tl19850912-000 "SGA escort service delayed Although the experimental run of last year's escort service was billed as a success by both the Student Government Association (SGA) and the police department, plans for continuing the SGA service have not yet been commpleted. ""We're not abandoning it,"" said SGA vice-president Joe Heacock, but no date has been set for restarting the SGA service. An escort service is functioning on campus, however. The university Police have been operating one since last year, with limited hours. These hours have been recently increased, according to police chief Steven Murphy, because of both increased ridership and additional funding. Heacock admitted that the SGA hoped to merge its service with that of the police department, as well as the University Union. He also hoped for budgetary assistance from these sources. Although Heacock could not say when such a service could begin, he did say that ""(SGA president) Paul Walsh is working on it right now."" However, Murphy said that he had not heard from the SGA recent-ly. ""The last time I met with the SGA to discuss it was March of last semester,"" he said. Since then, no more contact about co-ordinating the service has been made. But the key question, Murphy stressed, is not who does the ser-vice, but simply that one be running to serve the University. ""We were concerned with the program being continued, regardless of who was re-sponsible for operating it,"" he said. convinced it is a vitally im-portant service to the University."" The service had increased rider-ship by twenty percent over the course of the Spring '85 semester. However, ridership has been low this semester, largely because peo-ple are unaware of it, Murphy feels. The present service operates Monday-Friday from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., and can be reached by calling 321-2192. By Jean Kane and Robert Taylor Language consortium formed among state universities Towson State is now a member of the recently started Baltimore Graduate Consortium in Foreign Languages and Linguistics, a pro-gram designed to oversee graduate programs in French, Spanish, and other languages. The University will join UMBC and Morgan State University in the consortium. The purpose of the consortium is to pool the strengths of the campuses' foreign language pro- , grams. The University will offer a core course to students at the other universities entitled Literature and Society. Other language classes will be beamed from UMBC to the University via microwave relay. University and UMBC students will also be given access to Morgan's new multi-lingual word processor. �The State Board for Higher Education SORT program to begin on campus ""Sexuality: Opinions and Responsibilities for today"" (SORT) is the product of a task force appointed last year by University president Hoke Smith in order to heighten students' awaremess of sexuality as a per-sonal and societal matter. Students will see the SORT logo around campus this year on flyers, posters, and brochures. Many SORT programs and materials dealing with various aspects of sexuality will be distributed throughout the year. Current SORT projects include a booklet that will soon be distributed to students concern-ing rape, sexual assault and sex-ual harrassment. The booklet is designed to aid students in Preventing sexual assault and in reporting offenses as soon as they occur. �University Report Campus Notes are continued on page 2 campus notes Inside Bard of Baltimore The Towerlight celebrates H.L. Mencken's birthday 13. Secret service The Career Placement Center, Towson's best kept secret 8 Twin wins Even under the sweltering heat, Tiger football and soccer won their opening games 4,5. Italian postcards Visuals photo essay focuses on Lonnie Timmons' semester in Italy 3 More students strug-gling to repay loans, study says The problem of college loan debts is affecting the lifestyle of more and more college graduates, according to a recent survey of financial aid recipients. The rapidly rising tuition has forced students to borrow more and more, and the debts that they face after graduation often lead to postponing starting families, purchasing a car or house, and other large financial commitments. The study also shows that younger graduates are faced with the most difficulty in repaying loans since tuition is substantial-ly higher than before. Other groups faced with especially difficult loan burdens include single women, who usual-ly earn less upon graduation, and minorities, who are statistically less likely to finish school with a degree and so are, as National Council of Educational Oppor-tunity Associations director Arn-old Mitchum said, ""stuck with repaying aid debts for an educa-tion they never finished."" Mitchum and other experts blame the recent federal trend toward loans and away from grants for the repayment pro-blems. In the early 1970's, nearly two-thirds of all federal aid was in the form of direct grants. To-day the same portion is awarded as loans. While Mitchum recommended a halt to increasing the limit on federal loans, the American Coun-cil on Education has asked the House Postsecondary Committee on Education to raise the annual student loan limit from $2500 to $3000. Student debt will continue to be important in deciding the structure of aid packages, however, as both loan amounts and college.tuitions are rising at a greater rate than starting salaries for graduates. �College Press Service The Published weekly by the students of Towson State University Vol. 79 No. 2 Towson. Md. 21204 September 12, 1985 Back to the grind A student relaxes as the first full week of classes gets underway. By Derik Rice Undergraduate age highest ever By Michele Hart A new Census Bureau report states that more than half the nation's col-lege students are twenty-two years old or more. It is the first time the ma-jority of students have been older than twenty-one. According to the Towson State University Institutional Research department, this trend is reflected at the University where the average age is twenty-two or twenty-three. There are many reasons for this age increase. Inability to decide whether or not to attend college, undecided majors, financial problems, and the desire to work before college are just a few. The decisions are no longer as automatic for people to make than they were just ten years ago. Rena Keslar, a twenty year old sophomore is one of the people who really did not know what they wanted to do. She took a year off after high school ""because I didn't know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go and I felt like I was being pressured to go where my parents wanted me to go or where everyone else was going."" Now she feels her decision to wait was a good one. She does not think it is harder to be an older student. ""I think it's easier because I'm secure in what I'm doing. It was my choice to go to school, which school to go to, and what to major in."" Robert Evans, 22, echoes Keslar's sentiments. According to Evans, ""it is important to know why you're going to school or it may take you longer to get out."" Evans started out as a full-time student right after high school, then switched to part-time ""to figure out what to do or what to take."" He also feels there is more competition in the job market which causes people to stay in school longer until they know they have what it takes to be suc-cessful. John Ford, a senior, is in his sixth year of college. He also did not know what he wanted to do when he began his studies. He decided to major in Theater and Business. Ford could have graduated by now, but instead he opted to work on 44 theater produc- University Club closes after 1 5 years By Terie Wolan The University Club, which is in debt to the state of Maryland an estimated $80,000 to $110,000, has been forced to close the club facilities as the Auburn House. The club is a private corporation, founded in 1970 and composed of University faculty and TowSon com-munity members and had sublet the Auburn House from the University for several years, University President Hoke Smith said. The state of Maryland originally leased the building, located on Auburn Drive near the Towson Center, to the Towson State University Foundation and the foundation subsequently sublet it to the club as a reception and tions. Says Ford, ""I think I've gotten so much more out of college because of that."" Working before or during college is another reason for the increased average college age. Doug Stultz is a twenty year old freshman who worked for two years before starting school, and is still working full-time. Accor-ding to Stultz, ""I was and am working to work."" For Stultz it is hard to balance work and study, but, ""I'm See UNDERGRADS, page 2 dining facility. However, when the lease expired in mid-August, the state attorney's of-fice refused to renew the lease under the same terms, Smith said, since the state is still negotiating with the club for back payments of debts. Club president Henry Kimmey said the board of governors decided to close the club as of September 1 because under the terms the state is seeking for a new lease, club dues would have to be increased substan-tially. In a letter to the membership, Kim-mey said, ""such an increase in dues brings forth the very real pi .:spect that the club would no longer be ::ffor-dable to our members."" See CLUB. page 1 1 Heavy debts have caused the University Club to close. Business Administration major Mary Andrulewicy is one of a growing number of over-21 undergraduates. Union to open computer lounge By Jean Kane A new computer lounge equip-ped with word processors will open October 1 in the University Union Recreation Center. Dubbed the Disk-O-Tech, the lounge will be equipped with six EPSON QX-16 computers and three printers. Students will be charged one dollar to use the facilities, Union director Bob Baeuerle said. The lounge may also offer other services such as resume' and term paper typing at competitive rates. Students familiar with the computers will staff the lounge to assist those us-ing the computers. The lounge will be open during all Union hours and is being coordinated by Baeuerle and assistant director Matt McMannes. According to Baeuerle, the pro-gram began because of the great need for access to computers. He pointed out that the Union is an ideal place for the center because it's conveniently located for many students.The program directors stress that the computers will be available to all students, not just computer science majors. ""Our major concern is to get students who have no experience with computers acquainted with the service, ""Baeuerle said. ""We chose the EPSON computer because it is user-friendly, and we are hoping that with the help of our staff, the novice can be ac-quainted with the computer in a relatively easy fashion."" The staff has planned free ses-sions on the computers to intro-duce students to lounge and its facilities. The lounge will begin operations on a first come, first served basis, but a time reserva-tion system will be introduced if there's a large demand for ter-minals. The Disk-O-Tech's student manager, Scott Conrad, sees several advantages to using the computers' word processing pro-grams, including instant correc-tions, saving completed work, and rearranging the format of works without starting over. Tailgating rules revised By Scott Hollenbeck The tradition of tailgating will have some new rules this year to control the time students spend drinking and to make sure students do not make tailgating an all-day party. Charles Eckels, associate vice president for administrative serv-ices, said a lot of people ""don't tailgate just for the athletic events. ""Eckels said people will stay in the parking lot and drink all day and never attend the game. Eckels also noted there have been instances where high school students have mingled with the University students and drank al-coholic beverages illegally. See TAII.GATINC, page 2 "
