The Towerlight, March 20, 1986

tl19860320-000 "Police car window shattered Sunday The front passenger side window of a Towson State police cruiser was shattered early March 16, when two freshmen resident students shot a half-inch ball bearing at the car at 1:30 a.m. ""Apparently"", Towson State Judicial Officer Tom Knox said, ""they did it on a dare."" The students used a high powered sling shot called a ""wrist-rocket"" to fire the ball bearing. The officer involved received lacerations to his right hand from the glass and the ball-bearing, but was not seriously injured. Knox said the accused were shooting at the car and not the officer from what the police report shows. Thirteen students were questioned before the two students accused of the incident were charged with malicious destruction of property and assault and battery. The charges are criminal as well as internal. The two charged have been dismissed from all campus activities except academics but at a hearing set tentatively for Friday, Dean of Students Dorothy Siegal can decide to dismiss them from academics as well. Michele Hart Hawkins Seminar on Central America ""The Crisis in Central America: Options for Development and Change'� is the topic for the 17th annual Earle T. Hawkins Symposium on International Affairs. The Symposium will be today, March 20 from 1:15-4:30 in the Chesapeake Room of the University Union. The symposium is sponsored by the University's Center for Public Policy and International Affairs and will provide a close examination of the political and economical crisis in Central America as well as the conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in Central America. Expected speakers at the symposium will be: Bruce M. Bragley, associate professor of Latin Studies, School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University speaking on ""The United States and the contadora Process""; Richard Nuccio, director Latin American and Carribean Problems, Roosevelt Center for Policy Studies and his subject, ""Prospects for Peace in Central America: The View .from Washington"": and Hugh Swartz, senior economist, Inter-American Development Bank, on the topic of 'The Bottleneck to Central American Economic Development-. Students, faculty and community members are welcome to attend. For more information contact the University's political science department, 321-2958. Michele Hart Towson math teacher dies Assistant Mathematics Pro-fessor Ben Swenson died Tues-day, March 12 after a three month battle with lung cancer. Swenson came to Towson State in 1967 from Hood College where he had been teaching Early Childhood and Elementary Educ-tion math courses. Swenson had been an active teacher up until the time of his illness. Swenson was known as ""Gen-tle Ben"" according to Harriet Griffin Commuter Affairs direc-tor. ""I was so upset when I heard he was sick. He was such a nice person,"" Griffin said. While at Towson State, Swen-son was the recipient of two ""Aw Shucks"" awards, and was voted this year's Faculty of the Year through the Office of Special Needs. Swenson is survived by two brothers and a sister all residing in Texas. A memorial service is planned for April, but the exact date has not been set. Contributions can be sent in Swenson's name to the Oncology Support Services department of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. A scholarship fund is also being established in his name. For further information, con-tact Kris Mirbaha 321-3283. Michele Hart campus notes Inside Harbor reflections The inner harbor is highligh-ed in visual's photo essay . .3. Tigers lost lead in 4th Men's lacrosse bows to #1 ranked UNC, 8-6 5 Softball is out swinging Tiger bats smashed York, 8-2, in the opener 7 Right wing students Conservatives are calling for U.S. businesses to boycott communist countries 15. New proposal will limit loan funds More than a third of colleges and universities would lose federal money for National Direct Student Loans (NDSL) under new regulations proposed by the Education Department, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The proposals would affect 1,561 institutions. The Education Department said the new regulations were necessary. ""to reduce the high numbers of default loans under the NDSL program"". Over all, about 14 percent of borrowers default (or fail to repay) on direct loans. They owe about $1.1 billion. The Federal Government gives capital contributions which are matched by the universities and then lent to students. The government is expected to contribute $208.6-million to these accounts this year. Under the Education Department proposal, the new contributions would be reduced to institutions where more than 7.5 percent of former students fail to repay. Contributions would be eliminated to institutions where more than 20 percent of former students have failed to repay loans. Currently, the Federal government contribution to a college's fund is not reduced until the institution's default rate exceeds 10 percent. The contributions are eliminated if more than 25 Percent of a college's former students have failed to repay. Towson State's Director of Financial Aid, Marilyn Ojudu, stated that ""Towson State's delinquency rate is around 7 percent, so we would not be affected by this new proposal"". Approximately 850 Towson State students received NDSL's averaging $1200 this year. Ojudu also said that ""although Towson State is not affected by this proposal, there are other proposals in the works by the Federal government that may hurt the university"". The new proposals include cutting Pell Grants, changes in loan limits, and the deficit-reducing Gramm- Rudman law. Maria Valles This is the last issue of The Towerlight before spring break. The Towerlight will return April 10. Have a safe and fun spring break. The Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Vol. 79 No. 22 Towson, Md 21204 March 20, 1986 We could've been been a contender Towson lacrosse fans filled Minnegan Stadium as the Tigers kicked off the new season. Unfortunately, the Tigers were not able to over: come North Carolina State's two point lead, and lost 8 to 6 (See sports page 5.) SGA upholds Walsh's IFC proposal veto By Michele Hart By a vote of 8 to 4, the-Student Government Association sup-ported last week's presidential veto of the Inter-Fraternity Coun-cil Bill. SGA President Paul Walsh vetoed the bill last week atter it passed the Senate by a unanimous vote. The bill would have given the Inter-Fraternity Council complete autonomy from the SGA, includ-ing judicial control and affiliation control of fraternities. Walsh said he vetoed the bill because ""I disagree with a number of things in the bill, including af-filiation and judicial policy."" ""I thought the bill was rushed. Members of the SGA did not have time to digest the policy and ask any questions about it,"" Walsh said. The IFC was surprised and upset by the veto, according to past IFC chairman Dan Dinkin. ""We like the policy the way it is,"" Dinkin said. At a meeting Monday night, the IFC representatives of all ten member fraternities voted to keep the wording that Walsh did not ap-prove of in the bill. ""We have to show them that we're trying to have some strength,"" said Jack Buffington, preent I FC chairman. Although the IFC feels that their proposal will have no trouble with SGA President-elect Melanie Goldsmith (who takes office in two weeks) they decided it was impor-tant to try and get it through the current administration. ""We wanted this passed as soon as possible. This Senate has known about it [the bill] for almost a year, so why not give them the priv i lege of passing it?- Dinkin said. The consensus of the Senate this week, however was that al-though the bill was a good idea, in the words of treasurer Andy Kohn, ""It is shoddy, and has too many loopholes the way it is currently written."" Pro-choice and pro-life square off on campus By Osa Eghafona Two pregnancy counselors squared off in the Patuxent Room Thursday, March 13, to debate the heated issue of whether a woman has the right to choose abortion, as a viable alternative to an unwanted pregnancy. Sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, the debate between Pat Loescher, one of the founders of the Greater Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center, and Laurel Ward, director of Planned Parenthood, drew an au-dience of approximately 120 people. Loescher defending the Pro-life stand said: ""Abortion is the killing of an innocent human person. It presents many possibilities for physiological and psychological complications to the woman."" However, according to Ward, whatever the moral question, mak-ing abortions illegal will not stop them. ""The way to prevent abortion is not to make it illegal. That won't work. It never has. Whenever gov-ernments have made abortions il-legal, they have not stopped them. Throughout the centuries, when women have felt abortion to be their only option, they have had them,"" she said. Since the 1973 Supreme Court de-cision which legalized abortion, Loescher said, ""almost every woman with an unwanted pregnan-cy is faced with the option of abor-tion. Nationally over 11 million abortions have been performed since 1973, with one-third of all pregnancies now ending in abortion. In Maryland, close to one-half of all pregnancies are aborted."" In the two decades before abor-tion was legal in the U.S., ""nearly one million American women went 'underground' each year for illegal operations. Thousands died for lack of medical care. Tens of thousands were maimed. All were forced to behave as if they were criminals in order to do What they felt was right for themselves,"" Ward said. ""Pro-choice does not mean pro' abortion,"" Ward said. ""A pro-choice position defends only the legality of a woman's right to choose to have an abortion. Support does not re-quire an individual to approve of abortion. It merely demonstrates an individual's privacy."" The Supreme Court recognized this with its Roe V. Wade, decision, guaranteeing a woman the freedom to decide whether or not to abort within the first three months of pregnancy. Ward said the moral issue there is the ongoing debate as to when life begins. ""When life begins,"" Ward said, ""is a matter of irreconcilable religious debate."" Some theologies place the beginning of personhood at birth. Others place it at different stages of fetal development. Biblical and scientific evidence Loescher said, ""point to the fact that human life begins at concep-tion and that each fetus being ter-minated is a unique individual made in the image of God."" ""Pro-life it is clear, is for life. Pro' choice is speaking of a woman's de-cision to bring a baby to life or to death,"" Loescher, a mother of tWo children said. She said that four years after abortion was legalized, ,approx-imately one in four babies conceived was killed legally before birth. ""The total number of abortions in 1975 was 854,000 and a decade later it escalated to nearly one-half See ABORTION, page 2 Dinkin defended the proposal by saying that the document was not shoddy, ""it's an excellent document."" 'The SGA officers don't want this because they think it threatens their power,"" Dinkin said. Much of the debate over the bill and the veto ct.ntered irotilui the word 'and' in the seetion dealing with judicial policy. The policy said that judicial rulings can only be overturned by the IFC or by a ""unanimous decision of the SG A's and the University's judicial of-ficers."" ""It is not a matter of could they [the IFC handle] it,"" Walsh said, ""it is a matter of should they han-dle it. And no they shouldn't han-dle it [judicial policy]. The SGA judcial policy and board are set up just for that. No group should tell us that we can't adjudicate."" But Senator Chris Krivos dis-agreed with Walsh. ""I think the biggest problem with this policy is that it represents change,"" Krivos said. Allowing the IFC to be the gov-erning body for the fraternities would relieve the individual frater-nities of their responsibilities to the SGA. Each fraternity would no longer be required to attend mandatory meetings and sign-in dates and would not have to fur-nish workers to man the poles dur-ing SGA elections. According to Senator Kevin Scally, ""they want SGA benefits, but they don't want SGA respon- See SGA, page 2 Towson State reaches out of court agreement with Nelson By Kelso Sturgeon Former Football captain Sheldon Nelson, who was accused of a second degree sex offense has agreed to drop his $4 million suit against Towson State, two University ad-ministrators, and the woman who accused him in exchange for a con-fidential out-of-court settlement. The settlement allows all dis-ciplinary actions and a one year suspension handed down by Univer-sity President Hoke Sinith to stand, according to university admin-istrative sources who spoke on the condition that they not be named. All parties agreed not to disclose the details of the settlement, according to Nelson's lawyer H. Patrick Stringer. He said he could not reveal the amount of the settle-ment. The suit was filed in Jan. 1985 against the University, Student Services Vice President Dorothy Siegel, Director of University Rela-tions Katie Ryan and the woman student who accused him. Nelson sought $1 million in com-pensatory damages and $3 million in punative damages from the defendants. The suit charged that Nelson's privacy was violated and that he was libeled when university ad-ministrators gave information con-cerning the case to news reporters that eventually was printed in local and national newspapers. The ad-ministrator's actions, the suit claimed, violated a confidentiality clause found in the school's student handbook. Nelson's suit also accused the female student who filed the com-plaint against him of malicious pro-secution and stated that Nelson was suspended because he was blAck. A white student, the suit charged, who admitted to raping a female student in her dorm room in the spring of 1984, was not suspended. � All criminal charges against Nelson were dropped after a Baltimore county grant jury would not indict him Oct. 8, 1984 when his accuser refused to testify. But, the University had suspend-ed Nelson for five years Sept. 8, 1984. That suspension was re-tracted because Nelson was not told See NELSON, page 2 4.0** The University and former Towson football player Sheldon Nelson reach-ed an out-of-court settlement last week on a suit Nelson raised against Towson State and two administrators last year. "