Vote to restructure SGA invalid, some say
Four absent members’ votes not counted in final number

By Hemi Ahluwalia
staff reporter

Members of the House of Student Representatives whose votes were not counted on a bill to restructure the constitution are raising questions about the validity of the result.

The bill to change the executive portion of the Student Government Association passed with 35 votes at Tuesday’s meeting.

Four representatives left after they had turned in their voting slips but before the final vote on the bill. Of those four votes, three were against the bill, said Moncrief Hall representative Grant Hewitt, a freshman political science major and one of the four voters.

Had the three votes against the bill been counted, it would have lacked the necessary votes to pass. The bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass House and go to a student referendum.

At the meeting a motion was brought to have a roll call vote, which entails going down the roll and asking for each representative’s vote. If a representative leaves before this takes place, when their name is called it means a no vote, said Brian Becker, elections and regulations committee chair.

“With a roll call vote, the paper slips are not counted unless it is absolutely necessary,” Becker said. “We had met quorum, which means that three-fifths of all members of House shall be required to conduct business, so we held the vote.”

But Hewitt left before the decision was made to take roll call because of a fraternity obligation, and said he was under the impression the paper vote would count.

Charles Abbott, a Foster Hall representative, also had to leave the meeting to attend a class.

“If I had realized that my vote would not have counted, I would have stayed at the meeting and been late to class,” said Abbott, a sophomore international business, environmental science and vocal performance major.

No procedure is written in the bylaws for absentee voting. All four of the representatives were present during attendance roll call, but had to leave before the debates could take place, Hewitt said.

“The debates do not sway the representatives’ votes, they go into the meetings with their mind already made up,” he said. “Cye Fischer had told me that Jason Cordova, Ben Jenkins and himself had written the bill and since they have been promoting it for two weeks, I had already made up my mind.”

Scott McCray, parliamentarian of House, said House debates have been instrumental in deciding his vote.

“It is very sad to think that the representatives come in with their minds made up because they are keeping the room from being a place where we can exchange ideas and they simply make debating useless,” he said.

When representatives ran for office they signed an agreement stating that they would be at every House meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. every Tuesday. The issue of absentee voting has never come up before, so nothing was ever needed in the bylaws, McCray said.

“Absentee votes have never been counted in the past and it is inappropriate for representatives to vote if they have not heard all of the debates,” he said.

The student body referendum was originally scheduled to be held Oct. 23 but was changed to Oct. 26, Becker said.

“The change was made because according to the last article in the constitution there must be at least 10 class days to advertise the bill,” he said. Because of fall break, the original date would have only allowed for nine days.

The elections and regulations committee has already started to advertise by hanging posters in the Student Center, and they will hold an information session to answer any questions students might have, Becker said.

The information session will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 24 and 25 outside of The Main, he said.

Hemi Ahluwalia
hemia@hotmail.com.

Student Center to undergo changes
Renovations should begin in 2001

By Hemi Ahluwalia
staff reporter

The construction of a new Student Center may finally become a reality for the university after 13 years in the making.

Groundbreaking for the new Student Center should begin around June 1, and take 15-24 months to complete, said Larry Markley, director of the Student Center.

Since approval of the renovation of the Student Center was made in 1987, there have been many revisions made to the plans that were recommended, he said.

More than 500 recommendations were made to the TCU Board of Trustees on what the new Student Center should look like. The current artist conception of the new Student Center that was recommended by a task force has yet to be finalized by the Board of Trustees, said Chancellor Michael Ferrari.

“With all of the research of student centers around the country, we have seen that the qualities of a student center help to attract new students and retain old students,” Ferrari said.

The Student Center will be increased from its current 113,000 square-feet to 165,000 square-feet, and it will have an asymmetrical shape, Markley said.

“The estimated cost of the project will be between $35 and $40 million because we will have to gut out the whole building and start all over again,” he said.

Funding for the new Student Center will come from a combination of private grants, donations and student fees. The building will be financed over a period of 20 to 30 years, Ferrari said.

“To raise the money needed for the new Student Center we will try to sell everything on the building from the name on the outside to the name on the conference rooms,” Markley said.

The money will be used to build a larger ballroom, add student organization storage areas and add an auditorium. The ballroom will be divisible into six rooms that will hold 500 people in a dining atmosphere and 800 people in lecture style format. The auditorium will be built to hold 350 people, he said.

“Student organization storage, Frog Prints and Frogbytes will be moved to the newly renovated basement,” Markley said.

Although there will be many new added incentives to the new Student Center, some items that are currently available will be taken away. The computer labs and parking lots will be decreased by a substantial size.

arking problems have not been solved as of yet, he said.

“We figure by the time that we finish the building we will not need the computer lab anymore because everybody will be carrying their computer with them,” Markley said.

Changes have recently been made to the Student Center to accommodate current students. Suites built on the first floor and remodeling the ballroom cost around $800,000 Markley said.

“We needed to attract people to the Student Center until we could raise enough money to remodel the whole building,” Markley said.

The university is looking forward to the improved Student Center, but some students think the renovations could have waited.

“I think that improving academics would have a greater effect on future TCU students than spending the money on building a new Student Center,” said Tonya Antle, junior computer science major.

Markley wants the new Student Center to make a good impression on the student body and prospective students.

“The intent on the building is to make it a situation where you will say ‘wow’ and you are going to want to come in,” he said.

Hemi Ahluwalia
hemia@hotmail.com.

Parking affects area neighborhoods
Limited space causes overflow into area streets

By Wendy Meyer
staff reporter

As cars overflow into neighborhoods surrounding campus because of limited parking spaces, community members are complaining about students’ cars lining their streets.

Juliette Stewart, who has lived at 2840 Princeton St. for almost 40 years, said the lack of parking has always caused a problem. More students began parking in front of her house and caused her family to put a “Do Not Block Drive” sign in front of the house last year, she said.

Sarah Kirschberg/CO-PHOTO EDITORtudentsÕ vehicles line the streets surrounding TCU because of limited on-campus parking, and many community members are becoming frustrated.

Students have actually parked right in front of her driveway making it impossible for her or her family to leave, she said.

“We have had some pretty serious problems with sick children and doctor’s appointments and not being able to get out of the drive,” Stewart said.

Parking in the neighborhood is an increasing problem for two reasons, said Fred Oberkircher, chairman for the Traffic, Regulations and Appeals Committee.

The first is classes are no longer building-specific, he said.

“Historically, English classes were taught in Reed Hall and religion classes were taught in Beasley Hall,” Oberkircher said. Now, classes are being taught outside of their traditional buildings and more classes are on the east side of campus, he said.

The high concentration of classes on the east side of campus makes parking difficult and causes more students to park on the street near the building where their classes are, rather than in a lot, he said.

“Students would be safer in the parking lots and the neighbors would be happier,” Oberkircher said. “The neighbors do not like to lose access to their house.”

Oberkircher said new parking lots are available where the Ale House used to stand and by the former Shannon Funeral Chapel, but students often park on the streets surrounding TCU buildings.

Stewart has had to call Campus Police twice in emergency situations to remove cars parked in front of her driveway, but the problem has been somewhat alleviated by the “Do Not Block Drive” sign, she said.

“No one has parked in front of our driveway since we put up that sign,” she said.

The second reason Oberkircher gave for the increase in parking problems is that Paschal High School cars are overflowing onto streets that have traditionally been TCU parking areas.

West Bowie Street used to be a popular street to park, Oberkircher said, but now Paschal High School cars are filling it up.

Oberkircher said he has noticed that students are parking farther into the neighborhood and near St. Stephen Presbyterian Church on McPherson and Merida streets, four blocks away from campus.

Though Stewart said she does not see any solution for the parking problem, she suggested commuter vehicle parking lots and a possible parking garage.

“We have endured the problem because we love this school and we love the students,” she said.

Patricia Murphy of 2829 W. Cantey St. said the parking problem doesn’t have much impact on her because it is illegal to park on the curb in front of her house.

“I feel bad for the students because there just isn’t enough parking spots,” she said.

Murphy also said she notices the problem when she has business to conduct at the university.
“It is certainly clear that parking is a problem,” she said.

The Traffic, Regulations and Appeals committee made more changes to parking regulations this past summer than they have made over the past 10 years, Oberkircher said.

They reorganized student parking, increased faculty parking and increased parking fines.

“Fines have gone up to help students and faculty understand the rules,” he said.

The university has taken a hard-line stance about illegal parking and will write a citation for anyone parked in a fire lane, he said. Also, the fine for parking in a reserved faculty spot has increased from $25 to $75.

Coming out for support
National Coming Out Day supported by students

By Melissa DeLoach
staff Reporter

In past years students banged on windows of the Student Center, yelled lewd comments or gave rude looks as they walked by, but participants of this year’s National Coming Out Day met with far less opposition Wednesday.

National Coming Out Day events began noon at Robert Carr Chapel. A panel discussion followed in the Student Center Lounge and concluded with an evening worship service in the chapel.

Jakobus Wolf, president of eQ Alliance, said students were receptive of the event held in the lounge.

“When we first started, people were outrageous,” said Wolf, a senior art history and chemistry major.

Katy Garcia/FEATURES EDITOR David Jenkins, social work associate professor, and Jakobus Wolf, a senior art history major and Triangle president, field questions from students at a Coming Out Day panel discussion Wednesday afternoon.

This year people were really interested and stayed around for a while to read information. Plus we handed out all our ribbons; the first in a long time.”

Last year, the Baptist Student Ministry invited a speaker who had renounced his homosexuality and become a Christian. An hour before the BSM meeting, students from the Leftist Student Union, TCU Triangle and TCU Student Allies protested.

Wednesday’s discussion panel comprised David Jenkins, associate professor of social work; Steve Sprinkle, director of field education for Brite Divinity School; Chris Stillwell, a Brite Divinity student; and TCU students Stephen Shaw-Naar, a senior piano performance major, and Julia Bogart, a senior English major.

Sprinkle, an eQ Alliance ally, said National Coming Out Day is important because it gives gay and lesbian students the opportunity to speak up for themselves.

“Because gay does not show on the outside, the closet damages people because it forces them to be silent and hide who they are,” Sprinkle said. “On National Coming Out Day we are able to heal some of the negative repercussions.”

Shaw-Naar said the well-attended forum showed a sign of progress for eQ Alliance. Almost every seat in the lounge was full, he said.

“It was a very productive hour because people were vocal and comfortable speaking up about their views,” Shaw-Naar said.

The event was sponsored by eQ Alliance, formerly TCU Triangle and TCU Student Allies. The two organizations merged at the start of the fall semester. eQ Alliance meets 4 p.m. Thursdays in the Student Center, Room 222.

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

Eating options, habits graded
The Main offers variety of healthy choices for willing students

By Elise Rambaud
staff reporter

Burton Schwartz, a physician at the health center, eats lunch in The Main every day and challenges student complaints about the lack of healthy meal options.

In a tour of Frogbytes, The Main, Eden’s Greens and Deco Deli, Schwartz and Stephanie Dickerson, a nutrition counselor for dining services, pointed out healthy and unhealthy choices available to students.

“Academic demands of professors and (physical demands of) coaches as well as pressure from parents and friends often leave college students with a sense of helplessness,” Schwartz said. “Students do have control over their health habits: what they choose to eat and drink, whether they smoke and how much sleep they get.”

Many students make poor nutrition choices because they are not thinking about the long-term effects, Schwartz said. They can’t see beyond the next exam, term paper or mixer, he said.

Some students have voiced concern about the lack of food variety after 8 p.m. in Frogbytes and Worth Hills, the only dining halls open at night.

“The food available in Frogbytes is nutritionally equivalent to the food in a truck stop,” said Marjorie Bruchez, a junior English major.

Hot dogs, nachos, pizza and fried foods are available because dining services must offer foods for every taste, Dickerson said. Because of their high fat, salt and calorie content, these foods are not meant to be dietary staples, but it is acceptable to eat them every once in a while, she said.

“Students didn’t form unhealthy eating habits at TCU,” Dickerson said. “We are not responsible to undo those habits.”

When choosing between a breakfast of doughnuts and coffee or a bagel and fruit juice or skim milk, Schwartz recommends the lighter breakfast.

“When you sleep, your brain works on the glucose in your body, so you wake up with a lower blood sugar,” he said. “Students do better on exams if they eat a good breakfast before class. ”

To wake up or stay alert, Schwartz recommends drinking tea instead of coffee. The caffeine in tea picks you up gradually and lets you down gently, whereas the coffee results in a quick caffeine rush and crash, he said.

Students who do not cook for themselves have little control over how their food is prepared, Schwartz said.

He recommends salad bars, custom made meals and sandwiches instead of pre-packaged or prepared entrees and side dishes because the amount of mayonnaise, oil, cheese and other added salts and fats can be specifically monitored by the student.

Americans have difficulty keeping to the suggested serving size, Dickerson said. When eating chips or other snacks from a big bag, it’s best to carefully read the back of the package to determine how much a serving really is, and measure out the suggested amount, she said.

“Many people overeat because they have the ‘clean-your-plate syndrome,’” Dickerson said.

Many students say the few healthy options offered in The Main are unappetizing.

Rebecca Still, a sophomore history major, said the choices at salad bar do not constitute a palatable option.
“The vegetables look like they have been sitting out for a few days,” he said.

Schwartz said he would like to see a vegetarian plate offered in The Main.

Alternative options such as egg substitutes and vegetarian burgers are available upon request and dining services welcomes and appreciates student comments and requests in writing, Dickerson said.

Dickerson offers free nutrition counseling 2:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays.

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

Contact Us!