asreview Green Energy Fee workshops, pg. 4 New jobs at the Outback Farm, pg. 5
3.27.12 3.27.12
Vol. 27, #23
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Photo by Cade Schmidt//AS Review.
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Viking Union 411 516 High St. Bellingham, WA 98225 Phone: 360.650.6126 Fax: 360.650.6507 Email: as.review@wwu.edu Online: as.wwu.edu/asreview @theasreview facebook.com/theasreview
©2012. Published most Mondays during the school year by the Associated Students of Western Washington University. We are a student-produced, alternative campus weekly covering news and events that are of interest to the Western community. We support all programs, offices and clubs affiliated with the AS. We have a direct connection to the AS board of directors, and although we report on board actions objectively, our relationship should be made clear. Submissions: We welcome reader submissions, including news articles, literary pieces, photography, artwork or anything else physically printable. Email submissions, or send them to the mailing address above. They will be returned as long as you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
In This Issue:
The Outback Farm: all natural all the time.
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GREEN DREAMS Want to apply for a Green Energy Fee grant? Here’s how. OUTBACK JOBS Two new positions have been added to the Outback Farm
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DRUNK WWU New website helps you find food when it’s late
SPRING FORWARD Things to look forward to this quarter
BOOKS & BASKETBALL Western senior Rory Blanche was named on the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America NCAA Division II first team
Letters: We also welcome letters to the editor. Please limit your letter to 300 words and include your name and phone number. Published letters may have minor edits made to their length or grammar, if necessary. Calendar/Ads: We don’t sell ad space. Sorry. Email as.review@ wwu.edu to have an event listed in the calendar.
Editor in Chief
Assistant Editor
Lead Photographer
Staff Writers
Kirsten O’Brien
Cade Schmidt
Adviser
Jeff Bates
Adrienne Woods
Anna Atkinson Eriver Eugenio Nick Markman Lauren Simmons Megan Thompson
Poster by Nathan Shigeta//AS Publicity Center
March 27, 2012• 3
EVENTS MARCH 26 - MARCH 30 Monday march 26 No school; enjoy one more day off before spring quarter.
Tuesday march 27 Classes begin!
Bellingham Adventure Photo Contest
Thursday march 29
Condom Fashion Show call for designers
Designs should be submitted to as.sac@wwu.edu Interested in participating in the AS Sexual Awareness Center’s Condom Fashion Show? Submit your designs to the Sexual Awareness Center by March 30.
Submissions due April 2 to as.transportation@wwu.edu
Friday march 30
The Associated Students Alternative Transporation office is encouraging students to bus, bike or walk their way to great prizes, including a $150 Outdoor Center gift card, $100 Western AS Bookstore gift card, or $50 La Fiamma Pizza and Burger gift card. To enter, submit a description and photo of a trip you have made using alternative transportation to AS.transportation@wwu.edu. For full contest rules and guidelines, visit www.wwu. edu/transportation/students.shtml.
12 to 1:30 p.m., Academic West 304 Free
Green Energy Fee Project Idea Lab
The Green Energy Fee Project Idea labs are for anyone interested in writing a proposal for a Green Energy Fee grant. You must attend at least one of three the mandatory workshops to enter.
See the story on page 4
Wednesday march 28 Tax preparation help
4:30 to 8:30 p.m., Parks Hall 336 Free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance will be available to the general public free of charge through April 16 at Western’s Parks Hall and Whatcom Community College’s Heiner Library. Volunteers will provide free assistance with the preparation of non-business, personal income taxes during this period, including free e-filing of tax returns. The free tax prepartation is sponsored by Western’s Beta Alpha Psi and Accounting Society, students from Western, Whatcom Community College and other members of the community.
Find the AS Review on Facebook, Twitter and at as.wwu.edu/asreview
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4 DREAMING IN GREEN Workshops to help students draft Green Energy Fee proposals begin March 30 Lauren Simmons • AS Review he hand dryers in Miller Hall, the water bottle refilling stations in Arntzen Hall and the paper towel composting in Haggard Hall are all products of the Associated Students Green Energy Fee program. These environmentally friendly additions to Western’s campus came from student-written proposals submitted during the 2011-2012 school. This year, there are workshops for Western students, faculty and staff to assist in proposal planning and writing for this year’s AS Green Energy Fee Grant program. Three Green Energy Fee Project Idea Labs will be held over the first three weeks of spring quarter. The first will be held 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 30 in Viking Union 462B. This is the first year the idea labs will be held, and they are the first step in the application process, said Sarah Philips, AS Green Energy Fee education coordinator. They allow everyone interested in applying for the grant program to talk about their ideas, network and meet people who might want to work on a project. This is a time to further develop ideas so they can be made into a project that will work and could receive funding,
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Philips said. The AS Green Energy Program originated in 2004, and was instated to purchase renewable energy credits, Freeman said. The fee was included in 2005, but the grant program was not created until the 2010 academic year. The renewal of the Green Energy Fee Program was a way to fund student, faculty and staff sustainability projects. The application process has gone under review because there were many kinks that needed to be worked out after the first year of the program, Philips said. “[Last year’s program participants] got to experience the project in its pilot year, and tell us about all the things that we are now fixing with the application process,” Philips said. The idea lab will be a mixture of education, lecture and discussion, Philips said. The lecture section will consist of Philips and Freeman explaining what interested participants need to know about the application process. The labs’ purpose is to make the whole process more user friendly, Philips said. “A lot of students who come to these things might not
even have an idea,” Philips said. “They might just want to be involved, and this is also a place for them to find those ideas.” Last year, five projects received funding from the grant program, Philips said. Three have been implemented on campus, and two are in the process of being installed. Solar rays on top of the Environmental Studies Building and LED lights in the C parking lots are the projects currently in production. By participating in the Green Energy Fee Project Idea Labs, students get experience in grant writing, possible internship credit and have something to put on their resume, Philips said. Participans will also gain experience in making decisions about student funds and solving real world environmental problems. Even if students are not sure if they want to apply, it will give them an opportunity to see what Western is doing in terms of sustainability, Freeman said. “It’s not something that we as students usually get the opportunity to do,” Philips said. “The Green Fee is a student-driven program – run by students, for students – and it’s really exciting. If I didn’t have this job, I would totally be applying.” the
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It’s not something that we as students usually get the opportunity to do. The Green Fee is a student-driven program – run by students, for students – and it’s really exciting. -Sarah Philips, Green Energy Fee education coordinator
GREEN ENERGY FEE
project idea labs your money $ your school your planet
What would you do with $300,000? wwu.edu/sustain/gef
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Poster by Sean Dutton//AS Publicity Center
Interested in applying for a Green Energy Fee Grant in the spring of 2012? attend one of the following mandatory workshops: thursday
friday
MARCH
30
TH
12:00 - 1:30 pm vu 462 b
APRIL
5
TH
4:00 - 5:30 pm vu 462 b
monday
APRIL
9
TH
7:00 - 8:30 pm aw 403
If unable to attend, contact Kathryn Freeman: Kathryn.Freeman@wwu.edu
For disAbility accomodations please call (360) 650-6129
March 27, 2012• 5
4 GO OUTBACK Two new positions at the Outback Farm are accepting applications Megan Thompson • AS Review he busiest months of the year for the Outback Farm occur in the summer. Because of summer break, the farm’s pool of volunteers depletes. Two positions, the Outback coordinator and the Outback assistant coordinator, manage the five-acre farm virtually alone. This summer, the Associated Students opened two new positions for the Outback Farm through the Outback summer apprentice program. The apprenticeship is a three-month position during the summer that will care and manage the farm when it produces the most food, said Roby Ventres-Pake, Outback coordinator. The positions are accepting applications at as.wwu.edu/personnel/. The position closes April 5. The Outback Farm is collaborative program between Fairhaven College and the Associated Students. The farm is five acres and student run, and is located at the southern end of Fairhaven College. It teaches sustainable growing and land use methods to students. The AS is funding the new positions based on a proposal written by Ventres-Pake. The goal of the new positions is to gain help on the farm, but also provide experience for the apprentices. Apprentices will learn and work with many aspects of small-scale farming, Ventres-Pake said. Greg McBride, an advisor for the Environmental and Sustainability Programs, assisted Ventres-Pake with the proposal. The proposal consisted of three different sec-
tions. The first was to refocus the Outback Farm into a production-based agriculture. With this change, the farm will be utilized to grow more produce. Additionally, the Outback Farm created a partnership where the Bellingham Food Bank and will donate most of its produce to it, McBride said. “I think a lot of people in the community think about Western as that place on the hill and don’t connect with it,” Ventres-Pake said. “[Our partnership] with the food bank can quantify the positive effects of the additional positions and help us connect with the Bellingham community.” The food bank and the farm’s partnership is mutual: the bank donates some additional seeds to the farm, and the farm donates its produce from those seeds, McBride said. Ventres-Pake started thinking of the new positions last summer, when he and the assistant coordinator maintained the farm last year. The two part-time employees cultivated the farm during its peak season. “It’s funny the way the school system works in terms of the farm,” Ventres-Pake said. The apprenticeship positions could be used as training, Ventres-Pake said. He hopes the two apprentices will come back during the school year and volunteer on the farm. In the future, they could also apply for the coordinator or assistant coordinator position. “[The new positions] are really great. It is going to make a big change in what the Outback will ac- Outback volunteers sow a rye and vetch cover crop at a fall quarter work party. he Outback hosts work parties every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. everyone is complish,” said John Tuxill, the faculty advisor for Twelcome to volunteer and learn about small-scale agriculture. Photo courtesy of the Outback Farm. Roby Ventres-Pake//Outback coordinator the
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interested in other
AS jobs?
Aside from the two new Outback Farm positions, the Associated Students has more than 100 positions to fill for the 2012 - 2013 school year. There are jobs available in activism, art, journalism, event planning, law, management, marketing, music, politics, public relations, radio and more. Visit as.wwu.edu/personnel/ to view a complete list of job descriptions and apply. Positions close April 5. The Outback Farm is a collaborative program between Fairhaven College and the AS. It is a five acre studentrun farm located between Fairhaven College and Buchanan Towers. Photo by Cade Schmidt//AS Review
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HARD WORK, ON AND OFF THE COURT Western senior selected for the Capital One Academic All-America team
Lauren Simmons • AS Review
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inding priorities and balancing school work with a social life can be an issue – to study or to party, to catch up on sleep or go drink downtown, to name a few. But imagine balancing college academics with college athletics, and maybe squeezing in a social life. It may sound impossible, but one Western basketball star has got the balance down perfectly, and was recognized nationally for it. Toward the end of February Western senior and basketball team captain Rory Blanche was named on the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America NCAA Division II first team. To be nominated, student athletes must be a starter or important reserve with a cumulative 3.30 grade point average, have participated in at least 50 percent in their teams game’s games and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution, according to Capital One Academic All-America Program. The athletes named to the team are nominated by student athletes from their own institution. “It’s kind of a summation of all my work all in all throughout my college career, on and off the court,” Blanche said. “I make sure that I’m trying to excel in every phase of what I’m doing, so I’m really excited that I was able to get that honor.” Blanche, who is a manufacturing engineering technology major while he is not playing forward on the basketball court, has a cumulative 3.74 grade point average. Luckily, he’s in a good situation to do more with what he wants to do, Blanche said. The Western senior has already been offered a job at the Nike world headquarters in Portland, Ore. The job title is design engineer, Blanche said. This entails working on new shoe concepts, manufacturing them with the machinery and artillery design. With his career being the next stage for Blanche after Western, basketball is still something he hopes to continue, one way or another. “I would like to keep playing basketball, whether it’s recreationally or I competively,”Blanche said. “Sports is something that I don’t see myself letting go of anytime soon. I like to live a well-rounded life.” Coming from an athletic family, sports have always come naturally to Blanche. His mother played basketball and his father played football, so they had an influence on him. “[Basketball] was always my first love,” Blanche said.
Rory Blanche, photographed in Carver Gym on March 15. Photo by Cade Schmidt//AS Review “My mom got me started with it when I was younger, and my dad had always given me a competitive streak.” Blanche knows he will miss the team aspect of playing for Western these past four years. The highlight of the season thus far was senior night. “Our main goal going into the season was to win a conference championship, which we achieved, and cutting down the nets on senior night was a pretty amazing feeling,” Blanche said. “It was pretty fun to have my parents there, and being able to share the experience with my team, my coaches, fans and family. It was all I could ask for.” Blanche’s success this year, in the classroom and on the basketball court, has a lot to do with balancing his time and priorities. Being disciplined and getting work done before it’s due is big factor, staying on top of everything is key, Blanche said.
Even though basketball was something that he wanted to focus more time on basketball and making sure it is a huge part of his life, but school comes first, he said. For any incoming freshman college athlete, excelling at their sport is priority, Blanche said. Since college athletics, as well as academics, is very competitive, being an athlete can overshadow the school aspect of being in college, Blanche said. “It’s really important to maintain a balance between the two, and make sure you’re on top of your studies as well,” Blanche said. “There are some opportunities after college to keep playing basketball or whatever sport you’re in, but you want to make sure you have a really strong foundation and a good degree to get going with the rest of your life if [playing a sport] doesn’t pan out.” the
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Make sure that you are doing something productive, and not just going to college to play a sport. -Rory Blanche’s no. 1 piece of advice for incoming college athletes
March 27, 2012• 7
IT’S LATE, YOU’RE HUNGRY
Western students create a simple way to find midnight meals Nick Markman • AS Review
IN STUDENTS WE TRUST The AS seeks applications for next year’s student trustee Anna Atkinson • AS Review
It is midnight on a Saturday. The fridge at home might be empty, or maybe you are downtown, aimlessly wandering in search of some late-night grub. Whatever the case may be, it is late and you are hungry. Does this scenario sound familiar? Two Western students realized this common problem and sought to develop a service to provide Bellingham residents with a quick and easy way to see what restaurants and food stops are open. On Saturday, March 2, juniors Eva Giselle and Nick Quinlan launched the website DrunkWWU.com. Giselle, a graphic design major, came up with the idea for DrunkWWU based off of a similar website for University of Washington students, DrunkUW.com. “I’ve been aware of that website for a long time and I’ve always thought that Western needed something like that,” Giselle said. “I thought I could implement it better.” On DrunkWWU.com, users are presented with a list of restaurants that are currently open. The order in which the restaurants show up on the page is randomly generated, and each listing shows the address, phone number, type of food, delivery options, and a self-updating timer that displays how much longer that particular restaurant will be open. The site’s ease and simplicity
corresponds with mobile web-browsing devices. Users can click the phone number to call the restaurant or click on the address to have its location displayed on Google Maps. Giselle and Quinlan both said the website was designed to serve a much larger audience than intoxicated persons of legal age. They said that while the site would work well for such individuals, the name of “DrunkWWU” was primarily for good marketing. “It exploded,” Giselle said. “Within a couple hours, it had already gotten a few hundred ‘likes’ and thousands of page views. It spread like wildfire on Facebook. That’s where most of our referrals come from.” Quinlan, a business management major, designed and programmed the back end of the site, consisting of the restaurant database and behind-the-scenes functions. Giselle programmed the front-end interface and did the graphic work. Quinlan had to manually enter all the data for the restaurant information. “I went on all their websites and I had to call a couple,” Quinlan said. “Bellingham business websites are horrible. I wanted to rip my eyes out.” The two web developers also purchased the domain names HungryWWU.com and HighWWU.com. All three sites are identical to each other, despite some minor changes in the graphics. “[HighWWU] was kind of catering to a A screenshot taken from drunkwwu.com. The order in which the restaurants appear is randomly generated. Each listing shows the address, phone number, type of food, despecific crowd that I thought might also livery options, and a self-updating timer that displays how much longer that particular want to use it,” Giselle said. “The logo is restaurant will be open. different. It’s subtlety animated just to mess with people.” “Hungry WWU is definitely the one that is going to go into our portfolios,” Giselle said. Giselle and Quinlan are currently in the process of designing and planning new features for the site. They want to include a GPS system that will be able to locate a user’s location and then order the restaurants according to closest location. The two have also considered monetizing the site by allowing businesses to pay to be at the top of the list. “Most of the feedback we’ve gotten has been overwhelming positive,” Giselle said. “There have been people who have suggested new feature to us, features we are actually already working on. So that was reassuring that they want the same things that we are making.” Giselle said that an application is also a possibility for the future of DrunkWWU. “It exploded way faster than I ever imagined that it would and it got much more popular than we expected so we’re very pleased and surprised,” Giselle said. the
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There are many opportunities for student leadership at Western, but only one student can be appointed by the governor sit on the Board of Trustees. Applications for the position are now being accepted by the selection committee, which is chaired by Associated Students President Anna Ellermeier. “I think [the student trustee position] is incredibly important because students are a large stakeholder in the university,” Ellermeier said. The student trustee sits on the board as a citizen with a student perspective, but not necessarily to represent the student body in that is the AS President’s job,” Ellermeier said. Students who are interested should pick up an application in Viking Union 552 from Cindy Monger, AS board assistant. Applications are due by 4 p.m. on April 17, in VU 504. Candidates must Western students, Washington state residents and be at least 18 years old. They must also meet the minimum 2.0 GPA requirement for a student to be employed on campus. They must have completed 60 credits at Western, and maintain a minimum of six credits per quarter or four for a graduate student. The selection process for the new student trustee begins in April. The selection committee consists of Ellermeier, Whitish, Vice President for Student Life Sara Richards, Ethan Glenmaker and Andrew Sambroook. Dean of students, Ted Pratt, will advise the committee. The committee will select three to five satisfactory applicants who will be reviewed by the AS Board of Directors before the list is sent to the governor’s office for official selection and appointment. A new student trustee will hopefully be appointed by the governor before the Board of Trustees meeting in August, Ellermeier said. Whitish said he enjoys his job as student trustee because he is able to give the board a point of reference for how students see things after they are implemented. He also enjoys attending fundraising events and meeting donors and members of the Board of Trustees who he normally would not have the opportunity to get to know. Whitish attends every board meeting and participates in all aspects of the board’s decisionApplicatio making process, ns for the s tu d e nt trustee except for items position due by 4 p that relate to per.m. on Apri are l1 Viking Unio sonnel issues. n 504. The 7 to “I really wantstudent trustee is selected b ed to have a say,” y the governor a nd sits on he said. “And Western’s Board of Trustee to represent s for the entire aca students [to the demic yea r. board] in the best way possible.” the
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HELLO SPRINGTIME Activities to spring into this quarter
Lauren Simmons • AS Review
Rent
Dates: May 10 – May 13 and May 16 – May 20
The famous Broadway show is coming to the Performing Arts Center Mainstage Theater. The show is about a group of people dealing with HIV/AIDS’ affect their lives and friendships in New York’s Lower East Side.
Memorial Day
Date: May 25 - May 28
Memorial Day weekend is the only weekend of spring quarter where Western students have a day off! Folklife at Seattle Center, Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Wash. and camping in Chelan, Wash. are all popular Memorial Day activities if students want to get away for the three-day weekend.
Ski to Sea Date: May 27
The Ski to Sea race is an annual event where teams of eight racers compete in a series of seven race legs – cross-country skiing, downhill skiing/snowboarding, running, road biking, canoeing, mountain biking and kayaking. The race begins at Mount Baker and ends in Fairhaven. The race evolved from the Mt. Baker Marathon, and the relay race originated in 1973. The registration fee is $439 per team.
Relevance
Date: April 2 - April 13
The Associated Students Viking Union Gallery will present the work of Matthew Parker. Parker designs event decor and props primarily from paper. His work has been described as “avant garde mixed with classical.”
Back 2 Bellingham Weekend Date: May 18 – May 19
This weekend is filled with events, activities and experiences for students, alumni and family members. Capturing the “Bellingham Experience” on Western’s campus and around town is a great way to spend the weekend whether it is watching a Planetarium Show at Haggard Hall, or visiting the Bellingham Farmer’s Market on Railroad Avenue.
Graduation Date: June 9
Time to put on the cap and gown, and jam to “Pomp and Circumstance”. It is almost time, graduates! the
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Poster by Brian Ralphs//AS Publicity Center