The Towerlight, October 17, 1980

tl19801017-000 "VOL. 1.4)0i1V No. 8 '(15olverttrg PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Contents Sports 7 Entertainment 5 Features 3 Weekwatcher 9 Newsbriefs 10 Classifieds 11 Commentary 10 October 17, 1980 Doctor of Arts planned by Francis C. Brom,lino The education division of Towson State's graduate school has sent let-ters of intent to the Board of Trustees and to the State Board for Higher Education proposing a doctorate of arts program in classroom teaching (DAT). If implemented, this would be the finiversity's first doctorate program and the first DAT program in the metropolitan area. ""The proposal is not completed at this stage,"" said Dr. Frederick C. Arriold, acting dean of the graduate school, ""but we are in the process of Writing it."" C as onsequently, certain details, such cost and date of implementation, have not been worked out yet. How-ever, these details will be included in 'Be final proposal which must be eiVroved by a number of depart- Arnold said the proposal must first be approved by a graduate studies coMmittee. Then it will be given to the Academic Council, and, if they ap-continued on page 2 Financial aid k up $50,000 W by Christa Marvenko Thank God I'm a country boy! Without the Orioles in the World Series, our own Wild Bill Hagey has to find some other form of entertainment. Here In the Columbus Day parade, Bill led some O's cheers, reminding us that opening day is only six months away. TL photo by Cindy Sheesley Religious groups gain populant by Rich O'Brien An increasing number of Tow- State students are turning to ,k-,hristian organizations on campus 'cm' spiritual support. Brad Leeper, campus director of Campus Crusade for Christ esti- Mated that the number of students With whom his group is involved has doubled this fall. The group, which has been active at the University !Pee 1973, boasts a regular atten-dance of 40 to 50 people at Friday .e,ve,ning gatherings. Leeper said, ""e just took 35 students to a fall retreat. That's many more than we've ever had before."" Other Christian organizations are gtc'wIng as well. The Lamb of God Campus Fellowship has been active at the University for one year. In that time the group has grown to approximately, 35 regularly active members. Other organizations which find a continuing need for their services include the Catholic, Baptist and Lutheran campus ministries. The groups' leaders said their in-creased presence is in response to an increased demand by students. Fred Lessans, coordinator for the Lamb of God Fellowship said, ""Many people today are looking for direc-tion and a place to hang their hats. Beyond the existential needs, people are finding they have great spiritual needs as well."" Bobby Weidel, the Baptist cam-pus minister agreed. ""As people struggle more with decisions, they become more interested in religion. I think students are finding more uncertainty and pressure now and they are also finding that religious roots help them cope."" Some of the groups are working toward their goals by increasing visibility. Posters and announce-ments about meetings and special events are becoming more common on campus. Lessan said, ""If we (Lamb of God) are more visible, it's because we are primarily evangeli-cal in nature."" Weidel said the Baptist ministry has a service function which in-creases visibility. ""Some of our people are serving in the University Union by showing the films there for Handicap Awareness Month."" Several campus ministries share an office in the S.G.A. complex in the University Union. Some, like the Catholic Ministry's Newman Center, maintain their facilities off campus. Most of them have a program of weekly meetings for fel-lowship of Bible study as well as parties and other recreational acti-vities. All the Christian organizations at the University have the common goal of assisting students in ac-cepting Christianity as their way of life. Lessans said, ""Many students don't understand what Christianity has to offer them. Many of them believe Christianity is not relevant in their lives. They are finding, how-ever, that present day philosophies are not satisfactory, that they lead to burn-out. Christianity fills the void."" The University will make avail-able next semester an additional $50,000 in financial aid because of the recent tuition increase. Dr. Joseph Cox, vice-president for academic affairs said, ""We are trying to find the best way of hand-ling this money and make it avail-able to the greatest number of stu-dents."" Students receiving the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) will not be eligible to re-ceive this extra financial aid be-cause the BEOG will increase along with the tuition. Cox said, ""We are not sure how hard the students who are not receiving any financial aid will be hit."" The $50,000 will probably be broken down into 3 separate funds. They are the independent grant fund, regular student help, and a loan fund. The independent grant fund is available to students, based on emergency situations or unique need, in a form of a scholarship. Student help available Regular student help is available to any students in the form of a salary for working on the campus as an assistant to a certain academic department or as another type of University aide. Cox said, ""The benefit from this is two-fold be-cause the student and the Univer-sity benefit from it."" The loan fund is set aside for students who are ""cut short"" of money due to low income, a raise in rent, or some other personal shortage. Cox said, ""We are using this $50,000 to try to supply a cushion for students because of the increase in tuition."" In addition to University fund-ings, the Federal Government is al-so making more financial aid money available. Congress passed the ""Education-al Amendments of 1980,"" a $48 billion bill extending college aid pro-grams. Among other things, the bill increases the amount of money available to students through stu-dent aid loans and raises their in-terest rates. GSL increases According to the October 6 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Educa-tiion, the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program will allow students to borrow up to $12,500 for four years of school. The present limit is $7,500. The GSL interest will in-crease from 7 percent to 9 percent for new borrowers. The Basic Educational Oppor-tunity Grant (BEOG) will gradually increase from $1,800 to $2,600 by 1986 and continue to limit grants in 1981-82 to a maximum of 50 per-cent of a student's education costs. Also the four year limit on eligi-bility for the grants has been elim-inated. The National Direct Student Loan (NDSL) will rise from $400 million in fiscal 1981 to $625 mil-lion by 1985, and will be avail-able to needy students through campus administered loans. The in-terest rate on the NDSL will in-crease from 3 percent to 4 percent for new borrowers. The maximum award available through the State Student Incen-tive Grant will increase from $1,500 to $2,000 and allow grants to part-time and graduate students as well as full-time and undergraduates. Minimum wage enforced An increase from $670 million in fiscal 1981 to $830 million by 1985 will be allocated for work-study funds to find jobs for students. The bill also prohibits payment of less than the minimum wage to students in the program. Parents will be allowed to borrow up to $3,000 a year for each depen-dent student in college, up to a total of $15,000. The interest on this loan will be 9 percent, repayment begin-ning within 60 days after loan is received. Harriet Griffin, director for finan-cial aid, explained that the popu-lation of applicants for these loans will double because of the increase in money allocated and the fact that it is available to students who have only moderate need. Though the bill went into effect on October 1, schools will be op-erating under old standards pend-ing official contact after rules and regulations have been established. Griffin said, ""A student's respon-sibility to himself will be to apply early for these loans."" Movement under way to protect athletes' rights (CPS)�With their cars and their special dorms, athletes are one 1,gtoup usually left off the standard St of deprived campus minorities. Eut as the personality of the edging college sports reform lOevement�founded in the after- Math of the worst intercollegiate tit:thletics scandal in recent history� '!g ins to develop, protecting ath-ee' rights has become the move-prime goal. The revelations (coaches fixing athletes, transcripts to insure their eligibility to play, schools neglect-athletes' educations, and stu-tents receiving credit for non-exis-eot courses) have now spread to More than 20 campuses. Reformers generallY blame the worst excesses ion the adults who run the sports tietead of the students who play them. Athletes are told to obey the : ide 111es, while everyone else gets a free , said Allen Sack, a sports soc-iologist at the University of New Haven. Athletes deserve rights Sack is also one of the guiding spirits of one of the Most ambitious reform groups, the Center for Ath-letes' Rights. Formed as a legal and psychological counseling center for prospective college athletes, it aims to give college athletes the same rights as everyone else, Sack said. ""Colleges should require 2.3 grade point averages in high school, not just 2.0 for entrance, ""said Chick Sherer, head of the Chicago-based Athletes for Better Education. ""This way we wouldn't wind up with a lot of dumb jocks who graduate and aren't good enough to go to the pros, or smart enough to pursue another profes-sion."" Sherer's group has organized summer camps for a few hundred high school athletes soon before they enter college. By simulating a realistic college environment, Sherer said, athletes learn to adjust In this Issue 'Bruce Spring-steen's latest album The River may not be his best, but it is cer-tainly his rocki-est. Review on page 5. Tom White con-cludes his look at Joe McMullen, the man behind the Tigers. Read how McMullen fits in at TSU on page 8. to the world of classes and exams, not only practices and games. He said he believes the camp's schedule of classes and sports activities con-ditions the athletes to ""better deal with the hard-nosed coaches who only want to get athletic results from them."" Not just lack of training But Sherer and others diagnose the disease as more than just a lack of academic training. They believe athletes must learn more about pri-orities in society, so they can both adjust to the rigors of college life, and also resist any temptations to accept material objects in return for their services. But the Center for Athletes Rights argued that these kids should be allowed to accept what-ever material gifts offered in re-turn for their enrollment at a cer-tain school. Since the world of inter-collegiate athletics is big business, the players should be entitled to the rewards of corporate success, the group said. ""The only way to make the sys-tem fairer is to let the athletes re-ceive money from the colleges,"" Sack said. ""It should be like a free and open market where they can have schools bid for their services."" Moreover, Sack detests the guilt he said athletes feel when they are accepting gifts. Accepting gifts wrong ""They (the athletes) are told it's wrong when they accept gifts. How hypocritical that is when at the same time they see coaches and ath-letic directors, and even university presidents, reaping all the bene-fits,"" Sack said. ""The whole system dehumanizes the athletes, makes them feel like animals. How can you blame the kids when it's the people at the top who cause the problem?"" he asked. To carry its message that college athletes should be professionals and not amateurs, the center is setting up offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York. It has ap-plied for a $250,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation, but has yet to receive a final response. One of its main chores will be to publish a national guide to college sports, which will give prospective athletes an outlook on schools' academic pro-gram, general environment, and their coaches attitude toward ath-letes. Convention analyzes sports Still being organized, the center plans to make an extensive display of its activities at an upcoming national convention on the study of sports sociology, in Denver. The convention will analyze the role of sports in society, spending a lot of time on the negative consequences of the recent flood of recruiting vio-lations. As expected, NCAA officials and others who currently run the sys-tern do not like Sack's ideas. Wayne Duke, the chairman of the Big Ten Conference, called the pro-posals of the Center for Athletes Rights ""totally out of the realm of possibilities"" and ""an upside-down look at what needs to be done."" Dave Gavitt, athletic director at Providence College, said puch an overhaul of the system would be a ""Total degredation of the integrity and performance of it."" He added continued on page 1 2 Athletics can be big business in college, often placing athletics before academics. Groups are now forming to fight for athletes' rights. TL photo by Tom Salem "