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Show c 2h VOLUME 53, ISSUE 81 Wednesday, May 12, 1993 F-TT PURPLEWHITE G'A'M-E WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY OGDEN, UTAH See page 1 3. r 3? "f - v..' u : -7: 1 '17 ' 4 Sree painting DANIELLE MABEYTHF SIGNPOST WSU STUDENT Brad Wheeler takes aim with a spray can during a painting session on the parking lot by the stadium. The mural being painted will represent Amnesty International. Candlelight vigil honors banished Guatemalan By TYSON HIATT Signpost wire editor A handful of Weber State University students gathered Monday night at a candlelight vigil in recognition of Rigoberto Menchu, a Guatemalan who is in exile for trying to help the indigenous Mayan Indians return to their homeland. Henry Ibarguen, WSU's history department, is a native of Guatemala and an expert on the indigenous people in Guatemala and Latin America. "I have had friends and colleagues who have been killed, maimed and tortured," he said. "Unfortunately this is not unique to me. Anyone who is from Guatemala has been affected by the violence." Ibarguen spoke to the students about Menchu and her attempts to stop the atrocities being committed against the Indians in Guatemala.Menchu is a Mayan Indian from northwestern Guatemala, said Ibarguen. Like many of the Indians of Guatemala, Menchu grew up in tremendous poverty. She witnessed her own village being destroyed, and in 1983 her family was executed. Her 16-year-old brother was burned to death in front of her eyes. Ibarguen said it was scenes like this and other tragedies that caused many Mayan Guatemalans to flee their country. "The height of the violence was during 1983," he said. "It has been ongoing. Since the 1970s, we estimate there have been 100,000 killings, leaving 50,000 widows and many thousand orphans." Ibarguen and the WSU students observed a moment of silence for theGuatemalans who have been killed during the last two decades. "This war has been going on for a number of years, and it's a genocidal war," he said. Ibarguen said the Indians are eager to comeback to their homeland even though they know they will have to return to poverty. "Indigenous people have such a love for the Earth they are willing to return even though it may be to tremendous poverty and hostile conditions," he said. "All they have is the shirts on their backs, but they're glad to come home." The United Nations has intervened and is currently ensuring the Indians get back to their homeland safely, but Ibarguen said it still remains to be seen if the government is protecting the people from human rights violations. Ibarguen quoted Menchu stating there were many who visited Guatemala and only saw what was on the surface. "She said 'tourists go down to Guatemala to see us in our Indian costumes, but they don't see the person behind the costume.'" Ibarguen said the same thing can be seen in how some people look at Native Americans. President's Council to meet today Forum to discuss SFAC meeting policy, legislation passed by student senate By ERIC MORROW SIGNPOST govt, affairs editor Meeting for the first time this year, a forum composed of student government officers and the President's Council will discuss issues that have been passed by the student senate. The group is slated to meet today at 9 a.m. in the boardroom of the Miller Administration Building. "This meeting will give executive officers the opportunity to advance legislation already passed by the student senate for consideration by the administration," ASWSU President Melinda Roylance said. Previous meetings consisted of executive officers dealing one on one with members of the administration."All senate proposals that have been passed will be put before the administration in a single meeting, whereas before, executive officers would usually do it one at a time," Roylance said. Although the meeting will give the President's Council the opportunity to review proposals, it is highly unlikely that any concrete decisions will be made. "This forum will allow for an exchangeofinforma tion bet ween representatives of the students and the administration. No final decisions will be made until the administration has had time to consider all proposals," WSU President Paul Thompson said. Some of the proposals that will highlight the meeting include resolutions addressing the parking problem, the change to a semester system and student fee allocation. The highly controversial Student Fee Allocation Committee's (SFAC) statement of policies and procedures will beoffered by Jeff Hatch, business and economics senator. As part of the policies and procedures that were just passed by the student senate, there are specific rules governing general conduct and reporting of committee meetings which state that "All meetings of the Committee, with the exception of training sessions and the allocation recommendation meeting, shall be open to the public." However, Hatch said, "The main issue shouldn't be that the recommendation meeting is closed but rather whether thestu-dents will continue to have representation on the committee," he said. "Students don't understand that Marie Kotter has a legal right to make all of the allocation decisions herself. However, she has chosen to create the SFAC in order to get more input into allocation decisions," Hatch said. ODAY'S EW ARTS WSU Chamber Choir throws new twist into show. See page 11. g PORTS n Jamie Martin returns from Rams camp. See page 13 |