Towerlight, March 26, 1971

tl19710326-000 "Special elections issue on Monday . TowerlightMarch 26, 1971 Vol. XXIII, No. 22 Towerlight, Towson State College Introduction During the summer of 1970, it was realized that Towson State would not be able to properly function due to sever-budget cuts. Towson State College was seriously underfunded last summer by the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning. At that time it was realized that we could not get through this year at that level without either reducing the enrollment of students we had already accepted or drastically raising student fees. The Govoner's office directed the college to operate as they must and promised that a review of the budget would be made early this year. At that time a college deficit of $400,000 was projected. Early in January the State Department of Budget and Fiscal planning agreed to cover the deficit, which was reached during the later part of December 1970, only if the College instituted certain financial restrictions. These spending restrictions were announced January 8, 1971 in a memoran-dum from Wayne Schelle, Director of Business and Finance. The debt was covered. Since being installed as president of the college, President James L. Fisher has worked diligently, ""to improve the archic system,"" and frustrating constraints that are unintelligent and wasteful of tax dollars. On February 22, 1971 Secretary of the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning James P. Slicher, sent letters to the members of the Joint Committee of Health and Education in Annapolis attacking Dr. Fisher and the college ad-ministrative staff in general for their efforts to attain and improve the budget for next year. It seems to Towerlight that this confrontation between Dr. Fisher and Mr. Slicher centers almost entirely around the issue of whether Towson State College is responsible enough to handle its own financial affairs. Fiscal autonomy for Towson State College: � Would keep clerks from making decisions which should be made by expert managers sensitive to the College's needs. � Would give Dr. Fisher the power to reward excellence and deny mediocrity on the part of faculty and administration. � Would make the Administration more accountable to the needs of the College. � Would give the Administration more flexibility of monies within the various sections of the budget (ie. salaries, services, security, parking, etc.) � Would allow the Academic Community (students, faculty, administration) to place monies, within certain guidelines, where they will do the College and students the most good. For these, and many other, reasons, Towerlight feels that you should be aware of what is happening here at Towson. We ask that the PLEASE READ THE CENTERFOLD, BACK PAGE, AND EDITORIAL, and recognize the urgency of the confrontation. "