TCU's record-high enrollment and increasing number of faculty members could be causing campus buildings to burst at the seams.Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Nowell Donovan said the problem of limited office space has been "creeping up" on the administration for years but has accelerated in recent years because of the administration's goal to decrease the student-faculty ratio from 15-1 to 13-1.

Donovan said the undergraduate population has increased by 26 percent over the past 15 years.

TCU athletics director Danny Morrison announced Tuesday that head football coach Gary Patterson signed a contract extension to stay at TCU through 2012.The details of the contract were not immediately available.

"We are excited with coach Patterson and with what he's done with the team," Morrison said.

Morrison also announced TCU has accepted a bid to play in the Houston Bowl on Dec. 31. Patterson has led TCU to four bowl games in five years, Morrison said.

Players and coaches shuffled into the press room after Saturday's 68-59 loss to Division II Tarleton State, perhaps looking for more answers than the reporters there to ask about TCU's first home-opener loss in 24 years.TCU fell before a Daniel-Meyer Coliseum crowd that watched the Texans (2-0) dominate the paint in almost every aspect. Tarleton out rebounded an overmatched TCU team 43-29, and Texans forward Mookie Works had more blocks (5) and almost as many rebounds (11) as the entire TCU starting five (0 and 14).

A memorial in memory of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks will be on display today at the entry-way of the Brown-Lupton Student Center as a joint project of Chi Upsilon Sigma and Delta Sigma Theta."We felt that a display would be an appropriate act to do for this amazing woman," Roxanna Latifi, president of Chi Upsilon Sigma, said. "We also believe this is something we should not overlook, so I thought this would be a nice tribute to highlight her wonderful accomplishments."

After reading Rachel Skinner's article on gay marriage in Wednesday's Skiff, I was appalled at just how ignorant many people remain in this great state of ours. Not only did Ms. Skinner make an inaccurate correlation between being gay and being a "habitual liar, a thief, an adulterer or just a plain raging lunatic," but she continued to state that she has never seen "anything positive come out of" homosexuality. I would like to point out that the reason homosexuals "end up hurting people, including themselves" is not because they are gay, but because people like Ms.

It's Felicity meets The Sopranos.The cast of the radio-TV-film student-led production, "Southern Comforts," was chosen after more than 100 students auditioned for a part, professor Richard Allen said.

He said the soap opera will be filmed and aired next semester.

Allen said 16 students were cast in the main roles of the soap opera, including three freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and seven seniors. Though the majority of the students are RTVF or theatre majors, the cast also includes a broadcast journalism major and a biology major, he said.

TCU freshman Lauren Fred said she has never been very involved in community affairs activities. However, this semester she is deeply involved in a community project on campus, she said. The advertising/public relations major is part of a group of students trying to instate an open campus meal program that would allow students to use their student ID cards to purchase food at local restaurants.