Western Front - 1993 January 29

              January 29,1993/Volume 85, Number 24 Vpstefn Washington University
peacefully discussed the subject for nearly
dard, make everyone follow the same rules
$n|§rem^
:|es|:i|fi$
iarj^itfte^i
•;iMl|tepm
i^oirijtipp^
ultuvelrMie&arM
::J|||B'u£^
e^iressed;::^
|&paindi^
;gr|i$ii^
^Oiijtfi&m
; w ^ ^ details of the
ppj^itipn's point of view;"
:^ still feels
" t r j ^
p ^ l e i h^
& ^
•:;|iist£^
WSL goal: more education for the money
By John Pressentin
campus government editor
If the Washington Student Lobby has
its way during this year's legislative ses­sion,
students of public higher education
should see a reasonable line between tuition
increases and financial aid, educational
quality maintained despite proposals to lift
enrollment lids, and student representation
on university governance boards in the
next year.
Despite financial problems, WSL has
high hopes for this year's session. Keith
Boyd, Western's legislative liaison, said its
overriding concern is the proposed tuition
hikes. He said a hike is inevitable with the
state's recent budget shortfall, but is hope­ful
the percentage will be lower than former
Gov. Gardner's proposed 14-percent in­crease.
"We'd like to see something below 10
percent," he said. ""Whatever the amount,
we want it to be intrinsically linked to
increased financial aid."
Boyd said he thinks Gov. Mike Lowry
won't sting students with high tuition in­crease.
It's not likely any firm proposals
will be made until next spring.
"We're hopeful Lowry will stick to the
promises of his campaign, as a strong sup­porter
of higher education," he said.
As legislative liaison, Boyd is a mem­ber
of the State Board of Directors for
See LOBBY, page 5
please recycle
Western looks
for better way to
diversify faculty
By Chris Geer
staff reporter
In response to the small growth of ten­ured
minority faculty at Western since
1990, the university has proposed the adop­tion
of a more aggressive recruitment pro­cess,
said Larry Estrada, vice-provost for
diversity and director of American Cultural
Studies. According to statics from Estrada's
office, two tenured faculty positions have
been filled by minority applicants since
1990.
Maurice Bryan, director of the Center
for Equal Opportunity, said there are many
reasons for the small increase in minority-faculty
hiring at Western compared to the
growth in minority student enrollment.
"Part of it is availability. We have been
more successful with students because they
are out there," Bryan said. He said finding
faculty is not always as easy within the
current recruitment process.
"The (faculty) have to be qualified or
moving towards being qualified. In some
fields, the numbers are just much smaller,"
Bryan said.
Another hindrance to recruiting mi­nority
faculty is the lack of a strong and
established minority community in the
Bellingham area, a problem that can be
resolved by a more aggressive approach, he
said.
"Those people who don't need to be
in a big city or urban center- those are the
folks we need to find," Bryan said.
Estrada said Western has a number of
strategies to bring in more faculty diversity.
The first involves developing relationships
with specific departments on campus as
well as at other institutions. This would
give Western a much needed rapport with
prospective minority candidates and would
enable departments to fill specific vacancies
See DIVERSITY, page 4
Low income families get homes with 'sweat equity'
By Troy Schauls
- staff reporter
Whatcom Self Help Homes (WSHH) has
been slated to receive $150,000 in state loan
money from the Washington Housing Trust
Fund to help 15 low-income families build
and purchase their own homes.
The organization is a non-profit agency
that orchestrates the construction and low-interest
financing of quality housing for
families in Whatcom County making less
than 80 percent of the county's median in­come.
But an unusual catch exists. Families
who qualify must contribute an average of
$23,000 to the finished value of the home in
the form of construction labor. Michael More,
executive director of the WSHH, calls this
time and labor contribution "sweat equity."
More says this equity gives low-income
families a chance that they would not other­wise
have.
'They get to pocket that [equity]," More
said, "so you're talking about a very low-income
family that can barely afford rent all
of a sudden owning a house and having
equity to the extent of $23,000. It gives them
a real feeling of economic security."
The newly appropriated state money will
serve to extend the limited resources that
WSHH receives from the federal govern­ment
in two ways. It will allow the 15 bor­rowing
families to take out a mortgage from
the federal sources for $10,000 less than the
total cost of the house. The difference will be
made up by the state-loaned dollars allowing
federal dollars to be spread to more families.
Secondly, it serves to make the houses
even more affordable because payment of
the 2 percent annual interest rate is deferred
until the owner sells the home.
The homes built under the supervision
of contractors organized through the agency
have an average monthly mortgage payment
of $200. Those who qualify for the program
must be in the lowest income categories. For
example,40 percent of the families Whatcom
Self Help Homes serves each year are con­sidered
"very low income," meaning that a
family of four can make no more than $ 17,200
a year to be eligible— only 50 percent of the
county's median income. The other 60 per­cent
are in the "low income" category,
where a family of four can make no more
than $27,500 per year— 80 percent of the
county's median.
Sally Higgins, accounts manager for the
agency, listed additional considerations for
program qualification. "You have to make
enough money to afford home ownership as
well as meet a credit requirement. So aside
from being low-income you have to be able
to pay for upkeep, property taxes, sewer and
garbage," Higgins said.
Since Whatcom Self Help Homes began
in 1978, they have helped build 250 homes
in the county and they now average 20-25
homes every year. That figure is becoming
more difficult to maintain because land close
to Bellingham is becoming expensive and
See WSHH, page 3
wwiMH^iof? ACCENT^