By Priya Abraham staff reporter Residential housekeeper Sonia Gallegos' salary increase means she can finally afford automobile insurance and drive the car she has owned since June. "I'm so excited," she said. "I'm so happy. This is a prayer come true." Gallegos said with her raise, she plans on going out more often and taking her children to the movies. "Now I'll be able to pay everything and (still) go somewhere," she said. TCU's starting staff salary was increased from $5.73 to $7.25 an hour by the Board of Trustees two weeks ago to make it competitive with the local market, said Mary Lane, chairwoman of the Staff Assembly. This spring, the Staff Assembly worked toward securing salary increases for hourly employees, which include housekeepers, groundskeepers and office workers. Ofelia Mendez, a six-year residential housekeeper at TCU, said she is disappointed about the lower salary increase she may receive compared to those of newer employees earning well below $7.25. "It's nothing," she said. "It's like a cent in my hand. It's good that the minimum has gone up, but it's not fair for the people that have been here for many years." John Weis, director of Human Resources, said the emphasis had to be placed on raising low entry-level salaries when deciding on compensation. "The plan was we were trying to get those lowest levels up in order to recruit and retain (employees)," he said. Based on job performance, employees who are not significantly affected by the increase to the starting salary may be eligible to participate in a 5 percent merit/adjustment pool. A residential housekeeper who currently earns $7.30 an hour and receives the maximum 5 percent raise will get 36 cents an hour more, or $748.80 a year, according to Human Resources. Lane said employees will not know their exact raises - which go into effect June 1 - until May 1. She said staff members who do not get very high raises should not be discouraged. "Chancellor (Michael) Ferrari said this would be the first step," she said. "We're still waiting to see what will happen." Ireri Garcia, a housekeeper for eight years, said she shares Mendez's frustration about the smaller raises for longer-term employees. "I don't expect to make the same as someone who's been here longer," she said. "In the past, our raises were something like 5 cents. It took us years to get to $7 or $7.50." Julie Graver, a residential housekeeper who considered leaving TCU because of the low pay, said she will now remain in her job. "I'm very excited because I didn't want to leave," she said. "I think it's well overdue. At this point, you can't say, 'I can make more at McDonald's,' because they don't offer the same benefits as TCU." Graver said she may enroll in courses - that she had to forgo because of the cost - at TCU again next fall.
Priya Abraham
By Courtney Roach staff reporter Compared to other private schools, TCU still has some improving to do in its alumni giving, said Michelle Amos, director of reunion giving. TCU's alumni giving rate was at 28 percent as of May 31 last year. The Board of Trustees announced at its spring meeting that it wanted to increase alumni giving to 30 percent. "I know it is only a 2-percent increase, but that increase would be from the 10,256 donors we had last fiscal year, to 10,751 in order to hit 30 percent," Amos said. "While that may even sound easy, typically (we lose) about 20 percent of our donors every year." Amos said increasing alumni giving will require replacing the 20 percent typically lost and increasing it by 2 percent more. Dee Dodson, the director of development communication, said TCU has an above-average alumni giving rate according to U.S. News and World Report magazine and other rating surveys. But he said TCU's giving rate should compare to other major private institutions. "Elite schools generally have around a 40 percent alumni giving rate," Dodson said. Based on a two-year average, The U.S. News survey quoted TCU at a 25 percent alumni giving rate in 1998. This placed alumni giving at TCU higher than schools such as Southern Methodist University (23 percent), Texas A&M University (23 percent) and the University of Texas at Austin (13 percent). But it placed TCU lower than Rice University (40 percent), Duke University (45 percent) and Wake Forest University (38 percent). "In theory, private institutions have a higher giving rate because you get a more personal approach and possibly a better education, so the alumni are more likely to give back," Amos said. When TCU alumni give gifts to the university, the funds usually go into the annual fund, which is distributed to budget-supporting programs like general university scholarships, athletic scholarships and to various schools or colleges. However, the alumni may specify where they would like the money to go. Bronson C. Davis, vice chancellor for university advancement, said the money alumni give contributes to about 51 percent of the total budget-supporting dollars, which was $1,915,421 out of $3,738,310 used for the budget last year. "The money alumni contribute is pretty important, since it's worth a little over half of the budget-supporting dollars," Davis said. "If alumni are pleased with the education, then they give back, so it reflects on the satisfaction of the school." Amos said in order to raise the alumni giving rate to 30 percent, TCU is going to have to do a better job of educating alumni as to how important giving back every year is to TCU. "We are trying to do a better job in helping alumni understand whether they give $5 or $5,000, it can help tremendously," Amos said.
Courtney Roach
By Yonina Robinson staff reporter Daniel Schorr, veteran news reporter and commentator, will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center as part of the Friends of the TCU Library dinner. Schorr is the last of Edward R. Murrow's CBS team. He currently interprets national and international events as senior news analyst for National Public Radio. The title of Schorr's address is "Forgive Us Our Press Passes," also the title of his recent book, which will be available for sale at the dinner. The cost of the evening is $25 per person. A cash bar will open at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner. His book is a compilation of essays that ask questions like, "What are the limitations on freedom of the press?" and "Why are journalists spreading rumors?" Judy Alter, director of the TCU press, said she is excited about Schorr coming to campus. "(From his topic), it sounds like it's going to be anecdotal and amusing," Alter said. "He has a good reputation, and it's good to hear someone who has insight in the media and how they affect us." University Librarian Bob Seal said Schorr's long and prominent career will help make him a dynamic speaker. "I am very excited about Schorr coming," Seal said. "I've been listening to him since I was in college. We feel very fortunate to have someone of his stature come and speak." Schorr received the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Golden Baton for "Exceptional Contributions to Radio and Television Reporting and Commentary" and the Distinguished Service Award of the American Society of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. He has also been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Society of Professional Journalists. Schorr can be heard regularly on NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" and "Sunday" as well as "All Things Considered." Schorr's career began in 1946 as a foreign correspondent. Having served in the U.S. Army during World War II, he began writing from Western Europe for the Christian Science Monitor and later The New York Times. He also conducted the first exclusive television interview with a Soviet Leader, Nikita Khrushchev, for CBS' "Face the Nation." In 1972, Schorr became CBS' chief Watergate correspondent. In 1979, he was asked by Ted Turner to help create the Cable News Network, serving in Washington, D.C., as its senior correspondent until 1985. Seal said proceeds from Tuesday evening will benefit the Friends of the TCU Library, which is made up of faculty, staff, students and some alumni. The group purchases furniture and books for the library's rare collection, he said.
Yonina Robinson
By Kasey Feldman staff reporter Editor's note: This is the 13th in a series of articles profiling the 17 task forces that make up the Commission on the Future of TCU. When Joel Fisher decided to continue his education at TCU past his Ranch Management certificate, no one could decide what to do with the credits he had earned in the ranch management program. Fisher, a junior economics major, said eventually admissions decided to treat him as a transfer student, and all of his ranch management credits became electives. Improving the transferability of credits from ranch management to other departments at TCU was one of the issues discussed at the Ranch Management Task Force meeting in November. 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. Kerry Cornelius, a ranch management instructor, said the difficulty of transferring ranch management credits puts TCU at a disadvantage. "Our students can transfer hours to Texas (Tech), (Texas) A&M, or Tarleton (State universities) but not within TCU," he said. Along with improving the transferability of credits, task force members discussed forming a ranch business management degree plan. Students pursuing this degree would take their first three years of classes at the M.J. Neeley School of Business and finish their last year of classes in the ranch management program. James Link, director of the ranch management program, said a business education is important for ranchers. "Ranching is a business," Link said. "A rancher would be better off with a degree in business than in agronomy. In ranching, you are managing assets just like in business, only in ranching the assets happen to be livestock and crops." If the ranch business degree is developed, ranch management would also continue to offer the one-year certificate program it offers now. Cornelius said ranch management would lose students if it only offered four-year degree programs because many are only interested in the certificate program. Cornelius said most ranch management students have taken at least some college courses and are older than typical college students. He said the average age of the ranch management students is between 23 and 26 years old. Link said new student recruitment and the scholarship endowment were some of the most important issues discussed at the meeting. "Other schools with ranching programs are state-supported and have lower tuitions," he said. "To be able to attract students, we have to be able to counteract TCU's higher tuition costs with bigger scholarships." Cornelius said he agreed scholarships were an important drawing factor. "Right after (the task force) met, tuition went up, but the financial aid issue has been worked on diligently, and we have quite a bit more financial aid available now." Cornelius said he would like to see more effort put into recruitment. Most of the current ranch management students were referred by alumni, he said. "What I'd like to see is a marketing plan and a budget for a better advertising campaign," he said. Ranch management does its own recruitment, separate from the university, because the program targets different students than the university as a whole, Cornelius said. Fisher said the separateness of the program was discussed at the task force meeting. "We know TCU is making changes, so we talked about how ranch management fits in to that scheme," he said. "Ranch management is isolated from the rest of TCU, but it should be a priority to integrate it. You don't see a lot of cowboy hats around TCU."
Kasey Feldman |
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