There is no doubt America needs a change in direction. We're in trouble, fighting a rough economy and a war in a distant land.

The kind of change America needs will make the country stronger both economically and abroad, and though Sen. Barack Obama has made change the cornerstone of his campaign, promising to reshape government in a way we haven't ever seen, only Sen. McCain offers the kind of change to lead America to a stronger future.

Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's election, students, faculty and staff have chosen Sen. John McCain as their presidential pick in a mock election held on campus Monday.

The election was put on by SGA's Programming Council in order to determine "TCU's Favorite Candidate" for president and encourage people to vote.

A booth was set up outside the library as the Programming Council polling site. At the end of three hours of voting, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 276 votes were cast.

College is a time to grow and explore.

A study conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles showed strong percentage changes in students' feelings on gay marriage, abortion and religious views during their first two years in college. Interestingly enough, the study showed the change in opinions was due more to peer influence than that of professors.

This is an encouraging statistic because it shows that colleges are still doing their job to educate students about the world around them.

No flashy lights or big fuss. There was a small crowd, good music and an entertaining night at Lola's on Sunday as The Redwalls crooned their songs from past and present albums.

Dressed in their skinny jeans, tight jackets and mop-styled hair, brothers Logan and Justin Baren took over the stage along with Rob Jensen with oomph despite guitarist Andrew Langer leaving the band this year. But Justin Baren quickly introduced the crowd to their new member.

WestBend, a new mixed-use retail project on University Drive across from University Park Village, will be the latest development in an underserved retail market, a developer said.

"We're going to provide the retail a city this size really needs and wants," said Tommy Miller, senior partner of Trademark Property Co., which is handling the project. Miller said the project will be completed by spring 2010.

Librarian Cari Alexander had no idea how difficult helping TCU's local strays would be when she developed Frogs and Cats Together, a feral cat organization, four years ago.

Frogs and Cats Together at TCU aims to lower the feral cat population by conducting a trap, neuter and release program. In this program, stray cats are spayed or neutered and released back into the community in an attempt to keep them from breeding.

Daunte Culpepper is a weird guy.

In the past he has fired his agent, become his own agent, declared himself 80 percent healthy, declared himself 100 percent healthy, tried to package himself with Randy Moss and most recently, decided he is ready to return to football.

His fickle personality aside, however, he is a serviceable quarterback, which leads me to ask a question: Why hasn't he been signed to a roster during a season that has seen more high profile QB injuries than any in recent memory?

Terrorism What's at stake: The Iraq war has proved to be longer than the Civil War and American involvement in World War I and World War II. Jim Riddlesperger, professor of political science, said whoever assumes the presidency, for this coming election and succeeding elections, will have a different approach on the war on terrorism. "Terrorism will remain as an ongoing management issue for all U.S. presidents in the foreseeable future," he said.

The Neeley School of Business has a strong entrepreneurial background. It seems only natural, then, for the TCU Bookstore to have some competition from one bright business student.

Horned Frog entrepreneur Josh Dennis, who founded Frogbookstore.com, and a team of three, claims to offer 20 to 60 percent discounts off the Barnes & Noble bookstore on campus and free delivery straight to the student's door, provided it's in the TCU area. Students just type in their course and department numbers and wait for the package to show up.

Donations from TCU faculty to presidential campaigns have nothing to do with the way students are taught, several professors said.

The site fundrace.huffingtonpost.com showed that on the list of individual donors who identified their employer as "Texas Christian University" or "TCU" there were five Republican donors, who gave a total of $4,231, and 13 Democratic donors who gave a total of $13,634.