The Towerlight, August 30, 1984

tl19840830-000 "Volleyball team strengthens squad with an eye on defending champion Hofstra .......... p. 5 Tell us about your exciting summer and win a prize p.8 Welcome back Published weekly by the students of Towson State University By Jerry Trout Both pedestrian and automobile traffic was heavy last Sunday and Monday as piles of residents and luggage poured into the residence towers. Resident Rod Deolivares hauls his belongings inside with some help from Ginger Taylor (in back) and his father. (See page 7 for move-in photo essay) SGA looks for a comeback speaker series by Sandi V anHorn After a disappointing effort last year, the Stu-dent Government Association is trying ""to re-build the speaker series to back to what it was four to five years ago,"" said SGA Vice-President Eileen O'Shea. The 1979-1980 series featured Jane Fonda and her husband Tom Hayden, Senator William Prox-mire, William Buckley and others. The lowest at-tendance of the eight speakers was 331 for Julian Bond and the highest attendance was 2,497, a near sell-out for Fonda and Hayden. The other speakers drew crowds of from 500 to 900. Last year, the first speaker, who helped author the I Hate Preppies Handbook spent his time plugging his books before forty people�and the tickets were free. Clinton Case, who did a show on John Wilkes Booth drew 50 people and the series was cancelled. In the spring, Brooks Robinson ap-peared, but few others did, and Dr. Timothy Leary, known for his LSD experiments was con-sidered to be the most successful speaker, and he had an audience of 150. The committee responsible for choosing the Speakers was composed of students and ad-ministrators. O'Shea, who served on the commit-tee, said in choosing the speakers, the corrunittee looked for three qualifications. ""We wanted a good Speaker, obviously, someone who had something interesting to say and whom the students would be interested in, and a speaker we could afford,"" she said. Dr. Richard Vatz, associate professor of speech communication, said that compared with past speaker series, ""for the first time all the speakers in the series meet the criteria."" The first event will be a debate on ""sexual crime"" on Sunday, September 30. The debate will be uei.weeu Eit.'anox t1 foralt.:r (II:, of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and a prominent women's rights advocate and Judith Lindahl, who was the defense attorney for one of the men in the New Bedford, Massachusetts rape case. The New Bedford case drew a lot of media coverage because it involved a gang rape in Big Dan's Tavern in which no witnesses attempted to aid the victim and reportedly they encouraged 1984-1985 SGA speaker series September 30 November 4 March 3 April 3 Eleanor Smeat and Judith Lindahl Art Buchwald Alan Dershowitz William F. Buckley Subscription $20 Sept. 30 debate $5 Nov. 4 $8 March 3 $5 April) $8 4pi6i hi defendtd Vic Rapozo, cne of several men accused and later convicted of rape. Vatz will be moderating the debate, which will discuss sexual crime with a focus on victims and their aggressors. Two days before the presidential election, November 4, political humorist Art Buchwald will lecture. Buchwald recently authored a book on the lighter side of politics, While Reagan Slept. On March 3, Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz will lecture on the defense System in American law. Dershowitz was one of a team of defense lawyers who successfully defend-ed Claus Von Bulow, who was accused of attemp-ting to murder his socialite wife Sunny Von Bulow. Dershowitz will lecture on his philosophy of the role and behavior of defense attorneys. . The final discussion in the series will be a debate including conservative columnist William F. Buckley. Buckley, who in addition to his writing hosts the PBS program ""Firing Line"" will appear on April 3. It is not certain who will debate Buckley, however serveral liberal politicians are being considered. The committee has been talking to George McGovern, former senator from South Dakota and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, as well as Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, and Ramsey Clarke. Arlene Campeggi, SGA business manager said the committee feels the series has reached their goal of offering students a variety of information and entertainment. The four part series will take place in the Chesapeake rooms of the University Union. O'Shea said they will try to bring in people from the conununity as along with students. Subscriptions for the entire series or tickets for each event will be sold at the University box of-fice. xpo and new director focus on commuters By Jackie Yost During the past year, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the serious parking problems at Towson State, many of these problems resulting from the ever-growing number of students who commute to the university each day. In order to Properly service these commuters, Towson State has instituted the department of Commuter Af-fairs. The university chose former director of Financial aid and former commuter, Harriet Grif-fin as Director. ""This is such a new challenge,"" said Griffin of her position. ""I really want to get started,"" she said. In general, Griffin's job consists of ""trying to make commuters more attached to the university,"" she said. Specifically, this involves extensive surveying, Preparing informative publications and develop-ing activities for commuters. The surveys will be used to determine ""what the corrunuters want and need,"" Griffin said. The first survey will be conducted at the beginning of the Fall semester. ""You really have to make sure (of what students need) before you begin something; get the facts,"" said Griffin. The F.A.C.T.S. (Facilities and Activities for Commuters at Towson State) will be provided in a newsletter Griffin has developed entitled the Commuter Express. ""The first (newsletter) is preliminary, without any student input,"" said Griffin. Future editions of the newsletter will be the result of student surveys, she said. In addition to developing the newsletter, Griffin has also been making preparations for the upcom-ing commuter expo. The expo, being presented by the Office of Com-muter Affairs, is scheduled for September 4, and will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Universi-ty Union. Special feature of the expo include: lunch with Towson State's President, Vice Presidents, Deans, Faculty, and administrators in the Loch Raven Room, from Noon to 2 p.m. Infor-mative sessions pertaining to travel, off-campus employment, post Baccalaureat Preparation, in-ternships/ cooperative education, and a theatre project; door prizes�including a MTA bus pass and free parking permit; will be offered and, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., there will be music, comedy, and breakdancing. Also featured will be caricaturist Julie Koenig and a demonstration by cosmetologists from Stairway to Hair. Griffin said that the purpose of the expo is to let commuters know what services are available to them, and to give them an opportunity to ask ques-tions and discuss any problems they may have ex-perienced as commuters directly with the faculty and administrators. Griffin also said she hopes the expo will ""pro-vide a little more than exhibits so that students can get (directly) involved."" The expo is being funded by the university and through donations. Proceeds will benefit scholar-ships, part-time employment, internships/co-op education, and other services offered by the university. Although Griffin is directing the expo, she has received a great deal of help from Student Ser-vices and many others. Mary Anne Perry, a junior and a commuter at Towson State, has volunteered to help Griffin in any way possible. Perry became interested in Griffin's projects after hearing her speak in her Public Relations class. ""Ms. Griffin came (to my class) and I got really excited about it,"" Perry said. ""I really wanted to get involved,"" she said. Perry said that, as a commuter, she often found herself eating alone and missing out on many ac-tivities mainly because she was unaware of them. Griffin hopes to keep this sort of occurance to a minimum. ""One of the things I'm going to try to do is coordinate activities that are not presently coor-dinated,"" explained Griffin. For example, many students are unaware of educational travel oppor-tunities available to them. With 71 percent of the student body commuting, as of Fall 1983, this unawareness may greatly affect the success of such programs. Griffin is striving to make such programs known to all students, but especially commuters. Said Perry, ""I think that being a commuter real-ly puts you on the outside."" Griffin's response, ""But we are going to change all that."" � htVol. 78 No. 1 Towson, Maryland 21204 August 30, 1984 Money set for asbestos removal Terie Wolan The State Board of Trustees allo-cated approximately $800,000 to Towson State University for cam-pus asbestos removal in its July meeting. The University has been testing various buildings to see if there is asbestos and the whether the asbes-tos shouuld be removed. In 1984, a Baltimore County inspection and a University inspection revealed a hazardous level of asbestos in the University Union. Attention has been focused on as-bestos in public buildings since last spring when a series of Baltimore Sun newspaper articles pointed out problems with asbestos in several local public schools. Asbestos, commonly used for in-sulation from the 1940's to the mid 1970's, is an acknowledged carcino-genic when it becomes loose in the air. Asbestos material was removed from over the ceiling of the Re-ligious Activity room and the three stairwells of the Union. In the April 26 issue of the Towerlight, Katie Ryan of University Relations said, ""the problem in the Union came when the people drag their fingers along the ceiling and knock loose the ceiling materials."" Phil Ross, University safety coor-dinator said the material flaking from the (""Piling was asbestos 1-1.1w. ever, after the asbestos was re-moved the stairwells passed state safety standards, and the ceiling tiles were cemented over to solve the problem. Ross said the new funds will en-able the University to take samples to check for asbestos and target pri-ority areas for systematic removal. Previously, ""The work done in the University . . . has been done on an emergency basis,"" Ross said. Recently, the University had con-tractors remove asbestos from the basements of West and Ward Halls. Ross said some areas in the halls have asbestos, however these areas are restricted and pose no health problem as long as no one er ters these rooms. Ross suggests that resident students do not disturb in-sulation materials by hanging things on pipes or tearing the insulation. Ross said part of the difficulty with removing the asbestos, besides the expense is-""trying to coordinate the removal with the operation of the building."" So the University is going to try when possible to re-move the material during other re-pairs and renovations when the building is unoccupied. Another concern is to prevent ""overexposure to employees. During removal, the employees in the immediate work areas as well as the air outside the areas are monitored to make sure the asbestos is contained and the employees are protected. Martha Pendleton, spokesperson for the Baltimore City White Lung Association said, the current federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety standard is two fibers of friable asbestos per cubic centimeter for an eight hour period. At no time should there be more than ten fibers in the air. Friable asbestos does the most harm, Pendleton explained because it can be crumbled by hand pres-sure, easily filtering into the air. ""When the asbestos is disturbed, that's the danger,"" said Pendleton. The federal government is cur-rently considering tightening the safety standards. Pendleton said the standards ""need a lot of work."" They do not consider all the possible forms of asbestos, Pendleton said, and some people think that even the two fibers level is too high. Wither the asbestos needs to be removed depsnds ""on the condition of the material. If it's in good condi-tion, we might leave it alone and find a better way to use funding,"" said Ross. If there is a potential for exposure, if there is the possibility for vandalism or it is damaged in general, it would be good to remove. Water leaks cause problems, said Ross, because ""the water can make asbestos . material clump up and fall,"" which increases the chance of asbestos entering the air. Ross said he is not sure what other colleges have problems with asbestos. Ross had spoken to a Uni-versity of Baltimore County em-ployee who said that school was in-volved in removing asbestos over the ceiling tiles of a UMBC dining hall. Katie Ryan said the University is updating its Cope-line information tape this fall to inform people about the removal. THE FOOTBALL TEAM is gearing up for its first game Saturday. "