| Right direction Mary Volcansek, a political science professor and director of graduate programs in political science at Miami's Florida International University, accepted the position to be the first dean of the new AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Jean Giles-Sims, a professor of sociology and a member of the AddRan dean search committee, said there were more than 50 candidates for the position. The search committee submitted its recommendations Feb. 29 to Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs William Koehler. Giles-Sims said Volcansek's personality adds to her professional qualifications. "She's extremely bright and energetic," she said. "She is very cosmopolitan and very global in her orientation. We think she will be a very good liaison to contacts outside of the university." Now, with a woman in a dean's position, the TCU administration is relating more to its student body. Many prospective female students will appreciate a woman leading a college at this university. "I am a firm believer that students learn as much from who's around them as they learn from who's in front of the classroom," Volcansek said. This is exactly the kind of attitude TCU needs in order to inspire a heightened academic atmosphere on campus. Volcansek, who got her doctorate from Texas Tech University in 1973, said Monday that she is looking forward to returning to Texas because she said the people are friendlier and more polite here. To Volcansek - currently, our only permanent female dean - we offer a friendly, polite, Texas "Howdy."
Internet hostages need to be freed Computers are taking over the world. And not in a good way. Sure, it started out innocently. The "Internet" would be a happy, friendly little place where ideas were exchanged, and people could communicate over long distances. Computers, for a while, seemed to be our friends. But then the power started going to their CPUs. Every aspect of life is ruled by a computer, from our finances to our identity. A computer knows when you are in the library or the Rickel Building, and it knows what you had for lunch. Big Brother is watching, and he's plugged into a wall. And now they have started taking hostages. Through some sort of brainwashing hypnosis program, probably buried deep within Freecell, they managed to convince a Dallas computer geek to change his identity, move to a new secret location and live his life totally at the mercy of a computer, venturing no farther than his back yard for the next year. Through corporate sponsorships, DotComGuy (that's his hostage name), relies on the Internet for everything from furniture and groceries to entertainment, while computers track his every move through a complicated system of Webcams placed throughout the DotCompound. (If you think that's cheesy, meet Turbo, the DotComCat.) But the most ingenious part of this evil plot to take over the world was the creation of DotComGuy's Web site (cleverly named dotcomguy.com). Now the average, innocent human can log on, watch DotComGuy scratch himself, and think, "Hey, it must be perfectly normal and not at all unnatural to live my life off this Internet thing. I think I'll just shut myself inside for the rest of my natural life and bask only in the light of my glowing computer screen. I think I'll even get myself one of them newfangled Web sites. I'll call it www.Plato'sCave.com." (That last part was for all you philosophy majors out there.) Now, take what I am about to say very seriously. DO NOT SHUT YOURSELF INTO A ROOM AND LIVE ENTIRELY OFF THE INTERNET. I mean, come on. Haven't you people seen "The Matrix"? Keanu Reeves cannot save everyone. It is easy to get sucked into this cyberprison. It starts off innocuously enough. A few e-mails here, a Webcast there and before you know it, 50 people are IM'ing you while you look up a random chat partner on ICQ. (If you don't know what those terms mean, then there is still hope. Save yourself.) I will admit, to the average viewer, DotComGuy may seem like he has a pretty easy life. E-business pays all of his bills. His definition of "work" is answering his e-mail. Two attractive female personal trainers come to his house three times a week for a workout. The computer even found him a date for Valentine's Day. But do not be fooled. This is not living. And it's not that original of an idea, either. People all the time have been know to live within four walls, eating whatever is brought them and having an hour of structured recreation time every day. They're called inmates. No human should live like this. Computers should not be in control. It's just not right. So I'm launching a resistance. Free DotComGuy! Who will join me in the fight against e-tyranny? Now, let me clarify. I am not advocating abandoning computers. Computers are good. Computers are our friends. A computer is reading this right now as I type. (I think it's on to me, though. It has already crashed twice.) What I am advocating is a return outside. There is only so much love you can get from a glowing screen. Weather.com cannot give you that patch of sunshine from a Sunday afternoon lawn party. An e-pal is no substitute for a real friend. You will not get a tan by visiting Beach.com. DotComGuy is doing a good job of proving that it is possible to live entirely off the Internet. But what is he gaining? At the end of the year, he'll just be another guy with a weird name. He'll become the, "Hey, remember that guy Whatever happened to him?" guy. And when he looks back on his life, all he'll be able to say is he gave up a piece of his soul to further technology. Computers can be used in so many ways for so many good purposes. Let's just not lose our humanity in the process.
John-Mark Day is a freshman religion and news-editorial journalism major from St. Joseph, Mo. He can be reached at (jmday2@delta.is.tcu.edu). Catholicism often misunderstood, not supported by media If someone were to say something negative about Jews, he or she would be called anti-Semitic. If someone were to say something negative about gays, he or she would be called homophobic. If someone were to say something negative about blacks or Hispanics, he or she would be called racist. If someone were to say something negative about the pope or the beliefs of the Catholic Church, he or she would be called "cutting edge" or "refreshingly irreverent." Which is why it was such a surprise that the anti-Catholic environment of Bob Jones University was such an issue in the news recently. Usually negative comments about Catholicism are hailed as long overdue. It was good to see that, for once, Catholicism was being defended. I am just curious as to why. As a Catholic, I have heard all the wild stories and misinformation about what Catholics do and what they believe. For instance, that old saying that we worship Mary as a goddess. We don't. That would be blasphemous. We honor her as the mother of Jesus, but we do not elevate her to a goddess. Or how about the one where we pray to statues? Catholics practicing idol worship? I don't think so. We don't worship statues any more than visitors at Washington, D.C., go to worship the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. So how does all this misinformation get around? Actually, that is easy to explain. If you already believe that something is so, then it does not take much to believe anything else you may hear about it, no matter how untrue it may be. Anti-Catholicism is expected from various Protestant denominations, especially fundamentalists. It has come with the territory since Catholic settlers first came to North America. The Ku Klux Klan has hated Catholics nearly as much as it has hated blacks. Anti-Catholicism is also expected from the news and entertainment media. This is because many in the news and entertainment media are of an atheistic liberal slant, and they are often hostile to organized religions that believe in the existence of a supreme being. As far as this group is concerned, Catholics are among the worst of the bunch. That is why it was such a surprise that the news media would actually be making an issue of the history of anti-Catholicism at Bob Jones University. I would like to believe that the news media have finally come around to understanding Catholics and Catholic beliefs, but such is not the case. Actually, the news media were still showing their true colors. See, there is yet another religious group that the atheistic liberal members of the news media view as even worse than Catholics, a group of ultraconservative fundamentalists such as those at BJU. What made BJU especially bad in the eyes of the news media is its prohibition against interracial dating. "Are these guys living in the 21st century or the 19th?" is what most of the rest of the country said about BJU's prohibition. However, BJU has recently lifted that prohibition. Notice, however, that its views against Catholics have not changed. Any members of the news media want to raise their voice in protest about that? Hmm? Anyone? I guess some things never change.
John P. Araujo is an MLA graduate student from Fort Worth. He can be reached at (j.araujo@tcu.edu). |
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