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OU awarded professorship in business journalism College of Journalism will add new courses beginning next spring BENNETT HALL Campus reporter

Students at Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication will gain a new professor in the spring with an area of expertise not currently offered — business journalism. The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism awarded Gaylord College the visiting professorship for the spring 2014 semester, according to the website. Gaylord College has been working in recent semesters to create a business journalism program to give students a chance to write and train in the business journalism field, journalism professor John Schmeltzer said. And now Gaylord College DOnALD W. rEynOLDS has that opportunity. The new professor will open several new classes where students can follow real-life business developments in and beyond Oklahoma, which will help students gain experience in this specialization, Schmeltzer said. “We’ve had students come to us asking for specialized business journalism classes,” he said. “So, we’re meeting the needs of students, as they ask for these specializations.” The profess orship, funde d by Ar izona State University’s Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, is part of the foundation’s five-year plan to establish greater opportunities for business-specific journalistic research and reporting in schools across the country, according to the website.

Bennett Hall benhall@ou.edu

TONy rAgle/THe dAily

Bijan Hosseini, journalism sophomore, runs to the next challenge after building a human pyramid with his teammates as a part of the “Torch games” on Wednesday evening at reaves park.

CAC event ignites comradery Members celebrate end of semester in Torch Games HALEY DAVIS

Campus reporter

Campus Activities Council members spent Wednesday evening competing against each other in a series of ‘field day’ games as part of CAC’s fifth annual Torch Games. The Torch Games started in 2009 with the main idea being that the various CAC event committees come together for an afternoon of fun and socializing, said Anissa Angier, 20122013 CAC Crew chairwoman. “The Torch Games is a way of ending the year with the message that whether you’re on a CAC event committee, the public relations team or

crew, you’re an For this year’s “Torch Games is an important memtheme, the CAC opportunity to make what members were ber of the enwould usually be a large d i v i d e d i n t o tire CAC family,” Angier said. organization seem much groups to comCAC has over pete in relay smaller and tight-knit.” 500 students and races, tugs-of-war more than 14 and other compeanissa angier, large-scale events titions followed 2013 CaC CreW ChairWoMan in one year, said by a group dinVicky Vargas, former CAC chair. ner. Snow cones were also provided The event was less about competi- during the event. tion and more about community as “Torch Games is an opportunity to well as a celebration of the graduating make what would usually be a large seniors in CAC, Vargas said. organization seem much smaller and Every year the games have a dif- tight-knit,” Angier said. ferent theme, said CAC chairman Samuel Kiehl. This year’s theme was “The Hunger Games,” while last year’s Haley Davis was Harry Potter, Kiehl’s personal haley.g.davis-1@ou.edu favorite.

rOTc

Weather

Air Force cadets learn to balance school, social life

Cold front sets new record low

Students commit time long-term to program KORTEZA ADAMS

For The Oklahoma Daily

Constantly working to build themselves mentally and physically inside and outside the classroom, Air Force ROTC members must commit themselves to their program while looking forward to life after college. Chris Parmer, Air Force ROTC cadet major, works two jobs in addition to balancing his duties as a recruiting squadron commander and maintenance group deputy commander with classes and involvement in multiple aviation groups. ROTC is one of the three routes

students can take to become a comThe program takes only the best, missioned officer in the Air Force, and students involved in it must unParmer said. The other options derstand their long-term commitare the Air Force ment to the program, “There’s no more Lewis said. Academy and Officer Training School, ac“They need to be ‘oops I was late cording to Air Force able to look more to an advisement than two or three ROTC’s website. ... because that’s s t e p s i n f ro n t o f O U ’s A i r Fo rc e ROTC program av- unacceptable as an them,” he said. “They eraged nearly 100 are committing to officer.” students this year, not only being in making it the biggest ROTC and college BranDon leWis, ROTC program at OU for four years … But air ForCe CaPtain compared to its sister four years after that, programs: Army ROTC, Naval ROTC they’re probably going to be in a job and Naval ROTC with Marine op- that we’re going to give them.” tion, said Air Force Captain Brandon In addition to all of Parmer’s extra Lewis, the detachment’s recruiting activities, he’s currently ranked as a flight commander. 300-level cadet, and more pressure

Oklahoma Memorial Union slammed with poetry

insiDe toDay Campus......................2 Clas si f ie ds................5 l i f e & A r t s.................. 8 O p i n i o n .................... 4 spor ts........................7 Visit OUDaily.com for more

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is placed on cadets once this level is reached, Lewis said “The 300 year is the more difficult year,” he said. The 300-level cadets have a hard time because the 200-level cadets look up to them, while the 400-level cadets look down on them, he said. The 300 year also is when cadets learn to stop making excuses, Lewis said. “There’s no more ‘oops I was late to an advisement,’ and there’s no more ‘I didn’t come to class,’ because that’s unacceptable as an officer,” he said. Being involved with ROTC is not an easy task, and it takes a lot of commitment and support, Parmer said. see ROTC pAge 2

students trudged across campus, bundled in winter gear Tuesday and Wednesday, as temperatures dropped to record lows for the dates in state history. Wednesday broke records for the coldest low temperatures in state history for April 24. Boise City, Okla. reached a low of 15 degrees, breaking the previous record by 9 degrees, said gary mcmanus, a climatologist at the Oklahoma Climatological survey. On Tuesday, six different environmental monitoring stations recorded temperatures that broke the previous all-time low of 34 degrees, mcmanus said. Also, all the records were broken in the northwest portion of the state, the lowest temperature being 31 degrees, he said. “Now it’s not going to stay that cold … but it does look like this April will finish below normal, and probably significantly below normal,” he said. so far for April, the statewide average has been 53.4 degrees, which is 4.6 degrees below normal, mcmanus said. Carter Balm for The Daily