In response to the recent drug arrests on campus, Student Government Association and Intercom have been working to develop the first TCU student creed.
Student Body President Brent Folan said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Kathy Cavins-Tull mentioned the idea of a student creed immediately following the drug arrests. Intercom, a group composed of the presidents of all the major student organizations on campus including SGA and Panhellenic Council, took the idea and “ran with it,” Folan said.
“We felt like we needed to do something as a student body to show that we don’t stand for what happened and that it doesn’t define us,” Folan said.
Student Body Vice President Josh Simpson said even though the idea of a creed originated because of the events that occurred earlier this month, it was also about giving students a way to express how they felt about TCU.
“Every student who goes here really loves the university, but I think we have a really hard time articulating why we love TCU so much,” Simpson said,
Folan said in the past few weeks Intercom members have been talking with their respective organizations to figure out what students want the creed to include. Emails have also been sent out asking students who are not a part of these organizations to send ideas and feedback as to what the creed should entail.
Simpson said SGA has been working hard to make sure the process of writing the creed is as inclusive as possible. He wants it to create a conversation for people to talk about what they value at TCU.
Many students have responded positively to the idea of a creed but say they have not heard much about the process.
Junior strategic communication major Amanda Rutherford said she had not heard of the creed but felt it was a great idea because of its potential to bring the student body together.
Folan said Intercom would begin meeting in the next weeks to discuss what feedback they have heard and begin writing the creed. There is no set date on when the creed would be finished, but members of Intercom said they hoped to present the first draft of the creed to the House of Student Representatives as soon as possible.
Simpson said the process might take the rest of the semester. He also said a main concern was making sure the creed represented the student population as a whole, no matter what organizations or affiliations students, alumni, faculty and anyone else linked to TCU have.
“I may have been Greek or I may have been in SGA or I could have been in the honors college, but regardless of those different experiences on campus, there is a core value system that unites the student body,” Simpson said.
