“China has never really understood the United States, and the United States has never really understood China. China is now rising to power in East Asia, and the United States is an existing power in the Pacific. They are going to have to learn to exist together.”

— Joseph Lake, a former U.S. ambassador to Albania and Mongolia

(see today's Issues section)

NCAA mends rules
Student-athletes to see financial incentives

By Matt Stiver
Skiff Staff

With college athletes defecting to the professional ranks in record numbers, the NCAA Management Council approved rule changes Tuesday night that will allow athletes in certain sports to benefit financially while enrolled in school.
Athletics Director Eric Hyman said the changes are reasonable.
“It’s a huge leap forward from these changes (to actually paying athletes),” Hyman said. “I don’t see that happening at all. They are all within the bounds and spirit of amateurism. Ultimately, a balance must be struck between the classroom and the athletic field. These rules don’t upset that balance.”

(full story)

Law school may need improvements
Simply changing name of institution won’t bring prestige, some say

By Melissa DeLoach
Senior Reporter

Tracey Sowards, a TCU alumna, said she applied to South Texas College of Law in Houston, because the trial advocacy programs are some of the best in the nation.
However, if TCU had a law school at the time, she said she would have applied there right away.
“There are so many reasons why I would have stayed,” she said. “I love Fort Worth. My friends and family are close by, and my experience as an undergraduate was amazing. It would have been great to expand on my relationships with professors and staff.”

(full story)
(see related story)

Law school talks resemble past cases

By Chris Gibson
Skiff Staff

In 1992, the financially strapped University of Bridgeport sold its law school to Quinnipiac College in a deal reportedly worth close to $6 million.
At the time, Bridgeport officials saw the selling of the law school as a possible way to climb out of a financial hole the school had been digging for years, according to a series of reports by The New York Times from fall 1991 to August 1992.

(full story)
(see related story)

Alumnus to speak on U.S., China standoff, relations
Lake says U.S. tends to simplify issues

By Julie Ann Matonis
Staff Reporter

Regardless of who is to blame for the recent collision of an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea, the United States and China seem to have agreed to avoid a confrontation with each other, said TCU alumnus Joseph Lake.
Lake, current director of international affairs for the city of Dallas, will be speaking at 2 p.m. in Beasley Hall, Room 5 about relations between the United States and China.

(full story)

Dean candidate visits campus

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

Bridging the departments within the College of Communication would be the primary goal of Dan O’Hair, a professor of speech communication from the University of Oklahoma who is on campus this week interviewing for the position of dean of the college.
But O’Hair said allocating available resources within the college might come down to which department could argue the best case and demonstrate the most need for resources, which could divide the departments.

(full story)

KTCU hopes for upgrade
Budget problems have left station behind the times

By Jaime Walker
Senior News Editor

For the students in the radio-TV-film department who want work in a large radio market, like the Dallas-Fort Worth area, KTCU 88.7-FM is a great place to gain on-air experience, but the station needs a technological upgrade if it hopes to prepare students for the industry’s top jobs, said David Kindred, programming manager for KTCU.
With that motivation in mind, Kindred decided to make it his personal mission to help the radio station purchase a Live Assist Machine, which is an advanced computer system that stores the station’s musical selections electronically.

(full story)

Political games
People need not be used as pawns

The Chinese government agreed Tuesday to return the 24 U.S. crew members who have been held captive since their EP-3 spy plane was forced to make an emergency landing following its collision with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet 10 days ago.
And we all got lucky.
President Bush and his officials survived the stalemate without having to make an official apology for our military’s covert operations. The incident ended without need for further military action. No one died. No one on our side was seriously injured. No harm, no foul.

(full story)

Keep God out of popular music
Rock ’n’ roll has legacy of heresy, holds its own gateway to religion

By Jack Bullion
Skiff Staff

Throughout the music industry, I’m seeing musicians give mad props to the G-O-D. And indeed, he’s all over the pop music map. Faith Hill gets teary about Him on her “Behind the Music” special. Puff Daddy — sorry pal, that’s what you’ll always be to me — serenaded him (horrendously) on “My Best Friend.” Limp Bizkit, of all people, gave a shout-out to the “big fella” in the liner notes of their “Significant Other.”

(full story)

Both sides were to blame in plane crash
Americans acting too righteous with their stance on the U.S-China situation

By Chris Dobson
Skiff Staff

Imagine, if you will, a contact lens, sitting in solution on a desk between you and a friend. You are explaining, quite rationally, that it is in fact a convex lens, but meanwhile your friend rants and raves that it must be concave. Four more of your friends stop by the table and standing behind you, agree that in fact it is a convex lens. Now an objective observer might conclude that both views are correct from the point of view of that of the six people around the table.
America and China are facing a similar crisis right now.

(full story)

Letter to the editor
Volunteerism should be personal gift instead of a requirement

Over the past semester, the Skiff has published articles pushing for requiring volunteerism in college. Think about this: doesn’t “requiring” someone to “volunteer” contradict itself? Unfortunately, the self-contradictory idea of “required volunteerism” has spread to the Student House of Representatives. In an April 10 article, I learned that Academic Affairs chairman Brian Casebolt wants House to pass a resolution that would require faculty to do community service in order to earn tenure.
Let me translate this with my politically incorrect dictionary: Casebolt wants to force TCU faculty members to do unpaid labor to ensure that they can keep their paying jobs permanently.

(full story)

Loans won’t keep student-athletes at universities
A commentary

By Danny Horne
Skiff Staff

It all sounds so complicated.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the NCAA management council voted to allow certain “student-athletes to receive money for private lessons and to obtain a one-time $20,000 bank loan based on future earnings.”
Specifically, those changes would allow tennis players and golfers to accept money for private lessons. Athletes of Olympic caliber would also be compensated for quality performances at the Olympics. Only athletes who are deemed possible first-round picks in basketball and baseball and at least third round picks in football and hockey are eligible for the $20,000 loan.

(full story)

Record turnout at tryouts
Cheerleaders vie for spots on squad

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

Sixty-eight potential TCU cheerleaders stretched and tumbled trying to shake their nerves before the cheerleading clinic at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum Wednesday.
Changes in dates, rules and funding led to a record turnout for the tryouts, cheerleading coach Jeff Tucker said. Last year only 42 people were in attendance.
“We have about 60 (women) here (Wednesday) and eight guys,” Tucker said. “And we’ll still have people show up the day of the tryouts.”
Holding the tryouts over a three-day weekend allowed for a greater number of participants to travel to tryouts, Tucker said.

(full story)

Long leads more than cheers
Abilities, determination help cheerleader meet challenges

By Colleen Casey
Skiff Staff

A potato blocking Super Frog’s airway meant opportunity for cheerleader and graduate student Carl Long.
Head cheerleading coach Jeff Tucker said Long finds opportunity in every challenge he faces in life. During breakfast one morning on the trip to Annapolis, Md. for TCU’s football game against Navy in September, Long was able to save Super Frog’s life when he choked on a piece of potato.
“Everyone around (Super Frog) backed away and wasn’t able to do anything, but Carl was already giving him the Heimlich (maneuver) before I even looked to see what was going on,” Tucker said. “That’s the kind of person Carl is though. You’re always well in hand when he’s around.”
Long, 22, graduated from TCU in May 2000 with a degree in history and a minor in special education.

(full story)

Tech defeats Frogs
Team fails to utilize opportunities in loss

By Brandon Ortiz
Skiff Staff

Texas Tech used a three-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the TCU baseball team out of striking distance and in a, 9-4, victory Wednesday.
The Horned Frogs (22-16) have now lost seven of their last nine games. The Frogs will try to redeem themselves when they face Texas-Arlington at 2:35 p.m. at the TCU Diamond today.

(full story)

Track teams prepare for meet
Some plan to use time to recoup

By Sam Eaton
Skiff Staff

As the men’s and women’s track teams prepare for their fourth meet of the outdoor season, head coach Monte Stratton said the top sprinters and relay teams need some time off.
Six days ago at the Texas Relays in Austin, senior Kim Collins ran the fastest 100-meter dash in the world so far this year, and the 4x100-meter relay team ran the second-fastest NCAA time this season, trailing only the time they set a week earlier at the UTA Invitational.
But, several of the top athletes intend to get some rest as the core of the team competes at the Texas A&M Invitational Saturday in College Station.
Stratton said the team will look to take it easy at the invitational.
“We’re not going to push it or run our high-profile sprinters,” Stratton said. “Collins won’t be running, and it will be up to the other top sprinters if they want to run.”

(full story)

Issues

International Policy: Examing the United States and China

10 Days

By Carrie Woodall
Staff Reporter

The last 10 days have proven to be a lesson for the United States and China on how to manage a mature relationship while being world powers, said Joseph Lake, director of international affairs for Dallas.
No blame was accepted by either country for the collision of the U.S. EP-3 spy plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter jet, but the avoidance of major conflict has become a step toward maturity on both sides, he said.

(full story)

George W. needs to prove worth outside father’s shadow

By Jaime Walker
Senior News Editor

When a U.S. EP-3 spy plane collided with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet off the coast of China 10 days ago, the incident sent President George W. Bush and his advisers scrambling to find a way to get the 24 American crew members returned without frustrating an already tense relationship with the Chinese government.
It sent political historians and analysts searching for metaphors by which to compare father and son, past and present.

(full story)

Bush’s strategies in foreign conflicts still unclear despite situations in China, Russia

By Bethany McCormack
Staff Reporter

With his presidency just beginning, President George W. Bush has already been involved in conflicts with Russia and China, putting his foreign policy in the spotlight.
Manochehr Dorraj, associate professor of political science, said Bush did not have a specific foreign policy strategy during his campaign for the presidency and, thus far, Bush’s style has yet to be revealed.

(full story)

Returning of U.S. crew members does not mean an end to dispute, some say

By Jonathan Sampson
Staff Reporter

After 11 days, the 24 American crew members who were forced to make an emergency landing on the island of Hainan are about to return home. But even with the return of the crew, strained relations may continue, causing concerns about U.S. relations with China and the changing economy, said Ralph Carter, TCU professor of political science.
China wants the United States to end reconnaissance missions over international waters near China, but the United States does not plan to change its current policy, an article on (CNN.com) reported Wednesday.

(full story)

High School Shootings Close to TCU
Perkins

By Laura McFarland
Skiff Staff

The events that lead up to and follow a school shooting are only part of a play by Steve McGaw. “Landscape With Stick Figures” opens with Ethan Salisbury being tackled after going on a shooting rampage at his high school and killing five people. Ethan is 15 years old.
“This whole idea of school shootings has been on my mind, as it is on most people’s minds,” McGaw, author of the play, said.
Matt Perkins, a sophomore theater major, plays Ethan.

(full story)

The Tailor of Panama
A review

By James Hanna
Skiff Staff

When I walked into the movie theater to see “The Tailor of Panama,” I didn’t know what to expect. The reviews I had read called it a “thriller” and a “spy movie without the gadgets.”
What I got was an inventive story with dynamic characters, a plot with twists and plenty of suspense without an easily predictable outcome. To the majority of these, I credit John Le Carre, author of the 1996 novel of the same title and co-writer of the screenplay adaptation.

(full story)

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