The Towerlight, December 6, 1984

tl19841206-000 "Dawson steps down The as police chief Gene Dawson, University chief of police, resigned from office effective December 1, after seventeen years of service. Dawson was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis two years ago and has been on sick leave since April. ""It was.difficult making the decision to retire.and then finalizing it at the reception. I grew up with the University. I'm leaving a lot of friends and memories,"" said Dawson. William R. Schermerhorn, Sr., associate vice president of plant and police operations and his staff held a benefit retirement party for Dawson in the Potomac Lounge Last Wednesday. University staff and retirees and friends of Dawson's attended the party. Each of the guests contributed money towards a portable wheelchair�for Dawson. ""We're all sad to see Gene go. I've worked with him for 13 years. He's been a good associate and friend,"" said John Suter, associate vice president of Institutional Advancement. Dawson began his career at the University as supervisor of security. He is also a former state policeman and a graduate of the FBI National Academy. Dawson plans to take noncredit computer courses at Harford Community College in February. The University has not yet chosen a replacement for Dawson. �Elisa Burns Out of the picture Towson football suffers a crushing defeat to Troy State in the semi-finals page 4 A view from the top Towson State President Hoke Smith is profiled page 8 Santa's coming to clown Mike Germroth reviews the rerelease of the comedy A Christmas Story page 10 H.L. would have 'loved it The University forensic team got to rest their brains last weekend when they hosted the annual H.L. Mencken debate tournament. Since the team was hosting the tourna-ment, they did not compete in the event. ""Once again, we proved people love to come to Towson,"" said Steven Mister, member of the University Forensic team, on the weekend's tournament. ""Everyone who came had a great time,"" he said. ""They know they're going to have fun, some good corn-petition and be treated fairly."" Thirty-two schools, including the College of William and Mary, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Pennsylvania State University, and James Madison University, were here for the three-day event. ""It just does great things for Towson's reputation when these people leave here after having a good experience,"" Mister said. The action featured speakers and debaters participating in such corn-petitions as persuasive speech, in-formative speech, impromtu speak-ing and impromtu sales, as well as National Debate Tournament and Cross Examination Debate Associa-tion (CEDA) competition. In impromtu sales, a group of speakers try to sell an unusual ob-ject � at a moment's notice. One by one they enter a room, thrust their hand into a paper bag, and discover what they must convince the small audience to buy. They have seven minutes to prepare and give their sales pitch. In debate competition, the final round came down to MIT and the University of Pit,lsylvania, who were judged by guest judge Ben-jamin Cardin. Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, Dr. Richard N. Vatz, professor of Speech Communication and by Dr. David Buckley, former coach of Southern Illinois University's debate team. MIT won a 3-0 deci-sion. The Mencken tournament, which is a signpost for the end of the semester's debate season, ended with a traditional party. �Glenn Small Campus notes Commuter chow-down, caucus set SGA President Chip DiPaula and members of the University faculty will be the featured guests at a dinner gathering for commuter students to be held this Monday, Dec. 10, from 3:30-5:30 at the Glen Dining Hall. The cost of the dinner will be $3.75. Harriet Griffin, director of commuter affairs, said that ""over 150"" students expressed interest in such a gathering in recent survey of commuter students. She said there will also be an optional ""Transportation Caucus"" in the Susquehanna Room of the University Union following the dinner, which she hopes will serve, on part, to lay the foundation for a commuter student association ""similar to the one at UMBC."" Black literature has helped people survive, Angelou says Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, credits black American literature with not only helping to preserve black traditions through generations, but with ""the survival of a people."" At her speech last Sunday, Angelou encouraged everyone familiarize themselves with Black literature and appreciate the worth of black writers. Dr. John Gissendanner, assistant professor of English, introduced Angelou and said, ""She listens at-tentively to her people talking."" He continued, ""She not only tells about herself (in her literary works), she tells about all of us."" Angelou's list of ac-complishments is extensive. She is the author of eight books, in-cluding: I Know Why the Cag-ed Bird Sings, The Heart of a Woman, and Gather Together in My Name. Her autobiographical book about her childhood I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was made into a 1979 two-hour TV special. Angelou said more people need to appreciate Black literature and the experiences it mirrors. It en-courages us to survive through teaching each new generation, she said. In her speech, Angelou related personal experiences, recited poems, and sang portions of songs. Her humorous approach, endeared her to the audience, which gave her several standing ovations. Angelou called on the audience to reach out to each other and to black literature, which she feels has universal meaning. ""I know we will all survive together, or we will not survive,"" she said. In addition to her books, Angelou also wrote and produced a five-part miniseries entitled Three 14/ay ( h vice. She also served on the Presiden-tial Commission for International Women's Year during 1978-79. Celebrating African Christmas Tiladitions To celebrate African Christmas tradition, the Black Student Union will sponsor a Kwanzaa Expo Sunday, December 9 from 12-5 p.m. in the University Union Chesapeake Lounge. According to a BSU spokesperson, the event will recognize the African traditional celebration of Christmas through a candle lighting ceremony, a dance performance of ""the Creation"", a band playing African music, and will serve African fruit. The BSU's induction into their ""Wall of Fame"" will also be held. Admission is free, and all students are welcomed. See NOTES, page 2 Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Towson, Md. 21204 Vol. 78 No. 13 Student evaluations: \TrZ 121T2:( F tct - c Is anyone listening? December 6, 1984 ""glaamiallow --?41111�11?Noarger 1111.�?��? By James Hunt and Adam Eisenberg � It's that time of the semester again. Just before final exams, just before faculty lay the final grade on their students, students lay a grade on them. Faculty evaluations. Rank your teacher on a scale from 1 to 5 on such things as how well they were prepared for class, presented the material, and helped you learn, then write any other comments at the bot-tom of the page. There are no hard data to indicate how seriously students take these evaluations, but the impression one gets from interviews, informal con-versations and being in dozens of classrooms where teachers are be-ing evaluated is most students give little thought to what they're writing down on the evaluation forms. The attitude seems to be: get it done and get out. The reasons for this apathy are nearly as standardized as the evaluation forms themselves: the questions asked are too broad and can't be adequately answered on a 1 to 5-type rating system, the forms are the same (or almost the same) from department to department, he evaluations have little to do with how courses are structured and even less to do with which faculty are re-tained and which are let go. ""The good teachers disappear, while the bad teachers (are allowed) to stay,"" said Beth Schuler, a junior early education major. Another stu-dent concluded, ""(The evaluation) is just another form. It doesn't apply to the individual and it is too broad to measure the true feelings of the students."" While these responses seem to underscore students' frustrations, they don't take into account that their's is just one of the evaluations faculty will receive in the course of a year. Non-tenured and part-time faculty seeking reappointment are reported on by colleagues who sit in on their classes; faculty seeking promotion or tenure must go before the promo-tion and Tenure Committee (which is composed of tenured faculty); and all of the above, as well as those seeking merit pay, have their evaluations sent to Dr. Patricia Plante, vice-president of academic affairs, for review. Aditionally, all faculty are evaluated to determine whether they are keeping up with new developments in their field. Among the criteria: being published, delivering papers at conferences, or giving seminars for other faculty. How much value student evalua-tions have relative to these others seems to vary depending on whom you talk to and what department you're talking about. Plante noted that the University 'would not take the trouble and spend the money if they (student evaluations) were of no value.' She also said, ""No one is promoted who does not have the reputation of being a good teacher."" Student evalua-tions, she said, are a part of that reputation. But, she added, ""What we're look-ing for is not popularity. Liking your instructor is pleasant ... (but) we're after an effective teacher who makes demandt upon you (the stu-dent), helps you learn, and shares his interest in the subject with you. We're not concerned whether you like the person's mannerisms."" A similar sentiment was voiced by Dr. Eric Belgrad, professor and chairperson of the political science department. ""Most (student) evaluations are extremely com-plimentary,"" Belgrad said and thus are ""not really an objective measure."" ""A very bad evaluation may in-icate that there is some problem, but a good one is not necesarily an in-dication that everything is hanky-dory,"" Belgrad said, noting that there have been instances where faculty ""manipulate the responses"" in class prior to distributing the evaluations. ""We tend to go more with peer evaluations,"" Belgrad said, in which other faculty will ""sit in on a class See EVALUATION, page 2 Newman Center opens larger chapel By Lorraine Mirabella When Towson State graduate Loretta Dunne and junior Christopher Michon are married next June, their wedding will be a first, not only for them, but for the Newman Center. The ceremony will be held at the almost finished white chapel in the woods next to the Newman Center on York' Road. The $150,000 chapel, which open-ed with a mass December 2, is the ""long time dream of all the campus ministers,"" said Father Bob Al-bright, the University's Catholic campus minister. He said the De-cember 2 opening was to coincide with the start of Advent, the begin-ning of the church year. The Newman Center serves Tow-son State's Catholic students, but is open to all student groups who wish to use it. Newman clubs began 100 years ago on a campus in Madison, Wisconsin and are now located on campuses worldwide. The center is named after Cardinal John Henry Newman, who sent priests to minister to Catholic Students on non-Catholic campuses in the 1880's. Albright said the 98 square foot chapel was built ""because it is so crowded in the Newman Center house, which had been used for a chapel previously. ""What we used for a chapel was too small to accommodate students before they built the new dorms,"" Albright said. The chapel can hold around 100 people and will ""change the face of the ministry,"" because"" there will be more people coming,"" he said. Although the chapel will be able to accommodate more people than the house, Albright said ""It (the chapel) feels intimate."" ""It was intended to be small be-cause it is a chapel, not a church,"" he said. Leading up the hill to the New-man Center, built in 1895, is a drive-way lined with ginko trees, a pre-sent of the Chinese Ambassador to the United States about 100 years ago. At the top of the hill sits the chapel. See CHAPEL, page 2 This is the last issue of the Towerlight this semester. The next issue will be January .31, 1984. Enjoy the break. It's time to panic and hit the books Final Exam Schedule Course Date Exam Meets Time MWF 12 p.m. Dec. 12 8-10 a.m. TR 9:30 a.m. 1-3 p.m. TR 3:30 p.m. 10:30-12:30 p.m, MWF 1 p.m. Dec. 13 8-10 a.m. TR 12:30 p.m. 1-3 p.m. MWF 8 a m. Dec. 14 1-3 p.m. MWF 10 a.m. 8-10 a.m. MWF 4 p.m. 10:30-12:30 p.m. TR 11 a.m. Dec. 17 1-3 p.m. TR 2 p.m. 8-10 a.m. MWF 11 a.m. Dec. 18 1-3 p.m. MWF 3 p.m. 10:20-12:30 p.m. TR 8 a.m. 8-10 a.m. MWF 9 a.m. Dec. 19 8-10 a.m. MWF 2 p.m. 1-3 p.m. 5:1:5 oZ The Newman Center which serves Towson State's Catholic ministry, has almost completed building a larger chapel. Escort Service trial run The student escort service is holding its trial rtul this week for any students interested in an escort across campus. Hours: student escort Thursday, December 6 and Friday, December 7 Hours: escort van (on call) Thursday, December 6 and Friday, December 7 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. 8 to 9 p.m. Hours: van runs on the regular shuttle bus route Thursday, December 6 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday, December 7 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. One female and one male escort will be on the van at all times. The central location of the service will be the information desk on the University Union second floor. The phone number during operating hours is 321-2783. For information during non-operating hours, call 321-2711. "