The Towerlight, September 23, 1982

tl19820923-000 "No. 4 iii The Towerlight PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 September 23, 1982 Po Wommittee ?xamines metention By James Sohoettler Federal budget cuts and declining )11ege enrollment have led Towson Late administrators on a hastened '`u-ch for ways to retain the Univer-tY's current and future student Ody, The University, along with six ther schools including North arolina State and the University of eaneasee, has received a $12,500 rant from ital,i; the Kellogg Foundation to au I. ,�-� a retention committee to ""�er understand why students drop It and how to keep them enrolled. The committee, which includes bellItY, administrators, and 'eats, collects data on the past stories of students who have drop-oouutt,, are still enrolled, or have actuated from the University over e last Couple of years. Ed Saski, director of Towson In- i tutional Management Systems, alPiled the data using information on the University computer. ,11r Purpose is to study and define Juleins of retention and to identify iorities which the University ould address,"" said Dorothy 'gal, vice president of student ser- *s Etnd chairperson of the retention tulittee, 'Over the past six months we've e,c0rumittee) been receiving packs uata which are all being pulled �ther to get a real retention rate,"" !1c II1 said. ""By next January we Icae',,d. have the information in I/111�11g the data collected by the drnittee was a survey of entering 'dents in 1981. The survey, which 8tYclYing such things as age, the at Popular degrees, and opinions advising, presented these conclu-ns: - ') An increasing percentage of 1Yeats are over 21 years of age. Very few students indicate ersity recruitment activities, , ee of relatives or advice of iLehers were important in their deci- 'a to attend the University. 1) v erY few students found the ad- I te of � . guidance counselors to be very Dn'tant. RtTENTION, page 2 Ir.'""������.. By Bob Tarleton Students sampled everything from bratwurst to goat meat at last Friday's Ethnic Festival. Students visit Ethnic Festival By Amy Marshall The spectators came for a variety of reasons. Some came out of curiosity., others to sample the widely varied food, drink, and entertainment, and still others because there was no glen party to attend. Whatever their reasons, the participants at last Friday's campus ethnic festival were both suprised and pleased by the variety of offerings available. Blane Brown, coordinator of the event said he aimed ""to promote a mix of campus and surrounding area cultures."" Burdick field was dotted with cultural displays, food booths, and even a portable bandstand. Students, faculty, and others milled, about enjoying Italian pizzelles, Ger-man bratwurst4 and even such delicacies as East Indian goat tneat. The,live jazz bana was a popular item, and many people started their weekend off sitting on the grass, sipping beer and enjoying the mellow jazz tunes. V103 provided additional music and gave away records. Suzanne Bibrer, a junior, said the festival was a good idea, and wondered why there weren't more people in at-tendance on such a beautiful Fall day. ""There could have been more vendors,"" she said, but still hopes the festival will be repeated next year. Caroline Hestvick, also a junior, attributed the medium-sized crowd to what she considered a lack of advertising. Many students she talked to didn't read the posters around school, and therefore missed the event. However the location itself was a good one, as it caught many com-muters on their way to the parking lots. The reaction of those who did stop was a positive one, though. Many who came only to drink beer found themselves leaving with a lot more than just a yellow wristband from the beer vendor to think about. Many cultrues including Lithuanian, Italian, Geraman, and East Indian was represented. The fact that the various booths were spread pretty far apart may have contributed to some vendors lack of business. The Italian booth, located very conveniently in front of the Union doors, however attracted a good crowd. Nancy Ercolano, who ran the booth, commented she was very surprised at the way the advertising was handl-ed. She suggested that a banner over the street could have been added. She said, however, that the festival was well organized and that she and the other vendors had been treated well. There had been a special breakfast just for the vendors the morning before the festival. Nearby, at the German stall Annegret Kasper, who has catered many school events such as this, felt the crowd was a fairly good one for the first year. Most of the ven-dors were very positive about the effects of such a festival upon the school. They felt more people could be attracted in the future, and most were hoping to be invited back if the festival were to be repeated. atch After enjoying the culinary offerings of last Friday's Festival one student works out with a game of liy Tarleton frisbee. Some people consider frisbee Towson's favorite pest time. lent award policy adopted rhe By Bruce Reid "" University Senate Monday f a plan to establish a $30,000 or annual faculty merit awards )/.""-_lv1,000 each to instructors who I excellence in their academic ,hs or � service to the University. me,new awards � called Universi-nuegt Awards � are in addition to 'nd ental Merit Awards, which t1,1r tded by the Board of Trustees ..""e,� State Universities and Col- ,8. The Board this year allowed for Percent increase in salaries for nise instructors who were Ilated for Departmental Merit Arde. :he new merit awards will give the tversity a chance to recognize IrlstetatIctiug"" faculty, said Patricia vice president for academic ,T1,1e standards [for the University 5-&-,he Aswards] are going to be similar tandards for judging promo-tion and tenure,"" said Mark Whit-man, chairman of the promotion and tenure committee and professor of history. Each academic department will nominate at least two, and a max-imum of 15 percent of its faculty, for the $1,000 awards, Whitman said. Faculty who show excellence in teaching methods, service to the University, such as sitting on com-mittees, and scholarship in their field of study will be considered for the 30 awards, he said. The new awards will be supported by money from the Departmental Merit Awards, however, Whitman said. ""The faculty has already voted to take a small cut in [departmental] awards"" to fund the new University-based system, he said. The new merit award system may instill more competition among facul-ty members, Whitman said, ""but ob-viously, some faculty may not be pleased with the [added] competition."" But most administrators say a ""tightening"" of the faculty merit award system was needed. The Board of Trustees recently suggested revi-sions to faculty merit awards at the six state institutions under their jurisdiction. The last time the University merit award system was revised was about six years ago, Whitman said. Nominees for the cash awards will be considered late in the fall semester, he said, and the awards will be made in late spring. Plante, who will screen the ap-plicants, said the new awards will give the University as a whole a chance to reward faculty, rather than receiving merit awards from each department, as under the current faculty merit award system. New unit aims to educate and prevent crime By Gayle Griisser In an attempt to cut down on the number of crimes on campus and heighten crime awareness, the Towson State Police have established a crime prevention unit to inform the campus community on how to pre-vent thefts and other crimes to students, administrators and staff. Maj. Joseph Kelly, deputy chief of police, said the program is ""not a scare tactic"" but said it should lessen the crimes which do occur. According to University police statistics crime rose 8.2 percent dur-ing the first three months of 1982 as compared to the same time period last year. Breaking and entering jumped 121.4 percent in the first quarter of this year but serious crimes such as murder, rape and aggravated assault dropped 24.2 percent. Crimes including non-aggravated assault and telephone misuse climbed 69.8 percent. Kelly said the rise in telephone misuse can be attributed to two in-dividuals who have since been caught and prosecuted. The crime prevention unit, located in the basement of Newell Recreation Center and coordinated by Retha Jackson and Amy Pierce, two Univer-sity policy officers, will conduct a variety of services. Specially trained in crime preven-tion, the officers will coordinate bicy-cle registration, Operation ID (the in-graving of personal property for ready identification), security surveys, crime prevention presenta-tions, rape prevention seminars, of-fice and dorm watch programs and new student and employee orienta-tion programs. Seminars and presentations will be held in the dorms and various depart-ments. As of yet no presentations have been scheduled while the prevention unit settles into its new home. Jackson said the main purpose of the program is the ""educating of the community to the things we [the police) have to offer them."" The police will also be engraving personal property with driver's license numbers so in case of a theft, an item could be traced through a na-tional computer system. Kelly said there are no statistics on how many stolen items are recovered this way because the system is new. Under the dorm and office watch program Jackson said they are look-ing for interested persons to be aware of what is happening in their areas and telephoning the police if something is happening. Two programs still in the planning stages are the installation of emergency telephones in outer stu-dent parking lots and an escort van service for on-campus transportation and Goucher students. PREVENTION, page 2 By John O'Loughlin The world appears different from inside a police car. Gay groups battle for rights (CPS) � Despite a string of spring victories, it was a bad summer for gay student rights advocates, and it promises to be an even more tense fall. Most prominently, the president of Michigan State University overturn-ed the recommendations of two cam-pus committees and exempted a fraternity from university prohibi-tions against discriminating on the basis of sexual preference. A federal court, moreover, recently said Texas A&M administrators had acted properly in withholding univer-sity recognition of a gay student group. Georgetown University gays are expecting a fall ruling in their suit to gain student group status, while gay groups at Florida and Oklahoma are struggling to retain group recogni-tion they barely won earlier in 1982. Gay rights advocates, claiming they're confident of ultimate victory, derive their confidence from the suc-cesses of the civil rights movement. ""Gays are a minority fighting against being suppressed by the ma-jority,"" said Ron Bogard, a lawyer for the Georgetown gay groups. ""Black people had that probelm some time ago. Unfortunately, we have to re-invent the wheel all over again each time a new minority wants its rights recognized."" Uneasy administrators don't see it that way. James Bond Texas A&M lawyer dismisses the gay rights groups as ""more of a social entity than anything else."" Cecil Mackey Michigan State presi-dent ruled a fraternity that kicked out a gay member last spring was within its rights because ""social fraternities and sororities have a special relationship to the University, but (are) not part of the University."" Consequently, Delta Sigma Phi, which expelled member John Norwak when he admitted being a member of the MSU Lesbian/Gay Alliance, didn't have to abide by the universi-ty's rules prohibiting discrimination against gays, Mackey ruled in July. GAY RIGHTS, page 2 Dorm bathroom conditions triggers student complaints By Karen Feldman After complaining to community aides, the Residence Department and even the Baltimore County Health Department, resident students are finally noticing im-provements in cleaning by the housekeeping staff. Complaints started soon after students moved into the dorms and have multiplied in recent weeks, said Dick Auth, deputy director of the physical plant. ""Unfor-tunately, we have had a lot of complaints,"" he said. Mary McElroy, a health science major living in Pret-tyman Hall said she talked to the CAs and Residence Department officials before becoming frustrated enough on Monday to call the County health department, deman-ding that an inspector be sent. Mold was growing under the soap dishes and the sshaoidwers looked like they hadn't been cleaned. McElroy Auth explained one reason for the problem is the housekeeping contractor, Crothall American Inc., has ex-perienced a significant ""personnel turnover."" ""We are documenting all the complaints we receive"" and turning them over to the contractor, Auth said ""We're meeting with them [Crothall] formally every two weeks, and I see people at least once a day."" Auth agreed that a ""once over lightly job"" was being done instead of a thorough one. However he and three others plus the contractors manager are working on a daily basis to correct the situa-tion. ""I must say I've seen some improvement."" By Bob Tarleton While the dorms have experienced cleaning troubles of-ficials are concentrating on solving the problems. "