-- Why many campus elevators haven't been inspected on time? According to the "Certificates of Inspection" posted in elevators in University Union, Linthicum Hall, Residence Tower, and the Administration Building, some campus elevators are way past their inspection due date. For example, the one in Residence Tower expired ten months ago. "Is it just me, or is this something that really shouldn't be taken lightly?" a resident asked me a couple months ago. Pretty soon, the expirations will reach their one-year anniversary-
-- Why Towson never turns off the lights in the Center for the Arts? The University has dealt with skyrocketing utilities bills in recent months, but someone has apparently made a conscious decision to keep the brand spanking new building lit up like a giant Christmas tree-
-- Why the drop/add period is always so painful? Every semester, it's the same drama: Not enough seats, not enough sections, and so on. It's especially upsetting for students who return to campus at the beginning of the semester, only to find that their schedules have been cancelled for one reason or another. Can't the University improve its scheduling processes and spare students from suffering through their first days of the semester?
Morgan objects to Towson, again
If objecting to Towson University was a sport, Morgan State University would be the MVP.
TU spent 2005 convincing the Maryland Higher Education Commission that Morgan's objections to a joint MBA with University of Baltimore were meritless.
The commission eventually agreed with Towson. But the historically black institution in Baltimore recently found another Towson issue to object to.
According to MHEC spokesperson Helen Szablya, Morgan objected to Towson's tag line, "Maryland's Metropolitan University," at a meeting of the commission's education policy committee last month. (Morgan uses the slogan "Maryland's Public Urban University.")
In The Baltimore Sun this week, Towson provost James Brennan called Morgan's protest "much ado about nothing." He suggested that Morgan was "blaming all of their woes on us," the paper said. The committee unanimously voted to accept Towson's mission statement despite the objection. Now here's the punch line: A few days after the committee meeting, Towson was named the new headquarters of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities. [See story in Jan. 30 edition of The Towerlight.] The special interest group represents dozens of urban and suburban schools. Towson joined the organization two decades ago. Morgan became a member a few weeks ago. I'm sure Caret, the vice president of CUMU, sent Morgan president Earl Richardson a welcome note.
Finally, a new and improved Towson.edu
In December, I chastised University Marketing for allowing surfers to access Towson's impractical, embarrassing Web site.
"Fifteen months after a committee formed to discuss renovations to Towson.edu, the Web site is still glaringly outdated and ugly," I wrote at the time.
But a brand new version of TU's Web site finally appeared online Wednesday, and it's definitely praise-worthy. There are still a few flaws â€" students.towson.edu has become a long confusing list of links â€" but the new site is a gigantic leap forward for the University, both in terms of information accessibility and branding. Kudos!
Feedback: E-mail editor@thetowerlight.com, call (410) 704-5141, or visit http://www.thetowerlight.com/pages/letter/
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