Western Front - 2003 November 18

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ISSUE 17
VOLUME 127
IN THE ARMY NOW
uranium invades
troops and warfare.
Features, Page 7
FOOD-FOR-ALL
Should fast-food restaurants be
held responsible for obesity?
Opinions, Page 15
TITLE FIGHTING
Western's football team
claims GNAC title.
Sports, Page 11
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
The Western Front TUESDAY
NOV. 18,2003
State board wants UP, BPD address campus safety
increase in number
of college grads
BY ROB MORRELL
The Western Front
Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board
wants to see more Western students walking across Red
Square in 2010.
According to a draft version of the new master plan for
higher education in Washington, the board wants to
expand statewide college enrollment by 20 percent so that
schools will award an additional 5,500 bachelor's degrees
annually by 2010. The report, released Oct. 30, said
Washington ranks 33rd nationally in the number of bache­lor's
degrees earned at state schools.
Assistant Director of Admissions Michael Barr said
Western would like to remain a smaller school despite the
proposed expansion.
"We want to be an institution that is modestly sized," Barr
said. "We don't want to sacrifice quality for expansion."
Western Provost Andrew Bodman said he understands
the board's goal of expanding access to higher education,
but the enrollment increases mUst be coupled with addi­tional
state funding for colleges.
"The draft master plan contains nc commitment to the
future funding of higher education," Bodman said. "We
believe this is a vital missing piece in the plan: We caririot
continue with business as usual, with a declining state sub­sidy
per student, higher tuition costs for students and
expanded access, without an erosion of quality."
Western sophomore Sierra Schraff-Thomas said she
would welcome larger classes and a more crowded uni­versity,
if the enrollment increases were aimed at creating
diversity.
"It would be good to expand enrollment as long as
underrepresented groups are targeted," Schraff-Thomas
said. "The current enrollment is not an accurate reflection
of the actual population."
According to Western's most recent diversity informa­tion,
the fall 2002 student body was comprised of approx­imately
86 percent white students and 14 percent students
of color. U.S. Census data from the same year showed that,
at the time, nearly 18 percent of Washington residents were
people of color.
Barr said Western is planning to expand in coming
years, but geography and state resources restricts the uni^
versity's growth.
"We have plans for very modest, incremental growth
over the next 10 years by 120 students per year," he said.
"We can only grow as much as state funding increases, and
we are physically limited by space."
Western senior Stephany Hazelrigg said Washington's
low ranking for bachelor's degrees awarded was a reflec­tion
of the state's disinterest in education.
"If you look at what teachers are getting paid and how
under-funded the schools are in this state, you can see that
education is not a priority," Hazelrigg said.
According to projections by the HECB, public colleges in
Washington need to accept 45,000 more students by 2010
in order to catch up to the national average of 32.3 bache­lor's
degrees awarded per 1,000 residents.
j: jp .pront
Emergency system
to get updated
technology.
News, Page 6
AS rejects porn club
because of previous
bad publicity.
News, Page 6
Western Front at thewesternfronteditor@yahoo.com
B Y JOHN C. DAVEES
For The Western Front
A multitude of break-ins and
prowler reports in the neighborhoods
surrounding Western led Western's
Women's Empowerment and
Violence Education group to call an
informational meeting to alleviate
student concerns Monday night in
the Viking Union.
Melissa Locke, Crime Free coordi­nator
for the Bellingham Police
Department, David Doughty, assis­tant
chief of University Police, and
Sarah Rankin, case manager for
Crime And Sexual Assault Services,
provided handouts, business cards
and answers to questions from the
approximately 20 students who
attended the meeting.
"There have been 15 reports (of a
peeper being seen or break-ins)
around the York, Sehome and Happy
Valley neighborhoods," Locke said.
"We have no suspects. We need you to
be eyes and ears for us; all we know is
that it is a white male in his 20s with
angular features."
The focus of the evening, however,
SEE Safety, PAGE 4
ZEB WAINRIGHT/THE WESTERN FRONT
Ninety-nine-year-old Howard Wilder, left, the oldest-known living Viking football player, receives instructions on the coin toss
from official Jim Northcott before Western won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference against Western Oregon University.
Vikes honor 'super' senior
BY ZEB WAINWRIGHT
The Western Front
When Howard Wilder, 99, came to Western in 1923, the
school was called Bellingham State Normal School; the
Viking name had not been adopted and the football team
played at Waldo Field, which now is Red Square.
Wilder, an Olympia resident and the oldest-known liv­ing
Western football player, received a warm welcome
from fans at Civic Field on Saturday when he participated
in the coin toss for Western's game against Western
Oregon University.
Athletics marketing intern Katie Rothenberg was at the
game and said, while not all fans knew Wilderwould be at
the game, they reacted positively.
"I think (the fans) didn't really get it until they said he
was the oldest Viking football player and that he was
(almost) 100," she said.
Western Director of Planned Giving Al Froderberg, who
is a good friend of Wilder, invited him to Western for the
last football game of the season.
"I've known him for several years," Froderberg said.
"I've taken him out to lunch two or three times over the
past five years. I called him and I told him that, since we
were finishing our 100th year of football at Western, it
would be nice to have a 100-year-old alumnus at Western."
Like many athletes today, Wilder had a nickname. He.
went by "Dutch" for more than 40 years.
SEE Wilder, PAGE 12
Lagging business forces
Bellingham club to close
SHARA B. SMITH/THE WESTERN FRONT
Chevron employee Bobby Riggs''said busi­ness
has dropped since Christos closed.
BY IAN ALEXANDER
The Western Front
The lights are dark at Christos
Restaurant and Casino. Owner Jas
Gill decided to close the restaurant
and Club 110 on Nov. 12 so he could
spend more time with his family and
focus on the Slo Pitch Pub, which he
also owns.
"It was too much for me to han­dle,"
Gill said. "It was too many
business interests for me to have. My
family and two businesses, I could­n't
fit enough hours in the day."
Gill bought Christos three years
ago and opened the club one year
ago. He also said Bellingham's com­petitive
club industry made it diffi­cult
to run a bar.
"I just woke up one morning and
SEE Closed, PAGE 4