| Moving Out Residential Services officials have laid down two new policies to help expedite the move-out process. One of the new policies requires students who move off-campus between semesters to have all of their belongings checked out before Christmas break. This new policy, however, states that if the student does leave their belongings in the room they will be billed for a semester of room and board. Dottie Cruz, hall director of Wiggins Hall, said students who wait until after the break to move out cause timing problems for other students who want to move in. She said some students wait until the last minute to move out. The fee, which could range upwards of $2,500 depending on the type of room, seems a little exorbitant. Charging a student four months of rent hardly justifies using a dorm room as a temporary storage facility. A lesser fine would be a more suitable answer to this problem. Or better yet, a university-owned storage facility would be a more ideal solution. We understand that plans for a storage facility have been in the works. TCU should looking into this solution and invest in a nearby off-campus storage building for students who do not want to take all of their belongings home for the Christmas break. Students who have to fly home do not have the luxury of toting all of their furniture home with them. TCU could offer a cheaper alternative to existing storage facilities. A university-owned storage facility would offer students a place to store their possessions that is suited to them. Whatever the solution, reconsideration of this new policy needs to be made. If the university wants to send a message, there are other ways to do it.
Candidates, TV, ads need tuning Some complimentary nuggets of commentary on recent news events, presented for your culinary consumption. Hillary and "TipGate" The whole affair of Hillary Clinton not tipping a waitress was blown way out of proportion. Hillary didn't help things either by being so slow to respond. She at first denied the story, then called the waitress to apologize, still not tipping her, before finally sending her a $100 savings bond. Hillary needs to hire a better PR crew before more piddly stuff like this blows up in her face, or her campaign will go down fast - and all without her opponent, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, having to lift a finger. Candidates for president Vice President Al Gore is looking more and more like the man who will be the Democratic nominee for president, while Bill Bradley is looking more and more like someone with a bad case of sour grapes. Their ridiculous sniping of "who is campaigning more negatively than who" is only hurting Bradley, and he needs to stick to the issues if he is to stand a chance. On the Republican side, more of a battle is going on between George "Dubya" Bush and John McCain. McCain is really making "Dubya" look like the newbie to the national political scene that he is. I think "Dubya" will eventually win, but along the way, McCain will really give him much-needed lessons on what it takes to run a political campaign on a national scale. "Dubya" better prepare for more spending and sweating before that happens. The Reform Party, meanwhile, is a party on the road to nowhere fast. No real agenda, no real vision and no viable candidate since Jesse "The Mouth" Ventura left. Pat Buchanan is too divisive a candidate to make a serious run for the presidency; but he certainly would make things interesting if it does indeed become a three-way race. Ross Perot? Fuggedaboutit! "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" This show deserved to die the painful, agonizing death that it did. What a horrid concept; parading women around for some mystery millionaire to select at random like one would pick chocolates at a candy store. Hopefully a TV producer will think twice before pulling such a stunt again. TV has sunk to a new low of cheesiness with this show. And speaking of cheesy... Did you notice an ad that ran recently? The name of the advertiser is not listed, but it begins with big, bold letters that state: "Egg Donors Paid $2,500." It states that the donor must be female, of good health and drug- and smoke-free. It further states that the donor must be attractive, highly intelligent, must have a flexible schedule and provide her own transportation! These mystery advertisers must have a lot of responses, since they are able to insist on so many stipulations (including working around their schedule). Is this what women suffragists of the early 1900s worked so hard for, so that women could be paraded around for a "mystery millionaire" to buy, and for their eggs to be sold to a mystery advertiser? Mark Cuban There hasn't been a buzz like this over an owner of a sports team in the Fort Worth/Dallas area since Jerry Jones rode into town. Ever since Cuban arrived, the Dallas Mavericks have played better basketball. I am still not sold on the acquiring of Dennis Rodman, but he is certainly drawing national interest in the Mavericks - which is Cuban's main goal for acquiring Rodman anyway. Just don't keep Dennis any longer than this season, OK, Mark? Carlos Santana Carlos Santana's eight Grammys were well deserved and long overdue. Santana's music was a staple of my youth, and I was glad to see him finally getting the credit he deserves. May more Grammys be on the way! Uh oh. I hear "Smooth" playing on the radio. Pardon me while I go crank up the stereo and play some air git-tarr.
John P. Araujo is an MLA graduate student
from Fort Worth. Letter to the editor I was very impressed by your recent issue concerning racial sensitivity on campus. I support your wise statement that "We would all like to live in a world where anything is acceptable to say. But because of the history of injustice in this country, that world doesn't exit." I hope that in light of these words, your staff will reconsider its decision not to apologize for running a certain ad last spring. The ad in question called for a debate on the veracity of the Holocaust. Simple research proves that this ad was purchased by a hate-mongering group whose goal was to prove the "inauthenticity" of the Holocaust. Running the ad was a mistake. But the staff of the Skiff at the time insisted they had no reason to apologize - they claimed that the First Amendment gave them the right to run this ad. True, the First Amendment provides that right. But it is incumbent on journalists to make sensitive, responsible decisions. As a Jewish faculty member who has often spoken about the amazing level of tolerance and inclusiveness on this campus, it is still painful for me to think that our student newspaper would fail to see how insensitive it was to run that ad. Although such an ad may be a mere exercise in freedom of speech for those unaffected by the Holocaust, it is a very personal, devastating affront to anyone who has ever been the victim of racism. Running this ad gave credence to a group trying to prove that the tragic deaths of my family members was mythical. Imagine that members of your family were brutally murdered ... and that individual groups came to your campus to try to convince people that these events never took place. Former Skiff staff member Jason Crane wrote a powerful and moving article for the TCU Magazine last year apologizing for his personal support of the Skiff's decision to run the ad. He realized such an insinuation is insulting to the victims and their survivors. I am well aware that the Skiff takes on new leadership each semester. But it remains the same newspaper with the same readership. Therefore, I hope that instead of viewing this letter as an attempt to dredge up old issues, you will see it as an opportunity to help right a tremendous wrong. Your predecessors' refusal to admit a mistake and to use the First Amendment to defend a decision that wounded so many has never truly been addressed. And the pain, for many of us, still lingers.
Richard Allen Adviser to Hillel (Jewish Student Organization) associate professor, radio-TV-film department Students speak out
-Travis Palmer, sophomore astronomy and physics major
-Sarah Bates, freshman astronomy and physics major
-Kelli Turner, freshman criminal justice major
-Carlo Capua, senior marketing major
-Jennifer R. Davis, junior political science major |
"They have the right intentions, but there is something
just not right about it. Their heart is in the right place. They want to
take the right steps, but it seems that they still do not want to step
forward and do what needs to be done."
"I think that the events that they organize to bring
races together needs to be a bit more personal so you can get to know somebody
else some more."
"By funding more multi-cultural events like international
week. Have more multi-cultural events that everyone is included and everyone
can participate. Don't force it on people because forcing it makes people
uncomfortable."
"Acclimate students to different cultures, different
races and ethnicities. Students will develop more of a cultural and ethnic
understanding between the races on campus. (International week) is the
perfect week. I know that the school does a great job in promoting that.
ISA does a fantastic job every year. I think it is a matter of students
taking advantage of some of the things that TCU does offer."
"I did not know that there was a huge
barrier between the races at TCU, but if there are, it is an individual
thing, it is not the school's responsibility to take issues with the attitude
of the student. Changing the perspective of the students is not something
that you can impose on someone with authority."
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