Western Front - 1976 January 23

              m ^ Wweesstteerrnn , Front VOL. 68 NO. 22 FRIDAY, JANUARY 23,1976
Veterans face tighter checks
on class grades, attendance
by GREG HOOFNAGLE
Over a thousand veterans attending Western
could be in for a real jolt because of new federal
Veteran's Administration rules requiring verifi­cation
of class attendance and GPA recomputa-tions
to include all non-graded courses.
The tightened regulations were created to pre­vent
misuse of educational benefits by veterans
who drop out of classes while their benefits
continue.
Interpretation of the new guidelines is done on
a state-by-state basis.
All state colleges and universities have been
requested to require mandatory veteran class
attendance and GPA recomputations.
Schools which fail to comply with the new
rulings will lose their benefit monies in the form
of veterans' tuition payments, and veterans will
be cut off from the GI Bill.
Some people maintain that Washington's
State Board of Education has interpreted the VA
guidelines too strictly.
The board apparently has chosen to define
"fairly general federal guidelines" in a rigorous
manner, said W. W. Washburn, University of
Washington registrar, at a Jan. 8 Congressional
speakers forum.
"I'm offended by the new state standards,"
said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Meeds (D-Everett) at the
forum. He said the state requirements "exceed
VA standards legislatively."
Regional VA official Bob Johnson agreed. "All
the VA required for reinforcement was that the
veterans must show through sufficient attend­ance
they are making satisfactory progress," he
said.
"The VA makes no other mandatory require­ments.
How these attendance and grade stand­ards
are proven is up to the schools, whose plans
must be approved by the state," he said.
"I can say categorically the VA does not
require mandatory daily attendance to be taken,
nor have they established any GPA standards. If
the school does this it's because the state has re­quired
it to do so."
Western's acting associate registrar, Gary
Tollefson, added that requirements for attend­ance
records and grade reports could run into
trouble because individual teachers have a free
choice as to how they will measure student
progress.
Meeds also questioned the wisdom of inter­preting
VA standards on a state-by-state basis.
He suggested instead that enforcement of such
standards begin at the federal level.
"We need to work within the existing frame­work,"
he said.
Tollefson explained that Western's proposed
compliance procedure, sent to the Board of Edu­cation,
will operate within the existing frame­work
if accepted. The procedure merely outlined
Western's current grading and attendance
policies, indicating that these should be suf­ficient.
However, educational groups have been
pressuring the VA office in Washington D.C.
Tollefson noted that many of these groups are
lobbying against overstrict interpretation of the
new guidelines and against instituting compli­cated
new grading and attendance method. •
As a result, VA administrators are considering
changes in their controversial policy. This means
state interpretations of the VA guidelines will not
be final, Tollefson said.
Narc crackdown on marijuana
revolutionizes smuggling, prices
"Project Intercept," the nation's largest
peacetime search and seizure operation by civil
authorities began Sept. 21, 1969, at the U.S.­Mexico
border. It lasted 20 days.
Mexican marijuana smuggling was the target
of the operation which suddenly throttled the
supply of grass in the states. According to"licit
and Illicit Drugs" by E. M. Brecher and the
editors of Consumer Reports, this marijuana
shortage had three unforeseen effects on smugg­ling
into the United States:
1) "An undetermined amount of marijuana and
other drugs were being smuggled in by plane
despite newly installed FAA radar equipment
and Air Force intercept planes lent for the oper­ation."
2) "The tight marijuana supply before and dur­ing
Operation Intercept triggered a large scale
increase in hashish smuggling."
3) "The temporary shortage of Mexican mari­juana
led to a marked increase in the importation
into the U.S. of highly potent marijuana from
Vietnam."
Today, aerial smuggling is popular with
professional and amateur pilots alike.Hashish is
a household word and the fine quality of exotic
weed is spoiling thousands of American stoners.
Although Vietnamese marijuana is out of the
picture, imports from Thailand, Hawaii, Colom­bia,
Panama and Jamaica are experiencing great
popularity around the country despite high
prices.
Colombian pot seems to be the most abundant­ly
imported after Mexican. The quality of
authentic Colombian and other imports is notice­ably
better than most Mexican reefers smoked by
Americans.
Although Mexico produces high-quality smoke
in some regions, the "exotic" names command
the highest black market prices.
Locally, these illegal super-imports sell well at
$40 per ounce and up. Smokers are willing to pay
the price for strong, delicious marijuana and the
status associated with smoking it socially.
At recent interviews with three Bellingham pot
smokers, intimate with exotic weed, these opin­ions
on the trend were given:
Q. "Why the sudden demand for exotic mari­juana?"
A. "Because people get off on it. I'm spoiled.
It's quality smoke." "Because more people are
tasting it and liking it. There are more people
smoking in general, too."
Q. "Why pay $40 an ounce for good pot?"
A. "Top reason because it smokes better, it
lasts longer and, it's hip." "It satisfies the need,
that's for sure."
Q. "Why so expensive though?"
A. "The law has something to do with prices—
when they crack down, it is a big risk."
Q. "Have prices gotten out-of-hand?"
A. "I think they're ridiculous. It's very capital­istic."
^
Q. "Is exotic weed crowding the commercial
pot market?"
A. "It could be. Penalties for smuggling are the
same for both."
Q. "Hash?"
A. "There's not enough hashish."
Q. "Is there any bogus pot being pawned-off as
imported 'stuff locally?"
A. "I'm sure there is, but I don't come in con­tact
with it much."
Q. "What is your favorite marijuana?"
A. "I'm partial to Thai stick." "Good Hawaiian
gange." "Thai, ounce for ounce is the best."
Enrollment record set
Record highs have been set with this quarter's enrollment being
the highest winter in Western's history and third highest in the
history of the school.
The total, according to the latest report from the Registration
Center, is up 614 students from a year ago.
This is the second year in a row that winter has exceeded fall in
enrollment and only the third time in the history of the college.
Although there are 89 fewer full-time students from last fall, there
are 202 more part time students.
Although Registrar Eugene Omey isn't sure why there is such a
rise in enrollment, he did say it could possibly be a "realization by
young adults that a future entry into the job market requires solid
preparation."
Menotti's "The Medium"
Western opera students, under the direction of Bruce
Pullman, will present Gian-Carlo Menotti's chamber
opera "The Medium" tonight and tomorrow night in the
Concert Hall, see pg. 9.
What makes Dave run?
Front sports writer David C. Holweger examines the
gears driving Vik baslcetbaUer Dave Wood. See pg. 14.
State of the AS
Associated Students president Steve Barrett spoke on
the state of the AS Tuesday night in the Viking Union. See
pg. 13. Commentary pg. 5. "