The Towerlight, February 21, 1975

tl19750221-000 "TSC to become University? University bill in State House by Marlene Milder During hearings in Annapolis, testimony began to change the names of Towson State College and Morgan State College to Towson State University and Morgan State University. Those speaking in favor of house bill 531 in the State Legislature were: Dr. James Fisher, Towson State College President, Edmund Mester, executive director of the State College Board of Trustees, Wesley Dorn, executive director of the Maryland Council on Higher Education, Dr. Frazier, Morgan State College President, and David Nevins, Towson's SGA Vice President. ""The term university has a more favorable connotation in today's world,"" said Nevins, as he explained the various reasons for Towson becoming a ""university."" The name change, Nevins explained, would result in a stronger institutional appearance. In a college-university questionnaire which was distributed, approximately 2/3 were in favor of the change. Increased status should attract students with higher scholastic abilities; and attract more donations of money from private citizens, foundations, or through federal grants, explained Nevins. This bill adds no extra cost to the state and results in an upgrading and higher public appeal of the two state agencies, Morgan and Towson, said Dr. Fisher during his testimony. ""I see Towson State University benefiting the institution,"" said -VOL. LXVII, NO. 15 TOWSON STATE COLLEGE FEBRUARY 21, 1975 Will vacant Candidacy is announced by Frank Stefano � � David Nevins, vice-president of ' . recognizes the fact that today, more he S.G.A officially announced his than ever, we have quite a variety of candidacy for president of the S.G.A. on Feb. 17. Nevins, is a junior at students on campus. ""College students are changing, in that the Towson, majoring in business ad- average student no longer goes right ministration and political science. He from high school to college. Some go has a long history of involvement into the Service, others work, and one with the student government faction even raises a family before association, dating back to his fresh- going to school.'..the mothers. Today, man year when he joined the "" government of the Senate Policy he says, ""the students are older and we must try to incorporate them into Committee and continued with that the S.G.A."" job until the end of his sophomore Year. At that time he ran for, and was Ticket platform is ""special"" elected to the position of Vice- On the same ticket with Nevins President of the S.G.A. and is are Ann Marie Lowe and Kathy Kolor currently fulfilling that position. running for vice-president and treasurer respectively. They both Hopes to relieve the agree with the platform Nevins has burden of students outlined, but each has something Nevins' platform is an special they believe in. Says Lowe academically oriented one. He feels ""we must maximize the budget to that the college is much more than a benefit the students as much as social institution, rather it is a place possible."" ""We must coordinate the to learn, to educate the whole being. various organizations and take on ""Sure, concerts are important to the projects sensibly from a fiscal students, but something like the standpoint."" Speaker series is equally as im- Kathy, a- commuting student, says portant."" He also is in favor of a that ""we must bring the commuter strong student lobby group to push stddents into the S.G.A. We (corn-important bills in Annapolis. Says muting students) have certain Nevins, ""The state of Maryland problems that must be dealt with, but provided two student centers for two are not really yet recognized. Of state schools, Coppin State and The. course the basic problem is parking, University of Maryland Eastern but another thing to -be looked into Shore. Towson's student center, are the bus fares. It costs the average however, is being paid for through a student about $4.50 per week to ride bond system supported by the the bus, and I believe something students. Each student pays twenty should be done about this."" dollars per year for this, and Nevins Hopes to promote feels that the state should take over academic counseling the bonds and relieve the students of . The one thing all three candidates this burden agree upon is academic counseling. Priorities must They all believe that it is almost a be rearranged failure and that something should be Concerning the immediate done about it. They feel that the Towson campus, Nevins sees a faculty sometimes takes upon a ""not number of priorities. He sees that caring"" attitude, and thus in the end students are discontented with the the students suffer. ""The main ob-parking, situation and is planning to � jective here is education,"" says Lowe, lobby the state for money to build ""I would like to see the advising Parking garages, something for which method revised. The faculty should the state has never before given money. realize their duty... they are very He also sees a growing important to the student."" distance coming about between the school and the commuter students. The three students that are so far running for office would like to We should survey the commuter students, and see if they would like remind students that the election in on March 6 and 7. They also urge more activities happening during the everyone to get out and vote for an day when they are here."" Nevins also effective S.G.A. e Banks express no interest Nevins, as it gives the school the recognition it deserves. This past year TSC was rated second in the nation for program planning and has received 8 national awards for ex-cellence. Louis Mayhew, one of the nation's leading authorities on higher education said, ""Towson State College is the clearest example in America of an expanding teaching institution."" The current bill calls for both Towson and Morgan to gain university status. Morgan State College is the second largest state institution and has been aiming for University status for several years. Morgan State would like more than a cosmetic change, said Nevins and hopes have arisen to increase the doctorial program. However, an amendment to the bill stipulates no new program can be offered without the approval of the Board of Trustees and the Maryland Council on Higher Education. Two faculty members from University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Dr. Fred Fornick and Dr. Martin Swartz, vehemently opposed Towson becoming a university during the hearing said Nevins. These professors asserted the history department at Towson was not deserving of university status because there were not as many faculty holding doctoral degrees. Nevins said UMBC, because of its status is on a University pay scale, much higher than a college pay scale and can attract more faculty with a Ph.D. Also, Swartz and Gornick boasted their faculty had published more books and magazines than Towson's faculty. Kenneth Shaw, Dean of TSC, said Nevins, had sent out brochures for prospective faculty stating the institution wanted those interested in classroom teaching, not publishing books. SGA offices be filled? Stricter rules cause more Senate vacancies Credit policy clarified The following action was voted by the Committee: Students graduating June, 1975 under the 120 Credit Policy will not be required to earn 32 upper division credits. The June 1975 graduates electing the 120 Credit Policy will be responsible for com-pleting all other degree requirements as outlined on Page 33 of the 1974-75 Towson State College Bulletin. Cook Library Hours CORRECTION: Reserve Room is open until midnight Sunday through Thursday rather than Saturday through Thursday as printed last week. by Gary Hartung This semester, ten SGA senators, or half the Representatives, have resigned their positions. Two of the ten resigned to transfer. However, according to vice-president David Nevins the rest seemed to have resigned because of the new Senate rules enacted last summer. These rules, tend to inhibit the Senatorial proceedings and demand much of a Senator's time. In short, Senators are now required to do much more than just attend meetings; parliamentary procedures have become of utmost importance. New rules will help Nevins feels the only way to regain some semblance of order in the SGA Senate is to make the new rules less complicated so students may participate more readily without having to become specialists in parliamentary procedures. Another idea is to allow students to gain credit for serving on the senate. A com-bination of these two ideas might also be applicable. As for the present, the Senate will operate with its remaining ten members. Although a quorum is needed to hold a meeting, when the number of Senators drops, through resignation, the number needed for a quorum also drops. At present only six Senators are needed to hold a meeting. The 10 Senators remaining in office are: Terri Crane, Dan Cun-ningham. Bob Hayden, Jerry Love, Ann Marie Lowe, Eric Martin, Martha Reed, Lucy Reed (soph. class representative), Terry Firnstein (junior class representative) and James Tignaelli (senior class representative). Their work load will now be much heavier because of the many resignations. The senators who resigned are as follows: Brenda Barrett, Francis Clay, Tim Daly, Dennis Joy, Jerome Murphy, Charles Muskat, Ginger Palermo, Bruce Hoffman, Clarence Allen, and Jose De Ceppi (freshman class represen-tative). It's up to TSC students by Marlene Milder Student Government Elections will be held March 6 and 7 on the first floor of the College Center. Filled petitions must be in the SGA office no later than February 25 at 4:00 p.m. Two hundred signatures are necessary for those wanting to run for senator at large, 100 signatures from students in your class for Class Senators, and 200 names for SGA President, Vice-President, and Treasurer. Petitions are not necessary for those wanting to run for class officers for the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes. Currently there are not enough students running to fill the 18 soon-to-be vacant senate seats. Those who have filed include: Mike Joseph, Dough Schweenhart, Vicki Bass, Al Lear, Michael Hill, George Howard and Shiela Culberson. If positions remain empty, then the incoming senate will elect the rest of the senators when it convenes. Announced SGA officer can-didates include David Nevins for president; Ann Marie Lowe for vice-president; and Kathy Koler for treasurer. To date these three are running unopposed. CORRECTION:L P.E. complex last week was listed as costing $2 million; it should read as costing $12 million. No expansion of banking services seen for TSC by Jo Anne Rannels Any student wondering about a \1111111.1?Namannalmaminammaany bank at Towson should go down to Parking Services. When the Student Center was planned that room was set aside for a bank. When you look at it, it looks like a bank. It has teller divisions in the wall and a night deposit box on the outside but it had to be something else when a bank was not enticed on to the college. Bank a headache TSC's bookstore has the headache of a bank but not the profit from it. Students from time to time have asked John Suter, Director of Auxiliary Affairs at TSC why Towson does not have a bank on campus. The local banks feel there is not enough business at Towson to justify a branch. Daily, Al Duke gets $2,000 from the Comptroller's Office for the check cashing fund. He must keep the check cashing fund separate from the bookstore's and if the fund runs out before the day is over no more checks can be cashed until the next day. Needs armed guard Usually Duke has to go to the bank twice a day either to Mercantile or First National where the bookstore has accounts. He needs pennies and the shortage everywhere forces frequent trips. Usually he can only get a $10 bag when he needs a $25 ba (the bank itself has only about five $25 bags to give out a day. Everytime Duke goes to the bank he needs an armed guard. Business, besides obtaining a guard, may demand his attention before he can get free to go to the bank. Bad checks are a big problem with the check cashing fund. A Towerlight article appearing on February 7, covered this area in depth. To repeat; $1,463.41 worth of checks bounced at the bookstore over the last fiscal year. Only half have been made good. The bookstore covers these checks and is never reimbursed for them. Workwise, one person could be freed to work elsewhere in the store if the check cashing fund were discontinued in the bookstore. Bank at Hopkins First National Bank has a branch on the campus of Johns Hopkins University. A First National branch blocks away from the college does better business than the college. When asked about it, a spokesman for the bank said he does not know the original reason for the bank being in Gilman Hall's isolated basement, but it's continuity today is just because it's been there so long. The spokesman for First National said that a bank would need a minimum of year to sustain business. In order to get a branch here or anywhere, an application must be sent to the Comptroller of Currency of the FDIC with the government. It could take five months for the FDIC to review the case. Studies of the population and business area have to be made. In past years, tuition loans were good solid business but the delinquency rate on them has made them unstable. Interest on loans has also gone up from 8 per cent to 13 per cent. College students a transient crowd A spokesman for Mercantile said that their primary interest is existing customers. Opening a branch at Towson would be a specialized operation. There would probably be no safe deposit section because a big investment could not be anticipated. The college students are a transient crowd and not as likely to make loans (bank business) as a working person. Mercantile approved, two years ago, $1 million for building in primary areas around the Baltimore Beltway and will not start any new plans before these are completed. Commuters would help business When the banks were first ap-proached a few years ago, a big reason against the branch was the mere 850 resident students. Corn-t considered muter students. The banks refused to acknowledge the commuters' needs as sufficient for accounts. While talking to Suter about this, he said that he definitely thinks commuters would aid in business. He said that when the banks were first approached, one bank had said it wanted a guaranteed $1 million savings deposit from Towson. No tHkerg for bank Don McCulloh, Director of Financ at TSC said a training bank was suggested but with no takers. A training bank merely preps tellers and bankers for about six months in an obscure branch before sending them elsewhere. Th'e bookstore is the only place a student can cash a check. Two person checks and paychecks are not included with this. Many local banks will not cash these either, unless an account is held at the bank. Don 111IcCulloh said that they have been trying to help with this by stamping the book of the check validating the person as a TSC student with no bad checks out-standing. Duke needs and wants an on-campus bank. The bookstore accoun would go in it and then he could concentrate on just the bookstore. Suter and McCulloh are all for a bank, they want one, think that we could definitely use one and would support it."