The Towerlight, October 19, 1979

tl19791019-000 "VOL. LXXIII No. 7 o tutdtg PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden consider a question during the press conference prior to their speech Sunday night at the Towson Center. Fonda and Hayden are coming to the Close of their three-month speaking tour of 15 key pres-idential primary states. They are trying to initiate debate 6 on issues such as energy and inflation. Hayden stressed the need for more citizens to become involved in problems like energy sources, economics and pollution. TL photo by Oliver Dziggel ox supports motion fOr mandatory prerequisites by Debbie Felton Joseph Cox, dean of academic affairs, said he would support a Notion to make course prerequisites mandatory for some disciplines, While advising them for others. There is a motion before the 4eademic Council that would make OELlrise prerequisites mandatory for Students unless they have written ,Permission from an instructor or 4ePartment chairman. Cox said majors that are fl'Itilative, where it is necessary to follow an orderly progression"" of courses, should enforce prerequi- Bites. These would include the sciences, math and computer Science, said Cox. Other disciplines, in which basic o Dr. Joseph Cox prerequisite courses may not be essential, might be advisory, not mandatory. In these disciplines, said Cox, ""the attitude toward prerequisites is not as rigid as in other areas."" Dr. Henry Chen, physics depart-ment instructor and member of the Academic Council, said he would favor a motion to make prerequisites mandatory except in special cases where the student proved to the instructor that he or she is prepared to complete the course or is willing to seriously pursue the course work. He said he thinks students disregard prerequisites now be-cause the prerequisites are not enforced. The original motion would allow instructors to issue required drop statements to students whom the instructor thinks lack sufficient skills to complete the course material. Cox said he has ""reservations about a system where a professor could initiate a drop."" The ""student should remain in command of his or her own schedule,"" he said. Allowing the student to get a special permit card before mail registration or have the professor hold a first day of class screening were two alternatives Cox suggest-ed. Denying instructors the right to request a student leave a class might ""dilute the quality of instruction"" and cheat prepared students if an instructor has to dwell"" his or her attention on an unprepared student. Chen said prerequisites should ""protect the student"" from being cheated from a level of class instruction that could be disturbed by less prepared students. Patricia Plante, Academic Council chairperson, said she is still considering the ""complicated mat-ter."" So far, she said, she sees no way to enforce the rule or deal with transfer students who have course prerequisites that are not compar-able to Towson State courses. Milissa Murray, student govern-ment association president and representative on the Academic Council, said she will meet next week with other student council members to discuss the prerequisite proposal and some possible alterna-tives. Dr. Patricia Plante Contents Sports 6 Entertainment 5 Features 4 Week Watcher 7 Newsbriefs 8 Opinion 9 Classifieds 8 October 19, 1979 Hayden proposes economic solutions by Dawn Porter Today's chronic problems will become catastrophic to future generations if the American people do not develop a new conception of themselves as citizens, political activist Tom Hayden said Sunday evening as he and actress/ac-tivist Jane Fonda opened the 1979-1980 Student Govern-ment Association Speaker Series. Hayden and his wife Fonda are currently conducting a 35-day, 51-city tour. They are attempting to create debate, in 15 key presidential primary states, on issues such as energy and inflation. Representing the Campaign for Eco-nomic Democracy (CED), they are promoting new poli-tics that deal with corporate power. Other CED goals are expanding the idea of citizenship and clarifying the responsibilities of citizens. Hayden stressed that in the ""economic spirit,"" citizens must become more involved in making decisions regard-ing such problems as energy sources, economics and polu-tion. Hayden added that ""citizenship means more to us than voting and electing people to solve problems for us."" Fonda supplemented this, saying that people should not take at face value what corporate and government offi-cials and politicians say, as well as what she and Hayden say now. The way to solve problems is to question all these people, doubt their answers and search for one's own con-clusions, she said. Hayden said the 1960's are not yet over. Issues appear-ing today are those put off during the Vietnam war that are now beginning to resurface. This has resulted in a ""period of confused creativity."" The problems of the 1960's appear to have simple solutions today, but did not appear to be so simple then. This is true of today's prob-lems also. When Wall Street crashed 50 years ago, it was six to seven years before there was a New Deal, Hayden said. Meetings such as those he and Fonda conduct today were held then by President Roosevelt to sort things out and find feasible solutions. Hayden said these meetings are necessary because alone, the American political democracy is not strong, broad or comprehensive enough to solve today's prob-lems. Ten years ago this lack of adequate government problem-solving was heightened by the officials' own incompetence and unlawfulness. Former Vice President Spiro Agnew advocated ""throwing the bad apples out of the barrel,"" said Hayden, who was considered one of those bad apples. Hayden was one of the Chicago Seven indicted for his anti-war demonstrations at the Democratic National Con-vention in 1968. Fonda was also considered to be a bad apple because of her anti-war involvement. Although she was a late-corner to the controversy, Fonda was known as ""Hanoi Jane"" because she visited Hanoi and ""documented evidence of what the American government was doing in Vietnam."" She said she did this, ""not to aid the foreign government, but to save American democracy and lives."" She was sought out by Vietnam veterans opposed to the war because she was an artist and had access to the media and influential people. This access has also aided Fonda and Hayden in their present campaign. But, as Hayden pointed out, people like him and Fonda, the ""bad apples,"" are still around and fighting for what they believe in, while people like Nixon and Agnew had to choose between leaving their offices and going to jail. Hayden currently chairs the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), of which Fonda is a member of the steering committee. For the last three years the commit-tee has devoted its time to the development of economic democracy in the areas of energy, housing, food and health. CED has tried, and succeeded in many instances, to elect its activists to positions in city and county govern-ment throughout California. The group is now developing a ""programatic approach"" to the 1980 presidential cam-paign that would help deal with some of the concerns of the people. People are being forced to choose between being able to afford heating oil or going broke, Hayden said. The ex-pense problem of deregulating oil prices so the people can afford to purchase oil is solved by creating inflation prob-lems, he added. As a result, the cost of every product in-fluenced by oil rises. To solve the problem of expanding inflation, the government freezes wages and ultimately brings on a recession, which now seems to be occurring. continued on page 2 New Accounting major approved by committee by Michael Bennett The University Curriculum Corn-mittee has approved a request that the Accounting program be changed from an area of concentration within the Business Administration major to an undergraduate major. At the October 8 Academic Council meeting the proposal for the Accounting major was returned to the Curriculum Committee so that several questions could be an-swered. The Council was concerned with the large number of credits needed to complete the major and with the program's requirements that stu-dents take specific courses to fulfill their General University Requirements. Some Council members thought the program might be too restric-tive. The program requires 39 credits in business administration, 18 credits in economics and three credits each in english, speech, and psychology. Dr. Annette Flower, dean of humanistic, social and managerial studies, said that, since the program is geared toward preparing students for the Certified Public Accounts (C.P.A.) exam, the number of required courses is not excessive. William Brown, chairperson of the business administration depart-ment, said he anticipates that the New faculty evaluation system proposed by Helaine Silberg Jeff Williams, Student Govern- '""11 Association director of corn- �'"",tnlications, has proposed a major ,,`""ange in the system of student `valuation of instructors. th If Williams' proposal is accepted, SGA would conduct student ,!v aluations of instructors by a :4111 1)ns-wide survey. The results would be published and made available for students to examine. f.,In the present system, students out about each t1 questionnaires at the end of each ,,stnester. The results are available to the instructor, department 'airman and other faculty. i,�""We I the students] are not h' volved in the decision-making ocess of the faculty and staff,� 7,aici Williams. ""The present system not effective for our purposes."" � Williams said a change is long ""erdue because every semester ,,ttldents go through a hit or miss it�eess when choosing classes. t'li eY have only upperclassmen to a on. With the aid of a published 'sa,lYsis, students would be better 'e to decide which instructors 41Old benefit them most. Instructors as well as students, 0u1(.1 learn from the evaluations, said Williams. The evaluations may give instructors a better idea of what they need to change in their classrooms. By working under the pressure of student expectations, these instructors may become more motivated toward conducting good, worthwhile classes, he said. The evaluations could also have a positive effect on instructors with negative attitudes toward Towson State. ""This bad attitude is going into their classrooms,"" he said, citing an unfairness to students who have instructors that do not particularly care fo the University. ""We pay the salaries of the instructors. We ought to have some say,"" said Williams, who added that he has received positive feedback from some instructors concerning the proposal. Williams said he would not name specific instructors he spoke with, because he feels it is unfair to make them work under ""undue pressure from colleagues wh may object"" to the proposal. He does admit, however, he received favorable responses from instructors who are usually considered popular among the students. ""I'm not on a witch hunt by any means. It is my duty to do this. This is something that should be done,"" said Williams, although he does expect opposition from some faculty members. Opposition, Williams said, will come mainly from instructors who are ""shirking off"" and not doing their jobs correctly. Whether or not the proposal is supported, he said, ""I'm going to try my hardest to get it implemented and have these evaluations available for students coming next February. This is no easy undertaking by any means. 1 need help. I can't do it myself."" Williams said he wants to set up a committee to study the many possibilities for faculty evaluations. He said his idea is just one of many possibilities. One student responding to Williams' plea for support is Rick Yent, a student who is currently active on other SGA committees. ""Student services are very frag-mented. The students lack potency,"" said Yent. he thinks he can offer a ""more realistic"" approach to the problem than the publicized student evaluations. Although Yent said he feels the present evaluation system may possibly be inefficient, he believes a publicized evaluation could ""make it very easy to blackball an in-structor."" It too could become ineffective, since ""the more mud-slinging, the less people are going to listen."" Yent said he thinks the formation of a grievance committee would be comprised of representatives from the faculty, administration and student body. ""It would almost be like a court,"" said Yent, describing the proposed organization. The administration would take action for a student with just cause. If the administration refused to take action or give the committee serious attention, publication of these charges would then be a recourse. Yent is against the published student evaluations, because he said there is ""no reason for a teacher to be ostrasized publicly. You have to protect people."" A committee, on the other hana, would let ""responsible students and concerned faculty and adminis-trators"" suggests a workable solution for instructors with com-plaints filed against them. Five major steps within the proposed committee would implement this. First, a student would file an initial complaint followed by an interview with committee members. An official inquiry then would be made to the instructor involved. This would be followed by a formal committee meeting with the student filing the complaint and the instructor receiving it. At this meeting they would try to formulate a plan of action. All parties would later follow it up. This follow-up would consist of a statement by the faculty that the solution had been initiated. Yent said this grievance committee would be more practical than published student evaluations in dealing with student/instructor conflicts. Maryland State Board of Accounts, will tighten its C.P.A. requirements. ""A number of years ago all you had to do was pass the C. P . A . exam, then they started requiring 30 credits in accounting and 6 credits in law. The way our concentration in accounting is now, a student is required to take only 15 hours. That's not enough,"" Brown said. Brown said the nine credits of Liberal Arts courses are important, because a successful accountant needs to know how to write well, speak well and deal with people. Brown also said that care will be taken to see that students caught in the transition period are not continued on page 3 Jeff Williams In this issue... Dracula doesn't quite raise the blood like he might at Balti-more Theatre Company. Page 5. Leonard Brown finds a new kind of freedom with a special kind of gift. Page 4. There's been a Iwo' 4,1 the SGA's fight for additional office space, and the people from Placement find t:- selves the odd-man-out. Page 3. "