Western Front - 2004 April 2

              t
UCONN DO ANYTHING
UConn can defeat Duke and
Georgia Tech for NCAA title.
Sports, Page 15
SAVE SOME SKIN
Staying home for the break
saves you from the sun.
Opinions, Page 18
WANNA HEAR A DIRTY JOKE?
Comics fire uncensored
punch lines at patrons.
Accent, Page 10
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
ISSUE 1
VOLUME 129 The Western Front FRIDAY
APRIL 2, 2004
AS halts return of shuttle I Re™iont°,aw
may restore aid By Annalisa Leonard
The Western Front
The Associated Students board
of directors failed the student
transportation fee initiative by a
5-2 vote Wednesday, effectively
stalling efforts to acquire
$180,000 to fund a permanent
|H daytime shuttle for next year.
"The AS board understands
the need to address the parking
issue," said Rachel Zomrnick, AS
vice president for legislative and
community affairs.
She said the students present-
^ ing the information voiced inten­tions
of connecting the shuttle
program to the Whatcom
Transportation Authority bus
system, which was not feasible
with its proposal.
Zomrnick said she will be in
£ close contact with this group for
the rest of spring quarter to cre­ate
a new transportation plan.
George Pierce, vice president
of business and financial affairs,
—.-.-. said his organization would con­duct
an analysis of the rider ship
A and decide where the resources
SEE Shuttle, PAGE 6
Ben Arnold/The Western Front
Next to a sign informing students and faculty that Western's daytime shuttle program is no
longer operating, Western students walk out of the Campus Services building, a popular stop
for students paying for parking tickets and Whatcom Transportation Authority bus passes.
Rec Center receives national award
By Caleb Heeringa
The Western Front
Western's Wade King Student
Recreation Center is not only one of the
best in the state, it is one of the best in the
nation, according to the National
Intramural Recreation Sports Association.
The association has chosen the recre­ation
center as the recipient of the
Outstanding Sports Facilities Award.
Fewer than 10 newly opened recreation
facilities receive this award each year. The
association will present the award to
Western on April 19 in Albuquerque, N.M.
The association looks for architectural
design and aesthetic beauty, as well as
other specific attributes from new recre­ation
centers when presenting this award,
said Joe Kaminski, chairman of the associ­ation's
facilities management committee.
"The things that distinguish recreation
centers (from one another) are unique fea­tures,
such as a climbing wall, or a food
area, or maybe a recreational pool,"
Kaminski said.
Opened this past fall, the recreation cen­ter
has all those features, in addition to
three weight and cardiovascular areas, a
gym with three basketball courts, an ele­vated,
three-lane track, a 25-person
whirlpool, locker rooms, two group exer­cise
rooms, a wellness resource room and a
conference room- for 22 people.
The recreation center was named after
10-year-old Wade King, who died in the
June 1999 Olympic Pipeline Co. explosion
in Bellingham's Whatcom Falls Park.
King's parents, Frank and Mary King,
donate hundreds of thousands of dollars
annually to Western's athletic programs.
"We are just tickled that Western is
winning this award, and that Wade's
SEE Award, PAGE 4
to drug offenders
By Tara Nelson
The Western Front
Former Western student Charles
Weisner, 29, was arrested in 1997 for a
felony possession of marijuana —
because of k federal law, that charge
still haunts him seyen years later.
Weisner, along with many students
throughout the nation, said he is afraid
to file a financial aid application
because the Bush administration is
stringently enforcing the federal Higher
Education Act, which prevents appli­cants
with prior drug convictions from
receiving federal aid.
But students such as Weisner may
not have to worry much longer if an
amendment to the Higher Education
Act, sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Education and Rep.
Mark Souder, R-Ind., the bill's original
author, is passed.
The amendment would jqgiB^feJ.^
retroactive provision that denies stu­dents'
financial aid for prior drug-related
offenses, said Martina-Green,
press secretary for Souder. Green said
he hopes the bill will be introduced
within the next month.
The 1998 amendment originally was
intended to discontinue aid to students
who were charged with drug-related
offenses while attending school, Green
said. The Clinton and Bush administra­tions
have distorted the meaning of the
law to include applicants with prior
offenses, he said.
"(The Clinton (and Bush a ^ ^ H ^®
trations) misinterpreted it arid^wrote*
enforcement regulations that created a
'reach-back' provision never included -
in the original law," Green said'.-..."
"Thus, federal aid applicants are now -
asked on their application forms if--
they have ever been convicfssfe-&£*a -
SEE Aid, PAGE 4
Western nixes The College Store's advertising stunt
By Chrystal Doucette
The Western Front
Managers at The College Store said they
planned to hide 1,000 tokens worth a dollar
each on Western's campus for students to use
toward textbook purchases.
On March 29, however, Wendy Bohlke, assis­tant
attorney general for Western, and Western
director of purchasing Dale Monroe sent the
store a letter prohibiting the promotion. The let­ter
cited a violation under the Viking Union Sale
of Goods and Services policy.
Bohlke said commercial solicitations on cam­pus
can only be done through the Viking
Union. She said the store's attempt to distribute
the tokens relates to Section A of the policy,
which restricts the on-campus sales of goods or
services to Vendor's Row.
Restricting advertising limits litter and helps
maintain Western's academic environment,
Bohlke said.
"It's a sweet idea in many ways, but what if
people don't- want it and it just lies on the
ground?" she said.
Western sophomore Jordan Rush said he
thinks litter could be an issue, especially if stu­dents
aren't aware of the promotion.
"If they're distributing 1,000 coins through­out
campus and every one isn't picked up,
they'll have to remember where they put them
and pick them up," he said.
The store advertised in The Western Front on
March 12. The College Store planned to distrib­ute
tokens March 30 and collect any leftovers,
although it expected none, said Zeke Spier,
assistant manager at The College Store. Spier
said he hopes to resolve the issue and distribute
tokens in the near future.
The store also offered a free shuttle from
Western on March 29 and 30 but were told in
the letter to discontinue service. It continued
SEE Textbooks, PAGE 6
Chrystal
Doucette/The ^^.
Western Front
Students wait to
pay for text­books
and
school supplies
at The College
Store on
Tuesday, March
30. The College
Store planned to
distribute 1,000
coins on campus
the same day :1
that would be
worth a dollar
each in text­books,
but
Western admin­istration
halted
the promotion.