Students need 24-hour library access, lower tuition, better student security and an easier way to access university Web sites, student leaders told the Board of Trustees Student Relations Committee and school administrators Wednesday.Intercom members, who are all campus organization leaders, meet with the student relations committee once per semester shortly before the entire board meets. The board will discuss the students’ proposals at its meeting Friday.
Thomas Pressly, student body vice president, said students have been asking for 24-hour library access for some time and keeping it open would be a great help to students.
“I’ve sat in the library at 12:45 when the first buzzer goes off and counted the people leaving, and it’s over 100 students just about every night,” Pressly said.
The library’s dean, June Koelker, has submitted a proposal to Provost Nowell Donovan, Pressly said. Pressly called for the board to ensure funding for the project and for a trial run to begin in the spring, before taking effect next fall.
Nick Giachino, a member of the committee from Chicago, said the proposal for the library was practical.
“I’d like to think we can come up with a solution for the library while maintaining cost control and making sure everything is secure,” Giachino said.
Student Foundation President Ryan Huey said even though TCU’s tuition fits right between schools such as Southern Methodist University and Baylor University, TCU students are actually paying more than those two schools when aid is factored in. This issue, he said, is one of the chief concerns students face.
“At the end of the day, when we turn to the student body and say, ‘What are students really going to talk about?’ they’re going to talk about tuition,” Huey said.
Addressing off-campus safety concerns, Panhellenic Council President Hanna Munsch said she has been working with a neighborhood Fort Worth police officer to provide better lighting around the area just south of Berry Street, where many off-campus crimes occur.
Also, Intercom members unanimously agreed at the presentation that students needed a better way to access everything they need on the Internet, including Web sites such as my.tcu.edu, eCollege and TCU e-mail. The members proposed that student Web sites be rolled into one site students can access easily in a format similar to Facebook.
Additionally, by having a Facebook-style format, graduates can easily find their fellow alumni on a university-sponsored Web site.
Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs, said Intercom members spend a tremendous amount of effort putting together their proposals and representing the TCU student body.
“The students on Intercom really reflect the entire campus through the organizations that they represent,” Mills said. “They really are getting a good cross-section of TCU.
