Western Front - 2004 October 15

              SCIENCE ROCK
Cover band blends nerd,
chic and punk rock.
Accent, Page 7
TELEVISION TRAP
Americans are addicted
to the "idiot box."
Opinions, Page 10
SERVED COLD
Western volleyball looks to
avenge its loss to Central.
Sports, Page 9
ISSUE 8
Volume 131
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington The Western Front Friday
Oct. 15,2004
Flu-shot shortage hits Western
By Mari Bergstrom
The Western Front
Students, faculty and staff
should not plan to get flu
vaccinations at Western this year
because none are available.
The company that supplies
the Student Health Center with
the shots closed down Oct. 5,
said Dr. Emily Gibson, Student
Health Center director.
"We vaccinate up to 700
students, faculty and staff
annually at our flu-vaccine
clinics/' Gibson said.
The lack of vaccinations may
result in more influenza cases
this year, Gibson said.
She said British authorities
closed Chiron Corp., the health
center's supplier, in August
because its vaccinations were
contaminated with the Serratia
bacteria, which can cause serious
infections.
Flu vaccinations are available
through other suppliers, however,
for high-risk individuals, such
as those older than 65 or with
chronic illnesses. At Costco,
for instance, nearly 400 people
received flu vaccinations in
Thursday.
"We just follow the Center
for Disease Control guidelines
as far as vaccinating high-risk
individuals, and, unfortunately,
a lot of students do not fall
under that category," said Marty
Carlson, flu program coordinator
Gig Schlich/The Western Front
Mayo Shears, a nurse with Maxim Health Systems, gives Bob Flaherty a flu shot at Costco.
Nearly 400 people received vaccinations Thursday at Costco, whereas Western's Student
Health Center will likely administer none this year because of a national shortage.
of Maxim Health Systems,
which provided the vaccinations
at Costco.
Western graduate student
Heather Hirsch said she usually
gets a flu shot to protect herself
from getting sick but will forego
one this year.
"I'm not worried about the
shortage, but I'm worried about
the people at risk, and I don't feel
like I'm at risk," Hirsch said.
Many students, however, do
not seem to be troubled about the
shortage.
"I've never had the flu since
I can remember, so I've never
thought it was necessary,"
Western graduate student Sarah
Honor said.
In the past, Western's athletics
department recommended flu
vaccinations to all athletes
during flu season, said Lonnie
Lyon, Western's head trainer
SEE Flu, PAGE 4
Experts talk
Bush, Kerry
during debate
By Erik Tomren
The Western Front
A more intimate — and less politicized
— rerun of the presidential debates took
place Thursday at Western's Performing
Arts Center, but President George W. Bush
and Sen. John Kerry were nowhere to be
seen.
Former Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley
Braun squared . off with conservative
columnist John Podhoretz as part of
Western's Distinguished Lecture Series.
Moseley Braun most recently served as
ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
Podhoretz is a contributor to the New York
Post and Fox News Channel and worked as
a speechwriter for former presidents Ronald
Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Steve Woods, an assistant professor of
communication and coach for the campus
debate club, moderated the debate, which
687 people attended, according to the PAC
box office.
Harriet Wender, special assistant to
Western president Karen Morse, said the
purpose of the debate was to promote civics
and civihty in public discourse.
"We settled on a neoconservative, and
a Democrat," Wender said. "And we
acknowledge there are many opinions that
are neither Democrat nor neoconservative,
but (Moseley Braun is) a strong supporter of
SEE Debate, PAGE 4
Pastor criticizes
religious right at
Fairhaven forum
By Byron Sherry
The Western Front
Rich Lang, a reverend at the Trinity United
Methodist Church in Seattle, said fundamentalist
Christians are trying to brainwash people by tapping
into the American peoples' fear, he said in the
Wednesday World Issues Forum "Bush and the Rise
of Christian Fascism" at Fairhaven College.
Lang said his message is that fundamentalist
Christians are dangerous and are seeking to take
over the country.
"Bush is the material Antichrist in the White
House," he said.
Lang said President George W. Bush's use of fear
is letting him portray himself as the country's savior,
and that the constant terror alerts are evidence that
Bush is trying to keep people fearful to keep the
population from asking questions about his true
intentions.
SEE Lang, PAGE 3
Students assist African Nobel winner
By Matthew Anderson
The Western Front
The first African woman ever to win
the Nobel Peace Prize received help this
summer from two Western students.
Becca Gheen and Carrie Glover, both
graduate students in Western's political
science department, spent several weeks
in Kenya trying to document the manner in
which Wangari Maathai's environmental
work eased human-rights efforts in
Africa.
Maathai became a peace laureate Oct.
8, shortly after the pair returned home.
Dubbed "The Tree Woman" by her
fellow Kenyans, Maathai began a tree-planting
crusade known as the Green
Belt Movement in that country in 1977.
Trees were becoming scarce in Kenya as
citizens cut them down for housing and
firewood.
Kenyan women bear the burden of
gathering wood for their families, Gheen
said, and the effort to make the country
green again was at first geared toward
shortening women's wood-hunting trips.
The women involved in the movement
Photo courtesy of Becca Gheen and Carrie Glover
Western graduate students Becca Gheen and Carrie Glover interview a
Kenyan man during their several weeks in Kenya.
improved their surroundings and received Gheen's master's thesis.
payment for their work, Gheen said.
Through their efforts she said they were
able to better their standing in the Kenyan
community. That issue is at the core of
"Women are the backbone of Kenya —
cooking, cleaning, farming, getting their
SEE Nobel, PAGE 3
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