The Towerlight, February 27, 1976

tl19760227-001 "tle ey Li B L8 the ee se otti by Ruth Ann Leftridge re the Student Government President Anne Marie Lowe announced this ts week that plans for a SGA-sponsor- ot ed Spring Concert have been cancelled. ""I really wanted to have tel concert and I still do, but I don't ro think the time is right,"" she said. Lowe explained that a May concert in Burdick Hall, which has lie no air-conditioning, could only have Jeff, led to ,.e very uncomfortable th afternoon."" She also stated that in order to draw a name band it would b be necessary to sell tickets for 's $10-12 per student. ""We couldn't at draw a big name with the money we ;50 � had,' she said. , We could have had a concert, 50 oat whether we could have had a B .' good concert is another matter LI altogether,"" continued Lowe. ""I think it should be a quality effort h instead of something to appease the to , masses.' tst With the opening of the Physical Education complex scheduled for October, 1976, Towson will easily be (ht capable of accommodating concerts. ""Next year we will start off with a bang. We just have a great future for a concert,"" stated the SGA president. ""I made a decision Friday based on all the information that we came Up with after dealing with three Promoters,"" remarked Lowe. ""I think I explored all the avenues and, to me, it just didn't look like We were going to have a quality concert."" Plans for a concert series for next Year are already underway in the SGA. LXVIII, NO. 18 TOWSON STATE COLLEGE FEBRUARY 27 1976 Charges fly in HEW hearing by Joan Grabowski Charging the Department of Health, Education and Welfare with trying to ""dismantle black colleges in Maryland and indeed the state educational system,"" Judge Edward S. Northrup concluded final argu-ments in federal district court Fri-day. In the court action, the state of Maryland is seeking a permanent in-junction against an HEW notice of an administrative hearing. The ad-ministrative hearing is the first step toward a possible cut-off of $65 million in federal aid to Maryland Public higher education. In an exchange with the judge, Leigh Manasevit, Department of Justice Attorney, insisted a racially dual educational system still exists in Maryland, with curriculum dupli-cated in predominantly black and predominantly white institutions pre-serving segregation. Elimination of segregation could be accomplished, Manasevit said, by eliminating cur-cuter duplication and adopting an inter-institutional statewide ap-proach. The attorney indicated HEW was not trying to eliminate predominant- !3' black institutions, but was seek- ing an end to racially identifiable schools. During testimony, Manase- vit had maintained the possibility of a predominantly black institution that was not racially identified as such. Asked how this could be accomplished, Manasevit commen-ed it was a complex, though not insoluable problem. Concert Canned ""Outside influences"" in the case, mentioned earlier, were identified by David Feldman, attorney for Maryland. Feldman stated the Adams litigation had controlled HEW since 1973. In the 1972 Adams vs Richards case (later to become Adams vs Wineberger and Adams vs Mathews) the NAACP defense fund charged HEW with ""lackadaisical enforce-ment"" of civil rights legislation in the field of higher education. In ruling on the case, Federal district court Judge John Pratt said the government had ""laggardly enfor-ced"" the laws. HEW reacted by re-quiring desegregation plans from 10 states including Maryland. The Mis-sissippi plan was deemed unaccept-able, and Alabama failed to submit a plan. The other eight st9te dese-gregation plans were accepted eventually by HEW. On August 1, 1975, the NAACP defense fund again charged HEW with lax enforcement of the laws in a motion before the court. Accor-ding to the publication Higher Edu-cation and National Affairs, NAACP claimed HEW had unlawfully accep-ted the state desegragation plans. Feldman quoted a letter from Martin Gary, Acting Director for Office of Civil Rights, stating Mary-land money should be deferred be-cause it ""would build credibility"" for HEW; and would be a ""symbol of our sincerity to civil rights groups."" HEW officials were targets of a barage of criticism from Maryland attorneys. Francis Burch, Maryland Attorney General, called officials ""bureaucrats of the worst sort,"" saying HEW had ignored legal re-straints on its power. Attorney Henry Lord called offi-cials ""aggressive bureaucrats trying to make their mark,"" while Feld-man characterized HEW actions as ""extortion at the whim of federal bureaucrats."" He further remarked ""everything (HEW) does is on an ad hoc basis,"" theorizing if HEW had provided ""Consistent, coherent policies that institutions could fol-low... we wouldn't be here in court today."" ""how can you correct a violation if you don't know what you're doing wrong,"" asked Lord, re2eating the now familiar charge of lack of guidance and information from HEW. On finding specific examples of non-compliance Lord said of HEW, ""They haven't looked; they tell us they will look later. Why haven't the defendants looked? Because they have a $65 million sledge hammer."" Burch remarked HEW had demon-strated ""the contempt they have for the state of Maryland, its govern-ment and institution!' A decision from Northrup is ex-pected soon. Consroe defends clustering by Steve Verch ""Right now I don't think it'll make it through the Senate...it'll probably be killed in the Commit-tee,"" said SGA Secretary of Organizational and General Ser-vices Ed Consroe, after a half hour of defending his proposal to restructure the SGA organizations at a Senate Governmental Opera-tions Committee meeting last Tuesday. Referred to by many as ""the Cluster Bill,"" S#69 attempts to classify and organize SGA organi-zations- into seven areas to facilitate budgetary and operating proce-dures. Organizations with similar goals and activities would be clustered into similar categories. These seven categories are: aca-demic, entertainment, fraternities and sororities, media, recreational, religious, and special interest. Approximately 20 people were present in the Senate office as Senator Fran Schramm chaired discussion of the bill. Due to the short length of time, and the many questions raised by those attend-ing, discussion only reached section II of the five-plank proposal. The meeting was essentially a question and answer session. Students concerned about the ramifications of the bill expressed their concern and then asked Consroe specific questions. Consroe, sporting an unlit cigar listened attentively, continually holding up one finger and asking, ""May I respond?"" Ron Reaser, a member of CUB asked about the clustering of six ""religious"" organizations. Reaser maintained that the different groups have different goals and would not be able to work together toward the same goals. ""What you're saying is that Christians can't work together... why can't they when they hold similar events like a Bible study?"" commented Consroe. Replied Reaser, ""All you have to do is walk into a Baptist Bookstore and you'll see..."" ""A bible is a bible,"" stated Consroe. Senator Schramm capsulized both the pro's and con's of the new bill: ""There are really two goals this proposal seeks...number one is to aid in SGA bookkeeping and number two is to get organizations to work together. However, some have said that the bill will result in esident Anne Marie Lowe challenges statements of Dean Murphy. TL Photo by Ken Vane. SGA Secretary Ed Consroe defends his some students losing interest in their organizations, arguments over budgeting at the cluster level, and with the mass media independently budgeted, some will consider this unfair."" The main motivation for such conflict is the budgeting changes that would follow if the bill was passed. , Section III states: ""Budgeting - the Student Government Senate shall budget percentages of the total budget to each cluster. The percentages shall be based on past.allocations, importance and usefulness of past activities, and judgement. At this point, the members of the cluster shall further specifically budget the money. The clusters individually shall decide the process by which the allocation process will function with the advice of their Senate representa-tives."" ""This plan is simply not work-able. Assuming the Senate allocates necessary funds (even though these will be based on the past 'Cluster Plan.' TL Photo by Bill Stetka organization budgets), I would really like to see how the cluster will decide which member groups will get their budgets without fighting among themselves,"" said Forensic Union President Robyn Seymour after the meeting ad-journed. Consroe admits his proposal is not the final solution. ""I won't say it is the best, but it's better than the current process."" said Consroe. ""I've talked to booking agents for entertainment and they have told me that if organizations who hold dances and movies would guarantee them a certain number of contracts, we could get the bands and films at a lower price,"" he added. ""Specifically, we're talking about saving $600 a year if groups in the entertainment cluster would work together,"" ended Consroe. With the issue not yet resolved, another meeting of the Governmen-tal Operations Committee will be held Tuesday, March 2, in the Senate Office, at 3:30 p.m. Students pour over materials at registration. TL Photo by Kathy Dudek. Registration goes well by Steve Verch ""Well, there are always prob-lems when you go to the dentist - its not so much the pain as it is the anxiety. I think the spring registra-tion went very well this year, and while students may have waited to get into the registration in College Center, they were probably through in about twenty minutes - unless they really had a decimated schedule,"" said Associate Registrar for Registration and Scheduling, William Reuling. Reuling's job is to deal with registration for students at Towson, to increase or decrease courses and sections based on projected trends, and to arrange for the necessary classrooms for these sections. Registration for the 7,687 full-time day students at Towson is not made any easier by the flexibility of Towson's programs. Please turn to page 7 Protestors hold rally by Ruth Ann Leftridge and Joan Grabowski The Committee to Fight the Cuts, an organization formed to protest the cut-back in Basic Education Opportunity Grant funds, held a victory rally on Wednesday, Feb-ruary 25. According to a flyer distributed by the Committee, the demonstra-tion was originally organized ""to say that we won't stand for any more cuts and we don't intend to pay for this one."" A victory rally was held, however, when Fran Min-del, C.F.C. member, received a tele-gram from Senator J. Glenn Beall on Tuesday evening saying that the BEOG money had been restorecr Mindel explained that it is her understanding that students affec-ted by this restoration of funds will be getting a letter of explanation from the Financial Aid Office in the near future. Less than 50 people attended Wednesday's rally, but Revolu-tionary Student Brigade member John Young believed that 100 people would have been there if the funds had not been restored. Young explained that Brigade members had been calling their Please turn to page 7 Police report arrests The Towson State College campus police report that warrants have been issued for the arrest of three students in conjunction with the theft of 398 books of food coupons. Estimated at a value of over $10,000, a box of food coupon book-lets was discovered missing during a spot check on the evening of February 12. Investigations were begun by detectives three days later. , All three students, whose names have been withheld by the police are currently enrolled at Towson State. One student is charged with grand larceny, and receiving 271 of the stolen coupon books. Another is accused of larceny, a misdemeanor charge, for receiving 3 coupon books. The third student, alleged to have received 4 books, is a juvenile and the case is being handled by the juvenile authorities. The remaining outstanding coupons are still being sought. Cashiers noticed the use of the stolen coupons during meals Feb-ruary 16 and reported to campus police, who commenced their search. Please turn to page 3 Wilmouth suspended by Pete Binns Wayne Wilmouth, Food Service manager, has been suspended pending an investigation of allega-tions involving his employment at the College, an unofficial source told Towerlight this week. The source, Al Fear, a student at Lowe refutes Murphy charges by Pete Binns In an interview Tuesday, Anne Marie Lowe, SGA President, re-sponded to a letter published last week in Towerlight which challenged the statement made by Lowe two weeks ago concerning part-time stu-dents. The letter was written by John M. Bowen, associate director, Evening and Summer Division. Lowe said that she has talked to Dean Michael Murphy of the Evening and Summer division since the letter was written and that she doesn't ""feel"" [her] statements in the letter were incorrect. It's a way of looking at the budget."" She added, though, that she and Murphy ""are working on a compro-mise and the disputed statements now are an exercise in futility."" Bowen, in the letter, said that he wishes ""to correct the statements that ... part - time programs do not provide funds in support of the day activities and that there is no one to represent the evening student rights."" Lowe also discussed other matters during the interview. She said she was disappointed about how Senate handled a bill intended to retroactively help fund last week's Physically Handicapped Awareness activities. Senate bare-ly passed the bill, only after a long period of discussion about whether proper procedures had been followed concerning the bill. Lowe said that the Senators didn't keep the procedures in perspective and failed to see ""how beneficial the bill was."" She also was displeased with the number of abstentions on the vote saying, ""I don't think Senate made a firm decision on it. [Some of the Senators] abstained first and waited for their friends to vote. If you don't want to make a decision, you shouldn't be in Senate."" Referring to Congress's action to refund the basic grants, she said she ""was optimistic all along and extremely pleased that the Congress was responsive to the needs of stu-dents. So many times education seems to be the first program cut, but in this case students were given greater consideration."" She said that she ""supports the efforts of concerned students to try to alleviate financial burdens,"" but that the members of the Revolutionary Student Brigade are ""very provincial if they blame 'Fisher and Co.' If they really want to protest, they should protest in Washington and I'd join them there."" Reiterating her support of the proposed Clustering Plan for organi-zations, she termed it a ""terrific concept"" but said she couldn't sup-port the ""budgeting aspects of it."" ""It is important to have a degree of accomodation in the budget area. Clustering would de-centralize that,"" she added. The purpose, she said, ""is to lessen the work for organiza-tions -- not SGA -- and to lessen duplication of efforts, such as two organizations putting on the same type of movie."" Towson, said that Wilmouth was accused of distributing political literature to other employees during working hours. Wayne Schelle, vice president of Business and Finance, and Fred Bank, director of Personnel, said that they could not comment on whether or not Wilmouth had been suspended, saying that the Public Employees Information Act pro-hibited them from discussing the status of any employee. Schelle also said that if action was being taken they would be ""reluctant to discuss anything specific for fear of biasing the College community."" Bank, however, did explain the meaning of the term ""suspension."" He said it means ""temporarily not working, either with or without pay, pending an appeal."" The employee can be reinstated with back pay if the allegations cannot be substan-tiated. He added that a suspension must be made immediately after allega-tions are made, in order to comply with a State ruling calling for swift-ness of procedures. Schelle said that if an employee is reported to have violated a regula-tion, he is ""suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation into the allegations ... and after com-munications with the employee and his representatives."" Schelle further said he could ""guarantee"" that any investigation of this sort would be ""fair and im-partial"" and that he had ""only a commitment of honesty."" Bank added that ""we don't take any actions (against an employee) without a good cause."" Wilmouth could not be reached for comment. "