- Title
- The Towerlight, October 4, 1984
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- Identifier
- tl19841004
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- Subjects
- ["Motion pictures -- Reviews","Universities and colleges -- United States -- Administration","College students -- Services for","Sex crimes","Student publications","Student activities","College sports","Towson University -- History","Feminism","College students"]
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- Description
- The October 4, 1984 issue of The Towerlight, the student newspaper of the Towson State University.
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- Date Created
- 04 October 1984
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- Format
- ["pdf"]
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- Language
- ["English"]
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- Collection Name
- ["Towson University Student Newspaper Collection"]
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The Towerlight, October 4, 1984
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tl19841004-000 "The man in the polyester smock Summer essay contest winner, Gary Tichenor, tells about his wild and crazy summer P.7 Mentalroids Nancy Wallace looks at drugs for head cases p. 11 Baseball Tigers end fall season with a win over CCB p. 5 The � TOW , Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Vol. 78 No. 5 htTowson, MD. 21204 October 4, 1984 Sexual crime debate :rights of accused v. rights of victim By Terie WoIan Reports of sexual crimes, once a taboo subject for public debate, have recently been the focus of media scrutiny. Cable News Network televised the New Bedford rape trial, Newsweek devoted a cover story to the sexual abuse of children, and the widespread reports of abuse of children at day care centers, and a television movie, Something About Amelia, received critical acclaim for its portrayal of familial incest. At the ""Sexual Crime"" debate spon- Judith Lindahl, defense attorney, constitutional right of due process should not be undermined in any trial, including rape trials. sored by the Student Government Association (SGA) Sunday night, discussion centered on the issue of the rights of the accused v. the rights of the victim in sexual crimes, especial-ly rape cases. Eleanor Smeal, a two-term presi-dent of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and an outspoken women's rights advocate, made an emotional appeal to the audience of approximately 350 people, asserting that more support and protection for the rape victim is necessary. Smeal's counterpart, Judith Lin-dahl, a prominent defense attorney, who represented one of the defen-dants, later convicted, in the New Bedford rape trial. During the trial, Lindahl emphasized respect for due process of law, and at this debate, she argued for this idea, that public outrage against rape should not infr-inge on the accused's right of due pro-cess. Smeal began her opening remarks by saying that during the 1970's, feminists began to realize ""how prevalent physical violance against women is...not only does it occur, it's covered up."" Smeal said the statistic is shocking that in only 1 in 25 cases of rape is a conviction obtained, but a worse Help, a tiger's got me by the tail Defensive tackle Leon Walton (74) zeroed in on C.W. Post quarterback for a sack. The Tiger defense hounded the Pioneers the entire game, and executed a two point safety for a score of 21 to 7. Office helps foreign students adjust By Teresa Graber .Towson State University is begin-ning to realize that the foreign students who attend the University have specialized needs. For many Years, foreign students have been at-tending the University, and last sum-nier, the International Student Office Was established to meet their needs on a full time basis. ""Towson has realized that if you are going to have foreign students, you Must have services for them,"" said Katherine Hodges, the International Student Advisor. The International Student Office deals with inunigration regulations, academic requirements, honey transfers and other finances, and personal matters. This semester there are approx-lMately 140 international students on Campus. Of that number, 100 students are returning and 40 are new students. The countries most heavily represented are Iran with 26 foreign students, Nigeria with 18 foreign students, and Korea with 11. Hodges said the office's biggest pro-blems are dealing with immigration laws and finances. She said, ""we don't want people to think we just hold their hands�but we do that too."" In addi-tion to hi lping foreign students deal With immigration papers, the office also tries to make the students feel at home on their new campus. The International Student office Provides foreign students with infor-illation about what services are located on and off campus, methods of local transportation, housing and c.thployment regulations, and a - dic-tion --aLy of University terms. Before a foreign student is admitted to the University, he must pass the Language of English as a Foreign 'anguage (TOEFL). Dr. James Cook, coordinator of the English as a Second Language department, said the test is given worldwide to students whose native language is not English and who wish to attend an English speak-ing university. Cook said foreign students are also tested when they ar-rive here on grammar, listening, and basic writing skills. The results of these tests help to place the student in an appropriate English class or recommend remedial work. Since 1976, the University has pro-vided ""a sequence of courses for peo-ple who came to Towson and still need remedial or preparatory courses,"" Cook said. These are English as a Se-cond Language classes (ESL). In the ESL classes, a method of teaching English is used that requires no speaking at all, Cook said. The University will start an inten-sive English program for those who need to progress to the college writing level quickly, starting in June 1985 Cook said. The intensive English pro-gram will last 10 weeks during the summer, and 15 weeks during the regular semester. One part of the pro-gram will concentrate on writing skills, the other on oral skills. Students may take one or both, depen-ding on their own needs, Cook said. Along with servicing foreign students who are attending the University, the International Student Office is encouraging American students to study abroad. Hodges said, ""The more American students we can get to travel, the better chance we have of making Towson a better place for foreign students,"" since others will understand what it's like to live in a foreign country. Hodges said the International Stu-dent Office is getting support from everyone on campus, ""there is in-terest among the students, faculty and staff."" One of the activities she sees suported is the International Wednesdays, an activity the Office co-sponsors with the International Club. Each Wednesday, faculty, staff and See STUDENTS, page 2 International student advisor, Katherine Hodges (inset) and some of the information offered to foreign students. statistic is the estimate that only 10% of all rapes are even reported. Rape, sexual assault, and wife beating are the most unreported crimes, said Smeal. In general, Smeal said she agrees with upholding the rights of the accus-ed, however, her concern that rape victims were put on trial as much as the defendant is the result of her per-sonal observations. ""I've sat in too many courtrooms and saw too many women victims shamed...and too many male judges side with the defen-dant."" Unfortunately, the sympathy of the community tends to lean away from the rape victim, Smeal said, and women do not report rape because they know they will be shamed in the courtroom. In reference to the New Bedford rape trial, Smeal said ""some people called it a second rape."" Another problem with trying rape cases is that many convictions are not obtained, said Smeal, because the sentences are too strict. Juries are reluctant to give a guilty verdict if the sentence is 15-20 years in prison, so in-stead the accused gets probation. Smeal believes shorter sentences would result in more convictions. ""There are certainly not enough convictions, and there is too much fear and terror in the female popula-tion. We live in an age of terror and it must stop,"" said Smeal. Lindahl began her opening state-ment forcefully by saying that the in-itial reports in the media about the New Bedford case were not accurate and that the case actually heard in the courtroom was very different from the idea the public has about the case. She admitted that Smeal's arguments had emotional impact, but she appealed to the audience to ""con- See SEX DEBATE, page 2 Eleanor Smeal, former NOW president, argued that too often in rape cases, the victim is ""put on trial"" rather than the accused. Senate votes to keep full graduation By James Hunt Despite concerns about ""grandma out in the car,"" a motion to put an end to the University-wide ceremony at Spring commencement was defeated Monday by the University Senate. This means the Spring commence-ment will remain divided into two ceremonies. The first is University-wide, during which the entire graduating class assembles in Min-negan Stadium for speeches by the president, honorary degree recipients and other officials. The class then breaks up by college and reassembles at different locations on campus to receive diplomas as part of the second ceremony. The proposal, put on the Senate's agenda by the College of Liberal Arts Council, would have abolished the first ceremony and staggered the starting times of the college ceremonies in an attempt to ""minimize the parking and people moving problems"" of the present ar-rangement, and allow the president to open each. One Senate member supporting the motion noted the inconvenience of the present arrangement for relatives and friends who are able to attend one ceremony, but are unable to attend the other for lack of a ticket. (Graduates generally are not given the same number of tickets to each ceremony because of the varying seating capacities of the areas where the ceremonies are held.) ""What about grandma sitting out in the car, waiting,"" he asked. Several senate members, however, spoke against the change. ""This is the only University-wide ceremony in which students, faculty, and administrators assemble to celebrate the purpose of the Universi-ty: the education of students and the granting of degrees,"" said Prof. Michael O'Pecko, noting that the ceremony was a ""tradition."" Chip DiPaula, SGA President, add-ed that most of the students to whom he explained the motion opposed it. The Senate voted unanimously, with one abstention, against the motion. The dual ceremony is a relatively new arrangement, having first been used for the Spring, 1983 commence-ment. Prior to that, Spring commence-ment was held in the Baltimore Civic Center on Howard St., downtown. Patricia Plante, vice-president for academic affairs, told the Senate that the change was made for three reasons: To have a university-wide ceremony and thus retain ""the pomp and circumstance"" associated with graduation ceremonies, but also to be able to accommodate ""smaller ceremonies that would recognize in-dividuals."" The third and primary reason for the arrangement though, was to give commencement ""the kind of warmth it didn't have at the Civic Center where you felt like you were at a Howdy Doody show or a basketball game,"" Plante said. Voting registration deadline October 8 As the November election draws nearer, more people become in-terested in politics. However, in re-cent elections only about one-half of the eligible voting population bothers to vote in presidential elections. Maryland residents who wish to vote in the November 6 general elec-tion must register to vote at their local election board. The last day to register is Monday, October 8. The following are the telephone numbers of local election boards, residents of any other Maryland county should call the state election board for the information regarding registration procedures. Baltimore County Baltimore City Carroll County Harford County Howard County Maryland election board 494-3161 396-5550 848-4500 838-6000 465-8155 269-3711 Task force tries to simplify GURs By Jackie Yost For years, students and academic advisors have struggled to determine which courses fulfill the General University Requirements (GUR s). Towson State University formed a task force in November 1983 to ""work on the whole issue of simplification and clarification"" of the GUR s,"" said Dan Jones, task force chairman. Since then, the task force has made some significant changes that will go into effect Fall 1984. ""We've come up with a new grouping of requirements,"" said Jones. The new grouping includes Group IV C, one additional college level writing course, in Group I, humanities and fine arts, and placing speech courses into the humanities group. In addition, rather than merely passing the second writing course with a ""D"", a grade of ""C"" or above will be re-quired. Group V, optional experience, will be abolished, however the courses formerly in this group will be incor-porated into the other groups. Also, under the new requirements, GUR s will include upper level classes. ""A student who has prior ex-perience can now fulfill an upper level course; he is not limited to lower level courses,"" Jones said. Why the changes? One of the reasons is to simplify matters. ""Our set of GUR s has been complicated by historical changes (technology),"" said Jones ""It was difficult for students and faculty advisors to fully understand them,"" he said. The task force hopes the revisions will make scheduling of GUR s easier for everyone. ""Many students will find that the new (grouping of GUR s) will probably be easier to deal with,"" said William Reuling, registrar and task force member. ""The realign-ment of courses will make it (schedul-ing) easier to do,"" he said. In addition, the task force is also trying to expose students to a variety of disciplines through the GUR s. ""The idea is to provide students with a well-rounded education,"" said Reuling. ""Towson State University has been and will continue to be a school who's concept of general education is a distribution concept,"" said Jones. The University employs the system of distribution requirements, which means that all students are required to take courses in a variety of disciplines. When the task force began its job of revising the GUR s, it was given strict limitations as to the scope of the changes. Any changes made had to be implemented without ""undermining any group or discipline,"" said Jones. The task force could not exclude any discipline presently included in the GUR s. ""We have shown total respect for all views,' said Jones. In addition, the task force also had to avoid making changes that would cause a loss or require a gain in facul-ty. ""We managed to achieve major changes without causing major distress,"" said Jones. The task force was also faced with the job of determining the philosophy of GUR s namely what experiences they should provide. ""It was time for Towson to define for itself something that was really missing,"" said Jones. That ""something"" was a common philosophy about GUR s. There is a hope to ""provide students with altern-tative methods of learning about the universe,"" said Hoke Smith, Universi-ty President. Smith also hopes the GUR s will ""provide students with a means of learning how to learn,"" he said. In other words, the task force hopes to provide courses teaching students not only facts, but different methods of obtaining the facts, hopefully allow-ing students to continue learning after college. ""In some ways you will continue learning all through your life,"" said Smith. ""You have to survive,"" he said. The president and the task force hope that the range of GUR s will enable a student to keep up with the changing demands of the workplace. That is why there is emphasis on ""learning how to learn."" Also emphasized in the GUR s is to teach students to accept the dif-ferences that exist in people. ""What we should teach is respect for the in-dividual,"" said Smith. Smith believes this can be done ""through a variety of experiences, both intellectual and emotional,"" he said. In addition, all of the experiences do not take place in teh classroom. ""That particular education goal ( of teaching respect for individuals) is also achiev-ed through extra-curricular life on campus,"" said Smith. Ideally, the task force hopes a graduate of Towson State is ""someone who is flexible and broadly enough in-formed that he can take a place in any of our communities as a curious, in-quiring, and responsible citizen,"" said Jones. "
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