The Towerlight, May 1, 1986

tl19860501-000 "Second serious crime occurs Tues. Towson State has experienced its second serious sexual crime in two weeks. Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., a female student was raped as she walked from visiting friends in Newell Hall. The student, a commuter, was walking to her car alone after visiting with her friends when she was grabbed from behind by her assailant. The assailant then proceeded to rape the student on the grassy area between the power plant and Dowell Health Center according to Towson State Police chief Stephen Murphy. Incidents like this could be avoided, Murphy said, if students were a bit more cautious. Students should not walk alone on campus after dark, and should utilize the escort service if they do have to be alone. The escort service, 321-2192, is in operation Monday through Friday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., will take students to and from locations on campus when needed. The suspect in this incident is described as a while male, 5'7"" to 5'9"" tall and between 24 and 30 years of age. He has brown, straight hair, a medium build, and weighs between 170 and 180 pounds. Anyone with information is encouraged to call University Police 321-2133. Senate denies band request In preparation for summer recess, the SGA Senate held a general assembly meeting Monday and voted against funding for the marching band to perform at an away football game. The Senate also voted against affiliating Students for American and passed a bill pertaining to affiliated organizations that fail to attend mandatory meetings. Prior to the voting, Dr. Hoke Smith, president of the University, addressed the Senate about the closing of Stephens Hall and the bearing that recent political developments have on education at Towson. ""We expect that the next three years will bring more crowded classroom conditions and more late and early classes will be offered due to the closing of the hall"", said Smith. Smith reminded the Senate that the election of a new governor this year ""will have an impact on education for the next few years"" and that on the federal level the Gramm-Rudman proposal could cause the school to ""lose a sizeable proportion of its work study program."" In closing, Smith cautioned student Senate members to be alert because ""there are a number of things happening in the political arena that may have an effect on higher education and the student body"". Acting as spokesman for the Towson State marching band, Dan Smith, a drum major, asked that the Senate allot $2,880 to allow the band to perform at the University of Delaware, the closest away game next season. The money the band is asking for would be just enough to cover the lowest bid submitted by a chartered bus service, according to Smith. The chartered bus is needed because the ride to Delaware is five hours each way, said Smith. Vice President Chris Krivos abstained from voting and debating on the issue. The Senate denied the money to the band and asked that they resubmit their request next fall when the Senate's finances are ""in order"". They suggested that in the meantime the band should consider fundraisers to earn the money. In response Smith said, ""we spend six hours a week in practice, plus our class load, we put a lot of time in and it is difficult to get them [fundraisers] going"". In another action, the Senate denied affiliation to the Students for America, a division of the Moral Majority, because five of its eight founding members will be graduating in May, according to Senator Jeff Rinaca. The Senate suggested that the organization reapply next semester. The Senate passed a bill, effective immediately, which amends a previous bill relating to affiliated organizations failing to attend mandatory meetings. The new amendment states, ""upon the third offense, within one consecutive school year, the organization shall be immediately suspended pending a hearing of the judicial board."" Vince Russomanno Campus Notes Inside Student Art Show The Towerlight cameras take to the student art show being held in the Holtzman Gallery through May 11 . 9. Wayne Laufert on our multi-talented President. Towson graduate Wayne Laded comments on the doodles drawn by Reagan that fetched a high price at a charity auction 9 Education job fair to be held Representatives from school districts as far away as California and Arizona will interview prospective teachers at the Second Annual Central Maryland Education Job Fair May 7-8. The fair, sponsored by a consortium of school systems, colleges, and universities in central Maryland, will bring together 62 school districts and approximately 400 teacher hopefuls, according to the coordinator, Alice Feeney, assistant director of the Towson State Career Placement Center. Approximately 200 Towson State students are expected to take advantage of this opportunity at the Towson Center. Seniors, graduate students, and graduates from all over Maryland who are planning careers in education will have the chance to interview with school districts representing 20 Maryland counties and districts from Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, and the east coast. ""I hope students will avail themselves of the opportunity to interview with out-of-state school districts,"" Francis Bond, associate dean of education at Towson State, said. ""They can always get back to the local school districts,"" she added. The representatives from the school districts will be looking to fill vacancies in early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, special education, occupational therapy, guidance counseling, psychology, computer science, and speech pathology. This year there will be 22 more school systems looking for teachers at the fair. Also, the fair will be a two-day event to allow for more teacher candidate interviews. With the predicted teacher shortages-6,000 in this area by 1990�the Education Job Fair becomes more important to the school districts involved. ""Most school districts are looking at the predicted shortages ahead. They are anxious to avoid a lack of teachers,"" Feeney said. No problems are expected with the students getting all the interviews they want. Excluding the registration and orientation periods and the hour planned for students to arrange the interviews, the entire fair is devoted to interviewing. When the students are not interviewing, they can fill out other district's applications, take basic skills tests, or complete writing samples. The schools that made the fair possible are Coppin State, Goucher, Johns Hopkins, Loyola, Maryland Institute of Art, Morgan State, Mount St. Mary's College of Notre Dame, Towson State, Western Maryland, and the University of Maryland- Baltimore County. Robert Graham Campus Notes cont. on Pa e 2 A er Published weekly by the students of Towson State University htTowson, MD 21204 Vol. 79 No. 26 May 1, 1986 Say cheese... Two students take a break from dancing at the 1986 Spring Formai, held last weekend at Martin's Eastwind. Music for the event was pro-vided by The Heat. Informing public main focus of seminar By Elizabeth Buck In an attempt to eliminate the public's myths and misconceptions about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the College of Continu-ing Studies presented an AIDS seminar in the Psychology Lecture Hall, Saturday, April 26. Jack Stein, health coordinator of HERO (Health Education Resource Organization), spoke to a group of 40 people about the medical and social aspects of the disease. HERO is a non-profit social services organization sponsored by theCity of Baltimore Health Department and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. ""AIDS is one of the hottest issues to hit in the media in the last couple of decades. It's on the radio, on television, and in the movies,"" Stein said. ""Because of all the media attention last summer when Rock Hudson contracted the di-sease, there has been a so-called 'AIDS Hysteria' in the public. What HERO wants to do is help the public cope with the disease through counseling and community awareness."" In introducing the medical aspects of AIDS, Stein defined the disease as ""a serious condition characterized by a defect in the natural immunity against disease."" One of the notions held by many people is that the AIDS disease itself is what causes death. However, Stein explained that this is untrue. ""People don't necessarily die of AIDS, per se, they die because their immune system has broken down,"" Stein explained. Because oi these weaknesses of the immune system, the body is unable to fight viral and other infec-tions that a healthy body could overcome. The AIDS patient de-velops what is known as ""the wasting syndrome,"" which is characterized by a loss of weight and strength and ultimately leads to death. The disease is spreading at a rapid rate throughout the country� the number of reported cases is doubling every 12 or 13 months. In 1984, there were 9,368 AIDS cases reported, and 17,676 more cases were reported in 1985. As of March 17, 18,406 cases had been reported in 1986. ""Every state in the nation has now had at least one case of AIDS. New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have the highest concen-tration of the disease, and Texas, Florida, and New Jersey have also reported a high number of cases,"" Stein said. ""Maryland is the eleventh highest state in the nation [for AIDS cases reported]."" Although the major cities like New York have experienced a drop in the rate of increase of the disease, Maryland has a very rapid increase that is higher than the national average. Because AIDS is a relatively new disease�it was first documented in 1977, scientists do not know all the facts of the disease. However, in late 1984, researchers in France and the U.S. discovered that the disease is caused by a virus called Human T-Lymphotropic Virus-III (HTLV-I I I). ""The T-cells are like the policeman in the body; they send out the tioops to tight the foreign infections. The AIDS virus is the in-vading army and sets out for the T-cells and destroys them which causes the breakdown in the im-mune system,"" Stein explained. Although HTLV-III causes the disease, not every person who car-ries the virus will contract AIDS. It is possible for a person to carry the virus for several years before the im-mune system is affected, if at all. Scientists believe that only five to 20 percent of infected persons will develop AIDS or AIDS-related con-ditions. Although there is no way to determine the number of carriers of the disease, scientists estimate that 2 million Americans could be carry-ing the AIDS virus at this time. See SEMINAR, page 11 By Karen McMahon Jack Stein, HERO health coordinator, told members of the AIDS seminar, that education is the best form of prevention when dealing with AIDS. Pell Grants will be hard to come by By Osa Eghafona The Gramm-Rudman budget balan-cing law has put the pinch on student financial aid programs. According to a report published in the College Press Service, as many as 800,000 students nationwide stand to get smaller Pell Grants or lose their grants altogether. Towson State students are not ex-cluded from the pinch. According to Marilyn Ojodu, financial aid director for the University, the tentative awards for next year have already experienced a reduction. The College work-study program has undergone the largest cut; 56 per-cent, and there has been a 4.3 percent cut in the National Direct Student Loan program. ""The five percent origination fee for the Guaranteed Student Loan has risen to 5.5 percent. This figure could go even higher,"" said Ojodu. What this amounts to, she said, is that in a loan of $2500, the receiver will lose $12.50, and it applies to every single loan. Education officials blame two things for the financial aid problems: the Gramm-Rudman law and the Education Department. The Gramm- Rudman budget balancing act has forced a cut of $154 million in the Pell Grant program, and the Education Department underestimated the need for financial aid causing another shor-tage of $215 million. Ojodu said that students who would normally receive Pell Grants of about $800 will no longer get any help unless ""they apply very early."" This may be due, she feels, to the attitude the government holds that many people may be abusing financial aid. Towson State has looked for ways to make up for the shortcomings. ""The institution has gone to State agencies to see if any money can be obtained to meet the shortfalls, but we are not sure how successful this endeavor may be,"" Ojodu said. In the 1985-86 fiscal year, Towson students were awarded $1.4 million in Pell Grant money and $890,000 in other grant money. For the 1986-87 fiscal year, the figure will drop to $733,000. If Congress does not approve a bill that will give the program a needed $215 million to make up for the underestimate by the Department of Education, another 500,000 students will receive reduced awards for next fall. ""Even if Gramm-Rudman is declared unconstitutional, student's financial aid packets may not escalate any more,"" Ojodu said. The problem this has created, however, is that the awarding process takes much longer now. ""We have to go through many steps of paperwork. And if the student and his parents are working, he has to file their financial papers, plus his income tax, too,"" she said. ""The number of students that will receive financial aid next fall depends largely upon how many turned in their application,"" Ojodu added. Hazing on the rise By Frances Burman A total of five fraternity members were arrested in April for their roles in recent hazing in-cidents, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. At Manhattan College in New York, two students and two alum-nae were charged with hazing when a pledge of Beta Sigma was hos-pitalized for two weeks with frost-bite incurred March 8. The pledge was forced to ride with his beer-soaked bare feet hanging out of a car window. He was then left naked on a deserted road to be picked up by a fellow pledge. In another incident, Steven Jones was charged at North Carolina A&T State University with several counts of assault. The Omega Psi Phi member allegedly hit seven See HAZING, page 11 "