The Towerlight, February 28, 1985

tl19850228-000 "University responds to Nelson lawsuit Towson State and two University administrators ""did not commit the wrongs alleged"" in a $4 million suit filed against them last month by a former football player, according to a response issued by their attorneys Monday. The player, Sheldon E. Nelson, charged that the University, Vice President for Student Services Dorothy Siegel, aned University Relations Director Katie Ryan were guilty of racial discrimination and libel in Nelson's October 26 suspen-sion from the University for violating the student code of con-duct. The suspension stenuned from Nelson's arrest Sept. 2 for allegedly sexually assaulting a female student in the Glen Complex. Although criminal charges against Nelson were dropped when the woman declined to testify before a Baltimore County grand jury, Nelson was still found in violation of the code of conduct and suspended for one year. Nelson's suit charges he was suspended because he is black. The University, the suit alleges, took no action against a white male student who admitted to raping a female student in her dormitory room last May. The suit also charges that Nelson was libeled when the University released information about his case to the media. Nelson is seeking $3 million in punitive damages and $1 million in compensatory damages from the defendants. The response issued Monday in Baltimore County circuit court by the attorneys for the defen-dants� Attorney General Stephen Sachs and Assistant Attorneys General James Mingle and Christine Steiner � denied the charges and maintained that suits for damages are barred by ""sovereign immunity."" campus notes Man commits suicide on Osler Drive A 45-year-old Rogers Forge man committed suicide Sunday morning by diving in front of a vehicle on Osier Drive, Baltimore County police reported. Police said Lawrence Pasterchik, 45, of the 7400 block Stanmore Court, died on the scene of head in-juries after he was struck by a vehicle travelling toward Stevenson Lane on Osier Drive, across from St. Joseph's Hospital. The driver of the vehicle, who was not identified, was not charged in the incident, which took place at approximately 10:30 Sunday morn-ing. Witnesses told police Pasterchik, who appeared to be bleeding from the wrist and head, walked onto Osier Drive. Two vehicles swerved to avoid him and he dove into a third. Police said Mr. Pasterchik had lacerated his wrists shortly before the incident. �James Him( Inside Jump for bucks It's not too late to sign up for the second annual ""Jump Rope for Heart."" The campus-wide jump will raise money for the Maryland Heart Association by having sponsors contribue money for teams' jump-roping. Teams of six people will jump rope on a rotating basis for one hour and all participants will receive a jump rope. Individual's raising $30 or more will receive a t-shirt. The jump will be held Friday, March 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Burdick Hall. For more information about signing up, call Dr. Ray Stinar at 321-3174. �Joanne Brady The Moose is on the loose: Strange occurances at Cook Library P 8 The (grind Begins Ben Vereen and Harold Prince discuss their new musical . . . p.7 Rock n Roll High School: Carol Sipes interviews the Ramones p 10 Take that Ann Landers Joe Bob Briggs Sex Poll p 15 The Women's Center has scheduled the following events for Inter-national Women's Week, March 4-8. Monday, March 4: Women's Center, 12 p.m. A discussion of women and religion with Lutheran campus pastor Andrea Diegel, Sister Mary Lu Larsen, University physics professor, and Linda Singer, director of Jewish College Services. Women and Religious Conflict Tuesday, March 5: 11 a.m. Women's Center Apartheid: It's Historical and Contemporary Impact on Black Women in the U.S.A. A discussion with Dr. Lillian Anthony, dean of minority affairs, and other guests. Wednesday, March 6: University Union Room 314 12 noon-2 p.m. The International Club and the Women's Center sponsor a sampling of worldwide party foods. An RSVP is requested, 321-2421. Thursday, March 7: The Lecture Hall 11 a.m. University instructor Judy Markowitz presents a slide show and discusses pornography's affect on women. 2 p.m. Women's Center Lesbian and Gay Rights: What does it matter to me? Attorney Marla Hollingsworth, and Janet Bardzak, former Towson State student, explore the reasons behind discrimination against homosexuals. Women and Pornography Friday, March 8: Social, Cultural, and Develop- University Union roomm 314 ment Aspects of Women's Lives at 40 Author Adele Nudel, author of For the Woman Over 50, will be speaking. This is the first in a series of workshops offered by the Women's Center called ""The Wonder Years."" All events are free and open to the public. Call the Women's Center at 321-2666 for more information. Campus notes are continued on page 2 . � I'SN7 tit 1 Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Towson, Md. 21204 Vol. 78 No. 18 February 28,1985 How can children be protected from sexual abuse? Annapolis legislators are considering a bill requiring day care centers to check workers past criminal records. House considers day care legislation By Terie Wolan The House of Delegates is consid-ering a bill requiring all organiza-tions which care for children to check the criminal records of job ap-plicants for any past convictions in-volving sexual crimes. This legislation comes in the wake of several highly-publicized trials of day care directors and employees charged with sexually nhosinsr children last summer. - the House Bill 1538, any person convicted of sexually abus-ing a child, rape or attempted rape, a sexual offense, or child pornog-raphy would be prohibited from working with children. Results of the police check into an individual's criminal record would be given to the applicant, the potential em-ployer, and any state agency which provides funds to a child organiza-tion. Any child-care organization fail-ing to check past criminal records would have its federal, state, or local funding cut off. The bill was introduced February 1 and was referred to the judiciary committee. A hearing on the bill is scheduled for today. However, even if the bill is pass-ed, legislation can accomplish little in preventing child abuse in day care centers, some educators warn. Dr. Dorothy Siegel, dean of stu-dent services, has been active in dealing with child abuse cases for over ten years. She is chairperson of the child abuse committee of the Maryland Committee on Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving early childhood care. The committee works on legislation af-fecting children, training programs for educators, and provides infor-mation on Maryland day care pro-grams. The problem with the bill is ""only about seven percent of pedophiles [those who become sexually aroused by children] have a criminal record, so you're only screening out a small percentage of the potential abusers,"" Siegel said. Pedophiles are dangerous be-cause, besides rarely being con-victed, they also tend to be repeat offenders, she said. ""I think the bill is full of holes and I don't have much faith in it,"" said Harriet Douthirt, Towson State's day care director. The University personnel office conducts background checks on job applicants to any program involv-ing children, Douthirt said, but even with the check, ""a person who really wants to get past the check, could do it."" If a person uses a different name, is from another state, or was accus-ed of a crime, but never convicted, Douthirt said, the check may not pick up that person. ""I could go through police records and never find this out,"" she said. But if this bill will not adequately protect children, what will? Siegel and Douthirt gave two characteristics parents should look for when choosing a day care center�extensive staff supervision and permission for parents to drop in unannounced. ""What we think works is good su-pervision,"" Douthirt said. All teachers should have aides and if possible, different aides should be assigned to the same teacher. The See DAY CARE. page 1 Three tickets lined up SGA candidates announced The candidates for the 1985 Stu-dent Government Association (SGA) elections have been announc-ed. Three executive tickets have been drawn up. Shawn Hill, Gerald Thomas, and T m Trott, Jr. are running on a ticket for the offices of president, vice president and treasurer respec-tivei ? . Another ticket is made up of Paul Walsh, Joe Heacock, and Andy Cohn. A third ticket is made up of Dan Dinkin, Jeff Rinaca, and Tim Chase. Jeff Order and Ghazanfar Khan are each running independently for the presidency. Nearly thirty students are runn-ing for seantor at large seats. The candidates are: Anthony Battista, Frances S. Burman, Sharon Renee Cohen, Peggy Therese Floria, Melanie Goldsmith, Irene F. Griffin Mark E. Griffin, Jeffery A. Heb-ditch, Les Ireland, Donald Kar-m a sek , Rodney T. Keller, Christopher James Krivos, Larry Kushner, Regina M. Lennon, Keith Levasseur, Julie M. Lucas, Jeanette D. Lyles, Chris Melange, Tom Manger, Vernon Marrow, Rick Metrey, L. Page Murphy, James F. Nimmo III, Patrick L. Ousborne, Michele Joyce Rosenblum, Melissa D. Patterson, Michael Sage, Kevin Scally, Linda L. Smith. Of the Senate candidates, four-teen seats need to be filled. SGA candidates will grill each other in debate By Chuck Lee In the tradition of great debates like Nixon-Kennedy, Carter-Reagan, and Reagan-Mondale, the Student Government Association Election Commission is holding its own president:al and vice-presidential debate modestly titled ""The Great Debate"" Monday, March 4. The debate will consist of two parts: the presidential debate and the vice-presidential debate. Dr. Jack Fruct-man, associate professor of political science will be the moderator, and three panelists Larry Roberts of WCVT, Jamie Hunt, Towertighi editor-in-chief , and Arthur Jackson, head of the commuter association, will ask questions of the candidates. The debate events will be as follows: � Round One of the debate will allow each candidate a three minute open-ing presentation. � In round two, each candidate can comment on their opponents opening statement in a one-minute rebuttal. � Each candidate in round three will have two minutes to answer a panelist's question. � The panelist may ask a follow-up question, and the candidate will have one-minute to respond. � In the fourth round, candidates will be given six minutes as a free-for-all period in which they may either discuss the issues of their campaign, respond to their fellow candidates comments in previous rounds, or ask a question(s) to their fellow can-didates. � The final round of the debate will consist of candidates giving two-minute closing statements and/or rebuttals on the discussions of all previous rounds. _ In addition to ""The Great Debate,"" the commission will be holding a forum for senate and treasurer can-didates Wednesday, March 6. The forum will have candidates a chance to express their opinions in a three minute presentation. The debate will be held Monday, March 4, 4-5:30 p.m. in the University Union, Susquehanna room. The forum will be held Wednesday, March 6, 12-1:30 p.m., University Union outside the Susquehanna Rooms. Confusion surrounds small fire in Tower B By Jackie Yost and Scott Hollenbeck Residents in Tower B, accustom-ed to false fire alarms, were surpris-ed to learn the fire in the tower's basement last week was real. ""I couldn't believe it,"" said one Tower B student who preferred to remain anonymous. ""I figured it was just another alarm."" The fire, which began at approxi-mately 10:30 a.m. last Thursday, was ""self-contained"" in the base-ment trash chute, said Louise Shulach, Tower B area coordinator. Although the fire was small, a ""single alarm,"" according to Cap-tain Kenneth Atwell of the Balti-more County Fire Department, and resulted in no injuries or damage, there are discrepancies regarding the cause of the fire. Atwell said a piece of luggage put in the third floor trash chute caught fire. He said it was unclear whether or not the luggage was ignited when it was put in the chute. Something that was ignited may have been put in the chute after the luggage, he said. However, Lt. Robert Wheatly of the University Police said, ""A (card-board) beer case was ignited and dumped down the chute."" It (the fire) was intentional."" He said it was nearly impossible to determine from what floor the beer case was dumped. A police investigation in under-way. ""The investigation will con-tinue until it is discovered who is re-sponsible,"" Wheatly said. In addition to confusion regard-ing the cause of the fire, some stu-dents were confused about why alarms were not sounded on t heir floors. When questioned about the alarms, Shulach said, ""The way the system is set up, only (alarms on) certain floors will go off."" She said :c .1 fire were on :ourth flow . tor example, alarm, the third. tourth, fifth and floors would be sounded. Since fire was in the basement wit+ r, level below it, alarms were only in the two basement levels and t he first floor of the tower, she said. ""The basement to the first floor was the trouble area, and only alarms on those floors went off,"" Shulach said. 1 4 a fire spread, alarms would be sounded on the floor below the af-fected area and two floors above the area, as necessary, she said. If the dan ;er is extreme, it is possible to sound alarms on all floors simultan-eously. Students ignoring alarms, officials say By Jackie Yost With false fire alarms reported to Towson State Police nearly every week, University officials are con-cerned that students do not respond when alarms are sounded. ""We tell individuals not to as-sume that any alarms are false,"" said Phil Ross, University safety coordinator. Last Thursday, during the Tower B fire, ""some students could have assumed it was a false alarm, when in fact it was a real fire,"" he said. Besides false alarms, Ross said the sensitive alarm system is a rea-son students do not respond to alarms. 'The system used to be so sen-sitive that someone sweeping could set off a smoke detector,"" Ross said. These frequent alarms made stu-dents hesitant to evacuate the building when an alarm was sound-ed. ""We had gotten to the point where students were not respond-ing to alarms during drills,"" Ross said. Instead of evacuating the build-ing during a drill, students were simply going to a floor that was not being tested, he said. As a result, alarms are now sounded consecutively on each floor during a drill, he said. ""As long as the alarm is going off, we want [the students] to evacuate,"" said Louise Shulach, area coordinator. ""We don't want them assuming [it is a false alarm],"" she said. "