The Towerlight, February 14, 1985

tl19850214-000 "Students complain paths are slippery Andrew Plumer, after battling the ice a week ago coming to school, said, ""I might as well have worn ice skates."" Plumer, a freshman European History major, was not the only student dissatisfied with the University's road and parking lot clearance during the Feb. 5-6 icestorm. Adam McGuire, a Finance major, said he had trouble not only getting a parking space, but walking to class. ""They should let us park on the top level of the parking garage, even if it's at our own risk,"" he said, adding: ""If they can't clear the lots and pathways, they should close school until they do."" But the man who decides whether to close school or not, Donald McCulloh, vice president of business and finance, said more care should be taken by students when walking over icy paths. More credit should be given to the standard grounds crew, who are salting the roads and walkways as early as 5:30 a.m. he said. Remember, McCulloh said, ""The best direction (between one's car and one's class) is not always a straight line."" McCulloh explained the snow Closing policy in more detail. At 5:30 a.m., he calls the campus plant director, the Weather Bureau, Maryland Transportation Office, and he listens to radio reports of road conditions. From this, McCulloh said he can look at the whole weather situation. Summarizing all the reports, he then makes a decision for school Opening or closing. ""As for the staff and faculty having to come to school, it is a different story."" Since the staff and faculty are state employed, McCulloh calls the State of Maryland's Transportation Office to request a closed or delayed Opening for teachers. When asked how the parking lots and pathways are cleared, McCulloh said that the student Parking lots are cleared first, then the administration office parking lot. The pathways are salted by grounds crew who are called as SOON as the weather becomes a Problem. McCulloh said there are between 10 and 12 miles of walkways on campus, so students and teachers Should be more understanding When complaining about the conditions. Ground crews, he said, do a good job with their limited time. Sam Meroney, a mass ,communications major, said 'Overall, the grounds crew does an eXcellent job when they are given one to perform.'' �Angela Husovsky and Glenn Small campus notes 4.1��???�? Students complain the campus Paths are slippery, but an administration official said the grounds crew is doing the best it can, Forensics team places in Boston tournament Towson State's Forensic Team Members John Mollard and Lynn Weber made it to the semi-finals by defeating the United States Military Academy at West Point. They won the 3-0 decision in the quarter finals by arguing successfully on the Spring Cross Examination and Debate Association topic: that the United States is justified in Providing military support to nondemocratic governments. John Mollard also placed 8 out of 40 in the speaking Competition held at Suffolk University in Boston. Nineteen teams of students representing 12 schools including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and Emerson College Participated. Steve Mister, the team's public relations director, said the �rganization is now recruiting Members for future tournaments, Such as one at the University of Illinois in March. �Ed Talley The party's over in the parking lot The first couple weeks of the semester, the police are usually less stringent about parking violations. Starting last Monday, the police began to emphasize ticketing unregistered cars and cars parked in the wi ..mg area.. Police chief Steven Murphy said they have been mostly concerned with ""public safety violations"" such as parking in fire lanes, blocking stairwells and parking in handicapped spaces in the garage. Other violations, such as failure to register a car, has been a low priority, Murphy siad. Last week, approximately 100 tickets were being given out a day. Recently, Parking Services opened up part of the garage ground level, which had previously been a faculty/staff lot, to commuter students. Dave Allen, director of parking services, said the lot was not being utilized enough by faculty. Towson Talents A Towson senior hits the stage. John Weber talks about singing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra page 9 By a cat's whisker Men's basketball squeaks by Rider College in the final seconds of Monday's game page 4 Students selected for Who's Who 1984 Forty-one Towson State University students have been selected to be in the 1984 Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. The students were chosen on the basis of ""academic performance and involvement on and off campus,"" said Marian Hoffman, of Student Development. She said, ""Each Fall, Who's Who notified us (the Student Development department) that we may screen students for Who's Who. Then, we put up posters around campus."" Hoffman said students may nominate themselves or may be nominated by another student or a faculty or staff member. The students chosen for tis year are: Philip Adams, Keith Ahrens, Sharon Beverly, John Bowen, Jr., Kathleen Bratchet, Julianne Brennan, Adrienne Burrows, Janet Byler, Oswald Cartwright, Regina Davis, Tania Defigueiredo, Michele Derlunas, Cynthia Farquhar, Lynne Fisher, Scott Forbes, Lorri Fry, Sharon Jaynes, Dorothy Jones, Margaret Joseph, Brandt Kampka, Melissa Kitner-Triolo, Sonia Lawson, Christa Marvenko, Elizabeth McHale, Priscilla Menges, Michael F. Metzbower, Steven Mister, John Mollard, Eden Morasch, Jacqueline Nelson, James Olson, Michael Poll, Susan Regan, Kathleen Ryan, Gail Smith, Marc Tilles, James Tribble, Paula Vargo, Marcia Verbeck, William Wilson, and Mary Wisthoff. �Jackie Yost Campus notes are continued on page 2 The o w Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Towson, Md. 21204 Vol. 78 No. 16 February 14, 1985 Tougher penalties for fake I.D.'s considered By Chuck Lee and Lorraine Mirabella Minors who purchase alcohol using false identification will risk paying a fine of $500 or spending up to 30 days in jail if recently proposed legislation becomes law. A Maryland House of Delegates bill, sponsored by Delegate Paul Muldowney (D-Washington) and George Littrell (D-Frederick) would change the charge of misrepresenting age to buy alcohol from a civil offense to a misdemeanor. Muldowney said under current law, 18 to 20 year olds found using false I.D. are charged with a civil citation, ""a slap on the wrist,"" and sentenced to community service, while ""the per-son selling can lose his license."" ""I think it's a good law because it will put more responsibility on those using false identification,"" said Tony Coliano, owner of Dulaney Liquors. ""Currently, all the responsibility lies in the hands of the people selling li-quor which is unfair because we are not I.D. experts."" Penalizing the license holder more heavily than a minor for the same ac-tion is ""inequitable"" and puts all the responsibility on the seller, said Muldowney. The proposed legislation would ""spread the responsibility equally, he said. ""It's difficult for sellers to deter-mine if a person is underage,"" Muldowney said. ""I'm not an expert on I.D.'s; a lot of I.D.'s are so good because there is like an underground system where minors pay large sums of money to get a fake I.D. Even the police have a hard time telling the difference,"" said Tony Heper, the owner of Chesapeake Li-quors. According to Maryland State Law, a license holder convicted of selling alcohol to a minor may face revoca-tion or suspension of his license, a fine up to $1,000, or imprisonment of up to two years. Minors between 18 and 20 years old may be charged a fine up to $100 for attempting to buy alcohol. ""Law enforcement officers say the penalty (for minors is so miniscule they don't enforce it. State's attorneys won't prosecute,"" said Muldowney. ""The stiffer penalties will call for pro-secution and also might deter minors from buying alcohol in instances where a young person has fear of get-ting caught,"" he said. ..t .;.; Towson State 1 University - :4,, ,, "", � ., �. ,, 2 -8-MI_T_R__�_ 4 Y ANE------ I""' -______ A bill similar to Muldowney's has been introduced by Delegates William McCaffrey (D-Prince George's) and Denis Donaldson (D-Prince George's). The bill sets a $1,000 fine and a one year jail sentence for 18 to 20 year olds found using false iden-tification. McCaffrey said his bill, supported by police departments, students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and alcoholic beverage boards, ""intends to make (minors) liable."" ""It puts the blame where it should - - - � --- Theresa Murdza the writer/director of ""Shattered Laughter,"" characterizes the play as feminist theater; abstract, lacking plot, characters and containing a rawness in words and emotions. go,"" he said. ""If the person selling doesn't card, he's equally guilty if he sells to (a minor). But he may see a valid I.D., and it could be doctored. If the alcohol problem is as great as they say, it (en-forcement) has to be done on both ends,"" McCaffrey said. ""These people (those 18 tO 20 years of age) who are responsbile drinkers are paying the penalty for those unresponsible drinkers,"" said Heper. Both bills have been submitted to the House Judiciary Committee and as of February 6 no vote had been made. Shattered images Filtering women's pain through laughter By Lorraine Mirabella ""Everything was going just fine and then the wheel fell off."" This line from ""Shattered Laughter,"" a production that began last night in the Fine Arts Center, signified life and how something sud-denly comes along to ruin it, said one of the actresses M the play. ""When she asked me where the poem came from, it came from one day when I was on the beach and there was this guy with one of those remote control cars,"" explained Therese Murdza, a Towson State junior theater major and writer/director of the play. ""He was going all over the beach and one of the wheels fell off and I was just lying there on the beach, sun soaked, really tired, writing a bunch of airy, goofy stuff and it just kind of came out. But, put in the context of the show, there's a higher meaning that people can gather. That's what poetry is all about."" ""Shattered Laughter,"" a play Murdza has produced with a grant from the Towson State Student Grant Committee, is a composite of 150 poems and ideas she's written since she was 13, a continuous flow of im-ages of the experiences of women. ""I've always been really concien-tious about women and women's ex-periences and because I'm a female writing from a female perspective, that's a lot of where it came from,"" Murdza said. Although Murdza has acted in See LAUGHTER, page 7 Proposed bill would crack down on hazing By""Mike Barnes State Senator John, Bambacus (R), Western Maryland, is sponsoring a bill which would ban hazing on any state college. The bill defines hazing ""as any act, or causing a situation which reckless-ly or intentionally endangers the men-tal or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of initiation or admission into any student organiza-tion that operates under the sanction of the school, college, or university."" Bambacus, who is also a Frostburg State College professor, originally wanted to include a one year jail sentence for those convicted of hazing at a state school. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee passed the bill Febraury 6 by a 10-0 vote. The committee after hearing testimony from a University of Maryland student, decided to change the original penalty for violators, a one year jail term, to six months in jail and up to a $50e, fine. William Morachnick, a former UM fraternity president, testified that the one year jail term was too harsh. The Senate committee also remov-ed an amendment requiring those schools receiving state funds to expel all students found guilty of hazing. The revised bill now requires schools to take action to prohibit hazing and to impose ""appropriate discipline."" The bill also allows hazing victims to file suit against those who carried out haz-ing on them. A Towson State student was kill-ed following an alleged hazing inci-dent in 1982. The student, who was pledging the Alpha Omega Lamba fraternity, had been collecting sig-natures from fraternity alumni. While driving back, he fell asleep and had a fatal accident. Hazing is defined in the University judicial code as, ""Any action taken or any situation, intentionally, whether on or off campus to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule."" According to the student handbook, Compass, hazing may include paddling, creating excessive fatigue, physical or psychological shocks, or road trips. Vice President of Student Services, Dorothy Siegel said the University follows the State Board of Colleges and Universities hazing policy. She also said the University is trying to let students know what the hazing policy of Towson includes. Thomas Knox, dean of judicial af-fairs, said in the Alpha Omega Lamb-da incident, Siegel brought charges against the organization and the president. The fraternity was suspended from the Student Govern-ment Association (SGA) and the president was suspended from the University. ""Not only will action be taken against the pledgemaster or the presi-dent (for hazing),"" Knox said, ""but action may be brought against the organization also."" Knox saici the problem the Universi-ty faces in enforcing its hazing policy is ""finding out about it. Everyone knows hazing is going on, but students may have trouble identifying the organization because they don't understand the Greek letters, and those in the organization are certainly not going to talk, ' Knox said. While indentification will remain a problem, Knox said the law ""will bring attention, and give more teeth to our anti-hazing policy."" National Fraternity Officer at UMBC, Brad Peabody said action on the bill is going very well and all those who testified at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing January 30 favored the bill, including University of Maryland and UMBC fraternity and sorority members. Chip DiPaula, Student Government Association (SGA) president,supports the bill and said additional public awareness of hazing is a good idea. "