tl19720915-000 "towerlight Volume XXVI No. 2 Towson State College September 15, 1972 Towson, Maryland 23204 Special report: Students investigate practice teaching fee Editors note: The following article was submitted by a student in the TSC Art Department. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and should not be construed as those of Towerlight. by Barbara Await This report is a result of three months of investigation by a group of art education students into the practice teaching fee. This action by the Board of Trustees, without knowledge or representation by any students, Should be cause for a great deal of embarrassment to those responsible. Many aspects of this decision are highly questionable. The method of billing is being looked into by consumer protection bureaus. Towson State will be billing its students for over $300,000 each year without having to account for any of its spending. This same Towson State Administration was blasted by the Sunpapers for being unable to account for large amounts of student and college funds missing in a recent audit. But what shocked us most was the lack of concern or help shown by our own Student Government, Administration, local teacher's unions, and the Maryland State Government. Hopefully this report will enlighten the student body on this latest money making venture. Even though the decision to cut the college's funds and bill the students had been made long before May, the news was withheld until the last days of school to keep student opposition to a minimum. An excerpt from a letter dated July 12, to Congressman Clarence Long from Fred Spigler, in Governor Mandel's office, explains the actions of the General Assembly: ""By action of the 1972 General Assembly, funds requested by each of the State colleges were eliminated. In making this reduction the General Assembly decreed that: index Page 2 Editorials Page 3 Letters Page 7 Features Pages 8-9 News Briefs Pages 10-11 SGA Budget Page 14 Goings On Pages 17-18-19 Sports 'The reduction in Technical and Special Fees made in the Instructional Program for each campus removes the general fund support for the Supervisors of Practice Teachers. It is the opinion of the Committee that this cost either should be handled as a special student fee or treated as an overhead cost by the Department of Education."" The $100 per experience fee, according to all administrators, is to go directly to the supervising teacher. However, the investigating students found that not all the supervising teachers get the same amount of money and a good number receive no money at all. In fact it was rare to find a teacher who would receive the entire $100. None of the supervising teachers knew the money was coming from their student teachers. When representatives of the Baltimore City Teacher's Union and the Baltimore County Teacher's Association were questioned they both professed (Continued to Page 6) Photo by Erick Hoopes President James L. Fisher outlined his hopes for Towson State College in faculty address last Friday. Fisher addresses faculty, sets goals for the coming year by Suzie Daugherty Addressing the faculty for the first time this year, Dr. James Fisher stated his ideas for ""the general peraimeters of the directions that the faculty and students should take"" in the coming year. Under discussion in his speech were the vast improvements affected ""not just by me but by you the faculty and the students"" in every department; a wider range of courses available, increased space and facilities, additional teachers and a larger budget. Academic Council elects officers Experiencing some difficulty in getting members to run for office, the Academic Council Monday elected its �dicers for the coming year. Dr. Herbert Andrews was re-elected chairman after his opponent, Al Haste of the Math department voiced his support of Andrews. Again this year, a student, John Kipper, was voted Vice-Chairman replacing Charles Barkley. Kipper, a senior and Student Government senator was defeated First meeting of Academic Council elEcted president. Photo by Erick Hoopes saw Dr. Herbert Andrews, last Spring in the SGA presidential election. For the office of Secretary, Regina Fitzgerald of the Education Department was elected unanimously when three other nominees, Margaret Zipp, William Pelham and Linda Sweeting withdrew. Nine faculty members then declined nomination for the Member-at-large to the AC executive committee. The position is open only to faculty. Because only two people are eligible to be nominated at one time under the present procedures the nomination of these nine took considerable time. In an attempt to resolve the vacancy, SGA president Jesse Harris offered the proposition of an amendment to allow a student to take the post. Chairman Andrews declined the suggestion after which David Cornthwaite accepted the position of Member-at-large. In the final business of the day a motion was passed to havethe faculty vacancies filled by the person who received the second highest number of votes in the last election. After debating whether the motion by-passes the democratic process, the resolution passed. The ""imminent crisis in education"" was also in his speech meaning, in part, the student government which needs to concentrate on student needs, not on ""freer sex,"" minorities, women and institutional neutrality. Dr. Fisher stated that there has been ""all too much intellectual shoulder-shrugging"" at blacks. He said that because our ""earnest desire for true equality has been thwarted so we have become unconcerned and have casually relinquished efforts on behalf of blacks in higher education."" He asked the support of the entire faculty for this effort to get blacks to Towson State College. Fisher said he is looking for more promotions of women in the coming year. He publicly thanked those who have recently made him aware of his one prejudice toward women and promised to make up for this in the future. Looking back to campus violence last year, Fisher stated that he felt institutional neutrality ""an absolute necessity-the bulwarks of education."" If an institution does not remain neutral, it would be ""a travesty of purpose,"" he said. Dr. Fisher also promised that he would ""do all in his power to help anyone remain neutral."" In regard to the arrests made last spring, he said that in the future he ""would not expect the staff to make any arrests""; they should be made by ""duly authorized external authorities."" Concluding his address, President Fisher stated that there must be a new style and substance of education, ""we must insure that we will be better for its knowledge."" "
