Towerlight, March 25, 1977

tl19770325-000 "JHU7TSU lacrosse tomorrow. See page 8. VOL.LXIX NO� 21 Air ttitrlt The great Hahn titer debate, ('Oil 1. See Page 2. TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Mk. AMNION, Will this clock in Hawkins Hall, opening after Spring Break, 'ever get to 1 p.m.? TL photo by Oliver Dziggel Candidates pay election costs 'out o their own pockets by William Lombardi The two major tickets of Klein and Ruark that ran in last week's SGA election funded their campaigns ""out of their own pockets."" Each ticket, composed of candidates for President, vice president, and treasurer, split the cost of the campaign three ways and used their own money to pay the expenses incurred. The bulk of the money went for advertisements in Towerlight, and the balance was spent on other types of campaign paraphernalia such as Posters, flyers, small hand-outs, buttons and for duplicating. WCVT Was another medium used to arouse student interest. Campaign volunteers were also employed, but in both instances they were not paid for their services. Volunteers assisted by stuffing student mail boxes with flyers on voting days and placing posters in residence halls. All of the candidates who could be reached for comment thought that the money spent on the campaign and advertising was-beneficial. Joe Schumann, defeated candi-date for treasurer, thought advertis-ing was especially important in his campaign because he was running again st an incumbent, Erik Perkins. Not only did Schumann contribute to his ticket's campaign expenditures, he also campaigned on own with Towerlight ads and ,buttons. Schumann said he had a lot of work to do since he was an ""unknown,"" so he thought the more money spent, the more beneficial it would be in his personal campaign against Perkins. He would not comment on the amount he spent during the campaign. Schumann went on to say that students running for office should be provided with ""facilities,"" such as free access to the ditto machine for up to 500 copies. Schumann added that candidates - running for the executive offices received ample coverage by Tower-light, but students competing for senatorial positions were given less coverage. He said many students asked him who they should vote for in the Senate and he attributed this to the lack of information. John Ruark placed a lot of emphasis on flyers, because he thought that people made up their minds who they were going to vote for just a few seconds before they voted. So his ticket had 7,000 flyers printed up and they were passed out to students near the voting booths and in other parts of the University Union. Ruark said the flyers had ""more than our pictures on it;"" they had information also. Ruark's slate spent a total of $181 on the campaign, and split the cost three ways. Charles Klein and Ray Tubman spent $127 and $117 on their campaign respectively. Klein thought that flyers were important and said that the pictures on them attracted people. Tubman stated that the money he spent was ""worthwhile"" and added ""you win some, you lose some."" Klein was upset that the voting booths were not open at 7 a.m., when he said a lot of commuter students were just sitting around with nothing to do. He took a survey in the University Union on Monday, March 21 and found that there were 723 students in the building at 7:45 a.m. He stated that these students would have voted if the booths had been open at 7 a.m. Klein voiced his opinion to the Election Commission and its mem-bers replied that no one was avaiable to staff the polls at that hour. Next year he would like the booths to be open at 7 a.m. so that more students could get involved in the election process. He termed this year's turnout as ""despicable."" Ruark would like to see three or four voting booths next year, instead of the two booths now used. He said the turnout was not ""all the students' fault,"" because long lines appeared around lunch hours and many students did not have the time to wait. MARCH 25, 1977 Students rip off over $2500 in trays, utensils since Jan. 1 by Tony Dean Towson State students are stealing thousands of dollars worth of material from the campus cafeteria each semester. Brooke Tuft, cafeteria manager, said pilfering is a major problem for Dining Services. Tuft detailed a few statistics for the period between January 1 and March 18. Seventy-five dozen trays, 150 dozen stainless steel spoons, 120 dozen forks, 130 dozen knives, six dozen candle holders and eight dozen ashtrays have been stolen singe January 1. The cost of the stolen trays alone is $1,575.00, and the total cost of the stolen material is $2,553,33. Last semester, paper trays were used to replace the stolen ones, and this semester so much silverware has been stolen that plastic knives, forks, and spoons are being used until more stainless steel utensils arrive. This usually takes between six and eight weeks. The cafeteria is not only out of stainless steel teaspoons now, but plastic spoons as well, ana is using tablespoons as a last resort. Tuft said the pilfering rate this semester is 50 per cent higher than last semester. She said Towson has the dubious distinction of having a pilfering rate at least 30 per cent higher than other area colleges. Tuft blamed the general student attitude for the high theft rate. 'Most students take the attitude that 'we only took one set of silverware,' but of course when thousands of students feel that way, that's where our problem comes in,"" she said. The student attitude can be typified by an incident which occurred March 5. A student came through the cafeteria line, picked up his dinner, walked past the cashier, and ate his meal without paying. When the student was approach-ed by Tuft, he became very arrogant, asked Tuft what authority she had, and said taking food off the line is not the same as stealing. A trial date, for prosecution of the student, has not yet been set. At a special dinner held February 23, not only were the ""usual"" items stolen, but even the special flower arrangement on the table was taken. Tuft emphasized the fact that there is a direct relationship between the amount of material stolen and the rising cost of food. Tuft has made an appeal to all students to return any silverware or trays; of course, no questions will be asked. Senate not taken seriously: Land by Steve Verch ""If you get five students who yell and bitch that's not much, bit if you can get a whole mass of students together, things will be changed,"" said lame-duck Senator Marc Land, reflecting back upon his soon-to-end one-year career in the SGA. Forced to take a full-time job as a midnight to eight switchboard operator at a nearby apartment complex to continue his education, Land felt he would not have enough time to remain in the Sehnte for another term and decided against seeking re-election in the recently-held SGA elections. ""I don't think anyone takes Senate seriously,"" said Land, citing the recent participation rate of 12 per cent and TSU's overwhelming number of commuter students. ""With such a diverse student interest, the commuter students per se, it is hard to draw them all together for a common event. Most don't have the time . . . they come to school for their 15 hours a week and then go home to go to work or whatever,"" he said, ""Quite frankly, I don't know how you can deal with this,"" he concluded. Also a member of the Dining Services Committee that was set up last semester by SGA president Joanne Finegan to determine a better meal plan system, Land had several comments to make about his involvement in this committee. ""That committee was formed to settle the meal plan issue. We did not meet until February of this semester. We didn't settle the issue until it came up three or four weeks after we started meeting. ""In my opinion, we learned about profit-loss statements and all this intricate nonsense that we didn't need to know,"" said Land. Al Walsh, director of Dining Services, and Mel Blackburn, Business Manager, were also included in the committee. ""They (Walsh and Blackburn) listened to us very intentlY, and two or three weeks later they put in the meal plan that they wanted,"" according to Land. ""They decided to go back to a meal card plan. My main objection with this proposal was that you lose the versatility of being able to eat in the Snack Bar and just have a Coke and potato chips if you want."" Summing up his involvement with Food Services, Land concluded that ""they were not very helpful."" Commenting on the University Affairs Senate Committee that he is still chairperson of, Land stated that he was very impressed with the senators that were on the commit-tee. ""It wasn't this name-calling bullshit that goes on in Senate,"" he said. However, Land added that the committee has not met for three weeks because a quorum has not been present. He said that after the elections, committee members lost interest. ""I think the senators are interested in a lot of things, so that when they run for re-election they can hand out those little pieces of paper saying how active they've been. Now that the elections are over, the senators don't feel they have to show up,"" he said. Of the committee system in general, Land said that he feels it is adequate, except for the ways that the committees are chosen. ""I think that the senators on the Appropriations Committee should have some idea of the object codes of the organization's budgets. I'll bet you can ask them and not a single one would know the codes. I also think every senator should have a course in accounting, just to have some idea of how far a dollar will go,"" he said. About die Black Student Union, an organization that demonstrated at several Senate meetings to drum up support for their supplemental budget requests, which were vetoed by Finegan and not overridden, Land had mixed emotions. ""They kept coming back to sit in the Senate Gallery for two reasons. First, they wanted the money and secondly, they wanted to show that blacks could function as a unit,"" said Land. ""The new Senate is predominant-ly black�I'm very curious to see how the budget hearing goes when the BSU budget is presented,"" said Land. Commenting further on the new Senate, which will assume office in April, Land said, ""I don't remember seeing any of them at Senate meetings, at least not the newly elected senators. I sat through the candidates' forum before the elec-tion and I heard the same campaign promises that I heard last year. I only wish that some of the campaign promises of communication had been fulfilled by the senators during this past year,"" said Land. A junior majoring in psychology, Land said that he does not expect to return to the SGA in any capacity in the near future. He said that he had enjoyed meeting people and making decisions, and most of all learning to deal with people. In his opinion, his greatest accomplishment was, ""learning to understand Mel Black-burn for an entire afternoon."" Finegan re by Kathy Pascuzzi Joanne Finegan, less than two weeks from the end of her term as SGA president, can look back on a Year that was ""mainly rewarding"" from both' the personal and administrative standpoints. Finegan said that her year in Office has been most rewarding ""from a personal standpoint. It's been a great experience,"" she said, because she has been able to meet so many pople. She said she has gained self-confidence this year, and has become aware of a ""business-like area"" that she wouldn't have seen otherwise."" Finegan feels that he year has been successful from an administra-tive standpoint, too. ""Things ran smoothly,"" she said. She can point to several major accomplishments of her administration, and many minor anes. One of the most difficult and complicated accomplishments of the administration, she said, was the revision of the manual. It includes the rules by which the SGA Senate cPerates. The revision, says Fine-gan, was made with a ""lot of help"" from Parliamentarian Richard An- But Finegan feels that her administration made major success-es in ''holding the line"" on prices. This was done, in part, by opposing the box office surcharge that was proposed earlier this year. The surcharge would have increased prices for all tickets sold by the box office by at least five cents. Abbut this time last year, Finegan was campaigning for office. One of her major concerns during the campaign was ""reducing prices for common events."" The SGA began paying for some expenses that had previously been charged to individ-ual organizations. Finegan said she had hoped that this would allow the organizations to charge lower admission prices for dances and other events. ""We haven't seen a reduction in prices,"" she said, mainly because other costs have gone up so quickly. ""But we did hold the line,"" she said. Another of Finegan's promises was to improve communications. She feels she was successful in the endeavor., ""A year's work has established a lot,"" she said. She is especially pleased with her administration's relations with the administration. But, she said, ""A lot of that comes with knowing who to lects on rewards of office see for what, and working in the system."" Finegan acknowledged that many students do not think that working through the system is a good way to get things done, but she has found it to be ""the only way"" in some cases. Finegan said she feels her written communications have been ""really conscientious."" She felt this was important, because the student turnover in SGA is high, and ""you have to have some written record,"" to establish continuity. Finegan said that Matt McGlone, her communications secretary, has been ""an invaluable asset"" to her throughout the year. ""Some people have said that he's no good because of recent controversies,"" she said, ""but that's really shortsighted."" She emphasized that both McGlone and John � Shehan, organizational secretary, have been .a constant help. The outgoing president said that communications Were seen as a problem by some during,the recent budgeting controversy with the Black Student Union. ""That was the BSU's main contention,"" she 'said. Finegan said she does not regret her decision to veto the BSU's supplemental budget request. ""I knew what I was doing when I did it,"" she said. But she does regret the problems it caused in ""terms of personal relationships. I don't want the conflict, or the animosity"" that followed the decision, she said. Finegan also promised increased use of the Fund for University Advancement and Improvement (FUAI). This is the SGA's discre-tionary fund. It is made up of five per cent of the athletic fee', the university union fee, and the Student Government fee. The Finegan administration also ""finally"" settled the ""Planned Parenthood problem."" Finegan said the group, which is now ""perma-nently"" established on campus, had previously been at the mercy of each new SGA administration for funds. Finegan said there had been ""problems"" this year with the fund, in ""determining what money from where was going into the fund."" But her administration managed to initiate several new uses for the fund. This year, the FUAI supported marching bands at the football games, trips for teams to post-sea-son games, and the Dance Marathon for the Maryland Association for Retarded Citizens. Finegan also had expected to have the SGA present several concerts Joanne Finegan this year. Only one was presented. ""The fall semester was shot,"" she explained, ""because the new Physical Education building was not ready."" Then, she said, the University Administration put road-blocks in the way. ""I can understand the Administration's going slowly,"" since this was a new experience for them. ""But I think they moved too slowly,"" she said. Finegan said the SGA had a tentative date set with the group Heart, but that fell through when the group's tour was cancelled. Other dates fell through because of Administration delays, said Fine-gan. She said the Administration has contracted for a series of concerts, but ""the SGA really should conduct its own."" She feels the SGA would be able to make some money from concerts, and that the money would be used to reduce ticket prices for students. One large controversy during her administration began when a photograph of Finegan appeared in Towerlight. She was wearing blue jeans and a rugby shirt at an impromptu meeting. Gerald M. Arthur wrote a letter to the editor, complaining that she should ""dress like a president."" Finegan said she felt ""lucky."" ""After all, David Nevins (one of her predecessors) was being impeach-ed, and someone just didn't like my clothes. ""But seriously,"" she continued, ""I considered adding a fashion director to my Cabinet, and I really would have considered Arthur for the job."" Finegan said that throughout the year, she has considered her main job ""to be like everyone else. I never wanted to be different or special."" Because of this attitude, she said, ""I don't feel like I'm stepping down, just stopping aside."" "