Frances Smith Foster, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English & Women's Studies at Emory University, congratulated the university's English Department Thursday for striving to improve its already stable graduate program.

In a lecture titled "The Current Direction of the Humanities and the Graduate Curriculum," Foster offered advice to professors for maintaining the status of the university's programs.

The new Director of the TCU Press has several changes in mind for TCU Press for the coming semester.

Dan Williams' involvement with press began in March when it faced the possibility of closure. He was appointed as the new director on June 1. Williams said he decided to volunteer for the program to ensure that it remained a part of the university.

"This is a tough time for university presses around the country," he said.

It was a weekend full of sweeps for the women's volleyball team at the Burnt Orange Classic in Austin.

The Lady Frogs beat Houston 3-0 Friday afternoon, but then stumbled to a 0-3 loss against Texas later that night. A 3-0 win over McNeese State rounded out the tournament for the Horned Frogs.

The four-team tournament, consisting of TCU, University of Texas, Houston and McNeese State, was dominated by 2009 National Championship runner-up Texas, which won all three of its matches in straight sets.

Do your really think the stadium needs to be renovated and why?

Junior strategic communication major Nicole Garrison

"In a way I do, because my parents have...tickets and they come to each game. And they're way far up in the stands. And it's just hard in the heat to walk so far, and so I think renovating it would be nice."

Freshman biology major Eric Bane

"Yes, I think it should be renovated because we have a better football team this year."

In a great win for common sense, Californians decided to put the question of legalizing marijuana on the November ballot. If successful, this would make it the first state to legalize marijuana.

The war on drugs is a failure. It created an underground economy that has been detrimental to tax payers as well as those in poor neighborhoods because it created dangerous gangs and drug wars.

Unfortunately, these reasons alone are not enough for some people to support the legalization of marijuana. These proponents bring up one particular reason to legalize marijuana: taxation.

After finishing first and second in July's 2010 Miss Texas pageant, two students now have more in common than a shared address.

Senior broadcast journalism major Ashley Melnick, who won the pageant, and senior business major Jordan Johannsen, who took second place, shared the stage on the final night of the 75th Miss Texas pageant celebration, held at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Melnick said being one of the last two contestants with Johannsen was a "neat" experience to share.

Journalists are known for defending their First Amendment right to freedom of speech because, quite simply, it gives them more opportunity to speak their minds. More than this, the United States and its citizens have been known for valuing freedom of speech. As recently as 2006, the Supreme Court has had to address whether or not burning the American flag could be deemed an expression of free speech.

During his 15-year tenure as TCU's Chief of Police, Steve McGee has faced many issues. Perhaps one of his greatest challenges has been that of on-campus parking for students, faculty and staff. In an effort to develop solutions to this problem, McGee has taken a unique approach8212;when traveling to college campuses all across the country he checks parking lots while on family vacations in search of inspiration to brainstorm ideas.

Q: How did you get the idea to look at parking situations in campuses all over the country?

Though a new bill passed by the Texas Legislature only currently affects public universities, professors at TCU and the University of North Texas said they think it could interfere with an instructor's right to choose his or her own curriculum.

TCU political science professor James Riddlesperger said that while the university, as a private institution, is not affected by the bill, the bill's overall effect is that of a double-edged sword,

Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson is smarter than John F. Kennedy. He's got to be. It took Kennedy 13 days to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. If a report from The Denver Post yesterday...