The Towerlight, November 18, 1982

tl19821118-000 "vol. 76 No. 12 The Towerlight PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 November 18, 1982 Smith Predicts reversal Ey John B. O'Loughlin, Jr. Hoke L. Smith, University president, has Predicted a reversal in the decline of higher education in the United States. In h address to the American Association of State Colleges and Priiversities two weeks ago, Smith said ne expects a resurgence of higher education in the 1990's. Sunth, who is chairman of the relicies and Purposes Committee, sPoke at the AASCU's 22nd annual Meeting held in Nashville. Smith said educators should prepare `,nr the coming rebound now because, 'after all, we started discussing enroll- Ment declines and retrenchment ap- ,Prolimately a decade before they ac- 414,,IlY occurred."" �fnith called the current decline in 011rnent an ""ebb tide"" but an ebb ilue is ""simply a part of the rhythm of `4 e universe. An ebb tide is not a period inactivity or disaster. It is a time to Itndertake activities that cannot be pur- 41,ed, while the tide is in,"" Smith said. It is unfortunate the word decline has i,vn used to describe the present situa-n, Smith said. Some activities have ""ecome difficult, he said, ""but our in-stitutions are, and will stay, vital and active."" Iruith said the number of 18-year-olds will decrease and subsequently enroll- ,.,rhe,nt will drop. He said that because ""nate support for higher education has 'Ushed, state institutions could suf- fe r the most. 0,1suggest we stop denying the reality to Li our condition, accept it, and proceed work during the next ten years within e constraints,"" Smith said. 6,uecause institutions have been talk- '1g of diminishing enrollments while se eriencing growing enrollments, i,""u� th said, ""we have reinforced our 7,lief it will not happen to us."" e 'fliith also said, while the country has ti(:13ed with the demand for education by bah3r boom generation, it also has t7-te great, irreversable progress in educational opportunities for "" flhi1 a' Orities. ""We must conserve the � ep irls in human opportunities they have -Reated,"" he said. (Crnith stressed that institutional e,eentralization is necessary to the ti-�ence of higher education. ""We can-on let bureaucratic tidiness become chief objective,"" he said. Jammin' By Stephen Hyde Joe Taymans, (right) a �I'SU graduate , made his triumphant return to the Unlvesity before a standing room only crowd. Computers put on hold Bureaucrats probe cost By James Hunt The proposal to modernize the computer facilities at Towson and seven other state universities and colleges has hit a snag just short of approval by the state Board of Public Works: the Office of the Budget Analyst. The office, which prepares a por-tion of the agenda for the Board of Public Works meetings, ""wants to make sure all the questions [about the new computer] are answered"" before it submits the proposal to the BPW, said Gregory J. Petr, Jr., Computer Systems Coordinator for the Board of Trustees of the State Universities and Colleges. ""It's an expensive proposal,"" Petr said. ""We have to make sure all the details are worked out."" Petr, how-ever, did not specify what details had to be worked out nor did he say when the BPW might receive the agenda and take final action on the proposal. When the proposal was originally announced in October, it was antic-ipated that the BPW would take action on November 10. The next BPW meeting is Decem-ber 1. If the proposal is on the agenda and the BPW approves it, delivery of the new equipment should begin in January, said Francis L. Edwards, academic computing coordinator at Towson State. This will allow pro-fessors to begin training on the new system which will allow them to inte-grate it into their programs next year, he said. Edwards is confident the new sys-tem will be approved eventually, but admits he is ""too frustrated, too anx-ious to wait past fall"" for the new system. We've waited two years,"" Edwards said. Edwards is also concerned about progress on the facilities in the base-ment of Cook Library designed to house the computer. ""Renovation and construction is our biggest worry ... we could have had the administrative computer in by January"" but, because of con-struction delays, ""it won't be ready until June,"" he said. Student petition seeks tougher sentencing By Chuck Jones Dave Mahoney is collecting signa-tures because his friend, Stephanie Ann Roper, was brutally raped, beaten and murdered last spring, and there is a good chance her murderers will be out on parole. Mahoney, 23, a friend and class-mate of Stephanie's, said he is collecting signatures- on a petition in an attempt to change Maryland's vio-lent- crime laws. Mahoney, a member of The Steph-anie Ann Roper Committee, said the organization is seeking 50,000 sig-natures to take to the Maryland General Assembly. He said the committee hopes to receive a hearing within the Assem-bly by presenting the signatures. The hearing would be held in an attempt to change the violent-crime laws in this state which presently allow such offenders to be out on parole after one-third of their sentence is up, he said. -sr -tr -Yr -sr -Yrir lr -sr-Yr -sr -sr-sr -sr -Yr -1r -sr -Yr -1 r sr -ir srirs r -sr ? .r -sr r r r. r r r � r - o-r r � � r -1r r i ....it. � 3 �r -ir t --,r r --057,r 1 r --or%--�� r r -Y- -0 r r t -srr , r1 r r r i r ir An artists rendition of the new dorm complex. Mahoney said the committee would like the law to be changed so that perpetrators of violent crimes, such as the attackers in Stephanie's case, would never be eligible for parole. ""When someone takes a life they lose their right to walk the streets,"" Mahoney said. He said, ""We're never going to bring Stephanie back,"" but added that he wants everyone to know ""what a fantastically special. person she was."" Mahoney said the committee, orig-inally called The Stephanie Ann Roper Family Assistance Program, was formed during the murderers' trial to help Stephanie's family and close friends to endure the strain and heartache of her death. During the trial friends of Steph-anie's would sit in the courtroom with the family to help comfort them through the six-week-long trial of Stephanie's two assailants, he said. He said after the trial Mrs. Rover and the committee ""thought some-thing was wrong with the law"" and decided to try to change the violent-crime laws in Maryland. Mahoney said Stephanie was a 22-year-old art major at Frostburg State College and had only one month to go before graduating when she was murdered early in the morning of April 3 last year. He said Stephanie was home in Washington, D.C., for her spring break and had left a friend's house when her car broke down. Mahoney said two men forced her into a car with a .22-caliber gun, drove her into Prince George's County and both raped her at gunpoint. The men drove Stephanie into St. Mary's County to an abandoned house near one of the men's home where both men raped her repeatedly, he said. Mahoney said it is believed that Stephanie heard one of the men's names so the men decided to kill her. He said Stephanie tried to escape but was caught and beaten over the head with a heavy chain by one man and the other shot her. Mahoney said the murderers then poured gasoline on Stephanie's body and burned it. The two men dragged her body 100 feet to a swamp and cut off her hands and feet to eliminate fingerprints, he said. Mahoney said the police acted on a tip from one of the murderers' friends and found the body nine days after the Easter-Sunday murder. The body ""didn't look like a young 22-year-old woman's body,"" because of how badly burned and mutilated it was, Mahoney said. He said the police arrested the two men not long after they discovered the body and the men received two life sentences plus 10 years each, which they are serving concurrently. ""That means they will be eligible for parole in just 12 years,"" Mahoney said. He added that there is a good chance the men will receive it because of the community work they claim to have done in the past. ""That's why we need signatures,"" he said. If the committee gets the 50,000 signatures they are seeking, we can take them to the Maryland General Assembly and start trying to change the present laws concerning violent crimes. Mahoney said he has had a table on the first floor lobby of the University Union the past two Mondays trying to acquire signatures and added that he got 250 Towson students' names the first Monday he was here. He added that he hopes Towson students will respond to his request for signatures because Stephanie was a young student going to a state col-lege not too far away from them. He also said other members of the committee are going all over the state to other colleges and businesses for signatures. Mahoney said he will be at the table on the first floor of the Union for the next three Mondays. Committee sets new dorm pricing By Mark Baltimore Residence students will be paying more money to live on campus next year. In addition, students living in the University's Residence Tower, or new towers presently being constructed, will be paying more than those students living in the University's ""low rise facilities."" These pricing structures are the result of Residence Planning Commit-tee recommendations to Hoke L. Smith, president of Towson State. The Residence Planning Committee originally came up with three options for residence differential rates for the president's approval. Option 1 divided the residence facilities into two categories. Students under option 1 would pay $3,040 for living in the older facilities, and $3290 for living in the new towers. Option 2, proposed by the Residence Planning Committee, divided the Miss Black TSU named By Term Wolan By Chuck Jones 1? or414.othea Thompson, a senior / ?ring in occupational therapy, et:'ved a plaque, a bouquet of flow- !te and a corsage, and was named clack TSU on November 4. teerY1 Smith, a spokeswoman for ()"" contest committee, said Thomp- Weillq' altlng with two other women, judT judged by a panel of seven it es including Dean Thomas Knox. fly"" judges, two sorority and four th;:e,r1IftY members, and Knox, made ""ecision based on how well the wtitit ee contestants answered ""Why I estitty.tn be Miss Black TSU"" in an With �Judges presented Thompson tied 'ne award on November 6 at the k and White Ball in the Chesa-urlitio- en. Room of the University itsSfIllhith said the contest, which is in we -'`-rd Year, is open to any black er,-4-11111 at Towson State who has -,Iraleted at least 24 credits. sp,,,he winner of the contest will Slid Bt at the Black Parents Banquet admitted to all dances free of charge, Smith said. Thompson said, ""I'm glad I won"" and added she will ""do a good job with the title."" She said she will be working with many of the black organizations on campus such as the Black Student Union and the Minority Affairs office to start new programs to help black students and to urge the students to participate in them. She added she is surprised she won because ""I didn't know the competi-tion, the other girls."" Thompson will also be working on raising money for a scholarship to help minorities at the University. She will be working with last year's win-ner, Erestine Vaughn, who is still in the process of raising $200 for the scholarship. Smith said the contest, sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., is held each year ""to help motivate and inspire minorities to reach and obtain their goals,"" and ""to let them know they are not alone and there is someone willing to help."" residence facilities into high and low rise facilities. Under this option, students living in the low rise facilities, Ward, West, Prettyman, Scarborough, Richmond, Newell, and Dowell, would pay $3,001, and students living in the high rise facilities would pay $3,251. Option 3 then divided facilities into three categories. Students living in the low rise facilties would pay $3,082, students living in the old residence tower would pay $3,132, and students in the new tower would pay $3,244. All of these options include a 14 meal plan. The rates being charged this year are the same in all residence facilities. Not satisfied with any of these op-tions, the Residence Planning Commit-tee adopted a fourth option which, like option 2, divided payment into low and high rise facilities. This plan, which the committee called Option 2a, called for students in low rise facilties to pay $2,980, and students in all high rise facilties to pay $3,259. Option 2a was subsequently approved by President Smith. Katie Ryan, director of university relations, said that this option was adopted because the planning commit-tee wanted to offer students a signifi-cant price difference. Under this plan students living in the older facilities would not be supporting the new tower, Ryan said. Kelley Ray, Student Government Association senator and Circle K member, is preparing to circulate a petition in opposition to the proposed residence differential rate plan. Ray is opposed to students being forced to pay the same rate for living in the older residence towers as for living in the new towers. ""I'm going to live on cam-pus next year. I don't want to pay the same for living in the old tower as the newer towers,"" Ray said. Ray also said that it is unjust for the University to compare the old tower to the new towers presently being con-students teach abroad Many education majors are stu-dent teaching this semester but a few are enjoying a unique experience. Four seniors are doing their fill stu-dent teaching in the Oxford-Bristol area of England. Eleanore Karfgin, assistant pro-fessor for early childhood education, said the students ""have a marvelous six weeks' experience. Travel is very broadening."" Karfgin first visited England in the late '60s. Since then she has gone on numerous travel-study tours with students and taken a sabbatical in the mid-'70s to live in Bristol, England. Through her contacts with people in the English education field, this tour was established. ""I have made friends in the field who have at one time or another given lectures or visited here. This [tour] is an extension of that,"" Karf-gin said. The seniors participating in this program are two elementary educa-tion� Sue Collins and Joel Dechter� and two early childhood majors, Rox-anne Zichwick and Barbara Feldman. According to Karfgin, they were selected by ""a very careful screening process that included a review by a committee of their professional fold-ers, essays they wrote, and personal interviews. ""Our department has been very supportive, so we think we have excellent people over there."" The students arrived September 6, first teaching in two Oxford elemen-tary and nursery schools, and are currently in two London schools. Their last day of teaching will be December 17. ""We go to visit the best of the British open schools,"" Karfgin said. ""They have very excellent ones, and excellent nursery schools. Our stu-dents will see other ways of working with children, become acquainted with children of another society, and adapt the best of what they see and bring it home."" The students are asked to keep diaries of what they do and take pictures for a professional folder so they can share their school experience with their colleagues, Karfgin said. She described the English schools being visited as more family-oriented than many here, and smaller, with about 200 to 250 students. Because the programs are ""individ-ual, and the child is encouraged to choose his own learning activities,"" Karfgin felt, ""happy and independent children"" are the rule in English schools. Zichwick, in a letter home, wrote of the warmth of the people she has stayed and worked with, how ""at home"" she felt, and her growth as a teacher. Dechter similarly said he highly recommended the experience to any student, and that he found the coun-try beautiful. ""One of the goals of this student tour is personal as well as profes-sional growth, the opportunity to live in the homes of another culture, to have dialogue with other students and experts in their field,"" Karfgin said. ""Our hope ultimately, that is our goal in the very near future, is that students from the Oxford-Bristol area will do semester course work here. Negotiations are in progress and the details are being worked on,"" she concluded. structed. ""There are holes in some of the walls in the tower, the rooms are 'I,' shaped, there are roaches in the tower, and the plumbing is terrible, nine peo-ple share one bathroom. There are so many faults, plus the building is ten years old."" In comparison, Ray said that the new towers have suites with four to a bathroom, the rooms are bigger and not V shaped, and the dining area is downstairs. Ray said that she hopes that a policy change is possible. ""I think that if there is strong enough input from students that Dr. Smith would change his policy,"" Ray said. in this issue Eric Mills starts his new mini-series ""666 Rifles,"" an action-packed thriller, destined to outdo Stilettos From Heaven page 3 Towson State's volleyball squad placed third in the East Coast Con-ference tournament, held this year at Delaware page 7 The Towerlight. newest feature, Police Blotter, appears as a regular this week . page 10 The Towerlight will not publish next Thursday, November 25. The Towerlight wishes you a happy and safe Thanksgiving. "