Western Front - 2001 November 13

              The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 119 Issue 12 Bellingham, Washington
Cell phone reception erratic in certain areas
By Sarah Warren
THE WESTERN FRONT
Cellular dead zones on
Western's campus are a growing
concern. Reception in certain
areas is spotty, which poses
questions regarding safety.
Frits Ponsen, director of
Telecommunications at
Western, realized the problems
with reception and is working
toward fixing it.
"I realize this is a bad situa­tion,
and I wanted to do some­thing
about it," Ponsen said.
Ponsen has met with two-thirds
of the cellular vendors
around Bellingham to speak
about their reception, including:
Sprint, AT&T, Qwest, Nextel,
Verizon Wireless and
VoiceStream. Although recep­tion
differs for every provider,
Ponsen said he wants to see
equally good coverage for all cel­lular
phones on campus.
Ponsen said the dead zones on
campus are between
Bellingham Bay and the Viking
Union Plaza. He said the hill on
the west and the Ridgeway
Dorms on the east cause prob­lems
with some cell phones
reception. Another dead zone is
by Buchanan Towers heading
toward the Birnam Wood apart­ments.
He said he found Sprint
and AT&T have fair coverage
around this area, but Qwest,
Verizon and Nextel have spotty
reception.
"Reception in Red Square is
Quoc Tran/ The Western Front
Kappa resident Angie Cram said her cell phone service, VoiceStream, is clear everywhere
on campus. The Ridge is one of the dead zones for certain celluar companies, however.
fairly well for most VoiceStream
users, but other phones do not
work as well," Ponsen said.
"AT&T seems to have a lot of
problems in Red Square."
"I have a dream to sign a con­tract,
which will be a competi­tive
bid for cellular service
providers just for Western's
campus," Ponsen said. "I hope to
convince the providers there is
very bad service in areas on
campus, and my idea will be
profitable to them as well as the
faculty and staff." '
Ponsen is about two to three
weeks away from informing the
Western administration of his
and the technical group's dream
of signing this contract to
improve reception oh Western's
campus.
Poor lighting problematic to student group
President Stephanie Sanchez
said. -
The female student was
assaulted around midnight Oct.
19 when an unidentified male
grabbed her from behind and
dragged her into the woods. The
investigation is ongoing.
Quoc Tran/The Western Front
Emergency phones like the one above are placed around
campus to improve security.
By Courtney Howard
THE WESTERN FRONT
Walking through Western's
campus in the dark helped
Western Feminist Majority
Leadership Alliance members
detect the locations on campus
that need more lighting.
FMLA members walked
through campus with video cam­eras
Wednesday night document-ingthe
worst lit areas on campus.
The Women's Center generated
this idea after an 18-year-old
female student was sexually
assaulted while walking on West
College Drive in October, FMLA
'You just felt like if you
were walking up the stairs
somebody could easily
jump out at you'.
Vanessa del Fierro
FMLA vice president
The week after Thanksgiving,
the Women's Center and the
Central Health and Safety and
Campus Safety committees will
walk-through campus with light
sensors to detect how much light
is present at different locations
on campus, said Cori Ready,
Women's Center co-coordinator.
FMLA members walked
through campus to prepare for
the walk-through with these two
committees, Sanchez said, "so
when we bring administration
along we can be confident about
what needs to be done so as not to
See LIGHTS, Page 4
Stephanie Harestad, a
Western senior, uses
VoiceStream's cell phone ser­vice.
She said her reception is
fine on the northern end of cam­pus,
but she doesn't receive
much reception on the southern
end.
"It's frustrating when my
SeeRECEPTION, Page 4
Survey says
most still fear
another attack
By Orion Stewart
THE WESTERN FRONT
Following the Sept. 11 terror­ist
attacks, many college stu­dents
across the country are
feeling closer to family mem­bers,
have new priorities in life
and have new respect for com­munity
members. This is
according to a study conducted
by David Sattler, a Western psy­chology
professor* and two
Western graduate students,
Amanda Marshall and Leslie
Croot.
The trio's survey, which they
gave to more than 300 Western
students along with about 1,000
more college students in New
York, Colorado and South
Carolina, also found most col­lege
students fear another
attack and are more concerned
for their personal safety.
"There has been so much
focus in the media on fear,"
Sattler said. "I was concerned it
was misrepresenting the experi­ences
and reaction of most
Americans."
Despite any real, exaggerated
or imagined fears portrayed in
See COPING, Page 4
The Planet
makes top 10
college mag
By Marissa Bisnar
THE WESTERN FRONT
Huxley College's student-produced
environmental maga:
zine, The Planet, was named
one of the top eight college
magazines in the United States
by the Associated College Press
at the 80th annual National
College Media Convention.
The Planet received the
ACP's / / 2000 National
Pacemaker Award at the con­vention
in New Orleans Oct.
• 27.
The magazine also received
praise from notable journalists.
The Spring 1999 issue, "The
Olympic Pipeline explosion: a
retrospective," was the award-winning
issue. Shane .Powell
was the editor in chief at the
time.
"One especially moving issue
focused on a lethal gas-pipeline,"
said Natalie
Pawelski, CNN environmental
correspondent. "The students
covered the micro and macro of
the story— from touching sto­ries
of victims and their sur­vivors'to
tough questions about
pipeline safety on the national
level. It was an excellent read
— the kind of quality you'd
expect from professionals, not
students."
This is the first year The
Planet entered the Pacemaker
Award contest, which has been
around since the 1920s, said
Scott Brennan, environmental
journalism program adviser.
"Our mission as responsible
journalists is to propose solu­tions
to the problems that we -
cover," said Levi Pulkkinen,
current Planet editor in chief.
"For the last two years we've
See PLANET, Page 4
IN THIS ISSUE
Soccer star credits
teammates for success
Western's Brandie Bajema
is becoming known as one
of the top defenders in
women's soccer.
See story, Page 10.
Internationally known
artist visits Western
D'Elaine Johnson has
painted for
more than
50 years,
she displays
Her paint­ings,
based
on myths
and leg­ends,
in VU 507.
See story, Page 9.
For news tips, call (360) 650-3162 or e-mail The Western Front at wfront@cc.wwu.edu http://westernfrontonlirfe.com