Western Front - 2005 April 12

              J-VS ^\o3 HE WESTERN FRONT ISSUE 4
VOLUME 133
Y, APRIL 12, 2005 • WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY • BELLINGHAM, WASH. • WESTERNFRONTONLINE.COM
Biking for a cause
Western alumni
bike from Alaska
to Mexico
BY MEGAN MULDARY
The Western Front
Three Western recreation graduates
will ride their bikes 4,000 miles from
Anchorage, Alaska to Rosarito, Mexico
to raise money for three charities.
Phase Five Ride will start May 15,
and the riders said they hope to finish
Aug. 4. They will be helping orphans
in Ukraine, raising breast cancer
awareness and promoting knowledge
of the growing problem of sex tourism
around the world.
Sean Smith, Eric Christensen,
Tyrell Marlow and Nick Benavidez all
graduated from Western in December
2004 with degrees in recreation
management. Although Benavidez will
not ride with the team due to family
circumstances, he said he will be behind
the scenes supporting the team.
Smith said the idea of helping the
world through a bike.ride began one
and a half years ago when Christensen
talked about wanting to bike across
t the country. Smith said he and Marlow
agreed to join Christensen if he ever
went through with the plan.
Smith said that after all four had
gone on a trip to Peru together, they
realized their ability as Americans to
help the world around them. All four
then set out to find an organization they
could support by asking for donations
for their journey which they named the
Phase Five Ride, he said.
Smith said the structure of the
recreation degree helped them come
up with the title Phase Five Ride.
In the recreation major, students go
through four phases of learning. Smith
said the first area is an introduction
to the recreation major, the second is
an overview of the areas students can
CHRIS HUBER/The Western Front
Western alumni (from left) Sean Champ Smith, 23, Eric Christensen, 28,
and Tyrell Marlow, 24, prepare their bicycles Monday at Fairhaven Park.
study, the third is the internship in the
chosen field of interest, and the fourth
is an in-depth look into the specific area
of study. The fifth stage is known as a
student's continuing journey through
life after graduation.
Smith said that after he heard a
sermon at Christ the King Church about
the problems with the orphanages in
Ukraine, he realized he wanted to
help people learn about the problem
occurring overseas. Smith said that
see RIDE, page 3
Education tax
credits may save
students money
BYZACHKYLE
The Western Front
Many financially strapped college students will
unnecessarily pay thousands of dollars in taxes when they
are due Friday because they are unaware that education tax
credits exist.
Western financial aid director Clara Capron said some
Western students who are eligible for education tax credits
do not claim them, simply because they do not know such
credits exist. She said credit information is available, but
students do not know to look for it.
Tax credits are often confused with tax deductions,
said Ryan Howell, a Bellingham accountant from Darrell
Stewart Accounting. Tax deductions lower taxable income,
Howell said, but tax credits are more significant because
their value directly subtracts from the total taxes students
owe to the government. That means if a student or his or
her parents owe $3,000 in taxes, a $1,000 tax credit lowers
the total due to $2,000.
The federal government provides two types of education
tax credits: the Hope Scholarship Credit and the Lifetime
Learning Credit. Howell said the Hope Scholarship Credit is
available only during the first two years of a student's college
education. The Hope Scholarship's eligibility criteria requires
students to be enrolled at a university at least halftime, which
is six credits, in a certificate program, he said.
Western junior Aislyn Greene said she did not know about
education credits until an H & R Block tax preparer brought
them.to her attention
"I was in school for a couple of years before mat, and I did
my own taxes," Greene said. "Without a prompt (from a tax
professional,) I didn't know about tax credits.".
One hundred percent of the first $ 1,000 a student spends on
tuition and fees is credited by the government to the student
or the parents if they claim the student as a dependent, and
50 percent of the next $1,000 spent is claimable. Therefore,
the Hope Scholarship Credit can save students as much as
$1,500 a year, Howell said.
Unlike the Hope Scholarship Credit, students can claim
the Lifetime Learning Credit for as many years as they are
enrolled in college, Howell said. Recipients of the credit may
take any size of credit load. The Lifetime Learning Credit is
worth 2.0 percent, or $2,000, of the first $10,000 spent on
tuition and fees accumulated throughout a student's entire
see CREDITS, page 4
Western students silently protest discrimination
BY LIZ MCNEIL
The Western Front
Western may be a quieter campus
Wednesday as members of the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender community and
their allies take part in the Day of Silence.
The Day of Silence is a student-led
project that the National Gay, Lesbian,
and Straight Education Network started
to increase the civil rights of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender individuals.
Participants will refrain from speaking
during the day to protest the silencing of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
students that comes from discrimination
and harassment, said Stuart Brewster,
Western's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Allianc program coordinator.
Brewster said the event serves as an
educational tool by making lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender issues prominent
in public, but the event also is personally
meaningful.
"I have been out of the closet for two
years, and the Day of Silence reminds me
of when Iwas unable to tell people I was
gay because of the fear of what might come
of it," Brewster said. "It is where I came
from and where so many people still are."
Students from the University of Virginia
first organized the event in 1996, and it has
spread to more than 1,900 high schools
and colleges since its debut.
The LGBTA will have a table in Red
Square from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday
to distribute handbills and answer people's
questions. LGBTA coordinator Kat
Castaldi said she is going to keep silent
to some extent but will speak in order to
educate others.
"If someone has a question, I'm not
going to deny them," Castaldi said. "If
I am verbally assaulted while tabling, I
won't stay quiet either."
ForWestern'sDayofSilenceparticipants,
the silence ends with the commencement
of the LGBTA's Breaking the Silence at 7
p.m. in Viking Union 565.
see SILENCE, page 4
BRADLEY THAYER/The Western Front
Fliers for the National Day of Silence
hang on bulletin boards around campus.
Students will participate in the Day of
Silence Wednesday.