Western Front - 1983 September 30

              Western Front Friday, September 30, 1983 Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. Vol. 75, No. 42
Search for dean
to be nationwide
By Seth Preston
A university search committee
will begin looking for a new dean
for the College of Arts and Scien­ces
in mid-October, Vice Presi­dent
for Academic Affairs James
Talbot said Monday.
The committee—which has yet.
to be formed—will review both
external and internal applica­tions,
Talbot said. An advertise­ment
and job description will
appear in national trade publica­tions
about Oct. 15.
"It's a national search. We
determined that quite awhile
ago," he said.
External applications will be
accepted despite past protests
from a few faculty members
within the college. Dean James
Davis, who resigned in April, had
been brought to Western from
Central Michigan University in
1974. After resigning, Davis took
up a full-time teaching position in
the political science department.
Some faculty members voiced
their concerns about possible
reductions in staff or.work hours
in case such an event is repeated
with another outside dean.
"Well, they didn't tell me that...
we do national searches for facul­ty
members all the time," Talbot
responded.
Peter Elich, current acting
dean of the college, said last week
he plans to be a candidate for the
permanent position.
"I haven't run across anything
while I've been here (as dean) to
discourage me, and I haven't got
the feeling externally from faculty
that I'm not wanted," Elich said,
adding he felt a current Western
employee should be chosen as
the next dean.
"I'm not suggesting that I'm the
one who should be chosen, but I
feel there's a lot of talent within
the university to fill that slot," he
said. "I think you need to go out­side
if you feel there's something
really wrong and need a fresh
outlook. There's no need to
dramatically change the College
ofArtsandSciencesor the university."
But Talbot disagreed, saying, "I
don't think things have to be
wrong to get a fresh perspective—
but I'm not necessarily advocat­ing
choosing .an outsider. The
important thing, obviously, is
from time to time to get someone
new to provide stimulus."
"There's some excellent people
whoapplied last'timerandl know"
there are some who didn't apply
because it was only an acting
position," Elich said.
The temporary status restricts
the acting dean, he explainedJt's
unlikely a program spanning sev­eral
years would be formed if the
dean creating it would not be in
Registration began 8 a.m. Sept 19 with a few anxious moments as a weekend wind storm-knocked
out the air conditioning in the Computer Center. The computers need to beat a constant temperature.
Fortunately the computers were up and computing by 8:20 a.m. As of Wednesday afternoon, the
last day to register, 9£72 students had enrolled.
the position to see it through,
Elich noted. Also other people
mvolveorin tneproject might not
be willing to commit the needed
energy if they were unsure of
future leadership, he added.
Elich pointed out that an on-campus
applicant would have
the advantage of knowing West­ern's
operations. After 22 years at
Western—13 as psychology
department chairman on differ­ent
TCcasipns^i tppk.about three
months to adjust to functioning
as dean, he said. An outsider
would take even longer, he
added.
Talbot said a search is a valua­ble
function in itself since it creates
a self-evaluating, problem-solving
attitude. The committee tries to
match their perceptions of col­lege
needs with the skills and
personality of an appropriate
• See Dean/page 3
Polling place, pub leads AS agenda
By Dave Wasson
A campus pub with hope for
"responsible drinking" and sup­port
for a campus polling place
head the Associated Students
course of action as a result of last
spring's opinion generating ref-erendums.
Vice President for Activities
Kevin Lohman said his position
isn't necessarily for drinking, but
for "responsible drinking."
"There's been a lot of concerns
about drunk driving on campus,
and that would be one way of try­ing
to alleviate that," Lohman
said.
Lohman said he is prepared to
discuss the ramifications of an
on-campus pub with the admin­istration,
as well as with students
and the community. He has many
ideas, but as yet neither a liquor
license or location have been
obtained.
The question of a campus pol­ling
place for municipal and gen­eral
elections has been an issue
for nearly three years. In last
spring's AS elections, though, the
students approved a referendum,
which established popular sup­port
for the idea.
Because of a law that doesn't
allow precinct boundary changes
within 30 days of election filing
time, Western can't expect a pol­ling
place until after the Novem­ber
elections.
Peter Griffin, a Whatcom
County election deputy and a
candidate for the position of
Whatcom County Auditor, the
position responsible for the work
in the event of a precinct change,
said, "What it amounts to is the
job (precinct change) must be
done between January and
June."
In terms of election adminis­tration,
he said, it is advisable to
have a polling place on campus.
But he noted it's nothing that can
be changed in a week or two, and
it is not an in-expensive ordeal.
He is looking at a campus pol­ling
place in terms of serving eve­ryone,
not just students. He said a
polling place that is easily access­ible
is a consideration, and a pol­ling
place in the Viking Union
Sasquatch room is easily accessi­ble
to not only students, but to
residents who would use the
facilities.
Griffin is running against in­cumbent
Joan Ogden in this elec­tion.
Ogden could not be reached
for comment.
Dan Pike, AS vice president for
external affairs, said he is trying to
get a large student turnout to
demonstrate that students do
vote. A registration table is set up
in vendors' row in the VU plaza'
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Oct.
8, which is the last day to register
for the November election.
The drive to create a greater
turnout, Pike said, is' to show
whoever is elected that the stu­dent
voice is legitimate.
A Finals Preparation Week pol­icy
that would give students one
week before finals without any
graded assignments to prepare
for tests, was approved by the
Academic Coordinating Commis­sion
late last spring. It has yet to
go before the Faculty Senate,
which meets Oct. 10.
At this point, the board hasn't
voiced a plan of action for the ref-erendums
that dealt with the de­velopment
of a new towing pol­icy,
or gathering more student
input of campus art.
Both of these issues have AS
representatives at the approp­riate
committees. Although Pat
Angus was approved to sit on the
Art Acquisitions Advisory
Committee, the position for the
Parking and Transportation Com­mittee
still is open.
It is the job of these representa­tives
to carry the student opin­ions
to the committee meetings.
majors
get first pick
of classes
By Jeff Kramer
•Some students were "cruel­ly
shocked'' when they tried to
register for upper-division
business courses last week
only to find them closed to
most non^majors.
But the Dean of College of
Business and Economics said
the restrictions will help the
college plan more effectively
in the future by forcing busi­ness
students to declare their
majors early.
The decision to give busi­ness
majors preference in
selecting the popular upper-division
business courses was
announced last spring, but
many students reportedly
found out the hard way when
they signed up for fall classes.
"Some students didn't get
the word and they were cruel­ly
shocked when they showed
up for registration," CBE Dean
Dennis Murphy said earlier
this week.
• See Business/page 2
Western
squashed in
home opener
p. 15
Enjoy fall
at the beach
p. 13
Recalling the
best of an
elder era
p. 8