Sophomore Marlon Figueroa was named Student Government Association treasurer Friday afternoon, defeating junior Greg Hamre by 183 votes.

Figueroa won the runoff election with 992 votes to Hamre's 809 votes.

A runoff was instituted when neither candidate secured 50 percent of the initial vote.

Hamre received 1,403 votes in the initial election, almost 300 more than Figueroa. Sophomore candidate for treasurer Ryan Hoff had 281 votes.

"I'm very pleased with the results," Figueroa said. "I campaigned very hard."

TCU's new study on gender pay disparities offers both good news and bad news for female professors.

The good news is there may not be as big of a pay disparity as some may think. The bad news is what pay discrepancies exist are largely a result of more men who are in charge of their departments than women.

This would be discouraging any year, but after an election where two women got closer to the leading the country than most had before, it's especially discouraging to see that women still lag behind men in leading academic departments, especially at TCU.

Intercom, a group consisting of campus organization leaders, met with the Board of Trustees Student Relations Committee and school officials Thursday to propose several steps the university could take to reduce operating costs.

Members of the Student Relations Committee will discuss Intercom's proposals at today's Board of Trustees meeting.

Short- and long-term ideas for cutting costs include:

-Reducing electricity usage and installing timers for lights

It was a bright, sunny and unusually warm fall day (thanks, global warming), when I sat down for lunch and committed my meal to coming up with some solutions to how students can become more carbon neutral around campus. A goal of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment is that campuses will become carbon neutral within 10 years of signing the pledge. Already there is a Purple Bike Program, and free rides for students on public buses and trains, so I was looking for something that would aid students who lived too far to ride a bike and weren't near a bus route.

On the heels of a report from the University of Texas that reported the annual salaries of female faculty within its organization averaged $9,000 less than their male counterparts, TCU's own newly released study on gender equality says pay discrepancies only exist because of a male-dominated hierarchy within the university.

The report found that while the average salary of men was higher annually by an average of $16,000, it's because men are more prevalent in administrative positions and departments that have higher market salaries.

Leaders are responsible for their own actionsEverything in life has a price.Leaders choose to not only pay it, but to go beyond. Followers choose to make a down payment. Losers choose to ignore it.Years...

After its 12-7 win against South Carolina on Oct. 26, the equestrian team heads to College Station to face No. 3 Texas A&M on Friday.

Head coach Gary Reynolds said the win against the Gamecocks was beneficial for the younger riders.

"South Carolina really gave our hunt seat riders some confidence," Reynolds said in an e-mail. "They are basically all freshmen and sophomores, so they are still young."

Hunt seat riding is the type of riding typically found in horse shows and is based off of fox hunting traditions.

The university will recommend an across-the-board budget cut of 8 to 10 percent for the next academic school year to the Board of Trustees on Friday in response to the country's economic situation, a university official said.

Brian Gutierrez, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said if accepted, the budget cut would be approved during the spring trustees meeting and save the university about $1.6 million.

Chancellor Victor Boschini said university officials want to make sure the university is prepared for next year.

TCU is one of 20 universities in the National College Depression Partnership, an 18-month initiative program to learn more about how to identify students with depression, a university physician said.

Dr. Mary Rae, primary physician of the Brown-Lupton Health Center, said health and counseling staff attended a workshop at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators mental health conference in January. After attending the conference, the university joined the others in an effort to share information on how to treat depression in college students, Rae said.

Junior Kelsie Johnson was named Student Government Association president Wednesday by a difference of 418 votes, but treasurer candidates junior Greg Hamre and sophomore Marlon Figueroa are heading into a runoff election Thursday.

Sophomore Matt Dietrichson was elected vice president with 1,760 votes against junior Matt Williams, who got 870 votes. Sophomore Kennedy Stewart, who ran unopposed, was elected Programming Council chair.

As the U.S. stands on unsteady ground economically, businesses and individuals alike are looking for ways to cut back spending. TCU is not alone in its effort to trim its budget, but it does stand out...