Western Front - 1989 February 24

              Sports
PLAYOFF
••HlHIHi
FRIDAY
WEATHER: Showers de­creasing
Saturday. Partly
cloudy Sunday and Mon­day
with morning fog.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Last
regular-season game tonight at
Lewis-Clark State. See page 9.
Accent
The Western Front
£>*&S$iWSi%5%iHJF: ,19891
city poi.ce AS requests ban on bicycling
may end
campus beat
By Paul Mahlum
staff reporter
By Timothy K. King
assistant news editor
The Bellingham Police Depart­ment
is considering removing full-time
police protection from campus,
Lt. Don Miles, BPD liasion to West­ern
said.
He said the BPD would reach a
decision by mid-March.
The level of crime on campus
doesn't justify the expense of a full-time
officer, Miles said.
"We have service calls, but secu­rity
takes maybe 98 percent of the
calls. Maybe a small percent are
handled by us—the arrests," he said.
The inactivity of the campus beat
makes it a burden for officers and the
budget, he said.
"It's kind of boring for them
(BPD officers) but the main reason
comes from our budget."
He said the city originally agreed
to put a full-time officer on campus
because they thought the university
would be paying for it. But delays in
a contract between Western and the
city have made the protection to
expensive.
The contract delays are just part
of a long process, which began last
summer when Western's Board of
Trustees voted to decommission the
university police force and estab­lished
a contract with the city for
police protection.
A series of appeals was launched
by Western's trustees, and on behalf
of the campus police by the Wash­ington
Federation of State Employ­ees.
Then, on Dec. 1, Thurston County
Superior Court Judge Richard Stro-phy
ruled Western's contract with
the city illegal. He said hiring city
employees to do jobs state employ­ees
already held was in violation of
the contract the university had with
the campus police.
The board currently is appealing
the Strophy ruling but a decision is
not expected for at least 15 months.
Craig Cole, chairman of the Board
of Trustees, would not comment on
how the decision could effect future
board actions.
Bicyclists could soon be walking their bikes
through campus if the Campus Central Safety
Committee approves the Associated Students
Board's recommendation to ban biking through
campus during peak class hours.
The AS recommended this week that students
should walk their bikes during "high density" time
periods from 15 minutes before the hour to five
minutes after the hour on weekdays, between 9
a.m. to 3 p.m.
The ban would affect the campus pathways
from Artzen Hall to the Viking Union.
Included in the recommendation are plans to
move bike racks to roadside locations, add bike
lanes on both High Street and the road behind
campus and restrict maintenance and parking ve­hicles
from driving on campus pathways.
The recommendation will be reviewed by the
Campus Central Safety Committee for a final de­cision.
Campus Central Safety Committee Chairman
Dennis Bohrer said "this is the first time that stu­dents
have requested the administration for regu­lation
of bicycles on campus."
Jose Harrison, campus safety officer and safety
committee member, said he doubts the committee
will vote on the matter before the end of the
quarter.
See Bike on page 2
See Police on page 2
Flu virus sweeps campus
By Kimberiy Mellott
staff reporter
The flu virus that has been plaguing
Western's campus and the surrounding
community is so bad that one day last week,
76 students came in to Student Health Serv­ices
seeking medical attention, said Jo
Sandburg, associate director.
The symptoms of this upperrespiratory
flu include a sharp, deep cough; head and
body aches; fever of up to 103 degrees;
night sweats; loss of appetite and in some
cases nausea and vomiting, she said.
"Decongestants are really in order for
this flu," said SHS associate director Jo
Sandberg. "Sudafed is best... it should be
taken for the better part of a week."
The best way to avoid catching the flu
are stay in good health by eating well,
exercising and taking vitamins, she said.
Senior Sarah Riley, who is suffering
from the virus, said it is difficult to cope
with a strenuous class load while being sick.
"It makes you wimped out," she said. "I
have three papers to do, and I don't need to
be wimped out."
"I have a cough, it's one of those deep,
raspy up-the-track coughs," she said.
"I sleep a lot, plus I'm taking Advil,
Contact and Vitamin C, and I drink a lot of
water," she said.
If you, too, have been one of the many
who have come down with the dreaded
virus, the best remedies are lots of fluids,
non-aspirin pain relievers, and rest until
body temperature has stayed at 98.6 de­grees
for 24 hours.
UW branches
could grab
Western funds
By Star Rush
slaff reporter
Branch campuses are the wave of the future, but
they may be crashing against the foundation of a
traditional residential university experience, Western
administrators say.
The proposal to build two University of Washing­ton
branch campuses in the Puget Sound area could
possibly lower Western's enrollment arid legislative
funding in the next decade.
The Higher Education Coordinating Board says
Washington's urban centers, like Seattle, are underser-ved
by higher education and recommends building a
UW branch campus in Tacoma and another in the
Bothell-Woodinville area.
Last Wednesday, the House Higher Education
Committee overwhelmingly approved apian that gives
the go-ahead on construction of two UW branch cam­puses
along with three additional branches to be spon­sored
by Washington State University. The plan still
seeks Senate approval, but by most accounts it's likely
to pass.
Urban branch campuses are to serve an expected
influx of students in the 1990s, as well as the needs of
today's placebound students, those unable or unwilling
to relocate to attend college for economic, family or
health reasons.
"We argue that it will be less costly to fund in­creased
enrollment at Western (than branch campuses),"
said Al Froderberg, vice president for external affairs.
The Associated Press reported Feb. 16 that the
Higher Education Committee wants a $33 million
operating budget for the next two years along with a
planning and construction budget of $46 million.
Gov. Gardner supports the construction money but
wants the operating budget set at only $4.7 million.
Froderberg said if funding is approved, UW branch
campuses could open in rented facilities as soon as the
1990-91 academic year but stressed he didn't think it
would happen.
The university has the capacity now to serve an
additional 2,000 students, and the six existing institu­tions
combined can accommodate 9,000 more students,
but the HEC board is worried this won't be enough to
handle the enrollment increases over the next 15 years.
Western now draws 55 percent of its students from
King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties, the area
where UW branch campuses will be located. Western
administrators are apprehensive about the institutions
because their attractive location and low cost could
detract new students from Western.
It's feasible that a student could save nearly $5,000
by staying at home and going to a branch campus, said
Peter Elich, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
'Tarents think it's (Western's resident hall fee) a
real add-on for supporting their student at school," said
~~ See Branch on page 2