Western Front - 1992 March 13

              Opinions
Bikers beware, and book
baffles...
see page 14
Accent
Violent Femmes concert follows
spring break.
See pages 8-9
Sports
Derek "Turn and Burn*
Barnard
leads ruggers.
See page 11
The Western Front March 13,1992/Volume 84, Number 35 Western Washington University please recycle
, Geography dept plans to join Huxley
By John Pressentin
staff reporter
The geography and regional
planning department may transfer
from the College of Arts and Sciences
and merge with the Huxley College
of Environmental Studies by fall
quarter 1992. During an open hearing
on March 6, the geography depart­ment
and Huxley College, along with
members of the University Planning
Council voiced concerns about how a
merge would affect the curriculums
of students in these majors.
Before a merge can occur, a final
proposal must be reviewed by the
Academic Coordinating Commission
(ACC) and the University Planning
Council (UPC). Then, the UPC will
make a recommendation to Provost
Larry De Lorme, before seeking
President Kenneth Mortimer's ap­proval.
De Lorme said a decision about
the merge will be made during spring
quarter of 1992.
The proposed merge has been an
effort that has been underway for
mere than two years. At this point, the
merge has been unanimously sup­ported
by the faculty of both Huxley
College and die department of geog­raphy
and regional planning.
"We think there are compelling
curricular reasons for corning to­gether,"
said John Miles, dean of
Huxley College.
The faculty of both departments
agreed on the proposal, which out­lines
how the merge would affect
both departments. During the hearing,
Miles stated the terms of the proposal.
Within Huxley College, a center
for geography and planning studies
would be established by faculty of
both departments under the proposal,
Miles said. Faculty of the geography
department would become full mem­bers
of Huxley College and partici­pate
in all governance.
Geography students enrolled in
programs would be able to continue
in them, while becoming full mem­bers
of Huxley College, Miles said.
Geography classes would be included
among the Huxley core requirements
as alternatives to the current Huxley
core requirements, he added.
The established bachelor of arts
geography programs in planning will
continue to be offered, and a bachelor
of science program will be developed
as soon as possible.
The graduate program in geog­raphy
will continue and will be
strengthened, while a master of sci­ence
in planning will be explored as a
potential graduate program, Miles
said.
The map library, cartography labs
and the Center for Pacific Northwest
Studies will continue and will
strengthen as resources for the geog­raphy
department and the university,
he said.
Thedepartmentof geography and
regional planning is one of 22 de­partments
within the College of Arts
and Sciences at Western.
Miles said in an interview mat in
recent years ithadbeenrelegated as a
"low-priority program." by the Col­lege
of Arts and Sciences. There had
even been talk of phasing the program
out, and redistributing its faculty into
other units of the university.
"We said we think geography is
important to environmental studies,"
he said. "If you don't want it at the
College of Arts and Sciences, we'll
take it here at Huxley."
Existing programs in the geog­raphy
department would remain in­tact,
as they were in the College of
Arts and Sciences.
At Huxley, the most important
reason for transferring the department
is mat the college has potential to
create a better program.
"We think it's achance to broaden
the scope of both programs because
they both deal with the study of our
relation to the environment," said
Dehnath Mookherjee, chair of the
departmentof geography and regional
planning.
A major concern raised at the
hearing was that Huxley essentially is
an upper-division program, whereas
the geography department offers both
upper and lower division classes to
students.
Please see
Geography,
page 3
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Photo by Erik Kvilaas
Industrial design
students display work
By Michael Thompson
staff reporter
Nine students from Western's senior industrial design program will display
their product designs at two Seattle exhibitions on March 8-22, at Current, a
designer furniture store, 1201 Western Ave., and March 12-21, at Peter Miller
Architectural Design and Books, 1930 First Ave.
The Current exhibit will feature efficiency modules. Industrial design senior
Mike Kearney said the goal of the efficiency module assignment was to design
something that would serve the students personally and make their lives more
efficient Kearney said these designs included a phone stand, a computer stand
and a bill organizer.
The Peter Miller exhibit will feature water faucets. The faucets were
designed and built fall quarter as a class project.
Senior Brett Eddy said the goal of the faucet project was to design something
artistic, yet functional.
"The whole senior year is focused on showing our artistic ability. While they
(the faucets) have a task, they are an artistic thing—like sculpture," Eddy said.
Unlike previous years, mis year's seniors were required to make their
designs functional. Eddy said the new emphasis on functionality will set
Western students apart from students at other schools.
"Making the product work will impress the employers more. That carries a
lot of weight," Eddy said.
Eddy said it is important for design students to have a background in other
areas of technology to be able to design artistic, but functional, products.
"We take at least one course in plastics so we're familiar with the industry.
There are so many plastics out there. We have to be considerate of that, but we
don't have to be experts. That's what manufacturing engineers do," Eddy said.
Arunas P. Oslapas, the program's director, said the program's strength is its
technology base.
"I think they (Western graduates) are more competitive than people coming
Please see industrial design, page 4