Fire ignites in storage room
Supplies, food damages estimated at $30,000

By Matt Jones
staff Reporter

Several hundred students, faculty and staff were temporarily evacuated from Reed Hall and the Student Center Wednesday afternoon after a fire broke out in a contained storage room in the basement of the building, Lt. Kent Worley of the Fort Worth Fire Department said.

The cause of the fire has been listed as “undetermined” and investigators have found no signs of suspicion or foul play, Worley said. Director of Communications Kelli Horst said no injuries were reported.

The fire caused approximately $30,000 in damages and closed both the Deco Deli and The Main for the remainder of the day, Worley said. Estimates include damage to the structure of the building, the cost of burned supplies and discarded food, he said.

The fire, which started in a 14-by-18 paper goods closet adjacent to the kitchen, was first noticed by deli workers who saw smoke pouring out of the ventilation system and noticed strong odors, Worley said.

Donna Brown, a dining service worker for Marriott Food Service, said she was startled by the smell of smoke. Brown then left to alert her supervisor.

“Everything smelled like burning plastic,” Brown said. “Smoke was pouring out of a hose along the wall and the other female workers started screaming.”

Worley said an internal alarm system went off in the heating, ventilation and cooling system, which notified the Physical Plant of the fire.

The Physical Plant placed the call to 911, while TCU police evacuated students and workers, Worley said.
Joel Penrod, a senior religion major, was in a linguistics course in Reed at the time of the incident.

“We noticed a strong smell and our professor made a joke about the building burning,” Penrod said.
Penrod said no alarm went off notifying the class, and so the class continued to meet.

“Soon, there was a man at the door telling us there actually was a fire and we should evacuate the building,” he said. “We grabbed our stuff and got out of there.”

Worley said the dining halls were closed as a safety and health provision. He said the Fort Worth Department of Health would evaluate the damage and make sure that food could continue to be prepared and served.

Horst said both Reed Hall and the Student Center would be open for classes and dining services by this morning.

Worley said university insurance inspectors would continue to investigate the cause of the fire.

Matt Jones
matthewsjones@hotmail.com.

Student dies on Tuesday
Cause of death undetermined

By Melissa DeLoach
staff Reporter

Amanda Beaty always knew she wanted to be a journalist. From as early as sixth grade, her mother said, she always had a knack for writing.

She loved sports, especially football, and her ultimate dream was to be a sports reporter, her father said.

Beaty, a 22-year-old news-editorial journalism major from Coppell, died Tuesday en route to a local hospital. As of Wednesday night, the cause of death was undetermined.

Funeral services will be held noon Monday at the Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home Chapel in Allen. Burial services will be at the Fitzhugh Cemetary in Lucas.

Beaty was a victim of McCune-Albright syndrome, a hormonal disorder. She had been out of school for two weeks with what her parents thought was a sinus infection. Beaty had only been at TCU for two semesters after transferring from Northlake Community College in Irving.

Kristen Naquin, a senior news-editorial journalism major, said Beaty had a real passion for journalism. Naquin, who tutored Beaty, said she sensed something was wrong when Beaty dropped a journalism class that she had helped her study for on an ongoing basis.

“She was always willing to learn,” Naquin said. “She had all the basics, she just needed more time to learn than most. My fear was that she was intimidated by a bad lab grade because she was capable of succeeding.”

Suzanne Huffman, associate professor of journalism and broadcast journalism sequence head said she did not know the extent of Beaty’s illness. Huffman had served as Beaty’s academic advisor and one of her mentors at TCU.

“I knew that she was sick, but I didn’t know that she was that sick,” Huffman said. “As her mentor we would talk about journalism and school and what it is like to be a journalist outside of school. She was such a delightful and joyful person to work with.”

Beaty’s mother said Huffman’s friendship made a profound impact on her daughter’s life.
“Mandy looked up to her for so much,” Susan Beaty said. “She was her confidant and was such a great comfort to her.”

But also struggling is Beaty’s dog, Nick. The 75-pound golden retriever entered Beaty’s life in 1996 when she graduated from high school. He has done everything with Beaty, including coming to TCU with her.

eaty’s father said Nick is depressed because he is finally realizing his best friend is no longer with him.
“He senses that something is wrong, but he doesn’t know what is going on,” Scott Beaty said.

Beaty’s father requested that donations be sent to the national office of Paws With A Cause, 4646 South Division, Wayland, Mich. 49438.

Staff reporter Angie Chang contributed to this story.

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

Career after college focus of retreat
SGA strives for inclusiveness

By Kristina Iodice
staff reporter

Helping students make the most of their careers after college is the focus of this year’s University Retreat, which is being held tomorrow and Saturday at the Ramada Plaza Fort Worth Convention Center.

Entitled “The Road to Success,” the retreat will provide an opportunity to talk to faculty and staff members about whether their careers were related to their majors. The topic is something people can understand and it is very relevant, Student Government Association President, Ben Jenkins said.

“A career is something we’re all after; we want to get something out of life,” he said. “It is about careers, but it’s making sure you’re making the right choices now, too. Find out where you want to be now, and then put your heart and soul into it to make sure that is what you want.”

John Spence will be the speaker at the retreat. Three years after graduating from the University of Florida, Spence was hired as the Executive Director of The Billfish Foundation, a non-profit marine conservation organization. He left the foundation to form The Fulcrum Alliance, a corporate training and consulting company whose clients include AT&T Corp., Verizon Communication and other multi-national companies.

ach year Spence sets aside part of his schedule to focus on speaking to select audiences, including students, around the country.

Jenkins picked Spence, who was recommended by a student. The selection of Spence was then discussed and approved by the Administrative Cabinet.

Spence loves to give presentations to students because they have the most to learn, Jenkins said.

“It will apply to freshmen that really haven’t gotten started yet on their careers and are interested, (and) it will apply to sophomores, juniors and seniors who are getting real close to choosing careers,” Jenkins said.

In the past, the retreat has generally been perceived as a freshmen retreat, Jenkins said. He said by changing the title from University Leadership Retreat to University Retreat, SGA wanted to emphasize that this is a student body retreat.

“We want to make sure it’s open this year with it being hopefully more inclusive to all grade levels,” he said. “We want as many students as can fit to come, and there are only about 180 to 200 total spots.”

Jenkins said the purpose of the retreat is to have the students bond with each other, as well as with faculty and staff members. Jenkins is expecting enough faculty and staff members to facilitate their own small groups with the students.

“The retreat helped me gain an appreciation of real leaders,” said Chelsea Hudson, a sophomore political science major, about last year’s retreat.

Students hear about all kinds of retreats for specific groups, so the idea of a campus-wide retreat is a different concept, Hudson said.

The $10 cost covers transportation, hotel accommodations, a T-shirt, entertainment Friday night, three meals and the speaker. The registration forms and money may be turned in to the Student Center Information Desk.

Kristina Iodice
k.k.iodice@student.tcu.edu.

ROTC does its dirty work cleaning stadium
Group takes out the trash to raise funds

By Elise Rambaud
staff reporter

Though Army ROTC training doesn’t usually include picking up garbage, cadets cleaned up the peanut shells, nachos, pizza crusts and empty cups of more than 32,000 football fans Saturday.

TCU’s athletics department pays the battalion $1,500 a game to clean up Amon Carter Stadium. This money goes into the collective cadet fund and is used to pay for battalion social functions, such as their Military Ball.

Cadet Ben Ball, a junior history major, said cleaning the stadium is a very lucrative fund-raiser.

“We make more money for the battalion in one night than we could in a weekend of bake-sales or car washes,” he said.

Last week, it took 26 cadets six hours to clean the stands, ramps and corridors of the stadium. This week, a lightning storm prevented cadets from completing the job.

Cadet Rosie Birkedahl-Willard, a senior nursing major, said the cadets were instructed to wait for the rain and lightning to stop, but were dismissed around 12:45 a.m.

“Stadium clean up provides additional training in leadership and teamwork,” Birkedahl-Willard said. “It’s also a way for ROTC to show its support for TCU.”

Supervisor of the operation, Sgt. Leonard Cousins, said spectators left so much trash last week that each cadet filled at least five bags of trash. There were eight truck-loads of trash at the end of the night, he said.

Stadium clean up is not mandatory for cadets to attend, but it is strongly encouraged.

“It’s not the most fun way I could think of to spend my Saturday night, but even the help of one additional volunteer can significantly cut cleanup time,” Ball said.

Wendy Ward, a sophomore computer science and kinesiology major, marched in the band during the game and still stayed for stadium clean up. Including practice, performance and clean up, Ward spent over nine hours at the stadium Saturday.

Carlin Williams, a senior criminal justice major, said the battalion prides itself on supporting the university.

“The fact that Army ROTC can get as many people to volunteer and sacrifice their time to support TCU really sets us apart from other campus organizations,” he said.

Elise Rambaud
e.j.rambaud@student.tcu.edu.

Size of philosophy department reduced
Fewer professors cause fewer class choices

By Angie Chang
staff reporter

In fall 2001, TCU’s department of philosophy will lose a non-tenurable instructor position which will reduce the number of faculty from five to four members.

Gregg Franzwa, chairman of philosophy, said the instructor position had been given to the department for the past five years on a yearly basis, with a chance of renewal.

Michael McCracken, dean of the College of Science and Engineering, was given the rotating position from Vice Chancellor William Koehler. But with the division of AddRan College, McCracken is taking the position to the new college, Franzwa said.

“Three courses each semester is a regular load for a professor,” he said. “But if the department is reduced to four, one or two professors may have to add on additional courses that they will not be paid for.”

McCracken said he moved the position from the mathematics department to philosophy two years ago to help it cope with a faculty shortage.

“It is not an uncommon practice for deans to temporarily move positions from one department to another to solve a short-term problem,” McCracken said. “At the time the temporary transfer occurred, it was made clear to both departments that the position would return to mathematics effective fall 2001.”

Spencer Wertz, professor of philosophy, said limiting the size of the faculty makes it difficult to cover a general area of philosophy since the present five professors are all specialized in certain areas. This causes course offerings to be limited, he said.

“Our philosophy department is the smallest in the state and we’ve remained small for the past 20 years,” Wertz said. “It’s a vicious cycle in our case. With small numbers, you can’t increase numbers.”

Mary Volcansek, dean of AddRan College of Humanities and Social Science, said she would like to increase the sizes of all the departments in the college, including philosophy.

“Philosophy is understaffed with full-time faculty,” Volcansek said. “I’m hoping to get a new position (for the philosophy department) and that will be determined at the Board of Trustees meeting in November or March.”

Franzwa said the philosophy department has always been small in the 25 years he has taught at TCU.

“I’ve tried for years and years to get a fifth person,” Franzwa said. “It took 20 years for (Chancellor William) Tucker to add just 10 faculty to the university. But now with a new dean and a new chancellor, I think we have the best chance to grow every way we can.”

Blake Hestir, instructor of philosophy, has taught at TCU for three years and currently fills the temporary position. He said the instructor position has been renewed for him twice.

Hestir, who specializes in ancient philosophy, said he would like to stay with TCU and will apply for the associate professor position that will be vacant at the end of the spring 2001 semester with the retirement of Ted Klein, professor of philosophy.

Fester Prose, a junior religion major, said as a philosophy minor, he feels the department is too small and does not provide as many classes as he would like.

“Certain classes in the course book rarely or never get offered because of the size of the department,” Prose said. “The philosophy professors are thorough and of good quality, but the department’s size inhibits their ability.”

Angie Chang
a_o_chang@yahoo.com

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