Western Front - 2006 December 1

              FRIDAY
ISSUE
W E S T E R N W A S H I N G T O N U N I V E R S I TY
DECEMBER 1,2006
ISSUE 17, VOLUME 139
Young team starts
season strong
rA IfovfenlDer to remember
5/7on/ driving =
slow driving
(PAGE 1 0
Weathe
FRIDAY v* J /
35° / 22°
SATURDAY
38°/24°
SUNDAY
45° / 30°
INDEX
A&E .'. 5
On the Menu ....7
Upcoming 7
Sports 8
Hawks Watch 9
Opinion 10
Frontline 10
Viking Voices 11
§Hs£' ."*3*£«e
Campus still feeling backlash of near-record snowfall
Nate Warren
and Sarah Mason
THE WESTERN FRONT
Western students spent two
days away from class during
what Western Vice President
George Pierce said is the third-worst
blizzard he's seen in the
18 years he's worked at the
university.
Even Western president
Karen Morse needed an escort
to the university Wednesday
morning from her home atop
a slippery hill, said Buff
Schoenfeld, Morse's executive
assistant.
In order to declare a "snow
day," Pierce said a complex
process occurs that doesn't end
until the early morning hours.
When bad weather occurs,
a plan goes into effect: Vice
President Pierce contacts several
important decision-makers
Above: Cars in the Fairhaven
parking lot succumbed to the
slippery conditions and were
parking wherever possible.
photo by Western Front staff
Right: Maintenance worker Josh
Porter makes campus a bit safer
by removing a patch of ice on
the stairs next to Haggard Hall
Nov. 30.
Below: Caution tape surrounds
Miller Hall Nov. 30 because
Facilities Management felt the
steep, metal roof could cause
snow to fall on unsuspecting
passersby, Facilities Manager
Tim Wynn said. There have been
no reported incidents.
photos by Mark Malijan
THE WESTERN FRONT
such as Western's Director of
Facilities Management Tim
Wynn. Wynn determines the
condition of campus in the early
morning's changing weather,
Pierce said.
"Wynn puts his people on
alert," Pierce said. "If no snow
falls, things are fine, but if heavy
snows or serious accidents
occur, that information is passed
on to me."
Pierce said Wynn has crews
working 10-hour days to try to
keep roads clear. Pierce said
he also consults the University
Police chief, who has access to
campus. State highway patrol
officers are called to determine
road conditions outside of
campus, and a call is also
made to the Whatcom Transit
Authority to check if buses
will run on a regular schedule,
Pierce said.
The decision to open late
on Nov. 29 came after Pierce
called president Morse at 6 a.m.
The delay gave students, faculty
and staff time to get to campus,
Pierce said.
"Unlike public schools
or Whatcom Community
College, we have a residential
population," Pierce said. "We're
a bit different than everyone
else when weather is bad."
Pierce said there is an
added obligation to remain open
because dead week and final
exams are coming up.
Schoenfeld said Western
would prefer to stay open
for academic considerations
even if conditions are merely
"passable" and great caution is
necessary. The state requires
employees to use vacation days
see SNOW DAY page 4 •
Growth
demands
new dorm
Keeli Archer
THE WESTERN FRONT
In 2000, Western had a
large freshman class. A few
months before fall quarter
began, university residences
had a dilemma: 163 students
had nowhere to live on campus.
To make room, Western
leased more furniture and set
to work turning single dorms
into doubles, and doubles into
triples, said Willy Hart, director
of University Residences at
Western. The addition of more
beds worked: by the first day of
fall quarter all 163 students had
a place to live on campus.
"We don't turn anyone
away," Hart said. In the past,
Western has done whatever
necessary to ensure on-campus
housing is available to all
students.
Western has been
modifying existing dorms for
the past seven to eight years to
meet- increasing demand, but
now with an increasing student
population, new facilities are
needed, Hart said.
"Western is committed to
assisting the state in providing
access to higher education and
plans moderate enrollment
growth in upcoming years to
address that need," said Western
President Karen Morse.
Western now has a student
population of more than 11,000
full time students, making it the
third-largest university in the
state. Projections for the next
few years indicate an increase in
the number of students enrolling
in college.
With the impending rise
in student population in mind,
Western has started preliminary
work for a new residence hall
on south campus, said Karen
Copetas, director of admissions
at Western.
Construction on the new
hall is projected to begin in
2009, Hart said.
Washington state demo­graphics
for the next 10-15 years
are already well-known to most
universities around the state.
These demographics provide
projections of how many
students will possibly enter the
university in the next few years,
Copetas said.
Western's funding from the
state is based on the number
of full-time equivalent (FTE)
students currently enrolled. This
year, Western was funded for
see GROWTH page 4 •
w e s te r n i ratiTo nI i n e . co m