Western Front - 1968 April 2

              thewestern front Western Washington State College, Bellingham, Wash. 98225 Vol. LX No. 21 Tuesday, April 2, 1968 1 0C
Flora named new president
'Devotion' cited by Trustees
Dr. Charles J. Flora is shown here at the press conference
announcing his selection as president last week. For other
stories on Flora see page 2. (Photo by Jeff McKay)
Dick Gregory will
speak here April 11
Dr. Charles J. Flora, who believes Western is
one of the strongest state colleges in the country,
was named the eighth president of Western in an
announcement made last Tuesday by the Board of
Trustees.
Flora retains the post he has held in a temporary
capacity since last summer. He was chosen from
more than 125 active candidates, 15 of whom were
personally interviewed by the Board of Trustees.
Five were re-interviewed by the Board, a faculty
committee and a special student committee for the
final selection.
Trustees, in announcing Flora's appointment,
stated: "Many factors led to the decision to
appoint Dr. Flora. Among them were his unqes-tioned
intelligence, his energy and initiative and
perhaps most important, his complete devotion
to the college and its future development. We look
forward with confidence to a developing institution
which will always maintain the highest standards
of academic and intellectual excellence."
The search for a new president began last
spring, when Harvey C. Bunke, president for two
years, announced he was leaving Western tobecome
director of undergraduate studies at Indiana State
University.
Flora, then academic dean, became acting
president on July 1, and interim president on
Sept. 1. . ,f t„
Flora first came to Western in 1957 as an
assistant professor of zoology. He was promoted
to associate professor in 1961 and in 1964 to
professor, specializing in marine invertebrate
zoology.
Flora, now in his eleventh year at Western,
said in a press conference last week that he had
long considered himself a "Western lifer," wheth­er
as a professor, dean or "whatever."
He said he became a candidate because he
believed mat for an important post a college "should
look both inside and outside the institution." He
said, "Not becoming a candidate would have
violated my own philosophy."
As president, he sees himself inheriting a
"strong, robust institution" which is destined to
become a strong university.
Such a university wouldn't be a multiversity
with massive schools, but would be strong in
programs "it esteems," suchas teacher education.
University status for Western could be four to
six years away, he predicts, though a present
faculty with 60 per cent holding doctorates, and
an entering freshman g.p.a. of nearly 3.0 shows
"credibility of moving in this direction."
The cluster colleges will be part of this
growth, he says, estimating that Western will
have three to seven such institutions in the next
decade.
One of these — the second — will be a college
of environmental science, an academic area in
which Flora believes the college must take ad­vantage
of natural facilities.
The new president plans to stay close to
student activity. He will continue to maintain
"free hours" during which any student can talk
with him without appointment, and to attend student
legislature meetings.
"I've always felt that the student voice is
terribly important and that we must avail our­selves
of the knowledge of students," he said.
"But this does not mean we should give the
students everything."
Not to listen, he said, "would be negligent."
"If we pay serious attention to concerns, I
believe the difficulties won't develop," he said.
Asked by a student present at the press con­ference
if he believed the Western Front was a
student newspaper, Flora answered, "I believe
the Western Front is a college newspaper. I have
never accepted the view that it is a student news­paper.
It represents the college as a community
of scholars."
The paper is financed from a central pool of
taxpayers' and students' money which is allocated
out, he explained, and so is not purely supported
by student fees.
Dick Gregory, well-known as
a leader of the Black Revolution
and as a social satirist, will
speak on civil rights, black pow­er
and pacifism at his 3:45 p.m.
appearance here on April 11th
in Carver Gym.
During the second 45 minutes
of this speech, Gregory will an­swer
questions from the audi­ence.
At 7:30 that night Gregory will
give a 30-minute keynote address
to kick off the annual Associated
Students nominating convention.
He will talk about the signifi­cance
of America's college gen­eration
as it takes its place in
society, according to Chuck
Miller, chairman of the Social
Issues Committee.
Gregory is the first black
social satirist to succeed in big
league show business, according
to an article in "Holiday" mag­azine.
The story said he has an
inexhaustible sense of humor
about the racial problem.
In 1966, Gregory was jailed
for fishing with the Indians on
the Nisqually river in Washing­ton
during a dispute over Indian
fishing rights.
Dan Fredrickson, AS presi­dent,
said $1,000 of the $1,250
cost to bring Gregory here is
coming from SS funds available
for this purpose. Miller's com­mittee
will provide the balance,
Fredrickson said.
Convention delegates
needed by Friday
Delegates to the Associated
Students nominating convention,
set for April 11 and 12, are now
being registered, according to
Jon Murray, elections board
chairman.
Off-campus students, who have
400 seats at the convention, may
sign up as delegates at the VU
desk until Friday.
Students living in dormitories
should check with their hall pres­ident
if they wish to be dele­gates.
Candidates must be nominated
in the convention to run in the
April 24 AS elections. There
can be three candidates each for
AS president and AS vice-pres­ident.
Fifteen students, or three
for each of the five open legis­lator
seats, can be nominated for
Legislature.
Legislature shown Lakewood plans
A multipurpose lodge and expanded boathouse with boathouse
and lounge facilities could be among several additions made to Lake-wood
"hopefully" by next spring, Union Facilities Director Steve
Dent told legislators Thursday.
Lakewood is the 8-acre Associated Students site on Lake
Whatcom, given to the student body in 1922. It presently has a
boathouse, cabin, small house, workshed and dock.
Dent showed legislators a master expansion plan for the proper­ty,
drawn up by an architect, by which Lakewood expansion would
take place.
Constructed would be a main lodge for scheduled uses such
as leadership conferences and dorm banquets. The lodge's main
room would be slightly larger than the lounge in the Viking Union.
The building would include facilities for the Fresh Water Institute,
biology and physical education departments.
The boathouse would have an upstairs lounge overlooking the
lake, as well as facilities for crew racing. The site would also get
a multipurpose court and playfield, and more parking spaces.
The expansion project must be approved by the Board of
Trustees
Cost' of this phase of the Lakewood addition would be about
$311,000, and several funding procedures have been considered.
Dent said one suggestion, refinancing the student co-op, would
have cut co-op expansion for the next 40 years. Another suggestion
is using the college's facilities revenue fund.
In other action, legislators elected Terry Flanders Speaker of
the Legislature. He replaces Dave Cunningham, whose term expired.
They also approved the appointment of Zoe Ann Hedman as
activities commissioner, replacing Dave Davis who resigned; and
Gene Oliver to the Student Academic Advisory Board.
Miss Hedman said that she would have no assistant this quarter,
and was concerned mainly with constructing a skeleton of commission
personnel to carry over to next year.
Legislators also passed unanimously Dan Fredrickson's bill
that the Legislature "sponsor, but not take financial responsibility
for, the Humanities Helpers for spring quarter 1968." Humanities
Helpers is a student-started business selling class notes.
The board accepted Fredrickson's veto of Noel Bourasaw's
bill requesting President Flora to suspend the publications board
and create a new all-student board in time to select next year's
editor and business manager.
Fredrickson said he vetoed the bill because the Publications
Committee was already formulating a new policy, because he
felt faculty advice on publications was good, andbecause he believed
a new board couldn't be set up in time to select next year's editor
and business manager.
Legislator Becky Cohen said she would invite representatives
from campus security to explain their problems at the April 18
Legislature meeting.
Sent to committee were three constitutional amendments pro­posed
by Fredrickson. One deals with the Activities Commission,
another with the president's cabinet, and the third with executive
appointments. .
Before adjourning, the Legislature moved to ask its Academic
Standards Committee to send a letter of congratulations to President
Charles J. Flora.
June graduation
speaker chosen
A bid to spea^at the June 7
commencement has been accept­ed
by former University of Ore­gon
president Dr. O. Meredith
Wilson, President Charles J.
Flora's office announced Friday.
Dr. Wilson, U.O. president
from 1954-'60 and of the Univer­sity
of Minnesota from I960-
67, is presently director of the
Center for Advanced Study in
the Behavioral Sciences, Stan­ford,
Calif.
He has not indicated a topic
for his address.
Dr. Wilson was selected from
a field of 12 by the commence­ment
committee, headed by Dean
of Women Lorraine Powers.
Faculty and seniors were in­vited
to submit names, but the
latter did not do so, Miss Pow­ers
said.
Dr. Wilson received his A.B.
from Brigham Young University
and Ph.D. from the University
of California. He served as
assistant professor of history at
BYU and the University of Chi­cago,
was associate dean of the
college at Chicago and dean of
the school of arts and sciences
at the University of Utah.
He has served on the Nation­al
Committee of UNESCO and
on the business ehtics advisory .
committee of the U.S. Depart­ment
of Commerce.
Posts he has held include
chairman of the American Coun­cil
on Education and president
of the State Universities Assn.
He is a member of the American
Historical Society, National
Assn. of American Universities
and the national council of the
Boy Scouts of America, plus
numerous education and ad­visory
organizations.