By Erasmus Baxter
The mid-90s at Western were a different time. A grande drip coffee from Starbucks cost only 99 cents, Western faculty had their own bar at the Canada House next to campus, and skateboarding on campus was strictly forbidden. For the first of a new column, the AS Review researched some interesting things that happened in 1994. All reports were originally published by the Western Front and are available to be viewed in Western’s library.
Technology
1994 was the year that Western implemented a hi-tech, new way to register for classes: phone registration. Students could call in the system during their time slot and register for classes using the keypad. Before that, students had to show up to register for classes in person.
Another portion of the university embracing telephony was the admissions office. In an effort to promote diversity on campus they held a “Ethnic Minority Phon-A-Thon” to call admitted students of color and welcome them to Western.
Phones weren’t the only new technology: an intruder sneaking into the grad school office in Old Main was thought to be an employee coming in after hours to play computer games on their work computer.
Politics
In February, it was discovered that contractors building the new Biology Building and renovating Edens Hall were using lumber harvested from a contested old-growth rain forest in Canada leading to shock and outrage.
Later that month, the Amnesty International club on campus staged 11 mock kidnappings on campus to raise awareness of kidnappings of dissidents in Central America. They wore masks and toted fake guns. The “victims” included a professor, and were snatched from classes as well as in the middle of red square.
In a move that some called bribery, and others called expanding the democratic process, the AS offered coupons for free coffee to those who voted in the elections. Despite this, the AS president won his position by around only 30 votes.
Crime and Punishment
In January, the Front ran an editorial by a writer named Justin complaining that the AS Bookstore was selling heart shaped handcuffs called “Love Cuffs” for valentine’s day. In response a reader wrote back to ask, “Have you ever been tied up Justin? I thought not.”
In February, four students were arrested by university police for drawing on the walls of the underpass leading to Fairhaven college with a “fun pack” of chalk. They were interrogated by police at the station and faced charges. As a result the Front ran an editorial calling for the freedom of the “Fun Pack Four”.
In May, someone replaced the CD played by the Miller Hall bell tower with rock CD’s instead, causing campus to be blasted with the sounds of “Monster Mash” instead of the usual peel of bells. However, the person in charge of belltower was not particularly upset. “It’s spring,” he told the Front.
In April, an Easter church service on campus was interrupted by a person wearing only what was described as a “demon mask”, with “pagan” written on their leg. The person who reported the incident to the paper finished by saying, “a group of us are praying for you and would like to talk to you.”
In May, campus police found a bullet wrapped in a note threatening people of color and gay people on campus. In a departure from how such an incident would be handled today, no further mention was made of the incident.
Is there a year in Western history that you want to know more about? Contact the AS Review on Facebook or at as.review@wwu.edu to suggest a year or a topic.
