| Safety hazard It is good to know TCU values the life and well-being of its students. Or rather, we should say, values our ability to fork over large sums of monetary units on a regular basis. Winton-Scott Hall was built in 1949. Thus, it adheres to fire safety codes of the day. Fifty-one years later, it retains all the fire safety features of that day. This is unacceptable. Detroit also made automobiles in 1949. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all constructed cars that adhered to the finest technological and safety standards post-war American technology could produce. Were they good for their day? Yes. But technology has advanced. Fords built in 1949 do not hold up all that well to 2000 crash tests. They lack airbags, seat belts, crumple zones and a host of technological advances with which the 2000 Mustang will be built. The car industry has learned to make safer cars. TCU, however, has left Winton-Scott with its 1949 safety standards. Wil Stallworth, associate vice chancellor for plant management, said TCU lacks the funds to update Winton-Scott. There sure seems to be a lot of new athletic construction happening on campus. Winton-Scott, which houses the biology, math and psychology departments, along with several laboratories, lacks even that which the fire marshal insists every house have - smoke detectors. TCU faculty had to buy individual models and disperse them. Students also said they feel the building is unsafe. "We pay a lot of money to go to school here," said Melissa Whorton, a freshman pre-med major. "We deserve to be just as safe in class as we are in the residence halls." We do commend the TCU administration for upgrading the residence halls. But we spend a lot of time in the academic buildings too. It's time for the university to finish the job.
President aspires for success So, I am supposed to write a column, and I wanted to make it sound grandiose and eloquent. I don't know if it is because of all of the news about the presidential race or if I had made up my mind about how the president of the student body at TCU was supposed to sound like, but it didn't work. I was recently elected to be president of the Student Government Association. After an amazing turnout (with nearly 21 percent of the student body voting - the best turnout I have ever heard of at TCU) I came to believe that what we have this year is an amazing time for action. With such events as the Conference on Inclusiveness, the Commission on the Future of TCU and new leaders in most student organizations, I see this university poised to commit and to provide solutions for issues that matter to you, the student body of TCU. Students over the past year have seemed to have a new energy in providing thought and ideas and to be vocal about what matters to them. The SGA has changed itself over the past year to better identify and satisfy the needs and wants of the students at TCU. We have two organizations that coexist under the umbrella of SGA: the House of Student Representatives and the Programming Council. These organizations work to address your concerns and provide you with entertaining events that give you a well-deserved break from the academic world. This year we hope to focus on what you want, but this is not an easy task. This task can only be accomplished if we all are willing to help. I need you to tell me what you think; tell me what you like or dislike about this university, what impacts your life and what you talk about on your way to class. These points help SGA better define what you want done and, without it, we can only guess. In my opinion, your feedback provides much wanted ideas to SGA, to the administration and to the campus at large. During the campaign in November you may remember that many candidates discussed the concept of communication. Communication is a great topic but its broadness of definition makes it seem impossible to provide. I beg to differ. I believe that with every group and individual thinking and talking, communication comes naturally - it is only when we try to force it that it becomes a challenge. Let me tell you what SGA is working on. We are developing a mission statement that will echo ideas mentioned in the mission statement of TCU. We would also like to focus on a select set of goals to work on. This is not to mean that each branch (House and PC) does not have their own, but this select set will be broad, all-encompassing goals that the students really want addressed. I want to become the liaison between the students and the administration. That means that I want to come to your organization's meeting, and I want to sit down with you at lunch or dinner and find out what's going on. With those thoughts in mind, I am asking that you contact me and invite me to your meetings or functions, give me your ideas and see me as person willing to work for you with dedication and excitement. Throughout this semester, you will hear from SGA again as we progress with new projects. Please contact me with your thoughts, ideas or comments as you wish. My phone number is 257-5232. I hope that you realize the importance of our continued interaction during this next year.
Student Government Association President
Ben Jenkins is a junior international finance major from Austin. Sanity preserved in busy balance of time The New York Times reported this week that a record 30.2 percent of college freshmen polled during their first days of school were frequently overwhelmed with stress. More women reported stress than men, with 38.8 percent of them experiencing stress compared to 20 percent of men. Women also reported more activity in campus clubs and activities, along with more time studying and participating in volunteer work. Men, on the other hand, get more exercise, play more video games, watch more TV and spend more time partying. What I don't understand about these findings is why they come as such a shock to the public. After completing my first semester as a Horned Frog I can say I've learned that I can be busy without stress. I'm the most relaxed I've ever been since learning the meaning of the word stress. My stress management strategy: Move into a men's residence hall. If you're female, I'm sorry, but try to spend as much time there as you can. It's simple: Hanging out, telling stories, listening to music, TV. Hanging out, telling stories, listening to music, TV. Class is important, but so is "The Man Show." Work is important, but so is watching "Behind the Music: Vanilla Ice" ... again. Writing my column is important, but so is listening to John Lennon. Studying is important, but so is discussing religion, politics and women with my friends. My parents say that I work too much and my friends say I study too much, but nobody says I watch too much TV, nobody tells me I laugh too much and nobody says I need to cut back on hanging out. On the other hand, my wallet says I need to work more, and my grades say I need to study harder. But in all honesty, I'm comfortable. And isn't that what college is about? Didn't all of our high school guidance counselors and parents tell us that college was about making decisions for ourselves? They did. And so, we have taken responsibility for ourselves. If we're swimming upstream, there's nobody to blame except ourselves. If we find ourselves bored out of our mind, it's our own fault. Sooner than later, we'll be spending our days at work to pay off our loans and our evenings with our families. We'll have more commitments than we could have ever imagined, and we may just wish that we watched one more hour of MTV when we had the chance. Although some of us may have had more stress than others, all of us here at TCU worked very hard to get here. So now, it is our time to learn, expand our horizons and to soar. But let's not continue the journey until after the next episode of "Friends."
James Zwilling is a freshmen business and
news-editorial journalism major from Phoenix, Az. University can no longer be considered in a 'singular' aspect Every time another diversity council meeting is held and every time friends sit together discussing TCU, there never seems to be a consensus on the issue. The issue, however, has never been defined, and we are simply repeating a cycle of what I'd like to call the "singularity of discontent." TCU has coined for itself the word "singularity." This word calls for every part of TCU to be lumped into one category represented by three letters. Here is the beginning of our problem. We can no longer simplify ourselves. With the convening of a council whose goal is to discuss the future of TCU, we have ushered in a time of change. This change has never been able to take place before because we our stuck in the rut of our own image. It's the image printed on applications, written about in the community and sold to the alumni. There are so many more diversity mixers we can hold, councils we can form and conversations we can have before something snaps. The problem is in the way we look at ourselves. Seeing TCU as a single entity is not only easy, it's simple. By reducing our functions to a single idea of what TCU is supposed to be, the real problems become too clouded to solve. To make it clear, there is no clarity at TCU. The parts which make up this school, which include students, teachers, professors and administration, are all warped in some way. Instead of running down the usual complaint list, it has come time to take rational action. Our different parts must be considered individually, and then their problems must be solved from within. A key factor to recognize lies deep within the subconscious of this school. It's connected to race issues, Greek issues, academic issues and athletic issues. It's this subconscious feeling that all of these various programs could use improving. But that just scratches the surface. Campus unity is not achieved through better, more comprehensive programs, but in the way we think and act toward each other. I don't want to suggest that life here could be perfect. I do however, believe a shift in consciousness can cause a shift in the way that things are done physically. Before we can call our community a synthesis, we first must feel this synthesis. To achieve these goals, we must divide and conquer first. Our efforts must be geared toward looking at our programs individually, seeing their negatives and positives equally and then taking action. Most of the radical action which is taken at TCU works like a Band-Aid that covers the problem, provides a quick fix and then we find ourselves stuck in more rhetoric. We use words like "leadership," "diversity" and "academic standards" to mask their inherent problems, which we'll never be able to see without a certain amount of clarity in our thinking. Life for you, as an individual could be improved somehow, but you're not sure. It's clarity which we must seek together. Some things could use eliminating, while others could be backed up. Action must be taken, but not before we have considered fully, the workings of the "system." The system is the singularity which we want to eventually look on, but TCU has a long way to go, many options to consider and a lot of thinking to do.
Matthew S. Colglazier is a freshman news-editorial
journalism major from Fort Worth. Quote/Unquote Quote/Unquote is a collection of quotes found in Skiff news articles and opinion columns during the past week.
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