armed with clubs, he said.
"We decided not to enter the
camp," Renfro said. "That would
have constituted a federal viola­tion,
and none of us had con­tacted
lawyers before the trip."
Renfro said the reason he pro­tested
the dispatch is because he
is worried about increasing mil­itary
roles abroad.
"I want the world to be able to
look at the United States and say
what a good nation it is," the 26-
year old business administration
major said. "But more than any­thing,
I want to make sure there is
a place left for my grandchildren
to live."
A total of 13 people were
arrested for disobedience Satur­day;
eight were from Bellingham.
The individuals have seven work­ing
days to contact the Pierce
County District Court to make
hearing arrangements.
Mondale boosters
WlMWWSililBi
icemen retain title
reappears at New