Western Front - 1969 October 7

              Bellingham Mayor blames
Western for housing problem
JOHN STOLPE
staff reporter
Bellingham Mayor Reg
Williams blamed the college
Friday for the off-campus
housing problems.
"The college had no business
signing up more students when
they knew that there wasn't
enough housing available,"
Williams told The Western Front
in an interview.
He added that officials should
t h i n k about restricting
enrollment on campus next year
if the housing shortages still
exist.
"The city doesn't have the
money to build housing for
college students," he said.
Williams admitted that he had
been confronted with the recent
complaints about high rents for
low-class housing in the
Bellingham area.
"The city of Bellingham, as
far as I'm concerned, doesn't
have the constitutional right to
control rents," Williams said.
When asked if he thought the
city has been doing an adequate
job of enforcing housing codes,
Williams said that they had "to
the best of their ability."
He added that city housing
officials couldn't possibly make
a house-to-house check.
"We can only act when we
receive complaints from the
occupants of the alleged
sub-standard housing," the
mayor said.
Williams assured The Front
that city officials wouldn't turn
their backs to the problems,
though.
He emphasized that the
housing situation was a
college-spawned problem which
would have to be ironed out
with the state and federal
governments.
'Where do we go . . . Where are we going.
-photo by walker
the western front
Vol. LXII no. 9 Western Washington State College Bellingham, Washington 98225 Tuesday, Oct. 7, 1969 10c
Tent City publicizes housing problem
Students registered for space in Tent City, in front of Old Main last week. Lack of housing may
force enrollment restrictions. See editorial p. 4. -photo by walker
ADELE SALTZMAN
managing editor
"Tent City was really
successful" was the general
comment from the City's
citizens and AS Housing
Commissioners last weekend.
The canvas community was
erected on the lawn in front of
Old Main early last Thursday in
an attempt to publicize the
housing problem and alert the
people of Bellingham to the
desperate situation at Western.
A count taken Thursday
night showed that there were 35
tents in the City and 111
students, Jerry Field, AS
commissioner of housing, said.
According to a statement
issued by the Housing
Commission, approximately
1,500 students entered Western
this Fall without pre-arranged
housing.
The Commission had set up
45 beds on the third level of the
Viking Union as part of the
emergency housing project last
week.
By Friday sufficient
temporary housing was provided
by the Bellingham community
and AS President Al Doan, over
local radio stations, thanked the
community for its response to
the emergency.
But there is still a need for
permanent housing.
Anyone with houses to list
for students should contact the
college housing office, Doan
announced.
Tent City's immediate
objectives were to dramatize the
housing emergency, bring
pressure on the city for effective
enforcement of the housing
code, end racial discrimination
and end discrimination against
students, Field explained at a
press conference last week.
The tent-in project received
coverage from the Seattle Times,
the Bellingham Herald, the
Everett Herald, KIRO, KOMO
and KVOS television stations,
John Ward, Tent City publicity
coordinator, said last Saturday.
Since the City was created
basically for publicity, we think
it was very successful, Ward said.
advises
permit purchases
AS budget to be cut $18,000
The Faculty Council is
"advising faculty members who
have not purchased parking
permits to now do so."
Previously the Council "asked
the faculty not to purchase
permits in order to attract
attention to its repeated requests
for consideration of the
(parking) recommendations."
At a meeting last Friday the
Council approved the following
statement for distribution to the
faculty:
"The Council herewith
advises those faculty members
who have not purchased permits
to do so.
"The Council continues to
insist on the opportunity to
d i s c u s s i t s p o l i cy
recommendations with the
Board of Trustees and', believes..
these recommendations to be
reasonable and intends to pursue
them in every reasonable way.
"The Council calls attention
to the fact that its actions are
presently effective only as they
are recognized by the
administration and the Board of
Trustees and supported by the
faculty."
Last Summer the Council
opposed the parking fee plans
and urged faculty members to
boycott and not buy parking
permits.
Tow-away procedures for cars
without parking permits begin
this week.
"We found we could no
longer protect faculty who don't
buy permits," Dr. Merrill E.
Lewis, associate professor of
English, said at the Council
meeting-. v . . . . . . . . . / - . . .. -
More than $18,000 will be
trimmed from the Associated
Students (A.S.) budget due to a
cutback in funds allotted by the
college administration.
A.S. -Business Manager Les
Savitch told the student
l e g i s l a t u r e Friday that
unanticipated costs for several
new clubs and the Housing
Commission might force a
voluntary cutback of an
additional $6,000 to make ends
meet.
"The $18,000 figure is
definitely a minimum," Savitch
warned.,
A general fiscal squeeze on
campus was cited as the major
reason for the cutback.
The Fiscal Management
Committee has been assigned the
unpleasant task of making
r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s for
preliminary slices from the
$156,000 budget pie.
The committee includes
student legislators Gary Evans,
.chairman,.Gail Denton.and Neil.
Porter.
Normally, the State
Legislature allows the college
administration to allot $6 per
student, per quarter for the
Associated Students."
The college, though, makes
the final decision considering
fiscal circumstances.
A.S. President Al Doan said
the cutback came as no real
surprise to student government.
"We did ask for an increase in
the budget for this school year,
but with money problems
cropping up all over campus we
weren't surprisedto see the cut,"
Doan said.
He added that he was
completely in the dark as to
which portions of the student
budget would have to be
trimmed.
"Certainly I hope that the
Fiscal Management Committee
takes into consideration all the
fine programs that we originated
this year for student welfare and
progress," Doan said,
The total Associated Students
budget, as allotted by the college
administration, will amount to
$138,000. The projected budget
two years ago on campus was
$151,000.
$3 fee dropped
Today is the last day to add
classes, Registrar William J.
O'Neil announced Friday.
The $3 change of class fee has
been discontinued effective this
quarter, he said.
The academic dean's advisory
council of department chairmen
recommended that the fee be
discontinued.
" T h e administration
approved the recommendation
and dropped the fee," Academic
Dean R. D. Brown said.
Class changes may be made
between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. in
the Registration Center in Edens
Hall, O'Neil said.
Students may drop classes
until Nov. 12, the registrar said.