tl19831201-000 "1 t The Towerlight Oh, brave new world, That has such people in 't! �William Shakespeare, Vol. 77 No. 12 PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOU""i0N, MARYLAND 21204 Financial Aid picture improves Lower default rate increases availability By Glenn Small Despite cuts to the National Direct Student Loan (NDSL) pro- - gram, more financial aid money will be available next year, said Norman Hayes, Towson State's assistant � financial director. ""The situation is less devastating than it was three years ago,"" Hayes said. ""I feel real positive about the next few years."" An increase from $2.4 billion to $2.8 billion in the Pell grant pro-gram, along with an increase from """" $355 million to $370 million in the Supplemental Educational Oppor-tunity Grants (SEOG) program, is - the reason for Hayes' optimism. The Reagan administration, Hayes said, had proposed cutting the SEOG and the NDSL�which went down to $161 million from last Year's $178 million�completely out of the 1984 budget. Even the Pell Grant program got $100 million more than the Presi-dent proposed. ""The students have made the difference,"" Hayes said, by putting Pressure on their legislative representatives to stop cutting educational spending. Even with cuts to the NDSL, Hayes figures that colleges around the nation, including Towson State, Will have more money to lend students. ""Because of a drop in the default rate, there will be more money to lend,"" he said. The NDSL program, which is money granted to colleges by the 1. A . St k. federal government, allows colleges to lend money at low interest rates to students demonstrating financial need. The loans do not have to be paid back until after graduation. A drop in the default rate means that individual colleges will be collecting more money from past borrowers, which they can in turn reloan to students. Hayes said that two things have brought the default rates down, which were well over 10 percent nationally a few years ago. First, Congress passed legislation which allowed colleges with default rates over 10 percent to get as much new money from the NDSL program. Second, President Reagan opened up the files on loan defaulters to make it easier for colleges Id track them down and collect. In 1982 at Towson, only $31,000 was available because the default rate here was above 10 percent, compared with the 1983 allowance of approx-imately $50,000 because the default rate is now below 10 percent. Another reason Hayes feels the outlook is positive is because there are other support programs available, including State Student grants, and College work-study programs. College work-study programs, Hayes said, allow students to pay for college without going into debt. But although Hayes feels the pres-ent situation is much improved, the future will require more. ""There's a lot more work to be done,"" he said, adding, ""Students have to let their representatives know that they're concerned."" ?-� December 1, 1983 Tigers lose, 13 -lit7jo down fighting I3 .I&rrv Tr ma Senior linebacker Bobby Hammond (39) pounds North Dakota running back Chad Stark (26) in Saturday's Division H playoff game in Fargo. Towson lost 24-17. Time is the essence for 'Miss Wheelchair' Senate concludes Spring budgeting; By James Hunt If you are handicapped, getting an educa-tion takes on more difficult dimensions. Though you are blind, term papers must Still be written. Though you are deaf, lecture notes must still be taken. Though You are confined to a wheelchair, classes inust still be attended on time. On top of that, most of the people�faculty, staff, stu-dents� around you are unaware of these Problems. Gaynell Colburn wants them to be aware. Colburn is a graduate student at Towson State and is confined to a wheel-chair. She understands through hard experience the problems handicapped people face getting an education. She is also ""Miss Wheelchair Maryland"" and has deferred her pursuit of a graduate degree to spend more time ""speaking for and representing all disabled persons"" before high school and college audiences around Maryland. Colburn returned to Towson last Mon- By Edvins Lagzdins Gaynell Colburn, Miss Wheelchair Maryland, shares her experiences with an audience in the University Union as Wllllam Marshal looks on. day. She sat in her wheelchair in the second floor lobby of the University Union and spoke over the P.A. system. Though it is hard to tell how many in the crowd that drifted through the Union heard her speak, her message was clear: the han-dicapped have the same goals and abilities as everyone else; they just need more time to fulfill them. The way the non-handicapped perceive the handicapped must also be changed, she said. ""The attitudinal barriers are worse than the architectural barriers,"" Colburn said. Many of the faculty�particularly in the graduate school�are insensitive to the problems of the handicapped, she said. The faculty, she said, ""give the impres-sion [that they] don't have time for people who can't keep up."" She recalled one occasion when she was unable to submit a paper on time because snow and icy conditions made it difficult to get around in her wheelchair. Her teacher, she said, refused to accept the paper. When Colburn tried to explain her situation, ""the teacher asked me, 'Why do you want to go to graduate school? If you're having this much trouble, why don't you do something else?' ""It was very discouraging,"" Colburn said. She remains upbeat, though. ""I want to do something positive for handicapped stu-dents ... [they] have needs that far exceed anything you can imagine."" The handicapped ""need more time,"" Col-burn said. ""If [a teacher] could just give you that extra week or two [to prepare for an exam or complete a paper], it would make all the difference in the world."" see COLBURN, page 2 Date rape Knowing who it is doesn't make it any better By Melinda Curley Traditionally rape has been Portrayed as a masked crime with 91e victim having no clue as to the Identity of the attacker. Images of !non jumping out of bushes and rap-i13 women are not necessarily true. 4aPe can begin with a friendly encounter. According to Baltimore County Police statistics, 75 to 90 percent of , victims are familiar with their attackers. Although these victims knows their attackers, 94.6 percent of all rapes go unreported, according to the Chicago Police Department. There were 77,760 rapes nation- Wide in 1982, and 1 596 of these were !�rnmitted in Maryland, according 143 the FBI. Rape is the fastest-growing crime in the country and ntore ""date rapes"" occur on college eadiPuses than anywhere else, iiccording to a release from the chicago Police Department. Towson State's campus police didn't receive any reports of forcible rape in 1982, according to police and FBI records, and there have been no reported incidences in 1983. Al-though the University boasts of a clean slate, at least one campus police officer feels that date rape is prevalent. The SGA is giving serious con-sideration to a student-run escort service. Its main purpose would be to give female students protective rides at night. Oddly enough, protection in court is equally important. A victim of a sexual assault must prove that there was an attack. In any other felony case, the victim's credibility is not questioned. After the crime is committed, the rape victim is, in a sense, legally pitted against the attacker. The victim must prove that there was not con-sent to a sexual act. Christine Gage, the law clerk for the Baltimore County state's attor-ney's sex offense unit, stressed that there is a fine line between persua-sion and force with regard to sexual activity. ""In instances where there is no physical evidence, for example a weapon, it is the credibility of the victim against that of the defen-dant's, and it is up to the jury to decide."" Bev (all names of victims have been changed to protect their pri-vacy), a freshman at Towson State, is an example of the large percen-tage of victims of unreported sexual attacks. She was familiar with her at-tacker. They had talked at parties and decided to go on a date. They went to a bar in College Park and then decided to return to the young man's dormitory. ""When he said 'less crowded' I didn't expect his room,"" she re-counted. ""We started making out and I let him go up my shirt. Then See RAPE, page 7 eight organizations split $11,100 By Mike Judge and James Hunt Eight student organizations received a total of $11,128.75 this week as the Student Govern-ment Association completed its Spring '84 budget allocations. Most of the groups received all or most of the money they requested for their Spring ac-tivities. Three groups, however, had their budget requests pared by over 50 percent. The Forensics Union, which requested' $12,985 originally, was allocated $5,070. The Senate eliminated funding for a two week trip for nine members to tournaments at three midwestern Universities. The Senate cut the $5,855 requested for the trip after debating the fairness of allocating half the money available for the Spring � $20,000 � to one group. ""We're all proud of the team's showing,"" said Sen. James DiPaula, ""But do we need to buy a top ten ranking?"" (The Union is presently ranked fourth in the nation in the Cross Examination Debate Association.) (The Union is planning to solicit donations from Towson-area businesses and service groups to raise additional funds, according to the groups treasurer, Michele Derlunas. ) See BUDGET, page 2 STUDENT ORGANIZATION BUDGETS�Spring '84 ORGANIZATION REQUEST FAB* SGAt American Marketing Assn. $763.66 $628.16 $612.66 Arts Guild 6,034.00 4,289.59 4,289.59 Biology Club 899.50 681.00 681.00 Black Student Union 2,385.00 761.80 0 Forensics Union 12,985.00 , 10,926.00 5,070.00 Jewish Student Assn. 5,284.33 250.50 225.50 NSSLHA 200.00 200.00 150.00 Soc. Physics Students 200.00 100.00 100.00 TOTALS 28,751.16 17,837.05 11,128.75 � Fiscal Advisory Board recommendation�the FAB consists of SGA Treasurer Kelley Ray, Joseph Lis, David Keane, and Alison Leonard. t Student Government Association�approved allocation for the Spring '89 semester. "
