THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S I NDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE
VOL. 94, NO. 86 FREE — Additional Copies 25¢
MONDAY, FEB. 2, 2009 © 2009 OU Publications Board
CAMPUS NEWS OU President David Boren announced Friday a salary freeze for faculty, staff and administrators in the next fiscal year. He said in an e-mail statement projected shortfalls in state appropriation and rising costs were forcing the administration to find ways to save money. He said he hopes keeping salaries stagnant would prevent less favorable cost-cutting measures like layoffs. —STAFF REPORTS
LIFE & ARTS The Daily’s Sarah Dorn spent an evening in Rupel J. Jones Theater to watch the “Young Choreographers’ Showcase” Saturday night. To see her review on page 10. This week’s Chuck is in 3-D? Is Derek going to propose to Meredith? Check out what to watch on page 10.
SPORTS The women’s basketball team has been cruising through conference play, but tonight it meets No. 13 Tennessee at the Ford Center, when Tennessee coach Pat Summit is aiming for her 1,000th win. Page 5.
Dawkins lecture moved to larger venue due to demand The highly anticipated lecture by prominent author and scientist Richard Dawkins has moved to McCasland Field House, organizers of the event confirmed Friday. Seats for the lecture now will be assigned on a free first-come, first-served basis. Originally scheduled for Sharp Concert Hall in Catlett Music Center, the March 6 lecture now will be able to accommodate more than twice as many audience members, with more than 3,000 available seats in the field house.
TODAY’S INDEX L&A 7,10 Campus Notes 9 Classifieds 8 8 Crossword Horoscope 9
News 3,9 Opinion 4 Police Reports 9 Sports 5, 6 Sudoku 8
WEATHER FORECAST
TODAY LOW 32° HIGH 49°
TUESDAY LOW 37° HIGH 50° Source: Oklahoma Weather Lab
moved to the field house. Since ticket holders now have the same chance of getting seats as non-ticket holders, Sivanesan said his ticket’s seller did not make him follow through with the sale. “I’m glad they’re doing it at the new event because more people can come now,” he said. Dawkins is a best-selling author and biologist who writes about evolutionary theory. Dawkins was in high demand for 2009 celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s book, “On the Origin of Species,” Weaver said. RENEÉ SELANDERS/THE OKLAHOMA DAILY
GA weighs in on plus-size retail • Speech on limited plus-size shopping options draws national attention
OUDAILY.COM Get breaking news updates sent straight to your e-mail from The Daily. Just go to OUDaily. com, subscribe to our news alerts and we’ll send you an e-mail when something big happens on campus.
Barry Weaver, the geology professor in charge of Dawkins’ visit, said extra funding secured by the lecture’s organizers allowed the move. “The demand was such that it merited additional tickets being available,” Weaver said. “Now more than 3,000 people will be able to see him.” Initially, tickets were available for admission to the lecture in Sharp Concert Hall. Though the tickets were free to students, RICHARD Dawkins’ popularity and high demand for tickets led many DAWKINS students to sell their tickets online. Ellan Sivanesan, first-year medical student, bought a ticket for $60 through the Facebook Marketplace before the lecture was
SANDRA KUNZWEILER The Oklahoma Daily While many in the nation are fighting the battle of the bulge, an OU faculty member will size up the retail industry at a Fat Studies Panel Conference in April. Barb’ra-Anne Carter, graduate teaching assistant in the geography department, will give a speech at the conference in New Orleans, entitled “Fat Ladies Go Shopping: The Geography & Economics of the PlusSized Industry,” which will address the issue of exclusionary practices within clothing stores across the country. “Retailers need to stop marginalizing the plus-sized woman,” Carter said in an e-mail. “Many stores have a wonderful collection of plus-size items in catalogs, but do not sell any plus-size items in their stores.” Carter often calls her speech “Hidden Behind Housewares” because of the location of plus-sized departments. Often, the departments are hidden from busier areas or are located near mall exits because retailers assume the women who shop in plus-sized areas will not shop the rest of the store or mall, she said. Carter has been conducting research on the correlation between retail practices and plus-sized shoppers for the past two years. Her interest was sparked when she returned home to Los Angeles and was frustrated with her shopping experiences in plus-sized departments. She began writing an essay that gained the attention of her adviser, Darren Purcell, assistant professor in geography. Purcell
Amy Frost/The Daily
At Dillard’s at Sooner Mall, the women’s plus-size department is located behind housewares and bedding. suggested she transform it into her dissertation. Carter’s research shows more than half of American women wear a size 12 and above, she said. Carter said she is in the beginning stages of her research in Oklahoma, and the state seems to be on par with the rest of the country. Many stores in Sooner Mall have their plus-sized women’s departments located near housewares and exits, including Lane Bryant. Jamie Simms, a retail associate at Lane
Bryant, said her store’s location was probably based on the space available at the mall, not a desire to hide shoppers. “Women [who] shop here are super confident and are not trying to sneak in or out of the store,” she said. The issue extends beyond location, said Courtney Voorhees, history junior. Voorhees said shopping is a frustrating situation because plus-sized women want to wear the same clothes as thinner women
BY THE NUMBERS Oklahoma’s Obesity Rate in 2007: 28.1 percent National Obesity Rate in 2005-2006 for adult women: 35.3 percent Average size of American woman in 1999-2000: 163 pounds, 5’3.8” Sources: cdc.gov, National Center for Health Statistics
PLUSSIZE Continues on page 2
Campus groups work to combat sexual assault at OU • Reports of assaults went up from 2006 to 2007 JAMIE HUGHES AND CLARK FOY The Oklahoma Daily Reports of forcible offenses on campus rose from two to five in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available, despite efforts by the police to stop sexual violence. There are many reasons why more cases were reported, but there is no way of knowing exactly why, said Officer Jennifer Newell of the Norman Police Department. Sexual violence has always been a problem on college campuses, including OU, said Anna Holloway, professional writing graduate student and director of the upcoming campus production of “The Vagina Monologues.” “The Vagina Monologues” is sponsored by the Women’s Outreach Center to raise awareness of sexual violence. It runs Feb. 23-24 at Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. The primary targets of sexual violence are women, but the age ranges or races of victims vary, said Lt. Bruce Chan, OUPD public information officer. Many cases of sexual violence go unreported or unnoticed and there is no way to know how many cases are not reported in a year, he said. “Always remember that there are some cases
A lack of self-control is one reason for sexual violence on college campuses, Holloway said. “A lot of young people are still not entirely in control of their passions and tend to use them inappropriately, so there’s a kind of violence that happens by accident,” she said. “It’s not intentional or vicious or malicious violence, but it’s still a violation. So college is one of the places where we confront that and learn how to deal with it, hopefully.” There is no real solution to sexual violence, Campbell said, but women can take small steps to protect themselves. “As an OU student, I would say you can just be very vigilant,” she said. Women on campus should let someone know where they’re going after dark, take a friend and always have a plan, she said. Newell said the Norman Police Department tries to be proactive so whenever sexual or domestic violence occurs, victims will be provided with all of the resources they need to get help. OUPD offers self-defense classes to help faculty, staff and students escape attackers. Any group can ask OUPD for a class to be given. Several officers attend one of the group’s meetings to teach the course. Zach Butler/The Daily The tactics taught by OUPD are physical techJournalism graduate student Anna Hollaway discusses the upcoming performances of “The Vagina Monologues” with niques designed to allow victims to break away and escape attackers, Chan said. participants Jan. 24 in the Henderson-Tolson Cultural Center. “In order to avoid an attack, trust your instincts,” where the victim doesn’t want to press charges attempted rape during in their time in college, he said. “Be smart, know your surroundings and because they may be afraid of the person who said Caitlin Campbell, organizer of “The Vagina listen to that little voice in the back of your head Monologues” and women’s studies sophomore, attacked them,” Newell said. One in four women will be a victim of rape or quoting CDC statistics. VIOLENCE Continues on page 2