Western Front - 1992 January 10

              Wellness Center
presents condom
rating contest,
page 3
Mount Baker Theatre -- a
Bellingham entertainment
landmark,
page 6
Winter vacation hoop
highlights,
page 10
L The Western Front Jan. 10,1992/Volume 84, Number 18
Campus police chief resigns
one week after shoplifting arrest
By Chris von Seggern
issues/opinions editor
University Police Chief Russ Martin resigned on Tuesday after being
charged with shoplifting a package of cigarettes from a Bellingham grocery
store.
Martin, 41, is scheduled for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 21 in Bellingham
Municipal Court He was arrested and released Dec. 30 by Bellingham Police
after being stopped by a store security guard outside Ennen's Food Store.
Martin was quoted in Tuesday's Bellingham Herald as saying the incident
was simply a stupid mistake.
"It was a question of bad circumstances and a mixture of stupidity," Martin
said. The Herald reported that Martin said he stopped at the store to purchase
groceries and put the cigarettes into his shirt pocket when he was about to drop
other items. Martin said he then forgot about the cigarettes, paid for the other
items and left the store. He was stopped outside the store by the guard, and store
officials called Bellingham Police.
According to the Jan. 7 Herald article, the officer who answered the call and
issued the arrest citation did not recognize Martin, and Bellingham Deputy
Police Chief Duane Schenck said the case would not have been handled
differently if he had.
Martin said he talked with store managers and that he believed the charges
would be dismissed, but Ennen's security chief Dave Martin spoke otherwise.
"That's his feeling and his feeling only. We're treating this like we would
anything else," Dave Martin said.
Western Vice President for External Affairs Albert Froderberg declined to
comment when contacted by the Front. The University is expected to release a
formal statement about the incident today.
Russ Martin was hired last February from a pool of more than 50 applicants.
Before coming to Western, he served for 13 years as director of police and traffic
safety at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Shoplifting, a gross misdemeanor, is punishable by up to one year in jail and
a $5,000 fine.
Western Washington University
Back to work..
please recycle
Photo by Tyler Anderson
While students eagerly dash to their classes, construction workers continue building
the $53 million science facility.
Gardner proposes 14 percent increase in tuition at Western
By Sam Kitchell
campus government editor
Students at Western Washington
University will face an approximate
14 percent tuition increase next fall if
Gov. Gardner's proposed supple­mental
budgetpasses the legislature's
1992 session.
The increase would be added to
an already approved 5 percent infla­tion
increase and add about $115 per
quarter to tuition and fees.
Gardner's proposal for tuition
increases comes as an alternative plan
to another $2.9 million budget cut
similar to the one that took place Dec.
1,1991.
The proposal is designed to help
balance the state's $900 million defi­cit.
It also includes the use of the $260
million state "rainy day" fund, the
cancellation of projected salary in­creases
for 1993 and miscellaneous
tax increases.
Western's proposed tuition in­creases
will be joined by increases at
Washington's other higher education
public schools. The proposal asks for
a 19 percent increase at the Univer­sity
of Washington, and a staggering
30 percent increase at The Evergreen
State College.
GENERAL FUND-STATE EXPENDITURES
Total Compared to Higher Education
(Dollars in Thousands)
20,000,000
115,000,000
<B
CO 3
O
P
110.000,000
o
Q
5.000.000
Higher Education
(Coram. Coll.. 4-Year, Other)
r - - " V JL X J.
INCREASE:
643%
INCREASE:
429%
1969-71 1973-75 1977-79 1981-83 1985-87 1989-91
1971-73 1975-77 1979-81 1983-85 1987-89 1991-93
Central and Eastern would re­ceive
a 14 percent increase and
Washington State University, 10 per­cent.
Community colleges would face
11 percent increases.
Disproportionate increases in
tuition are not a new phenomena.
According to a Higher Education
Coordinating Board graph, tuition and
fees haverisen 107 percentsince 1981-
82, while total cost of attendance (tu­ition
and fees, room and board, plus
books andnecessities) haverisen only
73 percent.
Vice President of External Af­fairs
Albert Froderberg said that the
increases are likely to be implemented,
but the amount of the increase is will
rely on many variables.
"It is dependant upon all sorts of
factors," Froderberg said. "Whether
or not the 'rainy day' fund is used is
one of them. It is also dependant on.
the next revenue forecast that will
come out in February and March be­cause
the legislature and governor
can' t spend more money than they are
forecasted to have. The state is re­quired
by the Constitution to have a
balanced budget It's not like the fed­eral
government."
Froderberg saidhigher education
is the most vulnerable areaofthestate
budget among the three major state
"The legislature has very little
flexibility in making cuts in K-12
because it is protected by the Consti­tution,"
Froderberg said. "Areas of
social and health services are better
protected than we are. They are client
driven to some extent. We are the
least well protected by law of the
three, so higher ed is the one most
used to balance the budget from time
to time."
Froderberg said the amount of
financial aid will be increased to help
those in need.
"We will find a way to target
those for whom this is the straw that
broke the camel's back," Froderberg
said. "Financial aid has always been
tied to tuition and I don't see why that
should change."
Associated Students President
Mark Aaserud said he feels the in­creased
load on students is unfair.
"Students are paying more for
tuition as it is," Aaserud said. "Ac­cess
is a big problem. It takes longer
for students to graduate now. Only 15
percent graduate in four years. So not
only are people paying more for tu­ition,
they are paying for a longer
period of time."
Aaserud said the increases will
Please see Tuition
Increase, page 5