The Towerlight, March 14, 1985

tl19850314-000 "Anthony wants TSU to protest apartheid Lillian Anthony, Associate Dean of the Office of Minority Affairs, wants Towson State to take a stance on the South Africa policy of apartheid. Protesters have been picketing the South African embassy in Washington D.C. demonstrating against the white minority government's policy of apartheid, segregating citizens according to race. Several prominent citizens including the mayor of D.C. and members of the Baltimore City Council have demonstrated there. Anthony said she was going to ask the University to make its statement by ""going down (to the South African embassy) and marching."" Katie Ryan, director of Univer-sity Relations, said the apartheid issue, ""is a matter of the personal politics of Lillian Anthony."" Anthony spoke to a group last Tuesday as part of Women's History Week, about Apartheid. In her speech, Anthony invited the audience to demonstrate at the embassy. District of Columbia law pro-hibits protesting within 500 feet of a foreign embassy. Anyone cross-ing the line will be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor and disorderly conduct, according to Washington D.C. police. To be released from jail, a $50 bond must be posted. Anthony is a member of Trans Africa, a group concerned with protecting the civil rights of Africans and African descendants. Trans Africa's lawyers will post her bond if she is arrested for pro-testing. If students want to protest, they should be prepared to post the bond, Anthony said. Currently, the University is not sponsoring any groups to protest at the embassy. Ryan said the University is neutral regarding South Africa. Since the University is funded by the state, it is prohibited from taking a stance. �Teresa Graber Aussie rock Joe LaMastra interviews members of the Eurogliders P 7. Oohhh what a feeling Towson's gymnastic team takes third place in the ECAC division II championships p4. Murder Texas style Adam Eisenberg reviews Blood Simple, one of this year's hottest murder films ........p.7. Apathy kills political seminar A political seminar featuring prominent Maryland politicians was cancelled after only 11 students registered for the all-day event, which was to take place last Saturday. The seminar, sponsored by the Towson State Young Democrats, was to feature Lt. Governor Joseph Curran, Attorney General Stephen Sachs, and Rep. Michael Barnes, among others. Joe McCormick, vice-president of the Young Democrats, said he ""can't see any other reason but apathy"" for the poor response to the seminar. ""Most other col-leges,"" he said, ""would have had a better turnout."" He blamed the apathy on the fact that the University is primarily a commuter school. ""Living on campus gives students a better chance to get involved,"" he said. McCormick said the event, which cost $8 and was to last from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, was publicized heavily here and at twenty other campuses in the state. The cancellation of the seminar was not a major financial loss for the organization, which spent $50 for flyers and an ad to promote the seminar, McCormick said. A greater loss, he said, was the time members of the Young Democrats spent organizing the seminar. Preparations began last semester and continued until the cancellation, he said. campus notes Study contradicts Reagan, Bennett: Aid money goes to needy students Nearly 90 percent of student financial aid goes to students who do need the money, accord-ing to a new study challenging the Reagan administration's claims that many students do not really need aid money. The study, begun before Presi-dent Reagan unveiled his pro-posal to cut student aid, con-tradicts Secretary of Education William Bennett's charge that too much aid goes to families who do not need it, said Universi-ty of Wisconsin Professor Jacob Stampen, who conducted the study. The study shows nearly 30 per-cent of all college students receive some type of federal, state, institutional, or private financial aid. And only about 10 percent of financial aid awarded in 1983-84 came from such ""non-need"" pro-grams as Veteran's Administra-tion funds and merit scholar-ships. About 22 percent of aid money students received came from Pell Grant, Work-Study, and Sup-plemental Educational Opportuni-ty Grant programs. Students who got the grants usually were the neediest students, the study said. To get most other government grants and loans, students had to pass stringent needs analyses, Stampen said, which keeps the money from students who don't need it. �College Press Service What do commuters need? Commuters make up 71 per cent of the student body at Towson State, but a survey taken last Fall showed they seem to have little or no voice in issues. For this reason, Harriet Griffin, Director of Commuter Affairs, has begun a movement to form a University Commuter Associa-tion at the University. From the survey, Griffin found that many commuter students feel that an association for them is needed on campus. ""A majori-ty of commuter students want to get together and feel more a part of the campus,"" said Griffin. Other schools have formed such organizations with much success. The Commuter Associa-tion at the University of Maryland College Park campus represents 25,000 students on a campus where 3 out of 4 students are commuters. Their organiza-tion has focused on keeping com-muters informed of on-campus ac-tivities, providing entertainment at times convenient for corn-muters, and acting as a represen-tative body to the school ad-ministration. In the initial meeting of com-muters interested in forming an association, students spoke of their needs and concerns as commuters. Missing out on campus activities and getting to know people were listed as two big problems a commuter faces. Jeanne Arnold, who was a resi-dent but now commutes, said, ""I'm not doing half as many things as I did as a resident, but I'd like to."" Many commuters have said that they feel separated from residents and would like to see pro-graming to try to bring the two groups together. However, as Grif-fin pointed out, not only is it im-portant for commuters to associate with residents, but it is also impor-tant for commuters to be with other commuters. Promoting com-muter meal plans and a carpool system were also discussed. The possibility of SGA affiliation was also mentioned. Another meeting is being plan-ned . Anyone who wishes to be involved or would like more information can contact Har-riet Griffin at 321-4081. �Jean Kane Campus notes are continued on page 2 The Published weekly by the students o Towson State University Vol. 78 No. 20 Towson, Md. 21204 March 14, 1985 BEST takes 11 of 14 senate seats SGA Election indecisive, BEST and STUDENT tickets will face off again By Mitchell Japan Shawn Hill's losing RIGHT ticket pledged sup-port for ex-rival BEST candidates. ""Who was I voting for anyway?"" By Mitchell Jaspan Presidential candidate Dan Dinkin shows his disappointment after learning he received the most votes, but not enough votes to win. Run-off will decide executive positions By Robert Taylor The SGA elections ended Tues-day with with STUDENT'S ticket facing the BEST ticket in a run-off election Monday, March 18. None of the executive candi-dates� those running for the offices of president, vice-president, or treasurer�received enough votes to win office. According to SGA bylaws, execu-tive candidates must receive over 50 percent of the total vote to be elected. Since this did not occur, the top two vote-getters for each office will run again in the final election. Also on the ballot for the run-off is a reproposal of the SGA constitu-tional amendment 10. This alone of the four amendments on the last For Andy Kohn, the hardest part is waiting for the election results to be announced. ballot did not pass. Election Commission chairman Brandt Kamka believed the reason this amendment did not pass was because it was inadequately ex-plained on the ballot. The amend-ment was intended to be a compan-ion to the second amendment, which enabled the SGA president to replace executive officers. The third amendment would al-low SGA senators to be named to these positions, and also allow SGA executives to hold office in other SGA-affiliated organizations. election. turnout a'sla Wwahsolpel, Kamka gave mixed reviews of the e�ahseedsawidit,h,,bthuet the residents did not turn out in suf-ficient numbers."" Election turn-out See RUN-OFF, page 2 By Terie Wotan The SGA election ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. While the BEST ticket scored an overwhelming victory in the senate races, taking 11 of the 14 senate positions, none of the executive candidates received over 50 percent of the vote, so no winner was declared. A run-off election will be held next Monday with the two highest vote-getters, the BEST and the STUDENTS ticket candidates squar-ing off for the presidential, vice-presidential, and treasurer positions. Of the four referendum questions on the ballot, only question three failed to pass by over 50 percent of the students voting. The SGA Senate voted Tues-day to put the question back on the ballot with more explanation. Of the four presidential candidates, STUDENTS candidate Dan Dinkin received 417 votes, BEST candidate Paul Walsh received 378 votes, RIGHT candidate Shawn Hill receiv-ed 256 votes, and Crash Kahn received 59 votes. Dinkin said, ""Of course I wish I had gotten 50 percent. Having the run-off election just means one more week of high blood pressure."" Dinkin, was endorsed by the University Resident Government (URG). ""The URG helped a great deal,"" Dinkin said. ""They were pulling peo-ple out of the halls and not just to vote, but to work for me."" Dinkin said he was upset only two STUDENT candidates for senator were elected, Francis Burman and Jeanette Lyles. Walsh said while he would have lik-ed the election to have been decided, ""I've been working towards this for months, so another week is another week."" See ELECTIONS, page 9 Student Government Association Elections President *Daniel Dinkin *Paul Walsh Shawn Hill Crash Kahn 417 378 256 59 Vice-President *Joseph Heacock 421 *Jeffrey Rlnaca 373 Gerald Thomas 294 Treasurer *Andrew Kohn *Timothy Chase Thomas Trott, Jr. 431 387 237 (38%) (34%) (23%) ( 5%) (39%) (34%) (27%) (41%) (37%) (22%) *denotes run-off candidate Elected Senators Melanie Goldsmith Larry Kushner Mark Griffin Regina Lennon Chris Malanga Christopher Krivos Linda Smith Les Ireland Shari Cohen Tony Batista Irene Griffin Jeanette Lyles Kevin Scally Francis Burman Voter turnout 1,198 586 521 515 511 489 480 457 439 429 428 417 409 391 386 Women's studies becoming a part of general classes By Lorraine Mirabella Some faculty are including more women's studies material into gen-eral lower level courses this semester, but complain recurring problems such as rethinking teach-ing strategies, students resisting new material, and a lack of updated textbooks are hampering their ef-forts. The mainstreaming of women's studies is a part of a three year pro-gram to integrate the scholarship on women into a wider curricula. The project, one of between 35 and 50 underway at colleges across the country, was financed in the Fall 1983 by the Department of Ed-ucation's Fund for the Improve-ment of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The three year $278,672 grant is one of the largest in the country, said Sara Coulter, co-director of the program, along with Elaine Hedges. The women's studies department organized the mainstreaming pro-gram into a series of workshops to be conducted over five semesters. Up to six faculty members and a leader trained in women's studies are participating in each workshop, and a total of 77 faculty members will be involved. During the first two semesters, faculty read and discussed women's studies materials. During the third semester, they revised syllibi and made changes in course textbook and discussion topics. This semester, they to teach and evaluate courses. The program has challenged ""what we thought was the right way,"" sociology instructor Ellen Zinner said. ""We're finding (revising teach-ing) is not an impossible task, nor is it very easy when you're used to teaching one way,"" Judith Marko-witz, women's studies instructor, said. ""Most of us are finding we have to experiment with how to get this across,"" said Joan Rabin, assistant psychology professor and workshop leader. ""The biggest problem is stu-dents don't take what's not in the textbooks seriously. We're fighting with the whole problem of the struc-ture of education."" Coulter said in many cases, stu-dents are conditioned by high school courses as to which topics they think appropriate for a college classroom. Most of the resistance came from the freshmen. Because the new ideas can be ""frightening,"" their first reaction is one of ""rejection and hostility,"" Rabin said. She said history instructors have relayed instances of students who ""put down their pens"" when women's history is discussed. ""If they get something new, they have begun the revised tend to be suspicious and often to reject it. They don't see (women's history) as legitimate. Students often will reject black history also,"" Coulter said. ""It's hard to get the majority of male students to believe (women's history) has the same significance as the civil war,"" said history pro-fessor Fred Rivers. Coulter said male students often feel uneasy discussing women's studies and find it embarrassing ""because they're not accustomed"" to it. ""They are taught that they become men by separating them-selves from everything that has to do with women,"" she said. She said female students have different reactions to the new material. Some female students find the material ""very exhilarating"" be-cause it ""speaks to their lives,"" while other women are hesitant to discuss it. ""They will come up after class and say they 'didn't want to waste class time.' They haven't taken themselves quite seriously enough,"" Coulter said. Rabin found a majority of her students receptive to the informa-tion. ""A student who is open to new perspectives is open to this."" But ""some people get extremely uncom-fortable and are very vocal,"" she said. ""We were raised to believe gender roles were natural. You see in litera-ture what you are tuned to see. Gender dynamics are there, we just haven't discussed them,"" she said. Coulter cited Shakespeare's fe-male characters who are destroyed or driven insane as an example of the ""cost of traditional gender roles."" Writing specialist K. Edgington said she has addressed bias in lan-guage and has received a positive re-sponse from students. Writing spe-cialist Linda Mahin has stressed the roles of men and women in organ-izations in Writing for Business and Industry Courses. Art instructors are discussing women artists more and rethinking the images of women in art which portray ""women as the center of the family,"" Harriet McNamee, art workshop leader said. The University's program will be a model for other schools, Rabin said. ""A lot of what we find does not work, will help other places,"" she said. The FIPSE grant will support a pedagogy conference titled ""The New Scholarship on Women: What Happens in the Classroom,"" featur-ing speaker Florence Howe, author of Myths of Coeducation, a student panel and a faculty panel from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 16 in the Lec-ture Hall. "