Western Front - 1991 March 15

              The Western Front
March 15,1991/Volume 83, Number 28 Western Washington University please recycle
Campus audit reports on student life
By Peter Donaldson
staff reporter
A recently released campus au­dit,
compiled by three educators from
Stanford University and another from
Indiana University, reveals some
pleasant and not so pleasant obser­vations
about Western's student life,
faculty life and infrastructure. The
audit is still in preliminary form and
the final report will be released in
April.
President Kenneth Mortimer and
Vice President for Student Affairs
Saundra Taylor requested the audit in
the fall of 1990. The team of educa­tors
visited Western from November
14-17, 1990. During this time, they
interviewed 18 students, 40 student
affairs staff, 27 other staff members
and administrators, 28 faculty and six
graduates. The team also analyzed 80
documents, ranging from catalogues
to back issues of The Western Front.
The team returned to Western in Feb­ruary
to gather more information from
students.
"This report is a normal part of
our assessment to the strategic plan­ning
efforts," Mortimer said.
Here's asampling of somequotes
that the team heard from the people it
interviewed:
• A trustee reflected that, "Stu­dents
arrive not expecting to be ex­cited."
• Students commented that, "If
you really want to know how students
are doing at Western, talk to secre­taries."
• An adviser reported that it is
difficult to develop support networks
for ethnic students because it is rare
"for students of color to jump into
leadership positions."
• A woman said, "The lack of
formalized traditions is our tradition."
• One student affairs professional
heard faculty and administrators refer
to students as "kids."
• Western has sub-cultures such
as the Fairhaven crowd, the "wear
wool" crowd, liberals, granolas and
preppies.
• One staff member observed,
"Students are not apathetic, they are
selectively not involved."
The audit cites several positives
about Western. They include:
Western's intermediate size, beauti­ful
location, proximity to student's
homes and the absence of fraternities
and sororities.
The team wrote that the graduates
it talked with challenged the quality
of teaching at Western. However,
teachers the team talked with cited
the strength of teaching at Western as
one of its distinguishing characteris­tics.
The report continued to say that
teachers complained about a shifting
emphasis from teaching to research.
Some of the teachers regarded
Mortimer as a source for this shifting
emphasis.
See AUDIT, page 6
FRIDAY
renewal underway
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for ispnng quart^
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ISISMiSI^HBIIIlllHl
WEATHER
Today: Rain possible with a chance
for afternoon clearing. Highs will be in the
upper 40's with overnight lows in the mid
30's.
This Weekend: Cloudy through Sun
day with a chance for rain. Highs will be
in the upper 40's with lows falling to the
mid-30*s
David Willoughby/The Western Front
Sophomore Aaron Fairchild, majoring in environmental studies, relieves some end-of-the-quarter stress
"hacken" in Red Square. With him are Brian Hughes(middle), a junior business major, and Loren Schneider, a
junior majoring in "life."
Locals upset over inadequate GP testing
By Charity Proctor
staff reporter
Local citizens have accused Georgia-Pa­cific
Corporation of inadequate testing of ground
water and disposal methods of solid waste. Don
Oehler, Georgia-Pacific's solid waste manager,
refutes their claims.
FemdaleresidentDonnaJBodesaidGeorgia-
Pacif ic dumped industrial and agricultural waste
90 feet from her farm's well from 1986 until
1989. The family stopped using the well for
drinking water in March of 1989.
Bode said David Bader, environmental
health director of the Whatcom County Envi­ronmental
Health Department, told her the site
may not be a permitted site, though-maybe it
should have been. The Whatcom County Envi­ronmental
Health Department issues permits for
local landfills.
Bader could not be reached for comment.
Oehler said he is not familiar with the site
near Bode's farm. "I'm not aware of anything
that was hauled out there," he said. "That might
be some other company."
Bode has contacted state Sen. Ann Ander­son,
R-Bellingham. "She has been contacting
the appropriate environmental departments to
have them look at (the situation)," Bode said.
Bode said she has told both Anderson and
the county health department she wants all
materials within 1000 feet of her well to be
removed. She also said the content of all mate­rials
that have been dumped should be disclosed
to the public. "Industry needs to be responsible
for its own waste, and not pass the responsibility
off on the citizens of the community," she added.
Bode said she wants to make the local and
state environmental departments more respon­sible
to the citizens.
Another site, Georgia-Pacific's airport
wood-waste landfill, located at Bellingham In­ternational
Airport, has Bellingham resident
RebeccaMeloy concerned. She said she believes
not enough ground-water testing is happening at
this landfill, and she's concerned about the
toxicity of liquids draining from the landfill
(leachate) and its effect on marine life.
See WASTE, page 3