Staff Assembly to focus on salaries, benefits
Meetings will address equalizing wages within departments

By Angie Chang
staff reporter

Improving salaries and benefits are the top issues members of the Staff Assembly would like to see addressed this semester at their meetings.

“TCU has been far behind in salary issues,” said Jean Andrus, chairwoman of the Staff Assembly. “And salary compression is something that needs to be focused on.”

Andrus, who is also administrative assistant for the Charles Tandy American Enterprise Center, said salary compression occurs when wages for new employees increase faster than for vacant positions filled by an organization’s existing employees.

“As a result of compression, a new employee at TCU could be working alongside another employee that has more seniority, and be making almost the same salary,” Andrus said.

Andrus said that last year, raising salaries for entry-level staff was the primary concern, but this year the Staff Assembly will probably move on with salary compression and equalization of benefits.

“I think the main thing we’re doing is that the Chancellor and the Staff Assembly are working together to increase salaries and benefits,” she said.

Andrus said although salaries and benefits are major concerns for the Staff Assembly, the executive committee will have to meet before they can assess what will be the main issue to resolve this semester. The Staff Assembly’s agenda will be announced at the next meeting on Oct. 3.

In other business:

• Nancy Grieser, coordinator of housing assignments and chairwoman of the Parking Committee for the Staff Assembly, said the Parking Committee will be discussing long-term solutions for a lack of on-campus parking. She said details could not be given because the solutions are still in the early stages.
• Chancellor Michael Ferrari reported that the conflict resolution policy was approved over the summer. The policy was proposed last semester as a three-step procedure grievance policy. It includes a meeting between employee and supervisor, mediation through an ombudsperson and reassessment from a peer-review board.
• John Weis, assistant vice chancellor for human resources and resource person for the Staff Assembly, announced that TCU has joined the Tuition Exchange Program a partnership of more than 480 colleges and universities that offers tuition exchange scholarships.
  “Through the program, dependents of TCU faculty and staff can apply to use tuition benefits towards another school,” Weis said.
• Mary Lane, former Staff Assembly chairwoman, said TCU is examining proposals from different health care providers. Roger Fisher, co-chairman of the Resource, Insurance and Benefits committee, said TCU’s annual contract with PacifiCare is ending and the university looks at alternative coverage every year.

Angie Chang

Faculty Senate to meet today
Subcommittee duties, new deans presented

By Angie Chang
staff reporter

Introducing the new academic deans and presenting subcommittee duties for this semester will be covered at today’s Faculty Senate meeting.

Nowell Donovan, chair of the Faculty Senate and chairman of the geology department, said he hopes TCU’s new deans will take an active role and bring their ideas to the Faculty Senate.

“There’s a real chance now to redefine our goals,” Donovan said. “Things can always get better. (The new deans) provide real impetus for significant change.”

The Faculty Senate is an advisory committee to the chancellor and provost to ensure academic standards are kept through the responsibilities of each subcommittee.

Specific subcommittee duties for 2000-2001 include:

• The Student Relations Committee will work with the House of Student Representatives to launch “Frog Finder,” a program that will allow students to obtain course syllabi online. The committee will also work to resolve concerns about the final exams schedule and submit a report to the chancellor, provost and academic deans examining scholarship policy.
• 
  The Tenure, Promotion and Grievance Committee will develop a vita/assessment form, an improvised faculty résumé that will reflect the importance of teaching, said Roger Pfaffenberger, executive committee liaison. Pfaffenberger said the committee will also try to make sure there are trained mediators to deal with grievances among faculty.
• 
  The Academic Excellence Committee will give a report to the chancellor, provost and academic deans outlining TCU’s commitment to graduate education. A second report will examine how non-academic demands on students may hinder academic progress.
• 
  The Faculty Governance Committee will prepare a report for the provost and academic deans to adjust the format of Student Perceptions of Teaching forms so their results can be placed within the context of the university mission statement.

Angie Chang

E-mail system upgraded
New Web-based server links entire campus

By Melissa DeLoach
staff reporter

After poring over student surveys for several months, TCU is responding to student demands to upgrade the university’s e-mail system.

The university changed to a Web-based student e-mail system Aug. 11 after an online student survey in the spring of 1999 by the former technology advancement committee of the House of Student Representatives.

rom the more than 700 students that responded, Bill Senter, technical services manager for Information Services, said students voiced concern for a more user-friendly system that allows use of a mouse.

Instructional Services wanted to develop an e-mail system to meet those needs, he said.

Students no longer need to have specialized software in order to stay abreast with online communication at TCU, said Dave Edmondson, assistant provost for Informational Services. The system can be run from any computer without the need for a specific program, he said.

Currently, Delta accounts are being forwarded to this Web-based system. On Oct. 1 the Delta server will become obsolete and mail sent to this account will be undeliverable.

The Computer Help Desk informed students of the change in an e-mail sent out to all returning students Aug. 2. Students were also given a new e-mail address patterned after (f.m.lastname@student.tcu.edu). The Web-based e-mail account is the same system faculty and staff are using, Edmonson said. Students can access their e-mail at (http://mail.tcu.edu).

“The new system allows students to have access to their e-mail accounts from practically anywhere in the world,” Edmonson said. “Switching to this system puts (TCU) as a leader in technology. No other school TCU’s size has an entire campus community on one server.”

One of the advantages of the system is that students can store up to 50 megabytes of disk space — five times more than the old e-mail system, Edmonson said. The system also enables all messages to be scanned for viruses in a more effective manner, he said.

Germaine Mikhail, a senior computer science major, works as an assistant in the Mary Couts Burnett Library and Ed Landreth Hall computer labs. She said the new system enables students who are not as familiar with current technology trends to feel more at ease when navigating the Web.

“The system is so much faster to work with,” she said. “In Delta I couldn’t just click on a link and see it open right away. Rather, I would have to copy the link address, open the Web browser and paste it in for the link to finally open.

“Now I don’t have to go through step after step to do simple tasks like send and open attachments.”
Alonso Sanchez, a senior art history and math double major, said the only inconvenience he has had is informing all his friends of his new e-mail address.

“I’ve just been replying as they have been coming in,” he said.

Kim Weber, manager of User Services, said that the system was first introduced to students attending freshman orientations this summer. The only problems they have encountered thus far have been students forgetting their username and password. But that’s to be expected from the first of the school year, she said

Melissa DeLoach
m.d.deloach@student.tcu.edu.

Leadership class uses unusual tactics
Methods challenge assumptions of Greeks

By Michael Davis
staff reporter

While in a leadership class last year, Lisette Gerch was accused of robbing a bank and was sent to jail on three separate occasions.

The experience was part of a game that Tom Sullivan, director of fraternity and sorority affairs, plans to use in his new Emerging Leaders II class this semester. The course is designed to challenge assumptions about Greek membership and help develop a sense of community awareness.

“Hopefully, the class will help students understand what a global community is,” he said. “Students will have a more global view of community and how their actions affect people and their community.”

“The Game of Life” will attempt to simulate social injustice. Participants will be treated differently depending on their assigned race, socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation and other factors.

ullivan learned of a similar program when he attended the 11th annual Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute 2000 this summer.

Sullivan, who previously taught a freshman leadership course and a Greek leadership class at Texas A&M University, said he is not trying to dispel any particular misconceptions about sororities and fraternities, but hopes the class will make students more aware of how and why their values influence their actions.

Gerch, president of Zeta Tau Alpha, said although she has not taken Emerging Leaders II from Sullivan, her leadership classes at TCU inspired her to run for Homecoming queen and sorority president. The leadership classes have improved over the years, she said.

Sullivan said the experience gained from “The Game of Life” is very revealing and can be very emotional.
“Some people end up crying,” he said.

Gerch said the experience made her realize people are not as tolerant as she originally thought.

“It’s incredible; you learn so much about being open-minded,” she said.

Sullivan will expose students to the history of their organizations and focus on the values and history behind Greek organizations. He will also assign a cultural event paper in order to expose them to new and different environments.

He also hopes to have students define what diversity means to them, as well as compile a list of actions within the fraternity and sorority community at TCU that conflict with their values.

Not all people will grow at the same rate, Sullivan said. But he said he hopes that by the end of the class, his students will understand who they are and what is important.

The class will meet Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. beginning Sept. 19 and will count as a leadership credit. It is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Michael Davis
m.s.davis@student.tcu.edu.

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