Kindle returns home after recuperation
Alumna enthusiastic about returning from Nebraska

By Emily Ward
staff reporter

Cheers of happiness and joyful applause filled Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Saturday afternoon as friends and family welcomed home Robbyn Kindle for the first time since her four-organ transplant last May.

Robbyn Kindle, whose battle with liver disease spawned a $57,300 fund-raising effort at TCU last semester, described her homecoming as “overwhelming.”

At least 15 people gathered around the arrival gate Saturday, carrying flowers, posters and a banner that read, “Welcome home, Robbyn, our miracle in progress.”

“I’m just so dumbfounded,” Robbyn Kindle said. “I can’t believe this many people came.”

After being at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for about seven months, Robbyn Kindle said she has been more than anxious to return home.

“I really felt like I was in a prison (at the hospital) because I wanted to go home so badly,” she said. “I told them I was going home no matter what.”

Three weeks ago, Robbyn Kindle was scheduled to return to Fort Worth, but the trip was canceled because she came down with a fever, said Chris Kindle, Robbyn Kindle’s brother.

Although she must return to Omaha at least once a month for regular check-ups, Robbyn Kindle is here to stay. She will live with her father, Ken Kindle, in Bedford where she will continue her recovery, Chris Kindle said.

“Dad has been a real positive guy through all this, and he will be extremely helpful,” Chris Kindle said.
Robbyn Kindle is now eating on her own and is able to stand by herself, though her balance is off and she is a little shaky, Chris Kindle said. Her new organs are doing well and the doctors are impressed with her condition, he said.

“She has been doing amazing, but no one knows how long it will take for her to recover,” Chris Kindle said.

Robbyn Kindle said her biggest fear is that her body will reject the new organs and she will have to go back to Omaha to get them taken out.

Although she is taking anti-rejection medicines, her body can suddenly reject the foreign organs at any time in her future, she said.

A 9-year-old girl who lived on the West Coast was the donor of Robbyn Kindle’s new liver, pancreas, kidney and small bowel, said Ken Kindle.

The donor’s cause of death is still unknown to the Kindle family, and they will not know her name for another year, Ken Kindle said. For now, Robbyn Kindle’s family can write letters to the donor’s family, though they must send them to the hospital first to ensure anonymity, he said.

As for her future, Robbyn Kindle said she wants to work as a dietitian and writer for nutrition journals. She will take the registration test to become a registered dietitian when she’s stronger, said Michelle Campbell, a former co-worker of Robbyn Kindle’s at Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine.

“I can’t wait to be at home loving on my cat, sleeping in my own bed and eating real food,” Kindle said. “I am excited about everything.”

Emily Ward
e.e.ward@student.tcu.edu

Alcohol laws for students adjusted
Changes due to federal regulation

By Wendy Meyer
staff reporter

Dorm residents Mike and Jim are unwinding from a long day. While pulling two cold beers out of the Micro Fridge, Mike hears a knock. “Hey Mike, it’s Tom, your resident assistant; could you please open the door?”

As a result of changes to federal regulation, students caught violating alcohol laws may face greater consequences than an angry RA.

An amendment to the Campus Crime and Security Act instructs campus authorities to report to the federal government, “persons ... who were referred for campus disciplinary action for liquor law violations, drug law violations and illegal weapons possession.”

To comply with this November 1999 legislation, TCU reported 255 campus crimes that allegedly violated federal and state liquor laws in 1999. This information, published in the TCU Student Handbook, was gathered and reported by the TCU Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Campus Life. The report showed a drastic rise from only two reported alcohol violations in both 1997 and 1998.

Mike Russel, associate dean of campus life, said the amendment change to the Campus Crime and Security Act explains the dramatic difference between the 1998 report and the 1999 report.

Previous to the amendment, the government only required institutions to report crimes that resulted in an arrest. Only three of the reported 255 crimes resulted in arrest, said Officer Chris Drake of the TCU Police.
“Instead of reporting only arrests, we report everything that is referred to the campus judicial process,” Drake said.

The Campus Crime and Security Act mandates that all postsecondary institutions report these numbers annually to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and to prospective and current students.

The government agency received public feedback about how campus judicial processes do not determine whether a crime occurred, but only that the accused person violated the institution’s policy or conduct code.

“We believe that campus judicial officials and Campus Police are capable of determining whether a particular alcohol, drug or weapons violation is a violation of law,” the document said.

Information provided in the TCU Student Handbook indicates that two underage students drinking in their dorm room is an example of the type of liquor law violations that would only warrant campus disciplinary action rather than an arrest.

The first offense results in a $75 fine and an alcohol education program, while the second and third offenses result in greater fines, community service, parent notification and university disciplinary probation.

Wendy Meyer
w.m.meyer@student.tcu.edu

Waits next on list of renovations

By Chad Carey
staff reporter

Over 200 students living in Waits Hall will be relocated into other residence halls next semester when Waits is renovated.

Although there was some overcrowding at the beginning of the semester because of a lack of rooms, there should be plenty of space for the residents of Waits in the spring, said Roger Fisher, director of residential services.

“A large amount of rooms will be opening up in Sherley Hall and Colby Hall because residents will be moving to their sorority (or fraternity) houses,” he said. “Other rooms across campus will open up because students will be graduating or moving off campus.”

The $8 million renovation project was passed by the TCU Board of Trustees last week. Renovations should be completed by Aug. 1, Fisher said.

Fisher said the university is trying to keep the current residents of Waits informed on future housing situations.

“We have sent letters to every resident in Waits explaining to them what we will be doing with regards to their living situation next semester,” Fisher said. “We will also be sending out letters to parents in the next couple of weeks so we can make sure they know what is going on, as well.”

Megan Clawson, a junior education major and a Waits resident assistant, said the hall doesn’t look bad from the outside, but has many problems on the inside.

“One of the girls in my hall has to use a cup to catch water dripping from a pipe,” she said.

The maintenance problems on the inside of Waits gave its renovation priority, Fisher said.

“The reason we decided to renovate Waits next instead of another residence hall is because it had several major problems,” he said. “The boiler is not working properly, pipes in the hall are rusted and leaking, the roof has a leak, and the air conditioning does not work to full capacity.”

Within the next two weeks Fisher said he will have a meeting with residents in the hall to gain feedback on the intended architectural and interior decorating plans.

“We will have a color board for the residents to look at in order to help us pick out colors for the new hall,” said Fisher. “We want the residents to have a voice in picking out the colors for the walls, carpet and lounge fabric.”

Interior decorators will bring experimental furniture to the hall this semester for residents to consider. New furniture will be bought for all the rooms in the newly renovated building, but existing furniture will also be refinished and used again in the lounges, Fisher said.

“Basically what we did to Foster Hall is what we’re going to do to Waits,” Fisher said. “The buildings are very similar, therefore, the process will be the same.”

Four double occupancy rooms with skylights will be added in the attic of Waits. The newly renovated hall will also have interior fire escapes, an elevator, more bathrooms, a large study area on the third floor and electric locks on each outside door.

“When the project is over, we will have a total of 202 rooms, which is only four less than we have now,” Fisher said.

Linbeck Construction Corp., who renovated Foster and built the Tom Brown-Pete Wright Complex, will also renovate Waits.

Chad Carey
chadcarey@mindspring.com

Latina publisher to share story
Haubegger tells of ‘American Dream’

By Sylvia Carrizales
senior reporter

What started out as a “little magazine idea” in Christy Haubegger’s marketing class at Stanford Law School eight years ago has turned into Latina magazine, the nation’s first bilingual magazine devoted to Hispanic women.

Haubegger, the 32-year-old president and publisher of Latina, now produces the magazine in New York City with the help of advertisers like The Gap and Nike. She will speak at 7 p.m. today in the Student Center Ballroom in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

But Haubegger, a Mexican-American adopted by Anglo parents, said her story will be interesting to all
students whether they are Hispanics or just students who want to become successful entrepreneurs like herself.

“I really am kind of the American Dream,” Haubegger said. “I didn’t have any special advantages growing up except for the fact that given my upbringing, I had to live in both worlds.”

Phyllis Bodie, assistant director for the Brown-Lupton Student Center and advisor for the Multicultural Committee, said all students will be motivated by Haubegger, who was recognized as one of the Most Inspirational Women of the Year by NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and one of the most successful young businesswomen in America by Crain’s New York Business.

“She’s a woman, she’s young, she’s intelligent and she has a story to tell,” Bodie said. “It’s a motivating one for women who may want to be like a Christy Haubegger but don’t have a role model.”

Some of the stories include the time she convinced Essence Communications chairman Ed Lewis to invest in her startup magazine by taking him for a walk in the mostly Hispanic San Francisco neighborhood where she lived.

Haubegger was 25 at the time and a law school graduate struggling to make money for her company, Alegre Enterprises. As the two walked to an ice cream shop, a bus passed by and several women exited the bus carrying different mainstream fashion magazines.

“I pointed at them and said, ‘They should be carrying this magazine,’” she said. “He kinda had the light bulb go off in his head.”

Soon after, Haubegger was able to start the magazine she had dreamed of since she was a child in Houston.
“I’ve always been a big magazine reader,” Haubegger said. “But I always felt a little left out by the magazines I read.”

Haubegger remembers sitting at the newsstand reading magazines in the Safeway grocery store in Houston while her mother shopped. As she looked at the glossy pictures of beautiful blonde models, she would ask herself, “Where am I?” Haubegger never saw Latin women in the pages of the magazines and the idea to start a magazine aimed at women like herself stayed in her mind throughout her time at the University of Texas and later at Stanford Law School.

“As I got closer to graduation, I thought ‘Oh, maybe I’ll try this. If it doesn’t work, I’ll be a lawyer.’”

Haubegger gives some credit to her adoptive Anglo parents’ last name for helping her to bypass any questions about her ethnicity.

“My name helped me sneak in a lot of places,” she said, as she laughed. “I would call on the phone and say, ‘This is Christy Haubegger.’ I would show up and they would be like, ‘Oh!’ It was really clear that people didn’t expect me to be Hispanic.”

Now Haubegger is living out her dream of doing something to impact the Hispanic community as the head of a national magazine.

“I get to meet a lot of my heroes — like the president,” Haubegger said. “I feel like Forrest Gump half the time. I feel like I’ve been blessed everyday.”

She says meeting people like Hispanic astronaut Ellen Ochoa and United Farm Worker’s rights activist Dolores Huerta have more impact than meeting movie stars because they helped pave the way for her.
“I get to meet the Jennifer Lopezes of the world, but it’s not quite the same,” Haubegger said.

Her advice to Latino and minority college students is to overprepare in whatever field they are studying.

“If you’re the first Latino real estate agent that someone is going to work with or the first Latino banker or artist, you want them to come away saying, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to work with them again,’” she said. “It’s like an extra burden or an extra obligation but it’s also an extra opportunity.”

Haubegger’s next step, in what she describes as her “world domination plan”, includes plans for a book, Latina Beauty: The Get Gorgeous Guide For Every Mujer, set to hit bookstores Oct. 15.

Haubegger describes the book as a comprehensive beauty guide compiled and researched by the beauty editors of Latina.

Sylvia Carrizales
sylviaCarrizales@hotmail.com

Students participate in live video conference
Participants address issues of the Americas

By Yvette Herrera
staff reporter

Four TCU students participated in a live video conference Monday with eight other private universities in the Western hemisphere as part of the American Airlines Leadership for the Americas program.

American Airlines and TCU formed this program last November, which consists of an international alliance among nine universities in North, Central and South America. The program focuses on leadership and issues of the Americas, said Larry Adams, associate provost for academic affairs.

Students discussed topics that will be addressed during the first week-long meeting at the Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico starting Oct. 7. Adams said the students will form relationships with students in different countries.

The video conference was transmitted through a Web camera and was viewed on a large television that was divided into four sections, each section representing a different school, with 36 student delegates, four from each school, meeting for the first time.

Leah Armstrong, a senior Spanish major, began her one minute presentation on the quality of life in the Americas by distinguishing between the social and personal aspects of life.

“Social qualities include the technology we use, the economics of a country and human rights,” Armstrong said. “Whereas, the personal qualities are more emotional and spiritual.”

Other delegates from TCU are Caterina Lombardi, who discussed globalization and regionalization; Love Johnson, who presented her thesis on leadership and service; and Alonso Sanchez, who discussed leadership in a democracy.

“We’re basically discussing our themes for papers that will be presented at the meeting in Puebla,” Johnson said.

Adams started the conference by welcoming students from Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru and Argentina.

“What we are doing today represents the best of both education and technology,” Adams said. “We’re seeing one small frame of what future education will be about.”

Rebecka Tucker said students will participate in workshops and panels during the October meeting. They can also listen to speakers ranging from Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize winner to Tim Doke, American Airlines Vice President of Corporate Communications.

Adams said this program was crucial not only for the countries that are currently involved but also for the global community as a whole.

“This is an exciting time for us,” Adams said.

Yvette Herrera
yvebex@yahoo.com

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