Western Front - 2003 July 22

              Doin'it bug style
Beetles "get down" in Western's
biology lab.
See Story, Page 6.
Going batty
Local bat caves yield surprises
around every corner.
See Story, Page 8.
TUESDAY, July 22, 2003 The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 126 Issue 5 Bellingham, Washington
Faculty reacts to cuts
A reduction in funding
causes departments to
reduce operating costs
By Bryan Sharick
THE WESTERN FRONT
English Department
Chairwoman Kathleen Lundeen
sits at her desk wading through
papers, trying to figure out how
she can cut approximately 20
classes and still provide quality
education for Western students.
"The (department) chairs are
feeling frantic," Lundeen said.
"There is no way to avoid cutting
faculty. You can't provide classes if
you take away teachers. We have
to insure students have the classes
needed to get their degree."
Although the budget situation
is still unclear, many depart­ments
face up to 1 percent cuts
out of Western's operating budget,
Lundeen said. The legislature's
approval of $6.3 million less for
the '03 to '05 biennium operating
budget caused the situation, said
Bob Edie, Western vice president
See FIX, Page 4
Budget shortfalls
force cutbacks of
Arts and Sciences
Justin McCaughan/The Western Front
Faculty Senate President James Loucky said the impacts of
the mandated budget cuts will be felt across campus.
Western announces new dean
By Matt McDonald
THE WESTERN FRONT
Western announced its selection for the dean of the
new College of Science and Technology on July 16.
Arlan Norman, chemistry professor and associate
dean for natural sciences at the University of
Colorado, Boulder, will take over as dean in the Fall.
"A(n) organizational change like this is always
complicated, but I am very enthusiastic and I am
excited about(this opportunity) and I believe it will
work out quite well," Norman said.
Western's board of trustees decided to split the
College of Arts and Sciences into the College of
Science and Technology and the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences with a unanimous
vote last December. The faculty was largely opposed
to restructuring the colleges, but Western's admin­istrators
have chosen to move forward with it.
"One of the things I'm sure they will need now is
some experienced leadership through the process of
separating a college into parts and reorganizing
these parts into two colleges, and it is not as easy as
some people may think," Norman said. "The experi­ence
I've had (in Colorado) as an associate dean for
a large division college and also the work I have
specifically done with several departments transi­tioning
them from one area to another and so forth
will be quite valuable to me."
Western is feeling the burden of budget problems
due to a less-than-expected biennium operating bud­get
of $110 million instead of the originally expected
$126 million. With the college restructuring, it will
also cause more budget woes for the new dean.
"That's an area I bring some expertise," Norman
said. "During the time I've spent at the Dean's office
at Colorado these last two years, we have been
managing budget cuts. I do believe in looking
strategically at programs when you build, but also
See CHOICE, Page 3
By Leslie Sugiura
THE WESTERN FRONT
Western faculty recently
learned that the university will
receive only 70 percent of the
anticipated funding for tempo­rary
and adjunct faculty, as well
as elective classes and extra
sections of mandatory classes.
During a July 15 meeting,
the interim Dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences,
Ronald Kleinknecht, asked
departments to prepare
revised schedules to reduce
the number of sections offered
for the 2003-04 academic year
by either combining or elimi­nating
courses, increasing
enrollment limits or shifting
some courses to summer 2004
in order to save money.
"The university's first oblig­ation
is to provide sufficient
classes to students," English
Department Chairwoman
Kathleen Lundeen said. "We
cannot compromise the quality
of the education we provide."
The chairpeople must nego­tiate
cutbacks acceptable to
the dean by July 23, Lundeen
said. The provost's only guide­lines
were that departments
do their best to preserve access
to general university require­ments
and to minimize the
impact on majors, she said.
"The suggestions we were
presented with make it diffi­cult,
especially for majors,"
Lundeen said. "Offering fewer
courses for majors means giv­ing
them less ability to get the
classes they need. Students
won't be able to graduate in
spring as planned."
University officials are sup­posed
to follow the contingency
plan, which is used if Western
has reductions in the coming
biennial budget, Lundeen said.
The University Planning
Council, the Faculty Senate
and the board of trustees
approve the plan every year.
The plan outlines the mea­sures
taken by the administra­tion,
including the order in
which funding is to be looked
at first within each level of the
university, she said.
"The faculty has not received
any indication that the admin­istration
was following the con­tingency
plan," Lundeen said.
"We need reassurance that the
plan is being followed. We are
not saying that they aren't fol­lowing
it, we just need to be
informed that they have."
Western asked for $126.8
million in state general funds
for the 2003-2005 biennium,
which, along with the tuition
revenue, would cover all of the
expenses needed to run the col­lege
plus program expenses,
said Paula Rustan, executive
director for University
Planning and Budgeting.
The $126.8 million included
$116.3 million in a carry-for­ward
budget, which is how
much the university had for
the previous biennium. The
$126.8 million also included
funding for extras, such as
new professors, 120 new stu­dents
each year, compensation
for faculty and staff and
monies to enhance local eco­nomic
partnerships, she said.
"It was an enthusiastic bud­get
request that would get
Western in good shape,"
Rustan said. "Unfortunately,
the governor could not even
See CUTS, Page 4
Asia University students return home after five months in America
By Yosuke Taki
THE WESTERN FRONT
Asia University sophomore
Megumi Yamaguchi said she
felt like she was in Disneyland
when she walked from her
Fairhaven residence hall to
campus every morning.
"Streets are paved by red
brick, and I see a lot of foreign­ers,"
she said. "Buildings and
works of arts are pretty,
although I don't quite under­stand
the merit of the works of
arts."
The 29th session of the Asia
University America Program
concluded after a closing cere­mony
July 17 in Fraser Hall 3.
The students returned to Tokyo
on Monday after living on cam­pus
for five months to learn the
English language and intercul-tural
exchanges.
Asia University sophomore
Koji Togiya said he had
dreamed of coming to the
United States for a long time.
When he was a senior in high
school in Tokyo, he learned
that Asia University offers
AUAP. He emphasized that the
sole reason he chose to attend
Asia University was because of
the program.
"I tried to spend as much time
as I could with Americans rather
than spending time with other
AUAP students," he said. "I
made 30, 50 or even more
American friends."
Making many foreign friends
gave him a confidence in com­munication,
he said. Togiya
said he also became able to lis­ten
and understand English
and find words fluently when
he speaks, he said.
Yamaguchi said being able to
communicate in a foreign lan­guage
had been her dream
since she saw one of her aunts,
See AUAP, Page 3
Eric Berto/The Western Front
Former International Peer Adviser Aaron Milligan chats with
Asia University America Program participant Risa Shimazu
Monday before she left for her home in Japan.
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