Western Front - 1999 January 22

              WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22,1999
VOLUME 107 ISSUE 4
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BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
Woman alleges assault
by three men near Mathes
ByJanisYi
The Western Front
Three men allegedly cornered
and sexually assaulted an 18-
year-old Western student
between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., Jan.
17 near Mathes Hall. University
Police said the victim's roommate
reported the assault around 11
p.m. that night.
The incident took place in the
600 block of North Garden Street,
on campus property.
The woman stated she was
walking alone near Mathes Hall
when she was approached by
three males, one on each side of
her and one in front of her. After a
brief conversation, two of the men
restrained her and the third
assaulted her.
The attack lasted about 10 min­utes,
the woman told police.
She was taken to St. Joseph
Hospital for examination and
released to family and friends
later that night, Chief of
University Police James Shaw
said.
"She suffered no subsequent
injuries," he said.
Two of the alleged assailants
were described by the woman as
white males in their late 20s; one
has dark "greasy" hair, was wear­ing
dark clothing and has an ear­ring;
the second is clean-shaven
with blonde hair.
No description was given for
the third suspect.
Police ask that the community
keep an eye out for any males fit­ting
the descriptions. Anyone
who hears any information relat­ing
to the incident or suspects
should contact University Police
at 650-3555.
Though police don't have much
information, they are still work­ing
vigorously on the case.
University Police has spoken with
students residing in Mathes Hall
and neighboring areas.
"We are continuing to do foren­sic
testing on the victim's cloth­ing,"
Shaw said.
The testing will consist of tak­ing
samples from the woman's
clothing and looking for clothing
fibers, fluids and hair. They will
also compile composite drawings
of the alleged assailants.
The incident was the second
time within a week that women
reported assaults on campus.
At 5:35 p.m., Jan. 13 near
Fairhaven College, a female, 18,
was grabbed from behind and
knocked to the ground. She sus­tained
a minor knee injury.
"As far as we know, these two
incidents have no relation to one
another," Shaw said.
Security will be increased, espe­cially
near the housing facilities
on campus, due to the recent
events, Shaw said.
Forum explores
campus chalking
By Darcy Spann
The Western Front
Whether or not students should
be allowed to chalk on campus
was the question more than 30
students, faculty and staff exam­ined
as they gathered Wednesday
night in an open forum entitled
"Chalking and Talking: A
Dialogue on
Campus Expre­ssion."
The Univ­ersity
Services
Council recently
deliberated on
Western's policy
concerning the
use of exterior
space for activi­ties
such as writ­ing
chalk messages in Red Square,
which led to the discussion
Wednesday. The purpose was to
receive feedback from those
involved about ideas for improv­ing
the current policy.
Communications professor
Kelly McDonald, moderator of
the forum and faculty representa­tive
to the U.S.C., explained the
current moratorium placed on
campus chalking is in response to
complaints received by the U.S.C.
regarding aesthetics and whether
or not chalking is a desecration of
Western's facilities.
Signs used to communicate stu­dents'
frustrations regarding the
moratorium claimed, "My First
Amendment + My Tuition = My
Chalking Voice," and "Don't Let
Student Expression Be a Casualty
of History."
Long used as a
method of free
expression by
various cam­pus
groups
and individu­als,
this prohi­bition
on
chalking, in
place since
October, has
become a major source of concern
for students such as Jess Torcaso,
coordinator of the Lesbian/Gay/
Bisexual / Transgender Alliance.
"Chalking is the only form of
advertising available for my orga­nization,"
Torcaso said.
"Eradicating it is just not an
option as far as I'm concerned."
McDonald said the U.S.C. will
draw upon information gathered
See Chalking, page 4
'Chalking is the
only form of adver­tising
available for
my organization'
Jess Torcaso
LGBTA Coordinator
'Faces of America' shown
Front/Erin Fredrichs
Fran de Leon portrays a Las Vegas Happa, a Navajo businessman and a Hispanic student.
By Christie Shepard
The Western Front
A standing ovation from more
than 60 people hailed Fran de
Leon Wednesday night in the
Performing Arts Center after her
performance in the one-person
show, "Faces of America."
The show details eight charac­ters
struggling with questions
about their multiculturalism.
Each has ideas about how they
are defined in America, as
Americans.
The 13 clubs that comprise
Western's Ethnic Student Center
sponsored the show. Michael
Vendiola, coordinator of the
E.S.C., said it was important to
the community to bring the show
here. He said it was brought, in
part, as a reaction to the passing
of Initiative 200, which ended
affirmative action in
Washington state.
"We hope it acts as a catalyst
to create dialogue," Vendiola
said. "We need to bring dia­logue
to campus again."
A simple set made of steel
frames and eight canvas cur­tains,
along with upbeat music,
accompanied de Leon as she
discussed "Generation X" and
how it is seen as a generation
without a defining characteris­tic.
They range from a Mexican-
American man trying to avoid
the Mexican gang stereotype to
a young Indian woman who,
after being violated by class­mates,
struggles to understand
why America seems to have a
caste system all its own — a
caste system based on race.
Between each character
change, a new canvas was
unveiled that depicted the confu­sion
of clashing cultures. When
the eighth and final canvas was
raised, it revealed four different
faces, all set above the U.S. flag,
indicating that we are all
Americans, despite our different
backgrounds.
Colin Cox is the writer and
director of "Faces." He said his
inspiration has come from travel­ing
the world.
All characters portrayed were
based on real people who were
interviewed. De Leon said she
and Cox wanted to understand
why the people who were inter?
viewed didn't feel connected to
the country, even though many of
them were born in America.
"Everything you heard was
told; nothing was invented," Cox
said.
De Leon became involved with
the show because she was inter­ested
in multiculturalism. She
saw Asian American shows and
African American shows but that
discussed multiculturalism.
In a serious, yet humorous,
look at how Americans identify
with their cultures, de Leon man­aged
to portray eight believable
characters who feel separated
from the country they live in.
"That's our only weapon, to
talk to each other," de Leon said
in a post-show chat session with
the audience. "It's step one; you
can only do what you can do
individually."
Ryan Tinsley pauses in the Alaska wilderness. About 90 people