TL20061023-01 "Oct. 23, 2006 The Towerlight Published by and for the students of Towson and Baltimore -- twice-weekly Monday INSIDE Calendar........3 Perspectives........4 News.......7 Beyond.....10 Vote.....11 Arts......15 Puzzles.......19 Classifi eds......20 Sports.......24 on the Brian Stelter Editor in Chief Harford County doesn�t have a four-year public university. But increasingly, Towson University is filling the void, offering a seam-less transfer process, upper-level classes, and soon, entire degrees. At a signing ceremony last Monday, Towson President Robert Caret and Harford Community College President James LaCalle signed an umbrella agreement to formalize the relationship between the two schools. Towson�s collaborations with community colleges are expected to be a major part of the University�s enrollment growth plans. �This allows us to grow in a place that really needs higher education, and allows us to express that growth in a way that just can�t be accommo-dated on the Towson cam-pus,� provost and vice pres-ident for academic affairs James Brennan said. Beginning in Fall 2007, students will be able to take entire undergraduate pro-grams without ever setting foot on Towson�s campus. The first program will be integrated elementary special education. Bill Reuling, assistant to the provost, said the partnership is a three-pronged effort. It involves the creation of articulation agree-ments, the teaching of Towson classes in Harford County, and the offering of complete degree programs in the county. The articulation agreements facilitate the transfer of credits, so stu-dents who spend two years at Harford can seamlessly transfer those credits to Towson. Towson has signed 23 articulation agreements with Harford, Brennan said. Fifteen of the 23 are in the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics. The rest are divided between the College of Health Professions and the College of Education. �We have a bunch of conversations going on right now for similar agreements in the College of Liberal Arts, College of Fine Arts and Communication, and College of Business and Economics,� Brennan said. �Each of the colleges should have these relationships in place by the end of the year. They will make, for students at HCC, a very seamless transition to Towson.� Towson held a transfer open house on Oct. 12. A TU advisor regularly visits Harford to answer questions about the transfer process. About 100 students transferred from HCC to Towson in Fall 2005, making it Towson�s third-ranked feeder school, after the Community College of Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel Community College. But the students won�t have to transfer to take Towson classes. Starting this spring, the Towson signs deal for Harford programs Courses, degrees to be offered at Harford Community College; agreement to boost TU�s enrollment growth www.thetowerlight.com Josh Dombroskie Contributing Writer Picture a big, purple hot air balloon craft soaring off a runway, flying in the air, and then plummeting into the murky waters of Baltimore�s Inner Harbor. Over 70,000 people didn�t have to picture it because they attended Flugtag Saturday after-noon, a Red Bull sponsored event that means �flying day� in German. The event took place outside of the Maryland Science Center and featured competitors who built human-powered flying crafts launching off a 30 ft. high dock. Ellie Applen, a spokeswoman for Red Bull, said Red Bull�s founder Dietrich Mateschitz conceived the idea of Red Bull Flugtag in 1991 and Red Bull has been putting on the event since then. �This year we are bringing it to Baltimore because we haven�t had a Flugtag on the East Coast since the start of 2004,� Applen said. �We�ve never done one in Baltimore, and this city�s central focus is the Inner Harbor and waterways that shape it.� According to the Red Bull Web site over 70,000 spectators attended the event. The number of spectators at past Flugtags have ranged from 35,000 to 75,000 people. Applen said another reason for having Flugtag in Baltimore this year was the fact that the first human-powered flight in the United States happened in Baltimore. Thirteen-year-old Edward Warren piloted a hot-air balloon 300 ft. into the sky in a craft built by lawyer and entrepreneur, Peter Carnes in 1784. The flight launched from Howard Park. The day got underway with a flight from a team representing the show �Jackass.� Ryan Dunn, an actor on the show was a judge in the event, and his team started the day with a flight that was not judged in the competition. Several teams in the competition had videos showing the creation of their machine, and Photos by Craig Oppenheimer/The Towerlight The Red Bull-sponsored Flugtag attracted more than 70,000 spectators to the Inner Harbor Saturday afternoon. Flugtag included parachuters (left), allowed the audience to vote on attempted flights (center), and offered several large splashes when elaborate designs like Dumbo (right) and a 98 Rock hang glider (above right) hit the water. ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Flugtag attracts at least 70,000 to city See FLUGTAG, page 9 See DEAL, page 8 This allows us to place that needs higher education... James Brennan Provost and vice president for academic affairs �allow grow in a p really n "