tl19840329-000 "JIL The Towerlight What we see, we see and seeing is changing . �Adrienne Rich Vol. 77 No. 23 PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 March 29, 1984 As their term ends , SGA keeps the freeze on the BSU budget By Mike Judge and James Hunt At the last meeting of their term, the Student Government Association voted Tuesday against a motion that would have reinstated the Black Stu-dent Union's spring budget. The SGA 'froze' the budgets of the BSU and three other student organiza-tions two weeks after those groups failed to provide representatives to man the polls during the SGA elec-tions March 12 and 13. SGA policy dic-tates that budgeted organizations assist in manning the polls during elections or face an immediate freeze on their budgets. Last week, the SGA reinstated the budgets of two of the organizations, the Economics Club and the ARTS Guild, while maintaining the freeze on the BSU budget, despite protests by representatives from the BSU that they had made an effort to supply representatives to the polls, but were unable to contact members of the election commission to determine when they were scheduled to man the polls. The senators, however, maintained that every organization was provided with schedules and that BSU Presi-dent Adrienne Burrows was asked prior to the elections and on both elec-tion days to provide representatives to the polls and failed to do so. They added that the decision to con-tinue to the freeze was based in part on the failure of the BSU to send members to budgeting meetings last semester and mandatory organiza-tional meetings earlier this semester. Not providing representatives to the polls was ""the third strike"" SGA president Bob Barnhart said. Burrows, who was not present at last weeks' meeting, told the senate that she had submitted a list of six Faculty may join suit spurred by pension cuts By Glenn Small Towson State's professors, frus-trated by the General Assembly's recent 5 percent cap on cost-of-living increases and their pensions, will discuss plans today for taking part in a large suit being organized by teachers and state employees. ""We cannot afford to participate [fully] but there is strong sentiment on this campus to participate in the suit in some capacity,"" said Dr. George Friedman, English profes-sor and president of the Univer sity 's chapter of the American As-sociation of University Professors (AAUP). Friedman said that the breach of contract suit against the state will cost in the neighborhood of $250,000, which university faculty, if they participate, will have to pay one six-teenth of that total. The Maryland State Teacher's Association (MSTA) and the Mary-land Classified Employee's Associa-tion (MCEA) are two of the larger groups organizing the suit. Towson professors are consid-ering entering the suit as friends of the courts (unsolicited testimony), Friedman said. Friedman said that he was partic-ularly upset with the way in which the pension cap bill was passed. ""Originally, it was proposed as a means of raising money for educa-tion and the Bay,"" Friedman said, but ""Governor Harry Hughes was forced to back away from that be-cause of a letter from Standard and Poor's."" The letter was a warning that Maryland might jeopardize its pre-sent Triple-A credit rating if it went through with plans to use savings from the pension cuts to fund the Bay cleanup project and education programs. Maryland's triple-A rating, one of seven states with such a rating, is one of seven states with a Triple-A rating, which allows it to pay a slightly lower interest rate on the bonds it buys to build schools, hos-pitals, and prisons. ""It boils down to face saving for the legislative leadership,"" Fried-man said, adding: ""[Benjamin] Car-din and [Melvin] Steinberg put their reputations on the line, and if they would have lost this, they would have lost face,"" he said. Dr. Friedman also stresses that, though the unlimited pension plan was unique to Maryland, it was a trade off for some ""lean salary years back into the seventies."" ""A lot of us made career decisions based on this,"" he said,"" we may have made different decisions if we'd known the state was going to back out."" Friedman also said that back in 1979 when the General Assembly first introduced the 5 percent cap, those on the old plan (unlimited) were promised that their program would be untouched. This year Towson's faculty re-ceived a 6 percent cost-of-living pay raise, 2 percent of which must be funded, through the University. ""We were told (by the University) that we can gain a raise and lose a typewriter,"" Friedman said. ""It's very hard for anyone to look at our salary scale and call us greedy,"" Friedman said. Women win one, lose one By Jerry Trout Towson State's women's lacrosse team opened their season last week with a win against UMBC, 13-8, but lost on the road to Lehigh, 22-8. Here, Ruth Gutridge slides by two UMBC defenders...article, page 9. BSU members willing to man the polls to the SGA the Thursday before the elections but never received a schedule stating when they were to go to the polls. She said that she was unable to con-tact anyone on the election commis-sion through the SGA, and added that when she was contacted by Paul Pusateri�who was on the election commission and subsequently became its chairman � on Monday, she did not have the phone numbers of the six volunteers and was unable to contact them. On Tuesday, she said, Pusateri contacted her while she was on her way to a class, in which she was scheduled to give a speech, so that she was unable to assemble volunteers to man the polls. Alison Leonard, a BSU member and former SGA senator, questioned the harshness of the decision to freeze the budget. ""As a senator, I saw worse viola-tions"" of SGA policy Leonard said. In such cases, she said, the groups in-volved were placed on probation or had stipulations placed on their budget governing its use. ""Why couldn't there be certain stipulations put on the budget rather than freezing the whole thing,"" she asked. ""We're punishing you � for lack of a better word,"" Sen. Allison Dubbert responded. The SGA's decision will cost the BSU the approximately $200 remaining in its budget for this spr-ing, the bulk of which was to help the BSU fund its annual Parents Banquet, an event BSU members say is one of the most important and well-attended functions they sponsor. Dubbert said that leaving money for that event would not constitute punishment. Sen. Kevin Shabow made the mo-tion to rescind last week's decision and reinstate the budget. ""The whole situation is pretty perplexing. As I have heard everything unfold, I've seen abuses on both sides,"" Shabow said. He said that he had talked to other organizations that had had problems receiving com-munications from the SGA, but added that the BSU had the opportunity to get members to the polls, and didn't. Nonetheless, he felt the penalty was too severe. Sen. Eileen O'Shea disagreed. ""A freeze on the budget was the least severe of all the options we had,"" O'Shea said. The senate then voted six to two, with one abstention against the motion to rescind the freeze. The Parents Banquet, scheduled for May 6, will not be affected by the SGA's decision, Burrows said. She said the BSU was planning fund-raisers, such as the Black Greek Step and Sing, scheduled for this weekend, a Fashion Show, and the sale of ""I Support the BSU"" buttons, to make up the difference. Vice-President for Student Affairs Dorothy Siegel also told the SGA that the Office of Minority Affairs, headed by Dean Lillian Anthony, will be receiving additional funding to pro-gram social and cultural events for the 1100 black students at Towson State. ""We're programming out of minor-ity affairs to try to fill in where a pro-gram is not sufficient,"" Siegel said. She said she met with members of the Black Student Union Friday after-noon to discuss ways Student Services could help program events for the re-mainder of the semester, but she em-phasized that her department will not be funding the BSU. ""We are not going to replace any money you removed,"" she told the SGA, but ""we want to make sure there is programming. Tuesday's meeting was the last for the current SGA. The new SGA, elected March 13, takes office official- Louis the Goose, a recent visitor to the Student Day Care Center, and friend. Day Care Center helping students get an education By Dawn Berry Day Care at its best. This saying describes the major purpose of the Student Day Care Center at Towson State University. According to di-rector Harriet Douthirt, this pro-gram is designed to reach out and ""help parents get through school."" As described in the Parent Hand-book, the Student Day Care Center first opened in October of 1973 in Newell Hall after petitioning from a student group� ""Concerned Par-ents for Child Care."" Two years later, the center moved to its pre-sent location in Lida Lee Tall. By Ken Biebell The center strives to provide the best possible care for children whose parents attend Towson State. The day program is designed to meet the physical and emotional needs of each child. The ""nuturant"" atmosphere emphasizes self-help and facilitates different indoor and outdoor activities. This environ-ment aids the childrens' social-emo-tional development and adjustment. The Day Care Center is licensed for an enrollment capacity of 40. Its primary responsibility is to full-time students since they provide partial See: Page 8 Tiger Split Baseball team splits a doubleheader against Lafayette, prepares for Delaware Page 10 Beautiful Moon Mike Germroth reviews director Richard Benjamin's latest movie, ""Racing with the Moon."" page 5 Corrections Prof An interview with Marion Cockey of the Towson State sociology department Page 8 Prayer debate Nancy Wallace and Shawn Hill look at Congress' debate on school prayer Page 13 Handicapped Awareness Week set to change attitudes Last November, a young woman in a wheelchair sat in the second floor lobby of the University Union. She was Gaynell Colburn, Miss. Wheelchair Maryland, and she was preaching the gospel of handicapped awareness. Unfortunately, her message seemed to get lost in the shuffle and commotion of students wandering through the Union on their way to classes or the parking lots. Next week, the Office of Special Needs will be increasing the amplitude of the message. The OSN is sponsoring Handicapped Awareness Week, a series of events organized to improve the way the non-handicapped perceive handicapped people. � On Monday, April 2 graduate stu-dent Lou Smith and undergraduate Mark LoRusso, both of whom are blind, will be performing on piano in the Potomac Room, University Union from noon to 1 p.m. � ""A Different Approach,"" a film geared toward changing attitudinal barriers toward the handicapped, will be presented on Tuesday and Wednes-day, April 3 and 4, in the Susquehanna Room, University Union from 7:30-6:00. � At 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, teams and individuals competing for trophies in the annual wheelchair race will meet at the second floor of the University Union. � The Aware Winged Wheelchair: Students Helplin Unconforming Col-lege Kids Shed Fictions, Obscurities and Lies that Keep Surfacing (AWW SHUCKS FOLKS) Awards will be presented on Friday, April 6 in recognition of faculty, staff and students who have been particularly helpful to the handicapped in the Potomac Room from noon to 1 p.m. The festivities will conclude on Saturday, April 7 with the Handicap-ped Awareness Fair, which will in-clude the finals of the Wheelchair Race, demonstrations of signing for the hearing impaired, and a show presented by Western High School students featuring scenes from Brian Clark's ""Whose Life Is It Anyway?"" Admission is free. �James Hunt "
