The Towerlight, April 30, 1982

tl19820430-000 "Vol. 75 No. 25 owerlig,ht PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 A man's got to know his limitations. Clint Eastwood April 30, 1982 Citing budgetary problems Black Student Union members seek solutions. photo by John O'Loughlin Senate fills vacancies By Gayle Griisser The Student Government Association has filled its ranks by choosing and electing four students to assume positions that remained vacant after the 1982 SGA election. The SGA University Affairs Com-mittee interviewed all 10 eligible ap-plicants and recommended four peo-ple. The newly elected senators are, Yvette Goslee, a sophomore business major, Drew Denicoff, a freshman, Curt Vinyard, a sophomore majoring in psychology and business administration, and Joseph Lis a junior business ad-ministration major, who served last year as a Senator and was defeated in his bid for SGA treasurer. Dave Thomas, SGA president also named his cabinet members. They are Dawn Tritak, director of communications and assistant to the president, Mike Elardo, director of public relations, Nancy Warren, director of organizations. Paul Mechlin, director of publications and Slane Brown, deputy director of communications. In related business the Senate voted to clarify the Senate's rule concerning absenteeism and late-noes. The rule now states that any senator absent or late without leave three out of four senate meetings or committee meetings will be expell-ed. One senator may face expulsion for absenteeism if he cannot give a reasonable explanation for the absences. Brad Howatt, SGA vice president said he is trying to con-tact the senator for an explanation. The Senate also passed the con-stitution for the Environmental Concerns Committee, and made it an unbudgeted student organiza-tion. BSU denied autonomy By Mark Baltimore In an effort to settle budgetary problems, the Black Student Union has requested Hoke Smith,Towson State president, to grant the BSU economic autonomy from the Stu-dent Government Association. Smith has denied their re-quest stating that the University's policy in the past has been ""to assign to the Student Government Association the responsibility for the allocation of student activity fees among various student organizations."" Under the autonomy plan the BSU would be directly funded through a percentage of student fees instead of being allocatted money by the SGA. In a letter to Aaron Copeland, former BSU president, Smith said that there is no other organiza-tion on campus excluding the day care center being funded in this manner. ""We shall keep the policy of cen-tralization of responsibility for fee allocations with the SGA,"" Smith said. Daniel Mahone, a BSU member actively prusuing the autonomy issue, said the request for autonomy stems from problems facing the BSU when it asks the Senate for budget allocations. Mahone cited the February sup-plemental budget hearing when the Senate debated for three and a half hours over the BSU budget and cut it from $7,825 to $6,426. ""We experienced direct insult and assault during the budget hearing. We feel that we are not treated fair-ly by the Senate,"" Mahone said. ""We have to really fight for our budget, and we shouldn't have to do that."" Copeland said. ""During the last ten years, there has been a decrease in the amount of money we receive, while at the same time there has been an increase in the black population."" Copeland said that in the past the Senate has been unsympathic to the needs of black students and doesn't fully understand the role and pur-pose of the BSU at the University. The BSU is a more culturally rounded organization, which seeks to fulfill the cultural needs of black students, Copeland said. ""Other organizations are more like extracurricular activities. There is nothing wrong with that, but the BSU trys to solve a special problem"" Copeland said. Both Copeland and Mahone said that they believe the Senate scrutinizes the budget with undue emphasis on the money aspect and the generating of revenues. One item on the spring sup-plemental budget which drew Senate questions was the movie series priced at 60t per student. Several senators asked why the price wasn't higher. At that time Copeland said he ex-plained that the BSU is more in-terested in attracting student in-terest than generating funds. ""They (the Senate) didn't understand where we were coming from:"" The BSU, however, has not dealt with the present administration and Brad Howatt, SGA vice president, said he believes the BSU has a com-plaint but autonomy is not the answer. ""The BSU has a valid point, but they haven't tried this Senate,"" Howatt said. Howatt said that the last Senate was ""horriby unbalanced"" Since there was only one black senator. But this administration is more representative without any one group having control. Howatt agreed that the SGA may not understand as clearly as it should the basic informative and educational philosophy of the BSU but he said he does believe the Senate has dealt fairly with the BSU. ""I think in the form they presented it (budget request) the Senate dealt equitably,"" Howatt said. He added that for further budgets BSU members could do ex-tra planning and lobbying of key Senate members. As for economic autonomy, Howatt said if the problems are financial the autonomy may be a possible solution but the BSU would be ""trading one set of pro-blems for another."" Dave Thomas, SGA president, said he has not acted in any official capacity in the autonomy issue but does agree with BSU autonomy. ""The Senate in the past three years has done as little as they could to keep the BSU just happy. Meaning giving them just enough to keep them (the BSU) off the Senate's back. I think autonomy would solve their problems,"" Thomas said. Citing his prior senate experience, Thomas said that the Senate lacks a basic understanding of why the BSU holds certain events, which are primarily educational and cultural, and focuses on money making events. Thomas stressed that this is not because the Senate is in any way against the BSU or its doctrine, but is simply not aware of this par-ticular need. Thomas also said there could be no assurance to the BSU of a set an-nual guaranteed funding as sug-gested by Dr. Smith in his letter to Copeland. Thomas said the only problem with the suggestion is that this &CIA administration could initiate a policy but the following administra-tion could change the decision com-pletely. Gayle Griisser contributed to the story Financial aid drops slightly; costs up for7982-83year Financial aid By Bruce Reid The federal government's student financial aid con-tribution to Towson State for the 1982-83 school year is 8 percent less than the University received last year, said Harriet Griffin, financial aid director. Although the $6,703,141 that the University could receive this year shows a decline from the $6,233,431 that was received for the 1981-82 school year, the figure is only tenative, since many of the guidelines for the federally supported programs have not yet been decided on. Griffin, as well as other financial aid directors in the state, said many of the financial aid programs are being funded by only tenative guidelines at present, since the 1983 federal budget and President Ronald Reagan's pro-posals to slash the aid programs are still under Congres-sional review. Towson State students have become increasingly dependent on the five major financial aid programs in past years. For example, in the 1977-78 school year 3,800 students received some form of federally supported financial aid, and in 1981 about 6,300 students received aid. Two major aid programs � Pell Grants and Guaranteed Student Loans � have aided the majority of the University financial aid recipients in past five years. Since 1978, the number of students receiving Pell Grants, outright gifts of up to about $1,670 a year, in the last five years has increased from 1,760 to 2,300 this year. The number of students receiving federally-guaranteed loans, bearing 9 percent interest rates, has increased more than three-fold in the last five year to 2,377 in 1981. Many financial aid directors, at both public and private colleges in the state have no definiate idea of how much financial aid will be available for the next school year. Towson State Costs and Financial Aid* Tuition (In-state) Fees Room & Board Financial Aid 1977-78 297 77 715 1,926,128 1979-80 310 86 735 4,606,350 1981-82 436 113 1,026 6,233,431 1982-83** 480 123 1,137 5,703,141��� �Includes National Direct and Guaranteed Students Loans, Pell Grants, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants and College Work-Study ""Figures for 1982-83 are propoeed ���Total federal financial aid contribution could increase by $40,000 ""We're going to be managing our budget fat Towson State] very conservatively,"" said Hoke Smith, president, in case the loss of financial aid affects enrollment. ""I'm guessing we would lose 400 students next year"" in the wake of financial aid cuts, Smith said. That is a reasonable estimate, he said, because many students will feel the effects of decreasing Social Security benefits, slated for a complete phase-out by 1986. There is no question that many of the financial aid pro-grams need regulating, Griffin said, but the Reagan ad-ministration and the federal Department of Education have proposed sweeping cuts in aid to college students beginning in the 1983-84 school year. ""I'm guessing we would lose 400 students next year . . .,"" � Hoke Smith The Reagan administration seeks to slice $1.6 million from the fmancial aid programs beginning in 1983, but many of the proposals have have been met with student protests and marches � one by University of Maryland College Park students � and opposition in Congress. Perhaps the main concern of many of the students and administrators in Maryland is the fact that no Guaranteed Student Loans have been processed for the 1982 school year. The loans, easily the largest single source of student financial aid in the state, cannot be processed until the Department of Education adopts a ""needs analysis test"" to determine who should receive the low-interest loans. James Learner, executive director of the Maryland Higher Education Loan Corporation, the state agency that administers the program, said federal education of-ficials could revise the needs test this week. Currently, students from families earning more than $30,000 annual income must take the needs test. Depen-ding on the number of students a family has in college, the cost of a college, and the expected family contribu-tion, the loans can be awarded for up to $2,600 a year to undergraduate students. Graduate students can borrow as much as $3,000 a year under the current guidelines. In addition to revisions in Pell Grants and Guaranteed Student Loans, several other programs could be reduced next year: *The federal contribution for National Direct Student Loans, 6 percent loans to students who can show finan-cial need, could be reduced from $168,378 to $19,180 for 1982. *The contribution to College Work-Study programs could be reduced from the $113,048 received last year to $90,622, but the University is more likely to receive close to $116,000, Griffin said. *Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants could be reduced from the $264,206 received last year to $193,339 for 1982. Although the actual deadline application for financial aid was April 1, Griffin said, ""We will be funding as long as the money holds out."" Students who apply early will have a better chance of receiving adequete aid to help pay for next year's tuition and room and board, she said. Tuition, room and board rise By Michael Bennett Tuition and fees for full-time in-state students at Towson State will rise from this year's $548.60 per semester to $603.60 per semester, an increase of about ten per cent, beginning in the fall of 1982. Tuition will increase from $436 to $480 per semester, and student fees wil rise from $113.60 to $123.60. Ronald Garrison, assistant vice president for finance and systems management, said the increase is necessary due to inflation and the continued decrease in state sup-port for higher education. ""When the state doesn't come up with enough general funds, we look to see what we can do to make ends meet. We found we needed a tuition increase,"" Garrison said. Once University officials know how much state money will be forthcoming, they must turn to ""special funds"" to make up the difference. Garrison described ""special funds"" as money paid by the students. Garrison said the increase in tuition and fees is not the result of any new programs but is needed to maintain the present quality of existing programs. The University's total budget for the 1982-'83 academic year (fiscal year '83) is $33,294,700. Of that total, $20,622,400 will come from state general funds. The remaining $12,772,300 will come from students' tui-tion and fees. According to an analysis of University funding from fiscal year 1967 to fiscal year 1983 prepared by the University's office of finance and systems management, state support has decreased steadily for the last 16 years. In 1967, state general funds made up 86 per cent of the University's budget, and special funds accounted for 14 percent of the budget. In fiscal year 1983 (academic year 1982-83), general funds will account for 62 per cent, and special funds wil make up the remaining 38 per cent of the budget. Garrison said if the $1.9 million increase in general fund support ear marked for the nine per cent pay raise for all state employees is eliminated, general fund sup-port has only increased one per cent over fiscal year 1982. However, Sheila Tolliver, education officer for Gov. Harry R. Hughes, said it is not an accurate perception of the budget to omit the money for the salary increase. ""Education is labor intensive,"" Tolliver said. ""If, for example, labor costs make up 70 per cent of your total budget, then a one per cent increase in the total budget becomes more substantial when it is applied only to the remaining 30 per cent of the budget."" Tolliver stressed that her 70/30 breakdown was hypothetical, since she did not know the exact figures for the University. While the percentage of general fund support for higher education in Maryland has decreased, Tolliver said generally speaking the growth in tuition costs have not exceeded the average growth in family income. Harriet Griffin, director of financial aid, said the nine per cent increase in tuition and fees will not keep students out of school, but if tuition and fees continue to increase and financial aid continues to decrease pro-blems may arise in the future. Garrison said money raised from student tuition helps pay for instruction, the library and the administration program (day-to-day management of the University: the President's office, business and finance, the printing center and other administrative offices). While the registration fee, University Union construc-tion fee, student services (SGA fee) and the mail services fee will remain the same, several other student fees will increase for the 1982 fall semester. The athletic fee, which helps cover the costs of the University's participation in intercollegiate athletics will rise from $37.60 to $46 per semester. Garrison said the increase in the athletic fee is a result of inflation and the continued upgrading of the Universi-ty's athletic program, which has necessitated the hiring of more full-time coaches to coach teams previously coached by non-faculty members. The University Union activity fee will rise from $27.50 to $30 per semester. The University Union activity fee pays for the day-to-day operation of the Union. Garrison said the University's intent is to keep the Union self-supporting. Otherwise, he said, money for the Union would have to come from Auxilary Enterprises which would decrease that department's surplus. The University has set a target of a $400,000 per year surplus for Auxilary Enterprises. This money goes into an emergency fund which is used to fund projects and repairs not paid for by the state. The cost of the average room-and-board package will rise form $1,026 to $1,137 per semester. Garrison said that since room and board must be met entirely by the students the increase is the result of higher costs for heat, power and building maintenance. Sketch courtesy of University Police Towson State police have released a composite sketch of the man who alledgedly sexually molested a 13-year-old boy on April 18, in the University Union. Police are looking for a white male, between 25 and 30, black straight hair, 6'4'2"", 180-220 lbs. and wearing glasses. "