This weekend the women's basketball team will head west to face off against Southern California on Sunday, knowing it will be greeted by Associated Press No. 1 Duke at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Tuesday.TCU played USC last season and fell 71-70 at home. Sophomore forward Lorie Butler-Rayford said the loss will serve as motivation Sunday.

"We lost to them by one point on the final shot, so that was a heartbreaker," Butler-Rayford said. "I know it's important to get back there this year."

Gordon England '75England is the acting Deputy Secretary of Defense by the U.S. Senate. England fills the No. 2 position in the Pentagon after serving two terms as Secretary of the Navy. He is only the second person to hold this position for two separate terms. He has also served as first Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.



What did TCU do for you?

Travis Willingham '03Has had a role in "Ray," "Friday Night Lights" and "Secondhand Lions." He is acting in the Touchtone/Disney feature film, "The Guardian," starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher.What...

The TCU football program has put 20 years between itself and the scandal that sparked NCAA sanctions in 1985 - and time can be a healer. In 1985, head coach Jim Wacker turned the team in to the NCAA after learning players received illegal cash payments from boosters, an action that led to the dismissal of seven players from the team, including 1984 Heisman Trophy candidate Kenneth Davis.

Davis admitted in 1985 to illegally receiving $18,000 over three years but declined to comment further on the specifics of the situation.

Watching people fall flat on their backs during the 2003 snow day is senior Gina Wilson's favorite memory of TCU."On our snow day, all these TCU students get the idea they can walk to their friends' and they all fell over," said Wilson, a movement science major. "Every five seconds someone would fall over."

Wilson and other December graduates said TCU prepared them for the real world.

"(TCU) opened up my eyes to different types of people," Wilson said. "It opens up your eyes to more of the real world."

Though most students go to college to get a degree and further their careers, some students seem to make a career out of going to college - but not on purpose.Chris McNabb, a fifth-year senior, said he would have liked to graduate in four years. He said he thinks the reason he has had to stay an extra year and has had to take more than 20 hours a semester the last two years is due to taking too much time picking a major.

Classes are complete, finals are out the door and holiday cheer has blown in - seemingly a few weeks earlier every year. Sure, the possibility of joining the hordes of shoppers piling through mall doors at 6:30 a.m is always an option. But if you rather enjoy your time off with family, friends and loved ones, check out these holiday festivities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

DALLAS

After dealing with the fraternity's second hazing incident in two semesters, Sigma Alpha Epsilon president John Athon said he knew it was time for a change.The second incident involved SAE pledge trainers yelling at pledges during fall Recruitment, Athon said.

"It was a straw that broke the camel's back," Athon said. "It was time to fix the problem from a different direction."

At the time, Athon said SAE wasn't aware raising voices at pledges was considered hazing. Regardless, Athon said he did not approve of their actions.

Last fall everyone took a political beating; this fall we took a beating from nature.Sure, we had Cindy Sheehan and some indictments to stir up the political stew a bit, but energy prices soon knocked those out of the news.

TCU football regained its rightful place as a Top 25 program.

And this semester, we seem to have made it through without a major sexual controversy. That may speak volumes about the lack of dating at TCU, which the Skiff has covered quite thoroughly.

All in all, 2005 is a bit of a mixed bag, but it has been fun.