The Towerlight, September 25, 1987

tl19870925_000 "B7 , Sr Inside Pick-Up Artist Molly Ringwald's latest film page 5. The weri Published weekly by the students of Towson State University ghtTowson, MD 21204 ndex news 1 sports 3, 4, 11. 12 features & entertainment 5 6 classifieds 10 editorial 13 letters and perspectives 13 weelnvatcher 14 ol. 81 No. 2 September 25, 1987 rotest gets action by Vince Russomanno News editor In a peaceful protest, approxi-ately 200 students showed their strations with a number of Owson State University's pol-es. According to a flyer circulated uring the protest, some of the sues frustrating students are a lack of student participation in licy making, cutbacks on stu-ent tickets to athletic contests, idents having to move during inter break, limited library ours, too short a grace period ttveen the end of the semester d exams, parking inadequacies, d scheduling and billing pro- Ms"" 'It is not just about tailgating. is protest is about every frustra-on that Towson State students ave had with this University that as not been dealt with,"" said Stu-ent Government President Chris vos. .Sharon Madden, a student par-cipating in the protest, said, ""The ,sue is not just tailgating. It's the ecisions being made without stu-ent input."" Another student at the demon-ration, Harvey Gruntman, said at while students of legal drink-g age were not allowed to partic- Date in tailgating activities, ""the acuity [gathered on the hill across oni the protesting students] had keg of beer."" (The Towerlight has seen unable to substantiate this Iccusation.) Craig Kolgie, an alumni of Indi- Iola University of Pennsylvania said, ""IUP students were not in-formed of Towson State's no alco-iol at tailgating policy, and they should have been informed."" Kol- )gie said that he and some of his friends were ""told to go home"" by campus police while attempting to tailgate. Ken, a Towson State senior, said that the University's dry tailgat-ing policy is not adequate in help-ing students who might have a drinking problem. ""The Uni-versity should help the student re-solve his problem gradually with open meetings where students can discuss their drinking habits open-ly,"" he said. ""No matter what comes of this protest, I expect this to be just the beginning of more student invol-vement on campus,"" Krivos said, adding, ""What the students are asking for would not take money or a lot of time to change. All that is needed by the administration is a serious commitment to students."" While observing the protest, Uni-versity President Dr. Hoke L. Smith said that he was ""glad to see so many students taking an inter-est"" and hopes that students con-tinue to express their opinions within the student committees. ""It was unfortunate that some decisions were made during the summer, when most students are working; it was not the best way for that to happen,"" Smith said. Student concerns over parking are already being addressed. Ac-cording to Smith, the possibility of renting parking spaces at nearby establishments is already being discussed. Later this week, Krivos and a committee of students plan to pre-sent an alternative tailgating pol-icy to the Substance and Educa- _ tion and Concerns Committee. ""We plan to find out the concerns of the University and the major focus will be on eleviating those concerns and on safety, especially for the campus police, which may not have the man power to handle certain situations,"" Krivos said. AIMS aids minority by Heather Lonergan News reporter ""Providing black freshman and transfer students with the means ,t0 adjust"" is the purpose of AIMS 'Assisting Incoming Minority Stu-dents), said Olivia Hill, program President and sophomore at Tow-son State University. A subcommittee of the Black Student Union, the outreach pro-am assists new minority stu-nents toadjust to life at the Univer sity, where the percentage of white students outweighs the percentage Of minority students. Students are niatched with upperclass ""bud-dies"" who help the new pupils adjust to the complex University sYstem. Last semester, a banquet held to address the concerns of minority students went on to become the basis for AIMS. Hill said that they ""went in to give out ideas and came out with AIMS."" Currently, Dr. Camille Clay is the acting advisor, and Dr. Helen Giles-Gee is the acting co-advisor. The first match-up was Septem-ber 7, 1987. Future hopes for AIMS include a continuing commitment to the needs of minority students and, eventually, SGA affiliation. Through her term as president, Hill desires to make the Universi-ty community ""more aware"" of AIMS, and would like the organi-zation to gain ""clout with the [Black Student Union]."" e Assisting Incoming Minority Students Program hopes to ?past low minority student enrollment at Towson State university. !improved ID's issued by Vince Russomanno News editor The ID Office, which used to �Aerate out of the Recreation Center, plans to have new IDs ;issued to all students by October ?,1. Until that time old student mentification is still acceptable for everything but dining hall ser-vices. ""The new IDs have many advan-wiges over the old ones; more infor-soation can be stored on the mag-netic strip,"" said Bob Campbell of the ID office. The storing of such Information could help speed up the registration process and could eventually be used as a ""debt eard"", drawling from student ac-e, nunts for such things as billing, cooks and room deposits, ac- Cording to Campbell. One problem that is alleviated 133 the new IDs is that the old stu-dent identifications would some-times lose the code on their mag-netic strips and would have to be replaced. Also, students no longer have to worry about having a val-idation sticker, said Campbell. ""All students must have a new ID. We will be starting with those students who never had IDs to begin with. Oct. 1, we will start doing continuing studies and full-time day students. We will replace the IDs of Graduate students begin-ning Oct. 12,"" said Campbell. In order to get your new ID, two forms of identification are re-quired. One must be a picture ID and driver's licenses are preferred. The ID office's hours are 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Monday, Thursday, & Fri-day; and 8:30 to 7 pm Tuesday and Wednesday. Their new location is across from the bookstore on the first floor of the University Union. Once the new ID is issued, the cost of replacement is $10, ac-cording to Campbell. President Hoke L. Smith and his staff have begun addressing the complaints raised at last week's protest. Senate addresses needs by Doug Wood News reporter Towson State University Pres-ident Dr. Hoke L. Smith an-nounced during Monday's Uni-versity Senate meeting that his staff would address student corn-plaints that incited a demon-stration before the football game last Saturday. The grievances focused upon the lack of student participation in policy making. One area of complaint is cut-backs in student tickets to athletic events. Smith said that this issue would be addressed by the Uni-versity Senate's Athletic Corn-mittee. Another issue, limited library hours, will be addressed by an ad hoc library committee. In addition, the lack of a grace period between the end of the semester and the beginning of exam week will be handled by the calendar committee. The calendar committee will also address the issue of classes being held on Martin Luther King's birthday and Good Friday, as well as commencement falling on a Jewish High Holy day. Smith also said that the inter-term move out for residents may be' eliminated. ""We will consider doing away with the inter-term move out if details concerning security [and] maintenance [are worked out], and if we don't have a rental contract on the building,"" said Smith. A committee will be formed to handle this issue. University Residence Government (URG) will also play an important role in solving this problem. Smith promised to deal with billing and registration associated with the new computer system. ""We had one unfortunate incident where we washed out 600 sched-ules. We have also had some pro-blems with billing,"" Smith said. He also asked Dorothy Siegel, vice president for student services, to work with the SGA to develop a consulting system to deal with issues arising during the summer, since students are often unable to attend summer meetings. The parking committee will be reactivated to deal with current parking shortages, Smith said. Full Time Equivalency (FTE) for this fall was projected at 10,950, but current figures show it at 11, 681, compared with 11, 261 last year�an increase of 420 students. The FTE was only 10,700 when the parking garage was built. ""[Parking] has been a serious problem this fall, as we are going to have to take measures to al-leviate it,"" Smith said, adding that parking was more of a problem in the fall semester than in the spring semester. In other news, Smith said that a press conference had been held Monday to release documents sub-mitted to the governor on re-organization. Most of the material was given to the ad hoc advisory committee. Copies of the material will be printed for general dis-tribution. Acting Provost Robert Caret also announced that the Academic Computing Center has obtained a new computer, a VAX 8700, which will be hooked into the main VAX system. ""[The new computer] should provide us with a 600% increase in capacity over what we had last year,"" said Caret Caret also announced the be-ginning of a five-year plan to bring satellite communication to the University. A satellite dish will be hooked into Cook Library and Hawkins Hall. Eventually, a two-dish system will be installed. This system will allow Towson State to hook into any accessible satellite. Modern languages, fine arts, and sciences have already expressed interest in telecon-ferences. There is also a possible statewide plan to network all state universities in Maryland. Caret delivered the annual Provost's Address, which focused on the need of the University for autonomy and self-government. The University must remain open to the opinion of special interests, but the faculty must have the final decision in academic issues. He pinpointed three areas in which the University is subject to outside influences: assessment, profes-sional accreditation, and gov-erning boards. Assessment, said Caret, is a valuable tool in measuring pro-ductivity, but must be fair and objective, or it will breed skep-ticism and cynicism on the part of the faculty. Professional accreditation is a method of assuring quality, but must be approached from the philosophy of improving the entire University, not a single program. The needs of a profession cannot be promoted at the expense of liberal education, said Caret. Finally, Caret siad that a gov-erning board can play either the role of protector of univeristy interests or watchdog of the state. If the interests of the university are to be promoted, the governing board must function in the former capacity. Finally, several University Senate positions were filled. Dr. Michael Opceko was elected chair of the Senate; SGA President Chris Krivos was elected vice chair; Dr. Caryl Peterson was elected sec-retary; and Dr. Mary Lu Larson was elected Senate member-at-large. 1SGA responds to students by Doug Wood News reporter ' At Tuesday's SGA Senate meet-ing, SGA President Chris Krivos reported that the major issues that sparked Saturday's protest were addressed by Towson State Uni-versity President Dr. Hoke L. Smith at Monday's University Senate Meeting. Among the issues was the lack of a grace period between the end of the semester and the beginning of exams. This complaint, along with grievances about classes on Mar-tin Luther King's Birthday and Good Friday, as well as Spring Commencements on a Jewish High Holy Day, will be reviewed by the Calendar Committee. Parking shortages, another con-cern of the SGA, will be dealt with by a newly reformed parking com-mittee. ""There was a parking prob-lem years ago, and the parking committee was formed. A parking garage came out of that, and the parking problem was alleviated. Now it has grown again, so the parking committee has been put back together,"" Krivos said. A committee has also been formed to address the issue of end-ing the mandatory winter break move out of resident students. As long as maintenance and security concerns can be settled, said Kri-vos, students will no longer have to move out at winter break. Krivos also said that the Uni-versity Residence Government (URG), will play a pivotal role in the committee. In response to complaints of a loss of student participation in pol-icy making, Smith urge students involved in University committees to attend committee meetings and to take an active role in those committees. He also noted that problems with computerized registration and billing would be dealt with, according to Krivos. In addition, an ad hoc library committee will address limited library hours and the possibility of keeping the library open 24 hours during exam time. ""We had close to 200 people at the demonstration. It was very orderly and went off very well. I think we got our message across, and I think we need to be heard,"" Krivos said. Krivos was pleased with the University's response to the stu-dent's demands. ""This is the largest impact that student government has ever had as a voice,"" he said. ""I'm very proud of the fact and I hope [the Senate is] too. Dr. Smith has shown a willingness to answer pur concerns, which I appreciate, and I'm sure every student out there appreciates. Maybe all it takes is for us to let him know what those concerns are."" In other news, two constitutions were introduced to the Senate. The constitutions of The Sisterhood and The Episcopal Campus Fel-lowship were both referred to dm government operations commit tee. Senate Bill 1987-88 #7, a funding bill to allocate a supplemental budget of $4,500 to be added to the existing SGA speaker series bud-get, was referred to the approp-riations committee. The Senate also gave a favorable reccommendation to Senate Bill 1987-88 #4 by a vote of 12-0-0. This bill, an act to establish a time period between budget requests, Financial Advisory Board hear-ings, and Senate hearings, is de-signed to ease the process by which budget requests are sent through FAB hearings and Senate hear-ings. A part time jobs fair will be held Wednesday, October 7, from 11 am to 2 pm in the Chesapeake rooms. The jobs fair, which is sponsored by the Career Placement Center, will feature telemarketing jobs, business jobs for education majors, child-care jobs, accounting positions, and positions for mass communication majors. ""We're interested this year in developing part-time jobs that are related to [student's] majors,"" said Elisha McBride, coordinator for the Part-time Jobs Office. Towson State's homecoming is October 24; the theme is ""Tiger Pride."" Finally, the deadline for applica-tions for freshman senator is Wed-nesday, October 7 at 4:30 pm. All freshmen wishing to run for fresh-man senator must sign a petition and collect signatures of 200 full-time, fee-paying students and be interviewed by the University Af-fairs Committee. More informa-tion is available from the SGA office in the Union. Outstanding students to be awarded scholarships The application process for Towson States' Outstanding Man and Woman of the Year Award has begun. This award, created in 1984, replaced the traditional selec-tion of a Homecoming Court. Candidates for this award must prove themselves on the basis of achievement, involvement in act-ivities on and off campus, expe-rience, and other related skills and talents, and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0. All applications will be reviewed and narrowed down to four males and four females. These finalists will then be given further consid-eration in interviews by the Selec-tion Committee. Winners of the award will each receive $1,000 towards their educa-tion and will represent Towson State at many events scheduled for the coming year. Application packets may be picked up at the Residence Office located at the lower level of Newell Hall, the Student Government Offices in room 226 of the Univer-sity Union, and the Office of Stu-dent Development in room 313 of the Union. Completed applica-tions should be returned to the Office of Student Development by 4:30 pm Friday, October 9. Admissions rise by Doug Wood News reporter Despite predictions that it would fall, incoming student enrollment at Towson State University has increased this year. According to Linda Collins, director of admission, 1540 fresh-men were expected to be enrolled this fall. In actuality, however, 1740 freshmen have been en-rolled, a 13.1 percent increase. ""The numbers of freshmen en-rolled were predicted to go down because the total number of college bound high school seniors is de-creasing nationwide,"" said Col-lins, who attributed the increase to several factors. A higher out-of-state enrollment, according to Collins, is one of the major factors causing higher en-rollment. Citing 17 percent out-of-state enrollment in the freshman class, Collins said that the Univer-sity costs less for many out-of-state students than comparable in-atate universities elsewhere. ""We are very pleased we were �Sean Brohaun able to enroll as many [out-of-state] students as we did. It makes the campus more interesting,"" she said. In addition, factors such as loca-tion, cost, curriculum, and a corn-fortable size are attracting more in-state students to the University as well. Also, anticipated financial aid cuts did not occur. Instead, financial aid to students actually increased. Transfer student enrollment also exceeded expectations. While only 1150 transfer students were expected to attend the University, 1250 have actually been enrolled, an 8.7 percent increase. In addi-tion, Towson State's Full Time Equivalency (FTE), a measure of the number of students taking a full 15 credit load, has increased from 11,2611ast year to 11,681 this year, an increase of 420 students, according to David Decker, asso-ciate director of Registration and Scheduling. Overall, the news is very encou-raging, according to Decker. Not only are more freshmen attending Towson State, but also students in general are taking more classes. "