Western Front - 1968 November 5

              ^western 6mt Vol.LXI No. 6 Western Washington State College, Bellingham, Wn. 98225 10* Per Copy Tues., Nov. 5, 1968
AS activities calendar confiscated
More than 27000 Fall Activities
calendars were confiscated and
destroyed last week by the col­lege
administration.
The calendars, which are
printed quarterly by the Associ­ated
Students, were seized by
order of President Charles Flora
because of a "vulgar, tasteless,
disgusting, crude and just plain
dumb" political cartoon appear­ing
on the calendar.
"The cartoon," noted Dean of
Students James Hitchman in a
memo to student government
leaders, "is the most disgusting
art I've seen in months. There is
nothing about the war, the do­mestic
scene or the beliefs of
those who put that cartoon on
an ASB calendar that justifies
such irresponsible, tasteless be­havior."
Flora later agreed, after dis­cussing
the matter with AS Presi­dent
Noel Bourasaw and AS
Vice President Dave Davis, to
have the calendar reprinted at
no cost to the Associated Stu­dents.
A statement attributing the re­sponsibility
for editorial com­ment
to a specific office will
appear on the second printing
of the calendar.
In a letter from President
Flora's office Thursday it was
explained that Flora was con­cerned
that statements on the
calendar "might be construed
as official positions of Western
Washington State College," and
that the calendars had been de­stroyed
through "honest misun­derstanding."
Editorial comment will not
appear on Activities calendar
in the future, according to AS
representatives.
Above, more than 600 people gathered in red square last Thursday to witness Court Jester
Hubert Frick's mock activities-calendar burning.
Below, students angered by President Charles J. Flora's confiscation of the student calendar
sat in his office Thursday, awaiting his return. See page 2 for story. —photos by gable
"That cartoon is vulgar, tasteless,
disgusting, crude, and just plain dumb.
Such a contribution is scarcely appropri­ate
tor individuals who believe they
should be more involved in this aca­demic
community."
—President Charles J. Flora
Fac Council considers
calendar controversy
The Faculty Council side-stepped the confiscation
of the student activities calendar in its Thursday
meeting and adjourned before taking a stand.
The Associated Students president and other
student and faculty observers all urged the faculty to
become involved in the question so that the whole
campus would be involved. The primary issue before
them concerned the confiscation of 2,000 of the
calendars by President Charles J. Flora last Monday.
"I feel this is really a problem of student concern,"
Harvey Gelder, assistant professor of mathematics, said.
"The students have their own apparatus under an
incorporated government and should take up the mat­ter
instead of the Faculty Council."
Noel Bourasaw, AS president, and Greg Jones,
speaker of the student legislature, countered with the
argument that students are no longer satisfied with
expressing their opinions on campus-wide issues in their
own restricted environment.
"We are ready to help you govern the campus
and we want to work with you on this specific issue,"
Bourasaw explained. "We are no longer concerned
with the calendar; the larger issue of confiscation is
most important."
Faculty members Don Larner and Hugh Fleetwood
both argued that confiscation and censorship were
items of campus concern.
Fleetwood, an assistant professor of philosophy,
accused the council members and students of pussy­footing
around the main issue.
"President Flora and Dean (James) Hitchman both
sent memos to Bourasaw on Monday and Tuesday
expressing their disgust at the cartoon. It was not until
Wednesday that the official excuse about attribution
of the publisher was given by Flora," he said.
Members of the council voted to adjourn when
they insisted that they did not have full background
information on the case.