In reaction to the significant amount of students who have experienced deaths in their families, Mental Health Services and a campus priest plan to continue what they say is a successful grief support group.Laura Crawley, assistant dean of campus life for health promotion, said campus life has been looking to have a grief program for a while.

It is a group made up of students and "two folks with tremendous experience with grief, hope and loss," Crawley said.

The TCU Opera Studio will be performing "La Tragedie de Carmen," a classic tale of love, jealousy and revenge performed entirely in French this weekend at the Music Building South. Adapted from British director Peter Brook, the long production has been condensed into 90 minutes.

"It is concise yet dramatically powerful," said Richard Estes, the director of the TCU Opera Studio.

Don Jose, a Spanish officer, falls for a gypsy girl, Carmen, who falls for a bullfighter, Escamillo. Don Jose's downward spiral into an obsessive, jealous spell leads to murder and shame.

The Faculty Senate will try to deal with three vacant seats from one college at their meeting next week, the Senate chairwoman said.Elizabeth Gillaspy, Faculty Senate assistant secretary, said in an e-mail there are 18 new senators for the next term but three vacancies in the College of Science and Engineering.

Chairwoman Suzy Lockwood said the online elections were April 16 and 17.

Lockwood, an assistant nursing professor, said the new senators will be introduced at their May 3 meeting and proposals to fill the vacancies will be discussed.

It is easy and cheap to capitalize on America's obsession with celebrities, said two professors at the Searchlight Symposium Wednesday night.Richard Allen, radio-TV-film professor, and Adam Schiffer, political science assistant professor, shared their distinct views on celebrities in a media-crazed society and answered questions from several students among the nearly 50 in attendance.

Children scrambled all across campus to be rewarded with unsolved math and science problems Wednesday. Fourth- and fifth-graders from 20 schools in Fort Worth ISD applied their knowledge of science and math to the TCU campus, calculating angles, assessing the habitat of campus wildlife, converting measurements and many more activities as part of a program called the "Math and Science Trail".

New to TCU, the trail tested the students based on a curriculum similar to that of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills test, according to a press release.

As reigning conference champions, the men's tennis team will be in position to defend its crown this week out in the Rocky Mountains.The No. 68 Horned Frogs will begin match-play in the 2007 Mountain West Conference Championship this afternoon in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The team went 5-1 in conference play during the season, including a regular season finale sweep of the Air Force Falcons, University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels and the New Mexico Lobos.

When the AddRan department of humanities and social sciences began its search for a new dean last fall, the search committee wanted to find someone who would exemplify the TCU mission and its values, said the religion department chairman. The committee decided that person is Andrew Schoolmaster from Eastern Kentucky State University.

David Grant, chair of the religion department, said Schoolmaster received exceptional recommendations from everybody the committee talked to. He also said Schoolmaster was impressive as a leader and has a great sense of humor.

A friend of mine recently sent me the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episode dissecting the 1951 short film "Spring Fever" that evidently was meant to teach the world the importance of springs. The plot goes something like this: A man doing the manly chore of fixing a couch gets so fed up with the springs that he wishes he never had to see another spring again. Insert the creepy cartoon "Coily the spring sprite" who grants the man his wish and then spends the next three minutes popping up whenever something the man owns doesn't work because it has no springs.

Responding to a globally increasing demand for energy, TCU is forming a multidisciplinary energy institute to prepare students for work in various facets of the energy industry.The institute, which plans to offer undergraduate and graduate coursework in the departments of geology, engineering, environmental science and in the Neeley School of Business, will focus on the exploration, extraction and transportation of carbon-based energy along with a study of new drilling technologies involved in the processes.

He splits his time between two offices. He manages demands from two jobs, both at TCU. In one, he gets chalk on his hands and loves it. In the other, he pores over applications and helps prospective students make one of the most important decisions of their lives.

Then, he goes home to 8-year-old twins.

Jim Atwood, 59, is both a religion instructor and assistant to the dean of admissions, as well as chairman of the freshman admissions committee, something that may seem an unlikely combination.

To my fellow conservatives, I've learned and thought about a lot of political issues in my four years here at TCU. And, to the liberals, I think you'll find I'm fairly objective. Before I graduate, I'd like to leave you with my thoughts about what we, as conservatives, have right and what we're getting wrong.The first thing we have right is our patriotism - loving America is never the wrong thing to do. Patriotism is what made this country great and will keep it going. We also support our troops, which is the right thing to do.