Western Front - 1991 February 26

              umbalassy
jams for the
rain forests
See photo page 3
itudent
volunteers in
the community
Page 5
Lady Viks
open playoffs
with victory
Page 11
The Western Front tfb
February 26,1991/Volume 83, Number 12 Western Washington University please recycle
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"Each of the organizations will have litera-talk
with students about employment oppor­tunities.
There will be full-time or part-time
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Bauer,mtemaiRevenueServ^
something there for every different major
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ees for immediate job openings. If students
have a resume, they are encouraged to bring a
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opportunities with their organization and an-
WEATHER
Today: Sunny and mild. High tem­peratures
(mid 50s to mid 60s) will likely
approach record levels. Lows upper 20s
and 30s.
This week: Sunny and mild Wednes­day
after morning fog. Increasing chance
of rain Thursday and Friday. Highs mid
50s to mid 60s, cooling by Friday to 50s.
Lows upper 20s to lower 40s, warming
Thursday and Friday to 40s.
Rally held in protest of ground war
Desert Storm's 'final
phase' brings 200
to Federal Building
By Noelle Kompkoff
staff reporter
Approximately 200 people rallied at the
Federal Building at noon on Sunday; the day
after ground forces moved into Iraq and Kuwait
as part of Operation Desert Storm.
The protest was organized by the group Citizens
for Peace in the Middle East as an emergency
response to the potential beginning of the ground
war. The protest centered around a speak-out
and music.
Stephanie Moe, a senior at Western, said
the participants were too disappointed in the
national state of affairs to participate in any civil
disobedience activities.
"It was a support session," Moe said.
"People have told us we don't have the right to
say what we're saying; but I see us as a good
example of American (values) truth and justice.
I feel we're more patriotic than the people who
support the war."
David Quiggle, a former Western student,
said, "Ifeelweareana'donalminority. There are
about as many pro-war activists as anti-war
activists. Seventy percent (of the American
people) don't know. If information was given
truthfully, that would be changed quickly."
KenDistler, coordinator of the Bellingham
chapter of Citizens In Solidarity with People in
El Salvador (CISPES), said he agrees with this
sentiment. Distler, a Vietnam veteran, com­mented,"
the deceptions of Vietnam were very
well documented in the Pentagon Papers. It's
frustrating. If people say Bush is right, they
haven't come to terms with Vietnam."
Kevin Lash, a freshman at Whatcom
Community College, said about half of the
protesters were students. Although protesters
had taken different directions over the past few
weeks, Lash said he felt unity among the pro­testers.
"Everyone was working on different
projects...(somehow) they came together," Lash
said.
When she spoke of the protest, Darcy
Alexandra, coordinator at the Peace Resource
Center, said, "I'm not losing courage — I can't
lose courage. There's so much work to be done,
(so many) things we need to discuss. We need to
educate, share information and keep speaking
out."
Dave Rubert/The Western Front
Caryn Simmons and Neil Saunders, both of Bellingham, hold signs
outside the Federal Building on Sunday in protest of the beginning of
the ground war in the Persian Gulf.
Financial aid director leaves Western to join College Board
By Art Hughes
staff reporter
On his last official day as director
of Student Financial Resources, Ro­nald
Martinez said he feels fortunate
to have been at Western for the past
six years.
"Clearly, it was a good move," he
said Friday. "It was an opportunity to
grow significantly."
Martinez is leaving Western to
take a position on the College Board,
a private corporation in San Jose,
Calif. His new job will be to provide
educational services to high schools
and universities.
"It's a chance to have an impact on
a greater number of students,"
Martinez said.
The College Board develops and
administers Scholastic Aptitude Tests,
organizes the Advance Placement
Program, and designs and processes
financial aid applications.
Martinez came to Western in 1985
from the University of Northern
Colorado in Greeley, Colo. As director
of financial resources at Western,
Martinez was responsible for coor­dinating
operations between financial
aid and other offices, overseeing
scholarships, student employment and
volunteer andcommunity services and
applying for federal and state funds to
disperse to students.
One of the challenges Martinez
said he faced during his time at
Western was how to better serve the,
student in the era of educational
demands and funding cuts.
Martinez said the amount of fi­nancial
aid processed has doubled
from $10 million in 1985 to $20
million last year. Martinez said the
increase, coupled with the unfavorable
funding policies of the Reagan ad­ministration,
turned financial aid in a
"bureaucratic nightmare."
"We were working as bureaucrats
instead of student service people," he
said. Because the financial aid coun­selors
were spending so much time
doing paperwork, they were forced to
spend less time with the students.
Martinez said it took a conscious ef­fort
to turn the situation around.
Programs had to be initiated to
free up the aid counselors' time. One
program that was started since
Martinez became director involves
verification of information on finan­cial
aid applications.
The officepreviously selected one-third
of all applications for verifica­tion.
Butchecking 2,500-3,000 appli­cations
required a considerable
amount of time. Now, under a new
process, a more intensive documen­tation
is done on the applications, but
only a sample group size of 250-300
applications are selected. A more
thorough verification is done for each
application and the office is still re­lieved
of a lot of time-consuming
work.
When Martinez first came to
See MARTINEZ, page 2