The Towerlight, April 30, 1987

tl19870430-000 "Inside Crack The Sky Keyboardist talks about then and now... page 5. The Tower.ight Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Towson, MD 21204 Index news 1 4, 9 sports 3 classifieds 2 7, 9 features & entertainment 5 6 letters to editor 11 perspectives 11 weekwatcher 12 Vol 80 No. 25 Dr. Patricia Plante, University provost, has been named the new president of the University of Southern Maine. Plante leaves Towson State University after 18 years of service. Plante to be next South Maine Univ. President Media Release Dr I ricia Plante, who has been associated with TowsonState University since 1969 and who has served as vice president for aca-demic affairs since 1981, will leave the University in mid-July to assume the position of president of the University of Southern Maine. Plante's appointment by Maine's Chancellor, Robert L. Woodbury, who governs seven state institutions, is expected to be confirmed at a special meeting of Maine's Board of Trustees later today. Plante was one of three finalists out of over 1,000 applicants screen ?d by the Presidential Screening Committee, which began its work in late December. Plante and the two other finalists were asked visit the campus earlier this month. The university, located in Port-land, Maine, is a state institution with an enrollment of approx-imately 9,000, offering under-graduate, graduate and doctoral programs in the liberal arts, teacher preparatory and profes-sional areas of study, including a school of law. Plante, who is originally from Waterville, Maine, joined the Uni-versity as a professor of English in 1969. In 1972 she served as chair of the Department of English (World Literature). A member of the Uni-versity Senate (previously known as the Academic Council), the U n i - versity's highest governing board, since its inception in 1970, Dr. Plante chaired that group for four terms. She has served on the Uni-versity's Promotion and Tenure Committee, the executive commit-tee of the Faculty Association, and on the AAUP executive committee. As vice president for academic. affairs, Plante led a reorgani-zation of the structure of the Uni-versity's academic areas into eight colleges and schools to create an environment that would encou-rage intellectual interchange bet-ween faculty and students and a sense of community within the individual acliclemic areas. In 1983 Plante's title was changed to provost and vice presi-dent for academic affairs to clarify her position as second officer of the University. Before joining the University, Plante held teaching positions at Fordham University (where she was academic dean) and the Univer-sities of Bridgeport and New Hampshire. She served for two years as the chief academic officer at Thomas More College ot 'Fordham University. University President Hoke Smith will appoint an acting pro-vost to serve 1iirilugn tot. ,;187-88 year, and a search committee to till the position will be appointed in the fall. Robert M. Graham contributed to this article. April 30, 1987 BSU alleges campus racism by Lisa M. Quill News reporter Black students think racism is a problem at Towson State Univer-sity, according to Black Student Union Vice President Vernon Marrow. ""Black students feel there's a racial problem,"" Marrow said, mentioning the University Police, the Student Government Associa-tion and the Athletic Department. ""People think all blacks do is eat chicken and watermelon, drink, and fight. Nobody takes anything we do seriously."" Marrow first addressed the issue during an April 17 discussion between black student leaders and University officials in the wake of controversy surrounding the one-year suspension of William ""Rod-ney"" Lawson following a traffic accident and alleged verbal exchange with University profes-sor Lynette Edwards. University President Hoke L. Smith conceded the fact that racism exists; saying ""it would be foolish to believe there is none."" But he also said there has been a general increase in racial tension on both sides in this country in the last two years. ""There's been a res-urgence of white racism as well!' Smith continued: ""Your feelings are based on perceptions. Whether your perception is accurate.... We should work on the things that cause that perception."" Black students need to be spe-cific about the things which cause that perception, Smith said, so that the University can work on the concretes�policy and differen-tial treatment. For the most part, however, those ""things"" are not totally in the open, according to Marrow. ""They are subtle things,"" lw said, ""but they're always trying to keep us down."" Marrow, though unable to detail specifics in some instances, dis-cussed various areas where he says racism is prevalent. The University Police ""Campus Police have the impression all blacks want to do is fight and shoot each other,"" Mar-row said. ""Whenever we get to-gether in a concentrated area, they break us up. Campus Police need to stop watching tv and paying atten-tion to stereotypes."" Marrow said the University Police take a ""very antagonistic stance"" with black students, a dif-ferent stance than is taken with white students. ""Whenever they see a group of black students, they automatically assume trouble is going to materialize."" To illustrate, Marrow cited examples involving ""steps,"" sing-ing and dancing�sometimes like a march. In front of the Glen Complex Resident Towers, members of Mar-row's fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, were ""developing a step,"" and the University Police automatically dispersed them. Yet white students were throwing frisbees and foot-balls and banging windows, but the Police don't even tell them to stop, he said. ""It's a small example,"" Marrow said, ""but it's one example."" Marrow also referred to a gather-ing in front of Hawkins 'Hall. ""The area was reserved and all the proper paperwork was done,"" he said. ""But the Police showed up and stood around. Their presence intimidated students. ""The Police didn't have to be there,"" Marrow continued. ""Stu-dents have the right to act freely without feeling like they're under Marshall Law."" Steven Murphy, University Police chief', disputes Marrow's allegations that, when white stu-dents are involved, the University Police will wait until something happens, but with black students they automatically show up. ""The Police Department's charge is to protect and serve the students�keeping order falls into that as well,"" Murphy said. ""We respond to any complaint of loud noises, whether those involved arel black, white, or whatever."" Murphy said that there is a necessity for the Police to respond to complaints and to handle them accordingly. He also said that officers respond to crowds and noise based on complaints. ""Black students have as much right as white students"" to congre-gate, ""as long as they're within the guidelines,"" Murphy continued, sa3 mg that, as a result of bis meet-ing with Smith, he will look into whether his officers are self-in-itiating those complaints. ""If that is true, it's improper, and it will be addressed,"" he said. Murphy had a complaint of his own: ""As Chief of Police, I'm always open and available for questions and concerns,"" yet ""only one black student in the past two and one-half years has come to me to vocalize concerns about police interaction."" Marrow said the BSU has ap-proached the University Police about problems and was told ""OK, the problem will be solved,"" but it never is. Murphy, on the other hand, con-tends that none of the leadership of the BSU has ever approached him. In fact, he said, ""I've gone to black students because of things I've heard; I decided to take the initiative."" Although Marrow , said `iblack students feel harrassed by the University Police; blacks on this campus already feel one man down against them,"" Murphy maintains that ""this department sees no color. And that's the way it should be."" The SGA ""The SGA is starting to develop too much autonomy,"" Marrow said, ""and is starting to separate itself from the University without realizing it's overstepping its bounds."" Marrow detailed two instances where he said the ""SGA rules are geared [to short-changingl blacks"": the BSU's minority re-cruitment budget cuts and the resistance to passing the constitu-tion of the Coalition of Black Greek Lettered Organizations. At the Financial Advisory Board hearings, the BSU's entire recruitment budget was denied, according to Marrow, without suf-ficient reasoning or justification. ""Me minority recruitment pro-gram is something creative and useful,"" and it is something the University favors and endorses, Marrow said. ""Minority recruit-ment is instrumental to the future of the campus and to the black students."" Despite the fact that the Univer-sity's minority retention rate is 82 percent�better than its overall retention rate�the minority level is ""way below national stan-dards,"" Marrow said, and is headed in the wrong direction. The University is required to eventu-ally enroll 18 percent minorities, but has decreased in minority enrollement in recent years from 12 percent to 9.3 to 8.5 this year. Therefore, minority recruitment by the BSU is a necessity, Marrow said, adding that the SGA ""can be very insensitive to issues."" Marrow also said the SGA cut minority recruitment from the *BSU's budget because they mis-takenly believe that the BSU can get the money elsewhere. ""They say `You can get the money from Minority Affairs,' but Minority Affairs doesn't have it either, and that 'It's admissions' problem, not your problem,' "" Mar-row said. ""Black students pay SGA fees also,"" he continued. ""It's offensive for the Senate to say 'get it some-where else.' I see that as being racially motivated. As long as the point is valid and the need is genuine.� The money's there to be allocated!' SGA President Chris Krivos dis-agrees. ""The money is not there,"" Krivos said. ""There are all differ-ent reasons why a budget`can get cut. Being black isn't one of them."" Krivos said that the reason for the cut probably had something to do with the fact that the Univer-sity has a Minority Affairs Office and a recruiter. ""Students [who pay SGA fees] shouldn't have to be financially responsible"" for this type of program, he said. ""It's hard to justify that financial obligation. The burden of work and support should be the University's, not the studeilt's."" Krivos also pointed to the fact that there were discrepancies in the ""handwritten and hand. calculated"" budget turned in by the BSU. ""The total at the top of the page didn't coincide with the other totals,"" Krivos said, adding that the difference was about $2,000. Also, Krivos continued, ""Vernon See RACISM, Page 4 STAND rallies for foreign policy changes by Robert Pattison News reporter The political organization STAND, Students Together Against Nuclear Destruction, says the United States should sever ties Cohen talks about ""Movie Expectation"" Media release ""Reality's gone,"" Richard Cohen said Sunday evening as the third and final speaker of the Student Government Association's Speaker Series. ""We're caught up in the phenomenon of 'what we see, we think we experience.' "" Speaking before an audience of about 70, Cohen, a nationally syn-dicated columnist for The Washington Post and ""critic-at-large"" for The Washington Post Magazine, discussed what he calls ""The Movie Expectation,"" how President Reagan and his advisors have used ""The Movie Expecta-tion"" through television to great Richard Cohen, Washington Post columnist, spoke before approx-imately 75 people Sunday as the third Speaker in the 1986-87 SGA Speaker Series. advantage, and how visual media have renderd words obsolete as a result of ""The Movie Expectation."" ""People refer to television and movies as a greater reality than reality; they are reversity the two ideas,"" Cohen said, describing ""The Movie Expectation."" For examples, Cohen cited an army lesson and a beach incident: The first thing you learn in the army is to forget every-thing you learned in the movies. A sergeant on a grenade range asked 'what do you guys think would happen if you threw a gre-nade at a tank?' One guy said 'You'd blow the treads off.' 'No' said the sergeant. 'You'd blow the turret off,' said someone else. 'No' said the sergeant. 'So what would happen?' someone asked, and the sergeant said, 'you'd piss off the tank driver and he'd kill you.' Four women were in the ladies room ofa beach club on the Chesapeake Bay when the floor collapsed, tumbling each woman end-over-end into the muck below. When a reporter questi\oned the women, all four said the experience was like The Poseidon Adventure, a movie, about a ship being turned upside down, being heavily promoted on television. These are 'Ile Movie Expecta- See COHEN, page 4 n with the South African Apartheid regime and stop sending aid to the Nicaraguan contras in light of recent failures in U.S. foreign poli-cies. Joe Delia, Pri�sident of STAN1) have interests in South Africa, Delia added. On April 21. STAND sponsored a ""Spring Fest"", with music and tOod and drink, on the University Union patio. The purpose of the Members of STAND began a busy week of awareness campaigning with the Springfest last Wednesday and the Peace march in Washington Saturday. said the esalation of violence in South Africa demonstrates that Apar-teid is not working and that ,the U.S. should take drastic action if the Apartheid reginie is not dis-mantled. Delia said drastic action could involve sanctions on the South African government or at least the threat of imposing sanctions. ""The situation is getting worse with the 'Apartheid] regime get-ting harsher and more reaction-ary,"" Delia said. Delia said STAND is foculing on South Africa and Central America because specific members of STAND have interests in Presi-dent Reagan's foreign policy. By expanding its concerns STAND will reach a greater number of stu-dents at Towson State. Delia said that corporations and banks who have interests in South Africa should divest their holdings and make it clear that these actions are in response to apar-theid. Shell Oil and Citicorp both event was to increase students' awareness of events happening around the world that may affect their lives. Faculty members were invited to speak on various areas of U. S. foreign policy in South Africa and Central America. Dr. David W. Dent, Director of International Studies, said the United States is ""trampling on the [U. S.] constitution as if there were IR) alternative policy."" Dent said the Reagan adminis-ration is ""subverting the constitu-tion and ignoring laws"" on the asqumntion that the ""end justifies the means"" in its handling of for-eign policy in Central Arnerica. Dent hag been opposed to Rea-gan's policy even before he took office Dent said 'the U. S. has defined the Nicaraguan govern-ment as being Marxist and so will not 'negotiate directly with the Sandinista reginie. The Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, and the Reagan admini-stration is backing the contra reb-els in their attempt to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nic-aragua. Pent said 10 to 15,000 people have already been killed in the contra war with the Sandinistas 0(1 that the U. S. should take a more positive role in Nicaragua to end the bloodshed. ""The U. S. is approaching the point of no return and is heading toward a permanent war footing,"" Dent added. ""We have a role to play (in Nica-ragual Dent said, addim,, h the country 'Nicaragua ha giti-mate complaints that need tt be anciressea. Dent saiti la. is ""frusi cal as an educator, you have the power See STAND, page 9 Smith reviews, alters Lawson's suspension Staff report William Rodney Lawson will be permitted to resume classes in the Fall or Summer as the result of a presidential review of his Judicial Board decision of a one-year sus-pension. University President Hoke Smith said only that he ""modified the penalty"" and would not com-ment further, but sources in the Black Student Union and Dr. Camille Clay, Director of Minority Affairs, confirmed that Lawson's one-year suspension was reduced to one semester, with the provision that Lawson not live in residence. Lawson's original suspension fol-lowed a March 13 traffic accident with University professor Lynette Edwards. The two allegedly traded insults and threats, leading to a University Judicial Board Hearing and Lawson's sus-pension. An appeal by Lawson was'de-nied, so his final course of action was the presidential review. "