The Towerlight, October 10, 1980

tl19801010-000 "VOL. LXXIV No. 7 /(Ir ottitrtt PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Contents Sports 8 Entertainment 5 Features 3 Weekwatcher 7 Newsbriefs 10 Classifieds 10 Commentary 11 October 10, 1980 1111?-. Gov, ernor Harry Hughes has been preparing plans to deal 1th the state's revenue shortfall. The revenue shortfall Senate left with vacancy will call for stringent budget cuts foi state agencies. TL photo y Lulu),Sneesley Slaughter resigns post by Jeff pierce Rick Slaughter, Student Govern- 1,tdient Association senator, resigned q.�11daY because of lack of time for 'lie Position. :Slaughter resigned not because he t""insasn't a crood senator, but because of Cue conflict,"" said Jay Blanton, SGA Of tea surer. Slaughter missed only one the 10 senate meetings. ""He added to the senate and did a (,),�(1 lob on the budget hearing,"" said "" ,:aig Wolf, SGA vice-president. ""He ,,iasn't afraid of throwing another v ew on the issue."" s""Ris decision is best for both the matee and himself,"" said Steve Horn, Pile presidente rn sident. Horn said time co- io teary, with the senate, wrestling tern�, an Alpha Omega Lambda fra-iiY caused him to resign. uties just don't have the time to do my of as a senator since I am captain te the wrestling team,"" said Slaugh-t,, r' ""Rut there are no hard feelings ""Ward the senate."" anSi,laughter said he felt the senate is sh�lg, a good job, but the executives cold leave the senate alone to act as Se Parate unit. In other senate news, the Alter- native Action Committee's request for Parking Pew spotsforfaculty funds for an alternative speaker series was denied. The $6,543 request was voted down when no members of the AAC came to the senate meeting. ""There are 18 members in AAC and if one can't show up, that upsets me,"" said Kurt Zumwalt, senator. ""They don't want the money that bad so I can't see giving it to them."" ""I am in favor of putting down the bill and having them submit another bill for funds,"" said Brock Ware, senator. The alternative speaker series was to be scheduled for the same nights as the SGA speaker series. ""I think it was a good bill, but the fact is, someone from AAC should have been there,"" said John Torbik, the senator who introduced the bill. Torbik later said lack of corn-munication was the reason the AAC failed to appear. A bill will be resubmitted re-questing funds for two speakers, Fawas Turki and William Kunstler. The senate also voted to expel from the SGA all organizations that had not been rechartered. A bill concerning senators at-tendance at meetings was tabled after disagreement on its wording. The bill, as submitted, requires the senate to consider expelling any senator who is late for the services of the senate without leave or is late three of five consecutive meetings. Bill 1980-81-15, the allocation of $259.32 to the SGA director of organizations for the purchase of a perlich, was also approved. This would be used with the SGA's two other perlichs in SGA beer functions. Revenue shortfall forces budget cuts by Quincey R. Johnson sharing program. In fiscal year 1982, the loss will be $45 million. Students will be forced to deal with In November, residents of the the rising costs of tuition or program District of Columbia will be voting on cuts stemming from the budget cuts a lottery referendum. If the referen-dum is passed, the state could lose $30 proposed by the Governor's office. Because the projected state rev- million in Maryland Lottery revenue. enue estimates are low this year, Taking these facts into account, the Governor Harry Hughes has ordered Governor requested that the state state agencies to submit plans that agencies not spend three percent of would reduce their budget requests the fiscal year 1981 appropriation, and for fiscal year 1982 by four, seven, and to prepare plans for four, seven, and nine percent. nine percent budget cuts, said Bond. According to the amount of revenue received by the state, the Governor will select a budget reduction plan for each agency to produce zero growth in this fiscal year. In May, the Governor sets the Max-imum Agency Request Ceiling, which gives each state agency the amount of money it has to spend for the coming fiscal year. However, on September 10, the Bureau of Revenue estimates gave the Governor early revenue estimates that were based on one month of revenue information. At that time, sales tax revenue was at a decline and income tax was be-bCrinin Ctb to fall. The Bureau of Revenue estimates did not increase the income tax estimate from last year's total, but it lowered the sales tax estimate. Marvin Bond, assistant to the Comptroller, said the lack of revenue growth prohibits the state from in-creasing spending. The lack of revenue growth is why the Governor has proposed the cuts in state agency request, added Bond. Much depends on the interest rates on state investments and state lottery revenue, said Bond. State loses some federal aid The state will be losing $35 million in federal aid with the elimination of the state from the federal revenue 550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 Lately, sales tax revenue has been picking up, but income tax does not show changes until three months after that of the sales tax, said Bond. In order to comply with the Gov-ernor's request not to spend three percent of the 1981 appropriation, the Board of Trustees has approved an $85 tuition increase. The tuition increase would alleviate the need for program cuts in the spring semester that would be necessary to cut the fiscal year 1981 appropriation by three percent. The tuition increase actually covers a four percent budget cut; however, only three percent will be needed to defray the effects of the budget cuts this spring. The extra money will be used to help the University with additional expenses, especially library pur-chases, said President Hoke Smith. The University has submitted its plans for the reduction of the budget request for fiscal year 1982. The cuts made in academic affairs, business and finance, institutional development and student services budgets would amount to $5 million. The University would also cut its contingency reserve fund which would stop the University with dealing with unforseen problems like spring enrollment declines and emergency repairs. The quantity of instructional supplies will be cut along with plant operations, housekeeping and admin-istration. Also, part-time faculty would be cut, creating fewer classes and more crowded sections. Smith said the tuition increase is necessary in order to maintain quality education. Steny Hoyer, SBHE board member, said, ""We are really at the point where we can't cut without negativity."" Sheldon Knorr, commissioner for the State Board for Higher Education, said what we know is the appropria-tion per student has been eroded by inflation. The University can only buy 60 percent of what it could buy ten years ago, Knorr said. Dr. Jean Spencer, executive direc-tor of the Board of Trustees, said, since 1955, the, education budget constituted only eleven percent of the budget. Spencer said, ""The students are taking the burden of this budget cut, but the question is whether the state will help the student in the years to come."" Students may pay more If there is a budget cut over the four percent mark, students would be forced to pay higher tuition, said Spencer. There is no way to keep the quality of education at an acceptable level without raising tuition, . added Spencer. Knorr said that beyond this year it would not be possible to increase tuition. Spencer said it is amazing that that .ominued dm puce I 2 $273 $298 $314 Tuition and Fees Increase Fall 1973 to Spring 1981 $349 $374.50 $374.50 $455 $540 fall 1973 fall 1974 fall 1975 * projected increase fall 1976 fall 1977 fall 1978 fall 1979 fall 1980 *Spring, 1981 Statistics courtesy of the office of business and finance Rick Slaughter : the same problem from the other side by Rich O'Brien Contrhaave to student belief, faculty and staff members their share of parking problems. In a ��___ five c, lurveY of 13 staff members, parking services rated Stat -11� of a possible 10 for management of the Towson pert!, Parking facilities. Respondents were asked to rate the""1,4 services based on the quality of management, not Staff PnYsica 1 parking situation. , W nlernbers added that they think management is tb �tiler th -ith th an management, respondents are not happyf lilertik,sue Present parking facilities either. Those staff Park,�.'rs who arrive 9 or 10 a.m. have no trouble finding ""1g spaces, the survey showed. , Th ,�_ tinpr e � Z'aff members said their scheduling made it ""eucal if not impossible to carpool. Oae !bent tructor complained about the equity of enforce-re2.111 aLlO Parking tickets. After seeing the yellow curb � ce unenforced near Van Bokkelen Hall and the got a nter for a long time he parked his car there and a ticket. A staff She us Member with a handicapped parking permit said 441411411Y has no trouble finding a space but sometimes Ori zed cars do take the spaces. She said she has 0 seen Police ticket one of these cars. hot nthei LesPondent who rated parking services well does hist tirt the police are doing their jobs well. ""The police Door ,:sn't give a damn,"" she said. She said she received `uoPeration when she called to report an accident on a campus parking lot. A few years ago gated lots were installed as a solution to the parking problem. There are five lots on campus that require a special plastic card for entry. According to George Shoenberger, parking services manager, there are 646 gated spaces available and ap-proximately 1250 cards permanently issued. The cards, which cost $10, are no guarantee of a parking space. Staff members who are card holders complain that the law of early arrival applies in the lots as well. One instructor who rated management very low said the cards are not properly controlled. He said the lots are often full because of unauthorized card holders using the lots. The instructor once stopped a person who he believed was a student entering the gated lot. It was a student and he showed the instructor a special medical excuse to park in the gated lot. ""I'm not saying that students with medical problems shouldn't park there, but this guy looked healthy to me and he ran from the lot into the building."" Schoenberger said his office does give out the medical passes but that it is based on the recommendation of doc-tors at the health center. ""We stay out of making any medical determination. We let the doctors take care of that,"" he said. Schoenberger said his office is concerned about the unauthorized use of gated cards and works with the police to enforce the parking regulations. ""We care as much or more about the parking problem as anyone else. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome. If someone has a better way we will try it,"" Schoenberger said. Fines help University by Francis C. Broccolino Although Towson State students have been complaining recently about the high cost of parking fees and fines, this money is used to help the University, said Donald Mc- Culloh, vice president for business and finance. He said all parking fees charged to students and faculty/staff members, including gate card receipts, are placed in one non-budget account. In turn, this money is used to build parking structures and auxiliary facilities, such as the proposed three-level parking garage behind Linthicum Hall. McCulloh said the estimated $440,000 made from park-ing fees in fiscal 1981 will go solely to the construction of the $3.2 million garage. Construction of the facility is supposed to begin in spring, 1981, but the bids from con-tractors haven't come in yet, he added. While some students, particularly seniors, may feel that they're paying for something they'll never use, McCulloh said, ""You have to start building a base of funds before you start the actual construction."" To illustrate this point, McCulloh explained that students started paying for the University Union five years before it was constructed. Parking fines, said McCulloh, are also used to help the University. All the money made from parking fines is used to fund Program Seven, a public safety program, he said. ""Program Seven,"" said Gene Dawson, director of cam-pus police, ""covers everything the police do, from inves-tigating crime to replacing equipment."" The money in Program Seven is also used to maintain, stripe, and patrol the parking lots, added McCulloh. Although the budget for parking fines in fiscal 1981 is $88,000, McCulloh said this figure does not represent the total budget for the police. He said parking fines make up only part of the $497,000 allotted to the police in fiscal 1981, the rest is state funded. If, theoretically, no one received a parking citation in a given year, McCulloh said the situation would be handled in one of two ways. ""Either we could cut back on the budget appropriately,"" he said, ""or we could transfer funds from another source. But obviously we couldn't spend more than we had."" However, McCulloh said he foresees no trouble in meeting the budget this year. ""Last yr we had the same budget, but the actual number (ffom fines) was $116,000,"" he said. In this issue.. The magic and gentleness of the Sixties returned to Towson State last Sunday when Peter, Paul and Mary performed in concert. Story on page 5. If you doubt that an active mind can inhabit an equally active body, no matter how old one becomes, read about the Senior Olympics on page 3. "