Western Front - 1997 October 14

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WESTERN FRONT Western Washington University Volume 102 Issue 5 Bellingham, Washington
Columbus day, confinement
of Leonard Peltier protested
By Karl Horeis
The Western Front
American Indians and about
150 supporters huddled in the rain
Sunday to ask for the freedom of
Leonard Peltier and to protest the
holiday that honors a European
explorer for discovering North
America.
The mood was light at the
Indigenous People's Day Rally
held in protest of Columbus Day
and in honor of Leonard Peltier,
the Chippewa-Lakota Indian con­victed
for his role in a 1975 gun-fight
with federal agents. After
more than 20 years of fighting for
the freedom of Peltier, a little
Puget Sound rairi wasn't enough
to dampen the spirits of activists.
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.,
was singled out by a First
Nations' speaker for his recent
attacks on tribal sovereign immu­nity
and autonomy.
"I heard about this senator from
Washington, Slade Gorton," the
voice of Johnny Maine echoed
across Peace Arch Park in Blaine
Sunday afternoon. "I heard he's
trying to do us in," his words rang
out from plastic-wrapped Peavey
speakers through the gray drizzle.
"I think this guy is like
Washington State's hemorrhoids
... irritating but not too deadly,"
Maine said.
This weekend's rally in support
of Peltier started at noon Sunday
with a march from Salishan Park
in Blaine to a wooden stage
below the Peace Arch at the
Canadian-American Border. The
event was the climax of a string
of events including a caravan
from Olympia to Bellingham and
a "Run for Justice" held at
Lurnmi Nation.
Peltier was sentenced to two
consecutive life sentences after a
gunfight at the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation left two FBI agents
and one Indian man dead. He was
arrested in Canada in 1976 and
extradited to the United States to
be tried in a case that American
Indian Movement leaflets call "afT
outstanding case of human-rights
violation."
The leaflet states, "Even the
U.S. prosecutor declared there is
no convincing evidence against
Peltier in the 1975 killing of FBI
agents," and marcher's signs at
this weekend's rally read, "Peltier
is the victim of an FBI frame-up."
At 1 p.m. the speakers at the
arch began with traditional Indian
songs and prayer led by Choctaw
tribal member Bill Simmons.
Members of the Puyallup Nation
and Northwest Leonard Peltier
Support Network also spoke.
Volunteers handing out leaflets to
north- and south-bound traffic
Front/Karl Horeis
Bill Simmons (third from left) of the International Indian Treaty Council and other Native
American supporters of Leonard Peltier perform a traditional song to start Sunday's rally.
walked car-to-car as vehicles
inched across the border.
The rally was co-sponsored by
the National People's Campaign,
the American Indian Movement,
and the Bring Peltier Home
Campaign.
"I've been planning on coming
for several months," said Jesse
Salomon, one of three Fairhaven
College students among the
crowd gathered in the park.
A wide range of people were
involved in the march. Supporters
rode bicycles and carried skate­boards,
drums and banners.
Marchers of all ages sang and
made an effort to communicate
with the local community.
"Check in with people and
invite them to join," said a march
organizer to the crowd before the
march started.
Speakers at the rally mentioned
the support Leonard Peltier is
receiving form all over the world.
A Leonard Peltier Defense
Committee leaflet claims that
Peltier has support from over 30
U. S. Senators and members of
Congress, from Nobel laureate
Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama,
the Archbishop of Canterbury and
the late Mother Teresa. Mikhail
Gorbachev called Peltier a politi­cal
prisoner and mentioned him
during a meeting with President
Reagan. Over 50 million signa­tures
in support of Peltier have
been collected worldwide and
delivered to the White House.
Leonard Peltier is in Leaven­worth
Penitentiary in Kansas. His
next parole hearing is scheduled
for 2009.
University continues to recruit minority faculty, however...
Western hires one minority professor
By Arvid Hokanson
The Western Front
Only one of the 41 new full-time
permanent faculty hired this
fall was non-white, according to
the Provost's office.
In her State of the University
address to members of the admin­istration
and faculty, Western
President Karen Morse said that
she would hire tenure-track facul­ty
to meet the demands of addi­tional
enrollment. In 1996, 19
new tenure-track faculty were
hired and in 1997, 41 new full-time
permanent faculty were
hired.
Affirmative Action is defined
by the Random House College
Dictionary as "encouragement for
increased representation of
women and minority-group mem­bers,
especially in employment."
According to Western's
Administrative Policies and
Procedures on Affirmative Action
Employment Equal Opportunity
and Discrimination, "Discrimin­ation
on the basis of race, color,
creed, religion, national- origin,
sex, age, disability, marital status
or status as a Vietnam era or dis­abled
veteran is prohibited by
federal and state statues.
Discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation is prohibited by
University policy." This policy
was adopted by the Board of
Trustees in April 1996.
One of the goals Morse set for
the Center for Equal Opportunity
was to "identify ways to increase
outreach and recruitment for the
diversification of faculty and
staff."
Statistics from the Provost's
office show that for 1997,15 Cau­casian
females and 26 males were
hired, and of the 26 males, one
was Hispanic.
Thirty-six percent of the new
hirees are women and only two
percent are minorities.
In a report to the Board of
Trustees, the center reported that
"Ethnic minority faculty com­prise
8 percent of the total num­ber
of tenured and tenure-track
faculty ... The University contin­ues
its efforts to recruit minority
faculty members."
Overall, the total number of
minority faculty was 8.4 percent,
up from 6.4 percent in 1989.
Tenured faculty have perma­nent
employement at Western
while tenure-track faculty are in
line to gain permanent employ­ment.
According to the center,
Western faces a number of chal­lenges
in recruiting minority fac­ulty
members, including difficul­ty
with competing salaries, teach­ing
loads, low representation of
minorities in surrounding areas,
mutual support networks among
ethnic minority faculty and dis­tance
from major population
areas where ethnic minority
research and investigation is rou­tinely
conducted.
In comparison, the University
of Washington hired 138 new
tenure-track faculty in 1996. Of
those, 52 females, 37.7 percent,
were hired, and 31 total minori­ties,
22.5 percent, were hired.
As for the 10 new full-time
temporary faculty at Western, two
were non-white; one Asian male
and one Asian female joining the
faculty.
The center said Western has
made significant progress in
achieving affirmative action
goals.
Since 1987, the number of
minority faculty has increased
from 29 faculty members to 38,
with the number of women
increasing from 128 to 146. The
number of women is still only
32.1 percent of the faculty.