The Towerlight, December 11, 1981

tl19811211-000 "Vol. 75 No. 14 Towerlight PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 ""Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight."" The Night Before Christmas December 11, 1981 Senate budgeting discussed by Wallace Bruce Reid ""If you are really concerned, then you should make it Your business to make it your business,"" Keith Hark, SGA President said to the SGA senators at their weekly meeting Tuesday. The issue of supplemental budgets to SGA recognized organizations was discussed by Hark and the senators at the meeting. The American Marketing Association (AMA) was allocated $976 in a supplemental budget to send four of its officers to a national AMA convention and the Mass Communications Film Society was allocated $1,300 for a film series by the senators Tuesday. The need for supplemental budgets is primarily a result of economic pressures on the SGA budget strategies, particularly the July 1980 anunendment to the SGA constitution prohibiting the student govern-ment from applying for an increase in student fees to supply needed funds in the budget, Hark said. In addition, the cost of organizations' activities has risen considerably in the past years causing the SGA to tighten their allocation procedures, Hark said. The reversions to the SGA treasury from unused funds in organizations' line accounts are not easily estimated, Hark said. This year's reversions to the treasury amounted to a considerable sum, he said. The senate has allocated $16,588 in supplemental budgets this semester, according to preliminary figures, With $8,22 going to senior prom expenses, Hark said. Continued on page 9 Sleigh ride Oh hear those sleigh bells ringing a ring-ting-tinga- ling-ting. Though these elves may appear to make-believe, one never knows pen during the holiday season. TL photo by Chris Bartelmes what can hap- BSU's nation-wide experience apathy After four years of trying to organize black students on the Predominantly-white University of Arizona campus, Maureen Crump, senior radio and television major has given up. The message she hears over and over again is that nobody cares about politics anymore. ""I'm sorry I ever came here,"" she said as she expieins the Arizona Black Student Union is virtually defunct in the wake of the group ad-visor's resignation. Crump's frustration is typical of Many black student political ac-tivists in recent months. Many of the black student unions and other Political minority groups that Sprang up on campus ten or more Years ago on campuses nationwide are now struggling to stay alive. Though there are still strong black student unions (BSU) on some Campuses, the recurring pattern is that black student activism is low While there has been a corrollary rise in black fraternities, sororities, and Other social groups. Aaron Copeland, president of Towson State's Black Student Union, said that apathy is all over, not just in the BSU. ""There are apathy problems with both blacks and whites,"" Copeland said. The decrease in activism coincides With a recent increase in ""serious racial incidents"" in the society at large, according to the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice. Campuses have also been plagued by racial confron-tations � usually in the form of a anonymous letters sent to black stu-dent leaders � more over the last three years. Julius Chapman, dean of minority affairs at Towson State, said that the climate in society is condusive to such actions as negative feelings and threats. There has been a decline, he said, in the recognition of racial problems. In just the last month, black leaders at Penn and Massachusetts- Amherst have received death threats, while racist posters were tacked up around the Wesleyan University campus. Polls of black students on many campuses � in-cluding Arizona's � students con-sistently complain of feeling isolated. Nevertheless, ""we (the BSU) can throw a party and get 500 people, but we can only get one-tenth of that for a political meeting,"" observes David Barnes, outgoing president of the University of Maryland BSU. ""BSUs have potential,"" said Al Simmons of Study and Struggle, a Chicago-based network of black groups on 15 I 1 linois campuses, ""but they need historical perspec-tive. In the seventies they degenerated into having pizza par-ties and getting together to improve their resumes."" Sterling Henry, an organizer of last month's National Organization of Black University and College Students' meeting at Howard University, said numbers make it hard to organize political groups. He said that only 25 percent of the 1.5 million black students enroll-ed in college is scattered among 3000 predominatly-white campuses. Crump agreed that 400 black students out of a total Arizona population of 30,000 are not going to have much impact on their ad-ministration. ""Things are so bad here,"" she said, ""we beat UCLA (in football) and nobody even threw a party."" Two year limit abolished It's a far cry from even 1975, when the campus had an activist BSU and a regular black student newspaper. ""I've talked with older people who stayed in Tucson,"" Crump said, ""and they say it was a different group of people then. They were people coming out of the civil rights movement led with fire. They cred more."" Maryland's Barnes also said that ""in the sixties the majority (of blacks) were urban students. Now the university is recruiting more blacks from middle and upper-class homes. There are more suburban blacks on campus now, and they're different from urban students."" ""The 60's were heated and blacks were more verbal then,"" Copeland said. ""When people see issues, things will happen, they will be ver-bal."" ""Most of those (civil rights) issues are gone,"" said Dr. Robert Svob, Arizona's dean of students, ""and there is a leadership vacuum."" But Henry said today's students face different issues. ""Students are going through a lot of changes. There are new issues,new concerns. The old problem was just getting in-to colelge. The new problem is sur-viving once we're there."" With more social problems, blacks are evidently turning to more social groups. But Henry, who has iden-tified about 50 chapters of black political groups around the country, said there are strong BSUs at Pitt, James Madison University, Florida, Louisiana State and Georgetown, among other schools. At the same time, however, once-active chapters at California-Santa Barbara, Michigan State, Loyola- New Orleans and Illinois State Board lifts 20-mile limit by Quincey R. Johnson The restriction, which gave students that live outside the 20 mile radius of Towson State priority in recieving 'lousing, has been lifted by the Board of Trustees of state colleges and universities. The lifting of the restriction allows each college or University in the segement to set its own housing policy, a Board spokesman said. because of supply and demand, what was a matter of Priority turned into a restriction, said Terrence Smith, assistant vice president of business and finance. There is a housing shortage and students within the 20 mile radius are not elegible to live on campus, he added. The restriction will be lifted by the University when the new dormitory is constructed. Sometime in the second semester, Smith said, students living within the 20 mile radius could get a Place mi campus; however, the student would have to 'alive the following fall semester, Smith said. , Smith said, one of the reasons for lifting the restriction 18 the changing of population centers in the Baltimore 4� ea. Within the 20 mile radius, some communities like `-'01umbia and Belair are expanding in size, and the I. striction would deny residents of those area a chance te come to the University, he said. University studies show that some students that decided not to come to the University did so because of the shortage of housing. In the Fall of 1981, the residence department reports that there were 750 students at the University on the waiting list for housing on campus. In the spring, said a Residence Office spokesman, the openings available are offered to students on the waiting list. Some students on the list do not attend school the next semester and some have found appartments which required one year lease; therefore, students within the 20 mile radious become eligible. The University last week lifted its two year limit on campus residence that was instituted in the fall 1980 semester. Students who received dorm space in fall 1980 would have to find other accomodations after four semesters. ""Therefore, students who would have to leave the cam-pus after two years, this coming June, will able come back on,"" said Donald McColloh, vice president for business and finance. There were 166 students admitted under the two year rule. When the limit was instituted President Hoke Smith said, the residence hall life is a valuable experience for students. The limitation policy would give more people the opportunity to have this experience, he said. either have had trouble recruiting or have decreased political activities in exchange for an emphasis on con-certs, plays, parties, and social events. Meanwhile, black fraternities and sororities are prospering. ""National-ly, we're in a growth period,"" said James Blanton, executive director of Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest and largest black fraternity. ""Everybody's looking for something to belong to."" Blanton said that while the frater-nity averaged about 600 pledges a year a decade ago, it now averages 2600, with about 6000 active members. He said that, in part to save the group's tax-exempt status, Alpha Phi Alpha discourages political ac-tivity involving non-campus issues. Dr. Gerald McWorter, head of the Afro-American Studies department at Illinois-Urbana, said he lauds black greeks' activities, and believes they point to an eventual return of political activism. rh� 71,7�����/ ,I792, � Is Uneboto Residence Government elected yesterday by Gayle Griisser Elections were held yesterday to choose officers for the University Residence Government, a newly formed organization which will replace the defunct Resident Coun-cil. The Residence Government's main goals, according to its con-stitution are, ""to promote a positive living-learning environ-ment in the campus residence halls. And promote cooperation among the residence hall students and the University Residence Department to include all University faculty and administration."" In the past the main organization representing the residents was the Residence Council which dissolved last Fall when several officers resigned. Gerry Muccioli, director of com-munications and assistant to the president, said the Residence Coun-cil's main problem was its constiu-tion. The constitution said that the Residence Council's function was to represent the residents but didn't outline how the Council was to ac-complish this. The Residence Council was esen-daily a programming board using informal means to address students, problems and questions to the Residence Department, Muccioli said. The formation of the Residence Government is an effort to give the residents a representative voice in the areas of policy development, im-plemation of policy and main-tainance of facilities. The constitution of the Residence Government creates three commit-tes to deal with these areas and sets up a Publications Coordinator to publish a bi-weekly report on the functions of the Residence Govern-ment and its meeting times. The Resident Policy Committee will deal with the policies initated by the Residence Department which students find questionable. land line - blelros Dorm Run Bachman freelbnd The'eommitee will then meet with of-ficials of the Residence Department to find the reason behind certain policies and inform the students of their findings. ""Students may not get the changes they want, but they will have a formal way of addressing the issue,"" Muccioli said. ""When you know the real reason for a policy it makes it easier to live with."" One of the policy isues Muccioli mentioned was the two-year limit on dorm rooms. He said he believes the regulation would not have come about if there had been a residence organization opposing it. The Residence Facilities Commit-tee will attempt to solve physical problems students experience with their dorm rooms. Mucioli said some female students will not use certain shower stalls because of the stalls physical condition. Finally the constitution provides for the President of the Residence Government to screen students for appointment to the Administrative Hearing Board, which hears cases involving residents who break the residence rules. Muccioli said in the past the Ad-ministrative Hearing Board has let students wait up to a month before telling them if they can remain on campus. Muccioli said the Residence Government will focus on represen-tating the student by conducting surveys, attending house council meetings and just communiating with the students. The Residence Government will not have the right to charge residents any type of fee and will be housed with the SGA's programm-ing board in the University Union. The dates and times for the Residence Government's meetings will be set in the beginning of the Spring semester. Deft! .Cerd.tt *ford � Harkins Pylesv.ile Os Prospect heater Bentley o Springs 2 $ Rayls '� 2 Orybranch Mean Cr Mr. ""Con sent I Shawsville BI ckho'rse or.o� ederal 330,2,3 2 H."" SWF PARK Jarrettsville nog rAd+ .3.7������� Src� Pon Webs Arcadia (Upperco P. owblesburg BOrIng FInksburai Dover 3 Woodinli ri rire�vii Shawan Hunt Valley 3 Manor I Glencoe Sparks iii Phoenix 3 Putnam JaCkSonvIIIA weet Air oc yavd le le Gambar ers:bur Anw I Owings MIlla Oakland Wards Chap�I $ errisonvillia 3 , 2. 1����,c�70 Sykes'?Tle I t 910���5 RA A 3 Slacks Cor 7 um , Plgriasnt iLl 21 mount.in mount , ro (Mar, alt Vistil ciukrowon M10 PAT! PAIN enryton INDALLSTOWN ttI ESVILLE TO SO r PARKVILLE- 4,7+ 1 7 2 ullsrlo rJo Pe 2 ioaaa e Gww I Awn, � A,AAN , ESSEX 9 3 Glenela Dayton .4sa Clarksville TONSVI UNDALK ; S OOKLYN LUMBIA si dy na Highland Bor..� Snem Fulton r�aUSulle ll � , Sparrows �Foremans ' C., Riviera - Beach EN BURNIE arundale PS Green Haven m ger rtonsvIlle nip.� awful! ON uthgat Cedar Pt HART ISLAND DGEMERE � GM Geolicv ,��?10ot City + Ii Odenton Benfield c11 BookIn Pt aka PInehurst hore SEVERNA.PARK GIBSON ISLAND orrs.Cor The University will not life its 20-mile radius rule, until the nw dormitory is built. The 20-mile radius effects all of the areas inside the circle shown on the map. The deci- Pryrns'i Su River CAOUND 'it, ReRNAIRAAN Nampo, tor.. Worton Pt. Na POOL ES ISLAND Tolchester Beech Gratitude Rock Hall Hans 4' anki tdesville Clift Crosby City ((SI AA sion to eventually lift the 20-mile radius was prompted by a Board of Trustees ruling to lift the ban. Map courtesy of Auxiliary Enterprise "