Western Front - 1994 March 1

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March 1,1994/Volume 87, Number 13 Western Washington University please recycle
Physical access to campus poses problems
Disabled, sensory-impaired students seek improvements at Western
Photo by Cassandra Burdsal
Some areas of campus, such as these stairs at College
Hall, are a nagging reminder that disabled access at
Western is not yet complete.
By Greg Garrity
staff reporter
Everyone knows how difficult
it is. to walk from one side of
campus to the other in only 10
minutes.
Imagine being in a wheelchair
and having to go from one side of
campus to another in a limited
. amount of time.
Or imagine being hearing-impaired
and not being able to
hear your instructor. Imagine be­ing
visually-impaired and not be­ing
able to read your textbook, see
the chalkboard, or watch videos
in class.
For approximately 250
Western students, this is not hard
to imagine — it is the reality they
must live with each day.
Wilma Ferguson, program
support supervisor for Disabled
Student Services (DSS), a pro­gram
coordinator and nine stu­dent-
staff members, provide a
variety of free services for students
with all types of disabilities.
The slogan of the DSS, ac­cording
to its informational bro­chure,
is: "Western Washington
University is committed to assur­ing
that all programs and activi­ties
are readily accessible to all
eligible persons without regard to
their race, color, religion, national
Expo offers a hands-on look at on-campus housing
By Dawn Bittner
staff reporter
As spring quarter approaches,
students are starting to think about
living arrangements for next year.
Off-campus or on-campus,
apartment or house, living alone
or with six roommates — these
are just a few of the decisions that
must be made.
Housing Expo '94, sponsored
by University Residences, is an
opportunity forstudents toexplore
their on-campus housing options.
The event will take place from
noon to 6 p.m. today in the Viking
Union Main Lounge.
Each residence hall will have
a table with an exhibit. Students
will be able to look at a floor plan,
find out what living is like and ask
residents and staff of each hall
questions.
Each hall will also show mu­sic
and slide shows to give students
a feel for the atmosphere.
Representatives of the South
Campus and Ridgeway Fitness
Centers.computerlabsahddining
halls will also be available to in­form
students of the services they
offer to on-campus residents.
Students who attend the con­ference
will be given a game card
to be stamped at each exhibit,
which will make them eligible to
win prizes throughout the day;
prizes include munch money and
a free night at a Marriott hotel.
"This is a good opportunity
for students to see what housing is
available in one place atone time,"
said Pamela Keeler, graduate in­tern
for University Residences.
Keeler said the purpose of the
housing expo is to encourage more
students to live on campus. Many
students are not aware of what on-campus
housing has to offer be­yond
the place they have been
living, she said.
"We already have 91 percent
of the freshmen. We want to in­crease
those who stay," said Kay
Rich, director of University Resi­dences.
"When someone really wants
to move off campus, they should,
but as well-informed consumers,"
Rich said.
Rich said University Resi­dences
loses money when the beds
aren't filled. 150 empty beds
equals a loss of about $600,000,
she said.
"University Residences is re­sponsible
for student funds. We
are totally supported by student
rates and activity fees. If we're
not full, the students lose out,"
Rich said. "Even an increase of
filling 100 beds would help."
Last year's open house al­lowed
students to tour each hall
with a passport. Students could
win prizes based on how many
halls stamped their passports.
"It was moderately success­ful,
but we wanted to improve our
outreach," Rich said.
origin, sex, age, disability, martial
status, sexual orientation, Vietnam
era or disabled Veteran status."
Ferguson said approximately
250 students have identified
themselves to DSS, but many
more are on campus.
"Many students have found
ways to deal with their disabili­ties,"
Ferguson said. "We are
here to help those who feel they
need our assistance."
DSS provides disabled stu­dents
a variety of technological
equipment to aid them with their
school work.
"We have a Xerox Kurzweil
Reader which allows those stu­dents
with visual impairments to
read their textbooks through an
Artie Voice Synthesizer,"
Ferguson said.
"Students can put their text­book
onto a copy machine device
which copies up to 11 pages at a
time. The computer then reads
their book to them."
Ferguson also said DSS offers
tape-recordings of textbooks for
visually-impaired students and
for those who simply struggle
reading written text.
"Regular textbooks are only
truly accessible to those who can
actually see and focus on normal
type," said David Brunnemer,
coordinator of DSS.
"At the beginning of the quar­ter,
students bring us a textbook
and a copy of their syllabus. Our
student employees spend their
time recording reading assign­ments
onto cassettes. We try to
stay at least one week ahead of the
syllabus," Ferguson said. "Several
students spendmore than 20 hours
a week reading textbooks."
DSS also has a Braille printer
which allows students to print out
their assignments or anything else
in Braille. Visually-impaired stu­dents
also have access to a
Viewpoint Print Enlarger, which
enlarges anything that is too small
to be easily read.
"One student was so excited
when she found out about the
Viewpoint," Ferguson said. "She
said she had never been able to
read her name in the phone book
before."
DSS also offers a variety of
services for the hearing-impaired,
including a Telecommunications
Device for the Deaf.
"This allows deaf students to
communicate by telephone. They
type in their keyboard message,
which is transmitted to the other
person. Ideally, both parties have
the system. However, it is also
possible to go through the opera-
See Access, page 5
AS $80,000 in deficit
Yet board member gets $665 to attend conference
Lynnette Bonnema
staff reporter
With an $80,000 shortfall
looming over the heads of the
members of Associated Students'
Board of Directors this year,
m o n i t o r i n g
spending is a pri­ority.
"Our budget
is very minimal,"
said AS treasurer
Onar Primitivo.
"We have to
watch out how we
spend, and that's
hard when we're
trying to maintain
the same level of programming
without the $80,000."
The shortfall stems from
overall university budget cuts and
from a decrease in the money
"When we add
positions within
the AS, we have
to find other
places to cut."
—Tres Gallant,
vice president of
external affairs.
received from student activities
fees. Each student pays $30 at the
beginning of every quarter to fund
student activities.
That money does not exclu­sively
go the AS but also funds
athletics and departmentally re-
-i i lated activities
such as drama
and the debate
team.
After much de­bate
during ex­ecutive
session,
the board ap­proved
$665 for
Vice President of
Internal Affairs
Sun Yi to attend
a conference in
California. The conference con­cerns
the empowerment of Ko-
See Deficit, page 8
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