Flat rate approved to equal cost of 18 hours

By Carrie Woodall
Staff Reporter

TCU officials will announce today that they approved flat-rate tuition for incoming, full-time students and determined a tuition increase for current, full-time students.
The university fee for new students will be $7,500 a semester, beginning in fall 2001. Current students will pay an increase of 7.7 percent jumping from $390 to $420 a credit hour. With the increased rate, incoming students will pay for approximately 18 hours regardless of the number enrolled.
Chancellor Ferrari said in January that the new tuition policy will move TCU in the direction of other high-caliber universities.

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Contract signed for exchange cooperation

By Melissa Christensen
Staff Reporter

Through a formal agreement of academic cooperation signed Wednesday by representatives from TCU and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú, students can now transfer tuition and course credits between the two universities.
Luis Jaime Castillo, director of international relations at PUCP, and Provost William Koehler signed the formal agreement two years after faculty exchanges were initiated. Approximately 60 faculty members have been exchanged in that time.

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Talk centers on present
Alum shows need for change

By Julie Ann Matonis
Staff Reporter

Before he began his speech about the changing political forces in Mexico Wednesday afternoon, Juan Hernandez, a TCU alumnus and advisor to Mexican president Vicente Fox, made the Horned Frog hand gesture and said he was a Frog.
Hernandez, head of Fox’s presidential office for Mexicans Abroad, received his master’s degree and Ph.D. in English from TCU.
More than 50 students, faculty and community members came to hear Hernandez speak. His parents and brother were also in the audience.
Jim Riddlesperger, chair of the political science department, said the university is a safe haven for the discussion of ideas, especially those as divisive as the politics of Mexico.

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Women’s issues addressed through poetry

By Julie Ann Matonis
Staff Reporter

In celebration of International Women’s Day, the Women’s Resource Center is hosting a luncheon and tea today.
International Women’s Day is commemorated at the United Nations, and in some countries, it is designated a national holiday. This is the second year TCU has hosted a luncheon to honor the day.
Both the luncheon, “Women Poets from Around the World,” and the tea, “Tea and Conversation” will feature guest speakers.
Lisa Munger, a senior political science major, said the luncheon is an opportunity to hear an accomplished poet speak and to learn about the Women’s Resource Center.

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Cheerleading tryouts to be held over Easter holiday
Some say having auditions over holiday allows freshmen time to travel

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

Potential cheerleaders for the 2001-02 school year will spend their Good Friday and the Saturday of Easter weekend with SuperFrog, instead of the Easter Bunny.
Tryouts for the mascot and the co-ed and all-girls cheerleading squads will be held over the university and national holiday weekend.
Jayme Magee, a junior cheerleader and marketing major, said sponsor Jeff Tucker told the squads the dates for the tryouts were one of the best options for incoming freshmen.

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Flat Ridiculous
Students short-changed by tuition

When the class of 2005 assembles on campus next fall, for its first semester at TCU, all of the students will pay $7,500 for classes, regardless how many hours they take.
But few of them will really understand the motivating factor behind the university’s new comprehensive-tuition policy — Chancellor Michael Ferrari.
When Ferrari became chancellor on July 1, 1998, he pledged to devote his energies to making TCU one of the best private universities in the nation. In his acceptance speech, Ferrari said he dreamt of improving the university’s academic reputation by developing more meaningful partnerships with the Fort Worth community and strengthening the schools and programs.

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Commercialism comes to MAD
Magazine takes a turn for the worst by giving up its classic style

By Jack Bullion

A couple of weeks ago, I experienced a mini-apocalypse in the magazine section at Barnes and Noble.
I was standing there, arms crossed, considering my choices, when all of a sudden a magazine emblazoned with three familiar letters caught my attention — MAD! Greedily and shamelessly I snapped up the issue. I hadn’t read MAD in years, but MAD readers never outgrow their obsession.
Just the fact that they read MAD renders them intellectually stunted for life. And I wasn’t really looking for a belly laugh either, knowing full well that MAD hadn’t been truly funny since the mid-1980s. I didn’t care. MAD’s like that crazy friend you try and leave behind, but are always checking up on, if only to make sure they haven’t ended up behind bars.

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Stop pointing fingers, take action against violence in schools

By Hemi Ahluwalia
Associate News Editor

Screaming students, loud popping sounds, people running, the smell of smoke.
It’s 9:25 a.m. at Santana High School in Santee, Calif.
A fellow student has just pulled out a gun in the restroom and has started shooting. He then emerged from the restroom to fire shots into the hallway.
Two dead, several are injured.
This is just the latest incident in school shootings that has rocked the nation. This also marks the 14th shooting in the past six years.

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Women advance to semis

By Rusty Simmons
Editor in Chief

Women’s head basketball coach Jeff Mittie predicted earlier in the season that the Frogs would have to win 23 games to make it into the NCAA Tournament.
The Frogs (22-7, 13-3 Western Athletic Conference) got within one victory of Mittie’s prophecy as they defeated the San Jose State Spartans (13-16, 4-12 WAC), 74-53, Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the WAC Tournament in Tulsa, Okla.
With the victory, TCU advances to the semifinal round, where it will play Rice at noon Friday at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. Rice advanced to the semifinal round by defeating Nevada in overtime Wednesday.

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Baseball squad’s winning streak snapped
Frogs score only four runs; Olmstead does not play

By Brandon Ortiz
Skiff Staff

The Horned Frog baseball team’s hot streak was put on hold Wednesday when the Southwest Texas Bobcats defeated TCU 9-4.
TCU (12-7) entered the game having won eight of its last nine games after upsetting Texas 7-2 Tuesday. Southwest Texas (15-5), which defeated then-No. 2 Rice 4-3 Feb. 27, extended its winning streak to five games.
With the win, the Bobcats swept the season series against the Frogs. Southwest Texas defeated TCU 16-4 Feb. 11.
Senior pitcher Chris Frazier, making only his second start of the season, gave up a lead-off home run in the first inning to second baseman Domonique Lewis. Shortstop Louie Carmona got to second base on an error by sophomore third baseman Mike Settle.

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Cheerleaders looking for a few able-bodied men

By Melissa DeLoach
Senior Reporter

The TCU co-ed cheerleading squad currently has 10 men on its roster. But next year might be a different story.
At the end of the this year, the squad might lose as many as six men to graduation or the a heightened demand of classes.
But cheerleading coach Jeff Tucker remains optimistic.
With tryouts less than a month away, he’s predicting there will be more than enough applicants to fill the female vacancies. But finding enough men to fill the male spots could be a challenge.

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Ex-athletes find new success in cheerleading

By Laura McFarland
Skiff Staff

Senior Josh Johnson, once a 225-pound center for the TCU football team, is now a 210-pound cheerleader.
And Johnson said he is having the time of his life.
“I liked football, but I like what I’m doing a lot now,” Johnson said. “The upside to cheerleading is that there is less time involvement, less commitment and you still get to be around the football atmosphere without all the constraints of being a football player. I enjoy the challenge of having a new sport.”
Johnson isn’t alone in his thinking. Senior Tim Rodgers and his twin brother, Matt Rodgers, played basketball in high school. But once in college, they both joined the cheerleading squad. Matt Rodgers joined his sophomore year and Tim Rodgers joined the squad the following year.

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Gypsy Tea Room
Review by Victor Drabicky

As far as clubs go, there are three basic divisions.
Division I: a hole-in-the-wall room that is usually in a building about to be condemned by the city, has bottom of the barrel sound equipment and the bare essentials required to even stay open.
Division II: These are actual music clubs that have put more time and money into making sure the club looks nice, while the music sounds good. These venues are the standard and are your typical spot for smaller rock concerts. A majority of live music establishments fall into this category.
Division III: There is the hard to obtain and extremely rare label of venue. The sound is top of the line, the club is in near perfect condition and everything from the staff to the bathrooms makes the experience pleasant.

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In the Metroplex
See What's Happening

Say It Isn’t So

Special to the Skiff

Preview by Yvette Herrera

The Farelly brothers bring us yet another shameless romantic comedy starring Chris Klein and Heather Graham.
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with (and has wild non-stop sex with) girl. Boy loses girl because they accidentally believe they are brother and sister.
“Say It Isn’t So” is about an animal shelter employee in Indiana who hires a private detective to find his birth mother. He is also on the prowl for that one special girl with whom he might share the rest of his life.
That’s where Graham comes in the picture as a beautiful, charming — yet klutzy — hairdresser named Jo. A passionate romance develops just as the detective identifies the boy’s mother — Jo’s mother.
Jo relocates to Oregon because of the mess she has fallen in to, and Klein’s character, Gilly, pursues his one true love. Along his journey, Gilly soon discovers Jo’s plan to marry a millionaire.
“Say It Isn’t So” will be in theaters March 16.