Klipsun Magazine, 1995, Volume 25, Issue 04 - April
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Western Washington University Western CEDAR Klipsun Magazine Western Student Publications 4-1995 Klipsun Magazine, 1995, Volume 25, Issue 04 - April Ryan McMenamin Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation McMenamin, Ryan, "Klipsun Magazine, 1995, Volume 25, Issue 04 - April" (1995). Klipsun Magazine. 162. https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine/162 This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Western Student Publications at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Klipsun Magazine by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. mrni^^^mm^mmmamgmmmm WJson Library mrnmmm^mmammMmtsmmmrn Archives M klipsun magazine Editor: Writers: Ryan McMenamin Suzanne Asprea Managing editor: Dawn Bittner Mara Applebaum Kevin Blondin Story editors: Mike Brennand Eowyn LeMay Ivey Tabitha Clark Tedra Meyer Susan Eick Shelley Sharp Dana Goodwin Photography editor: Joseph Hoggard Ryan Burden Amy Howat Illustrator: Heather Kimbrough Matt Buechler Noelle Kompkoff Advisor: Lars Lundberg Carolyn Dale Kavita Makhijani Business manager: Karin Muskopf Teari Brown Hilary Parker Johnny Payseno Ruby Quemuel Michael Sniezak Jaymes Song Tara Thomas Renee Treider Noah Walden Photographers: Peter Lewinsohn Matt Wuscher Letter from the editor: Male, female, black, white, brown, yel His shirt had perspiration rings underneath In this issue of Klipsun, we take an in- low, red, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, his sleeves and around the collar, no doubt a depth look at affirmative action and how it is Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, rich and poor. result of the humid, Florida weather. helping minorities establish themselves in the These traits, along with many others, are As we slowly moved through the parking previously white-dominated managerial used to separate people into groups within our lot, a woman driving a fire-engine-red Honda world. The sole existence of this method culture. Because someone was inherently given positioned behind the bus became increasingly proves that we are taking strides toward eth these traits, they could be considered by oth agitated by our slow speed. After taking all nic equality, but the actions of that college- ers as more or less of a person. This was true she could, she decided to pass the bus in the aged woman three years ago shows how far during the era of slavery and internment, and two-lane aisle. The driver drove the bus as we must still go. is unfortunately still true today. closely to the right as he could, politely giving We are Caucasian, Asian-American, Af Three years ago, I attended Florida State the angered girl as much room as possible. As rican-American, Latin-American, Native University, where the student body was much she drove by, she didn’t wave a thank-you. She American and more. We should be proud of more representive of the national ethnic didn’t even smile. Rather, she yelled our heritage, but should also remember that makeup than Western. Since I didn’t have a “Goddamn nigger!”, raising her middle fin we are all human. car, I was dependent upon the bus for trans ger high through the car’s retractable sunroof. portation. I was sitting in the third row, watch In that awful moment, I felt ashamed of Thanks for reading. ing the bus driver deftly manipulate the over my race and by the lack of change in sized vehicle into the Albertson’s parking lot. segregatery attitudes. Klipsun Magazine is a student publication that is distributed twice a quarter free of charge. Klipsun is a Lummi word for “beautiful sunset.” Klipsun Magazine is printed on 50 percent recycled paper, 10 percent post-consumer waste. We encourage you to share this magazine with a friend and then to recycle it. Klipsun Magazine is located in College Hall 137, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, 98225. (360) 650-3737. © April 1995, Volume 25, Issue 4 Special thanks to Veronica Tomaszewski-Taylor, Laurie Rossman, Wayne Price and the Print Plant staff Evenly distributing Similar to M&Ms, affirmative action puts more orange, red, yellow, dark brown and green in a world of tan people of color Animations Americas national drug problem moves into Toontown, hooking cartoons on crack on acid Working together Taking part in a multi-university project. Western s plastics department creates The Raven toward human flight Page 6 Battling against the Willy Spaulding s one-man adventure pitched him against the white face of death elements for survival Technology gives Westerns technology students design computers, enabling impaired children to communicate in a new way children a voice The cost of A look at Marriott’s monopoly and its tight grip Page 21 on the pocketbooks of Western students convenience The natural Homeopathy offers patients an alternative to the traditions of modern medicine power of plants An alternative Jazz music finds its own niche in Bellingham’s bar scene to alternative Page 26 iii 1w§ WSB For opj WE SURE Nd doq IS OUR E ANd E "Awer ff <uVjv. WE E LevI's. We f ThE ISjat.We hAVE whplARsIfip MAI WE RE ANd su^0RT> qAip'^ roiMs,9KU^0 . iWe wer dMinEd INTO Western wilh A 1.7 qpA whilE >(ou sNiVEliNq In if iqh I school to qET tNat!?.?. We worIc hAl P|As iiARd AS you, buT WE qE^ doublE tNe bENEpiTs. We can't MEASURE UD TO TlfE STANdARd, SO WE TaIcE aU tJiE bREAks WE CAN , ' •'...................... * qET. But«6N'T TRy ANyrhiNq bECAusE we aU IN if. Si I A.A.‘ is A W Alcoholics^ ApPikiTiVE ACTION IS AN PPORTUNITIE^. M iw^AyiviEs..Sbisq PhoTo^ll|RyAN ere myths, but enough tS' stig*^^,. froni Huxley College. “If I was a business matize a whole group of people* ‘ owner, it would upset me to, have central Misconceptions, stereotypes and authority come in and tell me who I should prejudices about affirmative action^ , , and should not hire.” i^ hover around discussions about universities Affinpt^^tive action is a <^mplex, and applications. tional issue, but people often don’t know how 1 But few understand the complexities of jaffirmative action programs really work the issue. " " J v! “There’s a lot of things to it,” said Ka Is it as simple as a pack of M&Ms? A ^ Krantz, human rights representative for package of the chocolate candy has variety^ Westerns Center for ^ual Opportunity. “It’s of red, light and dark brown, yellow,^ gree not just nurnbers. It’s, not just recruitment. p# and orangeM&Ms. One has to wonder how It’s not just,hiring. It’s m real combination of : the number of each color for a package is things that make up affirmative action pro determined. Wliat happens when there are grams.” , . tooatiany oranges in one pack? I According to the Webster's Collegiate Dic tionary, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve employment or educational op^ portunities of minority grpups and women.” | The U.$, govern^llnt has a simi Stan^|||j ................. According to the“ tJ.S. Department ifilof Labor’s Equal Opportunity handbook, “an^ affirmative action program is a set of specific Now America decides ?fie future of and result-oriented procedures to which a M&Ms by voting for the new color of the contractor commits itself to apply every good chocolate candy. j % faith effort. The objective of those procedures Like M&Ms, the people of the United plus such efforts is equal employment op States are diverse and rich with color. How- portunity.” ever, the American work force is striving to The federal government requires con become more like Starburst candy: a pack tractors, which are defined in the handbook age'with a fixed number of colors. Just as as organizations that receive more than Americans will decide the fate of M&Ms, so $10,000 from the federal government, to es- too will they decide the fate of the affirmaS tablish an affirmative action program. tive action policy in the cpurts, legislature “BasicaUy, the federal government is say and voting booths across thejiatioijf ing that there’s been a history of discrimina 1 he arrirmative action issue raises ques- tion in employment in certain groups known tions of self-worth and tompetence, and cor| as affected’ groups and contracts'are set up cerns of reverse discrimination and quotas ■ for pro-active efforts to employ these people,” which cross gender and race lines. Krantz said. ^ The last time I checked this was . V Yvonne McKinney, Weyerhauser diver- ejjca,” said Tjbomas St^i^per, a student sity manager and equal-opportunity officer,. ;. ......... .-v.-vf-l'&VW W0SB '_.. “We still need Improvement, but we have made a lot of progress,” said Barbara Vane, assistant human resources manager for the Washington State Department of Rev enue. *1 thinks affirmative action does two things. “First, it provides an opportunity for r. Robert Kim," education professor women and minorities to have access to cer and head of the Educationgi tain jobs. Second, it makes hiring organiza Foundation Program at Western, tions think twice about hiring women and said that by looking at the number of minorities. It opens their eyes,” she said. minority faculty members at Western today, compared to 1971 when he first came to any concerns about affirmative Western, he feels affirmative action hasn’t action policy revolve around the been working very well. concept of quotas. The word “In light of the increase of the minority “quota” is nonexistent in the U.S. population in 1971, the population was prob Department of Labors Equal Opportunity ably less than a million-and-a-half to two Handbook.