When students register for classes this spring, they will be able to sign up for a new language course.Next fall, TCU is offering the beginning Chinese language course in addition to the Chinese civilization and culture class that is currently offered.

Ziwo Lama, the instructor for the civilization and culture class, has been hired to teach the beginning language course as well. This is Lama's first semester teaching at TCU. He previously taught at Brookhaven College in Dallas and is working on his doctorate in linguistics at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Student Government Association members trying to create a safe-rides program, which would provide transportation for students under the influence of substances, could face funding and liability issues.Approximately 30 percent of undergraduates report having driven under the influence, said Angela Taylor, director of the Alcohol & Drug Education Center.

"The important thing is that we have a program that reduces potential harm and does not enable other high-risk behaviors," Taylor said.

The baseball team will try to bounce back after its third loss this season against a Big XII opponent with a three-game road series against conference foes, the Air Force Academy Falcons.Sophomore outfielder Matt McGuirk's fourth home run of the season was not enough for the Frogs (21-9, 5-1 in conference) as they lost 13-5 to the No. 19 Oklahoma Sooners (22-9, 3-3 in conference) in Norman, Okla. The Sooners pounced on Frogs pitching early scoring seven runs in the first inning,

To be entirely honest, I am not that much of a basketball fan.So, when the NCAA Championship game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida Gators took place Monday, I was far from being up in arms over the fuss.

Instead, I was happy to know that baseball season was officially underway.

It is understood that college ball has been going on for the past two months, but the atmosphere presented by the smell of dirt, a vendor hawking hotdogs and the unmistakable sound of ash meeting cowhide is something that brings a warm feeling to me amid the April showers.

The TCU tennis teams have run into a lot of problems with the National Collegiate Athletic Association recently, but coaches and players are wondering if it could be the association's fault.An international student, who spoke only under the condition that he would remain nameless, played tennis in his home country while enrolled in a university and accepted prize money for his sport as a student-athlete. In his country, it was legal to do so.

Following last week's board of trustees meeting, an increase of $9.4 million will be allotted for TCU employee compensation during the 2007-2008 fiscal year. The $9.4 million is part of the $315 million budget approval that was passed during the meeting. The money came from tuition and fees, $1.1 billion endowment and various auxiliary donations.Moreover, a portion of that money would go toward the addition of 16 new faculty members on campus. This addition of faculty will continue keeping the student-faculty ratio down so as to maintain having decent student-faculty relations.

On March 21, 405 students woke up ready to face the day only to find out they would also have to face a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America.The recording industry sent 400 prelitigation...

"He who has the money has the power!" screams Chris Pratt, a former high school hockey star handicapped in a tragic car accident. The film "The Lookout" plays out the story of his unlikely alliance with a crack team of determined bank robbers when his promising career on ice is suddenly cut short. The former athlete goes to work as a janitor in a local bank, but cleaning floors soon gives way to criminal enterprise when he is recruited to help clean out the very bank that employs him.

The Student Government Association didn't pass the budget for the first time in years last week.SGA is trying to reduce the amount of student money going to the Activities Funding Board.

The AFB provides funding for student organizations all over campus, and last year, AFB received about $76,000 in student money.

SGA is trying to steer about $16,500 of that $76,000 budget to Programming Council next year, though.

Critics of AFB's current budget say the organizations record-keeping practices are lax.

Think of a typical Will Ferrell movie, complete with a straight male-figure skating duo, and you have "Blades of Glory." I found the movie hilarious, but, when it was over, I did not leave wanting more. It is another one of those stupid humor, quotable films, complete with child prodigies, drunken skaters and death-defying tricks on the ice. Chazz Michael Michaels, played by Ferrell ("Anchorman"), and Jimmy MacElroy, played by Jon Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite"), are banned from figure skating after an all-out brawl at the awards presentation of the world championships.