Western Front - 2004 February 13

              ISSUE 10
VOLUME 128
STRETCH OUT
Peek at next season's men's
and women's track teams.
Sports, Page 11
NOT IN PUBLIC
France's ban of religious clothing in
schools will only worsen problems.
Opinions, Page 14
OH, THE PAIN
Body modifications may hurt,
but they still look cool.
Accent, Page 9
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
The Western Front FRIDAY
FEB. 13, 2004
V-Day campaign seeks to end assaults
Students and faculty celebrate anti-violence week with march and carnival
By Katie Scaief
The Western Front
As students and faculty walked
to classes in the dense fog
Monday morning, some saw red
tape guarding landmarks where
people had committed sexual
assaults on campus in the past.
The tape read "Rape Free
Zone," and signs explained each
incident. Flower petals shifted in
the breeze on top of patches of
sidewalk and dirt in some zones.
"I think a lot of women have
been silenced," Western senior
Elizabeth Hart said. "A lot have
never had the chance to have
discussions or dialogue about
these things."
At noon approximately 20 stu­dents
participated in a silent
march to recognize the assaults,
Western's Women's Center co-coordinator
Brenna Monahan
said.
The march was the first event
in a week dedicated to ending
violence against women. In an
effort to increase awareness and
stimulate discussion about vio­lence
against women, the
SEE Violence, PAGE 6
Ben Arnold/The Western Front
At eight sites throughout campus, red "Rape Free Zone" tape and flower petals mark the
location of past sexual assaults at Western.
Career fair gives promise of future jobs for students
By Gil Ventura
The Western Front
While the media portray the job climate as
barren, people should not believe every­thing
they hear, said Susan Anderson,
employer outreach specialist at the Career
Services Center at Western.
At Western's winter career fair, employers
ranging from nonprofit organizations, such as
the Peace Corps, to major corporations, such
as Microsoft Corp. and T-Mobile USA, to gov­ernment
agencies, such as the FBI and the
Washington State Department of Corrections,
set up booths in the Viking Union. Anderson,
who coordinated the fair, said the variety of
companies is tailored to the broad range of
majors Western offers.
Hart Hodges, director for Western's
Center for Economic and Business Research,
said he agreed job growth in Whatcom
County is increasing. His research shows
that from 1999 to 2000, Whatcom County's
2-percent job growth was greater than the
statewide average of approximately 1 per­cent.
From 2002 to 2003, the county's figure
peaked at 3.5 percent while statewide job
availability declined.
More specifically, construction, manufac­turing
and major industrial sectors are
growing in Whatcom County.
Western senior Peter Huang, a computer
science major, said he spoke to approxi­mately
10 companies at the career fair.
Huang said he is graduating this quarter
and is slightly nervous at the prospect of not
finding a job.
"I found the career fair to be very help­ful,"
Huang said. "There were lots of com­panies
related to my major, and hopefully,
I'll hear back from them."
Western senior Darcy Camden, a commu­nication
major, said the career fair gave her
a better idea about which available jobs
related to her major. Camden said she found
it beneficial that employers were open about
their hiring and recruiting processes.
Job seekers must develop what
Anderson calls a "two-minute sound
byte," to pitch to employers. This estab­lishes
a job hunter's major, general inter­ests,
level of education, skills he or she can
SEE Jobs, PAGE 4
Anti-USA Patriot
Act speaker warns
of federal abuses
By Katie Scaief
The Western Front
Mark Polin, head of Whatcom
County Northwest Freedom
Alliance, lost a cousin in the Sept. 11
attacks. When the U.S. government
passed the USA Patriot Act 45 days
later, however, Polin said the govern­ment
was misusing its power.
"To be frank, I was really pissed
off," said Polin, who served in the
U.S. Navy for 18 years. "I felt like it
was a slap in the face to everything I
had worked for in the Navy."
The act allows the government to
search personal records :— including
financial, library and school records
— without public knowledge and
with a legal mandate that the search
remain secret.
Polin visited Western's campus
Wednesday to discuss the Patriot Act
with students. He participated in
discussions at the Everson Senior
Center, the Lynden Public Library
and the Northwest Indian College
earlier this month.
Polin said the government was
capitalizing on deaths to promote its
own interests with the Patriot Act.
According to documents handed
out at the meeting from the
American Civil Liberties Union, the
United States has interrogated 8,000
Arabian and South Asian immi­grants
without evidence of wrong­doings
since the government passed
the Patriot Act in 2001. The govern­ment
has detained thousands of peo­ple
in federal custody without
charges against them and will not
release their names, according to the
ACLU's documents.
"The act itself is totally unpatriotic,"
Polin said. "Who knows what can be
done in the name of fighting terror­ism?"
The act threatens the U.S.
Constitution by suppressing free­dom
of speech, allowing unwarrant­ed
searches and denying people the
right to a fair trial, according to the
SEE Patriot, PAGE 6
Temporary tax relief may keep Intaleo alive
By Lauren Fior
The Western Front
Vicki Henley, a union represen­tative
for Alcoa-Intalco Works
aluminum . smelter plant in
Ferndale, said her job is a daily
struggle for survival.
"(The energy prices) take away
our job security because we don't
know what could happen,"
Henley said.
Washington state legislators
are in the process of reviewing
House Bill 2339, which would
provide temporary tax relief for
the . Washington aluminum
smelter plants.
Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale,
said the bill is a tax
package that includes $2.7 million
in tax breaks that will sustain
Intaleo until 2006.
In a recent press release,
Ericksen said the 2001 energy cri­sis
forced most of the state's alu­minum
smelter plants that run on
energy, including Intaleo, to shut
down. Ericksen said later that
because of the energy crisis, the
only aluminum smelter plants
remaining in Washington are
located in Ferndale and
Wenatchee.
In 2006, Bonneville Power
Administration will reconsider
electricity prices with Intaleo,
Ericksen said.
"(Whatcom County) is in jeop­ardy
of losing the. plant," Sen.
Dale Brandland, R-Bellingham>
said. "If it does close, it is not
likely it will re-open."
Brandland said Intaleo has
shrunk from 1,000 to 400 workers
in the past few years.
"The tax initiative will help
maintain production at the plant
and continue employing its 400
SEE Intaleo, PAGE 6
Ben Arnold/ The Western Front
Alcoa-Intalco Works employee Dan Timmer inspects fin­ished
aluminum product at Intalco's plant in Ferndale.
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