Western Front - 1992 October 16

              The Western Front October 16,1992/Volume 85, Number 6 Western Washington University please recycle
Drum ceremony unites Western students
By Shahid Rahman
staff reporter
The drum ceremony performed Monday in Red Square has a long tradition
in many Native-American groups, primarily in the Northwest.
"~- The ceremony was the opening event in a year-long Columbian
Quincentennial series that will run from October 1992-May 1993.
Some people noticed at the beginning of the ceremony, the drummers
prepared themselves spiritually for the task at hand. They lit a type of grass and
passed the smoke over their heads to purify themselves, said James Loucky,
assistant professor of the anthropology department. They also purified the
drums by using tobacco, a sacred herb.
The drummers and singers were in a circle and the people observing them
stood in a bigger circle. Loucky said the circle was a symbol of the audience and
the drummers working together as one. Everyone can be part of this the group
from drummer to spectator, Loucky said.
The songs were especially picked to be happy songs, said Elizabeth Manche,
project director in the history department. She also said the songs were sung in
the Lummi language and they were happy because they wanted people to know
there was no animosity between the Native-American people and the white
people. One of the drum ceremonies' goals was to spark a desire for
understanding on both sides, Manche said.
"The songs were very sacred," Loucky said. He said there were two types
of songs; an honor song for the people that were there and a welcome song.
Another part of the ceremony was when the drummers interacted with the
audience. They greeted the circle of students around them. Some Western
students may have not been used to that, Loucky said. That's just an example
of how another culture does something different.
Loucky said an urban industrial culture such as ours has lost its connectiveness.
The drum ceremony was a sense of connectiveness, and everyone around
Drums continued on page 6 __________
Photo by Steve Dunkelberger
Members of the Western community join hands and form a circle in Red Square while
drums beat out ancient rhythms.
Celebration emphasizes need for multicultural curriculum
By Steve Duncan
staff reporter
The United Nations has proclaimed 1993
the Year of the Indigenous People.
For many Latinos and Native Americans,
1993 provides an opportunity to look back in
history to the time when Christopher Columbus
arrived in North America in 1492. The arrival of
Columbus opened the door for European-
American's exploitation and oppression of the
indigenous people of this part of the world.
Elizabeth Martinez, Chicanahistory scholar
and political activist, brought Dia-de la Raza, an
annual celebration set up to discuss past arid
contemporary struggles of Hispanic and indig­enous
peoples in the United States, to Western
Oct 9.
Martinez said, after announcing the U.N.
proclamation, that the struggle for Latinos and
Native Americans is an ongoing process.
During her visit to Western, Martinez
participated in a panel discussion on the con­temporary
problems facing Latinos and Native
American peoples. ? .'
Martinez and the panel addressed the edu­cational,
economic and social/political battles
Native Americans and Latinos face because of
500 years of oppression and exploitation.
Drop-out rates and accessibility to higher
education are the most pressing education
problems facing Latinos. Latinos are dropping
out of high school at a rate of 55-60 percent. In
addition, the number of Latinos in college is
decreasing. Panel members concluded institu­tions
should have more multi-cultural curricu­lum,
and more Native Americans and Latino
Studies.
Western is in the process of curriculum
transformation, arid Fairhaven does offer some
Native-American studies. Despite this, Western
is the only university in Washington that is not
a member of the curriculum transformation pro­gram
set up by the Ford Foundation and
Washington's Center of Undergraduate Educa­tion.
The program has meetings with educators
and institutions to help assist with the transfor­mation.
Larry Estrada, assistant vice president for
student affairs/diversity said he was told by
Raza continued on page 3
Western women gain edge in Washington athletics
Photo by Steve Dunkel berger
Patti Wales (from left), Mlnda Davis
and Marie Schott are ready to play
some varsity fast-pitch softball.
PAGE 9
SPECIAL SECTION:
By Scott Tompkins
staff reporter
Western leads all other Washing­ton
institutions in the race for gender
equity in athletics. According to a
report submitted to the Board of
Trustees Oct. 2, 41 percent of West-em
athletes are women.
This ratio exceeds the state stan­dard
of 39 percent.
"Westernhas always been a leader
in gender equity and funding for
women's sports," said Lynda
Goodrich, director of athletics. 'Tra­ditionally,
Western, has been very
sensitive to gender issues."
Washington law requires all state-funded
institutions have at least 39
percent women varsity athletes by
1994 in order to qualify for tuition
waivers. The rate is based on the ratio
cf female to male 1988 high school
athletes.
Each even-numbered year,
Washington institutions are required
to submit a self-study concerning
gender equity in athletics. The University of
Washington reported that 37 percent of their
athletes were women, while Central Washing­ton
University reported that at the end of 1992
their athletes were 33 percent women. Eastern
Washington University reported 34 percent
women.
Goodrich said Washington is unique be­cause
it is the only state that has this type of
legislation. She said the ultimate goal of the
institution is to obtain equity as it is reflected in
the undergraduate studentbody. National Colle­giate
Athletic Association (NCAA) has encour­aged
equity standards based on the undergradu­ate
student body ratio of men to women. This
goes beyond* the state standards.
"Gender equity is difficult to achieve in any
school where football is a sport because football
takes up so much money," said Marie Eaton,
interim vice president of student affairs and
dean of Fairhaven College.
"I think if you look at all our programs, we
are equitable across the board, except football,"
Goodrich said. "It is difficult to match football
up with a women's sport."
Goodrich said football has been matched up
with women's volleyball traditionally, but it is
an unfair assumption because football has 100
participants while volleyball has 12 and the
funding for football is so much higher.
"Creating more opportunities for women is
our first priority," said Carmen Dolfo, women's
basketball coach. "Our department does a good
job of keeping things equitable. We believe that
women should have an equal opportunity in the
sports at Western as men do."
"We don't want reverse discrimination, but
women should have equal opportunity to play,"
Goodrich said.
With the addition of fastpitch softball as a
varsity sport in 1993, the percentage of women
athletes will be even greater. Women's fast
pitch has become popular as a college sport over
the last three or four years.
"We had a great, very organized club sport
(softball) here," Goodrich said. "It was natural
to pull it in as a varsity sport."
Gary Fredericks, director of athletics at
CWU, said he predicts a 4 percent increase in the
number of women to men athletes due to the
addition of fastpitch softball at CWU.
Goodrich recently returned from
Equity continued on page 6
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