Western Front - 1991 April 9

              The Great
Outdoors
Features, pages 5-7
Men's rugby
still fighting
Sports, page 9
Classroom
fraud
News, page 4
The Western Front
April 9,1991/Volume 83, Number 30 Western Washington University please recycle
Midi! I f l i l l t?
Hair stylist Matthew Waite-Smith and his assistant Suzanne^
Bauer model Jackie Shaw?s hair in Red Square for a fall 1991 catalogue. During the
two-week photo assignment, thegroup shot on location at LaConner, Lake
Whatcom and Mt. Baker.
Call prompts label removal
from Playboy, Penthouse
By Mike Clynch
staff reporter
In what appears to have been a hoax phone
call, the implication of legal action against the
Associated Students Cooperative Bookstore
forced the removal of point-of-sale warning
stickers which had been placed on Playgirl,
Playboy and Penthouse magazines during win­ter
quarter.
George Elliott, bookstore manager, said he
received a phone call from an attorney repre­senting
Penthouse magazine. The attorney im­plied
that the stickers were libelous and legal
action might be taken if the stickers were not
removed.
"No lawyer representing Penthouse has
had any official contact with the university,"
said attorney Laurence B. Sutter, who is assis­tant
council for Penthouse. However, he added,
"We certainly think that the sticker, as well as
the sign, is completely unconstitutional."
Joseph Burton, special consul to Playboy
magazine, said Playboy had not initiated any
action either.
The two stickers at the center of the con­troversy,
each about the size of a business card,
were placed on the cover of the magazines. The
first, intended for Playgirl, reads: "Playgirl is
part of the spectrum of objectification in our
society that research has shown may lead to
harm of individuals.''
The second, intended for Playboy and
Penthouse, reads: "Research has shown maga­zines
that objectify women may lead to demean­ing,
harmful and violent treatment of women,
and a societal acceptance of this treatment."
Elliott said he had assumed the phone call
to be legitimate. After receiving the phone call,
he contacted Administrator for Student Activi­ties
JackSmith, who is the ASBoard of Director's
advisor, and told him about the incident. Elliott,
who said he has always been opposed to
stickering the magazines, said he recommended
removing the stickers until the situation could be
assessed.
Elliott contacted Saundra Taylor, vice
president for student affairs. A cabinet meeting
which included President Kenneth Mortimer,
Taylor and Assistant Attorney General Wendy
Bohlke, was held to discuss the matter and it was
decided to pull the stickers from the magazines.
Thestickers were pulled onthelastday of winter
quarter.
Taylor and Bohlke did not comment on the
issue.
Laurence said Penthouse had received a
copy of some Front articles providing back­ground
information on the magazine issue. He
said the articles had only arrived in the mail a
day or two ago and were still being studied.
Rainier Distributing, the Everett-based
distributor of all three magazines, requested
copies of the articles. They mailed them to
Playboy magazine, which then sent copies to
See STICKERS, page 2
Legislature
House approves higher
enrollment for Western
Working man's hero speaks
By Scott M. Ayers
staff reporter
By Scott Ayers
staff reporter
Western's enrollment will rise by
264 students the next two years if the
Senate and Governor approve the
budget passed Saturday by the House
in Olympia.
The budget would raise
Western's state-funded enrollment cap
to 8,914, up from the current 8,650.
The increase is more than the univer­sity
had asked for.
George Pierce, Western vice
president for business and financial
affairs, said the direction the legisla­ture
was taking toward higher educa­tion
was "very satisfying" but the
budget did not meet all the needs of the
university.
Western originally asked for an
enrollment increase of 200, a number
set by the state's Higher Education
Coordination (HEC)board, Pierce said.
The HEC board proposal set a $5,300
The HEC board proposal seta$5,300
per student cost on enrollment in­creases.
Pierce said this cost needed
to be met in order to maintain a level
of quality education created by the
facilities and professors the univer­sity
offered.
Pierce said while the house
budgetpassed on Saturday did allow
for an enrollment increase, the
amount of money granted to West­ern
would not cover the $5,300 per
student the HEC board recom­mended.
Representative Pete Kremen D-Bellingham
said the budget repre­sented
the best compromise.
"It seems no matter how big
the pie is there is never enough to go
around to please everyone, but higher
education is a priority — especially
for me," he said.
Kremen said the budget reflects
See HEC, page 2
Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm
Workers of America and alife-long activist, is speaking
atnoon on Wednesday in the Viking Union Lounge. He
will discuss his experience as alabor leader, his union's
boycott of California grapes, and diversity on college
campuses.
Chavez is known to some as a hero of the working
class and to others as a radical leader. Chavez has been
described in The New Republic as "one of the last
representatives of a dying breed — the charismatic
1960's hero."
Chavez's visit gives students and faculty a chance
to meet and question the man, whose union activities
have included leading strikes and fasting for months at
a time to draw attention to the conditions faced by farm
workers, many of whom are migrant Hispanics.
Camille Hackler, director of Western's chapter of
MEChA (Chicano Student Movement) said Chavez's
arrival at Western is the culmination of years of work
by the organization.
"He's so hard to book up," she said. "Usually, you
need to schedule him years, three years in advance."
A stroke of luck enabled Western to bring Chavez
to campus. Hackler said a student who worked for the
UFW last summer contacted MEChA and told them
Chavez would be in the area speaking, and asked
whether they would be interested in having Chavez
whether they would be interested in having Chavez spend part
of the day at Western. Hackler jumped at the chance.
"To have a chance to hear him is an honor," Hackler said,
comparing Chavez to Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
"He has done a lot for both farm workers and Chicanos,"
she said. "He's such a wonderful man to learn from."
See CHAVEZ, page 3
Cesar Chavez