In an open discussion Thursday, administrators told members of the TCU-area community that a gas lease with Four Sevens Resources Co. was far from finalized and would have to satisfy “stringent” requirements before drilling would be allowed to commence.The meeting, which filled a conference room in the Tucker Technology Center, was a chance for interested students, faculty, staff and TCU-area neighbors to express concerns and ask questions about the pending lease.

Brian Gutierrez, vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs, assured participants that a potential lease would consider a variety of conditions, including safety, noise and environmental effects.

“If the implications were that the safety could not be maintained for the campus or the community, Gutierrez said, “we won’t do this.”

The majority of apprehension came from TCU-area residents concerned with the consequences that natural gas exploration would have on their communities.

Kendall McCook, a nearby resident whose wife and son attended TCU, said he doesn’t think people are well informed on the implications of such an undertaking.

“This place is a special kind of refuge,” McCook said. “I’m not comfortable with the kind of invasion that is happening here to our peaceful community.”

Kathryne McDorman, an associate professor of history and resident of the University West neighborhood, shared McCook’s sentiment and was cheered on by others when she expressed her aversion to the project.

“I hate this whole thing,” McDorman said. “I think it is a regrettable development of modern culture that now we are so desperate for energy that we are digging under our own homes and our city and now our university.”

Both McCook and McDorman were concerned with increased traffic from trucks that would be needed to haul water to the drill site, a necessity in the hydraulic-fracturing process.

McCook also worried the trucks might damage surrounding streets, some of which are undergoing reconstruction.

A potential drill location hasn’t been determined, but Gutierrez said the most likely location for a drill site would be west of Main Campus, and that any proceeds from the potential drilling would be put into the university’s endowment.