Western Front - 1992 July 22

              Scouts penalized for teaching
family values, page 3
Merry Wives at Western
Summer Stock, page 2
The Western Front
July 22,1992/Volume 84, Number 58 Western Washington University please recycle
Employment center lists job options
By Tara Perry
staff reporter
Looking for a job or a place to
volunteer? The Student Employment
Center, located in Old Main 260, has
a listing service of jobs and volunteer
positions available.
Patti Basart, program assistant of
volunteer/ community service at the
student employment center, said,
" It's a real self-service process. Read
a job card of interest, then contact the
agency."
Basart said in 1991,250 students
used volunteer services. So far in
1992, 634 students have been con­nected
with volunteer agencies. She
said altogether there are 3,000 stu-d
»nte-do»na volunteer service of some
sort on and-off campus.
Basart said in the last two years
volunteer experience has become
more important, and that many stu­dents
say they leam from it. Basart
said, "Students are realizing more and
more how they can help. It's also a
chance to visit a senior center or be­come
a big brother/ big sister."
Basart said since more and more
students are remaining at Western
during the summers, it's a good time
for students to work with teens to
keep them from "hanging out" or
getting into throuble. She thinks it's
important for college students to get
involved with helping youths.
The work study program is not
Survey results in...
Graduate placement reflects
current economic conditions
By Rick LaPorte
staff reporter
Laura May works at the student employment center while
Sara Jones checks out the job board.
offered Hurtng the summer. Rut if
you feel you are eligible for work
study, Basart said to go ahead and
apply through the financial aid office.
By the end of Aug. or early Sept.,
students will be notified on whether
they qualify for the program. The
student employment center can an­swer
any questions you have about
the work study program.
Basart said there are more non-work
study jobs than work study jobs
on campus. She said people who are
serious about getting a job should
check with the center once a week.
B asart said, "The information we
keep is pretty current and complete.
We ask employers to let us know
when a job is filled."
H.C. Yi. a Western student, said.
"... Patti Basart was really helpful...
She went out of her way to get infor­mation.
They (employment center)
give out a lot of beneficial informa­tion
for jobs."
The center can also help you with
resumes, coyer letters or applica­tions.
Students can contact either
Basart or Fred Ondeck, assistant di­rector
for students financialresources.
Basart said in many cases em­ployers
that advertise for jobs on
campus are more willing to work
around student schedules. She said,
"If someone is discouraged about
getting a job on or off campus, they
should check with our staff to see
what all other options might be."
Reflections of the nation's current
economic situation can be seen in the
1990-91 Graduate Survey. The survey
reported a total of 79 percent of re­spondents
with bachelor's degrees
(non-education) finding placement
This number decreased 5 percent from
the 1989-90 report. Interim director
of the Career Planning and Placement,
TinaBrinson, said that this decline in
placement is a result of the country's
lagging economy.
However, teaching certificate
recipients from Woodring College of
Education had an 8 percent increase
in placement from the previous year,
with 93 percent placed and 7 percent
still seeking placement.
From a total of 257 certified
education graduates, 217 (84 percent)
found jobs that were field-related, 17
(7 percent) found work in non-related
fields and 4 (2 percent) decided to
continue their education.
"Keep in mind," said Brinson,
"That we do track whether they go on
for further education, and we regard
that as a [planned] placement."
Themajority of Western's teacher
placements in Washington were in
Whatcom county, with 22 percent,
followed by King and Snohomish
counties, each with 20 percent, and
all other counties with 5 percent or
less. Out-of-state placements were in
California, Missouri, Oregon, Texas,
Africa, Japan and Thailand.
Of 219 Master's Degree recipi­ents
in 1990-91,90 percent of survey
respondents found placement. Sev-enty-
fivepercentofthoseplacements
were field-related. The total average
annual salary of the group was.
$31,658, with the highest average
found in the elementary school ad­ministration
major.
"Our main purpose," said
Brinson, "Is to give people an idea...
of what the market has been. A lot of
students will come in and they'll want
to know what is .a fair salary expec­tation."
Brinson said that salary infor­mation
is included in the report be­cause
it is interesting, but was pro­vided
on a voluntary basis, and they
didn't get a response "anywhere near
100 percent." She also said salary is
no t only based upon the degree earned,
but can also reflect "significant ex­perience
that person had."
Non-education departments
showing the highest number of place­ments
include chemistry, music and
philosophy, with 100 percent, speech
pathology/audiology with 96 percent,
Please see Grad Survey,
page 4
How safe are you?
Task force pinpoints many safety problems on campus
By Julie Krause
copy editor
How safe is Western's campus?
What is meant by "campus safety?"
Should the surrounding areas of
Western be considered for its safety
when "campus safety" is assessed?
Western is attempting to answer some
of these questions to assess and im­prove
campus safety.
Pat Fabiano, of Western's
Wellness Program and a member of
Western's task force on sexual mis­conduct,
said safety is a campus
taking responsibility for its geo­graphical
and physical uniqueness. A
university must plan its structures,
parking lots and locking procedures
to maximize people's safety, she said.
"There is a physical, objective
and external reality called safety,"
she said.
However, Fabiano said there is
another level of safety that is internal.
This internal safety involves educat­ing
people about their risks of being
victimized and what can be done to
minimize those risks.
"Every campus has a responsi­bility
to educate people about the
risks that are areality and a possibility
on that campus, and ho w to reduce the
possibility of that risk or totally
eliminate that risk," she said.
Fabiano said the physical safety
of Western's campus is an immense
job for anyone to assess. It is difficult
for her to assess how safe students
feel walking to parking lots or how
safe they feel in certain parts of the
library, she said.
Fabiano is one of about a dozen
members of the task force on sexual
misconduct, designed to assess the
internal safety of Western's campus.
The task force was started last spring
quarter by then-Vice President for
Student Affairs Saundra Taylor.
Task force members include
student, staff and faculty members
with expertise, or interest in, the area
of sexual misconduct. The head of
Rape Relief Services in Bellingham,
Carolyn Hudnall, is also on the task
force. Fabiano said this task force is
"beginning the long process of trying
to transform this campus into one
where people feel safe internally."
Fabiano said this will be a long
process, because it depends on cre­ating
many variables, which are: a
strong, clear, campus-wide policy that
is articulated from the highest ad­ministration,
regarding how Western
feels about the whole range of sexual
misconduct; clear campus-wide pro­cedures
for helping survivors of sexual
assault; andacomprehensivecampus-wide
program that includes students,
faculty and staff on preventing sexual
assault.
Fabiano said prevention of
sexual assault includes more than just
carrying acan of Mace. It also includes
understanding how one carries oneself
physically in the world, so as to not
look like a victim, and extends to
understanding complex gender roles
that lie at the root of why we misun­derstand
each other so pervasively
about what constitutes sexual mis­conduct.
Fabiano said the external and
internal components of campus safety
are not separate. She said if a campus
adopts the three external procedures
the task force is trying to instigate at
Western, then new students will re­alize
sexyal assault does occur and
that the university cares and is doing
something toward its prevention.
"This year, for the first time
during new student orientation, the
lifestyle advisers will be talking to
new students about sexual assault at
Western and how they can reduce
their risk of becoming victims of
sexual assault while they are here,"
she said. "We are really happy about
that."
During orientation, which takes
place the first week of the academic
year, information will be given by
lifestyle advisers, who are health
educators at Western. Instead of just
giving students pamphlets, the
lifestyle advisers will discuss sexual
assault with students. Fabiano said
giving students pamphlets is not
enough to educate them about sexual
assault.
"This year there is going to be a
discussion (about sexual misconduct).
They're going to be sessions that all
new students and transfer students
will be required to attend during ori­entation,"
she said.
In considering the cost of insti­gating
such programs, Fabiano said
one must also consider the cost sexual
assault has on the victim.
"What does it cost a victim's life
to have been sexually assaulted on
this campus? One never can measure
that," she said. "I think it's important
when one talks about cost to keep
things in perspective."
Making preventing sexual as­sault
and assisting survivors of sexual
assault a priority, rather than consid­ering
the cost of such programs, may
be difficult, Fabiano said.
"I hate to think that in order for
people to care, every one of us needs
to know a victim of sexual assault,"
she said. "I would like to think that in
a community like a university, just
knowing there are victims we would
care."
Please see Campus
safety, page 4