tl19900215_000 "Vol. 85 No. 3 ""Required Reading"" February 15, 1990 The Towerli Published weekly by the students of Towson State University, Towson SGA cuts over $2,500 from funding requests by Lisa Goldberg Assistant News Editor and Kimberly Maples Staff Reporter The Student Government As-sociation (SGA) voted Tuesday to allocate over $3000 of the approximately $10,000 remain-ing in the budget for the Spring semester to student groups, denying over $2500 in requests to campus organizations. Affected by the tight budget were groups such as Omicron Delta Kappa, Towson State's leadership honor society which received none of the money it requested, and the Student Ac-tivities Board (SAB), a group not currently SGA affiliated, which was allotted only half of the money it requested. According to SAB President Katie Burk, the organization's request for money was not bud-get- oriented, but for the spon-sorship of Brave New Works, a collection of ""risky"" new thea-trical works which have not been ""tested or tried."" She explained that when ap-proached with the idea of fund-ing the performance series, the SGA replied that it would like to help out, but had no money to spare until the Spring semester. As a result, every advertisement printed to publicize � the works names the SGA as a co-sponsor. Burk further explained that the performance series is being jointly sponsored by Fine Arts, the SAB, and the SGA. The SAB has already contributed $4000 toward Brave New Works, and initially asked the SGA for $3000. However, due to tight budgeting, the SGA only allotted $1500 for the series. ""I'm fight-ing for [the money]. This defi-nitely isn't going to be the end of this discussion,"" said Burk. ""If they can spend $4000 on Freddy Krueger, or whoever that was, they can certainly pay their bills,"" she added. As a result of the substantial cut made to the SAB's request, Brave New Works is looking at see SGA, page 3 SGA Speaker Series: 'Batman' Joe Clark hits homerun by Kim Asch Staff Reporter Joe Clark didn't need a bull-horn or a baseball bat to win the attention of the 600-plus crowd, Sunday night at the first of the SGA Speaker Series events this semester. But he brought the baseball bat anyway. Clark's speech was scheduled to highlight Black History Month at Towson State. The controversial former prin-cipal of a tough New Jersey high school first became famous for the radical methods he used to clean up the crime-and-drug-infested school. Clark was harshly criticized when, upon beginning his job at the school, he instantly expelled 300 delin-quent students. Clark, however, didn't stop there in his efforts to keep such ""pathological devi-ants"" out: he put chains on the doors as reinforcement. But it was the baseball bat he brandished while moving brisk-ly through the two-lane hall-ways (one of his traffic policies) that made him famous and earned him the nickname ""Bat-man,"" although not everyone uses the name fondly. Clark said he had two expla-nations for carrying the baseball bat. One explanation he used when questioned by the ""per-fumed- desperado, diapered-poodle, nihilistic-nabob"" liber-als, and the other describes what the bat really represented. The former principal told his critics, or ""ideological migrants"" as he calls them, that the bat meant: ""Kids, it's your turn at bat. What are you going to do, strike out or hit a homerun?"" Clark confided to the audience, however, what he really meant to convey by toting the bat was: ""Miscreants! Mutants! If you don't stop it we're going to beat the hell out of you!"" Clark has been featured on ""60 Minutes"" and the cover of Time magazine and his story inspired the film ""Lean on Me."" Among his other self-described accomplishments are the two books he has completed, com-mendations by both Ronald Reagan and President Bush, and his successful new career on the lecture circuit where he pulls in between $5,000 and $10,000 per engagement. He received $5,000 plus expenses for speak-ing at Towson State. Although Clark's notoriety stems from his success as an administrator, his lecture focus-ed on achieving personal suc-cess, showcasing himself as liv-ing proof of The American Dream made good. ""I was just a poor little black welfare boy from New Jersey,"" he preached, but see CLARK, page 4 EAST COAST CONFERENCE STANDINGS Women's Basketball (thru February 13) -ECC-Won Lost -OVERALL-Won Lost DREXEL 10 0 17 5 1.EIIIGH 7 2 15 7 1)E1 AWARE 6 :1 14 )WSON STATE 5 4 10 11 I A PAYETTE 4 6 8 14 TCKNELL 4 6 b 15 1liER 2 8 6 16 .11 I STRA 0 9 1 21 ht Hoopsters down VCU; fall to Drexel � Lady Dragons by Collin Poston Assistant Sports Editor Balance is an element which is essential for victory in athletic competition. In team sports, the team that has it gains a pro-found advantage over the team that doesn't. The Tigers may not have had balance for an entire game Sun-day, but they had it when it counted - from the beginning of the second half to the end of the game. The Towson State Univer-sity's women's basketball team rallied from an 11-point half-time deficit to defeat Virginia Commonwealth University, 69- 64, at VCU, in a non-conference game. The Tigers (10-11 overall, 5-4 in the ECC through Tuesday February 13) were balanced in that Towson State had four play-ers score in double figures, and six players had at least four rebounds each. In the second half, every player contributed as the Tigers rampaged for 42 points and held VCU to just 26.. see WOMEN, page 9 INSIDE Campus Violence Center finds links to substance abuse and crime. TSU gets new ""dry"" sorority. Page 2 Men's basketball beats Dragons away 104-95. Gymnasts squeek by West Virginia. Page 6 Dr. Vatz on CNN. Guest dancer teaches at TSU. Page 14 Fraternity's actions outrage students. SGA priorities� again. Page 22 MD 21204 � by Ellis M. Woodward, Jr. Features Writer Funny thing about the ""hu-man spirit;"" in our zeal to laud it, and ourselves, and the coura-geous and passionate ways in which we always, eventually, take a stand against oppression, injustice, and Wrong itself, we tend to forget or overlook the fact that we are the oppressors and wrong-doers, as well. The same indomitability and vision of greatness that powers the forces of good drives the bad guys, too, and therefore, any examination of the human con-dition that does not at least give a nod to what a heinous bunch of bastards we can be is grossly incomplete. Not just the big, high-profile, greedy manipu-lators of whole cultures, but the small, vengeful, selfish perpetra-tors need acknowledgement, too. Subtract the gritty scum with which heroes must contend, and all you've got is frosting and no cake. On the other hand, when the evil and righteous have to stand side-by-side in some kind o cosmic breadline and deal with the presence of one another in real, base terms, a truer portrait of man can be drawn. When that sort of honest, even-hand-edness is brought to life in art, the results, because of their in-herent truth, are often moving in a way that is almost trans-cendent in its spirituality. When that happens, something in the ""human spirit"" is deeply touch-ed. When that happens. what you have is Les Miserables. I want to assume that every- )ne knows th show, bitt iust in case you ye been in hibernation for the last several years... ,,es 31 sera hles is the pop-opera stag-ing of Victor Hugo's classic novel of the same name. It is the story of three decades of early 19th century French history told from the vantage point of th extraordinary events of the lif of Jean Valjean. From his im-prisonment (for stealing som bread), to his breaking of parole. to his rise to wealth and power. see MISERABLES, page 15 "
