Western Front - 1983 May 20

              Vocal ensemble enjoys
quality performances p. 14 Vol. 75, No. 32 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Friday, May 20, 1983
Photo by Gary Lindberg
Leonard Brevik, Associated Students Vice President for External
Affairs, filed three of the four complaints stemming from last
week's elections.
Spell man vetoes
bargaining bill
By ELAYNE ANDERSON
Gov. John Spellman vetoed a
bill Tuesday that would have
allowed faculty to bargain
collectively.
Senate Bill 3042 would have
enabled faculty in state four-year
institutions and community col­leges
to vote whether they
wanted to be represented by a
union on their campus. College
professors now are among the
few state employees without col­lective
bargaining rights.
Milt Krieger, president of the
local chapter of the American
Federation of Teachers, said he
was not yet sure what action his
organization would take, but said
it would meet soon to decide.
"I'm angry and I'm tired,"
Krieger said. "I put a lot of effort
into this. But, we have to be
realistic."
The bill was opposed by the
Council of Presidents, a state­wide
organizaion of college pres­idents.
Western's President G.
Robert Ross said he was pleased
by the governor's veto.
"I would hope that the colle-giately
would be such that it
would make unions and collec­tive
bargaining not useful," Ross
said.
The problems of tenure and
lay-offs stem from the Legislature,
Ross said. A union would not pro­tect
faculty from state budget
cuts.
"Our problems are external,
not internal," Ross said.
Another reason Ross said he
opposed the bill is the cost of hir­ing
someone to deal with a union.
Krieger said it was true that
many of Western's problems are
external, "but there are some
internal problems, too."
One problem Krieger cited is
the lack of a governance structure
that represents the needs of the
faculty. He pointed out that the
Faculty Senate addresses both
the faculty and administrative
issues.
As an example, Krieger said,
the proposal to decrease the
dismissal time for faculty came
from the administration.
"The senate had to busy itself
with that issue and fight it off.
Very little was known about it,
until it was at an advanced state,"
he said.
Krieger said petitions support­ing
the bargaining measure,
which circulated earlier thisyear,
proved that faculty at Western
want to at least vote on the issue.
"As time goes on (collective
bargaining) makes more sense to
this faculty, than less sense,"
Krieger said.
AS ratifies election;
appeal, suits threatened
By PAT BULMER
Threats of legal action and a
possible appeal greeted the Asso­ciated
Students Board of Direc­tors'
decision to ratify the AS elec­tion
results.
After a stormy three-hour'
debate, in which three of four
complaints filed with the election
board were discussed, the AS
board voted 5 to 3 with one
abstention to ratify the results.
AS Vice President for External
Affairs Leonard Brevik filed the
three complaints. In one, he said
the Red Square polling booth
didn't open until 9:25 a.m. The
election code states polls must be
open at 9 a.m.
His second complaint said the
same polling booth ran out of bal­lots
at 11 a.m. and again at 1 p.m.
Brevik withdrew his third
complaint that the results of the
presidential run-off released
Thursday night didn't match the
results released Friday. The
computer-tabulated results of
Friday were correct, Brevik said.
The final result was 446 for Dana
Grant and 441 for Ty Hanson.
The board waited until Tues­day
to discuss the complaint by
senior human services student
Don Hall that he, and 60 other
human services students, were
not made aware of the availability
of absentee ballots and thus were
deprived of their right to vote.
Hall said he, like most other
human services students, works
full-time and takes night classes
once a week. He complained
about "a lack of information" on
how to obtain absentee ballots
and that most human services
students aren't on campus other
than for classes. Many live out of
town and couldn't vote on elec­tion
day, he said.
Joni Charboneau, a human
services student •, said she had
arranged with Election Board
Chairwoman Marian Young to
have ballots delivered to the night
classes.
No ballots were delivered
Monday.
Charboneau said she was
informed Tuesday that the elec­tion
board would not deliver bal­lots
to a "special interest group,"
but would keep the AS office open
for students to pick up ballots
there, which was too late for
Monday night students.
Charboneau questioned
whether ballots were even pre­pared
by Monday. The election
code states absentee ballots must
be available three days before the
election.
At the hearing, Young admitted
absentee ballots weren't pre­pared
until Tuesday, but "we did
make every effort to deliver them
to students."
AS President Mark Murphy
said ballots could have been
requested Monday and picked
up later, although he said he
recalled seeing one on Monday.
After the hearing, election
board member Bob Sizemore said
while some ballots may have
been available Monday, the 60
requested by the human services
department weren't. He said
arguments that these students
didn't come and request ballots
were irrelevant to the question of
whether ballots were available by
Monday.
Sizemore agreed, however,
with arguments that Hall didn't
make enough, of an effort to try to
obtain a ballot. He should have
called the AS offices during the
day, Sizemore said. "He didn't
pursue all the avenues."
No decision was made on Hall's
complaint. Hall said an election
that close should have been inval­idated
with so many people
deprived of a chance to vote. He
said he may pursue the matter
further. "I'm miffed at the idea the
election was validated before my
complaint was heard."
Opinions also were divided on
whether problems at the Red
Square polling booth prevented
students from voting. Brevik said
students who wanted to vote at 9
a.m., 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. may have
been deprived of their right to
vote.
At-large Director for Commun­ications
David Walker said he
received several letters from stu­dents
who tried to vote, but
couldn't.
Murphy responded that no
student couldn't vote. Students
could have waited, come back
• See AS RATIFIES/page 2
Looking ahead to summer? "-*-"—
Ray Bacon, Bellingham, combines snorkeling and crabbing off the rocks of South Bellingham—a
perfect synthesis of recreation and catching your own meal. With Whatcom County's recreational
amenities, opportunities abound for blazing your own trail in the Great Outdoors. A special four-page
Outdoors section begins on page 7.