Donations not ‘special attention’
Business students should have opportunity to gain experience

It seems, even after five years, a stroll across the TCU campus always seems to reveal something new — the curve of the tiles on the top of Sadler Hall, the height and texture of the ivy that clings to the walls of the Moudy Building, the detail on the faces of the statues of Addison and Randolf Clark in front of the Mary Couts Burnett Library — with the exception of the Sid W. Richardson Building, that is. Going inside the science building without a piece of string tied to the outside or a bag of bread crumbs is an invitation for getting lost.

Call it self-absorption. Call it living in a shell. But as I walked out of the Skiff offices and past Moudy Building North this past week, I noticed something I had not during my countless trips past the Moudy Building: “The J.M. Moudy Exhibition Hall.” Knowing a 10-year-old lawn mower awaited me at home, I stopped and walked through the hall. The trip was an experience indeed, complete with intriguing artworks produced solely by TCU art students.

Moudy is home to at least one other such institution: the TCU Daily Skiff. KTCU FM, the campus radio station, also resides within the Moudy Building. Such institutions give students in the departments of journalism and radio-TV-film a chance to practice what they hear during class. They gain experience by producing a newspaper and a radio station, respectively.

Why should things be different in the M.J. Neeley School of Business?

They should not.

Professors in other TCU colleges point out, rather contentiously, that the business school already receives preferential treatment and funding. Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs William Koehler, has repeatedly said the business school will receive “special attention.”

A $5 million donation from TCU alumnus James Ryffel allowed the business school to open the Entrepreneurship Center. With its $1 million venture capital fund, the center allows business students to simulate business actions in the real world: trading stocks on the stock markets, investing venture capital on businesses and evaluating returns and how to efficiently handle money. The center, funded largely from Ryffel’s donation, affords business students the same opportunities as their counterparts in the art and communications fields.

“Special attention,” however, doesn’t include donations from alumni. Ryffel, who graduated from the TCU business school in 1981, has succeeded in the private sector. What should stop him from doing with his money what he wishes?

Ryffel said students must stay on the cutting edge of technology in order to compete in the world beyond TCU.

He’s right.

If journalism students can hone their skills in the TCU Daily Skiff newsroom and art students can display their works in an exhibition hall, both of which are funded by the university, why should business students not be given a similar opportunity?

Matt Stiver is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Fort Worth.
He can be reached at (m.r.stiver@student.tcu.edu).

Vice President Al Gore has waged a strong and determined campaign. But a narrow loss is still a loss — and for him, the moment to concede has come.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush prevailed in not one but four counts of the votes in Florida: the tally on election night; the automatic recount; the count including absentee and overseas ballots; and now the final, certified total.

Gore has promised to accept a credible count, yet he has repeatedly tried to change the definition of credible.

Things have gone from hectic to chaotic. It could be next week sometime — more than a month after Election Day — before Bush or Gore could get the go-ahead to start setting up the next administration.

In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 607 randomly selected adults nationwide, 53 percent of those questioned strongly believe that Gore should concede. Only 31 percent strongly believe he should continue to fight for Florida’s vote to be recounted. Forty-two percent of those interviewed were Gore supporters on Election Day.

Other nations are mocking the United States’ current state as well. The BBC reports that Latin America; India, the world’s largest democracy; and despotic dictators in Africa are taking the opportunity to criticize the chaotic events in America amused that the most powerful nation in the world is finding itself hamstrung by its own democratic procedures.

But even with a less-than-supportive public backing, will this be the end of Gore’s fight? No.

As long as Gore contests the votes, there will be no end to lawyering and no end to campaigning. But there should be an end to this election.

Then Gore can take his case to the country for the following four years, as did Richard Nixon and Adlai E. Stevenson after their initial defeats.