The Towerlight, September 11, 1981

tl19810911-000 "VOL. 75 No. 2 ovveriight PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 Rattle of the marching bands upbeat sounds and elaborate choregraphy dominated halftime activities on the gridiron during the season's opener with Morgan State. The fighting Tiger's instrumental wizardry was matched by Morgan's polished dance act. What the marching tigers lacked in Fred As-taire flair was equalled in musical prowess. Symposium attracts noted biologists by Wallace Bruce Reid A community of concerned biologists gathered on the third floor of the University Union last Thursday and Friday to attend a sYMposium on ""Threatened and En- ..dangered Plants and Animals of MarYland."" A total of thirty-five speakers from state and federal agencies and scologically-minded organizations delivered essays on topics ranging from the Maryland endangered species program, endangered lower vertebrates, the status of en-dangered birds in Maryland in-cluding the southern bald eagle, in-v ertebrates and plants, and ""Critical areas and habitats."" Present were Chandler Robbins, ""'author of Birds of North Anzerica, editor of several publica-ns, and chief of the U.S. Fish and nildlife Service's Non-Game igratory Bird Research Center in laurel; also Arnold Norden, former graduate student of Towson State nd spokesman for the Natural story Society of Maryland; Elmer Worthley, botanist and co-host of two PBS television programs; David Lee, former biology instruc-tor at Towson Senior High School co-author of the voluminous Atlas of North American American Freshwater Fishes. The symposium was sponsored by the Sigma XI Club of the Universi-ty, an international research organization. The idea was initiated by Arnold Norden, who co-chaired the event with Dr. Donald Forester, behavioral ecologist and professor of vertebrate zoology and herpetology. Forester said that the proceedings will be available to the public in published form in about a year. The Sigma XI Club has about one third of the funds necessary for publica-tion thus far. Dr. John Cooper, of North Carolina State Museum delivered the initial essay entitled ""Vanishing Species; the dilemma of resources without price tags."" Cooper's thesis was spelled out repeatedly. ""Even the most an-thropocentric, utilitatian approach to nature has got to recognize that the basic matter is not just a vanishing species, or two vanishing species, or a dozen vanishing species, as execrable as these losses are, its the alarming phenomenon of extensive species endangerment Chandler Robbins, V.P. Plante seeks br- Patricia Plante was recently appointed vice-president for academic affairs. This is the second of a two-part interview with Plante conducted by Towerlight news editor Quincey R. Johnson. Tnwerlight: What do you think are tile weak parts of the University? Patricia Plante: I think that the academic structure is weak. We are !Qing to develop six colleges this ea think such a restructing is seniething that will help us in many Ways. Secondly, we have not, for w hatever reason, been as successful 41_8. I would like us to be in recruiting nig -illy qualified students. We have a university that should appeal to thnse students because I do believe hws have strong departments. I 'eli.eve we have to change our im-le. It takes years and years to heutl,ilge the image of a university, We have begun. ,..0 have had the image of essen- ,""14dY, a teacher's college that was Ig to become a multi-purpose --41ege. We are still living with the re age. of the past, We are far ;letter than our image; we're still aigging behind in that way. want to recruit these serious fl�lidents not just for the benefit of faculty (because it would make re nio__ Pleasant in the classroom,) tIt,,nu not even simply because when thea' get out they will bring honor to Cc university (which is also nice), bt.,it want to recruit these students Ceause it makes it more exciting nr all of the students who are here. l! You have students who are 5e '0u who are really interested in elvi�1*. it spills over outside the assroom and there is a climate of all ng that can make it exciting to Edlility. students, regardless of their We assume everyone here can do college work, but if you can get more and more students who are serious about it, college becomes a much more intense intellectual ex-perience for everybody. That's real-ly the reason for recruiting the highly qualified. If they want to become famous and bring us glory later on, that's okay too. TL: What are your opinions on pro-motion and tenure? Plante I think the outlook is somewhat more cheerful than it has been in the past few years. That is, the Board has just raised the percen-tage of the upper ranks from 50 to 65 percent. That does not mean we are going to be able to promote, but it means we will be able to promote more of them than we could have in the past. For state universities of our size, we have more people at the lower ranks than most others do. That has been demoralizing. I think the average for institutions of our size and kind had been 66 percent at the upper ranks; whereas, we have been and the consequent summary decline of natural diversity in our biosphere, and all that means for the functioning of our one world."" Maryland has its own endangered species list, including the Maryland darter, the bog turtle, the Delmarva fox squirrel, and the symbol of our great democracy, the bald eagle. Programs to protect these rapidly declining species have recently been under fire from the Reagan ad-ministration and particularly Secretary of the Interior James Watt. Cooper added that the attitudes of the general public are changing. ""More and more people are opting for a Jeffersoian pursuit of hap-piness . . . in nature, rather than a Hamiltonian enhancement of quan-titative living."" Forester said, there are unique op-portunities open to any student of biology at Towson because of the lack of a developed graduate pro-gram. Instructors must look to the undergraduates for help with research projects and independent studies. Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact -- it is silence which isolates. Thomas Mann September 11, 1981 Tuition increase expected FY '83 request shows growth by Quincey R. Johnson Towson State has submitted a budget request of $41,540,213 for fiscal year 1983 to the Board of Trustees of State Universities and colleges. The fiscal year '83 budget request includes a ten percent tuition in-crease for full-time day students. A $900,00 inflation allowance that was suggested by the state's budget bureau was not received by the university, said Ronald Gar-rison, vice-president for finance and management systems. Either get the money to cover in-flation from the students or we will have to curtail services, added Gar-rison. The ten percent increase will raise tuition costs from $870 per year to $960. There are increases in the athletic fees and on room and board costs. Increases in mandatory fees will amount to $290; athletic and room and board costs are mandatory fees. The increase in mandatory fees is ten-percent. The university requested $18,307,068 in general funds. General funds are monies aquired from the state. There is a increase of four-tenths of a percent in General funds. If one-time and unique items, like equip-ment for Van Bokkelen Hall are deleted from the budget, there is ac-tually a decrease of six-tenths of a percent in General funds, added Garrison. Auxiliary Enterprises and Inter-collegiate Athletics are self-supporting programs, said Gar-rison. With these subtracted from the budget, added Garrison, there is only a total budget increase of 3.5 percent. ""Although we are charging students more, our real growth is only 3.5 percent,"" said Garrison. The General fund request is based on the estimated full-time equivalent students (FTES). FTES are based on students taking an average of 30 undergraduate credits per year and 24 graduate credits per year. It takes approxima...., -15,000 students to match 10,800 FTES estimated by the university, said Garrison. There will be an estimated 15,093 students in undergraduate and graduate divisions combined. There is an increase of total full-time equivalent faculty from 614 positions in FY '82 to 625 positions in FY '83. The actual number of full-time faculty is 469. Ronald Garrison The university will produce an estimated 316,998 credit hours in fiscal year '83. Fiscal year 82's total was 311,670 credit hours. In Fy'83 business administration estimates the highest in credit hours production with 48,355,credit hours followed by psychology with 30,262 credit hours, and English with 20,733 credit hours. There is also 3,836 credit hours estimated for remedial studies. In the instruction section of the budget report, inadequate funding is cited for the need for an increase of instructional supplies. All reserv-ed supplies have been depleted. The report also cites a need for the replacement of audio-visual equip-ment because it is worn out. Inade-quate funding is also cited as the cause of the need for new audio-visual equipment. Early next spring, the General Assembly should decide on a final budget. major in computer science limited to 50 percent in the upper ranks. For example, the rank of instruc-tor is almost an anachronism. At most universities, PH.D.'S are assistant proffessors. Here, because of the limitations placed on us we can hire these people only as in-structors. When these faculty members go to professional meetings, give papers and so forth, and are listed in the program as in-structors, everyone wonders what is wrong with them. It's cheering that 3ome instances we will be able to 'emedy that. TL: Do you have a part in the hiring and firing of faculty? PP: In our proffession, faculty are fired or denied tenure by faculty groups; that is, a chemist by a chemist, English professors by English professors. Since President Hoke and I have the ultimate responsibility for the academic well-being of the institution, the denial or granting of tenure ultimately comes to our desks, and we do, therefore, have a say about it. TL: What effect will the new dorms have on the University if and when they are completed? PP: In my opinion, a very good ef-fect. I really believe they will be completed; this is one example where our Board of Trustees has supported us, and it's due to them we are getting a 1799-bed dorm. It gives us much more liberty in recruiting students than we've had in the past. It gives more students a chance to have that ""live-in"" ex-perience in their four years of col-lege. It helps us create the kind of intellectual climate I've been talk-ing about. TL: Is there a need to raise the academic standards at Towson State? Plante: I think Academic stadards now are sound. I think people who received a degree from Towson can be proud of it. The faculty evaluates the students. manage to get through honestly If you the re-quirernents you have received a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science degree. In that sense, I am convinced what we are doing ' is viable, it's legitimate. Our diplomas are certainly not certificates of at-tendance. However, in the sense that there is always room for improvement there is always room to ask for a lit-tle more of students. We all need im-provement. Probably no one really ever reaches a point where he works up to capacity. I don't think we have reached apoint where we can say under no circumstances could we make any greater intellectual demands on ourselves than we are making now. TL: What will be your working rela-tionship with the president? Plante: Ultimately the p resident is, by virtue of his office, concerned with the University in its relations with outsiders whereas I am more concerned with the interior opera-tions of the University. We basically have the same stan-dards, and the same intellectual con-victions about what a university should be. Our working relationship is a very fine one. It's also a very in-formal one and I think we learn from one another. Because we have the same in-tellectual convictions, we hve the same goals in mind though we may occasionally disagree as to the means. When that happens, he's the boss. He has been an academic vice-president and a very successful one. He is very mud' concerned as most good presidents are, about the academic. I welcome his advice on internal matters. He's even been known to listen to me on external af-fairs. TL: What new programs would you like to see at Towson State? Plante: Immediately, I would like to see professional programs in the fine arts. I think that is something we can get, and we should develop them immediately. We've been given the go-ahead by SBHE (State Board for Higher Education). 1 also think we should have a com-puter major. But we have not been successful in convincing the State Board for Higher Education. Even-tually, I hope we can get one. When I say eventually, I am rather impa-tient. I mean in the next year or two. I don't mean twenty years from now. Computer language is a matter of literacy. I was just reading that in the state of Minnesota 97 percent of all students who graduate from high school have had some hands-on ex-perience with a computer. That is certainly not true in. Maryland. It's not true of most of our college grads. I think our student's going to be at a great disadvantage without a knowlege of computers. I'm not say-ing only Towson should have a com-puter science major, only Towson should be giving computer science courses, I think every college should. In This Issue FOOTBALL: Last week, the Morgan State Bears continued their three-year dominance of Towson State, beating the Tigers 17-13 in an error filled game. Story on page 6. GUZZLER RETURNS: Okay dry-heavers, it's time to practice your chin-ups and line your pockets against the age-old curse of bar hop-pers � wet change, because Guzzler's Guide is back. Don't miss it on page 2. "