By Joaquin Herrera Managing editor With the numbers of minority students at a low in relation to the state average, some TCU minority students are questioning the ability of the university to diversify. "They say it's all about you, but it's not," said Brenda Gomez, president of the Organization of Latin American Students. "Once you get here, there's very little as far as what minority students can get involved in. There is Spanish and Latin American studies, but I don't see any African-American studies program or Native American studies program. They don't offer programs that give minority students a chance to embrace what they are." Gomez, a junior fashion promotion and Spanish major, said the university has brought up the issue of diversity and is attempting to ask the same questions that minority students are asking. She does not expect, however, to see significant change until long after she has graduated.
Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and community, said he sees change coming a lot sooner. "I think the Commission for the Future of TCU will really bring clarity to what we need to do and will also bring support to what we need to do," he said. "I really strongly feel that within three years we'll see a major difference. And it's all energized by (Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari). He has made the difference." The Commission on the Future of TCU consists of 17 task forces which will define the university's goals and help to move TCU to the next level of academic distinction. The 400-member board is composed of TCU students, faculty, alumni and others who have an interest in the future of the university. TCU alumnus and CBS TV anchor Bob Schieffer is serving as chairman. Although the commission will begin examining ideas for the future, the Diversity Council, which was one of the first committees established by Ferrari, has begun to address current diversity issues. Thomas, who is chairman of the 16-member Diversity Council, said its focus lays not only on diversity but also inclusiveness. "We want to try to create an opportunity for everyone to have a voice on campus, for everyone to feel as though they have identity, and they have presence," he said. The numbers of minority students at TCU are disproportionate to the numbers of minorities currently living in the state of Texas. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, 55 percent of Texans are white, 30 percent are Hispanic and 12 percent black. The TCU student body is made up of 78 percent white students, 5.2 percent Hispanic students and 4.2 percent black students. Jim Atwood, assistant to the dean of admissions, said the goal of the admissions office is not to get to the high numbers that Texas exhibits in minority representation but to get to a level where it's equal to the national rate. Various reasons contribute to why TCU does not attract a more ethnic diverse population, some minority students said. Identity Issues Darron Turner, director of minority affairs, said minority students who come to this campus have to deal with a big adjustment when they first get here. "When you look around TCU and see all the expensive cars, if you didn't come from that environment, it's a whole new ballgame for you," he said. "You have to work these things out in your head."Gomez said minority students go through a constant internal struggle in their years at the university. "When you walk into class, you think OK I am one of the only brown faces in this class," she said. "I think a lot of minority students who come to this campus deal with the issue of trying to assimilate. I think that gets tired and old very quick, and I think students get fed up with that. They can't be who they want to be because they're trying to be someone that they're not." Many times minority students don't deal with the fact that they are a minority until they come to college, Gomez said. "I didn't want to be known as the Hispanic girl," she said. "I wanted to be known as Brenda. It wasn't until I came here that it was pointed out to me what I was. It was really shocking and hard to accept." Financial Aid Thenara Bailey, a senior social work major, also came to TCU and faced identity issues. But she said she believes the biggest deterrent to a minority student going to college is money. "When you have a state school that offers a diverse atmosphere but costs much less, why would you come to TCU?" she said. "You can get a good education at UNT, which has a more diverse student population, but it's not so expensive." Financially, minority students, as well as many majority students, simply cannot afford to attend TCU, Thomas said. "One of the things we need to do is make it more affordable for students and see it not as buying students but as an investment," he said. "When we bring in students who receive a quality education, they will give back to the university later. And word of mouth of the best way to recruit other students at the same time." Sandra Tobias, associate director of financial aid, said a specific policy does not exist now to offer minority students scholarships. "We have a couple of scholarships provided by private donors in which the donor sets up the criteria, which include ethnicity," she said. "But the rest of the awards are based on merit or financial ability. Students are put on a level playing field. We don't look at ethnicity or gender for that matter." Looking ahead Both scholarships and recruitment will help attract a more diverse student population, Turner said, and the university is attempting to take active steps to increase the number of students it draws from high schools with a high minority-student enrollment. "In the last year, the university has looked at adopting two schools Trimble Tech and Diamond Hill-Jarvis," he said. "The TCU of old is not the TCU of today. The new TCU has a role in saying who comes here." Atwood said the admissions office is preparing to change the way students perceive the university and make students aware and interested in attending. "We need to be aware of what specific students need in order to feel welcome," he said. "We have to help people examine TCU and see it for what it is. We want to encourage people to see what we have to offer." But even with a bright future, good ideas and action occurring, Gomez said she still has doubts. She still questions the ability to change the university with a rich tradition, she said. She does not have the answers, either. "I don't know why minority students feel like they're not wanted here at all," she said. "I don't know what it is that keeps minority students away from TCU. It's a $10-million question."
Joaquin Herrera
By Joel Anderson staff reporter The counselor's office at Fort Worth's North Side High School isn't much different from any number of high school counselors' offices around the country. Posters from a variety of colleges and universities, all enticing college-bound high school students with the merits of their particular school, adorn the walls of the office. Shelves are lined with brochures, plastic bins are filled with applications and students buzz in and out of the office, some grabbing correspondence, others passing through without so much as a glance toward the college materials. But conspicuous in its absence is anything from TCU, which is just 15 minutes away from the predominately Hispanic (approximately 95 percent) high school. "I don't remember anyone from TCU coming over here," said North Side High counselor Bevelia Curley, whose search for correspondence materials from TCU procured only an empty manila folder labeled "TCU." "We really haven't had much contact with TCU. I've been informed that they are trying to diversify their student body. Well I don't know what TCU wants, but they're not looking over here." Elena Hicks, TCU's assistant dean of admissions, said most colleges and universities do the bulk of recruiting, but it helps if some of the contact is initiated by the high school. "Colleges are the ones looking to recruit students from the schools," Hicks said. "But the counselor has to be open for a school to visit and have contact." Hicks said give-and-take between TCU and high schools such as Fort Worth Wyatt, Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis and Arlington Sam Houston, led to the admissions office starting a program to intensely recruit students from those local high schools. "It's two-fold," she said. "We had an interest from those schools, and they had interest from us. We have a great interest in recruiting students from local schools." Hicks also mentioned North Side as one of the schools TCU was courting, but Curley said she knew of no correspondence between her office and TCU's admissions office. "No, we haven't had any contact with them," said Curley, a former counselor at nearby Paschal High School. "If they were going to have any contact with (North Side), it would be through this office." Misty Tippen, a TCU admissions counselor, noted that TCU had attended a college fair hosted by North Side in October. "That's amazing," Tippen said. "We were over there in October. (TCU admissions counselor) Marcus Veloz took about six students to North Side for their college fair." Hicks said part of the problem is that some high schools are changing the roles of high school counselors and transferring some of their duties to other staff members within the school. "In some instances, the counselors at high schools have very little do with the college recruitment process," Hicks said. "At some schools there are academic advisers taking on the role counselors traditionally used to have. It's different at every school. We always used to go to the counselor, but that's not always the case any more." Darron Turner, TCU's director of minority affairs, gave a similar explanation. "Some of these schools I've never even heard from," Turner said. "And then again, there may be some things going on in their school that the counselors have no idea about." While Turner acknowledges that TCU hasn't been able to recruit at all Fort Worth high schools, he said the effort is being put forth to eventually establish contact with most of the local schools. "These people need to give us an ample amount of time to reach their school," Turner said. "We have to do a lot of traveling, and we already have a lot of things on our schedule. Several times a week I have a school call me to come out to their school, but I have to turn them down because I already have another school on my schedule. "I think with Chancellor (Michael) Ferrari's urging, TCU is now showing a commitment to doing new things and recruiting a more diverse kind of student." Hicks agreed. "I guess there's always been a commitment to diversity, but with the introduction of a new chancellor, he's lit a fire under us to bring in a more diverse student body," Hicks said. "He has identified a way to make this happen. You have to be well-connected to know exactly who to work with, and the addition of (Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Diversity and Community) Cornell Thomas has been very important. He's putting us in touch with different people we may have not had contact with before." Tippen said TCU has done a lot of recruiting for minority students thus far, but that much more needs to be done. "This is the right time to make TCU a more diverse school," Tippen said. "It's kind of a split, as far as responsibility for getting brochures to schools. If there are some schools that don't have any correspondence, perhaps their students came by and took it all. Or maybe we haven't sent anything to replace what was taken." A counselor at Eastern Hills High School, who declined to give her name, said TCU has had little to no contact with the students at her school. She also estimated that every year, about 10 Eastern Hills students (out of a typical graduating class of 200) choose to attend TCU. "I'm really mad at TCU," she said. "I've asked and asked them to come over here or send something, but they haven't responded. I really don't know what their problem is." Eastern Hills' student body is more than 70 percent African-American. Turner said TCU is also focusing its recruiting efforts on Diamond Hill-Jarvis and Trimble Tech High School, which are both located in low-income, largely minority areas of Fort Worth. "This is definitely an on-going process," Turner said. "Things could always be better, but we have to be helped in that process." Tippen confirmed TCU has a specific plan in place, but wasn't at liberty to give information about the arrangement. Diamond Hill-Jarvis' head counselor Mary Flores said she has heard of a preliminary plan for TCU to set aside some scholarships for some Diamond Hill-Jarvis' students. But in the past, Flores said most of her students haven't even considered TCU as an option. Diamond Hill-Jarvis, which has about a 95 percent Hispanic student body, sends no more than one student a year to TCU, she said. In fact, Flores said Diamond Hill-Jarvis sends less than five percent of its graduating class to four-year institutions. "This year we're hoping to send a couple of students to TCU, but we usually only have a handful of students go on to a four-year institution," Flores said. "We're working to get the numbers up, but it's going to be a slow process." Flores said her students, who are often first-generation high school students, are intimidated by TCU's costs and often "the fear of the unknown." Tippen said a TCU representative attended all of the activities during Nov. 1 through Nov. 5, Fort Worth Independent School District Week for college recruiters, in which colleges and universities from around the state visit local high school college fairs. "We believe that the high schools of Fort Worth have a very good perception about TCU," Tippen said. "We want to show everyone in Fort Worth, including the high school students, that TCU is their home team." Hicks said the bonus of recruiting minority students shouldn't rest solely on the admissions office. "It will take a university effort to help bring in more minority students," Hicks said. "It takes a university setting that makes a student comfortable to make them want to come here. "Another big problem is when schools put minorities in one big lump. All students, including minorities, have different needs. No university should be lumping minorities into one big group." Meanwhile, a "lump" of minorities at North Side keeps passing through their counselor's office with little to no information available to them about TCU. "When I was at Paschal, we had really good contact with TCU," Curley said. "But we just haven't had any contact with them yet."
Joel Anderson
By Lori Eshelman staff reporter About 420 TCU and community leaders gathered Wednesday in the Student Center Ballroom to launch the Commission on the Future of TCU, a year-long planning effort to determine what TCU must do to improve its academic stature. Commission Chairman Bob Schieffer, a TCU alumnus and moderator of CBS News' "Face the Nation," asked students, staff, faculty, alumni, trustees and community members who attended the opening lunch to consider the possibilities for TCU. "There are going to be some great universities in the next decade," he said. "Why shouldn't one of them be TCU?" Schieffer said the Commission's 17 task forces should not focus on what TCU can be in today's world, but what it can be in 10 years. He said they must also look beyond the institution and consider who the students of TCU will be in 10 years.
To create that environment, a university must do more than construct new buildings. Its leaders must consider what goes on inside those buildings, he said. "The main work inside those buildings must still be the ultimate search for truth - a search for truth that is conducted in some way that we are able to accept the answers we find and use those answers to enlarge the store of knowledge in order to raise more questions that did not even occur to the people who came before us," he said. The core issues that Schieffer said must be considered include how to attract scholars and good teachers and how athletics and technology fit into the university's mission and the college experience. The secondary issue is how TCU can aggressively market itself when faced with tougher competition for the best students. Schieffer said the task forces will be faced with some difficult choices, but they must emphasize TCU's strengths. "If we can become the best in just a few areas, we can use that as a springboard to take the university to a higher level in all areas," he said. Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari said he was very pleased with the number of people who attended the kickoff and attributed a lot of the enthusiasm to Schieffer. "I can say with a lot of confidence that I doubt we would have attracted the community, corporate, health care and education leaders from throughout the city and state to say 'yes' without (Schieffer)," Ferrari said. The Commission presented a very different approach to planning, and Schieffer's involvement was critical in overcoming skepticism of the initiative, he said. "We wanted an alumni who has the national credibility, respect and recognition that would let everyone know this is a serious matter," he said. "There is nobody else who could do this quite the same way." The Commission's 17 task forces will issue a report in June, and the final commission meeting will take place in September. Ferrari said the Board of Trustees will then use those reports to develop a concrete plan for the university.
Lori Eshelman
By Kris Gutierrez staff reporter The spirit of giving is just around the corner, and Order of Omega members are inviting students and faculty to start the holiday season early. Anyone interested in helping a less fortunate child's Christmas wishes come true, can pick up a "wish card" in the Student Center, Worth Hills Cafeteria or Tandy Hall at designated tables from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 15 to Dec. 1. The wish cards are part of the Spirit of Christmas program sponsored by Bank One. TCU's Order of Omega, a group that serves to recognize outstanding leadership in fraternity and sorority systems and to promote fraternity and sorority life on campus, has helped collect gifts for the past 10 years. "This program is one of the best philanthropy responses from the campus as a whole," said John Horton, Order of Omega president. "Come Christmas morning, we can really make a child's day. To pass on that happiness and joy that this time of year brings, makes all the hard work worthwhile." The wish cards have information on the child's age, gender and his or her idea of a perfect Christmas gift. "This program encourages community service and promotes holiday spirit for the less fortunate," said Lisa Jenkins, vice president of programming for Order of Omega. "TCU donates around 900 presents each year." Bank One will collect all the donated gifts to distribute after they are placed under the Christmas tree at the Order of Omega Tree Lighting ceremony on Dec. 1. Jaime Noris Jr., a senior marketing major, has participated in this program for the past two years. Noris said many TCU students may not realize how fortunate they are to fully experience the approaching holiday season. "I like to give back to the community, even if it means giving away a few dollars," he said. "Putting my money toward helping under-privileged children experience the Christmas spirit is very rewarding to me."
Kris Gutierrez
By Alan Melson staff reporter The recent closings of two restaurants on South University Drive have left nearby businesses and area residents wondering what will happen to the properties. Owens Family Restaurant and Ninfa's Cantina, both located on the west side of South University Drive near University Park Village, each have closed in the last few weeks and have left empty buildings and disappointed customers in their wake. The first closing came late last month, when Owens shut its doors. The restaurant, part of the Bob Evans/Owens nationwide chain, closed after a decade in business. Stephen Kelly, former general manager of the restaurant, said this particular location consistently fell just short of its sales goals.
Kelly, now at Owens' North Richland Hills location, said the site was not an ideal location for the chain's typical clientele. "We depend a lot on travelers, and this location was a little too far off the highway for anyone to see us." Ninfa's Cantina shut its doors during the first week of November. The sign out in front still reads "closed for remodeling," but the restaurant is completely empty, and the property is now listed as available for potential buyers. Officials from Rio West, the company that operates the Dallas/Fort Worth area Ninfa's franchise, were not available for comment. Now that the restaurants have closed, the sites are available for redevelopment, which may either lead to another restaurant or a completely different retail project. Directly to the south of the former Ninfa's is a vacant lot, managed by the John T. Evans Company, a Dallas development firm. Dan Garrett, vice president of the firm, said officials at his company are planning to build a new mixed-use retail development. "We're building a 13,000-square-foot retail building on the site, which will have space for two retail businesses and a restaurant," Garrett said. "We expect to break ground within the next 45 days, and the project should be finished within six months." Garrett said the firm already has a lease reserved for a restaurant to go on the south end of the new building, though he was not able to reveal what restaurant it will be. However, he said he doubts another additional restaurant will replace the Ninfa's building next door. "Restaurateurs who have looked at the old Ninfa's said the building has a number of plumbing and other problems," he said. "They insinuated that the useful life of that building is probably past. I would bet that the site will probably be used for more retail rather than another restaurant." Over the years, management at both restaurants tried to maintain a good presence in the community. Tarrant County Better Business Bureau records show that Owens was a member in good standing. Ninfa's had maintained close ties to the TCU community since its opening in 1994 offering discounts to TCU students who presented their ID, and hosting the weekly radio program, "The Coach Fran Call-In Show," on the TCU Sports Network during the 1998 football season. Several TCU students and faculty members said they were somewhat disappointed that the restaurants had closed. "I never ate at Owens, but I'll miss Ninfa's," said Kat Galanty, a senior radio-TV-film major. "The food wasn't anything special, but the happy hour was pretty good, and they were in such a prime location." Ken Richardson, professor of mathematics, said he had eaten at both restaurants on numerous occasions. "I've often gone to Owens for breakfast, and other times for dinner, so I'm sorry to hear that it closed," Richardson said. "And Ninfa's was just a great place to hang out."
Alan Melson |
"A lot of the people who are governing now on how
TCU should be run and on what type of student should attend are people
who graduated when they knew this school as only being white," she
said. "Until we have students like myself or other minorities sitting
on the Board of Trustees making these important decisions over TCU is when
I'm going to start to see changes."
"My personal wish is that the students
of the future will come away from TCU with a better understanding of their
country, a better understanding of their culture and, most of all, a better
understanding of themselves," he said. "I would also hope that
the TCU graduate of the next millennium would not be someone who felt that
he or she had all the answers, but someone who had developed the intellectual
courage and curiosity to ask many questions. Our overall task, it seems
to me, is to create an environment that will produce that kind of student."
"It never really made quite enough money to turn a
profit," he said.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |