| Compromise The TCU Board of Trustees approved an increase in tuition, fees and housing costs Friday. Housing will increase by 7 percent, and tuition will increase by $25 to $390 an hour. Student fees will also increase from $1,300 to $1,385 per year, said Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Bronson C. Davis. Interim Chief Financial Officer Ron Clinkscale said the money will be used to upgrade teaching facilities and add faculty. Though we mutter complaints under our breath about paying more for the same education, we will reap the benefits of a better education in the long run. We understand the need to keep up with the latest technological advances. What good would our degrees be if future employees see TCU as a school that doesn't promote up-to-date knowledge in our respective fields? But we need to be assured that the price increases will not cost us the diversity we've been encouraging for so long. Chancellor Michael Ferrari said some students will have problems paying for the cost increases. "In many cases, tuition increases can deter low-income groups from the university," he said. "Some of our minority students are coming from low-income families. This will be an important challenge." Ferrari said the quality of the university will not be compromised. For all it's worth, we certainly hope not.
Protect freedom of speech I am an ardent supporter of freedom of speech and expression. There is a saying by Voltaire that states: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I don't go quite that far. My version states: "I disapprove of what you say, and you have the right to say it, but you will also get all the grief coming to you for saying it because I certainly won't." Why do I say this? Voltaire's version sounds very noble in theory, but it is lacking in practice. For instance, what if someone were in favor of reinstating slavery in the United States? Or what if someone wanted to legalize rape? Such individuals should get what's coming to them. On the other hand, if someone has an honest disagreement with my views, I will defend their right to say it. Which brings me to a certain pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. I speak of John Rocker who recently made several politically incorrect comments about the riders of the New York subways. Rocker stated he wouldn't want to sign with a New York baseball team because he didn't want to ride the subway and sit next to "some kid with purple hair next to some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids." This, mind you, is among other things he said. Were his remarks offensive? Most certainly. Did he deserve the grief that he got? Absolutely. Should he be kicked off the team? Maybe. Was he within his rights of free speech? I say yes. I was certainly offended by his observations, but Rocker is neither a politician nor an ambassador to another country. He is a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. I found it troubling that Rocker was made to undergo psychiatric evaluation by the baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Granted, Selig's action is both expected and the political correct thing to do, but is it the right thing to do? I have to wonder if such an action will make Rocker see the error of his ways or if it will make him harden his bigoted views. So to get back to my version of Voltaire's quote, I say Rocker has the right to say what he said, but I also think he should get ALL the grief for saying it. I would not defend to death Rocker's right to say what he said because what he said was not worth risking my life for. The right to free speech is an easy call when it is a matter of a reporter trying to break a story about a deceitful politician but not so easy when it is someone like John Rocker. Yet both must be protected as free speech. It is also easier to protect free speech when YOU are not the one offended. However, we must allow the offender to say what he wants to say because, as another one of my sayings goes, "sometimes the best way to prove that someone is a fool is to let him open his mouth and prove it." Thank you, John Rocker, for proving my point.
John P. Araujo is an MLA graduate student
from Fort Worth. GPA not accurate estimate of IQ I have probably gone insane. I have become addicted to the cheesy game show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" I have become convinced that I will be the next big winner. I have been up until 5 a.m. playing the game on the Internet. I am convinced that a cool mill in my pocket could certainly help my transition out of college and out of Mom and Dad's checkbook. But this got me thinking. Hmmm, I just won 500,000 virtual dollars on the Internet. Why am I not making the best grades in school? I'm smart, I know I am. (Granted, I almost got stumped on how many Backstreet Boys there are, but I think it is almost encouraging that I didn't know the answer to that.) I think sometimes people determine their intelligence by their grades. This isn't a good idea. Making phenomenal grades is an indication of how much information you can keep in your mind for 24 hours - or until the end of the semester if you have a dreaded cumulative final exam. I'm certainly not saying that people who make good grades are not smart, only that there are quite a few intelligent people out there who devote their time to more important things than making a 4.0 GPA. I have friends who are thrilled they made an "A" in a tough class, but they made themselves miserable for a semester doing it. Wouldn't having a "B" and a social life have been just as good? College accomplishes all sorts of things, but my main goal in college is to get an education and find a job that will pay the bills. Most employers I have met would rather have a well-rounded person with a 3.0 than a person whose only discernible skill is achieving a 4.0. I would love to have a terrific GPA, but I would rather know a little about a lot of things than a lot about one thing. I have confidence that I will be just as amusing at cocktail parties with my wealth of useless information as someone who is an expert at only one thing. So, I suggest one thing. Acquire knowledge because it is interesting, not so you can get a grade. If a good grade comes with it, all the better. And I would also like to challenge those who doubt my intelligence based upon my GPA to join me in a rousing game of "Jeopardy." (Which just happens to be the No. 2 syndicated television program in America with more than 13 million household viewers. Hmm.)
Kim Hinkle is a senior advertising/public
relations major from Overland Park, Kan. Males find brotherhood in Krispy Kreme Don't be sad. Don't be blue. We beat you in football, too! What a great cheer. What a great game. When TCU trounced SMU Saturday night, 92-75, and sent coaches, players and fans back to Dallas with their Mustang tails between their legs, it was one of those great moments to be a Horned Frog. Later that night, in celebration, a group of guys engaged in a more intense and profound battle: the race to see who can down the most Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It was one of those great moments to be a guy. When you watch your buddies engaged in a battle over the bragging rights to a doughnut, you know you are alive. I feel I should pause here to make sure that the importance of the Krispy Kreme doughnut is conveyed. In a magical store in a land far away (well, Arlington) sits a machine that churns out, one after another, little pieces of doughy bliss. It has been said that heaven must be a giant Krispy Kreme doughnut. With that understood, it is important to understand another important fact about the Krispy Kreme doughnut: The mere mortal can handle only so much perfection. Most normal college guys can eat maybe three or four at one sitting. But these were not normal college guys. These were guys whose dedication to the doughnut was so intense that their stomachs would stretch to accommodate more doughnuts than humanly possible. These were guys who would work at Krispy Kreme and ask to be paid in doughnuts. In one corner, sat the big guy whose love for TCU was matched only by his love for the doughnut. In the other corner, sat the little guy who, while small and unassuming, had been known to eat his body weight in doughnuts. In between, sat the basketball player, fresh out of the locker room after the biggest game of the year. With a quick prayer for strength and endurance, they were off. The competition was fierce and intense, a death match of mastication. One of the girls (there were about three) made some comment to the effect of the doughnuts going straight to her hips. Now, why'd she have to go and say that? That's probably the profound difference between guys and girls: Krispy Kreme doughnuts. See, guys don't care about fat or calories or any of that nutrition stuff. If it tastes good, we'll eat it. And we'll keep eating it until it makes us sick or until we pass out from sheer exhaustion. Girls don't understand the importance of Krispy Kreme. To them, it's just a doughnut. I actually saw a girl give away her leftover doughnuts rather than take them home. Blasphemy. To a guy, Krispy Kreme is so much more. Guys can sense them. It's like in "The Sixth Sense," but guys sense doughnuts instead of ghosts. To a girl, it is disgusting to think that the winner of our competition downed 15 doughnuts in one sitting. To a guy, however, he's a hero, just like the Horned Frog basketball team. Basketball, fellowship and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. What a night to be a guy.
John-Mark Day is a freshman religion and
news-editorial journalism major from St. Joseph, Mo. Letter to the Editor Confederate flag a symbol of hate, oppression Regarding the Jan. 25 column on the Confederate flag, I think in the heat of the civil rights movement, going through the front door, getting served at a public counter or sitting wherever you wanted to on a bus probably took precedence over a symbol on a flag. But who are we to assume what this great leader's next fight might have been? Every time people speak in defense of the Confederate flag, they speak of the positive symbol it initially represented. However, it makes no difference what it symbolized or where it came from. What it came to represent should outweigh all of that. It is still a symbol of white supremacy and oppression today. It is difficult for me to understand how the Confederate flag can be interpreted in two such enormously different ways. I can't recall a Jewish person being asked to accept the swastika for what it was originally intended to be. The swastika was not created by Adolf Hitler, but it has its roots in Africa as a religious symbol. However, there is no controversy over whether it should be flown anywhere. So what makes the Confederate flag so different? Regardless of the origination of the Confederate flag, there should be some respect shown to the pain and suffering that was inflicted upon minorities for years under the shield of this banner. Janae Hafford Students speak out
-Susan Farkas,
-Kurt Leedy,
-Tahira Hussain,
-Omar Elizalde,
-Liz Spering,
-Taria Mathis, |
"I just believe that kids should be with their parents.
I think that promotes the best upbringing for kids."
"He should be allowed to go back with his dad. He belongs
with his parents and his dad's in Cuba, and that's where he should be.
I think it's ruining his life right now that he has to put up with what's
going on in the press and the media."
"Basically, I think for a child so
young, family is the only thing that is important and that he needs to
be with his dad or his aunts or whoever can give him the care he needs."
"I think he should be returned to his
father. I think he should be returned because that's his native land and
his birth father is a Cuban citizen, and he's got rights for his son to
be returned back to Cuba. The boy does not have U.S. citizenship."
"I think he should go home. That's his family back
there, his immediate family."
"I think they should let him go home
with his father. What good is it going to be to keep him here? I know he'd
have more opportunities here in America, but I think family is a little
bit more important."
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