The Towerlight, September 20, 1984

tl19840920-000 "Field hockey improves Team matches last year's record in first two games P 5 Treasure hunt A review of a book with no name . p. 8 Freshman essays Two finalists of last year's contest p 14-15 The Towe Published weekly by he students ()I Towson State Look, Mom --I'm eating right - - � At the resident banquet last Thursday, Greg Lowe evidently enjoyed the food, drink, and merriment (not necessarily in that order.) See page 3, ""Visuals"" for the banquet photo essay. Need for financial aid outstripping funds By Jackie Yost Too many students, attending college, de-pends on receiving financial aid. This year is no exception. In fact, more students applied for fi-nancial aid this year than ever before. ""The biggest problem now is the volume of Guaranteed Student Loans and Pell (grant) ap-plications in this office,"" said Harriet Parks, Associate Director of Financial Aid. ""It just plain costs more, so students are bor-rowing more,"" said Linda Human, Associate Director of Financial Aid. ""In the past, less students were borrowing (funds) because of more grants (being available),"" Parks said. Last year alone the university's Independent Grant funding decreased from $234,000 to $189,000. ""That is a substantial loss,"" said Parks. Unfortunately, independent grant funds were not the only source of aid decreased for the 1984-85 campus-based programs. The Supple-mental Education Opportunity Grant de-creased from $259,000 to $252,000 and the Col- lege work Study Program decreased from $188,000 to $128,000 While these losses may not seem too deva-stating, when one considers the increase in the cost of living, on or off campus, and the increase in the number of students applying for aid, the cuts are substantial. The Other Race Grant remained the same at $21 9,000, and the National Direct Student Loans increased from $540,000 to $864,000. ""National Direct Student Loans is higher be-cause we had some money carried forward (from the previous year),"" Parks said. This happens when money is collected from previous loans. The bottom line: If the money is not paid back, it cannot be loaned out again. According to Marne Ojodu, Director of Fi-nancial Aid. ""The people who applied on time were accommodated."" However, many students failed to meet appli-cation deadlines. As a result, many of them did not receive the aid. ""Because the demand for funds is so much greater than the funds available,"" said Human, ""we have to cancel applications after the deadline."" ""We (the financial office) try to tell people in any way we can to apply early,"" said Human. With the increased number of applicants this year, ""We have a lot of students applying for aid that we cannot give money to,"" said Parks. ""There is just no money available for them,"" she said. Part of the problem is that, ""Funding pat-terns were set several years ago when Towson State was much smaller,"" said Ojodu. Also, ""The programs do not expand in dollar value to meet the raise in educational costs,"" said Human. It looks as if things will only get worse. Ac-cording to a budget document prepared by the Office of Management and Budget, the federal executive department in charge of preparing the president's budget, there are no plans for ac-tual cuts in federal aid, but there are also no plans for increases either. This means that there is no projected allowance for inflation. It is projected that by 1989, what will be the end of President Reagan's second term if he is re-elected, this plan would eventually cut aid by 30 percent in terms of real dollar value. In addition, with expected increased univer-sity tuition, more people are expected to be eli-gible for aid each year. Ojodu pointed out, ""There are probably go-ing to be massive changes in the financial aid system."" Forensics team looks to repeat success By Jean Kane Returning from a successful season in which they finished tenth in the na-tion, the Towson State Forensics Union is readying for the competitive season ahead. Forensics involves speaking and debating competitively. The concept is sirnple, the work is not. The em-phasis at this point in the season is on preparation and research. Each team competing in the national tour-naments under the Cross Examina-tion Debate Association (CEDA), debates the same topic for one semester. In mid-September, CEDA Chooses a topic and then, said second year member Russ Westervelt, ""After the topic comes out, we live in the library for weeks."" The collected evidence is placed on index cards and used to build an argument for or against the topic. The 1983-84 season was quite pro-ductive for the team. For the first tune, they ranked in the top ten in the nation, along with such prestigious schools as UCLA, the Air Force Academy, and Southern Illinois University. Two hundred and forty schools compete in CEDA tour-naments nationwide. In addition, the team set a national CEDA record last year at Saint Anselm's College in New Hampshire. In that tournament, the team had a perfect record of 27 wins and no losses, a feat never before ac-complished by any CEDA team. The team is looking forward to an exciting season. The tentative fall schedule includes tournaments at West Point, Pennsylvania State, University of Tennessee, Ship-pensburg, James Madison University, and George Mason University. The team has also been invited for the first time to a national round robin tourna-ment in January at Weber State Col-lege in Utah. A tentative schedule for spring includes traveling to New Hampshire, Shippensburg, Ten-nessee, Southern Illinois University, Wheaton College, George Mason University, and the University of Nevada. Participation in these tour-naments depends on the funding available. According to Dr. Brenda Logue, Director of Forensics at Towson State, the Student Govern-ment Association gives the team ex-cellent support. In addition, the team will be doing some of its own fundrais-ing. Debaters work on improving their stands on an issue and each debate is different than the last. Speakers, on the other hand, work alone with in-dividually chosen topics and compete in the areas of persuasion, after din-ner, and communication analysis. ""It's very true that it's hard work, and it takes a lot of dedication, but it's a lot of fun. There is no other single activity that you can get so much out of,"" said Russ. A great deal of effort has gone into rebuilding the speech team. Students are being recruited from speech classes to bolster the team and a new speech coach, Janet Bury, has been added. A former University forensics competitor, Bury comes to the team with excellent credentials; in 1973, she placed third in the nation in speak-ing. Since graduating, she has coach-ed at Ohio University, George Mason University, and Georgia Southern Col-lege. Logue said, ""It is exciting to have someone of her caliber for the students to work with. She will help to broaden the speech program."" In the spring of 1985, the University will be host for the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament for the second time in recent years. This single event will bring over 400 students from all over the country to the campus. In order to prepare, the team will be working hard all year. The team would like to have a number of Towson's students in the competition as well. Currently, the team is looking for new members and they stress that a major in speech or mass communica-tions is not necessary. ""We have members from all spectrums of the curriculum. We probably have as many economics majors as speech majors,"" Logue explained. In addi-tion, no previous experience is need-ed; the team set a national record last year with mainly first-year members. ""The benefits are astounding. You learn research skills that you never lose. You also learn patience and gain the ability to see both sides of an issue. Forensics gives you the urge to want to succeed and reach that goal, be the best you can be,"" said Russ Westervelt. The team has set goals for the year, but Logue adds, ""I would like to have the students set invididual goals con-cerning how they want to improve, and what they want to learn. Instead of getting caught up in just com-peting, being top 10, they should know how to grow academically as well."" 4 Vol. 78 No. 3 University Towson. Maryland 21204 September 20, 1984 Higher budget means higher tuition and fees By Terie Wolan Towson State University sub-mited its requested budget for fiscal year 1986 to the state of Maryland last week. Under this budget, tui-tion will increase 8 percent next year. Five percent of that increase is due to inflation and the increasing maintenance cost and salaries, said Ron Garrison, assistant vice presi-dent of finance. However, 3% of the 8% increase is necessary because additional requests which the Uni-versity made to the Board of Trus-tees last spring were rejected. Garri-son explained that because the bud-get must be prepared so far in ad-vance, there are always things which come up in the middle of the year which the budget does not in-clude. Garrison said, the University ""asked for certain items�additional personnel, capital improvements, and new programs"" in the Maxi-mum Agency Required Ceiling (MARC) last spring. ""We had a substantial wish list, but it was rejected entirely,"" said Garrison. He said the request was approximately $4 million, which has budget. tacked onto next year's Next year's budget emphasizes acquiring more office automation, additional computers and computer peripherals, preventative mainten-ance on roofs and money to fund the move from Stephens Hall during renovation of that building. Increased costs for the Universi-ty will mean increased cost for stu-dents next year. The University budget estimates that a full-time in-state student will pay $1,512 in tui-tion and mandatory fees, up from $1,403 this year. Out-of-state stu-dents will pay $2,768, up from $2,573 this year. The breakdown of this figure means tuition is increas-ing $86 for in-state and $172 for out-of- state students. Mandatory fees is increasing $25, which was added to athletic fees. Under mandatory fees, there will be a new $5 charge listed as a health fee, but $5 has been sub-tracted from the Student Union operation cost, so the only change is the distribution of that money. For resident students, room and board, presently costing $3,252 will be raised to $3,437. And part-time students will have the charge per credit hour raised from $45 a credit hour to $49 a credit hour for under-graduates. Graduates will pay $70 per credit hour, up from $65 a credit hour this year. Garrison said most Maryland state colleges are ""all in the same boat, there is little new money enter-ing"" the schools. Unfortunately, in terms of spending money, ""the state's priority isn't higher edu-cation,"" it's the elementary and secondary schools and cleaning up the bay, said Garrison. The budget must be approved by the Board of Trustees, and the State Board of Higher Education. Gover-nor Hughes' executive budget de-partment, the Department of Bud-get and Fiscal Planning, will make its recommendations to the General Assembly in January. Then the General Assembly will make final recommendations on the budget in the next legislative session. MANDATORY TUITION AND FEE CHARGES 1984-1985 1985-1988 School year School year (estimate) (estimate) Units of Measurement: Undergraduate Full-Time Students Tuition: Resident Non-Resident Mandatory Fees: Athletic Registration Student Activity Student Union Construction Student Union Operation Mail Service Health Center Fee Room and Board Total Tuition and Mandatory Fees: Full-Time Undergraduate Resident Full-Time Undergraduate Non-Resident In-State Tuition, Room & Board Out-of-State Tuition, Room & Board 1,166 2,422 125 150 30 30 33 33 38 38 95 90 Part-Time and Graduate Students Credit Hour Charges: Undergraduate Residents Undergraduate Non-Residents Graduate Residents Graduate Non-Residents 2 2 5 3,252 3,437 1,403 2,573 4,655 5,825 45 45 65 65 1,512 2,768 4,949 6,205 49 49 70 70 Athlete charged with assault given a second hearing By Adam Eisenberg Towson State University's judi-cial board has rescinded its suspen-sion of a student charged with sec-ond degree sexual assault after dis-covering last Friday that the lit d had made a procedural error. Sheldon E. Nelson, a 25 year old senior and a defensive co-captain for the University football team, was arrested on September 4 on a charge of second degree sexual assault, and was suspended from the University for five years after the University judicial board conducted a hearing on the incident September 10. The board's decision to rescind the ruling was based on the fact that the letter which notified Nelson of the hearing was in regard to Nel-son's possible violation of the resi-dence code, but it did not mention that the hearing also referred to vio-lations of the student code of con-duct. While Nelson's expulsion from the residence program is still valid, a new hearing has been scheduled for today to determine what action, if any, the University will take a re-sponse to Nelson's alleged violation of the student code of conduct. The board will hear tape-recorded testi-mony from the September 10 hear-ing, as well as any new testimmony before a decision is made concerning the alleged violations of the conduct code. Nelson was sent a letter Friday which notified him of the procedural error and he was also informed of the new judicial hearing. The ju-dicial hearing will be closed to the public. Vice president addresses Senate Plante focuses on tight budget By Terie Wolan Budget constraints and limited funds were the focus and concern of Patricia Plante, vice-president of academic affairs, in her speech to the University Senate September 10. Traditionally, the vice-president addresses the Senate at its first meeting of the year. Plante said her major priorities for this year are handling the aca-demic budget, and focusing on en-rollment and financial aid. Plante said the budget process, which is time-consuming and com-plicated, requires 18 months and the approval of the budgeting depart-ment, the state assembly, and the governor. It is a major problem for the University. Plante said it is dif-ficult for University administrators to convince Maryland legislators and auditors that although enroll-ment has not increased a great deal over the past few years, the cost of running the University increases every year. Plante said the University is constantly struggling to cover these costs. Plante said she was worried that ""the quality of the enterprise,"" the University's mission, could be compromised because of inadequate funding. A more insidious and far-reaching problem as a result of squeezing fiscal dollars, is that it forces an ""undue emphasis on material needs "" Plante said. ""Academic ad-ministrators spend more and more time preoccupied ... with a fiscal juggling act,"" rather than the usual concerns, the intellectual environ-ment of the University, said Plante. The cost of attending college is in-creasing dramatically, said Plante. She noted that while under the Rea-gan administration, federal finan-cial aid for college students has not been cut, but it has not kept pace with the growing need for financial aid and the increased amount of students who are eligible for federal aid. SENATE, see page 13 "