Western Front - 1997 April 29

              Get into the season
FEATURES, 6-7
VOLLEYBALL: Men's
team places in
tournament
SPORTS, 8 V Tuesday,
April 29,1997
Volume 100
Issue 8
WESTERN FRONT Western Washington University Bellingham, Washington
Parberry quietly
absorbs Cage
By Amy Christiansen
The Western Front
The Carver Gymnasium lower
weight room will no longer be a
free workout facility for Western
students, but will become an
extension of the Lou Parberry
Fitness Center when renovations
that began last week are com­plete,
said Kathleen Knutzen,
chairperson of Western's Physical
Education, Health and Recreation
Department.
As a result
of the final
decision made
by the PEHR
and athletic
departments,
the Associated
Students and
C a m p u s
R e c r e a t i on
said some
e m p l o y e e s
have lost hours and many stu­dents
have unexpectedly lost the
only facility on lower campus
where they were able to work out
for free.
AS Vice President for Student
Life J.P. Elliott said the decision
was not brought to their attention
until renovations were already
underway.
Beginning fall quarter, mem­bership
costs for the lower weight
room, known to its devotees as
"the Cage," will be included in
the-$32.34 Parberry fee.
"If a student wants to join
Parberry, they'll be able to use
\MtstudeM wants to
art^wy, they'll be
%o t^^m>th facili­ties.
There will be no
free facility.
both facilities," Knutzen said.
"There will be no free facility."
Elliott explained that the
Athletic and Recreation
Committee responsible for advis­ing
the departments on issues that
affect a large percentage of the
student body, such as- the
Parberry renovation, is now obso­lete
because of new NCAA rules.
Although the AS was not notified
of the fact that the Cage would
become part of Parberry, Elliott
hopes that the departments may
be willing to
make a com­promise,
such
as reserving a
few hours a
day that would
remain open
t o ' utmHrnem^
bers.
"I feel
like the stu­dents'
con­cerns
need to be heard and Kathy
Knutzen said she'd be happy.to
talk to anyone who's concerned,"
Elliot said.
Mike Gent, a student employed
by Campus Recreation since fall
quarter, was the first to be
informed a week and a half ago
that his hours at the Cage were
cut. Employees were not notified
at the beginning of spring quarter
that the renovation would be tak­ing
place, he said.
"Campus Recreation," Gent
explained, "is one of the best
places on campus to work. They
See Cage, page 4
Hope central to Good-all's
work with chimpanzees
-Kaffi:
PEHR^airpe^n
By Scott Morris
The Western Front
The zookeeper slipped, star­tling
a nearby infant chimpanzee.
Three female chimps attacked the
zookeeper, defending their little
one. Old Man, the large male
chimp whom the Florida
zookeeper had befriended, ran
over in a clear display of aggres­sion.
But despite having been
abused and kept in a 5-by-5 foot
cage in his youth, Old Man inter­vened
on the zookeeper's behalf,
shooing the females away.
"To me this is a very symbolic
story," Jane Goodall told a
packed Carver Gym Monday
evening, "because if an abused
chimp can reach across this gap,
-thensurely rmfrfah1 beings' with
our (supposedly) greater capacity
for sympathy ... can reach out to
chimpanzees in their need."
Goodall, the world's foremost
expert on chimpanzees, used
many such colorful stories as
examples of how humans can
reach out to help the animals she
has studied for 37 years. Two
themes competed throughout the
talk: conservation efforts face
depressingly huge challenges, but
Goodall still remains optimistic
these challenges can be met.
"One of the questions I'm
asked the most is: 'Jane, do you
think there's hope?'"
Goodall said she knows many
environmentalists who would say
humans have gone so far exploit­ing
the planet's resources that
Front/Tom Degan
Jane Goodall speaks in crowded Carver Gym on Monday.
there is no room for hope.
"It's very disheartening to hear
what is happening to chim­panzees
around the world today,"
she said.
When she first started studying
chimpanzees in Tanzania in 1960,
more than a million chimps
roamed the equatorial forest belt
across Africa. Today, only
250,000 chimpanzees remain.
Many inhabit isolated patches of
forest, spread throughout 21
countries. .
"Today, there is no equatorial
forest belt," she said. "Chimp
habitat is dwindling all the time."
See Chimps, page 3
Work-a^thon raises money, volunteer hours
Front/Fiyan Hawkes
Juniors Livia Lam and Jana Finkbonner weed the YWCA front
yard for the first work-a-thon, which took place last Saturday.
By Brian Kingsberry
The Western Front
Fifty-three volunteers took time
Saturday to lend a helping hand
by gathering pledges and working
for a homeless work-a-thon spon­sored
by the Center for Social
Change.
The work-a-thon volunteers
gathered hourly pledges from
family and friends raising more
than $1,200 while working with
programs for the hungry and the
homeless.
Volunteers met at the YWCA
and were sent out to one of eight
job sites.
Job sites included the Agape
House, the Lighthouse Mission,
Lincoln Square, Old Town
Christian Ministries Thrift Store,
the Opportunity Council, the
Trinity House, We Care and the
YWCA.
"Finding time in your4ives to
volunteer like this really helps
boost a community's morale,"
said Center for Social Change
Co-founder Sandy Schmeil.
Work ranged from planting
community gardens and digging
ditches- to refurbishing low-income
housing units and paint­ing
local shelters.
"Volunteering like this is some­thing
each of us can do that really
helps the community," said Co-founder
Heather Foster.
"Helping someone other than
yourself just gives you an over­whelming
rush," Foster said.
Two-thirds of the $1,200 will
be donated to start a community
family resource center that will be
located in the Levins Building.
The Center plans to sponsor a
barter board for people to
exchange goods and services. The
Center will also have a fast on
May 15 to help raise awareness to
the problems of hunger and
homelessness.
For more information on the
Center and its upcoming events
contact either Schmeil at 715-
3361 or Foster at 738-7828.