Western Front - 2001 October 30

              XJESDAY, October 30,2001
The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 119 Issue 9 Bellingham, Washington
Protesters vandalize campus, artwork western men
talk emotions,
masculinity
By Courtney Howard
THE WESTERN FRONT
Students walked onto campus
to find graffiti on buildings and
artwork Friday morning. Red
paint filled Fisher Fountain,
making it resemble a pool of
blood.
University . Police received
multiple phone calls reporting
two college-age males wearing
hooded sweatshirts were seen
spray painting on buildings and
gluing posters to walls, pillars
and windows.
'Clean-up costs will be
borne by university funds,
which unfortunately will
be diverted from other
purposes, such as facilities
maintenance and class­room
upgrades-.
Karen Morse
Western president
Damage on the
Environmental Studies building
and steps, buildings in Red
Square, and Wright's Triangle,
the outdoor sculpture in front of
was found the Fine Arts build­ing.
"It (Wright's Triangle) had the
T word on it," Assistant UP
Chief Dave Doughty said. "(It
was) not very classy."
The graffiti and posters con­tained
anti-Bush, anti-war and
anti-oppression of Afghan
women messages, Doughty said.
"Whatever their motive, it's
still a crime," Doughty said.
An investigation is in
progress, but at this time, the
UP has no leads.
"We're hoping at some point
someone will take credit for it or
brag about it," Doughty said.
Despite other reports, no esti­mates
of damage are available,
Physical Plant director. Bill
Managan said.
The cost consists mainly of
labor costs, he said.
"It's just a matter of going
through and checking the
record," he said. "We just have to
go back and add it up."
Although no estimate has
been made, the damage is much
worse than the vandalism of the
past, Managan said.
"This is one of the worst inci­dents
of graffiti in the 15 years
I've been here," he said.
The school owns all of the art­work,
said Sarah Clark-
Langager, curator of the outdoor
See VANDALISM, Page 4
Brooke Geery/The Western Front
A worker scrubs and sprays away the red paint dumped in
Fisher Fountain over the weekend by protesters.
Western changes mail-handling policy
Marissa Bisnar/The Western Front
U.S. Postal Service employee Myriah Day picks up the last
batch of mail from the Viking Union post office. University
Mail Services will have a new security policy after Nov. 1.
By Marissa Bisnar
THE WESTERN FRONT
The U.S. Postal Service has
established new security regula­tions
requiring all parcels to be
labeled with a complete address,
and packages weighing more
than 16 ounces must have the
contents clearly labeled.
The Aviation Mail Security
Audit Program will go into effect
Nov. 1. The program is in
response to the anthrax terrorist
attacks appearing in various
parts of the United States.
"Prior to these changes, there
wasn't a big concern," University
Mail Services supervisor Judi
Magnuson said. "Our carriers go
to 122 mail stops a day, picking
up packages on a desk or at a
department that not many peo­ple
are watching over."
UMS will be impacted by the
new regulations by having to be
more aware of what workers are
handling and where the pack­ages
are coming from,
Magnuson said.
'We are trying not to think
about it (anthrax) because
we're working and don't
have time to be scared!
Dragicia Bjelajac
University Mail
Services employee
"The U.S. Postal Service is
putting the responsibility on us
to know what we're shipping
now," MagnusOn said.
A letter describing the poli­cies,
along with new parcel iden­tification
forms, will be sent to
all departments on campus,
Magnuson said.
The parcel identification
forms must be attached to pack­ages
and large envelopes being
shipped out.
Information on the form must
include the shipper's name, sig­nature,
telephone number,
department and a description of
the package's contents.
A package that is not cor-
See MAIL, Page 6
DiMarco pleads
not guilty to
theft charges
By Matt Bucher
THE WESTERN FRONT
Michael DiMarco, Western's
former assistant athletic director,
entered a plea of not guilty to
charges of theft in the second
degree at his arraignment Friday.
, The Class C felony carries a max­imum
penalty of
five years in prison
and a maximum
$10,000 fine,
Whatcom County
Prosecutor Eric
Richey said.
Court docu­ments
state the
University^Police
began an investi­gation
Sept. ,27 of
DiMarco's use of Western equip­ment
and funds forjpersonal prof­it..
. •' :.
UP arrested DiMarco on Oct.
16.
According to the documents,
between September 1998 and
October 2001, DiMarco stole a
Panasonic VCR belonging to
Western's Athletic Department
and pawned it for at least $250,
the minimum monetary amount
required for second-degree theft
charges.
UP officers found the VCR at
Michael
DiMarco
See DIMARCO, Page 6
By Paul Nicholas Carlson
THE WESTERN FRONT
Thirty Western men silently
sat in a circle early Saturday
morning in Viking Union 565.
Brian Pahl, project coordina­tor
for Western Men Against
Violence, asked these men to
stand if they have ever been
worried about not being tough
enough. He asked these men to
stand if they have ever been told
to act like a man. He asked
these men to stand if they have
resisted from hugging or touch­ing
another man because of how
it might appear.
On all three accounts, nearly
every male in the room stood
up.
These men spent most of their
Saturday morning and after­noon
at the second annual
Western Men Against Violence
Fall Retreat in the Viking
Union.
They explored why violence
by men persists, historical per­spectives
on masculinity and
how life would be different if
violence ended.
The nine-hour retreat consisted
of group discussions, small skits
and an interactive presentation
by the improv acting group, Will
Act For Change.
• "There are people who don't
feel safe on campus," Pahl said.
"That tells me that violence
does exist. Instead of just ignor­ing
the issue of violence against
women, we ask, 'what can men
do?'"
"We are at this retreat to get a
network of guys who think the
same way," said Brent Olson,
student coordinator for WMAV.
"With 30 guys here, this could
be the beginning of something
See WMAV, Page 4
IN THIS ISSUE
Volleyball claims
GNAC title
With two wins over the
weekend, the Vikings won
their first volleyball league
title in Western's history.
See story, Page 10.
Biringer Farms
is a-maze-ing
A 3.5-mile maze, Pumpkin
Country
and Dead-
Wood
Ranch are a
tradition in
Everett.
See story, Page 8
fc
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