Western Front - 1998 September 29

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WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY VOLUME 106 ISSUE 1
TUESDAY
September 29, 1998
BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON Complications force
De Lorme's retirement
De Lorme
By Jenni Odekirk
The Western Front
Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs Roland De Lorme,
second in command at Western under
President Karen Morse, will not
return to his position when his med­ical
leave ends this fall.
"The orig­inal
prog­nostication
was that De
L o r m e
would have
a normal
post-surgery
r e c o v e r y
period fol­lowing
his
s u r g e r y , "
said Dennis
M u r p h y ,
interim provost and vice president
for academic affairs since July 9.
"Instead (De Lorme) experienced
very significant and serious compli­cations
following his surgery."
De Lorme had surgery to remove a
non-malignant tumor, Murphy said.
Since De Lorme announced last
year that he was retiring at the end of
the 1998-99 school year, a provost-search
committee was created June 1
and has begun the process of finding
applicants to fill De Lorme's position.
De Lorme's absence will not affect
the pace of the provost search, said
Steve Senge, chair of the search com­mittee.
A new provost will be selected
by spring quarter and instated before
fall quarter 1999, Senge said.
Murphy will remain interim
provost until the new provost takes
over the position.
Murphy said he will continue the
work De Lorme began concerning
university academic programs,
assessment and accountability man­dates
from the state legislature and
planning for next year's centennial
celebration of Western.
After recovering from surgery, De
Lorme, a history professor, will be
involved in the writing and editing of
a centennial history of Western,
Murphy said.
"This will give him an opportunity
to be more fully engaged (in the pro­duction
of the centennial history),"
Murphy said. "It's something quite
close to his heart and something he
has been planning for a long time.".
In a press release, President Morse
praised De Lorme for his commit­ment
to academic excellence and love
for Western during his more than 30
years at the university.
At a meeting yesterday, Morse also
urged Faculty Senate members to
"drop him a note."
"I think very highly of Dr. De
Lorme," said Vice President for
External Affairs Al Froderberg, a
long-time Ifolleague of De Lorme. ~
Froderberg complimented De
Lorme for making sure Western's
curriculum remained up to date and
students were able to enroll in the
classes they needed.
"De Lorme has done all the things
that a chief academic officer should
do," Froderberg said.
De Lorme, 61, lives in Whatcom
County with his wife. He has five
children and numerous grandchil­dren.
De Lorme came to Western as
an assistant professor of history in
1966. He chaired the history depart­ment
from 1971 to 1980 and from
1984 until 1989, when he was named
associate provost. De Lorme was act­ing
provost and vice president for
academic affairs from February 1990
until he was permanently appointed
to that position in March of 1991. De
Lorme was acting president of
Western from March 1 to July 31 in
1993.
See related story, page 7
Questions about Western's diversity linger
wwu
Diversity
Part I of an occasional, on-going
series examining diversity.
By Arvid Hokanson
The Western Front
Over the past year, a number of diversity
issues have helped shape and educate the
course of daily life within Western's com­munity:
an anti-gay hate crime against a
woman, a commitment to diversity by a
Board of Trustees resolution and a contro­versy
sparked by the coverage of Victor
Lewis within the pages of this newspaper.
It is impossible to ignore the issue of
diversity in this day and age, especially in
Washington state, where voters will decide
on the anti-affirmative-action ballot mea­sure,
Initiative 200, this November.
How does a university — a community of
nearly 12,000 people — deal with an increas­ingly
diverse student body, faculty and staff
who are all vital components to the success
of Western?
During the fall of 1997, Western's total
ethnic-minority population was 13.3 percent
of the almost 11,500 students enrolled. To
compare this to the state as a whole, the
Office of Financial Management projects
that by the year 2000, 18.9 percent of
Washington's population will consist of eth­nic
minorities. Over the last 12 years, the
total ethnic minority population of Western
grew from 4.5 percent to its current level, an
increase of almost 9 percent, while the
state's level has grown about 11 percent to
almost 22 percent.
When comparing Western on a national
level, the American Association of State
Colleges and University found that Western
has retained and graduated students of
color at rates ranging from 9 to 13 percent
above the national average.,
The question of how numerical statistics
impact diversity on campus can help gauge
the actual feelings of individuals through­out
Western's community.
Associated Students Vice President for
Diversity Dewa Dorje said awareness is one
of the biggest hurdles Western must over­come.
"Some members of the university can't
understand why people get upset about
some issues," Dorje said. "Things like 1-200
will affect us all; if s not just an issue for
minorities and women."
Dorje stressed that openness and under­standing
are also crucial measures for pro­moting
diversity throughout campus.
Events such as last-year's anti-gay hate
crime against a woman show just one issue
of many that need attention, Dorje said.
"These may not be happy issues, but it's
not a happy thing. People need to get
uncomfortable in order to deal with these
things," Dorje said.
In Dorje's view, when incidents of intoler­ance
occur on the campus, the campus com­munity
needs to identify and have methods
ready to address such incidents to avoid fur­ther
incidents and to promote understand­ing.
"How we handle it, not legally, but with
diversity efforts and how we react is cru-
See Diversity, page 3