The Towerlight, February 16, 1979

tl19790216-000 "VOL. LXXII No. 17 Pilotvertt.""11t PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Weekend Weather: Chance of flurries today, highs around 30. Clear and colder tomorrow with highs in the teens, lows around five degrees. Lows in the 20's Sunday with chance of snow. February 16, 1979 ' Since Iran has been getting stingy lately with their oil outflow for various reasons, the great minds at TSU have gotten together in an effort to advance transportation technology. Using a tire tube he heisted from the faculty parking lot, the first genius tried breaking the sound barrier. Instead, he just broke his buns. The second tried a more traditional route�the flexible flier�but lost time and mpg's because of the wind resistance factor. Whatever was gained for science, one thing is sure: it sure beats going to classes. TL Photos by Dave Humke What happens when it snows? by R. L. Krummerich Contrary to popular belief Towson State's snow closing policy is not dependent upon whether or not Vice President Wayne Schelle can get his car out of the driveway. And, he doesn't just look out his bedroom window and take a guess. ""It wouldn't do any good anyway,"" he said, ""it's too dark out."" What he does do is rise in the morning by at least 5:30, starts listening to the radio, and waits for the phone to ring. Leon Herring, from the physical plant, is usually the first to call. He reports on the campus situation like ""if we have the lots, sidewalks, and steps cleared off."" Gene Dawson, director of security, calls next with the news from the state and county police, about the roads which lead to the campus. ""More emphasis,"" said Dawson, ""is placed on the reports from the city rather than the county. The county,"" he said, ""ex-tends up to the Pennsylvania border and the Univer-sity is closer to the city."" With all the information Schelle starts to consider such aspects as how low the salt supply is, if any of the ground crew people are out sick, and most im-portant, the weather yet to come. ""Predictability of weather people is amazingly unsophisticated,"" said Schelle. ""They have missed calls very often this year."" continued on page 2 Student gets credit for NORML activity if he could get three credits for hiF NORML work, under an independent study program. Hedberg verbally ap-proved and even extended the plan to include five other undergraduates, whom Kaplan would supervise. They would devote six hours a week to the project, after which they'd write papers about their experiences. He has already persuaded the ""Everything was going along fine,"" school's Student Association to ap- Kaplan now recalls, until a local propriate ""several thousand dollars"" paper ran a story about it ""and for NORML's local lobbying. Recent- Senator Houston opened his big lY Kaplan, described by NORML mouth."" western regional coordinator Gordon Democratic State Senator Les Brownell as among ""the youngest . . . Houston of Albuquerque, a member of brightest, most energetic and in- the legislature's Finance Committee, novative"" state workers the organiza- threatened to vote against all state tion has, tried it again. funding for the university unless Kaplan was refused credit for his decriminalization work. Albuquerque, N.M. (CPS)�Alex Kaplan is a business major at the University of New Mexico. In his Spare time, he's also state coordinator for NORML (the National Organiza-tion for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). And sometimes, he tries to Make those twains meet. In November sophomore Kaplan asked faculty member Jean Hedberg Library will resume late hours by Paul Gilmore The Albert S. Cook Library will resume late hours in the Faculty 1Zeserve loom probably by this Monday. remaining open until midnight Sunday through Thursday. The hours were cut back to a 10 p.m. closing time at the beginning of this semester as a result of a funds shortage. Norman Sheets. dean of the University. said $1.000 will be transferred to the library's budget from a contingency fund that is reserved for emergencies. According to library director Thomas Strader, I he funding problem stems from the fact that the library is having trouble attracting ""Work Study'' employees whose wages are subsidized 80 per cent by federal financial aid. Only 20 per cent of the work study wages are paid by the employer. Instead the library has been forced to pay unsubsidized student help the full $2.65 per hour and the budget would not allow for it. The increase in student salaries combined with the fact that over the past five years the University has used,funds from the library budget to pay for part-time faculty has set the library in financial straits. The University used $170.000 of library funds this year for part-time faculty. ""If we hadn't used the library budget."" said Acting President Joseph Cox. ""the only other recourse would have been faculty retrenchment."" Cox explained that since various departments on campus had expanded in .the past few years (such as business and mass communication) and the University could not hire any more full-time faculty for those departments until others resigned from other departments. the University was forced to staff overcrowded disciplines with part-time faculty. ""By using the library budget for part-time faculty we bought some time."" Cox said. The University will no longer be able to use the library budget for part-time faculty though, since the state budget bureau has agreed to allow the University more funds for part-time teachers in t wo years if library funds are left untouched next year. ""The library's position will be better,- said Cox. ""but the University will be in a real bind. The money will have to come from somewhere.- Cox added he could not allow the part-time faculty rolls to decline which he said would cause classroom overcrowding and cancelled courses. ""If I had the option to .choose next fall between the library and part-time faculty, there would be no choice."" he said. Strader said most of the additional funds that will be at his disposal next year will go towards *additional purchases to bring the library's total volumes in line with American Library Association (ALA) standards for a class ""A"" library. The library presently has a ""B"" rating. The library will have 420.000 ALA equivalency volumes in Strader's estimates by July 1. That figure takes into consideration the amount of microfilm. prints. cilides and other materials books. He feels by the end of 1980 the library will have the 450.000 required of an ""A"" library. ""We should have it if the funding comes through,' ' he said. Strader is not considering extending library hours past those that will be reinstated NIonday since according to his surveys there doesn't appear to be a need for it. ""I haven't seen any real need for increased 'lours."" he said. ""According to past statistics we're talking about 10 to 20 students who stay past 11 p.m."" Strader said according to counts taken last spring. between the hours of 11 p.m. and 12 p.m. the Faculty Reserve Room was not utilized by many students. On Nlarch 17 the library staff counted 18 people in Faculty Reserve after 11 I) .m.. on N1 arch 18 only nine people were in the . Keserve room at that time. ""We've gotten an awful lot of complaints since W(' closed earlier,"" Strader said. ""I wish I could know if those who are complaining would really use t he library if it was open longer. ""Nlainly we're interested in volumes because volumes is what we're lacking,"" said Strader. St racier cited business and computer science as areas that needed more volumes in the library and anticipated others as the University adopted programs. "" We ' re very weak in periodicals,"" he said. ""We haven't added one periodical in three years. We have some crying needs there,"" he said. Library hours Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday 8 a.m.-5p.m. Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m.-9 p.m. Faculty Reserve Room will remain open until mid-night, Sunday through Thursday. April 13-15 Closed April 16 (Monday) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 17 & 18 (Tues. & Wed.) 9 a.m.-9 p.m. April 19 & 20 (Thurs. & Fri.) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 21 Regular Hours Resume May 26 & 27 closed May 28 & 29 9 a.m.-5 p.m. May 30 (Memorial Day) Closed May 31-June 1 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Likely decision will hurt athletics by Katherine Dunn The Academic Council is expected to give a final vote on placing additional emphasis on athletics, at its Ivionday afternoon meeting. Members of the Council anticipate a close vote as many members are withholding their decisions until the final debate is heard. Analysis In place of the original motion that the Council withdraw its support of additional emphasis, a compromise may be substituted, according to some Council members. The corn-promise would still allow the University to move its athletic program into Division I. The compromise would set up a committee to recommend changes in finance and the structure of the athletic department. This wbuld include whether intercollegiate ath-letics be placed in the phys ed department or in institutional development. The committee would include two members of the phys ed depart-ment, one for and one against additional emphasis, and represen-tatives of the athletic director, the development, the vice president for academic affairs and the president of the SGA. The committee would be required to report back to the council within two months. The reason for the compromise is to have more time for the council to stud31 the matter. If the compromise is not carried, the Council is expected to vote on whether to withdraw this support of increased emphasis. There are problems involved in going either way. If,the Council votes to uphold its earlier decision to support upgra-ding athletics and the athletic program does not reach the high level of competition members of the athletic department now think it will, then, after the three year commitment period, the University has the option to return to Division The University would have to again petition the NCAA to return to Division II. The requirements for Division II are much different from those of Division I. Another problem comes with money. If the University moves to Division I, more money will have to be spent especially on scholarships and recruiting. The transfer of intercollegiate athletics to institutional develop-ment also requires money. More faculty members will be needed if some are taken out of phys ed to become full-time coaches. It seems that the University is going to have to come up with a lot more money to run athletics this way Another problem that bothers some members of the Council is that they fear that academics may be de-emphasized if athletics is em-phasized. They feel that the University will not strive as hard to keep up high academic standards if it strives for excellence in athletics. On the other hand, if the Council withdraws its support of emphasis some members of the Council think it will embarrass the University. The University has gone to a lot of trouble to schedule Division I teams to meet NCAA Division I require-ments. If it then decides not to go Division I, it will be difficult to schedule them again if it decides to go Division I later. The biggest problem comes with the credibility of the coaches and the University as a whole. Coaches have recruited and have told potential players that the University is planning to move to Division I and will compete against schools like North Carolina State and Tennessee State. These athletes are set to come to the University because they want Snow crew gets busy while TSU students slee by Robert Krummerieh Heavy snows and frigid tempera-tures combined to give Towson State students an unexpected holiday Tuesday. The second worst snow storm of the year dropped eighteen inches of flakes that piled up and just didn't melt. An outside company automati-cally comes in to throw salt when Phase I of the Snow Emergency Plan goes into effect, said Wayne Schelle, vice president of business and finance. ""Throwing salt would have been useless because it doesn't work in temperatures below 18 degrees,"" Schelle said. Snowplows manned by the Tow-son State grounds crew hit the campus at 7:00 a.m. Monday and worked straight through Wednes-day. Paul Thomas, grounds supervisor who was working on a plow, called it a ""hectic job""�that takes ""a special kind of person."" Thomas said it was ''hard to keep on top of the job because of the winds, you could clear a section and five minutes later it would be covered again."" ""The workers,"" said Thomas, ""concentrate on getting the school in shape to open. They always work under the assumption that it will."" Usually. one man drives a plow, but as the night goes on, said Thomas, a second man is often put in the car to help or make certain the driver doesn't fall asleep. Thomas said a driver's mind usually doesn't ""day dream or wander,"" but concentrates on getting the job done and the school open. Drivers are paid time and a half for their extra hours but when it gets to be about three or four in the morning it doesn't seem like so much,"" said Thomas. The grounds crew knew that school would be closed about ""6:20 Tuesday morning,"" said Thomas. Wayne Schelle said he only made the final decision ""about 6:10 that morning."" Thomas was grateful to learn about it that quickly but said it's ""a bit of a letdown to find out nobody is going to use the roads after all."" � The county snowplows take care of Osier and Cross Campus Drives. The University is responsible for the sidewalks and perimeters. ""On a day like Monday,"" said Thomas. ""when school was let. out, we, concentrated on the dorms and the Dining Hall."" But the main concern was to open the safety routes,"" he added. Lack of man power and equipment are the most serious problems in snow removal, said Thomas. ""We could use more jeeps, tractors, and men. We were really short handed,"" he continued, ""even with the bus drivers and maintenance crews helping out."" He is hopeful that the budget request for six additional workers comes through. Correction The photo of mime John Kassir in the February 2 Towerlight was incorrectly credited. The photo was used courtesy of Dianna Kassir. Towerlight regrets the error. The date of the Campus Union Board's Sweetheart dance was incorrectly reported in an adver-tisement and the ""Week Watcher"" in the February 9 Towerlight. The date of the dance is February 17. Towerlight regrets the error. to play on tht- highest level they can. If those athletes are later informed that the University has dropped its move to Division I, all credibility will lie lost according to some members of the Council. The University could not recruit if it decides to try the move later, for fear of the athletes that it might go back on the decision again. It would make the athletic department look had as well as reflect on the entire University. It appears that with both sides having problems and neither having a clear cut majority, the substitute motion will be heavily debated and will probably be carried. But the substitute motion will only put off the decision for another two months on the transfer to institu-tional development for another two months. This leaves the coaches in an even worse dilemma. They do not know where they stand and they will not until the Council decides. While the substitute motion may be good for the opponents of additional emphasis, it will do little for those in favor of it. The motion allows the move to Division I, but it does nothing else. It does not allow the move of intercollegiate athletics to institu-tional development which is what is needed if the University is to support a good Division I program. In This Issue Animals? Frat and sorority life at Towson is not always a litany of Animal House-style debauchery. Some more serious activities take place too. Get inside Towson's Greek life page 3 Debate The 96th Congress has gathered 'round the Potomac, and two big educational issues will be debated this year as last�a cabinet-level depart-ment of education and efforts to increase financial aid for middle income families. CPS reports page 12 A Fence There is a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. It's more than just a fence be-tween two pieces of land. It's a fence between two peoples and two philosophies. Should that fence be strengthened or weakened? Angles offers his answer page 11"