Western Front - 2005 October 18

              WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY An independent student newspaper serving the campus community since 1970. ISSUE 9, VOLUME 135
GRAND DREAMS
Western s waterfront plans begin to take shape
as university weighs development proposals
BY JACOB BUCKENMEYER
The Western Front
Western's administration has begun to
sort through the 23 proposals department
chairs and directors submitted regarding the
university's role in the development of the
Bellingham Bay waterfront.
Western president Karen Morse said the
waterfront development will be the focus of
Western's expansion for the next 30 years.
Buff Schoenfeld, executive assistant to
the president of the university, said Western's
waterfront committee, which is comprised
of students and faculty, has looked over the
proposals and is meeting five times before
February to talk about consolidating the most
feasible plans.
"We're looking at common spaces," she
said. "For instance, if there are three different
proposals, — all who need office spaces,
seminar spaces and meeting spaces — then
they could be sharing a facility."
Atthis point, theuniversityhasnotcombined
any of the proposals, Schoenfeld said. The
most prominent plans are from departments
with specialized needs for the space, such as
machine shops for the engineering technology
department or a campus to house all of Huxley
College of the Environment.
"Huxley is always mentioned because it
has the most conceivable relationship to the
waterfront," she said. "Yet that would be kind
of a long-term thing, and there are all kinds of
WESTERN'S HORIZONS
This article is part of a series looking at Western's
growth and its ever-expanding goals for develop­ing
the university.
hurdles before we get there."
Western officials will determine how
much land will be set aside for Western and
where the land might be located, but not until
they know which functions will transfer to
the waterfront.
The 150-acre property, which the Port
of Bellingham purchased from Georgia-
Pacific in January 2005, is slightly larger
than Western's current campus, said
Sylvia Goodwin, director of planning and
development for the Port of Bellingham.
University officials are reluctant to move
an entire department or college off campus
because students on the waterfront would still
have to attend classes on the main campus,
Schoenfeld said.
She said the change would require more
travel for Western students but no more
than students at larger universities such as
the University of Washington, which has
foot traffic over longer distances than the
distance from Western's present campus to
the waterfront property.
Some of the proposals, which request
the addition of specialty facilities to the
waterfront, could also ease parking issues on
see HORIZONS, page 4
JACOB BUCKENMEYER / THE WESTERN FRONT
Western overlooks the dilapidated waterfront property on Bellingham Bay,
which will be the focus of campus development for the next 30 years.
Former students testify on Mills' behalf
Hearing panel schedules more meetings for
Wednesday, Thursday to decide Mills 'future
PHOTO COURTESY OF LINDA WAGNER-MILLS
Character witnesses (from left) Kevin Jenkins, Evan Bourm, Tim Boyd and Sarah
Finley defended Western theatre arts professor Perry Mills (far right) Friday.
BY CIARA O' ROURKE
The Western Front
Five character witnesses for Western
theatre arts professor Perry Mills waited
outside closed doors to testify on Mills'
behalf at a meeting Friday. This was their
first chance to formally speak out against
Mills' suspension nearly a year earlier.
"There's a lot of people who like the way
I do business," Mills said. "It's gratifying
to see them come back."
The hearing panel that conducted the
meeting scheduled two additional meetings
this week at 3 p.m. on Wednesday and
Thursday in Old Main 340 to deterrnine
whether the university should fire Mills.
Western's theatre arts department put
Mills on paid suspension for conduct in
October 2004, theatre department chair
Mark Kuntz said.
The panel conducted five meetings
this past week. The Executive Council of
the Faculty Senate selected five members
from senate committees to comprise the
hearing panel.
The informality of Friday's hearing,
which was closed to the public, surprised
Western junior and character witness Evan
Bourm, he said.
"It didn't feel formal at all," Bourm
said. "So the whole secretive thing kind of
felt weird."
Western's faculty handbook dictates
the hearing should be private, unless
the hearing panel, Western Provost of
see MEETING, page 3
STARGAZING
Physics majors supervise public
viewing of the universe every
clear Wednesday night
FEATURES, PAGE 6
OFFENSE ON ICE
Western hockey netted 12 goals
in two games, winning both,
improving its record to 6-1
SPORTS, PAGE 8
R-RATED
Movies that promote malignant
aspects of society should undergo
some form of censorship
OPINIONS, PAGE 10
WEATHER
Wednesday: Sunny
Hi: 56 Low: 40
Thursday: Sunny
Hi: 56 Low: 39
www.westernfrontonline.com