By Aimée Courtice senior reporter Once November rolls around, Billy Tubbs and the Horned Frog basketball team won't be the only ones playing in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Goo Goo Dolls and Tonic will perform in the coliseum Nov. 11 to kick off Homecoming Weekend. The concert, sponsored by Programming Council, is a stop on the nationwide MP3.com Music and Technology Tour, which has been hitting college campuses since early October. Tickets will be sold for $15 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday in the Student Center and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Oct. 22. When students purchase their tickets, they can chose floor or reserved seating. There is no difference in ticket price. Reserve ticket-holders will be able to chose where they want to sit when they purchase tickets. Students can purchase two tickets with each ID card. To buy more than two tickets at one time, students must have one ID card for each pair of tickets. After Oct. 22, tickets will not be sold on campus. They will be sold to the public for $20 at Dillard's. Meredith Killgore, director of programming for PC, said PC will also be block-ticketing. Organizations recognized on campus can buy tickets for their members. Only presidents and vice presidents will be authorized to buy tickets for organizations, Killgore said. From noon until 7 p.m. Nov. 11 the lawn surrounding Frog Fountain will be the site of the Village, a fair that will feature different MP3 technology vendors. Two local bands, which have yet to be announced, will also perform. The Village is free of charge. The concert is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. "It's a tour targeted toward colleges and a college audience," said Kevin Dunleavy, public relations chairman for PC. Killgore said she thinks the concert, since it is linked with a national tour and a popular Web site, will attract attention from on campus and from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. This show will be the first nationally known musical act sponsored by PC since it hosted the Indigo Girls in 1997 at Will Rogers Memorial Center. Less than half of the tickets were sold for that concert. Because PC underwrote the cost of the tickets by about $10 per ticket, the Student Government Association lost more than $20,000. Killgore said she thinks this concert will help TCU out of a "lull" it has faced with getting big-name acts on campus. "We've finally moved in the direction the student body has wanted us to move in for a long time," she said. "The last big concert we had was off campus, and it didn't go too well, so we're excited to be able to bring something back to campus." She also said she hopes this year's concert will make TCU a contender as a stop on the MP3.com Tour next year. Dunleavy also said PC has been planning this event since last semester. He said PC members looked into several different acts such as James Taylor, Lenny Kravitz and the Dave Matthews Band. "We're really excited about this whole concert in general," he said. "We definitely expect this to be a great show."
Aimée Courtice
By Stephen Suffron staff reporter Faculty and staff members across campus were left to click their mice in frustration as Information Services battled the effects of a possible security breach and a computer virus that hit the TCU system within a few hours of each other Monday morning. Many faculty and staff computers were still not operating normally on Tuesday. These latest problems put departments further behind in jobs such as processing intent-to-graduate forms and scheduling appointments. The problem was first detected by Information Services around 8 a.m. Monday. When administrators rebooted the main server for routine file cleaning, the computers on the network did not recognize it and instead recognized an outside computer as the main server, Technical Services manager William Senter said. Administrators immediately suspected it as a potential breach of security. "It was something that should not happen," Senter said. "If this was an intentional break-in, they could have definitely done some things." Information Services pinpointed the machine that had gotten through and called in a Microsoft security consultant and the TCU Police to investigate whether this was a hacking incident. TCU Police Chief Steve McGee said he was ready to take action. "When we found out someone might have hacked into the computer system, we were ready to put someone in jail," he said. "But we investigated it, and there was no hacking." Officials were looking for evidence of hacking software or other indications that there was an overt attempt to break into the system, but there was no such evidence, Senter said. "He was just as surprised as anyone that it was his computer," Senter said of the computer's operator. Even though there was no intentional break-in, Senter said this was a serious problem, and they are working with the Microsoft consultant to ensure it does not happen again. Every user was given a new password as a precaution. Password problems may be the source of Tuesday's continued difficulties, he said. But it was not the end of the computer problems Monday. In an apparently unrelated event, the "Melissa" virus was propagated through faculty e-mail accounts at about 10:30 a.m., Senter said. The Melissa virus usually takes the form of a word attachment marked, "Important Message From . . ." When opened, it sends copies of the message to the first 50 people on that person's address book list, Senter said. The system was overloaded with these messages and had to be shut down and scanned, leaving Josh Harmon of Technical Services on campus until after 4 a.m. Tuesday overseeing the scan, Senter said. The problem was corrected by Tuesday morning, but there still may be faculty who are experiencing difficulties, he said. In the library, catalogue services were slowed down and printer problems in the computer lab caused students to line up to have their print jobs executed by the lab assistant's computer, assistant university librarian James C. Lutz said. In Sadler Hall, administrative assistants tried to work around computer frustrations because they were unable to access such basic needs as appointment schedules. "It's an annoyance," said Pamela Hughes, assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills. "There's no doubt about that. But it's not going to keep me from working." Annette Searcy, assistant to the dean of fine arts and communication, said her password problems kept her from accessing PeopleSoft, leaving her a stack of intent-to-graduate files untouched for another day. Senter said any problems faculty and staff are still having with their computers should be called in to the Help Desk because they may be related to Monday's problems. "We think we've taken care of everything, but I hope anyone with persistent problems have called them in, so we can take a look at them individually," he said.
Stephen Suffron
By Steven Baker staff reporter Business students will be offered a new major this spring that only one other university in the nation boasts - electronic business. Jane Mackay, director of the electronic business program and an associate professor of management information systems, said business is changing as a part of a new era. "Nothing has impacted corporations, in terms of technology, as much as the World Wide Web since the introduction of the (personal computer)," she said. "There is a vast difference in the way we conduct business, and it will never be the same." Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey is the only other university in the U.S. that offers electronic business as a major. Mackay said the major was designed so students would be able to compete for jobs four years from now. "We are not looking at what the graduates need today," she said. "We are looking at what they need in the future." The sequence of electronic business will take three years for students to complete, usually beginning sophomore year. Systems analysts could earn up to $57,000 at large establishments, according to a 1997 Robert Half International Inc. poll. Mackay said these salaries are not current, but she is certain that electronic business graduates will make higher salaries. "The demand for people in information technology is phenomenal," she said. "Corporations can't hire people fast enough in electronic business or in information systems. The electronic business degree combines technology and business. You can't build a Web site without thinking about the business processes and applications." Bill Branch, a second-year MBA student, said he thinks it is good that TCU is leading the way instead of emulating other schools. "This new major will separate TCU and its business school from other programs in the state and nation," he said. David Jaramillo, also a second-year MBA student, said because of the new program, TCU will be able to compete with top business schools in the nation. "Electronic commerce has come to a head where it is blowing up everywhere," he said. Jaramillo said the majority of new jobs are going to be in the Web-based field. "All types of different functions at businesses - financial, operations, marketing and management - are going to be linked through the Web," he said. "Therefore you need to be savvy in whatever field you are doing. It will be a big advantage for any undergrad to study in that program." Mackay and Bernadette Szajna, an associate professor of management information systems, began creating the course last year. Mackay and Szajna will work with an advisory board for the electronic business major, which meets the third Tuesday of every month. It is composed of professionals from businesses such as Tandy Corporation and IBM Corp., who will help form the major by giving input for the curriculum or configuring computer systems. Mackay said this is the first degree program at the M.J. Neeley School of Business that will offer a required paid internship. "When you graduate students in electronic business, you are graduating them to go to work in an organization," she said. "We would like to be the No. 1 electronic business program in the country." Mackay said besides internships, students will have several opportunities of professional experience through the advisory board. "They use the Web every day in their work place," she said. "What better place for students to experience reality than to be able to visit these corporations, have speakers from the corporations and have internships? It is a terrific experience for TCU students."
Steven Baker
By Justin Roche staff reporter With the aid of four golf carts and seven on-foot escorts, the Froggie-Five-O program is escorting the most students in its four-year history. In the 1996-97 school year, Froggie-Five-O escorted almost 3,000 students. That number increased more than five times with 15,703 students in the 1998-99 school year. This semester, 4,500 students have used the service, which averages more than 120 escorts a night. The program is provided by TCU police as a way for students, mostly female, to get around on campus after dark. Froggie-Five-O runs seven days a week, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sgt. Connie Villela oversees Froggie-Five-0 and said the growth has been encouraging as it has been surprising.
Now that Froggie-Five-O has increased in quantity, Villela said she wants to see its quality improve, too, especially in the areas of courtesy and promptness. Evaluation sheets will be distributed in November to help officials determine other areas of the program that can be improved. But Villela said the most effective source of information is student feedback, something the program has received infrequently. "When you have a program, the students might see something or have an idea that we didn't," she said. "How can we fix something if no one tells us about it? If there are situations where there are problems, we need to know about it." Kristin Holt, a freshman premajor, said Froggie-Five-O is a comfort and a convenience to her. "As a freshman, I love having it," said Holt, a resident of Colby Hall. "I do get scared walking out to freshman parking by myself, but I feel a lot safer getting a ride out there." Holt said some people use the escort merely out of idle intentions. "I know I'd rather be in a golf cart than walking by myself," she said. "People are just lazy. They don't want to walk themselves." Villela said while some students think of Froggie-Five-O as a kind of taxi service, their perceptions, although incorrect, are inconsequential. "As long as they're safe, I really don't care," she said. "I just want to make sure the risk is lowered. We need to prevent crime, no matter how anyone sees it. We want to make sure people are safe, no matter what." Deterring crime, not providing rides for students, is the main intent of the program, Villela said. Escorting women to different buildings on campus reduces the chance that something might happen to them. Along with escorting, the students who work with the program also serve as extensions of campus security, Villela said. Armed with a police radio, these students are in direct contact with the dispatch officer at the TCU police station. "They are the eyes and ears out there for the police department," she said. "They are there to report any activity that might seem suspicious or illegal." Brian Gaston, a sophomore premajor and a Froggie-Five-O escort, said he enjoys helping students and bringing them some peace of mind, regardless of what they think of the program. "If it makes them feel better, then I think we're serving our purpose," he said.
Justin Roche |
"There was obviously an increase during the sexual
assaults last year, but we expected the numbers to go down after a while,"
she said. "It didn't drop off after every thing calmed down. Once
students found out about the program and used it, they found it to be helpful
and worthwhile."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |