tower light M»y 3, 1974
Vol. XVIII No. 30
Towson State College
Towson. Md.
Discord arises:
Senate passes budget
Budget Hearings capture the attention of the TSC students.
photo by Dave Carrington
"Uses of History" discussed
by Boorstin in lecture
by Sue Debolt
Despite some discord among
the Student Government
Association Senate, the group
passed a budget of $152,260.00 for
fiscal year 1974-75 by a vote of
10-2 with one abstention Monday,
April 29.
This amount has been
allocated from funds resulting
from the $22.45 paid by each
student as their student fees.
Former SGA vice-president
Allen Mosley, who resigned “in
disgust” after the proceedings,
addressed the body after the
final session Monday as he told
them he felt they were
“irresponsible” in passing the
budget and accused them of
representing only “middle-class”
values.
Mosley Criticizes
Mosley specifically criticized
the body for passing a regulation
ruling no comments from the
gallery during the final session,
forbidding an election to fill two
posts vacated Monday, and
allocating $38,036.00 in social
events. Adding that he was very
sorry that he had to be a part in
such proceedings, Mosley called
the newly devised budget a “big
rip-off.”
Several senators and
executives responded as
Recording Secretary Barbara
Huss emphasized that no one
wanted to cut the budget but it
was a necessity. Former Senator
and present SGA Treasurer
Rudy Forti agreed with Huss and
added that the body was passing
what they believed the students
wanted. He said that if the
student body wanted more
social events then it was about
time they got what they wanted.
Senator Ginger Palermo
emphasized that she was sick of
having her personal character
insulted and added that if anyone
disagreed with her vote then
they should come to her
personally.
Severely criticizing the budget.
Senator Dave Pridgeon said that
it had been put forth by a certain
point of view. Adding that the
executive budget had barely
been cut, Pridgeon emphasized
that the group had made “damn
sure” that the Black Student
Union had been cut, the
cheerleaders were cut because
they were black, and any
political activities were cut.
Responses made
In a later Towerlight
interview, SGA president Rick
Danoff and several other
senators responded to the final
budget and the hearings.
( Continued to Page 9 )
Towson’s Student Government
Association Senate will sponsor
by Sue Debolt
Dr. Daniel Boorstin. described
by Towson History professor Dr.
the first annual Inaugural
Weekend today and tomorrow.
Festivities will include a picnic
featuring a Senate meeting for
inauguration purposes, dance
and a moonlight cruise.
Former SGA Vice-President
Allen Mosley, who is in charge of
the weekend, said that the
festivities were planned so that
students could meet the new
officers as well as give an input
of ideas Adding that similar
festivities were held at Morgan
State College, Mosley said that
he hoped such acts would
alleviate student apathy at TSC.
A picnic, from 3 to 7 p.m. on
the College Center patio, will
initiate the weekend festivities.
At that time. President Konrad
Herling, Vice President David
Nevins, and Treasurer Rudy
Forti will be sworn in as the SGA
officers for the 1974-75 year.
The picnic will be followed by
a dance from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in
the College Center multi-purpose
room. The Things and Stuff Band
and Fallstaff will be featured at
the affair which will also include
a cash bar.
Saturday’s activity will be a
Moonlight Cruise from Port
Welcome from 8 to 1 1 p.m.
All events are free and open to
all. although admission will be
on a first come, first serve basis.
Further information may be
obtained by contacting Mosley,
Herling. Eric Martin, Lucy
Reek, Fran Schramm, or Rick
Danoff at the SGA office.
John Boles as the “most original
and provocative interpreter of
the whole erf the American
experience”, lectured to a
Towson audience on the “Uses of
History" Thursday. April 25.
An eminent historian. Boorstin
first distinguished between the
uses of history makers and the
uses of history writers. Boorstin
emphasized the special function
for the historian of our time as
he called for present historians
“to be themselves." Adding that
“history was not only medicine
but an anecdote." he said that
"it would help us to immunize
ourselves against social quacks
and false prophets "
Emphasis on Prediction Noted
Boorstin went on to note the
emphasis on prediction in
today’s society and to detail the
nse of the social sciences to see
how that emphasis on prediction
had grown. Stating that modem
social science possessed many
blessings as well as problems, he
emphasized that the sense of
prediction gave a sense of
control. He labeled a strong
tendency of American life to
overvalue predictability.
According to Boorstin, this sense
of predictability has led us to
relieve ourselves of
responsibility and to shift
ourselves away from the
unpredictable.
Boorstin concluded that
history must be the “prophet of
the otherwise to explore the past
and discover the future whereas
Social Science must be the
“prophet of expectations.” He
added that America has been the
“treasure house of the
unexpected.”
Vision Opened
Emphasizing that “history
opens our vision, our minds and
our ears to the areas of the
human spectrum we never
knew." Boorstin maintained that
the historian must know the past
so he can save us from it In
closing. Boorstin said that
“social science was the master
of the determinant whereas
history was the prophet and poet
of the indeterminant "
A question and answer period
followed the lecture. During that
time Boorstin gave his views of
ethnic studies He criticized the
use of labels as he said he was
against white studies, black
studies. Jewish studies, ethnic
studies, etc
Boorstin. the author of eleven
books and editor of the 27- volume
Chicago History of American
Civilization, is best known as
one of the leaders of the
“consensus" school of United
States history
Rhodes Scholar
Boorstin. 60. was born in
Georgia, received a Ph.D.at Yale
University, became a Rhodes
Scholar, was admitted to the Bar
in both England and
Massachusetts, and was the first
occupant of the Chair of
American History at the
Sorbonne, in Paris.
He taught American history at
the University of Chicago from
1944 to 1969. when he became
director of the National
Museum of History and
Technology of the Smithsonian
One of his books. The
Americans: The Colonial
Experience, won the Bancroft
Prize. Another. The Americans:
The National Experience, won
the Francis Parkman Prize. His
latest. The Americans: The
Democratic Experience, traces
the changes which have come
about in the lives of ordinary
Americans since the Civil War.
photo by Mfk* Dunn*
Former Senator Fred Harris moats with TSC President
James L. Fisher and History Professor Douglas Martin
upon his arrival on the campus. Complete details will
be posted next week.
Inaugural weekend