Western Front - 2001 July 10

              TUESDAY, July 10,2001
The Western Front
Western Washington University Volume 117 Issue 3 Bellingham, Washington
Eleanor Roosevelt
topic of Western
professor's book
By Brian Harrington
THE WESTERN FRONT
Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady and
American stateswoman, and her private writ­ings
are the topic of Western history in Western
History Professor Donald Whisenhunt's second
book, "It Seems To Me: Selected Letters of
Eleanor Roosevelt."
His first book, "Poetry of the People: Poems to
the President, 1929-1945" is a collection of
poems Americans wrote to former Presidents
Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
'People either loved or hated Eleanor
and still do today. This book shows just
how much control she had.'
Donald Whisenhunt
Western history professor
His newest book is filled with letters that
Whisenhunt and his co-editor Leonard Schulp
selected from the archives at the Franklin
Roosevelt Presidential Library in New York City.
"When she died, she gave these letters to the
public," Whisenhunt said. "They need to be
explained properly and chronologically."
The two historians wrote introductions to the
275 letters in the book and tracked and footnot­ed
all of the individuals mentioned in the letters.
Whisenhunt did much of his work for the book
while teaching in Korea during the fall of 1999.
The book took nearly 18 months to publish, dur­ing
which time Whisenhunt made three trips to
the Roosevelt Library.
"People either loved or hated Eleanor, and still
do today," Whisenhunt said. "This book shows
just how much control she had."
Some of the letters included in the book are to
Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower
and John Kennedy.
"Because she was who she was, they listened,"
Whisenhunt said.
He said Eleanor visited Seattle many times.
Her daughter's husband was the editor of the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
See ELEANOR, Page 2
Brown bag special
Brendan Shriane/ The Western Front
Kids listen intently to Richard and Helen Scholtz sing children's songs at Bellingham Parks and
Recreation Department's children's concert series at Bellingham Public Library Friday. This was
the Parks Department's third concert of the summer. See story, Page 4.
U.S. families changing
ByGiegWoehler
THE WESTERN FRONT
The American family is getting harder
to define, as men and women get married
later and less often, according to a recent­ly
published study by three Western soci­ologists.
Sociology chair Jay Teachman and fac­ulty
members Lucky Tedrow and Kyle
Crowder conducted the study, which was
published in the Journal of Marriage and
the Family's "Decade in Review" issue.
Teachman said he and his colleagues
had no concrete definition of the word
family, but he said their research showed
Americans have very different expecta­tions
of marriage than previous genera­tions.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^•Ifc
'There's much more diversity in
what people consider a family,
and much more diversity in chil­dren's
experiences in families.'
Jay Teachman
Western sociology professor
Traditionally, couples married early
and had children. The mother stayed at
home and the couple remained together
until one of the partners died.
That's not the case today" Teachman
said. "There's much more diversity in
what people consider a family and much
more diversity in children's experiences
in families."
Teachman said half of all white chil­dren
and two-thirds of all black children
in the United States spend at least part of
their childhood in single-parent families.
Though statistics seem to indicate that
children who grow up without both par­ents
are at a disadvantage, Teachman
wouldn't go as far as saying a single-par­ent
environment was harmful.
"We generally find that children who
No suspects in burglary case
By Tamara Harvey
THE WESTERNFRONT
University Police are still looking for
suspects and leads for the June 11 bur­glary
of College Hall.
Unidentified suspects stole and dam­aged
$9,156 worth of property from the
adjoining rooms 137 and 139 in College
Hall. Western's student magazine
Khpsun was housed in these rooms.
Three computers, a Hewlett Packard
scanner and a Sony compact disc player
were stolen. Wires, cables and a security
chain from a window were damaged dur­ing
the burglary.
According to UP, the premises was
secure at 1 a.m., and the burglary was
discovered at 10 a.m.
People were in the building, but no one
saw anything,'' UP Officer Ed Malpica
said.
Seven people were in the rooms the
See COLLEGE, Page 2
Stephanie Kosonen/ The Western Front
The Klipsun office, College Hall 137, was burglar­ized
June 11. Property totalling $9,156 was taken
from the rooms.
New trustee
appointed
by Locke
By Gail Hemmerich
The Western Front
Jeff KeDy is Western's new stu­dent
trustee lor 2001-2002.
The main purpose of this posi­tion
is to meet the needs of the
students of Western and at the
same time have a good under­standing
of Western's background
in finances and policies,'* Kelly
said.
Part of Kelly's responsibility is
to attend weekly meetings with
the Associated Students
President CoryEichner.
"Jeff has a three-fold responsibil­ity,''
Eichner said. One to the stu­dents,
one to the University, and
one to Gov. Gary Locke.
See KELLY, Page 8
See FAMILIES, Page 8
IN THIS ISSUE
Frisbee golf gains
popularity
Frisbee golfers gather at
Cornwall park to enjoy less
competitive and cheaper form
of a traditional game.
See story, Page 5.
Freedom through
dance
Children are given an
opportunity
to dance to a
different beat
during a
Creative
movement
class.
See story, Page 4.
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