Western Front - 2005 September 30

              THE WESTERN FRONT FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY An independent student newspaper serving the campus community since 1970. ISSUE 4, VOLUME 135
Fleeing Katrina, finding home
JARED YOAKUM / THE WESTERN FRONT
Displaced by the hurricane, Tulane University freshman Jessica Sigmundsson has enjoyed her time here.
Tulane University freshman Jessica
Sigmundsson finds shelter at Western
BY MICHAEL LYCKLAMA
The Western Front
Imagine moving away from home
for the first time to a new school in a
city full of unfamiliar surroundings and
complete strangers. Now, imagine doing
it in the middle of a hurricane.
Western transfer student Jessica
Sigmundsson did just that.
Sigmundsson left her home in
Federal Way, Wash., to fly to New
Orleans Aug. 26, and moved into her
Tulane University dorm the next day.
By Saturday night, Tulane evacuated
all students on campus in preparation
for Hurricane Katrina.
"We were doing check-in (for the
dorms) and one of the RAs came out
and said, 'We are closing the university
at 6 tonight; get out of the city,' "
Sigmundsson said.
Tulane provided buses for students
who did not have their own ride out of
the city to evacuate to Jackson State
University in Jackson, Miss.
"My mom got one of the last flights
out of the city," Sigmundsson said. "The
airport closed at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and
she got out at 12:30 p.m. She almost was
in the Superdome."
University officials told students they
A SURVIVOR'S STORY
This is the first of a series of profiles about
the six transfer students displaced by Hur­ricane
Katrina who are attending Western.
would return the following Wednesday,
to take only a week's worth of clothes
and leave all their valuables behind,
she said.
Jackson State University planned
to hold the 500 Tulane students in its
gymnasium until the hurricane passed.
The local Wal-Mart remained open, so
a bus made hourly trips for students to
get pillows, blankets and towels, which
Tulane paid for, Sigmundsson said.
"You don't know anybody," she said.
"You meet 500 people all at once."
Hurricane Katrina hit Jackson
see HURRICANE, page 4
Documentary
eases freshmen
into college life
BY JEN WHITFORD
The Western Front
Western freshman Monica Neiman said she
never considered herself much of an actress,
but now she is starring in Western's somewhat-reality
show, The Real Project.
The Real Project is a documentary following
three Western freshmen — Hanley Mead, Jon
Harrington and Neiman — through their first
quarter at Western.
The project's creators hope to ease the
transition from high school to college by
showing to other freshmen the high and low
points in the lives of real students', said Karen
Casto, associate director of the Western Center
for Instructional Innovation.
The documentary is a series of six episodes
taped and shown in first-year interest group
seminars throughout fall quarter.
This year is the second time the Center for
Instructional Innovation has produced The
Real Project.
The idea for the project came when Casto,
along with Justina Brown, instructional and
multimedia designer of Western's Center
for Instructional Innovation, attended the
International Conference on the First-Year
Experience in Vancouver, B.C., in June 2003,
Casto said.
The people at the conference discuss how
first-year interest groups have contributed to
the success of freshmen.
When they heard about a similar project at
Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.,
Casto and Brown decided it would be worth a
try at Western.
"We knew our office had the skills and
technology to do it in-house," Casto said.
Only freshmen in first-year interest group
classes will watch the show. FIGs are a group
of three classes. Two classes fulfill general
university requirements, and the third is a
smaller seminar class.
FIG students participate in GURs just
see DOCUMENTARY, page 3
like other students taking them. The seminar City purchases Chuckanut property for shoreline development
BY KIRSTEN DUBOIS
The Western Front
The city of Bellingham will expand its public
waterfront along the Chuckanut shoreline by purchasing
12.3 acres of land in hopes of creating the largest public-access
shoreline in Whatcom County.
The purchase was made possible when the city received
a $600,000 grant from the Aquatic Lands Enhancement
Account at the Sept. 19 City Council meeting.
Making this land public will connect an existing public
beach to the south and public tidelands and salt marshes
to the north. Joining these two areas will create more than
100 acres of public-access waterfront, said Susan Zemek,
communications manager at the Interagency Committee
for Outdoor Recreation and Salmon Recovery.
The city purchased the property from owners Denis
and Georgie Bailey, who maintained it as their private
residence. The property has been in Georgie Bailey's
family since the mid-1940s, when they bought it from
Cyrus Gates, a well-known investor of property for public
parks throughout Bellingham. The Baileys have lived at
the property, called Woodstock Farm, since 1969.
"The neatest thing about this place is that it's very
peaceful, very laid back," Denis Bailey said. "It's very
difficult to give up."
The city intends to connect the trails between Teddy
Bear Cove and the Interurban Trail as well as build wildlife
preserves for the native bird species. Chuckanut Bay is rich
in species diversity, said Tim Wahl, the greenway program
coordinator for Bellingham Parks and Recreation
The city is aware of the wildlife that calls the area
home and is taking precautions to avoid disturbing the
land. The project will not require intense landscaping or
see CHUCKANUT, page 3
KIRSTEN DUBOIS / THE WESTERN FRONT
Bellingham entrepreneur Cyrus Gates built this house in
the 1920s. The city will make it a historical landmark.
FALL FASHION
Bohemian layers, clean denim
and cowboy boots are in this
autumn
ACCENT, PAGE 6
VICTORY ON GREEN
With a win at the 34th annual Western
Invitational, Western's men's golf team is
starting its season strong
SPORTS, PAGE 8
BILLBOARD NATION
Americans have become walking
billboards and free advertising
space for companies
OPINIONS, PAGE 10
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WEATHER
Saturday: Rain
Hi: 59 Low: 46
Sunday: Cloudy
Hi: 58 Low: 44