Western Front - 2009 February 24

              WHAT THE F#&K:
RAGING OBSCENITY OR
MERE INDECENCY?
PAGE 11
WOMEN'S CREW NOT FEELING
THE PRESSURE OF FOUR
CONSECUTIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS
PAGE 13
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
THE WESTERN FRONT
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SINCE 19701- WESTERNFRONTQNLINE.NET
Nash residents report thefts
Three suspects apprehended, University Police recovers $8,000 in properly
Angelo Spagnolo
THE WESTERN FRONT
University Police arrested and de­tained
three University of Washington
(UW) students on suspicion of stealing
nearly $8,000 of electronics from Western
students in Nash Hall Sunday afternoon.
The men are also suspected of writing
graffiti on the walls in Nash.
The three suspects, 18-year-olds Iyob
Habte and Samuel Sisay, and 19-year-old
Haben Sebhatu, are all Seattle residents
and freshmen at UW who were staying
with friends at Western this weekend, ac­cording
to a University Police press re­lease.
None of the suspects have any prior
criminal history.
Habte's sister, also a UW student who
wished to remain nameless, told the judge
the suspects were in Bellingham to attend
an event Western's African Caribbean
club hosted.
In the suspects' initial court appear­ance
Monday afternoon, the judge said
each of the suspects faces five counts of
residential burglary, each of which carries
a possible maximum penalty of 10 years
in jail and a $20,000 fine.
The judge set bail at $5,000 for all
three suspects, though the prosecution
requested bail be set at $25,000. The ar­raignment
is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Fri­day,
March 6 and the judge ordered the
three suspects have no contact with each
other before then.
According to the police report read
during.the initial appearance, a University
Police officer, who had been alerted to the
crime, saw three men fitting the descrip­tion
provided by a victim, taking items
out of their pants and placing them in the
trunk of a parked car on Indian Street. The
officer then apprehended the suspects, ac­cording
to the Whatcom County Superior
see THEFT page 3
photo by Hailey Tucker THE WESTERN FRONT
Western freshmen Miles Bottomley (holding his PlayStation 3 on the left) and William George (holding his laptop and external hard drive)
were recent victims of theft. Three UW students are accused of stealing 4 laptops, an external hard drive and a PlayStation 3 on Sunday.
Western plans Buchanan Towers addition
Kevin Minnick
THE WESTERN FRONT
The Buchanan Towers residence hall
will be undergoing renovations starting
July 2 as a new 25 suite wing—each with
2 double bedrooms—is added to accom­modate
more students. " J • ' •
University Residences Director Willy
Hart said the building design has been in
the works for two years, and the whole
construction process should take approxi­mately
13 months. Western has set the
construction completion deadline for late
August 2010.
While the additional wing. will be
physically connected to Buchanan Tow­ers,
it is classified as an auxiliary build­ing.
State law prohibits public university
auxiliary buildings from receiving state
funds, forcing Western to fund the project
itself by taking out a 30-year mortgage.
Hart said the new wing will cost
around $18 million. The raw construction
costs will total approximately $11 million,
and miscellaneous items such as furniture,
sales tax and architect fees making up the
additional $7 million budgeted.
Due to a necessary overhaul of Bu­chanan
Towers' fire sprinkler system to
stay synchronized with the new building,
students may find themselves temporar­ily
moved out of Buchanan Towers come
spring 2010.
Western sophomore Kevin Hettick
said he was forced to live off campus
when Birnam Woods flooded at the begin­ning
of winter quarter.
"It was terrible. Catching a bus was
see BT ADDITION page 6
Controversial
slogan removed
from sex poster
Ashley Mitchell
THE WESTERN FRONT
A poster designed for the on-going
event Sexploration, put on by the Sex­ual
Awareness Center was changed this
quarter after a member from the Associ­ated
Students (AS) Board of Directors
expressed concern about the event slogan,
"Go Deeper," which was printed on the
poster.
"I don't feel this is a censorship is­sue
because no one specifically said we
couldn't use the phrase," said J. Adam
Brinson, graphic design coordinator for
the Publicity Center," But it is disappoint­ing,
that a really innocuous phrase would
have to get leadership involved."
Western senior Glenn Newcomer,
a previous graphic designer for the Pub­licity
Center, designed a poster used to
promote last year's Sexploration, Brinson
said. The name and the slogan came from
the coordinators of the Sexual Awareness
Center. Brinson said he was assigned to
redesign and revamp last year's poster
into something new for this year's event.
Brinson submitted his design for print
on Feb. 2 and received a message from
Grace Wischerth, assistant coordinator for
the Sexual Awareness Center, informing
him of the decision to remove "Go Deep­er"
from the poster.
AS Vice President of Business and
Operations Virgilio Cintron said he heard
other board members and students express
concern about the phrase on the poster and"
decided to voice his concerns about the
poster to the center.
Sexploration is an event that is sup­posed
to be inclusive in its nature, Cintron
said. He said he felt if the event is intended
to provide a comfortable environment to
discuss sexuality, the poster should reflect
that outlook.
Cintron voiced his concerns" about
the poster to Western senior and Resource
Outreach Program director, Casey D.
Hall, who then relayed those concerns to
Wischerth.
Cintron said he had to consider the
management side of the issue. The AS,
an organization that represents students
on campus, approved the event, as it was
something for people who are very com­fortable,
very uncomfortable or indiffer­ent
with their sexuality.
With a large lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer community on
campus, the phrase could be interpreted as
too heterosexual in nature and it could
see SEXPLORATION page 4