Western Front - 1983 May 13

              Whatcom Solar
Association sheds
light on energy sources
P-7
llill
Multi-colored ^Godspell'opens in Old Main Theater
Vol. 75, No. 30 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Friday, May 13,1983
Photo by James Woods
Grant wins top AS spot
Dana Grant was elected Asso­ciated
Students Board of Direc­tors
president in yesterday's
runoff election. Grant received
50.3 percent of the vote, and his
opponent Ty Hanson, took
49.7 percent. The number of
students who voted was 89 2,
During his campaign, Grant
said he would not make any
promises, but would make him­self
accessible to students and
work toward what students want. '83
Prep week will allow quizzes
By GARY LINDBERG
A revised finals preparation week prop­osal
received the unanimous approval of
the Academic Coordinating Commission
Tuesday. The change allows quizzes to be
given during the week before finals.
The original policy stated: "During finals
preparation week, no examinations or
quizzes shall be administered." The revi­sion
put quizzes in the same category as
graded assignments which, unlike exami­nations,
may be given if the class receives
notification from the professor by the fifth
week of the quarter.
An objection by Sheila Fox of the School
of Education, caused the change. Fox said
some instructors, including herself, give a
quiz each week on the material covered
during that week.
In her student evaluations, comments
show a large preference for weekly tests,
Fox said.
The change still will prevent any "sur-
1 prises" for students during the last week of
the quarter, Thomas Downing of the philo­sophy
department said.
AS Secretary/Treasurer Ron Bensley,
author of the prep week policy, viewed the
change by the ACC as a "reasonable com­promise"
to accommodate the occasional
professor who does have weekly quizzes.
Finals prep week would establish the
.week prior to finals as finals preparation
week. This would reinforce Western's pol­icy
of having final examinations during the
designated finals time; not allow examina­tions
during the week prior to finals with­out
agreement by the entire class, instruc-
• tor and department chairman or dean; and
not allow graded assignments, including
quizzes, to be introduced during the finals
prep week unless written notice is given by
the fifth week of the quarter or if the
assignment is extra credit or makeup work
The finals prep week policy now moves
to the Faculty Senate for action.
Revised RIF passes
senate; faculty to vote
By DON JENKINS
The Faculty Senate approved a pro­posed
modification of the Planning and
Reduction-In-Force procedures Wednes­day
afternoon.
Western's entire faculty will vote on
whether to accept the new RIF document
next week.
Approval came after four two-hour dis­cussions
about the document by the
Faculty Senate this week and last. Still
some senators expressed dissatisfaction
that approval of the document came as
early as it did.
Constance Faulkner, of Fairhaven, said
much of the document went undiscussed.
George Witter, of the math department,
said of the Senate's approval of the docu­ment,
"I think it was an absurd action."
The document was approved 13-5.
On Monday President G. Robert Ross
and Executive Vice President James Talbot
presented to the Faculty Senate 28 sugges­tions
for modifying the RIF document.
On Tuesday the executive council met
and accepted 27 of .the 28 suggestions.
Most of them were incorporated as the
administration presented them. Accord­ing
to a memo released by the executive
council on Tuesday, "A few others were
agreed to with only minor modifications."
The only recommendation rejected out­right
was a proposal to give the Provost
responsibility to determine whether a
terminated faculty member is qualified for
another position within the university.
The executive council preferred to let"
the "affected academic unit" determine
the qualifications of a faculty member.
The approved RIF document includes
two major changes from the draft submit­ted
for the general faculty assembly on
May 2.
The first is a change in the section,
"conditions for the initiation of
reduction-in-force."
The general faculty assembly, by an
: advisory vote, called for the elimination of
mentioning "evaluation of program qual­ity"
and "alteration of university mission
statements relative to a specific school or
department" as potential conditions for
initiating a RIF.
The administration recommended four
conditions for declaring a RIF: lack of
funds, Governor's Executive Order to
reduce allotments, reductions in faculty
related to enrollment reductions and legis­lative
action reducing allotments.
The executive council incorporated the
administration's recommendations.
The other major change was moving the
section dealing with university planning to
the front of the RIF document. Previously a
description of the planning process was in
the middle of the RIF document.
Some faculty members and administra­tors
expressed concern about having the
planning process so closely tied with the
RIF document.
Capital budget may mean
Art/tech building addition
By DON JENKINS
The House democrats are caucusing to
examine the Senate's version of the capital
construction budget for the next
biennium.
The total Senate capital construction
budget calls for spending $660 million,
nearly $90 million more than the House's
version.
If the House does not accept the Senate's
version a conference committee will be
formed to reach a compromise budget.
The Senate version contains a $570,000
appropriation to Western for designing an
addition to the Art Technology building.
Western also receives nearly $2 million
for making minor improvements around
the campus.
Originally, Western made a request to
the Legislature for a capital budget of $33.5
million dollars.
Vice President for Business and Finan­cial
Affairs Don Cole said the design pro­ject
funding was the primary difference
between Western's budget in the House
and Senate versions.
Sen. Barney Goltz (D-42nd), asked if
design money for an addition to the Art
Technology building would be in danger of
being cut since it was not in the House
version, said, "Everything is vulnerable."
However, Goltz said supporters of the
appropriation, which, was added to the
budget on the floor after it came out of the
Senate Ways and Means Committee, had
made a good case for it.
He speculated that if the budgets are
submitted to a conference committee,
Dennis Braddock (D-42nd) and Rep. Pat
Fiske (R-40th) would be on that committee.
Goltz said both Braddock and Fiske had
committed themselves to supporting the
Art Technology appropriation.
Braddock and Fiske could not be
reached for comment.
When the budget came out of the Ways
and Means Committee Western was the
only four-year university with a budget
lower than the one already passed by the
House.
In another matter in Olympia, a bill that
would establish programs where four-year
universities, such as Western, would work
with community colleges to develop four-year
technology degrees at the community
college has been held up by significant
differences in the House and Senate's ver­sions,
Goltz said.
The House wants to give primary
responsibility to the public sector for
supervising the program, while the Senate
wants to give more responsibility to the
private sector.
Goltz said supporters of the Senate ver­sion,
such as himself, think that such a
program needs the full support of industry
to work.
He said he thinks the bill will eventually
pass.