Thursday, November 8, 2001

TCU student leaders to address Board of Trustees committee today
By John-Mark Day
Staff Reporter

Intercom Chair Brian Wood said he hopes the Board of Trustees will consider the needs of upperclassmen at TCU, and not just what freshmen experience.

Wood will be speaking to the Student Relations committee of the board today along with other members of Intercom, an organization of 14 student leaders on campus.

The board meets today and Friday in its first official meeting of the school year.

Chancellor Michael Ferrari said the re-accreditation process, new core curriculum and freshmen application rates will also be discussed with the board. Issues reported on during this meeting will be discussed at the January budget meeting and resolutions will be passed at the April meeting, he said.

Ferrari said the meeting with Intercom will be important to the board.

“That’s always been an important agenda-setting meeting,” Ferrari said.

Intercom member Amy Render said the meeting with Intercom will allow the board to see student perspective.

“(The board) really doesn’t have a lot of interaction with students, so this is an important opportunity,” Render said.

Wood said programs such as Frog Camp and the Chancellor’s Leadership Program are beneficial to freshmen, but the university doesn’t do enough for upperclassmen.

“As you get older, there’s less and less programming geared to upperclassmen,” Wood said.

Providing students with alumni mentors and improving career services are two ways Wood said he hopes the board will improve programming for upperclassmen.

Render said TCU puts a lot of emphasis on freshmen and sophomores, and sometimes forgets about juniors and seniors.

During the oral presentation to the board, Intercom will also discuss student counseling and student involvement in political and environmental issues, Wood said.

The board will also look at freshman application rates, Ferrari said. Applications are already up 33 percent from this time last year, he said.

“If we do nothing, we will grow by 200-300 new students next year,” he said.

Alan Shepard, director of the Southern Association of Colleges and School re-accreditation process, will make a presentation to the board about the study’s progress, Ferrari said.

John-Mark Day
j.m.day2@student.tcu.edu