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Plans
underway for women’s softball team The Board of Trustees approved the addition of women’s softball, granted tenure and promotions for faculty members and approved additions to the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center at its third meeting of the year Friday, said William Adams, acting chairman of the TCU Board of Trustees Student Relations Committee.
“Softball is our attempt to get in compliance with Title IX,” Adams said. “(Being in compliance) is totally an impossibility as long as there is men’s football. What we have to do is continue to make progress.” Title IX is a federal law that requires equal opportunities for men and women to participate in sports. The ratio of male to female athletes should be proportional to the ratio of male to female undergraduate students, according to the NCAA’s Web site. Chancellor Michael Ferrari said that while softball has been established at TCU, it is still in its early planning stages. “The athletic department will prepare a report for the Fiscal Affairs and Development Committees of the Board outlining plans to raise the necessary funds to begin the softball program,” Ferrari said. “This includes plans for a timetable, staffing, facilities, location, grants-in-aid and a projected operating budget.” Ferrari said once the plans are reviewed by the two committees, the proposal will then go to the Board for final review and action at the Board of Trustee’s next meeting Nov. 8. He said the estimated costs for a new softball stadium are approximately $2.2 million plus costs for utility and infrastructure connections. “An outside consultant provided the cost estimates and a conceptual design for a new facility,” Ferrari said. “One foundation in the community has expressed interest in providing major funding support for a facility, but no gift has been received at this time.” In addition to the establishment of women’s softball, board members granted 14 faculty members tenure and 16 faculty members were approved for promotion in academic rank. William
Koehler, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said
17 faculty members were at the end of their probationary period
to receive tenure. He said this period can be anywhere from a few
years to six years. Koehler said he would not give an exact number
of those who applied for promotion because the procedures vary per
applicant. However, Koehler said the number of faculty members who received tenure and promotions this year is fairly typical. “In the last 10 years, there have been somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen faculty members that receive tenure each year,” Koehler said. “Between a dozen to 20 members receive promotions each year.” Those individuals who did not receive tenure are then given a terminal contract, Koehler said. “This basically means they have a year to find a job,” he said. In other business, the board approved a $650,000 improvement project to the tennis facilities, Adams said. Ferrari said the project will be funded by a grant from the Mary Potishman Lard Foundation and will begin this summer. “The facility will provide locker and dressing rooms for the men’s and women’s tennis teams as well as coaches offices and team gathering rooms,” he said. Construction
will be finished in the fall, Ferrari said. The athletic committee also announced that a $950,000 grant was provided by a donor for the purchase of a new scoreboard and Jumbo Tron for Amon G. Carter Stadium next fall, Ferrari said. He would not disclose the donor’s name. Aside from those decisions being made, Ferrari said he also presented the Board with TCU’s vision for 2010. “I presented to the Board my thoughts about the future of TCU that are consistent with the vision I outlined at the Fall Convocation,” Ferrari said. “In 2010, the university wants to aspire to provide a superior undergraduate education, strengthen our centers of excellence, offer greater service to the region, nation and world and create an even more dramatic campus landscape that reflects our commitment to excellence.” Kelly
Morris |
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