Western Front - 1999 July 21

              The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 109 Issue 5 Bellingham, Washington
Forum discusses new Campus Services Facility
By Shannon Ager
THE WESTERN FRONT
A small group of 14 people
gathered in the large, first floor
lounge of Fairhaven College in
an informal setting to discuss
controversial issues about the
planned Campus Services
Facility.
The focus of the June 15
meeting was for people to voice
Interim
librarian
named
By Angela Smith
THE WESTERN FRONT
A' nation-wide search will
begin for a new university librar­ian
this fall.
Former University Librarian
Judith Segal declined to com:
ment about her departure from
Western.
Marian Alexander became
Interim University Librarian
July 1, former interim provost
Dennis Murphy stated in a press
release.
She will fill the position until a
permanent appointee is found.
"A minimum time (for the
search) is usually about one
year," Alexander said. "But it
can extend from a few months to
18 months."
Library staff
and faculty par­ticipated
in
interview forums
and submitted
comments to the
provost to help
choose an inter­im
university
l i b r a r i a n .
Alexander was
one of three
nominees for the position.
"I have experience doing the
work," Alexander said. She
served as acting director of the
library from October 1994 to
August 1996.
The position entails mainly
administrative duties but also
includes working with library
and university records, including
student records, archiving and
working with various library
programs.
These programs include
enhancing the Library
Information System, improving
the Internet-based inter-library
loan system and a college-based
librarian program.
She explained the library has
many undertakings she doesn't
plan to wipe from the slate, but
rather will look into ways to con­tinue
the programs while in the
position.
Alexander said the perma-
See LIBRARY, page 3
Marian
Alexander
concerns and questions they
have about the new building.
"We want to bring you into
the fold here and let you know
what's happening," said
Michael Smith, the architect
designing the project.
Construction of the $7.4-mil-lion
project will begin in
October 2001 and should be
completed by the summer of
2002. The new building, which
will be on the northeast corner
of 21st Street and Bill
McDonald Parkway, will house
the offices of University P.olice,
Student Health Services and
Parking and Transportation.
The meeting was the first in a
series, which will be every two
weeks at Zervas Group
Architects. The formal presen­tation
to the city will be in
October. Specific dates for meet­ings
have not yet been set.
Several concerns were dis­cussed
at the meeting. John
Servais, Happy Valley resident
and community activist,
expressed concern about previ­ous
fill operations conducted
where the hew building will be.
"I think Western
should be held accountable for
that sort of thing," Servais said.
"To put any type of emergency
facility on top of that is stupid."
Smith said this issue has
been raised before.
Smooth Sailing
Matt Anderson/The Western Front
Junior sailors enjoy a clearing in the weather at Lake Whatcom. Sailing programs are
available to students through the physical education department or Whatcom
County Parks and Recreation and are taught at Western's Lakewood Boating Facility.
VRI car succeeds in European race
By Angela Smith
THE WESTERN FRONT
Western's Vehicle Institute
Research team is coming home
Thursday from an eventful com­petition
in Birmingham,
England.
Rob Giovenale drove Viking 28
to fourth place in the autocross
with a time of 48:11.
According to an e-mail from
VRI Grant Specialist Eileen Seal,
however, the team was unable to
finish the fourth run of the
autocross because of a broken
axle.
The team placed third overall
in the 1999 Formula Student
Competition and third in acceler­ation.
Viking 28 took second place in
the figure-8 skid pad test — the
skid pad test judges the vehicle's
cornering ability — with Brian
Bressler driving with a time of
.21:90, beat out by only .01 sec­onds
by the University of Texas
at Arlington.
The car proved to be economi­cally
feasible as well, placing
fourth in cost accounting, which
judges the car's ability to be
mass-produced.
"The British judges have been
very impressed with the unique­ness
of the design and use of our
materials," Eileen Seal wrote.
"The competition (was) very
stiff, as Western (was) competing
against the top winners of
American SAE competition as
well as the very best of the
British," Seal wrote.
The competition was cut short
Saturday when officials canceled
the race when UTA's car crashed.
According to a press release,
Western's team won the Sir
Henry Royce Memorial
Foundation award for its aware­ness
of basic engineering princi­ples
in the construction of a rac­ing
car.
Twenty students chosen as math fellows
By Craig Kanaya
THE WESTERN FRONT
Twenty Western students
have been chosen by Western's
mathematics faculty to be math
fellows. They will help students
conquer their math problems.
"A math fellow is an out­standing
math student who pro­vides
free tutoring throughout
the year to students in calculus,
linear algebra, statistics and
differential equation classes,"
Mathematics Center Director
Donna Rpchon said. "Math fel­lows
will also conduct work­shops
on the use of graphing
calculators and other mathe­matical
software."
Twenty math fellows are cho­sen
each year. They are recom­mended
by the math depart­ment,
fill out an application,
write an essay and are inter­viewed.
They are then chosen to
be math fellows by undergradu­ates.
This process starts in
February, and the math fellows
start their jobs in September.
"The math fellows are some of
our strongest math students,
but they do not need to be math
majors," said Rochon.
In addition to being out­standing
math students, math
fellows must be able to commu­nicate
concepts.
. "Math fellows must have good
communication skills and must
also know what questions to
ask to lead the student in the
right direction," said Frank
Gonzalez, a returning math fel-
See MATH, page 3
"We had an early warning
radar system out," Smith said.
"We know where the fill is. It's
obviously unsuitable for the
building. It will have to be dug
out and replaced with some­thing
suitable."
Another concern was how to
separate vehicle traffic from
pedestrian traffic on 21st
Street.
Smith said the plan is to cre-
See SERVICES, page 3
2 officers
to join
campus
police
By Justin Hall
THE WESTERN FRONT
Two new pairs of eyes will be
watching Western's campus.
Western recently received
$150,000 to expand campus police
forces as part of a nationwide
effort to increase public safety.
The Community Oriented
Policing Services Universal
Hiring Award, established by
President"' Clinton's administra-"
tion and granted by the
Department of Justice, will allow
Western to increase campus safe­ty
by hiring two campus police
officers.
'"We'll hire two additional offi­cers
at a great cost savings to the
university," University Police
Chief James Shaw said.
Assistant Chief David Doughty
explained the • department is in
the process of hiring two officers.
Applicants completed tests last
spring to establish a list of candi­dates
and University Police are
now checking candidates' back-
See POLICE, page 3
IN THIS ISSUE
Fairhaven features
outdoor movies
O u t d o o r
theater
f e a t u r e s
c l a s s i c s
such as The
Wizard of
Oz and Pee
Wee's Big Adventure.
See story page 4.
Fishing on the fly-
Fishers still cast flies
into local waters. Find
out about places to shop
and fish in the area.
See story page 8.
FRONT ONLINE
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