Western Front - 1969 May 6

              General Ed to be offered pass-fail
The Academic Council voted
last Tuesday to place all general
education courses on a pass-fail
basis.
The vote was 9 to 4 with 1
abstention.
The grading system is not
expected to be implemented
before Fall 1969.
The proposal was accepted
over an alternate proposal to
make only half the courses
pass-fail.
Under this arrangement, any
student has the option to be
graded pass-fail or by the
traditional 5-point grading
system, in any and all general
the
education courses.
Pros and cons voiced by the
Council members included the
potential added motivation
without the pressure of grades
and, in some cases, the reverse.
Additional problems could
arise in attempting to apply
pass-fail grades to majors or
minors where a grade point
average is required.
However, the temper of the
Council on the matter may well
be summed up by Dr. Roland L.
DeLorme, a major proponent of
the resolution.
"I would rather act on hope
than on fear," DeLorme,
professor of history,
of General Studies,
assistant
Director
said.
"Try it first, obtain evidence
and then make up my mind."
The Academic Council is
composed of 16 members: 4
students and 12 faculty who
represent a cross-section of
disciplines. western front
Vol. LXI no. 2$f- Western Washington State College Bellingham, Washington 98225 Tuesday, May 6, 1969 10c
High street closure delayed
Bellingham city councilmen
are reconsidering the proposed
High Street by-pass route
following complaints that it
wouldn't solve existing traffic
problems.
The City Council referred the
proposal to the City Street
Commission which will meet
Monday with College Planner
Harold Goltz to hash out a
possible alternative.
The Goltz plan involves
closing High Street from Edens
Hall to the music auditorium
and diverting traffic along
Garden Street where a new
roadway would rejoin Highland
Drive.
C o n t r o v e r s y erupted
following citizen complaints that
a roadway linking Highland
Drive with Garden Street might
be too steep to negotiate on
winter ice and that its proposed
110-degree turn would hamper
traffic.
Councilman Lawrence Belka,
who moved to send the proposal
to the Street Commission for
revision, was opposed to the
by-pass, saying that he "didn't
think this was the route."
Goltz asked the city for new
criteria so he could go ahead
with revising the route.
"By holding up the
completion of this by-pass, we
are holding up other college
planning and construction
projects," Goltz said.
Construction on the proposed
million-dollar addition to the
west wing of Wilson Library
cannot begin until High Street
has been closed off to vehicular
traffic on campus.
One other major alternative
to the by-pass route would be to
run High Street underground.
College Consulting Engineer
Victory Gray of Seattle said that
a $1.2 million price-tag would
not make such a project
practical. (See page 7 for more
details.) Court upholds convictions
Whatcom County Superior
Court Judge Bert Kale upheld
Friday the conviction of eight
Western Students charged with
vagrancy.
Mike Rosen, ACLU attorney
from Seattle, immediately served
notice of appeal to the state
Supreme Court.
The charge stemmed from the
Nov. 26 arrest of the students
for distributing anti-draft
pamphlets at Sehome High
School.
The students are Wally Oyen,
George Hartwell, Tony
More field, Ian Trivett, Joe Start,
Mike Burr, Lauren Bathurst and
Ron Felton.
They were convicted in
Whatcom District Court by
Judge Ward Williams Jan. 6 and
sentenced to serve five days in
the city jail for violating a 1965
vagrancy code.
The code makes it illegal for
persons other than students,
parents and school employees to
be on public school grounds
"without lawful purpose,"
Rosen appealed the original
conviction to Superior Court
where Judge Kale took the case
under advisement Feb. 21.
Rosen contended that the
distribution of the pamphlets
was protected under the First
Amendment to the U. S.
Constitution.
Deputy Prosecutor Bill
Gardiner argued that the leaflets
"counseled and advocated the
violation of federal laws" such as
failing to register for the draft.
Therefore, they were guilty
of being on public school
grounds "without lawful
purpose."
Judge Kale noted that the
leaflets contained a statement
which tended to advocate
violation of the law.
"We urge you to consider the
hard way out—confrontation,"
the statement said.
The state has the right to
p r e s c r i b e "reasonable
regulations" of students and
non-students on public school
grounds, Judge Kale said in his
decision.
Since no violence had been
involved in the incident, the
judge reduced the sentence to
$35 each.
1p^%w.,:Ifc
Randy Lewis, Fairhaven freshman and
Indian Students Union. See stories, pp. 2,
president of
9.
—photo
Western's
by seif ord
iller Hall site for
Noguchi sculpture
A major work by
internationally known sculptor
Isamu Noguchi is to be placed in
the academic quadrangle of
Miller Hall.
The piece, "Sky Viewing
Sculpture," will be mounted on
.four stainless steeel pins, and
will form an open three
dimensional cube.
Weighing 12,000 pounds, the
cube will be 10 feet square on
each side.
People will be able to walk
around, through and under the
environmental sculpture.
Noguchi is also working on a
major sculpture for Seattle
called "Black Sun,"
The National Foundation for
the Arts and the city of Seattle
"Sky Viewing Sculpture," by Isamu Noguchi
are financing the work on a
commission basis.
Welded steel plates will form
"Sky Viewing Sculpture," which
is being constructed in Seattle.
Other well-known sculptures
by Noguchi include an approach
to a Hiroshima bridge and a 25
foot high cube in New York.
Bom in Japan, Noguchi first
came to the Puget Sound area at
the age of 13.
He later attended the
Leonardo da Vinci Art School in
New York, after briefly studying
medicine.
By the age of 21, Noguchi
had received a Guggenheim
Fellowship to study in Paris.
His gardens and sculptures are
internationally known and
respected.