Western Front - 1999 May 4

              TUESDAY, May 4,1999 The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 108 Issue 10 Bellingham, Washington
Errors lead to runoff between candidates
By Tiffany White
THE WESTERN FRONT
Misspellings of names appear
to be a reoccurring problem in
the 1999-2000 Associated
Students elections, and the
errors result in another runoff
for the vice president for
Academic Affairs.
The A.S. Elections Board
voted Friday to expand the
runoff elections to include vice
presidential candidates Rafael
Castaiieda and David Mclvor in
response to a grievance filed_by
Mclvor last Thursday.
Mclvor filed a grievance say­ing
his name was misspelled on
the A.S. ballot and the mistake
violated the A.S. election code.
The code requires the name on
the ballot to be written as it is
spelled on the candidate's regis­tration
form, said Jon Hildahl,
A.S. elections coordinator.
"It was a clear violation of the
code," he said. "I would have to
say that I could see how it could
be filed. Name recognition is a
big part of the election."
An "n" was inserted between
the "Mel and "vor" spelling
"Mclnvor," Hildahl said.
"Well first off, it was a difficult
thing for me to go through in the
first place," Mclvor said. "I did­n't
want to be the one to contin­ue
the grievance cycle this year."
Mclvor said since he lost by a
small margin — approximately
30 votes — he believes the griev­ance
was justified.
See RUNOFF, page 6
Luau brings Hawaiian culture to Western
By Kari McGinnis
THE WESTERN FRONT
Hawaiian melodies and the
scent of tropical flowers filled
the air as leis were placed
around necks and gentle hugs
passed between friends honoring
the spirit of aloha at the fourth
annual Spring Luau, presented
by Hui 'O Hawai'i Sunday.
"This year's theme, 'Have You
Seen These Islands,' looks at the
beauty of Hawai'i from its lush
green mountains to its people
and the spirit of aloha," Mahina
Tadaki, Hui 'O Hawai'i presi­dent
and luau coordinator wrote
in the program. "The aloha spir­it
lives and is found in the little
things we do," she added, "Such
as making a lei, not for yourself
but for someone else. Why? For
no special reason."
"Aloha represents a particular
philosophy we have in Hawai'i
— loko mai ka 'i — which means
generosity, kindness and good;
will," said Momi Naughton,
adviser for Western's Hawai'i
club.
'It's an attitude or a feeling,"
Elaine Tadaki said. Elaine and
her husband Harold Tadaki
were one of three sets of parents
who flew to Bellingham from
Oahu to help with final prepara­tions
for the luau. Mahina's sis­ter
Jen Tadaki came and togeth­er
the 'Ohana (family) brought
Hawai'i to Bellingham.
"A luau is a feast, a party,"
Elaine .saidr adding that it's a
celebration for anything, such as
a baby's first birthday, a wed­ding
or a graduation with
'Ohana and traditional
Hawaiian dishes.
"Everyone is 'Ohana in
Hawai'i," said Dara Young,
Hawai'i club events co-coordina­tor.
'It's your whole family and
all your friends; we call everyone
auntie and uncle."
With the help of local organi­zations
including members from
Northwest Hawaiian 'Ohana —
the Hawaiian club within the
community — the students pre­pared
an authentic menu with
dishes such as kalua pork, which
was traditionally cooked in an
underground oven with hot
stones, steamed rice andjltaupia
(a coconut pudding).
"I think it's interesting to try
new things and different foods,
to experience the different cul­tures
within the U.S.," said
Malin Karlsson, an internation­al
exchange student from
Sweden.
All the hard work and hours of
practice came together as stu­dents
danced hula to the music
of Ho 'O Mau, a Hawaiian band
whose members are graduates
from the University of
Washington;
Na Wahine (women) and Na
Kane (men) wore bright colors
and hand-made leis as they per­formed
traditional and modern
See LUAU, page 6
Barney Benedictson/The Western Front
A hula dancer performs for guest at the fourth annual luau
hosted by the Hui 'O Hawai'i club Sunday evening.
Marchers' message: End injustice against farmworkers
Nick Haney/The Western Front
Nearly 300 farmer workers marched Sunday.
By Tiff a n y White
THE WESTERN FRONT
"What do we want?"
"JUSTICE!"
"When do we want it?"
"NOW!"
The words resonated against the
closed windows of passing cars, and
signs reading "Humans are not dis­posable"
slowed traffic as approxi­mately
300 marchers trekked on
Burlington Boulevard en route to
their destination — Skagit
Community College — more than two
hours away.
Marchers gathered at 11 a.m.
Sunday holding red and black bal­loons
and flags with the United Farm
Workers Union symbol for a rally at
Burlington's Maiben Park to cele­brate
union contracts with
Washington apple growers. The
Skagit County Farm Worker
Solidarity Committee organized the
inarch.
Low-hanging gray clouds sputtered
fine sheets of afternoon rain; howev­er,
the weather did not drown the
marchers' cries to end discrimination
and injustice of farmworkers in the
fields.
"The farm workers really do have a
bad plight right now with benefits
and the way they are treated," said
Western senior Tory Allen. "I just
thought they needed some support."
Allen said he thought the walk
attracted community awareness to
farm workers' issues — especially in a
community where farming is so
prevalent, she said.
During the march, . community
members were mostly positive and
gave thumbs-up signs, claps and
smiles to the marchers, she said.
The struggle to improve farm work­ers'
benefits is not necessarily an
issue of race, it is an issue of class,
See MAKCH, page 6
Anti-virus
software
prevents
Chernobyl
By Remy Kissel
THE WESTERN FRONT
Unprepared students were
struck by the Chernobyl comput­er
virus last week, but the major­ity
of Western's computers
remained unharmed.
The virus, known also as CIH,
was programmed to activate on
computers using Windows '95
and Windows '98 April 26, the
13th anniversary of the nuclear
disaster in Ukraine, according to
a series of articles last week in
USA Today.
Yet most commercial anti-virus
programs, including the free Dr.
Solomon's Anti-Virus program
offered by Academic Technology
and User Services, were able to
prevent the virus from infiltrat­ing
campus computers. Software
developers have known about the
virus since early last summer and
have had adequate time to devel­op
software updates to identify
and destroy it, said ATUS.
"We~ haven't heard a lot about
it," said Mike-Massey, local area
networks consultant at ATUS.
"We did such a thorough job keep­ing
the Melissa e-mail virus away
a few weeks ago that we didn't
expect this."
Massey said the ATUS help
desk has received no reports of
infections by the Chernobyl virus
because all the university's com­puters
were, at the very least,
equipped with the Dr. Solomon's
program.
Believed to originate in
Taiwan, Chernobyl attempts to
See VIRUS, page 6
IN THIS ISSUE
Viking f astpitch ends
season with two wins
Viking fastpitch closes out
its regular season with two
wins against Seattle
University.
Story page 10.
Mending the titans of
the sea
-Bellingham
Bay Shipyard
carries on a
proud tradi­tion
of mak­ing
vessels
seaworthy.
Story page 9.
FROM ONLINE
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