By Matt Stiver staff reporter The split of AddRan College of Arts and Sciences continues to prompt different reactions from faculty members. Some faculty members in the sciences said the change is solely administrative, while others in the humanities said it has a more wide-ranging effect. Ken Morgan, chairman of the geology department, said his initial reaction was positive. "I wrote a letter to the chancellor and to the dean, and I said 'Hooray!'" Morgan said. "I think it's long overdue. (TCU is) still a liberal arts college. Nothing has changed." But Bob Frye, a professor of English, said he had a sense of reservation about the split. "I always have a little bit of a sense of misgiving about dividing the sciences off from the humanities," Frye said. "I like the sense of cross-disciplinary focus and union. I sort of regret that kind of split." In mid-August, Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari announced the reorganization of the college structure at TCU. The move splits the current College of Fine Arts and Communication into the College of Fine Arts and the College of Communication. A new College of Health Sciences and Human Services will be comprised of nursing and health-related fields. Phil Hartman, a professor of biology and chairman of the Health Professions Advisory Committee, said the AddRan split will not affect interaction among faculty members. "Just because faculty are in different colleges doesn't make them any more or less likely to interact with one another or collaborate and contribute to (a) broad-based liberal arts approach to course work," Hartman said. "A lot of things with individual faculty don't fall within the confines of AddRan. "For example, the Honors Program. It really cuts across all colleges, and that's the cross-disciplinary interaction that I think is what liberal arts education is at its best. Splitting up AddRan won't affect that." Nadia Lahutsky, an associate professor of religion, said the science faculty will not see major changes as a result of the split. "I am not surprised (the sciences) are happy," she said. "I'm not surprised that they don't foresee any changes. Nothing is going to change for them. They are going to relate to (McCracken) in the same way they related to McCracken before." Several faculty members in the sciences said the reorganization will have positive effects for them in terms of organization. "This is just an organizational thing," Morgan said. "To me, it strengthens everyone's hands If the liberal arts side of campus does their job well, then nobody loses. I think this strengthens them. I think it lets liberal arts focus with common goals on their needs in terms of resources and how to manage their programs." Hartman said the new structure will help with tenure and promotions. "Currently, AddRan is very heterogeneous with a broad spectrum of people, and those people have very different expectations in terms of publications and how publications are configured," Hartman said. "For example, if I were evaluating someone for tenure, it would be very difficult for me to evaluate an English professor for tenure because I know nothing about the field of English and what constitutes good publications in that discipline. Whereas to a much greater extent in the sciences, I can be able to evaluate a chemist's publications." Frye stressed the importance of the liberal arts in a college education. "Our program in pre-med is pre-med," Frye said. "This means, for example, that before you get all the specialized knowledge, that the pre-meds need to know something about the nature of suffering and of compassion. They can learn those by reading Shakespeare's 'King Lear' or from reading other literary works, but they also need to be aware of the art that depicts suffering." Both Morgan and Hartman also stressed the importance of the liberal arts in a TCU education. "I think (a liberal arts core) is tremendously important," Hartman said. "I think it's a drastic mistake if that's not the case. Recognize that because I and other faculty favor splitting AddRan, that does not mean that we favor doing away with a broad-based liberal arts education." Several faculty members in the humanities have expressed a concern over the deanship of the AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Michael McCracken, the current dean of AddRan, will become the dean of the College of Sciences and Engineering. McCracken is a faculty member in the biology department and taught biology before becoming dean. Lahutsky said replacing McCracken would be difficult. "McCracken has been a good dean," Lahutsky said. "A lot of how you fare at an institution is what kind of leader you have. I have every expectation that we are going to go out and hire 'the best person.' But it's not like a number. It's like a chemical equation. Who will be the best person is hard to tell before they get here. So there's a bit of the unknown."
Matt Stiver
By Tealy Dippel and Matt Stiver staff reporters The topic of deferring Recruitment received the most response from faculty members and students during the "Speak your Mind" forum sponsored by the Faculty Senate and the House of Student Representatives Academic Affairs Committee Tuesday in the Student Center Ballroom. People in attendance were allowed to step forward and voice opinions on whether Recruitment should occur during the spring, as opposed to shortly before the fall semester. Academic Affairs chairwoman Sara Donaldson said the turnout surprised her. "I am so proud of the student body," Donaldson said. "It was hard for independents to voice their opinions about deferred Recruitment because there were so many Greeks who attended." Amy Hall, vice president of Recruitment at TCU, said she thinks delaying Recruitment has disadvantages. "Delaying Recruitment would pre-determine stereotypes and complicate scheduling adjustments made by those outside TCU," she said. Although he said he has no set opinion, Student Government Association President Ben Alexander said he thinks delaying Recruitment would have an advantage."It would create an opportunity for students to become Horned Frogs for a semester," Alexander said. Roger Pfaffenberger, chairman of the Faculty Senate and professor of finance and decision sciences, said though the debate was strong, he still leans toward delaying Recruitment. "I liked the argument for building relationships as Frogs first, but on the other side, delaying it for a semester would just prolong it," Pfaffenberger said. "And I recognize that the financial loss to the fraternities and sororities with not having Greeks in the houses in the fall is a substantial concern, but I still lean toward considering delaying Recruitment." Reformatting the schedule for final exams was another topic which drew a range of opinions from faculty and students. The proposed schedule would move finals up a day and create an additional dead day on the Wednesday of finals week. The proposal, as it currently stands, would shorten the semester by one day. Pfaffenberger said he favors the proposed final exam schedule. "I'm very much in support of it," he said. "It moves the first final from the traditional finals week up to the previous week. I think it gives students the opportunity to spread things out and use their time more efficiently to study." Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari said he had a positive reaction to the proposed finals schedule. "I always felt as a professor, and certainly I felt as a student, when you ended up with (a final schedule) where you had two or three exams in one day, that was something that I did not particularly care for," Ferrari said. "And I think as a professor I felt the same way. To be able to have a break in the middle of that week, I thought made a lot of sense. So I am very inclined to that." Some faculty members voiced concerns over the shortening of the semester. Charles Becker, an associate professor of economics, said he did not support the proposed schedule because the semester schedule has been shortened enough. "Since I have been at TCU, the number of weeks in the semester has been diluted from 18 weeks to 15 weeks," Becker said. Pfaffenberger and Donaldson said the forum was productive. "It is important to come together as a group," Donaldson said. "We don't do that enough." Pfaffenberger agreed, saying the quality of the debates was "outstanding." "The views expressed were articulate, both pro and con, and cogently stated," he said. "This was a great experience. We should do this more often." In other House news, Bill 99-16, which calls for changes to the Student Government Association constitution, passed during the House meeting Tuesday. The bill will now go before the student body. A new bill, Bill 99-17, was introduced at Tuesday's meeting which would help fund the TCU yearbook's trip to the 1999 National College Media Convention in Atlanta. The bill will be discussed at the House Finance Committee meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday and then will be debated at the House meeting next Tuesday.
Matt Stiver Tealy Dippel
By Alan Melson staff reporter An initial master plan for the redevelopment of Berry Street will be presented at a public town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the South Building at Travis Avenue Baptist Church. The Berry Street Initiative will host the event, which will showcase the early proposals for the 20-year planned redevelopment of the Berry Street area. The Goodman Corporation, the firm hired by the city of Fort Worth to oversee the redevelopment, has produced plans that reflect the input of community members. Linda Clark, president of the Initiative, said the meeting will begin with a PowerPoint presentation of the findings. Clark said she is impressed with how Goodman has included ideas from local residents and business owners. "This is their response to all of the community input they've received in the previous two town hall meetings," she said. "In all, we've had about seven neighborhood meetings, and three meetings with business and property owners along Berry Street, as well as a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and other city staff." Clark said Goodman incorporated community ideas into the project and used those ideas to develop not only a proposed master plan but also plans for signage, redevelopment and landscaping. Chris Peck, a representative of Goodman and manager for the Berry Street project, will be present to answer questions, as well as Rich Flierl, the designer who is working with the redevelopment team. Clark said people who attend the meeting are encouraged to speak their minds about what they would like to see on Berry Street. "The main reason TCU students and faculty should attend this meeting is that their input is so important to this process," Clark said. "They are some of the main people we want to attract back to Berry Street." Thursday's presentation will also be given to the Fort Worth City Council, who will authorize the team to proceed to the next phase of the plan, Clark said. "This is just the concept phase," she said. "Phase Two of the plan is the engineering and feasibility stage, which they should begin working on around November." Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs, said students and faculty should attend the meeting to keep up with what is happening in the greater TCU community.
Alan Melson
By Tealy Dippel staff reporter Diversity will be the topic of Friday and Saturday's annual University Retreat at Greene Family Camp in Waco, where almost 200 students are expected to attend. This year's speaker, Laurence J. Payne, the Houston regional director of the National Conference for Community and Justice, was chosen by Sarah Burleson, vice president for the House of Student Representatives. Burleson said the discussion on diversity will apply to leadership in a multicultural community. "We would like students to get a greater understanding of the community they belong to now and also get a new perspective on individuals and people we interact with," Burleson said. Payne has facilitated adult training in multicultural leadership in 37 states as well as in Mexico and Canada. Although Payne's speech will address diversity, Burleson said the topic will go beyond racial issues. The topic is pertinent to everyone at TCU, she said. "We want people to have an awareness of how many people there are on campus, and we want students to open their minds and question the things we do," Burleson said. Student Government Association President Ben Alexander said this year's retreat is intended to further Chancellor Michael Ferrari's emphasis on diversity. "It's a great way for students to get involved and take part in all of the energy focused on TCU becoming a more diverse place," Alexander said. Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and community, said students will gain experience from this year's retreat. "The primary purpose of the retreat is to expand horizons and widen perspectives of those who attend," Thomas said. He said he hopes students will return to school with ideas about diversity. Burlseon said she wants students to question the reasons behind their actions but doesn't want to change their routines. "We just want people to think a little harder before acting as (they) usually do," Burleson said. Burleson and Alexander began preparations for this weekend's retreat last spring with Larry Markley, director of the Student Center and SGA adviser, and other staff members. Burleson said she would like people to have the opportunity to attend a social retreat.
Tealy Dippel |
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