tl1979(SummerSpecial)-000 "VOL. LXXII No. 28 P(15otvertigt PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Assumes office in mid-July New president makes debut by Katherine Dunn & Evelyn Hoopes Dr. Hoke L. Smith, the new President of Towson State, was formally introduced to the campus community at a press conference May 21. Most of his introductory comments were deliberately vague, he said, because he needs time to get to know the University better before commenting. Smith did, however, stress the need for the University to change in the next decade to meet the needs of the chang-ing student population ""The excellence which has sufficed us over the years will not suffice in the future,"" he said. The changing population is forcing schools to put more stress on serving the older student, he said. ""The impact of demographic changes, not only in the decline of traditional age'students, but in the graying of our population as it moves into middle age, means that we will have to decide how to serve that portion of society which we served in its youth,"" said Smith. Smith said that he was aware of the controversy sur-rounding the recent increased emphasis placed on athletics at Towson. He said that Drake is a basketball school and big-time basketball has helped Drake. ""Athletics plays an important role on any campus, but it also depends on how the community regards the institu-ion's program."" Smith said he was interested in the University because, A letter from the editor Welcome to Towson State University. And welcome to Towerlight, the weekly campus newspaper published by students of Towson State University. Towerlight is here to give the Towson State community the latest, most in-depth, most up-to-date news, sports, features and commentary possible so that you can become acquainted with the University and the fascinating people and events that make it move. But we don't look only at the campus. We look beyond seeking news that is important to students and that cannot be learned in other media not dedicated to student interests. If it's important to those of us in college, you'll find it in Towerlight. The regular features you will find in Towerlight will give you all this and more. Week Watcher, filled with news of upcoming social and cultural events, is the student's guide to life outside the classroom. Compiled by Cherri Sparenberg, Week Watcher will help answer one of the most important questions college students ask�what can I do tonight? Our classified ad section is the Towson State marketplace. Do you have something to sell? Or something you'd like to buy? Or a room you'd like to share' with someone else? Or a personal message you'd like to send through our pages? Towerlight classifieds reach 15,000 people each week. Our SPORTS TRIVIA and QUIZMASTER contests, sponsored by Ross and his characters at R & M Liquors will stimulate your mind and give you the opportunity to fill your fridge with good spirits each week. Our news coverage will keep you up-to-date on the important campus happenings. If it affects you, you'll find it in our news pages. Reporting by our news staff is supplemented by reports from all over themation from the Collegiate Press Ser-continued on page 5 ""It is an institution that has a good reputation and is in an area of the country I was interested in moving to."" Smith, who is currently vice-president for academic ad-ministration at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, will take over the University in mid July. After a nine month long presidential Search, Smith was named May 11 to succeed James L. Fisher who resigned to take a position with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Smith spent the last ten years as an administrator at Drake, a private liberal arts school with an enrollment of 6,200. Dr. Patricia Plante, faculty represenative to the search committee said Smith was chosen because of ""his good solid background."" ""It was a matter of judgement,"" she said. Prior to his current position at Drake, Smith was assis-tant to the president and profesor of political science at Drake from 1967 to 1970. He served as visiting associate professor of political science at Kent State University in 1966. Smith was also dean of the European-American Study Center in Switzerland and served on Senator Eugene McCarthy's staff in 1965. Smith has an A.B. in political science from Knox University in Kentucky, and M.A. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia, an a Ph.D. in political science from Emory University in Atlanta. Seventy-five persons originally applied for the presiden-tial position. From these applicants, Plante, who was ap-pointed faculty representative by the Board of Trustees of State Colleges and Universities, John Shehan, the student representative, and John Wighton, alumni representative, chose ten finalists. The ten finalists were narrowed down to nine when James Homer of Illinois State University dropped out of the race because, he reportedly claimed, ""the salary was too low."" Dr. Marc Chamberlain, from Glassboro State College in New Jersey, was the first of the nine candidates to visit the University for a two-day period of meetings with various student and faculty representatives. Next came Dr. Robert Randolph, vice-chancellor of the Massachusetts College System. The following week Dr. Elwood Ehrle of Indiana State University visited the cam-pus. The fourth candidate was Dr. Irene Hulicka, from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She was followed by Dr. Janet Travis of Northern Kentucky University. Dr. Edgar Schick of St. John Fisher College in New York was the sixth candidate, followed by Smith. The final candidate was Dr. Joseph Cox, who was Act-ing President for the University since Fisher's departure. The field was finally narrowed down to Smith and Cox with the Board of Trustees making the announcement May 11 that Smith was to be the new President. A taste of college life These rowdy celebrants experienced college life Animal House style at a toga party during this spring's highly successful Greek Week, sponsored by the University's fraternities and sororities. Don't forget your togas in September! TI, Me photos Test your TSU IQ Upon entering Towson State many students often ask the same questions over and over again. Following below is a quiz designed to familiarize entering freshmen with our esteemed institution. Test your knowledge to see how close to the target your perceptions are. 1) What is the full-time under-graduate population at TSU? a) 11,507 b) 7,984 C) 9,227 d) Preppie a) 60% b) 86% c) 150% 3) What does one-third of the full-time undergradute students have in common? a) They all get financial aid b) They all eat at Pizza Palace c) They all get heartburn reg-ularly 4) What is the female to male ratio for undergrads? a) 1.2 per male b) 3.1 per male c) Double or nothing 2) What percentile of the day students commute? 5) What portion of the full-time day program is made up of out-of-staters? a) 24% b) 6% c) 14% 6) If you were to add all the grades issued last semester into one grade point average for the University, it would be . . . a) 3.23 b) 2.70 c) An Incomplete 7) Which of the following is the smallest minority on campus? a) American Indian b) Hispanic C) Asian d) Summa Cum Laude 8) TSU's nontraditional ""clean slate"" policy means a) They use your previous semester GPA for your rec-ord if you get below a 2.0 for the current semester. b) Teachers who fail to erase the chalkboard after class are prohibited from giving complex illustrations on the board for the rest of the semester. c) The University accepts students without referring to their previous academic rec-ord if they've had a three-year break in their formal education. continued on page .2 SUMMER S ECM! SUMMER SPECIAL Dr. Hoke L. Smith, former vice president for academic administration at Drake University, will assume the presidency of Towson State sometime in July. TL photos by Charles Schultz A TL syllabus A view of TSU news by Patrick Casey The people and events that make the news at Towson State are many and varied. Those effecting students at Towson State range from the Administration Building on Osier Drive to the State House in Annopolis to the Capital and the White House in Washington. These people shape the education you will receive her both in and out of the classroom, and thus greatly in-fluence your future. The biggest story of the '78-'79 academic year was the selection of a new president to replace Dr. James L. Fisher who presided over nine years of explosive growth here at Towson before leaving last August to head the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education in Washington. New Dr. Hoke L. Smith .will take charge of the University at the start of a new era in higher education. The problems he will face are many and difficult (see ""A New Head Man."" page 5). How he handles them will play a tremendous role in the future of Towson State and thus of all who attend the University. Amid the nine-month-long search for a new president, two other important positions were vacated. Wayne Schelle, vice-president for business and finance, left in April to accprt a vice-presidency at Loyola College. He was the money man who fueled the fast-paced growth of Towson over the last decade, and his departure leaves a large and important gap to be filled. A nationwide search should culminate in the selection of a new vice-president sometime this summer. Then in early May, Dr. Thomas Meinhardt, athletic director; re-signed to devote his time to teaching and coaching tennis as Towson' stood ready to move up to NCAA Division I. As this new era draws close, the selection of a top-notch AD is vital if the Tigers' move up is to be a success. A new AD should be selected by the start of the full semester. � The move to place ""greatyer emphasis"" on intercollegiate sports has also won a lot this past year. Not surprisingly, support for the move into ""bit-time"" college sports was not unanimous. Much of the controversey was in the Academic Council, the Univer-sity's leading policy-making body, where some members felt they had been given less than complete information in the spring of 1978 when athletic emphasis first came before the Council. The controversy reached boiling poinr in early April over proposals to charge an athletic activities fee to part-time students who previously had paid no such fee. Last spring a task force appointed by then-president Fisher to study the move to Division I recommended that part-time students pay no such fee. A later study of the financial feasibility of the move to Division I found that such a fee would probably be needed. But when administrators came to the Council this seeking such a fee, they met some hostility from Council members who felt they had not been given the whole story. Council member Mary Catherine Kahl claimed the Council, ""had been conned."" The Council, feeling it had been decieved, became edgy about the whole question of athletic emphasis. ""If this can be� violated (the recoommendation against the fee in question), why can't they all?"" asked Council 'member Wolfgang Fuchs. Yet the edginess dissipated and by early May, the Council was ready to approve the move of inter-collegiate athletics from contrOl by the vice-president for academic affairs to control by the vice-president for institutional develop-ment. The move of athletics from an acedemic to a business atmosphere was seen as the centerpiece of the push for increased athletic em-phasis. and its approval virtually ended any opportunity to halt the drive for increased emphasis. But with some of the animosity felt in the Council and with the selection of a new AD imminent, it is unlikely that the last word has been heard about athletic emphasis. Student government is another important center of campus in-fluence. It was relatively quiet last year, with high rate of turnover in the Senate, but this year's Senators seem much more vocal and active than last year's. The Senate's most important function, which they completed in May, was to distribute almost m$200,000 in funds collected fro n students' fees to 21 different organizations (see Towerlight, May 4 1979). And as always, some controversey arises when money is being given out. This year, the Black Student Union protested the elimination of funds for its annual Parent's Dinner. . The Senate said it would not fund arty organization for food, but the BSU charged the policy is directed specifically at their organization. The.BSU is expected to return to the Senate in the fall to again seek money for the dinner. Another 'likely Student Govern-ment battle could develop over efforts to establish a branch of the Ralph' 1?Tader-inspired Public In- �terest Research Group at Towson. PIRGers from College Park were here this spring circulating petitions to win support for a $2.00 refundable fee that the administrat-ion would collect from students with other fees and tuition and that students could get back from PIRG at their request. Opposition to PIRG has been led by SGE vice-president Michael Bur's; who believe, PIRG should come to the Senate for funds or raise their own money directly as do other c�.rnpus orgyr?7�1�,ms. continued on page 2 "
