tl1983summer-000 "ti The Towerlight Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. �Thomas Alva Edison vol. 76 No. 28 PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21204 Summer Special 1983 The year in pictures LIDDY AT TOWSON STATE: he didn't bite the heads off of any rats TSU in review If you haven't realized it yet, Towson State is not the most excit-ing university one could ever hope to attend. Its students, faculty and administrators are a relatively easy-going, conventional lot and things usually run pretty smoothly, if dully. But occasionally, fate leaves a case of whiskey in the University liquor cabinet and all h--- breaks loose: confusion and controversy reign and Towson State is propelled onto the local and national scene in a rash of wild stories about lax morals and incredible decadence. You won't find any of that here, however. Instead, what follows is a brief recap of some of last year's more noteworthy events, illustrated in a fairly random fashion by the pic-tures on this page. Caveat lector. Towson State's 1982-83 aca-demic year began much as it usually does, with 15,000 full- and part-time students descending on the Univer-sity in search of a parking space. With approximately 4,000 spaces available, the results are predict-able. In the words of the chairman of the parking committee, ""Parking PARKING: it's a blight HOMECOMING: the Tigers showed them how It's done is a blight."" (Be forewarned if you plan to park illegally, however; University police ticket and tow with a vengeance. Things may get better this year, however, as there were tentative plans to build a garage in front of the University Union this fall as this issue went to press.) The end of September brought the beginning of the Student Gov-ernment Association lecture series which last year led off with convicted Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy, followed by columnist George Will, sexologist Shere Hite, with comic Steve Landesburg bat-ting clean-up and ""The Amazing Kreskin"" bringing up the rear. October brought homecoming and in front of one of the largest crowds ever in Towson Stadium, the Tiger gridders stomped rival Mor-gan State. Controversy, however, soon filled the campus as thickly as the scent of burning autumn leaves when The Towerlight neglected to print a picture of the Homecoming Queen. (No sense rehashing old screw-ups, though, so we'll just let that one lie.) October also brought the last day to drop full semester classes. This year (mark your calendar) that day is October 7. Work progressed on the new $30-million dormitory complex on Cross-Campus Drive. The new dorms will increase the University resident population to one-third the student body and make Towson State less of a ""commuter college,"" and, depending on whom you talk to, the dorms will also: a) improve the parking situation, b) have no effect on it, or c) make commuters suicidal. The State Board for Higher Education and the State Board of Public Works approved a computer science and a new computer system, respectively, as the spring semester began. The computer science pro-gram graduated its first hackers last semester, but the computer facility had yet to make an appear-ance as we went to press last. May. Shortly after students returned from Christmas vacation and mini-mester, Mother Nature sent them packing again. Twenty-two inches of snow closed the school for a long weekend. Curiously, though, no one seemed to mind. The University later received another ""snow job"" when it was discovered that a former business professor had taught here under an assumed name and without a busi-ness degree. Paul Crafton, known locally as ""David Gordon,"" was eventually taken to trial, but he left in his wake a host of angry students and embarrassed administrators. Hoke Smith, President of the University, and Annette Flower, 1),,an of the College of Liberal Arts, held a press conference to say that they felt Crafton-Gordon was a competent teacher. Crafton-Gor-don 's students complained that no one asked them what they felt about his competence and life went on as usual as the issue settled into the dust. March was one of the coldest on record, which may explain how Bob ""Krash"" Barnhart and his SMART (Students Making Action a Reality at Towson) ticket managed to ice the SGA elections. SMART swept all 14 seats in the Senate and Barn-hart and his running mate, Jim Clark, captured the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. Kelly Ray the SGA treasurer, was the oily independent victor. The organizational budget hear-ings followed soon after the elections with the SGA allocating over $68,000 to 16 campus organiza-tions. (The SGA receives that money from the $23.25 fee every full-time student pays each semes-ter with his tuition. The senators meet every Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the third floor of the University Union, in case you want to have a say in how your money's spent.) Throughout the year, students danced all night, climbed stars and danced all night again to raise money for charity. The Dance-a-than, an all-night dance for muscular dystrophy, and Circle K's stair climb at the World Trade Center were two of the more suc-cessful efforts. Alcohol virtually disappeared from campus last year, and as a result parties in the Glen on Friday afternoons will henceforth be spoken of in the past tense. And a couple thousand seniors disappeared, too, into the real world. And that's the way it was . . . Welcome to Towson State. COMPUTERS: you can get a degree if you can find a computer I NEED YOUI AMIN/tiff MUSCLE DISEASES DANCE-A-THON: getting down for charity **Stastosamt A letter from the editor Mark T. Baltimore Editor-in-Chief, The Towerlight Towson State University Towson, Maryland 21204 Triad Student Towson State University Towson, Maryland 21204 bear Triad Student: By now I'm sure that everyone and his mother is bombarding you with suggestions and advice con-cerning your college career. And also, by now you are probably so confused about college and Towson State University in particular that you are ready to throw in the towel, go home and become a pro-fessional toy store assistant manager for the rest of your life. If you feel this way, don't give up yet. Just bear through this triad session and the first few weeks of classes, and I guarantee that everything will become quite simple. After a month or so you prob- THREE SNOW JOBS: Mother Nature dumped 22 inches (top); alcohol virtually disappeared from campus (but some still drank anyway); and Smith and Flower explain Crafton-Gordon ably won't believe that you were ever intimidated by this University in the first place. For now, just follow along, keep your mind alert to things happening around you, and just try to look like you know what's going on�in other words�""fake it."" I've taken this space in the triad issue to try to familiarize you to one small but very important part of Towson State, that being your student newspaper, The Towerlight. I say that this publica-tion is very important to you and the University because it represents your voice on campus. The Towerlight is published by and for the students of Towson State. We are not censored by the University in any way so we represent a free campus press. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to become a Towerlight staff member to be heard (although membership is open to all students�please join). It just means that you, as a student, may be heard or you may express your opinions in this publication. Should you decide to become a Towerlight staff member, your input, suggestions and ability to report news of all types will have an impact on this, the college community. If you or a Towerlight editor think some aspect or agency within the University is not operating efficiently, your inves-tigation may prove to preserve the integrity of Towson State. This preservation is one of The Towerlight 'S biggest responsibilities. I'm not saying you have to be a Woodward or Bernstein to write for The Towerlight, but the opportunity for you to shine as a journalist and a student still exists. Should you decide to become involved with another facet of the University instead of The Towerlight and yet still wish to express your opin-ion in The Towerlight, you have two options. First, you may write a letter to the editor. Letters from readers frequently appear on The Towerlight editorial page. These letters represent the opinions of the writer. If you write a letter to the editor, all we ask is that you provide for us on the letter your name, your class year (senior, junior, sophomore, freshman) and a phone number where you may be reached in case we have any questions. See LETTER, page 3 THE DORMS: good-bye commuter college? "
