tl1984Summer-000 "The Towerlight Vol. 77, No. 29 PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 Summer 1984 The view of Towson State from downtown Towson. Welcome to Towson State With %mocktails not cocktails 1 and plenty ut informa-tion, Alcohol Awareness hit Towson State. The Tigers topped them all at will. file photo 12th straight Homecoming By Bob Tarleton On a clear day you can see construction: The parking garage goes up and (hopefully) parking problems will go away. The year in review As you're taking a tour of Towson State, you will be con-fronted with a melange of differ-ently- styled buildings and paths more suited for a billy goat to climb than a student. Stuffed to the gills with various and sundry booklets and handbooks, you've taken the first step of your college career. Don't look back, something may be gaining on you. Actually, this place isn't as menacing or confusing as it seems now. We've compiled a wrap-up of the news at Towson State to give you some background information on a typical year here. As usual, it hasn't been terribly radical or excit-ing. So here it is, some interesting and not-so interesting events, with only a couple of minor controversies to wallow in. You can expect some variation on that theme for next year: The face of Towson State chang-ed during the 1983-84 school year. As the construction of the new resi-dent towers gave way to construc-tion of the parking garage in front of the University Union, grumbling commuter students faced a long trek from a distant parking space through mud-clogged paths. How-ever, as more residents became ac-tive in school organizations, events were organized to encourage stu-dents to stay on campus during the weekends. As the school year opened last September, the new Cross Campus Residence Complex opened its doors for the first time to over 1600 stu-dents. The construction of the four residence towers and a glass-walled cafeteria more than doubled the on-campus housing capacity, and al-lowed students from around Balti-more to live on-campus. It also created an abundance of empty dorm space for the first time, but es-timates for this year expect a full house. The new Residence Complex in-creased the housing capacity, but the number of parking spaces did not increase at all, and the fall and spring semesters saw some of the worst parking problems in the his-tory of Towson State's usually terri-ble parking situation. The numerous problems finally broke a fourteen year deadlock over building a multi-level parking gar-age near the center of campus. The State Board of Public Works ap-proved the plan for a 1055 car, four level garage over Lot 11 in front of the University Union in November. Construction began right after the fall semester exams ended, and students returning for spring semester found 300 sorely needed prime parking spaces under piles of dirt and construction vehicles. The Student Government Associ-ation could not find enough interest in its annual speaker series this year, as only a total of 100 people at-tended the first two speakers, au- Letterfrom the editors Dear Freshman/Transfer, We've never been introduced, but we are the editors of The Towerlight, the weekly student newspaper here at Towson and you, we presume, know who you are. How are you? Fine? Good. So much for introductions. Now, a question: why are you going to college? Never mind 'why are you going to Towson State?'�you'll be asking yourself that question before too long�why college in general? (This is a multiple choice, by the way.) a. To pursue higher education b. To pursue men/women C. To evade responsibility d. 'Cause you're a party animal and this seemed like the place to be. As far as we're concerned, those are all good answers (although whoever is footing the bill for your tuition may not think so) but we would like to go out on a limb and suggest that college is more than just a place to study, cohabitate, and imbibe to excess, make a fool of yourself, and wake up in the morning with a pounding headache, all in relative isolation from the pressures of the outside world. College is much, much more than that. College is a veritable trove of opportunities, yours for the asking. Seriously. Even Towson State. Why, just a random sampling of the of-ferings at this plush, 326 acre campus includes the following: *Over 60 student organizations, clubs, fraternities, sororities, societies, etc. that cater to those interested in See LETTER, page 3 thor Ralph Schoenstein and actor Clinton Case, the SGA axed the rest of the series in October. A revamped series in the spring drew a little bet-ter, with respectable crowds for ""Earthwalk"", a program of slides on a walk across the United States, and Dr. Timothy Leary. Members of Towson State's Black Student Union were involved in controversy in October when they charged that black faculty and ad-ministrators and were being forced to leave through administration pressure. The administration denied the charges, since one administrator left for a higher position at another university and another left because of job dissatisfaction. Later in the semester, one of the administrators in question, Tyrone Lewis, former Assistant Dean of Student Activity and Development who left in July 1983, was found guilty of shoplifting and assault and battery in a Montgomery County court. Lewis was charged with steal-ing three socket wrenches and a screwdriver from a Sears in Laurel, Maryland, two months before he was hired by Towson State in Oc-tober 1982. Towson State won its twel f :,t. straight Homecoming game by clearly dominating Morgan State, 48-0. Linda Jean Brown was named Homecoming Queen, and there was plenty of activity, from tailgating in the morning to the three bands at the Homecoming Dance. Plenty of interest was raised by the University Senate in February, as it debated a proposal to elevate the football program from Division II to Division I-AA, and increase the athletic fee by $25 a year for three years. After three long sessions of de-bate, the Senate decided to leave football at Division II, and left the decision on raising fees to Univer-sity President Hoke Smith. Smith decided to raise fees $25 for the coming school year. The Senate also considered whether the University was in accordance with Title IX re-quiring schools which receive fed-eral funding to give equal support to women's sports teams. The Student Government elec-tions stirred little controversy, as only one candidate ran for each of the three executive positions. Former SGA Senator Chip DiPaula won the presidency, and Eileen O'Shea and Joel Cohn became vice-president and treasurer respective-ly. Controversy about the election came after the fact, when the Senate froze the budget of the Black Stu-dent Union for failing to have a rep-resentative man the polls for the elections, as each SGA budgeted or-ganization was required to work at the election. Members of the BSU came to plead their case at, two Senate meetings subsequently, but the Senate held firm on their deci- By Bob Tarleton sion. The BSU has been allocated money for the fall 1984 semester, however. In the spring, the presidential pri-mary fever hit campus. Politically interested students started a con-servative group, Students for Amer-ica, and Democratic students began work on the Americans with Hart group which grew into a broader Young Democrats organization. Young Democrats became SGA af-filiated and they, along with the al-ready established College Republi-cans, each distributed literature, and participated in rallies and had speakers. The Parkbench Society, a non-partisan discussion group, pro-moted voter registration among students. When a National Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) evalu-ation team visited the University, they recommended a tighter screen-ing process before accepting stu-dents as education majors. The Uni-versity Senate approved a measure which goes into effect this fall. Also, the University received a $278,672 grant from the Depart-ment of Education to mainstream women's studies into the overall university curricula. Workshops for faculty and various speakers were presented as a part of the grant. Many of the introductory level courses used for General University Requirements will ev6ntually in-clude an increased emphasis on the accomplishments and history of women. During the spring break, workers removed asbestos from the Union. Previously, asbestos had been re-moved from campus buildings in 1980. The standards for the level of asbestos deemed hazardous were tightened in the interim and the Union had areas with an asbestos level considered hazardous by Maryland state safety standards. After the asbestos was removed, the safety standards were met. The Physical Plant has located other possible areas in campus buildings where there may be as-bestos and they plan to remove any as funds become available. Throughout the year, students stayed up all night for charity, either dancing for Muscular Dys-thropy or playing marathon football for the McMullen scholarship. nam-ed for former Athletic Director Joe McMullen who died of leukemia in eptember. As fewer students are now ot .,gal drinking age, alcohol contin-ued its slow decline from the main-stream of University activity. Alco-hol awareness fairs were held and monitoring of drinking became stricter at dances and in the d )rms Finally, 3000 students gradua t ea and joined the ranks of till real world. So, take heart, there lite atter school. Welcome to Tc wson State. Home Sweet Home: Glen Dining Hall and the Residence Complex seen from the Glen. "
