New facilities to be built for Brite
Three-story complex in planning stage

By Sylvia Carrizales
senior reporter

Within the next five years, Brite Divinity School officials plan for a $13 million state-of-the-art complex to be constructed between Princeton and Lowden drives behind the Moore Building and Beasley Hall.

A $100,000 feasibility study, conducted by F&S Partners, resulted in the designs for a three-story building to include a Brite library.

The theological school is exploring the possibilities of a five-year, $30 million fund-raising campaign, which would include the costs for the expansion of Brite’s academic facilities.

Mark J. Toulouse, dean of Brite Divinity School, said the Moore Building, which currently serves Brite students, was designed in 1954 for 100 students and seven faculty members. The current enrollment for Brite ranges from 245 to 265 students in any given semester with 32 faculty members.

Skiff staff Within the next five years, Brite Divinity School officials plan for a $13 million state-of-the-art complex to be constructed between Princeton and Lowden drives behind the Moore Building and Beasley Hall.

“We’re just so space-tight here it’s incredible,” Toulouse said.

Currently, Brite students take classes in the Moore Building and conduct preaching labs in rented space in the University Christian Church.

The current design for the new building would give Brite an added 54,000 square feet and features a chapel auditorium, a bookstore, three 50 to 60 seat classrooms, two seminar rooms, six faculty offices, a Pastoral Care Center and space for a preaching lab.

Ann Sewell, assistant provost and financial officer for Brite, said the building’s current design includes all of Brite’s needs.

“It’s a dream facility,” Sewell said. “We have everything in this building we think we will need.”

Toulouse said there is no completion date because the building is still in the planning stages.

Leo Perdue, president of Brite, said the construction would not
begin until all gifts and pledges were in hand to cover the expected expense of the building.

Toulouse estimated that may take as long as 4 1/2 years. He said the biggest obstacle to seeing the project become a reality is funding.

“It depends on how much money we raise and how quickly,” Toulouse said. “If we raise money in a couple of years, we’ll go ahead and break ground.”

Donors would include foundations, individuals, congregations, trustees and faculty and staff, Toulouse said.

Once construction begins, Toulouse said it would take about one more year to complete the building.
According to the sketches, the library would take up the most space in the building.

Toulouse said there are about 150,000 volumes of religious and theological books in the Mary Couts Burnett Library and the addition of a Brite library would be beneficial to both TCU and Brite.

“Mary Couts Burnett Library space is very much at a premium,” Toulouse said. “It would clear up about 150,000 volumes in the library for other topics and provide a central location for Brite books that are open to everyone.”

Tentative plans include a covered walkway that connects the Brite library to the library so that it is easily accessible to both Brite and TCU students.

Karyn Bogert, a third year Master of Divinity student, said she has not heard any information about the plans for the new building but said it is needed.

“I think that our building isn’t adequate for the way our student body is growing,” Bogert said. “We are in desperate need for more classroom space.”

Bogert, who is also a resident assistant for the Princeton House apartments, said it would be convenient for the Brite library to be located closer to the academic building.

Brite student Carl Miller said he would like to see more of the preaching labs located on campus. Miller, a pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church in Cleburne, said the classrooms in the Moore Building are in need of repair.

“(The building) is starting to fall apart,” he said. “In the two main classrooms, you can tell the air conditioning system has been running for a long time.”

Miller, who will graduate from Brite in May, said he would like to see a library in the new building and an expanded computer lab from the current one which has eight terminals.

Sewell said the fund-raising campaign will be a major determinant of the cost of the building.

“We try to raise money for buildings that don’t generate money,” Sewell said. “An academic building doesn’t generate money. It makes it harder to pay back.”

The Princeton House apartments, which consist of 26 units, stand where the proposed academic facility is to be built. The building will be torn down in the spring when Leibrock Village becomes available as Brite housing.

Stan Hagadone, director of admissions for Brite Divinity School, said Leibrock Village is still set to open Jan. 1, with 56 one and two bedroom apartments available to seminary students who currently have housing available in the Princeton House, The Quads and Bellaire apartments. The Princeton House apartments will remain Brite property, but the other areas will become the university’s property.

Larry Garrison, assistant director for facilities planning, said all of the apartments would be torn down.
He said the area where The Quads stand, on Lubbock Street behind the Bass Building, will be used as a contractor’s area for the Tucker Technology Center.

Sylvia Carrizales
sylviacarrizales@hotmail.com

Mother of rape victim speaks out
Andrea Cooper to share story of daughter’s suicide

By Michael Davis
staff reporter

At the age of 20, Kristin Cooper, a student at Baker University, committed suicide New Year’s Eve 1995 as a result of rape-induced depression.

Andrea Cooper, Kristin’s mother, will share her emotional struggle over her daughter’s death and encourage others suffering from depression to seek help tonight.

Andrea Cooper will deliver “Kristin’s Story: A mother’s account of acquaintance rape and depression” at 7:30 p.m. in Ed Landreth Hall Auditorium.

“There are two choices you can make if something bad happens,” Andrea Cooper said. “You can crawl into a hole or try to make a difference. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”

Cooper has dedicated herself to traveling to colleges around the nation in an attempt to raise awareness of rape and encourage victims of depression to seek help. She said she hopes to speak at 56 colleges this year.
“Kristin was in a serious relationship, and when she told her boyfriend (about her rape) he broke up with her,” Andrea Cooper said. “I don’t really blame him because he didn’t know how to deal with the situation.”

Andrea Cooper said she first believed Kristin had committed suicide because of the break-up.

“It was only later, when we discovered her journal, that we found out that she had been raped,” Cooper said. “One in four college women are victims of rape. Nobody realizes it’s going on because no one talks about it. I don’t want this to happen to someone else.”

Katie Urban, president of Alpha Chi Omega at TCU, said she saw Andrea Cooper’s presentation this summer.

“It is incredible to see how rape affected her daughter’s life,” Urban said. “It is amazing to see how she (Cooper) turned a triumph out of a tragedy.”

Andrea Cooper is a Delta Delta Delta alumna and her daughter was a member of A Chi O. Andrea Cooper said her connection with the Tri-Delts has really opened doors for her. She began speaking to individual chapters in her home state of Colorado in 1998.

A Chi O’s and Tri-Delts fund 20 of Cooper’s speaking engagements. Urban said even though they did not get a scholarship to fund Andrea Cooper’s speech, both A Chi O’s and Tri-Delts felt the expense was justified.

“We have all been to a lot of speakers, and she is really worthwhile because she makes it real,” Urban said. “It relates to all of us and gives us a mother’s perspective.”

When Andrea Cooper first began speaking she was worried because she had no training as a counselor or psychiatrist. But she was encouraged because students told her how touching her story seemed.

“Many times in these kinds of speeches people male-bash,” Andrea Cooper said. “I try to emphasize in ‘Kristin’s story’ how much men can help as a friend. Men can play a big role.”

Jeff Harrell, president of Lambda Chi Alpha at TCU, said he wants members of Lambda Chi to attend the presentation.

“I want to encourage all my guys to go,” he said.

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

Brite continues Jewish scholar search to head new program
Jewish courses to be added to curriculum with aid of $1 million

By Yvette Herrera
staff reporter

The Brite Divinity School continues their search for a Jewish scholar, preferably a rabbi, to run a new Jewish studies program that will add Jewish courses to both Brite and TCU.

The Rosenthal family donated $1 million for the Rosalyn and Manny Rosenthal Chair for the Judaic studies endowment one year ago.

Daryl Schmidt, chairman of the religion department and a member of the search committee, said last year’s search was unsuccessful, but the committee is currently in the process of collecting names of recognized scholars that are willing to fulfill such an important position.

The committee did find some internationally recognized scholars last year that just weren’t willing to move to Fort Worth, Schmidt said.

“We want someone who actively participates in a branch of Judaism,” Schmidt said. “Since this is such an important position, we’re trying to find the right person.”

Schmidt said the search committee, which consists of five faculty members from Brite and TCU and two members of the Jewish community in Fort Worth, learned a lot last year.

“We realized that our expectations might have been too high,” Schmidt said. “We were looking for an internationally recognized rabbi and scholar. Now, we have lowered our search to mid-level (applicants).”

Diane Cooper, director of gifts to Brite Divinity School, said a five-member search committee that was appointed last year began their search and hope to fill the position by the fall semester of 2001.

Cooper said new courses such as biblical and theological studies for graduate students and introductory Judaism for undergraduate students at the TCU department of religion will be offered as part of the program.

“Both Brite and TCU are looking forward to this new program,” Cooper said.

According to an informational brochure on the Jewish Studies Program, the idea for these classes came from a Fort Worth physician, Gary Price, who said as an undergraduate he had not received adequate information about world religions, particularly Judaism. He said Judaism was the first of the world’s great monotheistic religions that has been the immediate faith-parent of Christianity.

After much discussion among faculty members at both Brite and the university a Jewish Studies Program was established.

LeeAnn Mutchler, a junior Spanish major, said the program is a great idea for TCU.

“Anything less white Anglo-Saxon Protestant is good for our university,” Mutchler said.

Toni Craven, the head of the search and a Hebrew Bible professor at Brite, said TCU has not had a class on Judaism since 1984 when rabbis taught contemporary Judaism courses.

“It’s a wonderful advancement for both undergraduates and the Divinity School,” Craven said.

Another part of this program is the Jack B. Friedman Judaic Library, which was funded by the Friedman and the Rakoover families in honor of Barbara Friedman Rakoover. It will contain holdings in Jewish thought and theology, the Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Midrash and an online CD-ROM collection with Internet access and World Wide Web resources.

Yvette Herrera
yvebex@yahoo.com

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