The Towerlight, April 7, 1978

tl19780407-000 "Is The bulldozers are back TL Photo by Mike Ciesielski Construction on the first phase of the Education Street project began last week. The $1 million project is scheduled to be completed by December with the first phase completed by June. When the first phase is completed that area which is now enclosed will be opened up to pedestrian traffic and another area will be fenced off. At right is an artist's conception (or maybe someone's dream) of what the finished product will look like. � VOL. LXX NO. 21 otverttgTOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Byrnes resolution passes April 7, 1978 Senate backs tax credit bill by Patrick Casey The Maryland Senate has passed, and sent to the House of Delegates, a joint resolution asking Congress to approve a program of tax assistance to families with children in college. The tax credit approach is Opposed by the Carter administra-tion, which favors expansion of current financial aid programs for college students and their families. Notice Next Friday, April 14, is the last day to drop a class without receiving a grade of ""F"" or ""FX."" Drop forms are available at the Registrar's office In Administration 213. A $5 charge is required to drop a course. The resolution, SJR 70, sponsored by Sen. John Carroll Byrnes (D., 44, Balto.), passed the Senate by a 33 to 0 vote, and is currently before the House Ways and Means committee. The resolution notes the burden of educational costs on middle income families, who do not have access to aid programs available to the poor, and calls the tax assistance approach ""a fair and equitable way of easing the burden on these families."" Harriet Griffin, Towson State's director of Financial Aid, has called the tax assistance program, ""too simplistic,"" and favors the Carter administration approach of expand-ing current programs. In other legislative action, both houses of the General Assembly have approved a measure which would exempt certain eligible students from taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test as part of their application for a Senatorial Scholar-ship. Students who have completed one year in good standing at an accredited institution in the state, or who have graduated from high school at least five years prior to their application for a Senatorial Scholarship would be exempt from the examination under SB 264, sponsored by Sen. Tommie Broad-water (D., 25th, Prince George's). The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 34 to 0 and the House of Delegates by a vote of 114 to 9. It now goes to Acting Governor Blair Lee for his signature. If signed, the measure will become law on July 1. Applicants for Senatorial Scholar-ships must still be accepted for admission to a regular undergradu-ate program at an accredited state institution. Applicants for the General State Scholarship would still have to take SAT's to be considered for the scholarship. According to Griffin, this measure would have its impact on returning older students, veterans, and students with high school equiva-lencies. Other students must still take SAT's to be admitted to the University. The House has also passed, and sent to the Senate, a joint resolution asking the Commissioner of Higher Education to establish a commission to study the possibility of creating a school of veterinary medicine as a branch of the University of Maryland. The resolution passed the House by a vote of 73 to 27. There is currently no school of veterinary medicine in the state. Senate gets first taste of SGA life by S. L. Verch ""Very shifty people do this... these are things that I do""--former SGA Senate Parliamentarian Rich-ard Andrews said as he explained Senate Rule C-4 to the newly elected senators. The newly-elected SGA Senate held its first meeting last Tuesday on the third floor of the University Union in rooms 310 and 311. However, most of the meeting was not conducted by the new vice-president, Bob McMurrer. In-stead, the aforementioned Andrews delivered an impromptu orientation on the Senate rules and procedures. Andrews, a first year law student at the University of Baltimore and the Republican candidate for Comp-troller of Maryland, rewrote the Senate Rules as well as the SGA constitution last year and remains the most knowledgeable about their content. The Senators, all fourteen of whom attended the first meeting, Please turn to page 5 Newly elected SGA senators attend an informal class in rules and procedures of student government conducted by former SGA Parliamentarian Richard Andrews. TL Photo by Mike Ciesielski Does anyone really care Who's Who? by Debbie Pelton Who cares Who's Who? A brief biological sketch in the Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities directory is one of the various forms of collegiate recognition awarded annually to selected students. Who's Who candidates may be nominated by students, faculty or administrators. The nominees are screened and the recipients are Chosen by a nine member committee Analysis consisting of three students, three faculty members and three adminis-trators. Candidates are recommended by the committee for a mention in Who's Who on the basis of academic achievement, service to the commu-aity, leadership in extra-curricular activities and future potential. The 44-year program, which is I in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was created in 1934 by H. Pettus Randall, Sr. While attending the University of Alabama Law School, }landfill, who lacked the funds necessary to join a fraternity, decided to establish a no-cost honor Program for academically superior tudents. H. Pettus, Jr. succeeded �Is father as head of Who's Who after his father's death last year. At first, only a few colleges took Dart in Randall's program. Today, over 1,300 institutions in the U.S. Participate in the Who's Who Program. The company has expand-ed to include the additional directories; Who's Who in Junior Colleges and Who's Who in Music (for high school students). For Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities, each School is designated a quota for its selections. Forty-eight students is the maximum amount of candidates aa institution is allowed to nomin-ate, , The quotas are assigned accora- Ing to student population. Towson State was allotted 48 nominations but all 53 nominees recommended by TSU were accepted. Gathering, editing and proof reading the material submitted for the directory is ""a great task,"" said Jean Joyner, Student Services director of Who's Who. In addition to a full-time staff, the company employs university students who are studying journalism, advertising or English. Students whose biographical ma-terial will appear in Who's Who receive a packet from the company that includes a congratulatory letter, a brochure explaining the program and an order blank for the book and Who's Who memorabilia. A packet is also sent to the student's parents. parents. The brochure's two page adver-tisement for the directory describes a mention in the book as an ""unparalleled honor for students"" who have achieved stature on their respective campuses. Students and parents are warned that only a limited number of copies of the directory will be available. The letter urges prompt return of the enclosed confirmation card that reserves a copy of the book. The hardback book costs $21.95. A Who's Who gold, bronze or sterling silver key sells for $16 and to get the Who's Who certificate laminated on ebony wood costs $14.95. Students and parents are not obligated to buy the book or other Who's Who products. Some students who were seiectea to appear in Who's Who dislike the company making a profit by selling the directory and memorabilia. ""I refused to buy a copy of the directory"" and ""told my parents not to buy a copy,"" aid John Shehan, who will appear the 77-78 edition of Who's Who. ""I realize it's all a rip-off,"" he sai The price of e directory ""is way too much,"" /aid Ruth Ann Left-ridge, who 14 s selected this year. Leftridge sail that neither she nor any members of her family plan to purchase the directory or Who's Who memorabilia. The brochure lists ""special privileges and benefits of member-ship in Who's Who. One service is lifetime access to the company's Reference/Placement department. This free service enables the student to have letters of recom-mendation from Who's Who sent to prospective employers. The infor-mation sent to the employers is a form letter that tells the student's name, the name of the institution he or she attends and the year the student was listed in the directory. The letter also lists the criteria for selection. Who's Who requests in the letter that the employer send a response to the company about the outcome of the student's applica-tion. Joyner said ""a good amount"" of students take advantage of the Placement Service, although she does not have exact figures available. An average request from a student is to send 20-30 letters to employers, but she said she recalls a student who requested 80 letters to be sent. Diane Szymanski, a TSU student who was selected this year to be recognized by Who's Who said she feels safer using the Univer-sity's Placement services because she is unfamiliar with the Who's Who services. The brochure was ""very vague"" in its description of the program, said Szymanski. Szymanski said she does mention Who's Who on job applications because she thinks employers are impressed by any awards an applicant receives. Does listing Who's Who on a resume or application really influence an employer's opinion of an applicant? Anne Sewell, personnel supervis-or for the college relations and management employments at C&P Telephone Company, thinks the Who's Who program ""is nice"" but she ""is not particularly impressed by it."" Sewell said she is more interested in what the student did to get into Who's Who than the fact that he or she is listed. ""I'm probably looking for the same things Who's Who is looking for,"" said Sewell, but being listed in the directory ""is really not that outstanding."" Bill Ward, who hires for Western Electric, said he has never encoun-tered an applicant who was listed in Who's Who. However, he does not think he would ""rely heavily"" on Who's Who when considering an application. A listing in Who's Who is ""a good credential to have,"" said Ronald Diegelman of Ernest and Ernest. But, Diegelman added, ""The award becomes unimportant after initial employment."" When applying for a second job, ""what you did in college becomes unimportant,"" Diegelman said. The employer will probably be more concerned with the applicant's achievements in his or her most recent job, said Diegelman. On-campus recruiting coordinated by TSU's Placement Office is Diegelman's main source of pros-pective employees. ""Once you get talking to people,"" said Diegelman, ""Who's Who makes no difference."" Lonnie McNew, assistant dean of students and member of the Who's Who nominating committee, said he ""is not at all that impressed"" with the Who's Who program. But, he said, he thinks TSU students would be at a disadvantage in the job market if Towson State didn't take part in the program. McNew said he would ""really like to see the whole thing abandoned,"" but since TSU does participate in the program and being selected to appear in Who's Who is an honor, ""it should be treated"" as such. Director of Triad, Donald Squire, who was chairperson of the Who's Who committee said he thinks the guidelines for selection of students to be mentioned in Who's Who are vague and questionable. The com-pany instructs the committee to use its own standards to screen nominees. Thus, students are judged on a different basis at each institution, said Squire, since standards proba-bly vary. The criteria exclude worthy students from getting the award, said Squire. For example, he said, a student who maintains a 4.0 average may not get the award because he or she is not active in extracurricular events. Probably, said Squire, such a student has no time for extracurricular activities. Skelton to return to TSU Red Skelton, who performed at the Towson Center in February, will return to present another show at TSU on May 18. On April 7, 8 and 10, students, faculty and staff can purchase tickets to the concert prior to their sale to the public. In this issue Towing: The controversy of the school's policy of towing illegally parked vehicles continues to rage as one student recently threatened to take the school to small claims court. page 3 Fisher: President Fisher and other college and university presidents met with Anwar el-Sadat during a tour of Egypt and Greece while on an educa-tional mission page 3 Lacrosse: ""The rise and fall of the TSU lacrosse empire,"" a one-act drama, takes a futuristic look at what will become of Towson page 14 L , Baseball: No theatrics but plenty of drama as the Tigers launch one of their best opening season campaigns in many years page 14 Fall preregistration scheduled Preregistration materials 'for fall, 1978 will be mailed April 10-14 to all full-time day division students. Students with campus mailboxes are urged to check them first since the materials will be mailed to campus addresses, local addresses, perma-nent addresses, respectively. Students should read the pre-registration instructions and those students having any questions regarding academic policies or registration procedures should con-tact the Registrar's Office before preregistration. Students who wish to take more than 19.0 credit hours next fall should petition the Academic Standards Committee, c/o Ithe Registrar, before May 2. Only seniors graduating in Decem-ber, 1978 may preregister for more than 17.0 credits. Students are encouraged to contact their faculty advisor within their major area of study or if they are undecided about a major, contact the Academic Advising Office (ACAD), room 216 in the University Union. All preregistra-tion materials must be presented personally to the Registrar's staff, room 213 in the Administration Building, no later than 4:30 p.m., May 10th. DO NOT MAIL PRE-REGISTRATION MATERIALS - THEY WILL NOT BE PROCESSED. All students are encouraged to preregister even if there is doubt about returning next semester. It costs nothing to preregister but a little time, and it is much easier to fulfill your course requests at preregistration, rather than at in-person registration. Schedule of Courses Booklets are tentatively scheduled to be distribu-ted from the lower level Recreation Counter in the University Union and in room 213 of the Registrar's Office on April 26-28, from 9-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-4 p.m. "