The Towerlight, October 22, 1976

tl19761022-000 "SI e r If'S Towson to(lny Page 4 APP ottietit Vol. LAM N07 TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Bullets win amid cheers as Towson Center opens by Paul J. Gilmore The curtain was raised on the new Towson Center last Sunday as 3,045 Spectators turned out to watch the Washington Bullets take on the New York Knicks in a preseason basketball game. An added feature for the approxi-mately 300 fans who were willing to show up three hours before game tirne was a ""slam-dunk"" contest among eight stars of the NBA that was sponsored by CBS. The contest Will be shown on national television throughout the basketball season. While the fans were entertained by the Bullets' 113-101 victory, and thrilled by the acrobatics of the ""slam-dunk"" competition, the most al/lazing feature of the day was the arena itself. Bi g The complex, which seats over 5,000 people for a basketball game, drew praise and compliments from those who attended the affair. Dr. James Fisher, TSU president, quoted Mary Brooks, the public address announcer for the Bullets igI ho worked Sunday's game, as aid saying he has ""never been to a er) non-professional arena that handled things so well."" He added that he e*) [ felt the opening of the Towson Center was handled better than the LO( enening of the Capital Centre. eft 311.i )3001 I 181 Bill Bradley of the New York Knicks, when questioned after the game, said, ""Everything was nice except for the floor."" Bradley explained that one could develop a knee injury ""if you play on it a lot."" Wes Unseld, the Bullets' center, expressed the same feelings. The floor is a synthetic, rubberlike surface called Kemturf. It is very resistant in relation to the waxed wooden surfaces of traditional basketball courts such as the one in Burdick Hall. Countless other features of the new faciity stand in great contrast to Burdick Hall. A four-sided scoreboard hands directly over center court in plain view of all spectators. The device can be raised closer to the ceiling during events such as the Towson Tennis Classis, where it could conceivably interfere with play. Rows of blue, plastic chairback seats rise from courtside to the walls of the arena. The aisles between the seats are covered with a brown carpet and plenty of leg room exists between each row. Although they appear permanent, with a flip of a switch, the seats fold and roll back to the wall, revealing a one-tenth of a mile track and six indoor tennis courts. Even with the seats rolled back, there is still room for several hundred people in the, balconies at each end of the court. Ed Williams, of Special Services, was appointed Operations Manager of the facility last week. Williams played a major role in the negotiations with CBS for holding the ""slam-dunk"" contest at the arena. He stated that it was not until Friday night that he knew whether or not the contest would be held. Williams asked CBS to buy 250 tickets for students to attend the event, thereby insuring them of a crowd for the contest since it was too late to advertise. CBS agreed and Williams distributed the tickets to students at random in the University Union. A definite date has not yet been determinud when the complex will be accessible to Towson students and athletic programs. The next scheduled event is a November 20 appearance by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who cracked the Watergate case. Dean Norman Sheets reported that there is a long list of minor things that have to be done in the classroom wing of the complex. Also, the handball and squash courts do not yet have a roof over them. rum:K.44mm owl ne of many bands that played during Towson State's first Bluegrass festival, held last Saturday at Burdick Field. TL photo by Creig Twilley _ Len Robinson (center) of the Washington Bullets grabs a rebound during Sunday night's first-ever event at the Towson Center, as teammates Phil Chenier and Mitch Kupchak help out. TL photo by Barry House Tigers face Bowie for Homecoming Page 8 OCTOBER 22.1976 Na.? Dance to highlight Homecoming Fall Homecoming '76, Towson's first as a university, will offer events tonight through Sunday. Tonight, CUB will present MASH at Stephens Auditorium at 7:30 p.r . and 10 p.m. Admission for Towson students and the general public are 75 cents and $1.25 respectively. ""We Ain't What We Was,"" will be presented tonight and tomorrow night on the Main Stage Theatre in the Fine Arts Building at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $3. The Homecoming dance and football game against Bowie State will highlight the weekend. The game will be played on Burdick Field at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Immediately following the game, a Post-Game Party sponsored by the Tiger Club will take place in the UU. Four bands will play on all floors of the UU during tomorrow's Homecoming dance. Admission is $5 for TSU students and $6 for faculty and staff. The dance will be held from 9 p.m. - 1 a.m. At 11 p.m., a ceremony for Homecoming Queen and Court will be held in the Main Lounge. Vassar Clements and his ""New Grass Band"" will perform Sunday evening at 8 p.m. on the third floor of the Union. Tickets for the concert are available at the box office for $4.50 each. Bluegrass festival shines one week after washout by Paul Gilmore College students, young families, old bluegrass fans, and some people just looking for something new sat on sleeping bags and blankets spread on Burdick Field last Saturday to listen to the bands competing in the Towson State Bluegrass and Crafts Festival. Drs. Gilbert Brungardt and David Greene directed the festival, orig-inally scheduled for Oct. 9, but postponed one week due to rain. The festival, held to raise money for guest speakers and artists of the University's Office of Institutional Development, probably did no better than break even. Dr. Brun-gardt, who said he had-expected up to 5,000 people at the event, Graduationrequirementchangesproposed; would emphasize writing skills, add courses by Cecelie Snyder A change in Towson's General Education requirements has been proposed and will be reviewed at the 'November meeting of the Academic Council. . The proposal, which would Increase the number of mandatory courses required for graduation from 15 to 18, was made by a special tiask force established in January, .""976, by the Curriculum Committee of the Academic Council to examine the present general education requirements. Dr. Kenneth Shaw, a member of the Task Force and Vice President of Academic Affairs, said the proposed General Education requirements will emphasize writing ability. A college-level writing course in addition to Freshman Composition, will be required for graduation. In formulating its proposal, the Task Force compared Towson's requirements to the general educa-tion requirements of other national and local colleges and universities Senate withdraws plans to halt Nov. 2 classes by Ruth Ann Leftridge The SGA Senate's request for .cancellation of classes on Nov. 2, -'lection Day, was withdrawn this reek, according to Senators Angela ierce and Marc Land. In a memo dated Oct. 17, Pierce ,Ild Land said, ""Upon closer IrIvestigation, we have determined that it is impractical to cancel classes at this late date."" , Pierce and Land last week introduced to Senate the resolution that would have suspended all classes on Election Day. Dr. Dean Esslinger, chairman of the Academic Council, explained that the calendar for academic year 76-'77 was made up in the spring of 75. He said that there was �uscussion at that time about the susPengion of classes on Nov. 2, but that the proposal was defeated. Esslinger said that cancelling school on Election Day would have creased an ""imbalance"" between the number of M-W-F classes and T-Th Classes. ""We're getting everything in between Labor Day and Christmas,"" Esslinger said. ""There simply aren't enough days."" Kenneth A. Shaw, vice president of Academic Affairs, said in a memo that he would be opposed to the cancellation of classes at this late date because ""it is granting to students of college age privileges that the larger society dones not have."" He explained that most people are expected to work on Election Day but ""still seem to be able to find time to vote."" Shaw also said that when classes were suspended for the 1970 election, ""there didn't seem to be an appreciable increase in student voting or participation."" In their memo, Pierce and Land said, 'We shall leave this matter to the students individual discretion to exercise his or her right to vote."" and found that certain changes in Towson's curriculum were neces-sary to provide a good liberal arts education. Present Standards The present standards do not meet the goals Towson has for a good liberal arts education, Shaw said, but under the proposed requirements ""when students leave Towson they will be able to write well and have sufficient grounding in Arts, Sciences, and Humanities."" If approved, these proposals will go into effect in September, 1977, for incoming students. Transfer students from two-year institutions and ocntinuing students will have the option of which plan to follow. The proposed General Education requirements are divided into five groups. Group I, entitled ""Humanities and Fine 'arts,"" will require six one-semester courses. Two courses in Art, Music or Theatre Arts will be necessary, in any combination. Four courses in any three disciplines out of English, History, Philosophy or Modern Languages will be required. The ""Natural Sciences"" of Group Il will include Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physical Science and Physics. Three one-semester courses in three different disciplines will be manda-tory. Group III, ""Social and Behavioral Sciences,"" will consist of Anthro-pology , Economics, Geography, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology. Four courses from at least two different disciplines will be required. Group IV, entitled ""Required Experiences,"" will make mandatory three one-semester courses. This group will include Physical Educa-tion, Freshman Composition and one additional college-level writing course. Group V will be known as ""Student Option Experiences"" and will require two one-semester courses. These courses can come from disciplines not previously mentioned, upper level courses of disciplines already mentioned, or a combination of the two. 'Stop Semester' topic : survival by Melissa Brodie ""How Do I Know When I Need Help?,"" ""Sex Roles, Dating, and You,"" and ""Black Survival on a Predominantly White Campus"" will be discussed at the ""Stop the Semester, I Want to Get Off"" symposium on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 2:30 p.m. in UU's multipurpose room. The workshop, which deals with emotional survival at TSU, received high praise from students and faculty who attended it last spring. Students Who attend choose the group whose topic they are interested in and join its discussion. Halfway through the workshop, students will be given the oppor-tunity to switch groups and take part in a new discussion. Each group will be led by a faculty member, administrator, counselor, or some other person who is familiar with the problem that it confronts. reported that estimates of actual attendance were no more than 1,500. � Dr. Brungardt pointed to the very cold and cloudy weather on the day of the concert and the one-week rain delay as reasons for the less than spectacular attendance. He stated that the promotions and public relations were very good for the Oct. 9 festival but that after the rain delay, ""the momentum was lost."" Dr. Greene, an experienced promoter of such activities who has handled the annual Deer Creek Fiddlers Convention for fourteen years, felt some of the local publicity could have been better. ""I'm really disappointed in Towerlight,"" he stated. While Dr. Greene conceded that Towerlight did report on the concert, he did not feel it was given enough priority. ""We should have been front page the past two issues,"" he declared, adding that the festival was held for the benefit of the college. While the festival was not a great financial success, neither was it a disaster. Neither Dr. Brungardt nor Dr. Greene seemed to feet any great loss was incurred. Before all figures were in, both men estimated that they broke even. The music, coordinated by Megan Shook, was enthusiastically wel-comed by the spectators,- many of whom danced in the area in front of the stage. The bands competed in two divisions for a total of $1,600 in prize money. In the Oldtime String Band division, the Tri-State Entertainers placed second while the Sweetwater String Band won top honors. Windy Ridge won the Bluegrass Band category, with Newgrass Edition taking second. This was the first victory for Windy Ridge in bluegrass competition. The stage and audience were surrounded by a large number of craftsmen recruited and organized by Jim Paulsen. Leather goods, wood carvings, jewelry, clothing and other handmade articles were sold on the field. Blood drive easily tops 100 pints per day quota by Steve Haas The Red Cross Blood Drive, held Monday through Thursday in the Main Lounge of the University Union, reached its goal of 100 pints of blood per day. The blood drive, held once each semester at Towson State, was directed by Anne Campbell. She said, ""The quota was 100 per day, but we cleared that easily."" Attainment of the donation quota insured the Towson State student population of free blood coverage for the rest of the school year. It also guaranteed the donors of emergency blood supplies for their immediate families. Mildred Schildmeyer, a nurse who worked one of the stations, asserted, ""We're hoping for total coverage in the very near future."" She said that eight nurses worked during the four-day session, along with a blood program aide (who conducted hemoglobin tests), two mobile unit assistants and numerous volunteers. ""We had nine volunteers, plus students,"" Schildmeyer noted. ""We couldn't get along without them."" The volunteers handled duties such as filling out forms and escorting donors. The students had a variety of reasons for donating blood. ""I acted on impulse, I guess,"" said Becky Brown, a junior at Tsu . ""I'm kind of scared ol needles, hut I thought I might need blood sometime, and I hope someone will be giving some for me."" Chris Haskins related, ""The first time I gave blood was for my Health class. I'm not sure why I'm doing it this time. I guess I'm just a helpful soul."" The Health Department at Towson State has a policy of offering extra credit to students in Intro-ductory courses who donate blood during the semester. A number of services were provided for donors. The route to the donation beds include having a temperature reading, hemoglobin and blood-type tests, and blood pressure and pulse checks. Also, an in-depth questionnaire on the donors' medical history was answered to assure the safety of reusing the donor's blood. Approx-imately 20 beds were used simul-taneously to aid a smooth flow of donors and minimize the wait before the donation. All SGA organizations should Icontact Donna Serdehely, the SGA secretary, at 321-2711 immediately in order to be rechartered for the 1976-77 academic year. Those organizations who fail to comply will be liable for expulsion. "