| Mo' money TCU recently changed its policy regarding how scholarship money could be applied to incoming students in order to offer more options when recruiting students. Mike Scott, director of scholarships and financial aid, said the previous policy did not allow departments much room to stack scholarships. He said students who were eligible for more than one TCU funded-award were only able to use the larger of the awards. "The previous policy was supposed to spread the money out to more students which is what it did," Scott said. "But we found the old policy to be counter-productive to recruitment by not combining the academic and activity scholarships." The revision also applies to students with activity-based awards, such as music, voice and dance students, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) students who qualify for various church-related grants and scholarships. Deciding how to finance a college education can take precedence when choosing an institute for higher education. By allowing talented students access to multiple scholarship opportunities, TCU increases its chances of recruiting students who might go elsewhere if money was not available. The policy should be available to students entering other colleges and schools at TCU. Activity-based applicants should not be the only ones to benefit from this administrative change. Any student should be able to stack if he or she qualifies. Policy changes should be carefully monitored in order to ensure they don't inhibit the number of students who receive partial or stacked scholarships. TCU prides itself on the number of students who actually receive some form of financial aid from the university. Making additional funds available to a few students should not happen at the cost of all the others.
Bush's bat mightier with Rangers The presidential race looks like it will be a battle between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. Two hundred and twenty-five years after the nation started, these are two gentlemen from which Americans have to choose. Yet, American voters are indifferent. Bill Moyers, a former press spokesman for President Lyndon B. Johnson, was once asked why Americans were so apathetic about who was elected president. Moyers said that it did not make much difference whom we elect. Democracy is so strong that a president has no real power to hurt or hinder our American way of life. Moyers went on to say that in nations around the world, a change in government means a change in lifestyle. If a dictator or liberal socialist takes office in some nations of the world, people can have their lives seriously changed. This does not happen in the United States. Any president of the United States is subject to checks and balances of power that keep our lifestyle relatively stable. Texas is a big state, but running the state of Texas has little to do with the governor. Texas has one of the weakest governors in the nation. So weak is a Texas governor's power that it ranks dead last - that's right, No. 50 - among all the states in the union, according to a recent New York Times article. Richard Murray, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said in the article that "the imagined office is much greater than the real office." The most powerful governor's office in the nation is in New York. Actually, Bush had greater authority when he was the chief executive officer for the Texas Rangers, the professional baseball team. He could make a decision and expect people to obey his order. In the Statehouse in Austin, Bush has to ask permission or grovel to the legislature to do almost anything important. In the state of New York, 140,000 people report to the governor. In Texas only 200 people report to Bush. Unlike other states, the Texas governor can't select the officers of his own cabinet. Every important decision-maker in Texas is elected by the people and is responsible to a constituency other than the sitting governor. The lieutenant governor, elected by the people, runs the Texas State Senate and oversees the committee that prepares the state budget. Texans who have ascended to the presidency have done their apprenticeship in Washington, D.C. Both presidents George Bush and Lyndon Johnson served in Washington, D.C. Johnson was a senator and Bush was in the House of Representatives. Gore served in the Senate and works as vice president. Never has a governor from Texas ever been elected president. The most significant education reforms in Texas were championed by Dallas businessman Ross Perot, who lobbied the legislature with financial contributions and by twisting arms. Bush gets along with the lieutenant governor and the legislature. If a chief executive officer can't get along with them, he might as well forget about passing any legislation. For years the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House have run the Texas government. Dozens of elected governors have occupied the executive mansion but they might as well get some extra sleep in the morning for all the power they wield. When Bush is out of the state campaigning for president, hardly anybody notices. Bush has campaigned for president actively across the nation. Often he flew back to Austin in the evening. He didn't return to the capital because there wasn't anything pressing on his agenda. Bush wanted to have dinner with his wife and daughter. In 44 states, lawmakers meet throughout the year. In Texas, the legislature gathers for 140 days every other year. Why should the governor even be in residence any calendar year that ends in an even number? There are many good things about Bush. He is no lightweight in the political arena. He might make a great president. He had a lot more control, though, negotiating the Ranger contracts of Nolan Ryan, Rafael Palmeiro or Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez than he has ever had passing important legislation in the state of Texas.
David Becker is a Brite Divinity graduate
student from Pueblo, Colo. Religion remains personal decision despite conversion
efforts Jesus is out to get me. Or, at least, that is how the people around me are making me feel. It seems like everywhere I go I encounter one of my friends or acquaintances getting up and telling everybody that they need to search for Jesus, or something like that. The other day I was at a meeting and during "announcements" one of my friends got up and told everybody about her experience with Jesus. She said that if we hadn't found Jesus' love our lives were not complete. Then, the other day at The Main this girl got up to sing, and stated that she was singing for Jesus. I mean, even a pastor has joined the club. After having a group discussion about faith, he has developed this bizarre, yet amusing and flattering, interest in my faith - or lack thereof. Now we chase each other around having intellectual talks about religion. I think I've become his favorite agnostic. I don't know if it's just the fact that I am at a Christian university in the buckle of the Bible Belt, but it appears as if all the religious forces of the universe are conspiring against me to make me join their clan. I don't know if it is just my friends expressing their faith freely and me casually encountering them or if this is a big conspiracy. Regardless if these events are casualties, or if I am getting paranoid, I have a problem with Christians and Jesus being out to get me. The problem is, you see, I'm not interested. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Christianity or any other religion for that matter. I find Christian history and ethics fascinating, and I think the Bible is a pretty good book. However, this still doesn't add up to make me a believer. Ironically, I am more interested in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Zoroastrianism than in Christianity. I don't think this lack of interest results from being traumatized by "bad Christian experiences" either. Even though I've had some differences of opinion with certain breeds of quasi-Christians, like the Cancun Christians (you know, the ones that praise abstinence and virginity and then go off to Cancun because "what happens in Cancun stays in Cancun" and "what they learned in Sunday School stays in Sunday school") and the used-car-salesmen Christians (those who try to convert everybody in an assembly-like manner with threats of hell). Even though I find these specimens quite obnoxious, I haven't been traumatized beyond repair by their actions. They were not the ones to make me replace my faith with doubt. Luckily, I've also met awesome Christians that have shown me that Christianity has more to offer than double-sided morals and massive pursuit of conversions. People like my roommate, and my friend who makes a good hippie have shown me a face of Christianity with love, tolerance and service. They live their lives happily, share their faith with those who want to hear it, but have never sought to impose it on me. With their acts and behavior, they have shown me Christianity is a valuable and rich spiritual path. But even with its ups and downs, I still find Christianity no more valuable or interesting than any other religion. In fact, I find Christian dogma more boring and illogical than most. It just doesn't cut it in my book. I imagine that this statement must be shattering or nonsensical to many, but I am pretty content even without Jesus in my life. I think I am a reasonably good person - I lead a decent and fulfilling life; I don't go around killing people or robbing stores; I respect myself and others around me; I am human, and with that I am content. So, where am I going with all of this? Well, it's just that one of my conversations was so enlightening it has convinced me of something: It doesn't matter how much people around me tell me about Jesus, until he comes and tells me himself what he wants from me, my life is not going to change that much. And he hasn't. So Christians can go ahead with their praises and their faith, and I celebrate their belief and fulfillment. As for me, all that I can say is that I still find shelter in the term agnostic. Ag-nos-tic, from the Latin gnosis = to know, and a = not: not to know. I don't know if there is a God, and I don't know if there isn't, and unless Jesus himself comes and tells me otherwise, it seems like my viewpoints regarding Christianity will remain.
Raquel Torres is a sophomore business major
from Cali, Colombia. |
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