By Reagan Duplisea staff reporter The TCU Board of Trustees increased the minimum wage for nonexempt staff from $5.73 to $7.25 an hour Friday. The change will become effective June 1. The board also increased funding for financial aid and the M.J. Neeley School of Business and agreed to allow the administration to contract with architects for renovations to the Student Center and Rickel Building. Carol Campbell, vice chancellor for finance and business, said there was a significant increase in staff wages, and now all nonexempt staff members will be making at least $7.25 an hour. Nonexempt staff are hourly employees who are eligible for overtime pay. Adrianne Anderson, a junior political science major who gave a report on staff salaries to the board's Student Relations Committee, said she was pleased with the board's decision. "We think of ourselves as a prestigious university, but many of our salaries are below poverty level," Anderson said. "I think $7.25 is a fairly good place to start." The board also approved a 5 percent merit/adjustment pool for continuing nonexempt staff who may not be as affected by the minimum wage increase because they are making more than minimum wage. A 4 percent merit/adjustment pool to help compensate continuing full-time faculty and exempt staff was also passed. A merit/adjustment pool is a possible increase in salary based on performance. Faculty and staff compensation makes up 50 percent, or $84.375 million of the expense budget, Campbell said. The expense budget for 2000-2001 was passed at $168.75 million, $10.3 million more than this year's expense budget. The revenue budget - how much TCU's income is expected to be - was approved at $169 million. The main sources of the revenue budget include student tuition and fees, housing fees and the endowment. Campbell said the reason there is little difference between the revenue and expense budget is because there are many initiatives and priorities that need funding. "It's the desire of the administrators to provide the maximum amount of programmatic benefits as possible," said John V. Roach, chairman of the board. Having a $250,000 difference between the two budgets does not leave the university in a precarious financial situation, Campbell said. "It certainly does mean that every department and unit is going to have to show great discipline and not go over their budget," Campbell said. "I can't stress that enough." Roach said if additional funds were needed, where the money would come from depends on the circumstances. "It's possible expenses could be reduced," Roach said. "We would not like to go into the endowment." Other than faculty and staff salaries, a large portion of the budget will go into student scholarships and financial aid. Financial aid's allotment was increased $1.6 million from this year's allotment to $24.9 million. The increased financial aid is partly due to the raise in tuition and the funding for the Community Scholars Program, said Clarence Scharbauer III, chairman of the board's Student Relations Committee. This scholarship program provides funds for students attending local high schools. Scharbauer met with student leaders after the board's meeting Friday to brief them on the board's decisions. The addition of five new scholarships for women athletes is also part of the financial aid increase. Several academic programs also received funding, with an emphasis on the M.J. Neeley School of Business. Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs William Koehler said the emphasis of funds will not shift until the goals for the business school are fulfilled. "I'm sure there will be other areas that will be emphasized, but I can't say there will be something different next year," Koehler said. "It will take us a few years to reach our goals in that area." The board also voted to contract with architects for the design of a renovated Student Center and Rickel Building. The board passed the motions to contract with the architectural firm WTW Architects for the Student Center and with Cannon Design Group for the Rickel Building. "We approved to appropriate the money to get architectural designs," said William L. Adams, board member. "Up until now, we were just looking at the feasibility." Adams said the Rickel Building will be renovated and expanded, and another building will not be built to house a recreation center. Ferrari said having a meeting in January to approve tuition helps the board be more disciplined when passing the expense budget in March. "There's a tendency of the administration when you try and put it all together at the same time of increasing tuition to cover desired costs," Ferrari said. The board met for its first January meeting on Jan. 27 and 28. "The Board of Trustees had more time to get out on campus and tour," Ferrari said. The board will have its first retreat Sept. 14 and 15 to discuss the Commission on the Future of TCU. It will review the final report and look at the financial implications, said Larry Lauer, director of the commission.
Staff reporter Priya Abraham contributed to this report.
Reagan Duplisea
By Kasey Feldman staff reporter The Asian Student Association is sponsoring its annual Asian Festival today and Wednesday to educate TCU students about Asian cultures, said Michael Ly, public relations officer for ASA. "People want to group all the Asian cultures into one, but each one is a unique culture different from all the others," said Ly, an MBA student. The festival will feature art, food, clothing and dances from Asian countries. June Komazaki, a junior international marketing major and ASA secretary, said today there will be a cultural exhibit with origami and other forms of art. Students will also be able to pay to have their pictures taken wearing a kimono, a traditional robe worn by Japanese people on special occasions. Komazaki said kimonos have many layers and are difficult to put on. The students will wear a simplified version of the robe for the pictures. Students will model kimonos and other Asian clothing in a fashion show with models representing seven Asian countries Wednesday. Komazaki said there will be two models each from India, Pakistan, China, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines and four models from Japan. In addition to the fashion show Wednesday, there will be Asian dances and food. "We provide an opportunity for people with a common culture to get together, and we also try to promote awareness of Asian culture," said Anthony Nullan, ASA president and a junior finance and e-commerce major. Ly said there are between 15 and 20 members of ASA. Other universities have separate organizations for the different Asian cultures, but the Asian population at TCU is too small to support separate clubs, Ly said. Although they are small in number, Ly said everyone is coming together to put on the Asian Festival. "We are using as many of our resources as possible," Ly said. "We've been working on it for the whole semester."
Kasey Feldman
By Priya Abraham staff reporter Staff Assembly Chairwoman Mary Lane said she expects a positive response to Chancellor Michael Ferrari's announcement during today's meeting that the starting salaries of some staff members will increase. Lane said she was pleased the Board of Trustees changed the starting salary from $5.73 to $7.25 an hour during the board's meeting Friday. "I didn't know what to expect," she said. "I knew there were a lot of complexities." This year, the Staff Assembly's main goal was to make wages competitive with the local market for employees who are paid hourly and are eligible for overtime pay. In other business, Stuart Youngblood and Shari Barnes will present a proposal on simplifying the staff grievance policy. Barnes, director of employee relations at the Human Resources Center, said the current policy has been in effect since 1981 and involves employees working up a hierarchy of supervisors until a grievance is solved. She said the new policy formalizes the use of mediation and may be less intimidating to employees. "People might perhaps feel a little freer to address some of their complaints," she said. Youngblood, a research professor of management, said the draft proposal is a three-step procedure involving a meeting between employee and supervisor, mediation through an ombudsperson and, lastly, reassessment from a peer-review board. "(This procedure) gives employees more input and more say in how grievances are solved," he said. "The agreement is controlled by the two parties involved in the dispute." Youngblood said the ombudsperson would act as a "traffic cop" to help work out disputes between employers and employees. He said the 24-member peer-review board would be made up of faculty and staff members and administration. The new policy should solve most grievances within two or three weeks, he said. "There is (currently) no deadline or time limit imposed on the grievant when pursuing a grievance," he said. "(Under the new policy), the longest it could take is seven weeks if you went through all the steps." The proposal came from a joint effort between the university's Compliance and Affirmative Action Committee and the Policy Review Committee of the Staff Assembly. The two committees have been working on the policy changes since November 1999. Another presentation will be given by Director of International Student Services John Singleton on the number of international students at TCU and their concerns. He said there is a heightened interest in his department's activities because of the emphasis the university is placing on global issues. More staff members could help international students adjust to their new surroundings if TCU integrated more people, he said. "If staff were interested in helping, (they could) take part in orientation, so (students) were actually bonding with everyone from the librarian to the janitor in the Rickel Building," he said. "That, to my mind, would be a more successful orientation."
Priya Abraham
By Courtney Roach staff reporter After scarfing down two chocolate doughnuts and coloring a purple-and-white TCU picture, 11-year-old Kenny said his favorite activity Saturday was playing dodge ball with his friends and TCU students. Kenny was one of the many children that participants in the TCU LEAPS program visited in order to give back to the community through cleanup work or interacting with children and senior citizens. The inaugural LEAPS program, sponsored by Student Development Services, offered a day of community service with free transportation to a project for the entire TCU campus.
"I'm estimating around 400 people were there, and I'm ecstatic about that number, especially since it rained," Oubre said. The project took volunteers to Fort Worth locations such as the Tarrant County Food Bank, Alta Mesa Nursing Home, All Church Home, Catholic Charities and Meacham Middle School. Dina Mavridis, a senior marketing major, said she helped Oubre recruit TCU organizations and people to donate their time to the project. "We had probably about 25 TCU organizations that participated in the event, plus we had a Web site so people not in organizations could sign up," Mavridis said. Taylor Kloss, a freshman business major, visited the All Church Home where children from different backgrounds live and go to school as a community. "I played Win, Lose or Draw and colored, and we had a one-on-one time where we could sit down and talk to the kids and find out more about them, and they got to do the same with us," Kloss said. "I think they enjoyed it." Richard Sequi, a senior accounting major, was also at the All Church Home and said he did not think getting the kids to open up to him was a problem because he has an accent, and they were curious. "I got to ask them what they liked, what their dreams were and what they wished for," he said. "I was trying to get an idea of their environment." Oubre said although he thinks students were able to gain something positive from the day, not everyone left his or her project feeling good. "Some people said they left their places feeling sad, like people who went to nursing homes," he said. "You just don't leave those places always feeling happy." Students also participated in a reflection service, either on-site or in a van on the way back to TCU, where they filled out a survey and talked about the day. Paige Bothwell, a sophomore elementary education major, said her group members discussed what they got out of the experience and ways it could be more organized so it can be better next time. "Some suggestions were to have more places to go and to let people know earlier, so they could plan ahead on things like what to wear in case they were painting," Bothwell said. Oubre said he received positive feedback from the reflection surveys, but some changes may be made for next time. "We have to sit down and talk about it, so I can't say yet what changes we would make," he said. Oubre said the next LEAPS community service day is planned for the fall, but it is still up in the air as to whether it will be a semester or yearly event.
Courtney Roach
Editor's note: This is the ninth in a series of articles profiling the 17 task forces that make up the Commission on the Future of TCU.
By Courtney Roach staff reporter Brite Divinity School is not necessarily trying to reinvent itself. Instead, it is looking to write a new chapter in its history, officials said. The Brite Divinity School task force will submit its report to the TCU Board of Trustees in June, profiling not necessarily the school's downfalls but its strengths for future progression. "(The) report in June will fall roughly into two parts: the historic strength of Brite Divinity and its importance along with our future trajectories for the school," said Scott Colglazier, the community chairman of the Brite task force. The task force is one of 17 on the Commission on the Future of TCU, which was established by Chancellor Michael Ferrari to determine how the university can "move to the next level of academic distinction." Colglazier said the role of the task force, which is made up of donors, faculty members, community leaders and area ministers, is to discuss the school's strengths. "Brite has a record of distinction and fine aspects already in place," Colglazier said. "Like a distinguished faculty and a good endowment, for example." Diane Cooper, assistant vice president for advancement at Brite, said the task force is trying to step back and envision where the school was, where it is and where it would like to be in the future. "We need larger facilities because we expect more students in years to come," Cooper said. "Plus, we need technology in the classrooms." Eugene Brice, a task force member, said the Moore Building (which houses Brite) was originally built to hold 100 students and seven faculty members. It now holds 250 students and 20 faculty members. Brice said the Brite Divinity School Board of Trustees recently approved beginning plans of a new academic building to be built behind the Moore Building. It will hold 400 students and is projected to be completed in 2004, he said. Colglazier said it is important for Brite to keep abreast of technological advances, such as learning and communicating through satellite locations. Brice added that Brite has its own endowment and that it seems to be sufficient for the school. "Our endowment is about $65 million and is adequate for our purposes right now," Brice said. Cooper said another goal of the school will be to increase international education of the students through opportunities to study in places such as England, Mexico and Israel. "The goal of Brite is to educate our students to go on and help the larger church," she said. She said the school did an internal self-study to determine its status. "The studies have shown that Brite is among the top in the country," Cooper said. Colglazier said he thinks the needs and goals of Brite will be addressed by the board even though it is one of the smaller schools on campus. "Theological education has historically been a large part of TCU, and I think the university will help point us in a positive direction," Colglazier said.
Courtney Roach
By Danny Horne staff reporter Bita May Hall Compton, a retired professor of French, died Thursday from acute pneumonia. She was 88. Compton was a 1931 alumna of TCU and received her master's degree in
1936. She joined the foreign "The word that immediately comes to mind when I think of her is grace," said Bob Frye, a professor of English and former colleague of Compton's. "She was very courteous with high standards and was quite willing to work with students who needed help." Frye said Compton should be remembered for her remarkable sense of humor and wit. Compton taught former TCU Chancellor James M. Moudy from 1938 to 1939 and was the daughter of former Dean of Brite Divinity School Colby D. Hall, for which Colby Hall is named. Colby Hall Jr. said Compton and the rest of the family has always held TCU and the Horned Frogs close to their hearts. "TCU has always been like a family to all of us," Hall Jr. said. "(Compton) was very devoted to TCU. She loved her students and took great personal interest in the school and the students." Compton's grandfather, T.E. Tomlinson, was responsible for bringing TCU to Fort Worth from Waco in 1909. "T.E. was the chairman of the Board of Trustees and made the decision that brought TCU to Fort Worth," Compton's cousin, Lambuth Tomlinson said. Hall Jr. said Compton also enjoyed traveling to Europe. Her favorite place in Europe was France, he said. "She loved to travel - not only to France, but all over the world," Hall Jr. said. "I know she also enjoyed traveling to the Orient." Frye said she took groups of students to France throughout the 1960s in an effort to help them improve their French language skills. "She was always trying to find more ways to help the students learn," Frye said. "She was really just an absolutely delightful colleague. She's the sort of colleague that if I had to choose someone to work with, I would definitely have chosen Bita May Compton." Flags on campus were flown at half-staff Monday in Compton's honor.
Staff reporter Priya Abraham contributed to this story.
Danny Horne
By Reagan Duplisea staff reporter Larry Lauer, former associate vice chancellor of communications and public affairs, was named TCU's first vice chancellor for marketing and communications. The Board of Trustees voted its final approval at its meeting on Friday.
"You never really know until they vote," Lauer said. Nancy Styles, Lauer's executive assistant, said she was surprised to learn of the promotion. "I didn't find out about it until after the fact," Styles said. Styles said Lauer has served as associate vice chancellor since 1986. "The promotion is well-deserved," Styles said. "He has been out promoting the university for years now." Clarence Scharbauer III, chairman of the board's Student Relations Committee, said Lauer was promoted because of his performance in his former position. "He was promoted to recognize his contributions to TCU and because of the focus TCU is going to have for recruitment and for attracting more funds," he said. Chancellor Michael Ferrari said Lauer is nationally respected and is asked to be a consultant at institutions around the world. Lauer helps showcase TCU, Ferrari said. "Having someone (in marketing) on the senior administrative staff shows we're serious about increasing the national and international visibility of TCU," Ferrari said. Lauer said he thinks one of the reasons he was promoted was because there is a growth in marketing and communications in higher education. "It's our statement that the university needs to be more visible to stay effective," Lauer said. Lauer said overall marketing is increasing at TCU, but the definition of marketing varies from person to person. "I think marketing is a way of thinking," Lauer said. "It's using all your tools to lift the reputation of the institution." The Board of Trustees approved a $400,000 allotment for marketing the university for next year. Lauer said he does not expect there to be too many increases in his responsibility, but he will know more after he compiles the reports of the Commission on the Future of TCU this summer. He is director of the commission. "As we wind that up, and I spend the summer looking at those suggestions, we will know where we are headed next," Lauer said.
Staff reporter Priya Abraham contributed to this report.
Reagan Duplisea |
Kenny Oubre, a junior economics major and organizer of the
LEAPS program, said the day was an overall success, and he has heard that
everyone who participated in the program had a good time.
language department
in 1938 after teaching Spanish and math in the Fort Worth Independent School
District. She retired from the university in 1976.
Lauer said he knew about the motion two days in advance,
but he did not tell anyone until the board voted on it.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |