SGA allots bigger budget to Homecoming
Money cut from Family Weekend; Fine Arts Committee axed
By Alisha Wassenaar
Staff Reporter

The Student Government Association increased the 2002 Homecoming Committee budget by $3,730 Tuesday as a part of its goal to encourage tradition on the TCU campus, said Abby Crawford, chairwoman of the Homecoming Committee.

SGA members passed a $255,000 budget for the 2002-2003 fiscal year Tuesday at the House of Representatives meeting. This was an increase of $3,000 from the previous year’s $252,000 budget.

The Programming Council was granted an increase from $13,270 to $17,000 for the Homecoming Committee. The money for the increase came from budget cuts to different committees such as Family Weekend, concerts and the depletion of the Fine Arts Committee according to the 2002-2003 budget.

Chelsea Hudson, SGA president, said she thinks the Homecoming budget increase is good because it is such an extraordinary event.

“Because the Fine Arts Committee has dissolved, it shouldn’t affect students in a negative way,” Hudson said. “The programs under the Fine Arts Committee have been distributed to other committees to enhance quality programming.”

Hudson said she has confidence in Crawford to create quality programming for Homecoming 2002 which will take place Sept. 28 through Oct. 5.

“We’ve been in preparation for this since March,” Crawford said. “Each year budgets go up because of inflation and this year we’re doing things with Homecoming we’ve never done before.”

Take everything you thought Homecoming was and throw it out the window, Crawford said. She said her number one goal for Homecoming 2002 is increased campus participation regardless of whether or not a student is a part of an organization.

To kick off the Homecoming festivities, Crawford said there will be an all-campus service project.

“We are pairing up with (TCU) LEAPS with the goal of getting more of the campus involved,” Crawford said.

One of Crawford’s goals is to increase publicity to let the student body know what is going on.

“In the past people told me they didn’t even know it was Homecoming,” Crawford said.

One example of increasing publicity, Crawford says, is the activities planned for Oct. 1 when students vote for the final Mr. and Miss TCU.

“This activity always got lost in the shuffle of homecoming week,” Crawford said. “But this year we are going to have a band in The Main and have computers right there to vote for Mr. and Miss TCU.”

The pre-game celebration Crawford and her committee have planned for Oct. 3 on Sadler Hall lawn is another way to increase publicity, she said.

“Commuter students never even see the other side of The Main and what’s going on at Frog Fountain,” Crawford said. “We are holding more activities on the Sadler lawn so they will see the celebration.”

“In the past, it was not an inclusive event,” Crawford said. “This year we are focusing on uniting the campus and alumni.”

Alisha Wassenaar
a.a.wassenaar@student.tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002