Western Front - 2002 November 15

              Get out of town!
Tired of Bellingham? Entertaining
options less than an hour away.
See Story, Page 6.
M's to name Melvin as manager
Former Arizona bench coach may
begin managing career as Mariner skipper.
See Story, Page 11
2002 The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 123 Issue 15 Bellingham, Washington
Party swing
not 'the end
of the world'
for Democrats
BY KATIE JAMES
As election results trickled in
on the night of Nov. 5, disap­pointed
Democrats watched the
Senate majority slip into the
hands of the Republican Party.
Michael Swanson, the presi­dent
of Western's Campus
Republicans, said liberals are
overreacting to the recent
Republican victory.
"If people think it's the end of
the world, it's really not," he
said.
Republicans gained full con­gressional
control in the
national election, holding 51 of
the 100 seats in the Senate and
228 of the 435 seats in the
House of Representatives.
Before the election, the
Republicans controlled only the
House of Representatives.
Swanson said despite the
conservative majority, a lot of
procedures will probably stay
the same.
"It would be stupid of
(President Bush) to go totally
conservative," he said. "He
would lose support from the
moderate members of
Congress, not to mention get
crushed in the next election."
Western sophomore Amit
Sharma said the Republican
majority will put the Democrats
at a disadvantage.
"I think it's going to be a rough
two years for the Democrats,"
said Sharma, who worked on U.S.
Rep. Rick Larsen's (D-Wash.) suc­cessful
election campaign. "All we
can do now is start working
toward the 2004 election."
Sharma said Republican con-
See REACTIONS, Page 4
Police stake out crosswalks
Heather Trimm/ The Western Front
Western sophomore Ashlee Vincent attempts to cross Bill McDonald Parkway as a car
passes through the crosswalk. Washington state law requires cars to stop if pedestrians
are standing inside the bounds of crosswalks. When caught, violators are fined $86.
Study shows Increase in college student cheating
BY JEANNA BARRETT
Next time you decide to speed
past civilians waiting at a cross­walk,
the pedestrian crossing
could be an undercover police
officer.
The Bellingham Police Depa­rtment
launched a three-week
crosswalk safety campaign last
month to raise awareness about
pedestrian safety laws. Failure
to obey the crosswalk law
results in an $86 ticket.
After a two-week study, police
found that 53 percent of drivers
did not stop for pedestrians at
crosswalks. Last week, police
issued 236 tickets to motorists
who broke the law.
"The city of Bellingham has a
problem," Bellingham Police
Sgt. Shawn Aimu said. "There
are more and more complaints
from pedestrians that cars are
not yielding for them."
Pedestrians have the most
trouble crossing at busy one­way
streets downtown, Aimu
said. More than 127 people
cross the 800 block of East
Chestnut Street in the morn­ing,
and the majority of them
See CROSSWALK, Page 4
BY MEAGAN MCFADDEN
After being bed-ridden for a
week with the flu and unable to
attend class, Western freshman
Alysha Holmiquist said she had
no choice but to cheat off of her
classmate's test.
'T didn't feel I would get caught
because there are about 150 stu­dents
in the class," Holmiquist
said. 'T felt really guilty doing it."
According to a study conducted
by the Center for Academic
Integrity, college students are
cheating more than ever.
Research from 250 universities
indicates that 30 percent of stu­dents
have cheated on tests or
exams, and 41 percent have pla­giarized
written assignments.
Plagiarism and cheating
occurs at Western because pro­fessors
do not always define
what cheating is in their classes,
University Judicial Officer Mic­hael
Schardein said.
Schardein said the faculty
expects students to read the
Students Rights and Respon­sibilities
Code in the 2002-2003
Bulletin. The code defines
cheating and describes discipli­nary
actions that follow.
"There is still an expectation
of the student, but we don't
have the opportunity to talk
with them like we should,"
' Schardein said.
Cheating, or academic dishon­esty,
is defined as plagiarism,
which is using someone's work
without attribution, giving or
receiving information before or
during an exam without proper
authorization and misrepresen­tation
of identity, according to
the Students Rights and
Responsibilities code.
Schardein said in both first and
second violations, the professor is
given the ability to choose what
to do with a guilty student. The
professor can issue the student a
failing grade for the assignment
or for the entire class and might
be sent to the University Judicial
Affairs Office for review.
"When someone violates uni­versity
policy, we expect them to
learn from their mistake,"
Schardein said.
If the student is found guilty
of cheating a second time,
Schardein can suspend the stu­dent
for a quarter, he said.
Schardein said approximately
See CHEATING, Page 4
U.S. Army Corps prepares to restore Puget Sound's deteriorating coastline
BY BRANDON ROSAGE
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is examining the
Puget Sound coastline to restore
one of the world's richest fresh­water
and saltwater environ­ments,
parts of which scientists
believe are close to collapsing. v
The corps is in the second year
of a five-year plan to take inven­tory
of shoreline erosion and
contamination problems along
the shores of Puget Sound, said
Maria Or, Seattle Corps District
public affairs officer.
The corps' plan includes a
comprehensive study and
restructuring of the Puget
Sound's shore habitat during a
20-year period.
Matt Chase, associate geologist
for Coastal Geologic Services,
said several locations along
Bellingham Bay are in need of
attention, including the down­town
shore and Padden Creek
Lagoon.
Chase said creosote, a chemi­cal
in the tar used to prevent
pilings from rotting, has leaked
into the bay from abandoned
pilings and existing marine
docks, endangering wildlife
and residents. He said studies
show that creosote can be
harmful and, in some cases,
lethal if consumed by humans
and wildlife.
He said the corps is likely to
address the problems in
Bellingham Bay because they
affect both wildlife and resi­dents
in the area.
"I've seen an increase in
interest in the near shore,"
Chase said. "People are start­ing
to recognize that it definite­ly
needs work if the Puget
Sound is going to be as clean
and rich as it has been in the
past."
The corps is taking inventory
of the 2,354 miles of coastline,
beginning at the tip of the
Olympic Peninsula, through
the mudflats of Olympia and to
the eastern shore of Canada.
The distance of the examined
See SOUND, Page 4
Peter Louras/The Western Front
Seagulls search for food stranded by a low tide at the Birch
Bay tire flats,or mud flats, one area specified for cleanup.
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