By Kristen Naquin Managing Editor Frozen roads and about an inch of unexpected snowfall in the Dallas/Fort Worth area caused a flurry of activity on the TCU campus as administrators tried to notify students, faculty and staff of university closings. Although Thursday morning classes were held as scheduled, all university offices closed at 4 p.m., and evening classes were canceled. The possibility of frozen roads this morning also threatened the 8 a.m. opening of university offices. Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs William Koehler said late Thursday afternoon that administrators and TCU Police officers will begin evaluating Friday's weather conditions around 5 a.m. If the roads are icy, Koehler said he will postpone the university's opening until mid-morning, using the extra time to shovel steps and sidewalks and apply sand to slippery roads and walkways. Kelli Horst, director of TCU's Office of Communications, said Thursday that she will begin updating the status of university closings by 6 a.m. Friday. The university's main vehicle for spreading the word about university closings is the local news, both television and radio, but specifically WBAP 820, she said. Updates are also regularly posted on the in-house cable channel and the university's main number, extension 7000. TCU Police officers can also be contacted at extension 7777 for up-to-date information. Victor Neil, director of new media, said closing updates should also be accessible through the university's Web site. A flashing headline that runs along the top of the home page posts the most recent information. Assistant Chief of TCU Police J.C. Williams said officers began gathering information about Thursday's weather conditions around 5 a.m. They drove around different parts of the city, testing driving conditions, before advising Koehler and Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Edd Bivin, he said. Although the weather conditions were not hazardous when TCU police officers evaluated them, the situation evolved into a more dangerous one, with roads becoming more icy as Thursday wore on, Williams said. Koehler and Bivin evaluated the situation throughout the day, using information from TCU police officers and other sources, including local radio and TV media, Williams said. Koehler made the decision to close university offices Thursday and cancel evening classes between 1 and 2 p.m. Shortly thereafter, faculty and staff members were notified by an e-mail message of the closings and cancellations, said Donna Johnson, Koehler's executive assistant. Although the area's sleeting had stopped by about noon, administrators were concerned with slush freezing over later that afternoon and evening, Koehler said. Bivin said administrators' decision to close offices and cancel classes was the result of a concern for the safety of university employees and students. "We felt like it was fair (and) advantageous for faculty to let them go home before the rush," he said. Williams said an hour-long power outage that affected some buildings on the east side of campus - including the Moudy Building - also left administrators concerned about students' safety.
Kristen Naquin
By Kasey Feldman staff reporter International Foundation, a new student organization on campus, is looking for students of all nationalities who are interested in global issues. Trupti Desai, a junior biology major and president of International Foundation, said she wants to make sure students know that it is not just for international students. She said the organization is looking for students who are willing to commit their time and energy to forging a link with the global community. Because this will be the International Foundation's first year, the members who join now are especially important, Desai said.
Susan Adams, associate vice chancellor and dean of Campus Life, said the group was formed to give students the opportunity to meet people with different global experiences and interests and to help fulfill TCU's mission statement: "To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community." The International Foundation application states the organization's goal is to "develop a sense of global interest and cultural awareness on both the TCU campus and the surrounding community." Desai said applicants must have a 2.5 GPA and have studied at TCU for at least one semester. Members will be chosen on the basis of their interest in international affairs shown through answers to the questions on the application and in an interview, she said. Judy Pennywell, assistant director of international student services, said she expects the group to be very active on campus. There will be bimonthly meetings and scheduled events such as hosting a group of German students who are coming to TCU in April. Pennywell said students from International Foundation will help admissions by meeting with perspective international students and their families. They will also be involved in international student orientation and the intensive English program. In addition, Desai said the group plans to put together an international alumni association for TCU and work with the Fort Worth International Center giving visiting dignitaries tours of TCU. Desai, the other founding members and their faculty advisers plan to go through the more than 60 expected applications, conduct interviews and announce the new members some time in February.
Kasey Feldman
By Victor Drabicky staff reporter Three months after the black sorority Zeta Phi Beta came to campus, president Chavalla Williams said she is still pleased with the steps the sorority has already taken. "Our original goal was to increase our membership 100 percent: to 10 people," Williams said. "Hopefully, through the activities we held earlier this week and some upcoming meetings, we will be able to reach our goal." The Zetas officially received their charter Nov. 20 when five members joined the sorority. Zeta chaplain and parliamentarian Brandi Odle said she is excited about student response to the new sorority. "Our informational meeting went very well, and was widely accepted by the students," Odle said. The Zetas were originally founded in January 1920 at Howard University in Washington D.C. with four main principles in mind: sisterhood, service, scholarship and finding womanhood. Williams said the principle of finding womanhood has been adopted by the Zetas as this semester's goal. "All of our activities so far have made clear that our goals lie in of finding womanhood," Williams said. In addition to finding womanhood, Odle said the Zetas have actively been doing community service. "We did a clothes drive for the Women's Shelter and The Salvation Army back in November that was very successful," Odle said. "We had tons of boxes of clothes that we got to deliver to the shelter." Odle said the Zetas are also working with the Big Brothers and Sisters of Tarrant County. "We are each involved in a mentoring program where we get to help young kids and hopefully have a positive influence on them," Odle said. Zeta vice-president Chandra Rideau said the Zetas have a lot to offer TCU. "We have a blend of tradition and new ideas," Rideau said. "We are open to new ideas, but at the same time, we make sure our ideas stay in line with the standards set by members before us." Odle said the sorority will also offer a more evident influence of Christianity. "A lot of times on campus, it seems like people are scared to say they are Christian," Odle said. "We want to break down the walls that stereotypes built, and promote the finest woman through God." As a whole, the Zetas said they would like to see more Greek unity on campus. "We want to go outside the 'Greek bubble'," Odle said. "Everyone should work together regardless of race. If we work together with a mutual respect for each other, I'm confident we can build a better and more Christian Greek community on this campus."
Victor Drabicky
By Jill McNeal staff reporter The religion department is currently searching for two professors to add to its existing 12-member faculty. Daryl Schmidt, chairman of the religion department, said the department is interviewing candidates to fill the Christian social ethics position that was vacated last year by Patricia McIntyre. Classes in this area of the department were not offered to students this academic year. A second professor will be hired for a new position, religion in ethnic communities. This position is one of 21 new full-time university staff positions created as part of Chancellor Michael Ferrari's initiative to reduce the number of core classes taught by part-time professors. By the end of February, Schmidt hopes the religion department will be ready to recommend a candidate for each position to the provost's office, which issues all faculty contracts. "As we interview, we are looking to add something fresh to our department rather than overlapping what we already have," Schmidt said. Two search committees, consisting of six students each, will be assisting with the search for both positions. Junior religion major Amy Bressler, a member of the committee for the Christian social ethics position, said her committee will attend a lecture given by each candidate plus have breakfast with each one in order to talk on a more personal level. The first of three candidates for the Christian social ethics position visited campus last week. "At the breakfast, she asked us about living on campus and how our religion classes were structured," Bressler said. "Basically, she wanted to get the inside scoop on TCU from the students' perspective." The two student search committees, Schmidt said, are composed of religion majors of all classifications who are doing well and have time in their schedules to meet with and evaluate the candidates. The TCU religion department advertised the two openings through the Web site of its professional organization, the American Academy of Religion. Schmidt said he received applications from well-qualified candidates all over the country. Some are current doctoral candidates while others have already earned their doctorates. Applicants were invited to meet some of their potential colleagues at the organization's annual meeting in Boston last November. Three candidates for each position were then chosen to interview on the TCU campus. "After everyone in our department has met each candidate, we will literally sit down and have a round-table discussion - talk it out until we come to a decision," Schmidt said. David Gunn, Bradford Chair Professor of religion, said he is looking for a candidate who values teaching, research and being a good colleague. "We want someone who not only has the promise of being an excellent teacher but one who is a learner as well," he said. "Sometimes someone who already knows all the answers is not necessarily the best person for the future." Bressler said both the lecture and informal time are helpful in getting to know each candidate. "I am looking for a professor that I would enjoy taking a class from and would also be someone I could go to outside of class," she said.
Jill McNeal
By Danielle Daniel Skiff staff Most likely you've never heard of Lorraine Hansberry. But you have heard of her ground-breaking play, "A Raisin in the Sun," which opened on Broadway in 1959 during the civil rights' movement. Hansberry died of cancer at 34, only six years after the play's opening. This fact has limited the scope of her work and added to her obscurity as a playwright, said Rudy Eastman, producer and director of "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" - Jubilee Theatre's newest production of Hansberry's personal journal adapted for the stage by Hansberry's husband, Robert Nemiroff. But with time comes an appreciation of the magnitude of what she brought to us in her work, he said. "I hope that people take away (from this play) the eloquence of her prose and get a look at where America was at the time when she was writing," Eastman said. "A great deal of things have changed."
The scenes in the play travel back and forth between Hansberry's single voice and the voices of the characters she created in such plays as "A Raisin in the Sun," "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," "The Drinking Gourd" and "What Use Are Flowers." Often, Eastman said, humor intrudes upon the play's dramatic moments. "Black people smile and laugh to hide the pain," Eastman said. "Some of the scenes are done with humor to soften the edges." Act I begins in 1930, the year Hansberry was born into a middle class family on the South Side of Chicago. Her childhood is filled with laughter and joy as well as ridicule and prejudice. When Hansberry attends the University of Wisconsin, she is introduced to the Irish civil rights' movement through Sean O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock." This is where her desire to write about the black experience begins. "I was seventeen, and I did not think then of writing the melody as I knew it - in a different key; but I believe it entered my consciousness and stayed there," she said. Hansberry's first play, "A Raisin in the Sun," opened on Broadway and gave her the honor of being the fifth woman and first black writer to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for "The Best Play of the Year." "It was a milestone because it was the first time black theater addressed a serious issue," Eastman said. A scene from "A Raisin in the Sun" is re-enacted in "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." Walter Lee (played by Lloyd W.L. Barnes, Jr.) wants to accept money from a white man to stay out of his neighborhood. Walter struggles because he knows that if he takes the money he will be giving up his pride, Barnes said. "The play asks 'What is the price of freedom?'" Barnes said. "How much of yourself are you willing to sell to move up in a country where you've been down for so long." The second act of "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" follows the last five years of Hansberry's life. During this time, she continues to write and examine the human condition in her plays. "I think one of the things she advocates is not just being angry at your condition," Eastman said. "But to act on this anger and engage in debate."
Danielle Daniel |
"This is the ideal time to become a part of this organization
because the students this semester will determine what it becomes,"
she said.
Eastman said that Hansberry was unique for her time because
she was an intellect who spoke poignantly about the black experience. One
line from her journal describes her purpose for writing "A Raisin
in the Sun:" "Mama, it is a play that tells the truth about
people, Negroes and life, and I think it will help a lot of people to understand
how we are just as complicated as they are - and just as mixed up - but
above all, that we have among our miserable and downtrodden ranks - people
who are the very essence of human dignity."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |