tl20031023-000 ").m. rball o u t Eller just enth in his-cord .,000 vol. ermi- 1that at of nent. {ill is flect-tate), ipple into etter, rs is wim-the ry in , her S her She ; for sees a the and ack-lows lard, iller, the ants Dace ?, an -ush )rief 'een soft eres )t. -om er's ntil and the var, ng. the her 701- let, :he for av-ity th. Ip- Baltimore's #1 College Paper - Published Twice-Weekly - www.thetowerlight.com Thursday, 10/23/03 Tailgating to stop during gametime 5 Entrepreneurs learn the ropes We're About 9 plays over coffee 15 Cuba teaches life lesson in 'Radio' 16 Departments Opinion 2 News 5 Campus briefs 6 Nation 7 Police blotter 8 Cuisine 9 Arts 15 Entertainment briefs 17 He Says She Says 17 Sports 24 In this corner 24 Punt, Pass, & Pick 22 Classifieds 19 TU increasing security presence Baltimore company contracted to provide unarmed guards; Caret calls for new measures Sarah Breitenbach The Towerlight In an effort to improve safety, Towson's administration has con-tracted with an outside provider to increase the security presence on campus, particularly in the University's 12 residence halls. Security guards from Abacus Corporation will begin working with Towson tonight and will continue to provide additional security service to the campus seven days a week. Abacus, a Baltimore-based corpo-rate services company, will provide uniformed, unarmed security guards in dormitory lobbies from the hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. seven days a week and will be responsible for checking student IDs and registering students' guests. Col. Bernard Gerst, director of pub-lic safety for the Towson University Police Department, explained that a provision of the new safety plan will require students to register guests upon entering the building. ""The goal is to make sure that peo-ple entering that building are bona fide residents of the building or bona fide guests of resi-dents of that build-ing,"" he said. In addition to monitoring individ-ual buildings, Abacus will provide foot patrols in the residential parts of campus on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. ""We have the flexibility to shirk or expand those posts as we need to,"" Gerst said. ""The thing to remember is that we're going to have our same police. This is in addition to our police; this is not in lieu of our police."" ""The goal is to make sure that people entering that building are bona fide residents of the building or bona fide guests of residents of that building."" Col. Bernard Gerst TUPD The new meas-ures follow the rape of a Towson student on the property Valley View apartments Oct. 12, the armed robbery of a uni-versity staff mem-ber in Lot 1 Oct. 10, a nonsexual assault near the Glen Complex Sept. 1, and an on-campus third degree sex offense Aug. 31. However, officials stress that the stepped-up security measures are not in response to specific crimes at TU or in the area. In order to fund the contract with Abacus, the University is using what senior vice president and chief fiscal officer David Harnage called ""reserves"" from the school's budget. ""When we develop a budget for the University, we always hold reserves in the budget,"" he said Monday. ""We feel like campus safety is a very important issue and one that deserves attention, so we have cho-sen to fund these extra programs out of the reserves of the University."" A press release issued by University officials last week also details an attempt ""to enforce alcohol laws and university policy pertaining to alcohol stringently; and to adjudi-cate alcohol related infractions imme-diately."" The release said that the use of alcohol can potentially increase inci-dents of crime. ""If you're in an intoxicated state, you're increasing your risk of See DORMS, page 8 Newell residents evacuated after sprinkler accident Saul Staaganka/Tha Tawarlight Sophomores Chris Leonard (left) and Emmanuel Williams wait outside Newell Hall Wednesday afternoon after a broken sprinkler flooded their dorm room on the third floor. Damage was limited, however, residents were evacuated for over an hour to allow for clean-up procedures. Today High 52 Low 37 Friday High 56 Low 39 Saturday High 61 Low 46 Sunday High 66 Low 55 Monday High 67 Low 51 "
