Western Front - 2009 February 20

              FOUR LOCAL
HOTSPOTS BRIGHTEN
BELLINGHAM NIGHTLIFE
PAGE 8
SOFTBALL HOPES FOR
TURNAROUND AFTER
DISAPPOINTING SEASON
PAGE 12
Friday, February 20, 2009
THE WESTERN FRONT
AM INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SINCE 1970 1 W E S T E R N F R G N T O N L I N E . N E T
AS board passes tuition resolution
Dan Balmer
THE WESTERN FRONT
Western's administration and the
Associated Students (AS) Board of
Directors have conflicting views on who
should control tuition setting for resident
undergraduate students.
The AS Board of Directors unani­mously
passed a resolution Wednesday
stating that tuition setting authority
should stay in the hands of state legisla­tors
rather then Western's Board of Trust­ees.
Western's administration already has
tuition setting authority over graduate
students and out-of-state students.
"Our belief is tuition should be
low because the sticker price of tuition
significantly impacts students access to
higher education," said Sarah Ishmael,
AS VP for Legislative and Governmental
Affairs.
In April 2007, Gov. Chris Gregoire
signed into measure that limits under­graduate
tuition increases to no more than
7 percent per year. Ishmael said Western
President Bruce Shepard and university
administration are working to convince
the state legislature to amend the law so
Western can raise tuition as much as nec­essary
to offset the cut in state funding.
On Jan. 15, Western Associate Vice
President for University Relations and
Director for Legislative Relations Sherry
Burkey traveled to the Washington State
Legislature in Olympia to formally sug­gest
raising the state-wide tuition cap.
see BUDGET page 3
MEN BACK ON WINNING TRACK, MAINTAIN FIRST PLACE IN GNAC
^^^^^^^^^^^Mi^^^^^i^^llBil
Western senior forward Calin Shell drives around Alaksa Fairbanks junior Kyje Rische. Western won 96-80—see page 10 for full story.
First of three dean finalists presents to campus community
photo by Katie Greene THE WESTERN FRONT
Kipp Robertson
THE WESTERN FRONT
Nicol C. Rae, a finalist for the dean
of the College of Humanities and Social
Sciences (CHSS), used his open forum
presentation to deliver a 40-minute Pow­erPoint
about how to deal with a budget
crisis within a CHSS.
Rae, who is the first of three final­ists
for the CHSS dean position to visit
Western, turned what was publicized as
an open forum presentation into a lecture
about possible solutions to Western's bud­get
issues.
The dean of CHSS heads the largest
college at Western and is responsible for
everything from hiring faculty and setting
academic policies to keeping track of the
college's budget.
Rae is currently a senior associate
dean of the College of Arts and Scienc­es
and a professor of political science at
Florida International University (FIU).
Jeanne Freeman, assistant professor of
Western's community health program,
asked Rae how he would adjust to work­ing
at Western. Freeman pointed out that
FIU is primarily a faculty research insti­tute,
while Western is primarily a faculty
see DEAN page 4
WTA proposes
rate increase,
new contract
with Western
Hannah Bostwick
THE WESTERN FRONT
Facing a projected $900,000 budget
shortfall in 2009, the Whatcom Transpor­tation
Authority (WTA) has proposed an
increase in bus fare from 75 cents to $1
along with an increase in bus pass prices.
A bus pass and cash fare increase
would require the agency to renegotiate
its current contract with Western. The
WTA wants to raise the amount it receives
from each student's transportation fee by
$3.63 per quarter.
Currently, Western students enrolled
in six or more credits pay $25 per quarter
for the WTA Viking Xpress bus pass and
the Late Night Shuttle. Students approved
the $25 per quarter fee in April 2007, and
as stated in the ballot, the transportation
fee cannot be increased by more than 5 per­cent
each year. It is up for renewal in 2012.
Richard Walsh, WTA general manag­er,
said the WTA receives roughly $14 of
each student's transportation fee, generat­ing
$561,928 per year. The agency wants
to raise the amount Western pays by $3.63
per student, boosting the.revenue WTA
receives from Western to $702,411 annu­ally.-
Thursday morning, WTA authorities
discussed the proposed rate changes, in­tended
to delay potential cuts in service, in
the Whatcom County council chambers.
The budget shortfall, is expected to
worsen, Walsh said, adding that WTA
does not want to cut services during a
time when ridership is increasing at an
astounding rate. The WTA is the fastest
growing transit system in North America,
he said, with ridership increasing 32 per­cent
in 2008 and an additional 21 percent
this year.
WTA spokeswoman Maureen McCa­rthy
said Western is the only large group
that purchases bus passes in bulk from the
transit agency. Although the university
passes have increased overall ridership,
she said the transit agency cannot exempt
Western from the rate increase if it applies
it to all other riders.
Western released a statement Thurs­day,
stating that while the WTA had in­dicated
a fare review could affect the
amount asked for in contract negotiations
for student transportation, no specific
amount was mentioned.
Walsh said a 5 percent increase in
Western's transportation fee would cover
see WTA page 5