Western Front - 1998 April 3

              ffaloes
run wild
Clash
of the
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY VOLUME 104 ISSUE 1
FRIDAY
April 3, 1998
BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
Faculty rallies
to dean's side By Ken Brierly
The Western Front
An unexpected attempt by
Western President Karen Morse
and Provost Roland De Lorme to
force the resignation of Peter
Elidi, Dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences, on Monday, March
16, caused an explosion of opposi­tion
from department chairs and
faculty in the college; the dean's
dismissal was thus retracted on
Friday, March 20.
Elich is not commenting on the
matter.
Prior to the retraction of Elich's
dismissal, approximately 50 fac­ulty
members dropped by for an
impromptu meeting with the
provost — only about five were
expected to attend — asking
questions and demanding
answers.
"I've been here for 31 years and
I've never seen that kind of spon­taneous
activity by that many fac­ulty,"
said Philosophy Chair
Phillip Montague.
Faculty are distressed with the
treatment of the dean for several
reasons — some of which are
expressed in a letter addressed to
Morse and De Lorme that was
drafted and signed by 18 of the 23
department chairs in the College
of Arts and Sciences.
"No member of the university
community should be treated in
such a humiliating fashion," the
letter reads, "but to deal thus with
someone of his stature and
achievement shows a deplorable
lack of judgment and respect for
him and the university."
Some sources fear the resulting
turmoil could jeopardize the uni­versity's
accreditation by strain­ing
faculty-administration rela­tions.
The accreditation review
will begin April 27.
"I am flabbergasted that they
would wait for a time before
accreditation to do this," said
Faculty Senate President Jim
Hearne. "That shows very bad
judgment and I would be very
hurt if this affects the university's
accreditation."
The letter said the president
and provost have the authority to
make such personnel decisions.
Elich is well respected by his
colleagues, having been
employed by the university for
more than 35 years as a teacher,
associate psychology professor,
psychology chair and, for the last
15 years, dean for the Collegeof
Arts and Sciences, which com­prises
two-thirds of the universi­ty.
Other reasons have contributed
to faculty discontent regarding
the matter.
"Part of the shock is the sud­denness;
another part is who this
was happening to," Hearne said.
He added that Elich is the most
well-respected dean he has ever
known.
"He stands for values that sup­port
the academic mission,"
Hearne said.
"That's something you can't
take for granted," he said.
"He has served his department,
the college and the university
with distinction, and the national
attention Western has received in
the past several years is linked
directly to his work as dean," he
said.
The fact that Elich was not
given a reason for his dismissal is
also a point of concern for some.
Several sources, who asked not to
See Administration, page 5
Public expresses concern over Whatcom County water quality
By Samantha Tretheway
The Western Front
"Residential development and urban
growth is having a negative impact on our
water supply," said Sherilyn Wells, a
founder of the Watershed Defense Fund, a
Whatcom County-based organization
working to improve water issues.
Wells refers to water as the bloodstream
in the body of the land; she said she wishes
the county council would begin following
state law and keep our blood clean.
"(Members of the county council) are
looking out for no. 1 and not the public,"
she said.
The council is more concerned about
helping the special interest groups, such as
developers, realtors and contractors, mat
supported the council financially than the
public it is supposed to
serve, Wells said.
Last Tuesday, more man
100 concerned citizens
answered a call by Frank
James, the county's top
health officer, who chal­lenged
citizens to demand
the health board to take
action toward bettering
water quality in Whatcom
County. However, the peo­ple
had to wait because the county council
called an executive session.
When a governing body calls an execu­tive
session the public, as well as the press,
are barred from the meeting and the pre­siding
officer of the governing body must
announce the pur-
"(County council
members) are looking
out for no. 1 and not
pose for excluding
the public.
An executive
session may only
be called when a
governing body
will be discussing
issues of national
security, real
estate, public bid­ding
and public
employees, according to the Washington
Open Meetings Act.
"It doesn't look, from the listing of possi­ble
reasons, that any of them would apply,"
the public."
Sherilyn Wells
Watershed Defense Fund founder
said Harry Johnsen, an attorney with Raas,
Johnsen and Stuen of Bellingham.
"Personnel matters are required by law
to be discussed in an executive session, and
what we discussed was a personnel mat­ter,"
said county council member Kathy
Sutter. She would not comment further
about the session.
Johnsen went on to say, "Dr. James was
saying that the council was making a poli­cy
mistake, not that they were doing some-dung
illegal."
However, the public was able to attend
the health board meeting once the execu­tive
session was concluded, Sutter said.
Wells was concerned about James' job
because he agreed with her and other citi-
See Water, page 4