New policy advantageous to young players

Under a new NCAA rule adopted last week, seventh- and eighth-grade male basketball players are now defined as prospective athletes. The old rule stated that any player entering the ninth grade could be considered as a prospective basketball athlete.

While this new rule might sound a little outrageous at first, closer examination will reveal that it was made with good intentions in mind.

After a protracted debate concerning a proposed on-campus drilling site that involved the city of Fort Worth, Chesapeake Energy, neighborhood and university officials, Chesapeake finally unveiled a plan that - for now - looks like it will satisfy all parties.

The "Meerkat to Seminary Plan" would allow Chesapeake to produce the minerals of some 5,000 acres, including those belonging to the university, a company spokeswoman said.

The number of students who are able to pay their school bills has not declined despite the economic recession and a national survey that shows otherwise, a university official said.

An e-mail survey conducted by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers reported that more than 65 percent of the 43 college registrars who responded said they had noticed an increase in unpaid bills this year, but financial officials have yet to see the trend at TCU.

Editor's note: This story was revised for accuracy at 3:20 p.m. Thursday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. unveiled a comprehensive master development plan that could potentially produce the minerals under campus and several neighborhoods without a well on campus, according to a news release issued Friday.

The master plan, called the "Meerkat Mounds to Seminary" plan, proposes a means for the university to lease the minerals under campus while averting the problems associated with the former drill site, according to the news release.

If the economy doesn't dramatically improve in the next two to three years, President Barack Obama could very well be a one-term president.

Just days after he assumes power, there is no doubt that the economy will be Obama's greatest domestic and political challenge.

It will greatly define not only his presidency, but his legacy.

Obama is inheriting a wide spectrum of weak economic figures including steep unemployment, a credit crisis, and a dismal housing market. All of which require his immediate attention.

National colleges and universities that offer music degrees are beefing up their degree plans to make students more marketable, but TCU is ahead of the curve and already has a marketable system in place, a School of Music official said.

According to an article on Insidehighered.com, many universities, including the University of Colorado, the University of Rochester and Babson College in Boston, have begun to add entrepreneurial courses to their music degree plans to help students find jobs.

As historic events unfolded at the inauguration in Washington, closer to home the Student Government Association held its own inauguration in the Chancellor's Dining Room.

SGA President Kelsie Johnson, Vice President Matt Dietrichson, Treasurer Marlon Figueroa and Programming Council chair Kennedy Stewart took the oath of office in front of Chancellor Victor Boschini, students, staff and their families.

More than 1 million people stood in the National Mall on Tuesday to witness President Barack Obama's inauguration. And across the country and in foreign nations, thousands of others were enthralled as Obama took the oath to become the first black president of the United States, a sight some thought they would never live to see.

It was a long, difficult road to this day, harking back to the Emancipation Proclamation in the 19th century and the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

This wasn't supposed to happen so quickly.

In March 2008, men's head basketball coach Jim Christian was hired to take over a team that appeared to be in shambles.

The team had compiled a 75-108 record during six disappointing seasons under former head coach Neil Dougherty and finished in last place in two of its three seasons in the Mountain West Conference.

Last year's squad went 14-16 overall with a 6-10 mark in the MWC, good for a seventh place finish in the conference.