By Tealy Dippel staff reporter The House of Student Representatives hopes to balance the duties of the House and Programming Council and to refine the duties of House members with the introduction of its first bill Tuesday evening. Bill 99-16 proposes changes, which have been discussed since the spring, to the SGA constitution. The bill will allow PC members to introduce business to the House. It also calls for the SGA president to be the link between both branches of government. "I hope it clears up some ambiguous areas in our documents," said Marcus Kain, chairman of Student Concerns. "The bill is a must." SGA President Ben Alexander said he doesn't expect any resistance to the bill. "Programming Council and House will mirror each other in respect to some duties," he said. "The constitution changes will represent the interests and concerns of the student body." Among the changes will be the refinement of House duties, specifically as they relate to the House president and vice president. The bill calls for the president to take over the duty of planning and organizing the university retreat, currently one of the vice president's duties. "It will provide equal division of what's going on," said Sarah Burleson, vice president of House. The proposed duty changes would also call for the vice president of House and the vice president of PC to assume the position of SGA president in case of illness or personal leave. The two would act jointly as president for a period of 20 days, during which a campus-wide election would be held to elect another candidate to act as president for the rest of the term. If the bill passes the House vote, changes to the SGA constitution will become effective Jan. 1. The Elections and Regulations Committee, chaired by Jason Cordova will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Student Center, Room 202 to vote on the bill. The House will reintroduce the bill as old business next week, and it will be voted on at that time. If approved, it will then go to the student body. "The new bill is a very big deal, and I support the bill wholeheartedly," Cordova said.
Tealy Dippel
By Steven Baker staff reporter A committee at Brite Divinity School has begun the search for a professor who will teach a subject that has been absent from TCU for 14 years - Judaism. The Rosenthal family donated $1 million for the Rosalyn and Manny Rosenthal Chair for Judaic Studies endowment that will help bring a permanent Jewish scholar to TCU. The scholar will teach early Judaism to graduate and undergraduate students and will serve as an endowed chair at Brite. Between 1978 and 1984, rabbis taught contemporary Judaism courses at TCU. The program was discontinued because the rabbis were not permanent faculty members and had their own synagogues, their schedules often conflicted with those of students. David Balch, a professor of New Testament at Brite and Rosenthal endowed chair search committee member, said there is a new relationship between TCU and the Jewish community. "It is important for Christian students to be talking to a Jewish professor in religion," he said. "It makes the conversation more responsible." A five-member search committee will begin looking at applications Oct. 15. The committee is composed of Balch, three other Brite or TCU religion professors and one outside contributor. Brite faculty members will make a decision in one to two years, Balch said. Leo Perdue, dean of Brite, said one of the goals of this search is to find a professor with "rabbinic training." Some students within the Jewish student community said they think the position does not need to be filled by a rabbi. "I feel like any qualified person would enhance the cultural awareness on campus," said Amanda Wilsker, a freshman economics major. But other students said a rabbi might be more knowledgeable about the beginning of Judaism. "I would have loved to have a chance to explore my heritage and faith with a learned Jewish person like a rabbi," said Aaron Goldfarb, a senior music education major. Goldfarb said adding early Jewish studies to the current curriculum will help future students know where the religion originated and will enable them to have a more well-rounded appreciation of their own religion. "Jewish families are big on education," he said. "If you are not educating students about other cultures, you are neglecting and ignoring the world. "If we have a Christian message represented at TCU, then why not Judaism?"
Steven Baker
By Stephen Suffron staff reporter The lawn in front of Frog Fountain will be a place for crafts, music and free food when Programming Council hosts its annual Arts and Music Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday. The event will feature a disc jockey, several different craft booths where students can make their own creations and free refreshments, including pizza, sno cones, cotton candy, popcorn and soda. PC Fine Arts Chairwoman Andi Ferreira, a sophomore business major, said it should be an enjoyable experience. "There's free food and lots of fun," she said. "It's so students can get together in the middle of the day at the beginning of the semester and enjoy themselves creatively." In past years, the event featured live music, but no bands are scheduled for this year.
Stephen Suffron
By Kris Gutierrez staff reporter An inaugural all-Greek volunteer day helped promote fellowship between fraternities and sororities as members donated their time to help several community service organizations. Ten to 15 members from each fraternity and sorority volunteered at several different community agencies Sunday, including the Texas Department of Transportation's Adopt-a-Highway program, the AIDS Interfaith Network, the Fort Worth Zoo and the Tarrant Area Food Bank. Phil Cottone and Vanessa Parker, who serve as directors of philanthropy and service for the Interfraternity and Panhellenic councils initiated the event. It was co-sponsored by IFC and Panhellenic. "We thought last semester that we needed to come up with something," Cottone said. "We wanted to do something with more of a community service aspect, by physically helping out and not just writing checks to all these foundations. "We have to go out there and realize there are people behind the agencies that we are helping. Every year we give tons of community service, but we never do it as one big Greek community. It kills two birds with one stone. Part of the purpose was to have people working together." Over the summer, Cottone and Parker mailed about 80 interest forms to agencies that had previous contact with TCU's Greek community. Of the agencies targeted, 25 to 30 responded. Lee McMichael, a sophomore art education major and Chi Omega member, said she and Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity members helped pick up trash along Highway 180. "We had a billion trash bags," she said. "It took us about two hours to pick up along the two-mile stretch of highway." Kristen Kirst, director of fraternity and sorority affairs, said she hopes the all-Greek volunteer day will become an annual event. "We want them to go out en masse and be visible," she said. "We realize service is important and that agencies need volunteers." Adam McCane, a freshman business finance major and Sigma Chi member, said he picked up trash at Trinity Park. "It was cool," he said. "It wasn't hard, and it helps out in the long run." Several volunteers, including Leigh Wilson, a junior kinesiology movement science major and Pi Beta Phi member, gave their time at Tanglewood Oaks Guest Home. "We helped out at an ice cream social," Wilson said. "They were really excited. I think they had a good time." Cottone said Greek community members should feel like they accomplished something positive. "It gives them a sense of community, that we're not only a part of TCU, but we're also a part of Fort Worth," he said. "From the community standpoint, it brings a positive aspect to the Greek community, that we're here to help as well."
Kris Gutierrez |
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