As the chairman-elect of the Faculty Senate said, denying a professor tenure is the capital punishment of the academic world.That's why it's so important for the Faculty Senate to continually improve the procedures surrounding tenure and promotion grievances.

The senate has tried for about the past six years to do so, but its efforts have fallen by the wayside as the committee's goals change from year to year.

The night before he left for Iraq, Capt. Bradley Thompson grabbed a napkin and started brainstorming about opening a coffee cafe near TCU."He wanted it to have a nice ambience with 'Frenchy' music," said his wife, Rachel Ruiz.

Thompson decided to name the cafe Moonstone because of its sacred meaning in many cultures where the gem is considered magical and brings good fortune.

I'm sure many of you have heard Don Imus and the comment he made referring to the Rutgers women as "nappy-headed hoes." Imus went further to call them "Jiggaboos" and compare them to the teams in Spike Lee's film "Do the Right Thing." This shows his ignorance concerning black culture because the film he was attempting to cite is "School Daze." As a black woman, I take extreme personal offense to the comments he made and am tired of people defending his statements.

Red light. The bright signal halts traffic until it is replaced by the green glow that restarts the flow of everyday movement - but, as one American couple will share tonight, not all red light efforts are that simple.Christa and Mark Crawford, who now live and work in Thailand, will touch on the complexities of the sex-trade industry in their presentation, "Red Light Rescue," though, as they have found, the solution for bringing women out of the industry is not always clear-cut.

Being originally from the New York/New Jersey area, I have come to understand and expect the antics of shock-jock Don Imus on WCBS 880 in New York. Depending on what part of the country you are from, my understanding of Imus might not necessarily be a good thing. With that being said, Imus' recent statements about the Rutgers women's basketball team being "nappy-headed hos" are unacceptable on every level.

The alarm clock jars you awake with the twang of country music. Then, you stumble into the bathroom like a drunken zombie with anger management problems. After spending an inordinate amount of time in the shower's warm embrace, you brush your teeth and get dressed just in time to run to your first class. Sound familiar? Seems like an accurate summary of everyone's morning, right? But something's missing, and no, it's not the quasi-religious practice of checking your Facebook first thing in the morning.

SGA approved the 2007-2008 budget giving House of Student Representatives members scholarships and reducing funding to the Activities Funding Board. Previously, the House of Student Representatives' Finance Committee rejected the budget because not enough funding was allocated to organizational funding. The House approved the proposed budget Tuesday after a debate over several issues ranging from scholarships to whether members out of dress code could vote. The budget passed with a 22-9 vote with three abstentions. For the vote to pass, a two-thirds majority was needed.

It is common knowledge that babies experience their most important developmental period when they are young, usually between the ages of 1 and 3. During this time, many parents are persistent and determined to expose their young infants to clever toys, classical CDs and other objects in order to expand their minds and, ultimately, to try to make them smarter and more intelligent. However, parents may not stop to think that perhaps their methods for helping their children could actually be more harmful to their infants.

"Way to go, Smokey Joe," a group of student protesters chanted outside the Alumni and Visitors Center on Monday night.About 12 students gathered to protest U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's energy policies and to reinforce that global climate change is a real issue when Barton, R-Texas, visited campus Monday.

James Russell, a freshman English major, said this protest is especially important to him because he feels Barton's policies have a bias toward energy and oil companies.

The Tenure, Promotion and Grievance Committee of the Faculty Senate is rewriting the faculty grievance procedure, specifically targeting tenure and promotion grievances.For the 2006-2007 school year the TPG Committee was specifically charged to propose or revise the faculty grievance procedure and has been working on doing so since August.

Stuart Youngblood, chairman-elect of the Faculty Senate and TPG Committee member, said the committee has been working to clarify and simplify what is known as a complicated procedure.

An addition of scholarships to the SGA budget, which was passed Monday, has ruffled the feathers of the executive board.A total of $1,200 in scholarships was passed in SGA's budget for two members of the House of Student Representatives Monday. There are three scholarships in total, which would provide $200 per semester to the selected students. These are aimed to encourage student involvement in the House of Student Representatives throughout the semester, according to house bill 93-13, submitted Nov. 28, 2006.