The Towerlight, April 18, 1980

tl19800418-000 "PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY CONTENTS Sports 8 Features 4 Entertainment 7 Classifieds 12 Week Watcher 4 Newsbriefs 12 April 18, 1980 rj Take me out to the ballgame, please ikik k1/4 Where is the professor? Where are the students? Empty clas zooms were the order of the day last Tuesday, as students and faculty stayed away from class in droves to attend the home opener of the 1980 Oriole baseball season. These students missed seeing Ken Singleton (insert) hit his first home run at Memorial Stadium this year. TL photos by Ed Gore and Lester Shugarman Congress debates draft registration implications 11""The draft will only be re-instituted there is a war,"" said Warren ielson, an aide to Rep. Les Aspin, WI, generally considered a con-ressional expert on military rsonnel. As it :lands now,"" Nelson said, ""the w registration system will be sirn-er and less time-consuming than the Id method."" The r.ew system envisioned in the 11 would require that 19- and 20-year- 'Id males report to the nearest post fiee during the month of June or lay. Bill proponents argue that post lices are usually quiet in those Oaths. Draft opponents, however, ve charged President Carter pur-sefully deferred the registration te until college students are on sum-er vacation, and can't organize rge anti-draft demonstrations. Substantial congressional opposi-on to registration remains, led by Presentatives Pat Schroeder, D-CO, d John S. Seiberling, D-OH. ""Compulsory military service�ex- Pt in times of constitutionally ap-roved war or compelling national ergency� raises serious questions propriety and indeed legality in ht of the constitutional prohibition Etinst involuntary servitude,"" Sei-ruing said in a public letter to the esident. James Weaver, Ohio representa- 4, feared registration would make easier for the U.S. to engage in ventures around the world. In his letter, co-signed by 38 of his . 'leagues, Seiberling said that reg-ration would be a ""massive inva-of the privacy of millions of � young Americans."" The proposal as it now stands would require registrants to tell the govern-ment their name, address, birth date, and social security number. The information would be entered into computers by Internal Revenue Service keypunch operators. Bill ad-vocates said IRS keypunchers are simply the ones who would be avail-able at that time of year, that the information on the registration forms would not be shown to other govern-ment agencies. In 1978, President Carter rejected a Congressional Budget Office proposal that would automatically register people by Compiling information from existing government files. The CBO report showed the Social Security System and the IRS could provide most of the needed information. The report also showed that the automatic registration system could miss as much as 40 percent of the eligible people, and thus create serious political and legal obstacles to a draft based on such an incomplete list. In requesting registration, Pres-ident Carter said the point was to provide the Pentagon with a man-power pool from which it could either expand the size of its forces, or replace casualties in a war lasting several months. A full peacetime conscription sys-tern, how -ver, would require separate Congressional approval. The current legislation would pro-vide funds to implement registration, a power the President already has. Officials emphasized that registra-tion will not remedy the two major military problems that some critics argue have undermined the nation's combat readiness. Military experts said too few technically-trained officers and, "" enlisted personnel are staying in the service. As a result, the armed forces currently lack an adequate corps of experienced field leaders. Secondly, they said the low vol-unteer rate has sapped the strength of reserve units, on which the Pentagon must rely for immediate reinforce-ments in wartime. Lowerfaculty trapped Promotions declining by Debbie Pelton Towson State president Dr. Hoke Smith and Dr. Joseph Cox, dean of academic affairs, delivered some discourag-ing statistics about promotion and tenure at a faculty meeting last Thursday. The meeting was called by the president. The promotion and tenure system has not adjusted to reality,"" said Smith. Eight years ago, a faculty member had a one-in-four chance of receiving a department recommendation for promotion, but today there is a one-in- fourteen chance of getting recommended. The number of annual faculty promotions has declined from 41 new appointments in 1975 to ten promotions granted this year. Cox said numerous promotions granted in the late '60s and early '70s coincided with the Universi-ty's period of rapid growth. Then there were more faculty ppsitions open and more opportunity for advancement. But about three years ago, Cox said, he began to see the end coming. As most of the University's expansion plans were completed, promotions became harder to attain. By 1978, only 15 of the 120 recommended faculty received pro-motions. Cox Explains Faculty Foresight ""If we'd been half as selective in the early '70s as we have to be today, there would be more slots to go around,"" said Cox. ""Those going to associate professor this year would have qualified for professor seven years ago,"" he said. To continue granting promotions, Cox said, he had to spread out available slots over several years. Without this restraint, all the available slots would be used within two to three years. Lower Rank Faculty Trapped The present promotion and tenure squeeze sometimes traps faculty at the lower ranks, instructor and assistant professor. According to a Board of Trustees of State Higher Education stipulation, only 50 percent of all fac-ulty may hold positions at the top two ranks, associate professor and professor. With all the top-rank positions filled, faculty at the lower ranks may be forced to stagnate in their present positions. ""The time people have to spend in rank [before being pro-moted] has increased dramatically,"" said Cox. Today, a faculty member must spend an average of seven years in rank before being promoted. So an instructor may have to teach over 20 years before becoming a full professor. Smith said he realizes younger faculty, who are more likely at the instructor rank, are very angry and bitter that they aren't being promoted. However, he added, younger faculty have not had time to demonstrate maturity and, therefore, should not expect promotions in their early teaching years. Dr. Patricia Plante, president of the Acaliernic Council, said she believes the present promotion problem may be good for the University. ""You would be hard put to find an academically responsible university that promotes people after two years in rank,"" she said. Another gripe the president and dean addressed was the faculty pay scale. Faculty frozen in their present rank fear that without promotion to a higher tank, they will not receive a pay increase for several years. Proposals May Bring Relief Smith outlined some possible Board of Trustees pro-posals that may relieve some of the promotion and tenure congestion. Smith will meet next week with other univer-sity presidents to draft a proposal that would raise the present top two rank ratio to 60 to 65 percent. Another pro-posal would readjust present faculty pay scales, maybe overlapping ranks so an instructor might receive a salary comparable to an assistant professor. Even with the revised distribution of ranks, ""it won't mean we can go back to promoting the same amounts of faculty as in past years,"" Cox said. Smith said the quota change won't open up the floodgates for the rate of promo-tions in the past. With less available promotions, alternative rewards are critical, said Cox. Faculty need incentives, recognition and support in addition to promotion, he said. Some pos-sible rewards would be a summer mini-grant program, release time grants and increased funds for faculty research equipment, said Cox. acuity promotions 0 cL 4q. o4 0 At 0 .�6 co' gr 0 tit 1980 0 4 6 10 1979 4 5 6 15 1978 6 5 4 15 1977 12 14 5 31 1976 5 11 13 29 1975 12 21 9 41 1974 10 11 11 32 1973 10 15 16 40 1972 9 15 14 36 68 100 84 248 The chart above shows the number of faculty membe and the positions to which they were promoted for the given year. Courtesy of the President's off Board approves tuition increase by Halaine Silberg President Hoke Smith announced at Monday's Academic Council meeting that the Board of Trustees of State Colleges and Universities approved the stu-dent fee increase submitted in March. The yearly increase will jump the overall Univer-sity tuition from $620 to $700 per year. Included in this fee is an $80 tuition increase, a registration increase from $20 to $30, a $15 increase in the ath-letic fee and a University Union increase from $25 to $40. In addition, residents will have to pay $130 more for room and an extra $120 for board. ""We just did not get enough money from the state,"" said Smith. He said although the state sup-plied a 3.3 percent increase in general funds, the 10.2 percent increase needed for special funds had to be absorbed by the student. Towson State originally requested a $70 tuition in-crease, but the Board approved an $80 increase per year instead. Donald McCulloh vice president for bus-iness and finance said there is a $700 ceiling on tuition, which state universities cannot exceed. He said the University was the only one which took ad-vantage of the $700 limit. We were the only ones who felt that inflation means something,"" he said. As a result ot the inuease, said Smith, the Uni-versity will have the same purchasing power next year as this year. ""If we did not try to keep the same pur-chasing power it would increasingly hurt our quality,"" he said. The Board also authorized a raise in the Student Government Association fee not to exceed $25, which was proposed by Milissa Murray, former SGA presi-dent, before the limit amendment took effect. McCulloh said he planned to leave the decision to increase the SGA fee to the SGA. Steve Horn, SGA president, said he has not made any decision whether to implement the fee. Smith said he was concerned the lack of funds from the state predicating the student fee increase implies a shift of the responsibility of education from the taxpayer to the student. He said this could become a long-term serious problem with state education. The Board initiated a lab fee of $30 for student interns as well as doubling the fee for supervising teachers from $106 to $212. Donald McCullon tudents honor 10 faculty members at reception by Susan Kaufman reception will be held at 3 p.m. y in the Patuxent room of the Iliversity Union to honor the recip- 4.!S of the faculty grant awards. The faculty grant awards are Michael Burns presented every year and are award-ed through student nomination. The awards are sponsored by the SGA. Each faculty grant award consists of $50. a plaque and the reception. Those receiving the awards this year are Elmer Kreisel, assistant professor of physics; Irvin _Wein-traub, associate professor of eco-nomics; Henry Bullwinkle, instructor of business; Brenda Logue, instructor of speech and mass communication; George Friedman, professor of En-glish; George Hahn, assistant pro-fessor of English; William Sladek, assistant professor of history; Barry Moore, instructor of speech and mass communication; Richard Vatz, assis-tant professor of speech and mass communication; and Vincent Coli-more, professor of education. In a ballot which appeared in two October issues of Towerlight, students were asked to nominate faculty members whom they thought deserved the grants. Twenty faculty members were nominated, said Michael Burns, former SGA vice president and chair-man of the grant committee. Burns and the rest of the faculty grant committee observed the classes of the faculty members who had been nominated. They also talked to stu-dents in the classes to get their opinions of the nominated faculty members. This process enabled the faculty grants award committee to narrow the nominations down to the ten fac-ulty members who won. Student evaluation of teaching is at least as important and valid as peer evaluation � Richard Vatz Will Neumann, a member of the grant committee, said, ""I think the faculty grant awards are one of the most valuable functions that the Stu-dent Government Association per-forms. It is a way that the students say thanks to some of the excellent instructors that Towson has."" The first taculty grant awards were given in 1976. Since that time, no part-time faculty members have won al-though they are eligible to receiire the award, Neumann said. ""It used to be an award of $250 but it doesn't matter that it went down to $50,"" Friedman said. ""It is something to work for."" ""It is good that students have input into recognizing teaching ability,"" said Vatz. Faculty members are eligible to win more than once. ""The second year of the award, they eliminated those that had won the award the previous year,"" said Friedman. Friedman said he thinks the elim-ination was a good idea because the awards should be spread around a lit-tle more. ""Student evaluations of teachers, in whatever form, are regarded un-evenly. Many faculty members and administrators regard them as significant and others don't think they are important,"" Vats said. Vatz, who has won the award each year since 1977, said, ""Student evaluation of teaching is at least as important and valid as peer evalua-tion."" ""The fact that student money is used is a good idea,"" said Colimore. -It really boosts a faculty member psychologically, especially during times of tenure and promotions,"" Hahn said. ""It is from the people that continued on page 2 In this Issue The Spinners per-formed at the Towson Center last week. Review on page 7. Can the Orioles repeat in 1980? See Tom and Ger-ry's column on page 10. The men's lacrosse team defeated cross-town rival UMBC last week. Story on page 8. "