Western Front - 1986 February 21

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Monkey feed
among unusual
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on Western.
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Arts
Masked story­teller
brings her
craft to
Western.
The Western Front
VOL. 78, NO. 11 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1986
Semesters
The faculty survey
results: 'No way'
By Craig Crandall
staff reporter
Academic planners have
abandoned further considera­tion
of switching Western to a
semester system after a survey of
Western faculty members
revealed a majority of professors
here are against it.
Academic Coordinating
Commission Chairman Tom
Downing said the results of the
survey, conducted by ACC
members Alan Sleeman and
Ruth Weiner, indicated 60 per­cent
of the faculty members
strongly opposed a switch to a
semester system, or felt it was not
worth the effort.
Twenty percent of the faculty
were in favor of a switch and 20
percent had not reported or were
undecided.
Downing said, "As far as we're
concerned, it's dead."
Discussion of moving to an
"early" semester system began
several weeks ago within the
ACC. During one of the ACC's
meetings, Vice President for
Academic Affairs Paul Ford told
ACC members the deans of
Western's colleges supported the
semester system.
Washington State University
currently is the only public
university in the state on a semes­ter
calendar.
Making a switch to the semes­ter
system is not in the foresee­able
future for Western, Down­ing
said.
"You would be insane to do it
against a strong faculty senti­ment,
because the majority of the
faculty is opposed to it. We
would have to force it down their
throats," he said.
Downing said he saw "no
point in the ACC board continu­ing
to discuss the issue. With suf­ficient
numbers against the
switch it is not worth our time to
bring it up on the agenda again."
Students were not involved in
this survey because the faculty,
being a smaller group, was easier
to survey. It was seen as more
practical to survey the faculty
rather than more than 8,000
students.
Downing said the poll "was a
survey and not a vote. A mere
questionnaire among students
wasn't what we were looking
for."
New high-ed board
visits the campus
By Paul Swortz and
Jackie Soler
staff reporters
The Higher Education Coor­dinating
Board of Washington
got a lesson in the workings of
Western during its two-day meet­ing
here Tuesday and Wednesday.
Faculty members, administra­tors
and students presented the
board with highlights and his­tory
of programs at Western.
Vice President of Academic
Affairs Paul Ford said the board
influences the types of programs
offered and budget decisions at
the state's community colleges
and universities.
Gov. Booth Gardner appointed
the nine-member board to
replace the disbanded Council
on Postsecondary Education.
The new board began its duties
Jan. I and held its first meeting at
The Evergreen State College.
The board will familiarize
itself with the state's four-year
institutions by conducting its
monthly meetings on each
campus.
"I thought the interaction (at
Wednesday's meeting) was
splendid," Ford said. "We got a,
chance to know them, and they
got the chance to know us
better."
Tuesday the board had its
regular business meeting and,
despite the snow, stayed for its
Wednesday meeting with admin­istrators,
faculty and students.
Board of Trustees member
Craig Cole discussed Western's
role in the local community.
"Western is the centerpiece of
Whatcom County's cultural and
economic life," he said. Western
establishes links with organiza­tions
and is one of the largest
employers in the area.
Because of its location, Cole
said Western is "one of Washing­ton's
best kept secrets."
University President G.
Robert Ross referred to Western
as a "magic campus."
He told the board about West­ern's
shift in focus from primar-
• See HEC, p. 3
IIMCHOVANAK
This satellite dish outside of Wilson Library is not part of the "Star Wars" defense system. The
dish is being used to link Western with a computer technology conference in Chicago, 111. The
teleconference continues until 2 p.m. today in Parks Hall 104 and the library presentation
Posters urge guns for security
By Tom Pearce
staff reporter
Western's Department of Pub­lic
Safety has indicated it has no
involvement with a recent flurry
of anonymous flyers posted:
around campus advocating the
arming of university police offi­cers
here.
"We know nothing about
them," University Police Lt.
Dave Doughty said Wednesday
when asked about the flyers.
"Our first encounter with them
was when one of our troopers
found one in the Ridgeway din­ing
area."
The flyers describe pistol-toting
criminals either threaten­ing
or gunning down unarmed
Western campus police officers.
"The sound of a gunshot
erupts from the Plaza Cashier. A
campus police officer is on the
scene. The gunman turns,
laughs, then shoots Sergeant
Jones . . . because Sergeant
Jones was UNARMED."
Another fictional incident:
"As Sergeant Smith confronts
the scene of the rape in progress,
the rapist draws a handgun and
threatens to shoot if (Smith)
doesn't leave the area . . .
because Smith is UNARMED."
The final line of each eight-and-
a-half-by-11-inch flyer says,
"We must let the University
Police protect us in all
situations."
Western and The Evergreen
State College are the only institu­tions
of the six state universities
that do not allow campus
police officers to carry firearms.
Central Washington University,
Eastern Washington University,
Washington State University
and the University of Washing­ton
police carry firearms, spokes­men
from each school's security
department said.
When campus police officers
were commissioned in late
1975, then-University President
Paul Olscamp said the force
would not carry guns as long as
he was president.
The question of arming the
regular officers arose in April
• See FLYERS, p. 3