The Towerlight, April 11, 1975

tl19750411-000 "SGA Vice-president David Nevins calls the passage of House Bill 815 ""one of the major accomplishments of the SGA this year."" TL photo by Buddy Rehrey .416ifte-41,--1, 1975 Student may get decisive vote by Joan Grabowski Calling it ""one of the major ac-complishments of the SGA this year,"" Student Government Vice President David Nevins announced the passage of Maryland House bill 815, which places a student on the State College Board of Trustees. If signed by the Governor, the bill will give Towson and the other state colleges representation equal to that enjoyed by the University of Maryland and the state's Community Colleges. Nevins called the political activity occuring during the Maryland legislative session ""incredible"" and noted that observation of the legislative process is ""an educational experience."" The bill, introduced by Delegates Curran and Devlin, was originally defeated in the House Ways and Means Committee. However, after numerous letters and phone calls from SGA members, the measure was reconsidered and passed the com-mittee, and later the full House. Avalanche of calls In the Senate, the bill was referred to the Finance Committee and had not been considered by the adjournment of the committee. Another avalanche of phone calls, prompted by SGA, brought the committee into special session where the bill received favorable con-sideration. Although threatened by a backlogue of legislation and rumored filabusters, the bill was finally ap-proved by the Senate, 1:30 Sunday morning with Nevins and Director of Activities Ed Consroe watching from the gallery. tr,t TOWSON STATE COLLEGE VOL. LXVII, NO. 19 Towson's fate in Mandel's hands by Marlene Milder The fate of Towson State University now rests in the hands of Governor Marvin Mandel. Mandel has until May 30 to either pass or veto Senate Bill 191 which was passed by the legislature 93-30 in Annapolis last week. If passed Towson State University would be effective July 1. Bill is killed After months of persistant lobbying and state hearings, the State legislature finally passed Towson's single bill asking for University designation after the original joint bill 531 was killed in the Constitutional and Ad-ministrative committee in Annapolis. That bill, initially sponsored by the Board of Trustees called for Towson and Morgan collectively changing status and was thought to be powerful with the legislature. Simplicity breeds suspicion Wayne Schelle, Towson's Vice-president, attributed the defeat of the bill to philosophic problems which confused the legislators. Directors of Morgan State were primarily concerned with incre,asing doctoral programs while directors at Towson simply wanted a name change. 'Legislators were initially confused because the TSC half of the bill Was its so simple while the request from counterpart Morgan was more complex, "" commented Schelle. Continued the vice-president, ""Suspicions come about as result of its simplicity."" During the early stages of House Bill 531, Schelle maintained, those traveling to Annapolis were faced with the ""real problem"" of educating the 1egislator5 in the concept of the university. ""President Fisher,"" said Schelle, 'spent countless hours in educating legislators in the new terminology of University, because associates were still faced with the old classic mold of University."" Misleading information hurts Another problem occured when some opponents of the bill were informed a name change would cost the state six million dollars, after receiving a misleading and innacurate fiscal note. A fiscal note, explained Vice President elect Anne Marie Lowe, is arrived by the Department of Fiscal Services and give the fiscal implementation of the state. Lowe, along with four other students researched the information and found the old fiscal note to be faulty, reaffirming that a name change would not include an additional burden to the taxpayer. When showing support for the bill, Fisher said, ""We do not aspire to modify, reduce or enhance this institution, but to make more attractive one of the finest public institutions in the country."" Adding to this Dean Kenneth haw added,"" Society sees a University as being more prestigious, so we want to change with the times."" Abiding by the board Since the Board of Trustees still favored a joint bill, attempts were made to abide by their decision. Respecting the Board's wishes, the committee at-tempted twice to amend both single bills into one joint bill. Having Morgan's bill amended into Towson's failed 10-11. This would have made Morgan's bill purely a name change with no mention of other revisions. Amending Towson's bill into Morgan's was also defeated 11-11, reported Schelle. Schelle asserted that Towson's only alternative for gaining University status would be to push the single Senate bill 191, after the joint bill com-pletely died. Student Government Vice-president elect Anne Marie Lowe, an avid supporter and lobbyist for Towson's University status said, ""Time was running out and all that was being accomplished was a hacking up of bills."" Senate Bill 191 was unanimously supported by the 8 Baltimore County State Senators. The Senators calling for change in designation were: John Bishop, Donald Hutchinson, C. Porter Hopkins, Robert Stroble, John C. Coolahan, Roy Staten, Norman R. Stone, and Melvin Steinberg. Unanimous decisions Their request was heard by the Senate Finance Committee where it received a favorable decision of 9-0. After receiving no opposition, the bill came out of the Finance Committee and was passed by the Senate with only 4 dissenting votes. In following the single bills, the Constitutional and Administrative Corn-mittee passed both single sponsored University Bills. ""During this time Anne Marie Lowe, David Nevins and President Fisher exemplified 'shared gover-nance,"" said Schelle as we all spoke in favor of the bill. Towson doesn't maim it After passing through the committee both bills went to the floor of the House and given tentative approval at a second Reader. Last Saturday Towson's request was denied during the third and final reader. 65 were in favor, 54 against, and 22 members didn't vote. There are 140 members of the House. A plurality or the consent of 71 members is necessary. Morgan's bill was then heard and its bill passed with 71 for, 37 against with 32 not voting. ' ""After the Morgan vote passed, "" said Schelle, ""our supporters began trying to change votes with intense lobbyism efforts."" Schelle felt Towson's problems resulted in the conscience of the College's supporters. ""Potential supporters of ours, who did not want to sponsor Morgan wanted to maintain their credibility,"" maintained the vice-president, ""and to be consistent, did not vote for Towson."" More than 70 legislatures were contacted by students, alumni, and ad-ministrative members. Success was seen as the bill was heard again and favorably passed 93-30. ""I think there was a certain amount of vote trading regarding Morgan, a compromise of issues,"" said Fisher, ""which is essential to the political condition in any society."" Fisher also commented on the social significance in having both bills passed singly in the legislature. ""A primarily white and a primarily black institution did not undermine one another (as their bills were presented) and this represents an important step in racial harmony,"" declared Fisher. Judicial branch,SGA guidelines considered by Senate by Joan Grabowski Senate action Tuesday centered on consideration of organizational guidelines for SGA organizations, and creation of a judicial branch in the SGA. A bill presented for consideration by the Government Operations Committee proposed guidelines for admitting organizations to SGA. The bill calls for three classifications of membership in SGA: budgeted, non-budgeted and affiliated. Proposed guidelines include provisions that organizations have at least 15 student members, are open to all full-time day students, and must have a faculty or staff advisor. President-elect David Nevins suggested that Senate wait for the report of the Student Rights and Responsibilities Committee before considering the bill. He suggested that the proposed measure did not adequately define membership, and further objeCted to provisions calling for a membership quotas and faculty dvisors. Senator Fran Schramm suggested that faculty advisors would keep track of small, less responsible organizations. Schramm noted that smaller organizations were sometimes irresponsible or incapable of managing finances and bo okkeeping. Nevins argued that the provision was a ""giant step backward"" for the autonomy and independence of the SGA. He said that the measure would unfairly penalize effective, efficient organizations. Senator Anne Marie Lowe suggested that advisors would only help and not control organizations, and might enhance an organization's procedures. But Senator Terri Crane questioned whether enough faculty and staff would be available, or if they would be willing to assume such responsibilities. Schramm repeated her contention that the bill would ""force organizations who need a babysitter to get one,"" and suggested that in ""good"" organizations, the advisor would merely be a ""figure head."" Treasurer Kathy Kolar, however, suggested that ""figure heads"" might occur with negligent organizations also. After further discussion, the bill was returned to committee for further consideration. A proposal to create a judiciary branch in SGA caused considerable discussion in the Senate. Lowe asked if the president of the SGA didn't already have the authority to settle disputes between organizations. Nevins answered that basically, the executive did have such power, and said that the measure ""would be creating an un necessary bureaucracy."" Senator Sheila Culbertson argued that organizations ""need some kind of judiciary system beside Senate,"" and noted that if a group's requests were rejected by SGA, they would have no place to turn. Senator Bob Hayden stated that final word must rest somewhere. Senator Jim Tiganelli reported that in the Student Rights and Respon-sibilities Committee hearings there had been complaints about the 'dictatorialism' of the Senate. Crane pointed out that members of the proposed court would be SGA appointees. When Tiganelli suggested that the four year term would make the court a-political, Nevins stated that a majority of the judges would be, by necessity, up-perclassmen. He said that only those experienced in and well acquainted with government procedures would be knowledgeable judges. ""I couldn't see appointing freshman or sophomores."" Lowe pointed out that the Students Rights and Responsibilities Committee had considered the idea of an appeals board to handle disputes. She suggested that the committee must have assumed the passage of the Senate bill. At this point SGA President Konrad Herling voided his support for the bill, suggesting it would give the SGA more power. Otherwise, he said, the academic council weuld end up with power over SGA matters. Lowe suggested that the executive should not undermine the efforts of the Senate. Nevins said that the Students Rights and Responsibilities Com-mittee should establish an appeals board to deal with problems of in-dividual students, and not deal with SGA organizational disputes. When brought to a vote, the judiciary bill was defeated 14-3. In other actions, Senate passed through second reading the con-stitutions of the Towson Chapter of the American Chemical Society and the Towson Table Tennis Association. Senate unanimously passed a resolution to commend Steve Schaffer for his work in public relations for SGA. It was announced that CAIB approved funding for the Outstanding Faculty Grants Program. Nevins credited the passage of the bill to the diligent efforts of SGA people and support from Delegates Curran, Devlin and Hutchinson. He noted that the Towson administration was not involved in the project. A number of factors were noted by Nevins to support the bill. It was strongly supported by all the State College Student Government Associations, and by the President of Lawsons Faculty Association. The bill gave state colleges the same representation as other Maryland Public Colleges. Boards not representative Pointing out the non-representative nature of Boards of Trustees, it was noted that 80 percent of all trustees are male, 75 percent are over 50 years old, 5 percent are under 40, and the average income is oyer $40,000. Nevins suggested that the ad-dition of one student would not directly change the action of the Board, but would guarantee that the Board's judgement would include input from ""the most essential portion of the environment they serve."" He further suggested that ""the mere presence of a student will serve as a necessary and constant reminder that every deliberation and decision made by the Board will ultimately affect students."" Methods of selecting the student representative have not yet been devised. Representation will rotate among the state colleges, with Towson, the oldest State College, being the first in rotation. Nevins commented that Placing a student on the Board of Trustees would ""really benefit the State College system."" Parking decks a must by Marlene Milder Plans for high-rise parking structures will be submitted to the Board of Trustees as part of the proposed 1977 fiscal budget request, said Director of Planning, David Sturdivant. Listed as a fourth priority on the budget request, monies for parking structures have been asked for but denied by the state since fiscal year 1970. Equipment for Classroom Building H, Newell Dining Hall and money for the Educational Street head the budget's list. Sturdivant will provide costs of parking structures throughout the Towson area, including Towson Towers, Cross Keys and the University of Maryland. After reporting to the Board of Trustees' Staff Specialists, Sturdivant feels construction monies may finally be okayed and sent to State planners. Parking garages, within the past six years, have met with ill fate. The use of parking garages was recom-mended only as a long-range solution to the parking needs at Towson in 1969 by Caudill, Rawlett and Scott. This company, retained by the Board of Trustees, specializes in College and University structural development planning, said William Bauersfield, Assistant to the Vice-president of Business and Finance. Structure feasible This past year, five thousand dollars was appropriated by the Board to have a feasibility study done, reported Bauersfield, finding that a parking structure was both possible and necessary. After in-specting the feasibility study, the Department of Planning said it would support floating a revenue bond to build any �parking structure which would require an increase in facuh y, staff and student fees. However, the Board stressed that a parking garage would not be considered until all surfaced parking areas were finished. According to Bauersfield, the college is currently in the last surfacing stage, making the position of the college clear. Bond must be backed The 30 year revenue bond would be sold to private investors, ex-plained Bauersfield, with the State having only to back the bond with its full faith and credit. College fee dollars pay the bond off, not state money, he continued. Although requests for parking garages have always been in the form of tax dollars, and have been con-sistently denied, Bauersfield added, the number one goal of the college is still to receive a commitment for the State. Bauersfield also maintained that this includes setting a precedent, since the state has not yet built a garage with tax dollars. ""If we fail to have the parking garages in the proposed fiscal budget for 1977, then I think we have no alternative but to build with revenue bonds,"" stressed Bauersfield. The Board of Trustees reviews the Capital Budget June 1, 1975. Those students who plan to participate in the Curriculum I block for Elementary Education Major in Fall, 1975, should receive a letter concerning early registration. This registration will be held on April 21 and 22. Anyone who is ready for the Curriculum I block and who has not declared his major should see Kathy Kohler, top floor Media Center, in Education, immediately. Conditions are improved by Marlene Milder ""The college community will provide paved pedestrian walkways throughout the campus as the Classroom II Construction work progresses during the next two years,"" stated David Sturdivant, Towson's Director of Planning. Contractors will be disrupting pedestrian circulation as they work on this project, but the college will continue to reinstall hard surfaces for access around the site, said Stur-divant. Vice President Wayne Schelle said he would rather be thought of as ""stupid, rather than uncaring for the campus community,"" as he explained why the college will be paving walk-ways which will be torn up by the contractors. ""Although money is tight,"" said Sturdivant, ""our priorities lie with the Campus community, so we will continue to blacktop areas we know may be disturbed a few times."" Convenience essential The contractors will repair all disturbed areas and restore them to Work done during Easter has alleviated dangerous conditions. TL photo by Dave Carrington useable conditions, maintained Sturdivant, but this will not be taken care of until the end of the contract nears. While the installation of utilities will continue throughout the summer, possibly extending into the fall, causing pedestrian in-convenience, both Schelle and Sturdivant agree it is essential to provide immediate convenience and safety for the community. Pedestrians found themselves plowing through hazardous con-ditions during the initial construction phase, and called upon the college to insure safety measures. Schelle explained the ad-ministration was faced with the question of responsibility. ""When we realized the contractors were not assuming responsibility outside the fenced areas, then the administration took it upon themselves to retrench those areas."" Because the contractors and Department of General Services is not as nearly concerned with the safety and convenience of the college community, both Schelle and Stur-divant felt it imperative that the administration take action, even though Towson State College is a third party in the construction contract. Sturdivant explained the State employs the contractors while the Department of General Services administers control. ""We're the customer"" ""We're the customer and the state acts as the owner,"" explained Sturdivant, ""and we do not initially hold any authority."" During the Easter vacation, several areas were blacktopped by the college which were felt to be essential to the safe and easy cir-culation of the college community. While -discussing future plans for construction, Schelle feels there is better coordination between the college and the contractors, helping to insure an easier working relationship. ""We know where they are, and they (the contractors) know where we are,"" he added. "