A communication plan is now in place in case of an outbreak of an airborne virus or disease. Campus Life has implemented a pandemic plan that includes ways of trafficking information to the public with extra phone lines and Web sites.

Laura Crawley, assistant dean of campus life and health promotion, said the university is trying to be proactive by coordinating plans for an outbreak on campus.

She said a pandemic could be the avian flu or even something the public doesn't know about yet.

Every year, one day comes around where candy, flowers, cards and gifts are exchanged in the name of love. It is the inevitable Valentine's Day. There is some skepticism about how Valentine's Day came to be or why we celebrate it.

In one legend, St. Valentine wrote a letter to a girl he liked during his confinement in prison expressing his love for her before he was sentenced to death, according to history.com. After his death, Feb. 14 became a day for lovers to celebrate their love for one another.

Ah, Valentine's Day. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and sweethearts walk hand-in-hand down the sidewalk whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears. Flowers, candies, dates and greeting cards. Love is in the air.However, for the single people (myself included), Valentine's Day arouses a much different, less euphoric set of emotions.

Loneliness. Despair. Jealousy. Sound familiar? Maybe these feelings rise as the couple at the table across share a romantic kiss. I know, I despise them as well.

With Valentine's Day nearly upon us, love is in the air - or at least marketers want us to think so. And not everyone is satisfied with the average teddy bear, box of chocolates or display of affection. Some people like to take it to the extreme, ranging from a publicized marriage proposal to attempted murder.As an aspiring psychologist, I'd like to offer a humorous psychoanalysis of the crazed lovers to soothe those who may feel scorned by St. Valentine and to ground those who will be spending the day on cloud nine.

Kids playing soccer in the park, small girls singing their hearts out at beauty pageants and a hopeful mother of three calling into a radio station to win a prize for her children are all manifestations of competition in our world.Our society encourages a little healthy competition to give us something to strive for; however, competition can go from normal to unhealthy when a soccer mom verbally abuses a referee for a bad call, when a pageant princess is chastised by her mother for hitting the wrong pitch or when that mother of three loses her life because of a ridiculous contest.

The university is sitting on a gold mine.Administrators are involved in negotiations with local companies to tap into a pocket of natural gas sitting below campus.

The same situation is occurring across Fort Worth as companies hurry to tap into the Barnett Shale, a natural gas resource that stretches through several Texas counties.

Companies hope to not only purchase mineral rights from the university, they hope to utilize unused space on campus as drilling sites.

Students and faculty were able to eat their lunches while watching dancers perform in a student choreography showcase Monday.Brown Bag Dance is sponsored by the dance honor society, Chi Tau Epsilon, and is produced entirely by students.

The informal dance recital is open to all dance majors and happens once every semester. The hour-long performance is open to all students and faculty.

Dance faculty members were not required to attend but many lined the first two rows to show their support, said Allie Stevens, a modern dance major and choreographer for the show.

The Universidad de las Americas, which has come under scrutiny for the closure and subsequent reopening of its newspaper, is garnering more unwanted attention. TCU's sister university has been placed under a yearlong warning by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the agency that accredits both UDLA and TCU.

SACS, an American agency that accredits universities in 11 U.S. states and Latin America, gave the university its warning when UDLA filed a follow-up report after a 2005 affirmation of its accreditation.

Monday started a weeklong book drive for Hurricane Katrina and violence-stricken John McDonogh Senior High School in New Orleans. The TCU five-member chapter of Chi Upsilon Sigma National Sorority, Inc. is sponsoring the book drive that will end Friday, Feb. 16.

Senior Narcely Ruiz, cultural events coordinator for CUS, said her sorority was inspired to hold a book drive after a member at the University of Delaware wrote a letter describing her experience of volunteering at the predominately black high school. The letter was e-mailed to all chapters across the country.

Pending approval from the Faculty Senate, the Student Government Association may soon launch an honor code system, which has been in the works for two years. The SGA Honor Code Task Force, which has...