By Tealy Dippel staff reporter The House of Student Representatives' Elections and Regulations Committee extended the application deadline for the office of student body secretary to noon Thursday after the only candidate running withdrew from the race Monday. Melanie Benning, a junior political science major, said she applied for the position but had to withdraw because of her hopes to study abroad in Fall 2000. "My initial reason to run was that I was so excited about the revamping of the Student Government Association constitution," she said. "I wanted to get involved and become a leader, but academics come first." Benning said she is considering graduate school and has hopes of receiving an internship during her semester abroad. If House secretary were a spring-semester commitment, she said, she would still be running for the position. "I would take it in a heartbeat," Benning said. "I love SGA." Brian Becker, a sophomore finance and accounting major, who is acting as chairman pro tem for the Elections and Regulations Committee, said the application extension complies with SGA procedure in the event that no one has applied for an office. If no one submits an application by Thursday, the newly elected officers will decide who to appoint as House secretary, he said. Becker will act as chairman for the next two weeks because Jason Cordova, who normally acts as chairman of the committee, stepped down from his position due to a conflict of interest. Cordova said he decided to temporarily relinquish his position because his roommate is a candidate in the presidential race. Campaigning for officer elections began at midnight Saturday when applications for officer positions were due to the SGA office. All 11 candidates running were given a $200 spending limit for campaign materials. Two candidates - vice president of Programming Council and House treasurer - are running unopposed. Five students are running for SGA president, compared to three candidates who ran last year. Four candidates are running for vice president of House. SGA President Ben Alexander said he thinks the large number of students running for president is an indication that individuals want to put their mark on the office. "I think students want to help define what the student government president should be in the coming year," he said. A forum, allowing students to question candidates, will be held at noon Wednesday in the Reed/Sadler Mall, and a debate will be held there at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. "I think it's going to be a very competitive race because of the large number of candidates running," Alexander said. "All of the people running have great ideas on how to improve student government over the coming year." Election primaries will begin at 12:01 a.m. and close at 11:59 p.m. Nov. 3. If no candidate receives a majority vote, a run-off election will be held Nov. 5.
Tealy Dippel
By Lori Eshelman staff reporter As children transformed into Pokémons, princesses and pirates for the annual Colby Halloween Tuesday night, the 27-year-old event underwent a few transformations of its own. "This year it's definitely more focused on the children," said Kara Steffen, Colby Hall director. The event is for children of TCU faculty and staff. Popcorn, cotton candy, hot chocolate and lemonade replaced the traditional cheese and crackers provided for parents in past years, and clowns and an inflatable jumping structure were added to help move the event outdoors, Steffen said. Armida Guzman, executive assistant for AddRan College of Arts and Sciences, said the changes improved the event. She has been attending Colby Halloween for almost 20 years with her daughter and most recently, her granddaughter. "It was so messy last year that I almost didn't want to come this year," she said. "But everything is new and improved. It's a great change."
"I think we started to see a trend where parents wanted to go through the hall together with their children rather than let them go alone," she said. "So we figured (the changes) would help make this more of a family event." Another change this year was the system of taking children through the hall. Children 8 to 12 years old entered through the southeast door and toured the scarier wings of the hall, while the light-hearted wings were toured by the younger children who entered through the southwest door. "Because the numbers got so large, we decided to come in the side doors to help move the kids through a little better," Steffen said. Darron Turner, director of minority affairs, said using the side doors definitely helped relieve the congestion. "It takes some of the crowd out of the front doors and the lobby area," he said. "Now parents can actually see the kids." Despite the significant changes to the event, the preparations remained in the hands of the residents. Melissa Nabors, a wing representative on the Colby Hall Council and Colby Halloween co-chairwoman, said the hall director and resident assistants decided which wings would be scary and which would be light-hearted, but the rest was up to the residents of each wing. "We spent about three weeks planning, and we made a lot of the decorations last weekend," she said. "We started putting (the decorations) up at 7 p.m. Monday, and some people didn't finish until 3 or 4 in the morning. So quiet hours didn't really exist last night." Erin Savage, a junior early childhood education major and Colby Hall resident assistant, said decorating the hall was a good way for residents to interact. "It really helps the girls get to know each other better," she said. "And they get to have a lot of fun together while doing something good for other people." In addition to decorating, each resident was asked to provide 400 pieces of candy. But Albertson's, Tom Thumb and Target also donated candy to accommodate the large number of children expected to attend, Steffen said. The growing popularity of the event has brought more donations along with more participants, Steffen said. This year 663 students and parents attended, an increase from 451 participants last year, she said. Steffen said Recreational Sports and Student Development Services provided the inflatable jumping structure and the clowns, and about 75 students from various campus organizations also volunteered at the event. Amy Warriner, a freshman graphic design major and Colby Halloween co-chairwoman, said Colby Halloween not only attracted children but potential residents as well. "I signed up to live in Colby because of Colby Halloween," she said. Colby Halloween was started 27 years ago by then Colby Hall Director Katie dePlaya to help freshmen residents cope with homesickness, said Kay Higgins, director of new student orientation. "(DePlaya) thought it would give them an opportunity to kind of experience some of the things they did at home," she said. Higgins said the event has evolved to become more family-oriented through the years. But for many children like 9-year-old Angel Ramirez, the best part of Colby Halloween remained unchanged. "The candy!"
Lori Eshelman
By Tealy Dippel staff reporter Faculty and students have responded favorably for FrogFinder, a new program that will help students find more information about professors and the classes they teach. The next step is to try to implement the plan in time for Fall 2000 advanced registration. FrogFinder was first approved by the Faculty Senate in Spring 1999 after the Academic Affairs Committee of the House of Student Representatives presented the proposal. But Dave Edmondson, assistant vice provost for information services, said he would like it to be tested by both students and Faculty Senate members before it is used by faculty members. "These types of programs will make us a leader in terms of technology," he said. Roger Pfaffenberger, chairman of the Faculty Senate and a professor of finance and decision sciences, said a similar plan was implemented for one semester in Spring 1989 when professors had the option of including a condensed syllabus in the class catalog. But the hard-print version of the plan was too expensive and too time-consuming, Pfaffenberger said. Now TCU has the technology to implement the plan on the World Wide Web, Pfaffenberger said. "It's a great idea," he said. "Not only will it help share information on courses before they begin, which will save professors time with the menu format, but I also can't see it taking faculty a long time to enter their information." Pfaffenberger said he thinks FrogFinder may help reduce the number of students adding and dropping classes because students will now know more about classes and their requirements. It could also allow juniors and seniors to register earlier. Edmondson said when students click on the FrogFinder icon, they will access specific catalog information. Faculty members could enter the system by entering their identification and pin numbers. Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari said FrogFinder is functional and innovative and hopes all faculty members will support it. Sherrie Reynolds, an associate professor of education, said she worked with the Academic Affairs Committee last semester to help them with the plan. Reynolds said she likes the idea because the first day of the semester is typically the first time students get information on classes. "The more information, the better," Reynolds said. "Having information available with schedules combined with an easy-to-use format is a good idea." Danna Peede, a junior criminal justice major, said she would use the plan because it would help with classes she doesn't know much about. "It would save us from the hassle during add and drop times because students could see a syllabus they don't like and drop it," Peede said. Edmondson said he is not sure who will carry out the project development, but he said an information services staff member will be assigned to the project. Ferrari said if the plan is consistently formatted, he said it will be easy to update and revise. "I want the plan to have a long life," he said. "I want it to become routine." Randy Naugle, a senior marketing and political science major, said FrogFinder would help students because it would give them a better idea about professors. "It will be used if it is marketed the right way, but students need to know about it," he said. Edmondson said FrogFinder is a vision of the future that is within reach. "We are making things happen and that's rewarding," Edmondson said.
Tealy Dippel
By Kris Gutierrez staff reporter On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke to a crowd of supporters at a breakfast at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth. As he joked with the crowd, laughter and joy spread throughout the ballroom. But hours later, sadness and grief spread across the nation as Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Those few hours in Fort Worth, captured on 8mm film, were discovered in the Mary Couts Burnett Library among material donated to the university. In 1990, former Speaker of the House and current TCU professor Jim Wright donated the collection of material he compiled during his 34 years in Congress. The 8mm film was found among the material, and it has left TCU archivist Glenda Stevens wondering who owns the film. Most work comes to the library with an identified creator, Stevens said. Books have authors and letters have signatures, but this film is different because no one knows who shot the footage, she said.
Wright could not be reached for comment. Norma Ritchson, Wright's assistant, said Wright felt the issue was over-hyped. "We have a lot of stuff here on Kennedy," Ritchson said. "We have an entire film of the speech that day, but (the film in dispute) was filmed with a home movie camera." Stevens said the film, which is in color and runs about three minutes in length, was first noticed when inventory was done a year or two after the material was donated. "It needed preservation, so it wasn't until two or three years ago that we took it to someone who could reproduce it for us," Stevens said. "We did it in case people wanted to use it, but there is a copyright problem." Stevens was reluctant to say who, but someone wants to make a documentary film out of home movies about Jackie Kennedy and events surrounding the Kennedy assassination. "I thought this was something they could make use of if I had felt free to let them use it," Stevens said. "So that's what prompted us to go ahead and clear up the matter of who had done the filming." TCU gained ownership of the actual piece of property, but not the copyright of the footage, when it was donated from Wright. "We're free to use it for any educational use," Stevens said. "But if anyone wants to use it commercially, then you have to get permission from the copyright holder." The photographer's copyright will expire in 70 years, but Stevens doubts people will have to wait until the year 2033 to use the footage. "If one makes a good faith effort to locate the creator of a piece of material like this, and you can't, then I think it is permissible to go ahead and let others use it," Stevens said. "But I'd really want to consult with a legal authority first." Stevens said after Wright became aware of the fact that she was trying to find out who shot the film, he tried to recall how he obtained it. He made a couple of calls to identify the filmmaker but hasn't found anyone yet. Stevens said the attention the film has received prompted one man to call Tuesday morning because he thought TCU's copy may be the same print someone had given him. Stevens declined to comment on who the man was because the film had not been verified, but she did say the Fort Worth man has no ties to TCU. She hopes to meet with him to compare footage within the next few days. If and when filmmakers use this footage, TCU would not reap any financial benefits, Stevens said. TCU would not charge for commercial use of the tape because it is part of its research department, she said.
Kris Gutierrez
By Jessica Schambach staff reporter Although total alumni giving decreased almost $4 million last year compared to the previous academic year, alumni donations to the Annual Fund have steadily increased over the past six years. Roby Key, associate vice chancellor for constituent programs, said the total alumni giving - including gifts for the Annual Fund, endowed scholarships, new buildings and other campus improvement projects - fluctuates depending on what projects are in store for that year. "When you're talking about total alumni giving, you're talking about our alumni responding to projects we're asking them to help us with," he said. "Million-dollar gifts obviously fluctuate from year to year depending on what we're building. So the total giving for alumni jumps around considerably." Key said alumni are asked to increase donations if there are major projects in the works, such as the Tucker Technology Center and the recently opened Robert and Maria Lowdon Track and Field Complex. He said alumni giving to the Annual Fund - which supports budget expenditures - has almost doubled over the past 10 years. "We ask our alumni to give every year and to renew their gifts to help us underwrite the budgets," he said. "If alumni giving were to stop, we would have to get the money from the students. So it's my job to try to help raise all the money I can from our alumni because the more money I raise, the easier it is for the university to try to keep tuition costs down." According to U.S. News and World Report's annual college rankings, 25 percent of TCU alumni donated in the past three years. Twenty-three percent of alumni at Southern Methodist University donated, and 14 percent of alumni at Baylor University donated. Key said in fiscal year 1999, alumni participation was 28 percent. Its total annual giving was $5.09 million. Isabel Comas Wood, SMU's Annual Fund Direct Mail officer, said its alumni's total annual giving for fiscal year 1999 was about $5.7 million Jonathan Lindsey, director of information and donor services at Baylor, said its alumni's total giving for January through September 1999 was $14.5 million. "The major gifts are given by a very small percentage of our alumni, the very wealthy," Key said. "The other money that you see is given by a very large percentage to help support our annual fund. Many of them are giving all that they can." Key said the two main reasons alumni stop giving donations are that they feel their gifts are not making a difference and are not appreciated. He also said in the early '90s, a reunion giving program was started to emphasize the fact that TCU needs the support of alumni. "Each class has a committee, and they ask their class to help the university by raising money," he said. "That class works together to help raise money for the Annual Fund every year. That has made a huge difference in our alumni giving program." In addition, Key said a direct mailing is sent out, students make telephone calls nightly, and staff members meet with alumni in order to enhance gift giving. "It doesn't take a lot of convincing," he said. "Those who had great experiences here and love the university understand basically that alumni helped them through making gifts while they were here. As they understand that, the more generous they become."
Jessica Schambach |
Steffen said the changes were intended to accommodate the
increasing number of parents who wanted to participate in the activities
with their children.
"In the case of a piece of film like
this, it could have been from someone who was in the district and at the
breakfast," Stevens said. "Since Jim Wright was in the film,
and it's significant, they could have just passed it along to him."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |