Excalibur [February 9, 1976]

              Volume 16, Issue Number 1 Montgomery College-Takoma Park Campus-Takoma Park, Maryland 2001 2
ï E x c a l t b u r
FY 77 Budget Debated m m m m
By Jim Davis
Wednesday, February 4, at
Blair Auditorium, the Mon­tgomery
County Council held
the first session of public hear­ings
on the Fiscal Year 1977
budget, and County Executive
Gleason’s recommendations on
the 1,100 proposed projects.
' Council members Hovsepian,
Gelman, Menke, Christeller,
Scull, and Moore were present.
Although these hearings were
for discussion of any of these
proposals, only a few people
spoke in reference to projects
other than Montgomery College
The College has requested
$3,417,000.00 to*complete the
design and construction of all
fa c ilitie s ap p ro v ed in the
educational specifications by the
Board of Trustees in 1970 for
redevelopment of the Takoma
Park Campus. These are: a
physical education and recrea­tion
center, additional class­rooms,
laboratories, faculty of­fices,
campus administrative of­fices,
and partial facilities for
student activities.
Cautions'Redevelopment
Funds have been appropriated
and construction will begin this
Fiscal Year. The EY 77 request
is for design and construction
moneys to - complete instruc­tio
n a l fa c ilitie s for music,
speech and drama, faculty of­fices,
s tu d e n t a c tiv itie s ,
an experimental theatre and an
auditorium for use by the Cam­pus
and the community. Surface
parking of 101 spaces on block
70, site improvements, furniture
and equipment are also in­cluded.
Mr. Gleason has recom­mended
th a t, “College ex­pansion
and modernization
programs must be reviewed
carefully with an eye toward
reducing expenditures in areas
where existing facilities meet the
demand.” Mr. Gleason also
recommends that the assembly
not be added this year not only
as a result of fiscal restraint, but
also because traffic congestion
would be increased in this
residential area when large,
perhaps more frequent assem­blies
would be held, and would
require additional property
acquisition.’’ And that “use of
public school assembly facilities
should be explored by the
College.”
Funds Cut
He. recommends a $2,915,000
cut leaving~only $502,000 for
site improvements, 101 parking
spaces, furniture, and equip­ment.
The issues centered around
the College are whether to com­plete
the campus as planned,
providing a much needed Per­forming
Arts., C en te r, the
parking crisis, and the physical
education complex.
■Ri <r - ■■ v .
Mayor Roth Lends Support
The first speaker was Takoma
Park Mayor John Roth . He
supports the completion' o f the
Campus, adding, “It would be a
great distress to the community
if we did not complete con­struction
of the College. We
need to finish this last building
to avoid increased construction
costs in the fu tu re.. .and restore
stability to the community.”
Ms. Evelyn F e rry , B.F.
Gilbert Citizens Association of
Takoma Park representative,
also favors fulfillment of re­development
plans. Ms. Ferry
stated that the Campus, is the
only place that working class
peo p le may fu rth e r th e ir
education.
Costly Delay
Former County Councilman
William Sher spoke of the need
to eliminate the deplorable
co n ditions performing a rts ’
students are forced to contend
with. Although he agreed with
County Executive Gleason that
restraints on the Capital Im­provement
Projects are valid, he
feels that delay of this project
until FY 81 would cost an addi­tional
million dollars based on
5% inflation rate or 1.5 million
using the Executive’s projected in­flation
rate of ?>%.
Citizens Marium Carp, Fran­ces
Murphy, Rita Morgan, Mary
Ann Holmes, Kathy Simpson,
John Earnshaw, Mike Zimmer;
Student Body Pesident, Jen-niffer
Marmer; Program Coun­cil
President, Judith Collins; Ex-calibur
Editor, Jane Blocher;,
Caculty Council, - and Larry
Swaker; Staff Council all
delivered dynamic addresses,
m m »#*'
T ak om a Park Mayor Jo h n R o th su p p o rts com p le tio n of
th e Campus. P h o to By Je an Bowyer
citing the pressing and urgent
need for.a completed campus.
Maximize Existing Facilities -
Their opinions and those of
approximately 600 others who
signed petitions of support were
best expressed by faculty mem­ber
Travis Jellema.
Ms. Jellem a began her
testimony by pointing out to the
’Council that, “the Takoma Park
students maximize the use of
existing facilities and have been
doing so since the Campus was
built.”
Figures presented in regard to
student participation for school
’year 75-76- represented an
enrollment of 600 students in
music, speech and drama. A
figure of 200 comprised “par­ticipation
in directly related
performances.”
Energy Expended
Ms. Jellema went into great
detail to describe .the long hours
and unnecessary expenditure of
energy which students must in-
See VIEWPOINTS, page 2 col. 3
Sorry, It's Been Cancelled
P h o to By Je an Bowyer
Jo y c e Musy p o n d e rs h e r n e x t move a fte r being to ld h er
ST 201 class (th e only se c tio n ) was canc elled.
By Jean Bowyer
“I’m sorry, but this class has
been cancelled.” This is pro­bably
a familiar phrase to many
Montgomery College students.
Cancelled classes are a disap­pointment
to all concerned.
- This semester, there were 59
cancelled classes on the Takoma
Park campus. The reason is that
not enough students registered
for the classes. -A class must
have a minimum of 15 students
enrolled in order for it to prove
economically feasible.
The students’ tuition for a
cancelled class is refunded in
full and the student may re­turn
the books he has pur­chased
for the class to the
bookstore. However, how can
he be compensated for the
inconvenience of a cancelled
class?
Credit By Examination
Individuals attending classes
at Montgomery College must be
full-time students in order to
quality for the various loans and
grants as well as on-campus jobs.
A cancelled class may bring
• their status.jdown to that of part-time,
necessitating a hurried
change of schedule to bring
their load up again.
In some cases, if a student is
cancelled out of a class, he may
get c redit by examination.
Thirty-six courses, plus .all art,
music, speech, and drama cour­ses
except SD 103 are available
by examination. Or, he may wait
until the next semester and hope
that the course will achieve the
required minimum enrollment.
A third alternative is for the stu­dent'to
travel to Rockville cam­pus
and take classes 'there,
provided it has not been cancel­led
also.
Plans To Graduate?
However, if a student plans to
graduate at the end of the
semester, and the class is not of­fered
by examination, and he
cannot take it at Rockville, he
must take the course at another
institution and have it transfer­red,
or postpone his graduation
date.
Since it appears that cancelled
classes are an.inevitable part of'
the College and are here to stay,
the next time you hear the
words, “I ’m sorry, it’s can­celled,”
just remember, despite
the inconvenience, there is a
jvay out.