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Letters

Making the class
I found your article “Making the Class” (Winter 2004) very informative and well written. As one of my various freelance writing-related projects, I am going to be evaluating the new essay portion of SATs, and it is interesting to have a university’s perspective on this addition to the college entrance tests.
Rebecca Reeder-Hunt ’73

As the mother of two students who have recently been through the university admissions process, I was surprised to see no mention in “Making the Class” about the legislative mandate that the upper ten percent of each Texas high school class are guaranteed admission to the University of Texas, Texas A&M or another Texas public university of their choice. 
I would be surprised if this one factor did not play a major role in driving many qualified seniors to apply to TCU, despite the fact that TCU probably would not have been their choice if they were guaranteed admission to the highly competitive Texas public universities. If students have taken AP, International Bacalaureate, or other advanced courses in a competitive high school environment, their grades may place them just a bit lower than the upper ten percent. But they may be more qualified for university studies than some students from less challenging high schools who are automatically admitted to the state universities. I feel certain that these types of “talented but not upper ten percent” students are in that more qualified applicant pool that TCU has enjoyed since the ten percent mandate became law.

I think TCU is seen as a “safe” choice for talented Texas students. I think we still have a long way to go before we can really say TCU is “the second most selective school in the state behind Rice”, but I think we all applaud the recent progress.   
Patti Schoenlank Massaro ’71

EDITOR’S NOTE: Admission Dean Ray Brown responds: “If this were truly what’s happening, logic would suggest schools like Baylor and SMU would see similar results.  They have not and both have missed ’making their classes’ in at least two of the past three years.” The application:acceptance ratio determines selectivity, and based on that data, TCU is the second most selective school in Texas.

I just wanted to say your article, “Making the Class” in the Winter 2004 The TCU Magazine was excellent. I have already been through the admission process with one child, but learned so much from the article. Excellent reading. And the cover was great too!
Debbie Keese


A mother’s prayer

We want to thank you for the splendid article you did for our son in The TCU Magazine. We are still getting comments from slow readers. It meant a great deal to Carol since I believe it gave her a clear view of what her son sees and feels at the “point of the spear.” John once explained to his soldiers prior to a change of command that we attended that, “… this is not my mother’s world.” It is still not, but perhaps she fits into it better now. Thank you.
James Van Hook, father of John Van Hook ’94


Kudos

Add my name to those who believe The TCU Magazine is one of the best in the country. For years I only read the notes for my class and looked at the photos to see if I recognized anyone. Now, I look forward to receiving it and read it cover to cover – still concentrating on the alum notes and but have added the memoriams. That addition seems to come with age. Being a TCU student in the early 60s was the best of times, I thought. TCU Magazine convinces me now that being a TCU student is the best of times at all times. Congrats for a putting out a great college publication. Keep ’em coming.
Tim Talbert ’63


Fair and balanced?
I was thumbing through the Winter issue of your magazine and saw on page 20 what seemed at first to be a “fair and balanced” discussion of TCU students going to the presidential conventions this past summer. The idea for the story is fine and, but the last paragraphs show your magazine’s underlying ideology (as if it wasn’t pretty obvious anyway) and purpose — appealing to Republicans.

In a way this is understandable, since the majority of TCU grads are Republicans. I’m also pretty sure that the vast majority of TCU’s endowments come from Republicans, so it’s not like I expect you to run a story on, say, Bush’s cutting of funding for lower-class college students (never mind reality). But in another way the story bugs me because your magazine, like Fox News, offers up the slightest veneer of appearing “fair and balanced” while in reality slime-ing the left and making the right look less slimey.

The article conveniently concludes with a student attendee of the Republican convention – an “entrepreneurial management sophomore” happily having his Republican views “reinforced.” Ah, how sweet. I’m sure the majority of your readers will feel their hearts swell, just as they do when they’re watching their evening bit of Fox News. Others of us may feel a need to puke.
Bryan Moore ’96 (PhD)

I found that your convention article fell short of being bipartisan. Come on now, no one wore a TCU button supporting John Kerry or had convention tags to display? I would like to have heard more about the mass of demonstrations that took place at the Republican convention that the media quietly kept under wraps. I realize that TCU is basically Republican in its student base, but please don’t patronize your alumni by writing an article that doesn’t give the full story. How about the campus war protests? I’m sure those are in full swing by now.
Cathy Wells,’89 MEd

TCU Show Window

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the “Recollections” of The Show Window of TCU. Many wonderful people have contributed to its success over the years. In my opinion, Prof. and Mrs. Jacobsen were and are the heart and soul of
The Show Window of TCU. Thanks for a story well-told and for including my recollection.
Don Lacy ’61, president, 1960-61

The article on the TCU Band brought back some fun memories. However, in my anecdote about being a band substitute, the spending money given was $2.50 not $12.50. People would rob a bank for the latter sum in those days.
Harrison L. Townes ’52

Old Testament

I was fascinated by the letter in the winter ’04 issue of The TCU Magazine by Dr. Stanley M. Kurtz concerning Old Testament scriptures being attributed to Jesus. When I was a younger woman I went through the New Testament searching for the same thing. My New Testament has the initials OT in almost all of the margins of the Gospel. Also considering that the so-called words of Jesus were put into his mouth by writers 30 to 60 years after the crucifixion, it makes you wonder what the real Jesus actually said!
Ms. Dale Maybrier Moore ’52