Letterbox - On Shaky Ground and Military Recruiters

Dear Watchers:

Your front page article “On Shaky Ground” (Feb. issue) reminded me of how we need more warm weather beachfront property; perhaps we could purchase the Baja peninsula from Mexico. A possibility for our waterfront would be for Huxley to be on it as an ironic martyr statement (as well as all the students and professors).

Dear Watchers:

As a veteran and a student in Whatcom County, I am sorry to report the continued and unwanted presence of military recruiters on campus both at Whatcom Community College (WCC) and at Western Washington University (WWU).

I have personally collected over 200 posters from military recruiters hanging in classrooms on both campuses. I have also reported unregistered visits of recruiters to WCC (against the policy of the school), and seen students get detained by law-enforcement in protest of recruiter presence. On February 12, several students collected more than 50 pounds of recruiter materials at the WWU job fair, worth more than $1,000.

The Career Services Center at WWU states in their policy that only employers who meet strict employment discrimination and ethics standards will be allowed on campus. As the U.S. military is one of the only institutions in the country that still discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, age and disability, it does not meet the guidelines of WWU administration, and should therefore be banned from recruiting students.

I encourage your readers to call the WWU board of trustees at (360) 650-3998 and remind them to follow their own rules when it comes to military recruiters.

The president’s office of Bellingham Technical College can be reached at (360) 752-8334, and the president of WCC can be reached at (360) 383-3000.