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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Still hungry after dinner? How about after breakfast or lunch? Check out The Daily’s dish on dessert options in Norman. Page 10.

SPORTS Sooner center Courtney Paris scored her 99th double-double to lead OU to victory Wednesday over Creighton 69-49. Page 5.

Oklahoma higher education gets failing grade • National tuition and fees rise 439 percent in 25 years RYAN BRYANT The Oklahoma Daily According to a report released yesterday by the National Center for Public Policy, universities in Oklahoma are among the least affordable in the country. The report, entitled Measuring Up 2008, found that poor and working class families must devote up to 37 percent of their income to attend a public, 4-year university in Oklahoma, even with financial aid. In addition, poor and working class families in Oklahoma must devote up to 94 percent of their income to pay the net cost of an education at a private university. The study also found that financial aid for low-income

CAMPUS BRIEFS Latkes For Love Stop by Hillel, 494 Elm Ave., from 6 to 10 p.m. today for a celebration featuring the traditional Jewish potato pancakes. Cost is $7 at the door, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Shaare Zedek Children’s Hospital in Jerusalem.

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TODAY’S INDEX A&E 7, 9 Campus News 3 Campus Notes 9 Classiﬁeds 8 8 Crossword

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TODAY

students is down. For every dollar in Pell Grant aid the state spends, only 41 cents is spent on students. On a national level, the study reports that tuition and fees saw an increase of 439 percent between 1982 and 2007, while median family income only rose by 147 percent. Stacey Zis, research associate at the center, said it is up to university and state officials to help struggling families pay for a college education. “Our study shows that in Oklahoma, higher education is very expensive for low-income families,” she said. “In order to make education affordable, either tuition and fees must come down, or financial aid must go up.” Jay Doyle, OU press secretary and special assistant to OU President David L. Boren, said OU is working to make higher education as affordable as possible by providing more financial aid than ever. “In the past four years, we have doubled the amount of scholarships we are giving students and have raised $135 million in new scholarship money,” he said.

The report also found that only 63 percent of freshmen return for their sophomore year at Oklahoma public universities, giving the state the lowest freshmen retention rate in the U.S. Doyle said that OU’s rate of freshman retention is much higher than the state average. “Our most recent freshman retention rate is at 84.5 percent, which is more than 20 points higher than the state average,” he said. The report also revealed that the state receives low benefits from higher education, because only 24 percent of adult residents in the state have bachelor’s degrees. Center president Patrick Callan said that if the state does not improve educational affordability, then an affordable college education might not be possible in the future. “With the current challenges of a competitive global economy, states need to raise the level of education of their population to help their residents compete,” he said.

The secret is out to him because he grew up in a family where there were secrets, both ones that he knew and ones that he did not. “Maybe not knowing all those secrets eventually led me to this quest,” he said. WILL HOLLAND The music video for the All The Oklahoma Daily American Rejects’ song “Dirty Little Secret,” played on a large The power of secrets was on display projector screen and the standingWednesday night for close to 800 people room-only crowd erupted into who crowded into the Molly Shi Boren cheers and applause as Warren Ballroom. Frank Warren, the founder of SECRET Continues on page 2 PostSecret, visited OU to discuss his project, in which people anonymously mail postcards containing their secrets directly to his home. Warren scans and uploads the cards online to Postsecret.blogspot.com, and he also has published four books containing the postcards he has received. He said the idea to start the project came

• PostSecret founder dishes dirt on his revealing blog

PostSecret founder Frank Warren talks to a packed crowd Wednesday night in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Warren invited audience members to take the microphone and ask questions or share their own secrets. Amy Frost/The Daily

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Conservative investing helps OU endowments retain value in recession • Endowments depreciate in market MEREDITH SIMONS The Oklahoma Daily EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a three-part series about OU’s efforts to deal with the economic crisis. Today’s article addresses the market’s impact on university endowments. While the economic crisis rattles endowment managers at universities across the country, OU officials say a conservative investment policy has helped OU’s endowment outperform the markets, as well as endowments at other universities. Harvard, the richest university in the world, announced this week that its

endowment has lost $8 billion since July 1. That was a 22 percent drop, which brought its total value to $29 billion. The amount Harvard lost is more money than OU even has. OU has lost a much smaller percentage of its endowment, which is currently doing better than the market. OU has avoided market-level losses with a conservative investment strategy that didn’t have many of OU’s assets invested in risky hedge funds or the energy sector, according to OU Foundation President Guy Patton. But doing better than the general market doesn’t mean doing well — as of Sep. 30, the value of OU’s endowment had fallen 17 percent. The market, as measured by the S&P 500, had declined by 19 percent, according to Ben Stewart, the OU Foundation’s investment direc-

OU ECONOMY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

TODAY

The Daily’s threepart series

Part 1: How OU is cutting its costs

Part 2: Recession impact on donors

Part 3: The eﬀect on endowments

tor. These numbers don’t take into account losses during the final quarter of the calendar year, which have seen some of the most dramatic drops in Wall Street history. But the leaders of the OU Foundation, the private foundation that manages most of endowment, say they are adjusting their investment policies and are confident the endowment will return to full strength. “Corrections in the market, while they don’t feel good at the moment, don’t cause panic for us,” Stewart said. “We are a very long-term investment.”

Endowments at work The OU Foundation oversees about $693 million worth of OU’s endowment which is worth more than $1 billion, Patton said. Endowed gifts are designed to fund organizations in perpetuity. Donors make initial gifts, the principle amount of which will never be spent. Instead, the money is invested in stocks, bonds and money market accounts. The goal of endowment managers is to earn at least a 6 percent return on their investments. About 1 percent is used for management-related expenses, leaving 5 percent that can be paid to the

target organization, Patton said. Under this system, a $400,000 gift could translate into a $20,000 annual payout. Depending on the type of gift, the money could be designated for a specific use, such as a certain program or faculty position, or its use could be determined by department managers. Endowment payouts, which come annually, are not dependent on an investment’s performance during a single year, Patton said. In order to insulate endowments from the swings of the market, payouts are calculated using an average of the original investment’s performance over the previous three years. As a result, OU programs’ next round of payouts will not be 17 percent lower than the previous round, although that is how much the endowment is down.

ENDOWMENTS Continues on page 2

News

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Judaic and Israeli studies program soon to be a major • Program form lacks one signature LEIGHANNE MANWARREN The Oklahoma Daily

Amy Frost/The Daily

Wagner Hall, located across from the Oklahoma Memorial Union, will house the Lissa and Cy Wagner Student Academic Services Center. It is scheduled to open Jan. 5.

New academic center aims to build foundation of success • $14M Wagner Hall to house all tutoring programs CAITLIN HARRISON The Oklahoma Daily Students often need to travel to various buildings across campus for academic tutoring, but the opening of a new service center in January will make help a one-stop shop. The Lissa and Cy Wagner Student Academic Services Center, scheduled to open Jan. 5, will house University College, the Writing Center, Project Threshold and the Graduation Office. This center, also known as Wagner Hall, is across from the Oklahoma Memorial Union in the former location of the OU Press building, said Doug Gaffin, dean of University College. “That freed up a really critical spot there,” he said. “We call it sort of a student services district that’s being formed here.” The idea is to increase convenience and draw more students to use these services, said Tammy Pratt, director of the Assessment and Learning Center. “The goal is to make it a very student-oriented building,” she said. “It’s academic, but it’s all studentsuccess focused.” The Student Graduation and Retention Task Force saw a need for such a building in 2004 after it studied other schools ranked ahead of OU in graduation rates by U.S. News and World Report, Gaffin said. Gaffin said the task force found that many of these universities, which had a similar student population to OU, had comprehensive student service centers to contribute to student success. “It became clear that we didn’t really have a comprehensive tutoring and learning program,” he said. “We have lots of efforts going on across campus, but they’re dispersed and not really well-coordinated.” The 34,500-square-foot, two-story building will include a large atrium with couches and furniture, classrooms, offices, private study rooms and a computer learning center, Pratt said. “We want all students to feel comfortable going into Wagner,” she said. “We just want students to feel like that’s their building.” University College Action Tutoring Centers, Student Success Series and the Gateway to College Learning

course will all take place in the building’s classrooms, Gaffin said. University College advising and placement testing will also be located in the building. “We want this to be a high-energy building,” he said. “We want it to be a place that students really feel comfortable gathering and focusing on their studies.” The $14 million building was funded by state bonds and private funds, including Lissa and Cy Wagner, who gave the lead gift. The Wagners are long-time university supporters and have contributed to several projects in the past, Gaffin said. Becky Heeney, director of the Graduation Office and chairwoman of the Graduation and Retention Task Force, said the office, which is currently located in Cross Center, will benefit from moving to Wagner Hall. “I think for many students, they just don’t know where to go to get the assistance they need,” she said. “I think being in one location will make a huge difference.” The Graduation Office works with the task force to focus on retention and helping students graduate, Heeney said. She said the building’s centralized location and the services it offers will help increase retention and graduation rates in the next few years. “Certainly, we have to continue to do the work and the effort,” she said. “Just a building alone is not going to make a difference.” Dusty Bailey, Writing Center consultant and engineering senior, said he thinks moving into Wagner Hall will be a good experience for the Writing Center, although it could lose some students who rely on its current location in Bizzell Memorial Library. Deborah Binkley-Jackson, director of Project Threshold, said moving into the new building will help the program network with the other offices. Project Threshold is a grant-funded program that helps firstgeneration, disabled and economically disadvantaged students graduate. “We’re hoping that the upgrade in the building location and the service provisions we’ll have will serve as more of an enticement,” she said. “We’re excited the university has brought us under the umbrella to make sure the academic programs are in one location.” Pratt said she hopes the building will not only help students seeking academic assistance but allow them to connect and study together. “The idea is to draw them in, so you have an academic community of students in the building,” she said. “I’m sure that students who come in, they’re coming in for one purpose. If they take some time to look around, they’ll learn so much other resources are available.”

Endowments Continued from page 1 But if the recession continues and the endowment continues to suffer, organizations that benefit from endowed gifts will see their endowment income shrink. A prolonged contraction of the stock market could limit the amount of money the Foundation was able to distribute by $1 million or $2 million per year, said OU President David L. Boren. But he said if the stock market recovers and stabilizes soon, endowed entities will probably be able to escape any serious problems. “If the Dow gets up to around 10,000, and stays there for a while, we’ll be fine,” Boren said. The Dow Jones Industrial

COMMITMENT TO ACCURACY The Daily has a long-standing commitment to serve readers by providing accurate coverage and analysis. Errors are corrected as they are identiﬁed. Readers should bring errors to the attention of the editorial board for further investigation. ERROR SUBMISSIONS e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666

Average closed at 8,591 points on Wednesday.

Preparing for the future Rather than waiting out the financial storm passively, Patton, Stewart and others have embarked on a mission to realign the Foundation’s investments in an effort to expand OU’s endowment. The Foundation hired a new investing consultant two months ago, and its managers are revising their investment policies and redistributing assets. “It’s kind of like a map at the mall, where you have a ‘You are here,’ sign,” Stewart said. “We’ve

figured out where we are, and now we’re looking into the future, trying to get into place according to what the next 10 years are going to look like. But that picture has changed dramatically in the last three or four months.” In anticipation of a market recovery, the Foundation is moving to sell some of its fixed-income assets, like Treasury bonds, and buy equities, or stocks, which have struggled recently but are expected to rise in value in the near future. “It’s the age-old adage of selling high and buying low,” Stewart said. “Now is the time to be selling the fixed income high and buying stocks cheap.”

Once the “i’s” are dotted and the “t’s” are crossed, OU’s Judaic and Israeli studies minor will be a major in the College of Arts and Sciences. All it lacks is a signature. “From what I hear, the only thing between us becoming an official major is the signature of the chancellor [of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education]. I guess it’s on his desk,” said Norman Stillman, director of the Judaic and Israeli studies program. A new program request form cannot be cleared to the next phase of the approval process until the head of the board signs it, said Joyce Allman, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The board approved the program’s shift to a major in October. “It is a lengthy process, but it has justification for it,” she said. Stillman said the program decided to make the transition from a minor to a major at the request of students who were interested in the growing program. He said the program has also attracted an elite pool of faculty with several world-class scholars. “I feel a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for the program,” Stillman said. While the minor is reaching the final stages of the new program process, it has been more than a year since it officially sent in its formal request to become a new program.

“The process begins with the demand of the students, whether or not they want the minor to become a major and from there, the department fills out a new program request form off of the Provost’s Web site,” Allman said. The 10-page request form consists of multiple criteria including proposed curriculum, academic standards, faculty and budget estimates. After the form is submitted, Paul Bell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, looks over the form to ensure it is filled out adequately, Allman said. Then a course and curriculum committee looks over the form. After initial approval, the form is submitted for a week and is open to faculty protest. Then it awaits Bell’s signature. After the college dean signs his approval, the request form is passed through many different hands before it must be approved by the university’s academic programs council, the Provost’s office, the university’s Board of Regents and finally the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, she said. “It really depends on when the department gets their request form in and how the deadlines fit. Ideally, if you want the program to become a major that following fall, you need to get the form in the August of the school year,” she said. “After a program goes through a step, it takes a month for it to be placed on an agenda of the next approval committee.” With the transition from the minor to the major almost complete, the Judaic and Israeli Studies program is grateful for the support they have received in the past. “We are very fortunate with the support from the university and of the number of students taking classes, but we are also very fortunate to have generous and enlightened financial supporters,” Stillman said.

Amy Frost/The Daily

PostSecret founder Frank Warren talks Wednesday night in the Oklahoma Memorial Union about unpublished postcards he has received. He scans and posts cards online at his popular Web site, Postsecret.blogspot.com.

Secret Continued from page 1 was introduced on stage. “Hi, my name’s Frank, and I collect secrets,” Warren said, who carried with him a small box containing a few of the postcards he has received since he started the project four years ago. He said he thinks everyone should keep secrets in a box like the one he was holding, and every day each person can either choose to bury it like a coffin or open it and share the secrets like gifts. One of the secrets the box contained was written on a hotel room card key. Warren said the secret was, “Amanda, you suck at being in love.” Another one of the secrets came from an airport baggage handler, Warren said. That secret read, “You called me

an idiot, so I sent your bags to the wrong destination.” Warren said he carries that one with him when he travels because it reminds him always to treat people with respect. Madison Blocker, international security studies sophomore, is a member of the CAC Speaker’s Bureau, the group that brought Warren to Oklahoma. “We’ve been wanting to bring him for a long time,” Blocker said. “This is something we all share a passion for.” Meteorology junior Kelsey Mulder attended the speech, and has been a fan of PostSecret since learning about it through a friend two years ago. “I really like the funny ones, like, ‘I drool a lot,’” Mulder said. Not all of the secrets are

humorous. Warren said a secret that affected him was one he received on a postcard of the World Trade Center towers. The card read, “Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I’m dead.” Warren projected some of the secrets he received that were censored out of his books on the large screen, and he also asked some members of the audience to stand up and share their secrets, which he said was his favorite part of making speeches. He said he thinks the project has become so popular because it exposes faults and insecurities everybody has. “I feel as though I’ve tapped into something that has been there forever,” he said.

Ellis Goodwin, managing editor dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666 fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Campus News

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Charity drive yields more gifts than ever State agency warns of winter heating dangers

• ‘Fill the Trolley’ gift collection beats expectations despite economic crisis

• Malfunction can turns heater into ‘silent killer’

NATASHA GOODELL The Oklahoma Daily In the midst of an economic crisis, the OU and Norman communities rallied together Wednesday and gave more to the “Fill the Trolley” initiative than ever before. The goal of the “Fill the Trolley” initiative is to donate toys for the holidays to less fortunate families in Norman. “The University community’s generosity never ceases to amaze me,” said Kris Glenn, marketing public relations for Cleveland Area Rapid Transit at OU. This year, 52 student groups and organizations donated to Cleveland Area Rapid Transit “Fill the Trolley” initiative, up from 45 in 2007. This is the third year of the “Fill the Trolley” initiative. “Every stop that we went to was absolutely full of gifts, it was basketballs and baby dolls and bicycles and action figures,” Glenn said. “It was absolutely unbelievable.” The trolley made 52 stops Wednesday at Greek houses and businesses picking up boxes to take to the Cleveland County Christmas Store. The decorated boxes were overflowing with toys at each stop and took several hands to carry to the trolley. Santa and his helper met the various student groups and organizations as the boxes were collected. “It’s a great cause to give kids a good Christmas that they wouldn’t get to have,” economics junior Lindsey Ameen said. She said this was the first year her sorority and numerous other organizations participated in the initiative. To promote “Fill the Trolly,” Glenn went out in September and October to recruit campus organizations that would be willing to participate.

Check OUDaily.com for video of the record-breaking trolley drive.

JAMIE HUGHES The Oklahoma Daily The Oklahoma Poison Control Center is warning Oklahomans to get fuel-burning heating systems checked before firing them up this winter. According to the center, poorly functioning systems can cause deadly carbon monoxide gas. “Carbon monoxide — a colorless, odorless gas — is a silent killer,” said Randy Badillo, clinical supervisor for the center, in a press release. Students who live off campus should check their system or check with their landlords to make sure the heating unit is functioning properly, said Scott Schaeffer, assistant managing director of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center. If the unit has not been checked recently, students should work out a way to provide inspection, he said. Students do not need to worry if their house does not use gas systems, Schaeffer said. “Apartments are [usually] a dif-

ferent story,” he said. Most apartments have electric systems, and therefore don’t need to be checked, Schaeffer said. Students who live in university housing should check with housing offices to confirm they are not at risk for carbon monoxide poisoning. Schaeffer said people should avoid using propane or kerosene heaters indoors. He also said never to warm a car in a closed attached garage. If the gases do not go outside through proper ventilation, it could cause carbon monoxide to build up inside. “[They’re] absolute no-no’s,” he said. According to the press release, one could confuse low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning with other signs of illness and can go unnoticed. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain and confusion, the press release said. Schaeffer recommends purchasing a carbon monoxide detector, which cost around $40. He said to buy one with a display that shows how much carbon monoxide is in the air. If a landlord will not supply a carbon monoxide detector, students should purchase one themselves, Schaeffer said. “It’s a good investment,” he said.

Amy Frost/The Daily

Kris Glenn and Wayne Burch as Santa collect toys at IT on Campus Corner to fill the inside of one of the CART trolleys during the “Fill the Trolley” toy drive collection Wednesday.

“I was very pleased with my sorority’s response to it and I’m very excited about participating next year,” Ameen said. Glenn said the Christmas Store was worried they wouldn’t have enough toys for the less fortunate families this year. However, as a result of the success “Fill the Trolley” had this year, they will have plenty of gifts to give. “It has been a remarkable day, being able to fill three trolleys for the first time ever,” Glenn said. Linda McCarty, OU Information Technology and Staff Senate chair, said she enjoyed participating in the initiative this year.

“I enjoy working with charities and I do it each year, but this was just an opportunity to get the department to participate,” McCarty said. The IT department served cookies and hot chocolate to help raise awareness on Nov. 19, and contributed in the gift giving. IT was not the only OU department involved. Chris McNabb, a Financial Support Services employee, said he and his coworkers filled one box with toys in just a week and then filled a second. Glenn attributes this year’s increase in gifts to the current economic crisis, because people understand that many have lost their jobs and are struggling.

Photo illustration by Emily Ganus/The Daily

THIS WEEKEND AT YOUR UNIVERSITY T hursday, Dec. 4

Holiday Craft Factory | 7 p.m. in Crossroads Lounge, Oklahoma Memorial. Come and make some holiday crafts for your friends and family or yourself! Free snacks! Presented by the Union Programming Board.

Dream Course: Russian Artists in Europe and America during the 20th Century | 4 p.m. in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. “Russian Dancers in America,” presented by Monica Moseley, Dance History. For more information call (405) 325-4938.

Late Night Snacks | 9:30 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium Lobby. Enjoy some free snacks courtesy of the Union Programming Board and then see the 10 p.m. showing of “Dark Knight.” Who Loves You, OU?

Art After Hours: An Intuitive Approach to Art, Max Weber (1881 – 1961) | 5:30 p.m. in the Dee Dee and Jon R. Stuart Classroom, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. In 1916, Weber published Essays in Art, a book that emphasized an intuitive and spiritual approach to the creation of art. For more information call (405) 325-4938.

Sutton Artist Series: OU Symphony Orchestra | 8 p.m. in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall, Catlett Music Center. Adult admission $8, student, faculty/staff and senior admission $5. Please call F.A.C.T.S. Fine Arts Tickets Service at (405) 325-4101 for more information.

FREE Film: “Joyeux Noel” | 6 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union. Joyeux Noel is an award winning film that tells the true-lif story of the spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I. This Story proves that the war doesn’t determine who’s right, it determines who’s left, and that peace is possible. Presented by Wellness in Norman.

Contemporary Dance Oklahoma | 8 p.m. in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center. OU’s resident modern dance company delights audiences with exuberant dance technique, expression and athleticism. Call the Fine Arts Box office for ticket information, (405) 325-4101.

Holiday Happening | 6 p.m. at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Free museum admission, live music, photos with Santa and one-night-only discounts in Excavations, the museum store. This event is sponsored by Arvest Bank and TIAA-CREF’s Oklahoma College Savings Plan. Fred Films: “The Sacrifice” | 7 p.m. in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Fred Films Presents “The Sacrifice” (1986/dir. by Andrei Tarkovsky) 95 minutes. Free admission to students with a valid OU ID. For more information call (405) 325-4938. Sutton Artist Series: Combined Choirs | 8 p.m. in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall, Catlett Music Center. Adult admission $8, student, faculty/staff and senior admission $5. Please call F.A.C.T.S. Fine Arts Tickets Service at (405) 325-4101 for more information. American Artists from the Russian Empire Art Exhibition | Now through January 4, 2009 at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Comprised of over ninety works by artists such as Nicolai Fechin, Leon Gaspard, Jacques Lipchitz, Mark Rothko, Ben Shahn, Pavel Tchelitchew, and Max Weber, this exhibition examines the impact of American culture on Russian artists living in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century as well as the lasting influence these same artists had on the development of American art. For more information call (405) 325-4938.

Friday., Dec. 5 Guess The Score | 11:30 a.m. in the union food court. Think you know Sooner Football? Prove it at the Union Programming Board’s pre-game predictions for a chance to win great prizes. Play every Friday during football season to earn points and increase your chances of winning. Who Loves You, OU? FREE Movie: “Dark Knight” | 4, 7 & 10 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium. Presented by the Union Programming Board and Campus Activities Council Film Series.

Saturday, Dec. 6 FREE Film: “Joyeux Noel” | 4 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union. Joyeux Noel is an award winning film that tells the true-lif story of the spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I. This Story proves that the war doesn’t determine who’s right, it determines who’s left, and that peace is possible. Presented by Wellness in Norman. Big XII Championship Watch Party: OU vs. Missouri | 7 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union. Presented by the Union Programming Board. Contemporary Dance Oklahoma | 8 p.m. in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center. OU’s resident modern dance company delights audiences with exuberant dance technique, expression and athleticism. Call the Fine Arts Box office for ticket information, (405) 325-4101. Sutton Artist Series: Hammett, Stoops Bass/Guitar | 8 p.m. in the Morris R. Pitman Recital Hall, Catlett Music Center. Adult admission $8, student, faculty/staff and senior admission $5. Please call F.A.C.T.S. Fine Arts Tickets Service at (405) 325-4101 for more information.

Sunday, Dec. 7 FREE Film: “Joyeux Noel” | 2 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union. Joyeux Noel is an award winning film that tells the true-lif story of the spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I. This Story proves that the war doesn’t determine who’s right, it determines who’s left, and that peace is possible. Presented by Wellness in Norman. Contemporary Dance Oklahoma | 3 p.m. in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center. OU’s resident modern dance company delights audiences with exuberant dance technique, expression and athleticism. Call the Fine Arts Box office for ticket information, (405) 325-4101.

This University in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid and educational services. For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact the sponsoring department of any program or event.

Opinion

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Hailey Branson, opinion editor dailyopinion@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

OUR VIEW

Endowments could ease burden of college cost Oklahomans cannot afford to go to college. According to a National C e n t e r for Public OUR VIEW P o l i c i e s is an editorial report, selected and debated Oklahoma by the editorial board universiand written after a majority opinion is ties are formed and approved some of by the editor. Our the least View is The Daily’s oﬃcial opinion. affordable in the country, when their tuition and fees are compared to the aver-

age income of state residents. (See page 9 for details.) And Oklahoma is one of the poorest states in the nation, ranking 47th in terms of median household income, with an average of $38,770 per household. Poor and working class Oklahoma families must devote up to 37 percent of their income to send a person to a public, 4-year university in the state — even with financial aid. Particularly in a time when

STAFF COLUMN

the financial world as we know it is caving in, the affordability of Oklahoma colleges for Oklahomans is alarming. A college education is becoming more essential for success, but, as Oklahomans lose money in this economy, it is becoming less attainable. To help curb the problem, OU should try to increase the amount of its endowment money that goes toward scholarships for low-income students. OU has more than $1 billion

in endowments, with $138 million going toward a general scholarship fund. (See page 1 for details.) The administration has done a commendable job of upping scholarships lately. Over the last four years, the university has doubled the number of new scholarships. The Sooner Heritage Scholarship — which goes to students with financial needs who come from middleincome families also has been successful in helping families. But too many students still

cannot afford college. OU should consider using endowments to increase the number of available scholarships even more. The OU Development Office brings in gifts often for the university. Donors are recruited to give toward specific needs. While people like Tripp Hall, vice president for development, are in discussion with donors, they should emphasize the importance of scholarships — especially scholarships for poor- and middle-income stu-

dents — over just about everything else. We understand that new buildings and research tools funded by endowments are important for a prestigious university. And we appreciate the flowers landscaping-specific endowments grow. But when students in this state cannot afford to come to this university, some priorities may need to be realigned. If students cannot get in the doors, who is going to enjoy those buildings and flowers?

Mark Potts — broadcast and electronic media graduate student

STAFF CARTOON

Gay marriage right, homosexuality wrong

T H E

I N D E P E N D E N T

Graduating, for better or worse I graduate from OU in two weeks, and I recently was complaining to a friend about how I could not have picked a worse time to leave the bubble of college life. Newspapers across the country are laying off talented JERRY people every day. WOFFORD Jobs are hard to find for anyone, especially in other parts of the country. While the idea of not having to return to the grind of mundane lectures and meaningless papers written in one night without much thought is a reason for celebration, the thought of being jobless with student loans, rent and bills is debilitating. I have applied to 15 newspa-

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Dane Beavers Kevin Hahn Corey DeMoss Adam Kohut Judy Gibbs Robinson R.T. Conwell

people went to graduate school after they completed undergraduate work to try to save their life. However, using higher education to avoid involuntary military service would not have been an option for many. I could have graduated in 1930. That also would have sucked. Again, that’s assuming I would have had the means to attend college. I do, and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity. So, I probably shouldn’t complain that much. J o b s are harder t o come by, but they are still out there. Heck, waiting tables

and being a substitute teacher could be fun while the hunt continues. It could be better, but it sure could have been worse. Jerry Wofford is a journalism senior and staff writer for The Daily.

Three days left! The opportunity to gain valuable experience working for the award-winning Oklahoma Daily as an opinion writer for spring 2009 is now available, and there are only three days left to apply for a spring position. Applications can be picked up in The Oklahoma Daily

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pers in the past month, from the Associated Press to a small daily in Astoria, Ore., from California to Florida. Big and small, coast to coast and everything in between. I have had two responses, and they both were recent. In the midst of my complaining, my friend corrected me about my outlook on the situation. There could have been a worse time to graduate. I could ahve graduated during the 1970s, when the draft was in full swing. Instead of being afraid of not finding a job, I could have been drafted and been afraid of bullets whizzing by my head. It made me realize that what we are going through right now with two wars (and maybe more), an economy that has tanked and astronomical healthcare costs, it could be worse. In the time of the draft,

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Stephen Carradini is a professional writing junior. His column appeared every other Tuesday this semester.

STAFF COLUMN

Being a patriotic American and a devout Christian gets very difficult for me when the issue of gay marriage is brought up. There just aren’t that many people who that think gay marriage is both a constitutional necessity and morally wrong, as I do. The writers of the First Amendment took special pains to make sure that America would not be a Christian nation. They mandated that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Even though a number of our founding fathers were Christians, they decided against basing our country their religion or any other STEPHEN religion. CARRADINI It is, however, based on freedom for all, which is clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. One of the first points in the Declaration is that “all men are created equal.” And when it says “all,” I believe that it says “all” because it truly means all. We give members of Westboro Baptist Church the same rights as the motorcyclists who (righteously) drown them out. One of the main reasons that people vote against this equality for homosexuals is that Christianity considers homosexuality morally wrong. This country, however, is not a theocracy; therefore, following our stated principles (freedom) should be valued above legislating the morality of a certain religion, which we expressly decided we would not do. I believe that if heterosexual people have the freedom to marry, then homosexual people ought to have that right as well. That’s equal. Wouldn’t this lead us down a slippery slope toward legalized bestiality and acceptable pedophilia? No. No man, heterosexual or homosexual, is allowed to marry an animal. No woman, heterosexual or homosexual, is allowed to marry those who are underage without parental consent. If these things were to appear, I would be against them. These are absolutely wrong, not wrong based on religion. The legalization of homosexual marriage is an equal-rights issue. I view this issue in much the same way that I view the fight for African-American civil rights in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. This pro-gay marriage stance puts me in the minority of Christians. But I’m not totally liberal; I do believe that homosexuality is wrong. I believe God created man and woman, and not any other configuration, to be together in marriage. But let it not be said that I hate homosexuals, or even that I hate homosexuality more than any other sin. Demonizing homosexuality as a sin worse than heterosexual promiscuity, gossiping, greed, anger or anything else isn’t scriptural. All sins are viewed equally by God. Here’s another shocker: Jesus Christ hung out with the promiscuous gossipers and the unrepentant, greedy jerks. Christ would’ve hung out with homosexuals, and given that there is nothing new under the sun, he probably did. There is no record of Jesus calling out someone for homosexuality. He instead admonished the Pharisees, who made life hard for people in the name of religion. So yes, I think homosexuality is wrong; but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to berate you in the name of religion. If I saw people who said they represent Christ act hatefully towards me, I wouldn’t be part of their hate. I don’t follow Christ so I can spread hate; that’s contradictory to the message Christ brought. My religion influences my opinion on homosexuality, but it does not influence my opinion of homosexuals. Do I think homosexuality is wrong? Do I think homosexuals should be allowed to marry? The answer to both is yes.

newsroom, 160 Copeland Hall. Applications will be due by 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5 to Ray Martin, The Daily’s spring opinion editor. If you have any questions, please e-mail dailyopinion@ ou.edu or call the newsroom at 325-3666.

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through Thursday, in 160 Copeland Hall. Letters can also be submitted via e-mail to dailyopinion@ou.edu. Guest columns are accepted at editor’s discretion. ’Our View’ is the voice of The Oklahoma Daily. Editorial Board members are The Daily’s editorial staff. The board meets 1 p.m. Sundays in 160 Copeland Hall. Columnists’ and cartoonists’ opinions are not necessarily the opinions of The Daily Editorial Board.

Sports

Corey DeMoss, sports editor dailysports@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Women’s basketball surges past Creighton • Coale sends early message to starting lineup MATT WELCH The Oklahoma Daily After the No. 6 OU women’s basketball team began Wednesday’s game against Creighton shooting 0-for-2, head coach Sherri Coale found a new way to fire up her squad. Just 90 seconds into a game in which the Sooners struggled to find an early rhythm on offense, Coale benched the entire starting five. “There wasn’t a single one of [the starters] playing with life,” Coale said. “[Nobody was] playing with energy, communicating and all the things that we feel like we hang our hat on with this program … I loved the way the five that came in changed the flavor of the game immediately.” The Sooner bench rose to the occasion and converted on its first three shot attempts, as OU rode a balanced attack to a 69-49 victory over a well-prepared Blue Jay squad at Lloyd Noble Center. After managing only four points in a 102-78 loss to No. 1 Connecticut Sunday, the Sooner bench combined for 21 of the Sooners’ 38 points in the first half, led by a 3-for-3, eight-point effort by sophomore forward Carlee Roethlisberger. On the evening, senior forward Ashley Paris led the offensive charge for OU with 15 points and

11 rebounds, while sophomore Courtney made it difficult for her guard Danielle Robinson added to pass out.” The hard-nosed defense gave eight points and 10 assists. Junior forward and team cap- way late in the game, as Courtney tain Amanda Thompson was Paris sprinted down the court, finamong the starters pulled and said ished a Sooner fastbreak with her the team just had to find a new 11th point of the game and kept her long-standing double-double way to show leadership. “[Being benched] was a dif- streak alive. Finishing the evening with ferent route to take,” Thompson said. “We had to find a way to 11 points and 16 rebounds, she lead from off the bench … it’s just extended her streak to 99 contrying to regroup yourself and get secutive double-doubles. The Blue Jays proved to be a everybody involved because we test for the Sooners and did not go definitely started off slow.” The Creighton defense came quietly, staying within five points within 90 seconds of doing some- of the Sooners for the majority of thing no team in the country has the first half. W i t h managed to t h r e e do since Dec. minutes 2005: hold remaining senior cenin the half, ter Courtney OU held Paris under Creighton 10 points. to only 36 Creighton percent did it’s best from the to stymie the field and All-American, e d g e d pulling one the Blue of its guards Jays in off the ball to reboundhelp converge ing, blocks on Courtney and free Paris anytime an entry pass — Head coach Sherri Coale t h r o w s , yet found seemed plaut h e m sible. Through selves up 30 minutes of play, the opportunistic Blue Jay by three points and Coale said her defense held Courtney Paris to squad was sluggish in the early only four attempts from the field. going. “We were uninspired in every “[Creighton] had a bigger guard on Danielle [Robinson] phase of the game,” she said. “I because that’s where they were thought we took the floor like a going to double from,” Coale said. team that thought we could just “That size going in to double on show up and win because we had

“[Nobody was] playing with energy, communicating and all the things that we feel like we hang our hat on with this program.”

‘Oklahoma’ on our jersey.” The Sooners quickly asserted themselves over Creighton near the break, rattling off the last 11 points of the half and headed into the locker room with a 38-26 lead. The late run by OU proved to be the difference maker as the game progressed, with both squads trading baskets during the early stages of the second frame in a half that was similar to the first. After a three-pointer from junior guard Chevelle Herring cut the Sooners’ lead to nine points with seven minutes remaining, OU went on a 13-0 run to extend its cushion to 22 points at 66-44, and Robinson said the team is going to need a more balanced showing, especially in the early stages. “The first four minutes have to be huge for us,” Robinson said. “We have to come out and jump right at the tip and I don’t think we’ve done that yet … we’ve been playing really hard in practice and we just need to find a way to transfer that.” The Sooners finished the game shooting 47 percent from the field and held the Blue Jays to 31 percent shooting. Creighton was nothing short of a two-player show on offense, with Herring scoring a game-high 16 points and junior forward Megan Neuvirth adding 15. The Sooners return to action Amy Frost/The Daily on Sunday when they travel to Senior Courtney Paris (3) pulls down a rebound as teammate Whitney Hand (25) Jonesboro, Ark., for a 2 p.m. contest against Arkansas State. OU’s looks on. Paris had 11 points and16 rebounds on the night, but came within 90 next game home is set for Dec. 21, seconds of failing to register a double-double for the first time in three years. when they host Tulsa.

OU prepares for Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series • Sooners take on USC “[USC is] a team that’s lost two games this year tonight at 6 in Norman but sometimes that helps the coaches get the STEVEN JONES The Oklahoma Daily

Michelle Gray/The Daily

Blake Griffin (23) goes up for a layup in OU’s Nov. 22 game against Gardner Webb. Griffin leads the Sooners with 25.7 points and 19.2 rebounds per game, and will be looking to continue his success tonight at 6 against USC at Lloyd Noble Center.

Last year, in a battle between two super freshmen, USC’s O.J. Mayo outshined OU’s Blake Griffin and the Trojans defeated the Sooners 66–55 in Los Angeles. But in this season’s rematch in the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series — which takes place at 6 tonight at Lloyd Noble Center — there are a few differences. For starters, this season’s contest is in Norman. Second, the Sooners are ranked No. 6 in the country, while USC has dropped from the top 25 after losses to Seton Hall and Missouri. And Mayo is in the NBA, while Griffin is playing like a national player of the year candidate for the Sooners. Still, despite the Trojans’ 5-2 record, head coach Jeff Capel said this could be the best team OU has played this season. “I think they may be the most talented team that we’ve played so far,” Capel said. “They’re a team that’s lost two games this year but sometimes that helps the coaches get the players’ attention. We know that they’re a team that’s going to be hungry to come in here and win.” The Sooners are coming off their biggest win of the season, an 87–82 victory Friday over No. 10 Purdue in overtime to win the NIT Season Tip-Off. Following the victory, Griffin said he knows the team still has room for improvement, and he hopes that can continue to progress tonight. “We just need to be a little bit more aggressive, putting the ball inside; not passing inside but driving inside, penetrat-

players’ attention. We know that they’re a team that’s going to be hungry to come in here and win.” — Head coach Jeff Capel ing, stuff like that,” Griffin said. “I think right now we’re too good of a team, we’ve got too good of guards to be passive.” The Sooners were anything but passive against Purdue, as they were able to get to the free throw line 46 times to Purdue’s five. Freshman guard Willie Warren got to the free-throw line 13 times, hitting 11 of those, and scored a career-high 22 points. Warren said that kind of aggressiveness will win OU a lot of games. “I feel that getting to the line will help turn out the [outcome] of every game,” Warren said. “The team that gets to the line the most and makes the most free throws is usually the team that comes out on top.” USC is led by a trio of juniors — forward Taj Gibson and guards Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis — who are all averaging more than 10 points per game. Griffin, who is averaging 25.7 points and 19.2 rebounds per game, leads the Sooners in both categories. Warren is also averaging 14.8 points per game. Griffin said he expects the Trojans to try some different defensive techniques tonight to try and slow down OU’s offensive attack.

“We expect them to kind of throw a lot of junk defense at us, kind of do some things we haven’t seen before,” Griffin said. “They’ve got a lot of players that were ranked high coming out of high school or done well in college so it should be an interesting test for us.” While USC is now unranked, the Sooners know that tonight’s game could be difficult. In the Trojan’s two losses this season, they gave up early leads. Capel said that if his team doesn’t play well, the Trojans are capable of coming up with an upset. “It’s two good teams, two talented teams and I expect it to be a good game,” Capel said. “I hope we can play really well. I hope we can shoot the ball well, I hope we can execute well, I hope we can really defend them to a very high level and if we do that then I like our chances. But we know we’re going to have to be at a very high level because we expect them to play really well.” The Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series is an annual week-long event during which almost all of the two conference’s schools play one another. This week, there will be nine games between Big 12 and Pac 10 schools, including OU’s game tonight.

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Sports

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Bradford earns high praise â&#x20AC;˘ Stoops says sophmore is the best quarterback he has coached JOEY HELMER The Oklahoma Daily Head coach Bob Stoops is cautious about comparing current players to outstanding players in the past. Most good coaches are. But he made an exception to that rule this week when he said sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford is the best heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coached at OU. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At this point, I think I would have been asked that too early in times past when maybe is he the best weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had, and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s any question now,â&#x20AC;? Stoops said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What Jason White was able to do was absolutely incredible with his circumstances and what he fought through, and Josh Heupel, what he was able to do in a short period of time here, but what this guy has done for two straight years now [is exceptional].â&#x20AC;? White won the 2003 Heisman Trophy, and Heupel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; now OUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quarterbacks coach â&#x20AC;&#x201D; guided the Sooners to the 2000 National Championship and was the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy campaign that year. Bradford has now won 2008 Big 12 offensive player of the year and might be on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Obviously, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the elite players in the country and I certainly feel that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deserving of [offensive player of the year] the way he has catapulted our offense,â&#x20AC;? Heupel said. Stoops marveled at Bradfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consistency and how rarely he makes mistakes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just uncanny how accurate he is, how consistent he is, and I have to ask you â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Have you seen a bad ballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;?â&#x20AC;? Stoops said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just amazing that he has that kind of ability.â&#x20AC;? Stoops added that Bradfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s frame has a lot to do with it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got that little extra size and more size than the other guys weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had,â&#x20AC;? Stoops said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got pocket presence, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a better athlete as people see. He comes out of the pocket [more] than heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ever given credit for, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got that touch and precision to put the ball in different places, different ways whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fast, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lobbed over people.â&#x20AC;? Stoops specifically pointed out a 3rd and 15 pass on the first drive of the Bedlam game that demonstrated Bradfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s precision throwing from the pocket. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That ball he threw to Juaquin Iglesias the third play of the game, he drops that thing right

Zach Butler/The Daily

Quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel (left) and quarterback Sam Bradford (14) walk together during OUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nov. 22 game against Texas Tech. Head coach Bob Stoops said this week that Bradford is the best quarterback he has coached, even compared to Jason Whiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Heisman Trophy and Heupelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national championship victory. over two guys, right in his hands, you know, and we dropped it, but that couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been any better,â&#x20AC;? Stoops said. That very ability to put the ball on the money consistently has been a major reason Bradford has thrown for more than 7,000 yards and 82 touchdowns in his first two seasons as quarterback for OU, shattering former Florida quarterback Rex Grossmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record of 55 touchdowns. This year, he has thrown for nearly 4,100 yards and 46 touchdowns, only tossing six interceptions with two games to go in the season. That has given him a 190.97 quarterback rating. When told about Stoopsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; comparisons, Bradford was humbled, but responded with his constant competitive nature.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge compliment to hear that; it means a lot,â&#x20AC;? Bradford said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But there are still a lot of things that we need to accomplish this season. Obviously, Coach Heupel was able to win a national championship. Jason White was able to play in a couple of national championships. I feel like I have yet to do that, so there are a lot of things that I need to do before I can be considered with those guys.â&#x20AC;? When Heupel heard Stoopsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; comments, he briefly joked about them before becoming serious. He then agreed with Stoopsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoughts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uh, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know that he said that; his memory must not be real good,â&#x20AC;? Heupel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would certainly echo those sentiments.â&#x20AC;? Bradford and the Sooners will look to beat Missouri for the third time in two seasons when they take the field Saturday in the Big 12 Championship.

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STAFF COLUMN

In the end, the Big 12 got it right E ver since the newest BCS rankings that pushed OU into the Big 12 Championship were announced Sunday, the only thing the national media have talked about is the fact that Texas beat the Sooners in Dallas. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t argue that point, but have people suddenly forgotten that Texas lost to Texas Tech? Or that OU absolutely obliterated Tech by 44 points? It baffles me how one-sided the argument has been, claiming Texas was treated unfairly. The only disputes Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard have revolved around the Big 12â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manner of breaking a threeway tie. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If this same situation happened in the SEC, Texas would go to the conference champiCOREY onship,â&#x20AC;? they say. But is this the SEC? No, and everybody knew DEMOSS how the tiebreaker would be decided all season. To cry foul about it now is futile. Texas fans clearly knew this was how things would turn out. Why begin a Facebook group, make signs and fly a plane over Stillwater if they thought the Longhornsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance on the field would be enough to qualify them for the Big 12 Championship? Texas controlled its own destiny, and was unable to beat a supposedly inferior team. The Longhorns had a tough schedule before facing Tech, but that is not an excuse. For all the proponents of a playoff system, for a team to win the national title it would have to beat three of the eight best teams in the nation. Tech was simply a better team the day it played Texas. None of the teams in the Big 12 earned the right to complain about being slighted by the system. They all could have avoided this fate by winning their games, but they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Any three-way tie is difficult to break and essentially will leave at least one deserving team on the outside looking in. OUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full body of work has been more impressive. Both teams have one loss, so the higher-ranked team should be determined by the quality of its opponents and the quality of its wins. Texasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; non-conference schedule was vastly inferior to OUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. The Longhorns played Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Rice and Arkansas. None of those teams are ranked, and only Rice even has a vote in any major poll. Meanwhile, the Sooners soundly defeated Cincinnati and TCU. Both are ranked in the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top 15, and Cincinnati will be going to a BCS bowl. Yes, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m aware OU also played Chattanooga and Washington, both awful teams. But Chattanooga was only on the schedule because LSU backed out and Washington was good when OU scheduled it. Texas scheduled four bad opponents to OUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two. We have always known that losing early in the season is better than losing late. And looking good late in the season has always made a huge difference. OU lost first and manhandled its last four opponents, scoring at least 60 points in all four games. The bottom line: The resolution to this situation was never going to please everyone. The system may be inherently flawed, but in this case the right team is playing for the Big 12 Championship. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; COREY DEMOSS IS THE SPORTS EDITOR AND A JOURNALISM SENIOR.

Arts & Entertainment

Adam Kohut, A&E editor dailyent@ou.edu phone: 325-5189, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

AP Photo

Michelle Davis-Balfour, the mother of accused murderer William Balfour, refuses to talk to the media Wednesday as she leaves Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago. Bail was denied for her son, who was charged Tuesday with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion in connection with the murders of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson’s family. Prosecutors allege Balfour, Jennifer Hudson’s estranged brother-in-law, killed three family members because he was angry the singer’s sister was dating another man.

Suspect in Hudson murders has long rap sheet DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO — The man charged with murdering the mother, brother and nephew of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was a high-school dropout and street gang member with a long rap sheet for drug offenses and stealing cars. William Balfour’s estranged wife, Hudson’s sister, knew he was trouble — listing him on her MySpace page as the person she knew who was most likely to get arrested. “He was always doing crazy (things), trying to carjack people, like that,” said Kevin Bennett, who grew up across the street from the Hudson home in the city’s Englewood neighborhood and knew Balfour. “He was always asking for money.” On Wednesday, a judge denied bond and ordered Balfour held on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Darnell Hudson Donerson, Jason Hudson and 7-year-old Julian King. Prosecutors said Balfour was angry because Julia Hudson was dating another man. Defense attorney Joshua Kutnick said no forensic evidence links Balfour to the slayings, and a woman who claims Balfour confessed to her is “highly suspect.” Prosecutors briefly outlined Balfour’s history at the bond hearing, but more details emerge from court and arrest

records and from people who know him. Raised by his mother and a godmother while his father served a prison sentence for murder, Balfour’s record shows juvenile arrests dating to 1996 for marijuana possession and criminal trespass to a vehicle, then probation violations for arrests on the same counts. His arrests and detentions got in the way of school, and he dropped out in the 10th grade. Placed in a group home in 1997, he stayed only a couple of months before returning to Chicago. He worked at low-paying jobs, one as a grill man in a Wendy’s restaurant and another at a steakhouse salad bar. Balfour and his brother both found drugs, with his brother serving time on a cocaine charge. In 1992, he joined the Gangster Disciples; his nickname was “Flex.” His most serious brush with the law came in 1998, when Balfour hopped in a Chevrolet Suburban and drove off. The owner, Charles Gardner, jumped on the vehicle to stop him, but Balfour stepped on the gas. Balfour drove off with Gardner “hanging on top of it at a high rate of speed down an expressway, swerving and weaving in and out of traffic,” according to records. He drove through red lights and intentionally hit a light pole, a fence and an iron gate, records say. That led to a conviction for attempt-

ed murder and vehicular hijacking and landed Balfour in state prison for seven years. He walked out of prison in May 2006 and was placed on parole until May of next year. At Balfour’s bond hearing Wednesday, Kutnick portrayed his client as a man who used his time in prison wisely, earning his GED and a custodian certificate. “In prison, he didn’t just sit and wallow,” Kutnick said. After Balfour got out, he started dating Julia Hudson, a young woman he’d known from high school. Five days after Christmas 2006, the two married. The same month, her sister starred in the movie “Dreamgirls,” a role that would earn Jennifer Hudson an Academy Award for best supporting actress. Drugs remained a part of Balfour’s life after prison. He was arrested in June with crack cocaine in his car, parole records show. A judge dismissed the charge for lack of probable cause. Bennett, the neighbor, said people were stunned when Julia Hudson married Balfour, whom he described as someone he did his best to avoid. It isn’t clear when their marriage began to unravel, but Bennett said it was well-known that Julia Hudson wanted out. “Julia didn’t want to deal with him because she started to see what kind of person he was,” said Bennett. “Julia was already leaving him, and he got mad about that.”

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Wartime Christmas film to screen this weekend in Union DAILY STAFF The Oklahoma Daily “Joyeux Noel,” a powerful anti-war film about the true story of a unique wartime Christmas, will screen this weekend in Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. The film tells the story of French, German and Scottish troops who declared a Christmas Eve truce during World War I. They join together to sing Christmas carols, share champagne and chocolate, play soccer and attend mass together — but peace cannot last forever in the middle of a war. The screening is sponsored by Wellness in Norman and the OU Student Union Film Club. “Joyeux Noel” earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 and won the Audience Award at the Leeds International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival in 2005. The screening is sponsored by Wellness in Norman, an organization dedicated to “improving the health and well-being of the community,” according to the its Web site.

‘JOYEUX NOEL’ When: 6:00 p.m. Thursday 4:00 p.m. Saturday 2:00 p.m. Sunday Where: Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union How much: Free

A&E BRIEFLY Stolen antiquities returned from NY to Egypt

Empire State stuntman convicted, faces prison

NEW YORK — Dozens of ancient artifacts stolen by a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot were returned to the Egyptian government on Wednesday during a ceremony in Manhattan. Officials said the items, including several small urns on display at the ceremony, came from the Ma’adi archaeological site outside Cairo and date to 3600 B.C. or earlier. “When (the military officer) stole these items from Egypt, he robbed a nation of part of its history,” said Peter J. Smith, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s New York office. “The repatriation of the Ma’adi artifacts reunites the people of Egypt with an important piece of their cultural heritage.” Also on hand were Egyptian Ambassador Hussein Mubarak and Attiya Radwan, head of the Central Department for Upper Egypt Monuments. Edward George Johnson, a chief warrant officer from Fayetteville, N.C., was arrested in February in Alabama on charges of transportation of stolen property and wire fraud. Johnson was deployed in Cairo in September 2002 when some 370 pre-dynastic artifacts were stolen from the Ma’adi Museum. In January 2003, he contacted an art dealer about buying some of the items. The art dealer bought about 80 pieces for $20,000 after Johnson said his grandfather acquired the antiquities when he worked in Egypt in the 1930s and ‘40s, authorities said. Some of the items were later consigned to galleries in Manhattan, London, Zurich and Montreal, among other places. The government said experts had determined the majority of the items he sold had been stolen from the museum. The pieces were originally excavated from the archaeological site in the 1920s and ‘30s.

NEW YORK — A former television host who tried to parachute off the Empire State Building has been convicted of reckless endangerment. Jeb Corliss was convicted Wednesday in Manhattan state Supreme Court. He faces up to a year in prison for trying to jump off the 102-story building in 2006. The 32-year-old had said he studied traffic patterns around the landmark before the attempt. Prosecutors say he could have caused injuries if he had jumped. Corliss was the host of a Discovery Channel show called “Stunt Junkies” that features extreme athletes performing stunts. He had testified that he had jumped from more than 1,000 buildings and cliffs around the world.

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‘ER’ to end its lengthy run March 12, NBC says NEW YORK — NBC says “ER” will treat its last patients during a two-hour series ﬁnale set to air March 12. A week after that medical drama ends its 15-season run, NBC will introduce “Kings,” an ambitious new series set in the present but based on the Biblical tale of David and Goliath. It stars Ian McShane (“Deadwood”) as the powerful monarch of mythical Gilboa.

— AP

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Classifieds

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

PLACE AN AD Phone 405.325.2521

E-Mail classifieds@ou.edu

Fax

Announcements ENTERTAINMENT 2009 spring break taste of Ireland, 6 days, air, lodging, private bus, meals, and certified Irish guides, room for 50 people on special rate, 1st deposit due mid Jan. 2009. for more info call 3308068 or www.scissortailtravel.com

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MISC. FOR SALE FOR SALE pool table $300, FOR SALE 14’ Aluminum boat, 15hp electric start motor, and trailer $1250. 100cc pocket crotch rocket bike $225. Call 360-1937

TICKETS FOR SALE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS! 8 same row tickets $150 ea., 8 hospitality tent tickets $50 ea., parking pass $20, call or text (785)550-3142.

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AUTO INSURANCE

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Auto Insurance Quotations Anytime Foreign Students Welcomed Jim Holmes Insurance, 321-4664

Payment Payment is required at the time the ad is placed. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express; cash, money orders or local checks accepted.

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Employment HELP WANTED Seeking part time and full time employees visit boomerbooks.com to apply. High energy waitstaff wanted! Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar. Apply in person: I-40 & Rockwell. Taco Bell is looking for friendly faces! Help wanted for afternoons & late night. Competitive salaries, great benefits, and a career with a future! Apply in person at Taco Bell 1024 24th St. NW in Norman! Ask for Charles! Great things start here!

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Bartending! Up to $250/day. No exp nec. Training provided. 1-800-965-6520, x133.

2 bedrms starting at $299 lease today, move in tomorrow! Call 366-0999.

Financial institution has immediate opening for an experienced teller. Previous banking experience or experience in retail is preferred. Strong customer service skills req. Earn monthly performance incentives in addition to salary. Part time positions available. Apply in person at First Bank & Trust Co., 2330 36th Ave NW, Norman or send resume to Human Resources, PO Box 580, Duncan,OK 73534. EOE, M/F/D/V.

$400, bills paid, efficiency LOFT apartments, downtown over Mister Robert Furniture, 109 E Main, fire sprinkler, no pets, smoke-free. Inquire store office.

America’s FAST LANE is now hiring lube techs, car wash attendants, service advisors, cashiers, and management trainees. Full and part-time positions are available with no experience necessary. Fast Lanes offers competitive pay, flexible schedules, and opportunity for advancement. Apply in person at 1235 West Main Street, Norman OK or call 321-5260. SOONERSNEEDJOBS.COM Paid survey takers needed in Norman 100% FREE to join. Click on Surveys.

$5,000-$45,000 PAID. EGG DONORS for up to 9 donations, + Exps, non-smokers, Ages 19-29, SAT>1100/ACT>24/GPA>3.00 Contact: info@eggdonorcenter.com Make up to $75 per online survey www.cashtospend.com. The UPS Store: Part time and seasonal help wanted immediately! Apply in person at 3334 W. Main in Norman. We pay up to $75.00 per online survey! www.cashtospend.com. Male needed to work with male individual with developmental disabilities. &7.50/hr to start. Paid training. Please call Panhandle Opportunities at 942-4822 or fax resume to 942-4993. MARC HEITZ CHEVROLET, Oklahoma’s #1 Chevy Dealer, is seeking a part-time receptionist. Qualified candidates must be mature, have a bright personality, and be able to multi-task. Experience a plus;yet, not required. We will train. Hours are 2-9pm every other Tues; 2-9pm every Thurs; 2-9pm every other Fri; and 8am-2pm every Sunday. Apply in person between 9:004:00. Please see receptionist and be prepared to interview. 1221 Ed Noble Parkway.

APTS. UNFURNISHED VERY NICE!!!, 800 sf, 1 bdrm, living room, kitchen, bth, wood floors, 1 block OU, 1018 S College, $275/mo. Call 306-1970 or 360-2873. 1/2 OFF 1ST MONTHS RENT Dec. & Jan. Move-ins only! $99 DEPOSIT! PETS WELCOME! Models open 8a-8p Everyday! 1&2 bedrooms available! Elite Properties 360-6624 or www.elite2900.com

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NEAR OU, nice 2 bd, 1 bth Duplex, carpet, CH/A, w/d hkup, $425/mo, $300/dep, no pets. Ref req. 329-5568 or 496-3993, lv msg. 2 bdrm house, 4 blks to OU, wood floors, CH/A, stove, refrig, w/d, no pets, $600/mo. Call BOB, MISTER ROBERT FURNITURE, 321-1818. Near OU, 3 bed, 1.5 bth, ch/a, garage, no pets, 504 Inwood Dr, $750/mo., deposit required. Call 996-6592 or 329-1933 Nice, large 3-4 bd, 826 Jona Kay, 3/2/2/2 living, fp, 2000sf, $950/mo; 2326 Lindenwood, 4/2.5/2/3 living, 2400sf, $995/mo. 360-2873 or 306-1970. 2 bdrm house, 4 blks to OU, wood floors, CH/A, stove, refrig, w/d, no pets, $600/mo. Call BOB, MISTER ROBERT FURNITURE, 321-1818. NOW LEASING FOR MAY 2009, nice 3 bed brick houses 1 & 2 blks west of OU on College or Chautauqua Ave. call BOB Mister Robert Furniture 109 E. Main 321-1818, or stop by to apply for other sizes.

Report incidents at:

325-5000 The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution.

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Difficulty Schedule: Monday - Very Easy Tuesday - Easy Wednesday - Easy Thursday - Medium Friday - Hard

Edited by Timothy E. Parker December 04, 2008

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Universal Crossword

Classified Card Ads are $170 per column inch with a minimum of 2 column inchs and run 20 consecutive issues. Ad copy may change every five issues.

POLICY

Previous Solution

Instructions: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

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Sell your stuff.

1,2,3,&4 bedrooms, starting at $350/mo. 1/2 OFF FIRST MONTHS RENT! Available immediately. The Edge at Norman. Call (303) 550-5554 or email: iris_macintosh@msn.com.

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2 col (3.792 in) x 2 inches Sudoku ...........$760/month Boggle............$760/month Jumble ...........$760/month Horoscope .....$760/month

One roommate needed for spring semester, 5 min walk to campus, room has private bathroom, $290/mo.+utilities. Inquiries call: (972)533-7429.

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Hazing?

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Can you believe what some children have to face as they grow up? In the past year alone, we’ve helped almost one million children stay in school and choose success. But there are millions more who need your help. We’re Communities In Schools and we were named one of the “100 non-profits most likely to save the world” by Worth Magazine. Now that you know who we are, just think what we can accomplish with your help.

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One Bedroom

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ACROSS 1 Easy hoop for a center 6 Cat scratch sources 11 Doberman sound 14 Informed 15 Member of a clone 16 Milne marsupial 17 Opie, at the lake, sometimes 19 Do sum math? 20 Makes tea the old-fashioned way 21 Amid the waves 23 Sweet-talked 26 Uses, as a mattress 27 Keenness of mind 28 Stop, as a liquid flow (Var.) 30 “Ready or not, here I ___!” 31 When many workers return to the office 32 Frequently, in poesy 35 Abstract sculptor Jean 36 Under, at the hospital 38 Single layer 39 “By the time I count to three” follower 40 TV beatnik Maynard G. ___

41 Box for practice 42 Acts as king 44 Straight man? 46 Vehicle stickers 48 Lengths of service 49 Asteroids game company 50 Become tiresome to 52 “Ay, there’s the ___” 53 Favorite 58 “… ___ the cows come home” 59 Harding in 1994 headlines 60 Davis of “The Fly” 61 Boston-toNantucket dir. 62 Popeye’s creator E.C. 63 Businessman Perot DOWN 1 What a steamroller steamrolls 2 “Sands of ___ Jima” 3 Source of campaign spending 4 Annoying 5 Big name in chocolate 6 Reacted to a tearjerker 7 Certain Arctic Circle native 8 Big concert equipment 9 Itsy-bitsy 10 Like a baby’s peas

11 Aesop’s loafer 12 The bucking stops here 13 Japanese film monster 18 Sharp as a tack 22 Sleuth, slangily 23 Chocolateyielding tree 24 Cheek pouch morsel 25 It’ll help you get started 26 Broderick’s co-star in “The Producers” 28 Drives the point home? 29 “Daddy Day Care” extras 31 Yemen’s Gulf of ___ 33 Disabled vehicle alert 34 Amateurs 36 Mountain climbers, of

a sort 37 Units of work 41 Major upset 43 “In one ___ and out the other” 44 Berlin mister 45 Just the right amount 46 Pub diversion 47 Notions holders 48 Golden Horde member 50 Karloff’s Chinese sleuth 51 Grammy winner for “A Day Without Rain” 54 Sturgeon output 55 “Chosen one” played by Keanu 56 Winning trio? 57 Dorm overseers, for short

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News & Details

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

NEWS BRIEFS

CAMPUS NOTES

Bombs found in Mumbai train station after attacks MUMBAI, India — Police searching a mound of baggage abandoned amid the carnage of the attack on Mumbai’s main train station found two bombs Wednesday — nearly a week after they were left there by gunmen — in a stunning new example of the botched security that has become a major issue in India since the three-day siege. The discovery came as Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India is “determined to act decisively” following the attacks, saying the evidence was clear the gunmen came from Pakistan and their handlers are still there. His words, the strongest yet from the government, came as thousands of Indians — many calling for war with Pakistan — held a vigil in Mumbai to mark one week since the start of the rampage that killed 171 people. While searching through about 150 bags, which police believed were left by the dozens of victims in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station, an oﬃcer found a suspicious-looking bag and called the bomb squad, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Bapu Domre. Inside were two 8.8-pound bombs, which were taken away and safely detonated, he said. After the attacks, police found unexploded bombs at several of the sites, including two luxury hotels and a Jewish center. It was not immediately clear why the bags at the station were not examined earlier. The station, which serves hundreds of thousands of commuters, was declared safe and reopened hours after the attack. AP Photo

University of California, Los Angeles, Professor of Psychiatry Dr. Gary Small holds a human brain model in his office Monday at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior in Westwood, Calif. He suggests young people who’ve spent too much time using the Internet and playing video games have wired their brains for technology rather than social skills.

Scientists study impact of technology on the brain MALCOLM RITTER Associated Press NEW YORK — What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they’re coming from brain scientists. While violent video games have gotten a lot of public attention, some current concerns go well beyond that. Some scientists think the wired world may be changing the way we read, learn and interact with each other. There are no firm answers yet. But Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatrist at UCLA, argues that daily exposure to digital technologies such as the Internet and smart phones can alter how the brain works. When the brain spends more time on technology-related tasks and less time exposed to other people, it drifts away from fundamental social skills like reading facial expressions during conversation, Small asserts. So brain circuits involved in faceto-face contact can become weaker, he suggests. That may lead to social awkwardness, an inability to interpret nonverbal messages, isolation and less interest in traditional classroom learning. Small says the effect is strongest in so-called digital natives — people in their teens and 20s who have been “digitally hard-wired since toddlerhood.” He thinks it’s important to help the digital natives improve their social skills and older people — digital immigrants — improve their technology skills. At least one 19-year-old Internet enthusiast gives Small’s idea a mixed review. John Rowe, who lives near Pasadena, Calif., spends six to 12 hours online a day. He switches from instant messaging his friends POLICE REPORTS Names are compiled from the Norman Police Department or the OU Department of Public Safety. The report serves as a public record of arrests or citations, not convictions. The people here are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

AGGRAVATED DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Kimberly Susan Barker-Smail, 18, 1500 block Eisenhower Road, Tuesday

UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF PARAPHERNALIA Melinda Rene Bradford, 30, E. State Highway 9, Tuesday, also possession of controlled dangerous substances and possession of marijuana Melvin Douglas Shaw, 39, E. State Highway 9, Tuesday, also possession of controlled dangerous substances and possession of marijuana

COUNTY WARRANT Christopher Dean Brown, 18, 300 block S. Peters Avenue, Tuesday

POSSESSION OF PARAPHERNALIA Thomas Carlton Metcalf, 57, 1100 block N. Flood Avenue, Tuesday

PETTY LARCENY Denise Leann Phelan, 22, 3400 block W. Main Street, Monday

PUBLIC INTOXICATION Nathaniel Alan Straight, 20, 500 block N. University Boulevard, Monday, also municipal warrant

DISTURBING THE PEACE Todd Lincoln Wise, 21, 800 block E. Hayes Street, Monday

to games like Cyber Nations and Galaxies Ablaze to online forums for game players and disc jockeys. Social skills? Rowe figures he and his buddies are doing just fine in that department, thank you. But he thinks Small may have a point about some other people he knows. “If I didn’t actively go out and try to spend time with friends, I wouldn’t have the social skills that I do,” said Rowe, who reckons he spends three or four nights a week out with his pals. “You can’t just give up on having normal friends that you see on a day-to-day basis.” More than 2,000 years ago, Socrates warned about a different information revolution — the rise of the written word, which he considered a more superficial way of learning than the oral tradition. More recently, the arrival of television sparked concerns that it would make children more violent or passive and interfere with their education. But Small, who describes his modern-day concerns in a new book called “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind,” acknowledges he doesn’t have an open-and-shut case that digital technology is changing brain circuitry.

Obama delivers diversity, some seek more WASHINGTON — Barack Obama, soon to be the ﬁrst black U.S. president, is on the road to making good his pledge to have a Cabinet and White House staﬀ that are among most diverse ever, although some supporters are asking him to go even further. He added to the minority representation at the top of his administration Wednesday when he named New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Hispanic, as commerce secretary. But some Latinos are grumbling it is not enough after all the support they gave him in the campaign, and gays and Asian-Americans are pushing for some representation in remaining Cabinet announcements. But overall Obama is allaying some early concerns that a black president wouldn’t need to put so much importance on diversity of those working under him. “The question was: Because he’s black, how much pressure would he feel to be more traditional with appointments?” said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant who worked with the Obama campaign. “The leadership of the campaign in the beginning wasn’t very diverse, so there were questions about that. But I don’t hear those questions anymore.” In Obama’s seven Cabinet announcements so far, white men are the minority with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert Gates at Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton at State.

The Daily draws all entries for Campus Notes from OUDaily. com’s comprehensive, campuswide calendar. To get your event noticed, visit OUDaily.com and fill out our user-friendly form under the calendar link.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

The combined choir will perform at 8 p.m. in the Sharp Concert Hall. KAPPA ALPHA THETA

A pancake party will be at 11 p.m. at the Kappa Alpha Theta house. Cost at the door is $5, with proceeds to benefit Crossroads Youth and Family Services.

TODAY PSYCHOLOGY CLUB

A meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. in Dale Hall Tower, room 908.

FRIDAY

LATKES FOR LOVE

A Jewish celebration will be at 6 p.m. at Hillel, 494 Elm Ave. Cost is $7 at the door, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Shaare Zedek Children’s Hospital in Jerusalem.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

FRED FILMS

Guest artist Robert Hale will perform with the OU Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. in the Sharp Concert Hall.

The films “The Sacrifice” and “Working Under Foreign Conditions: Russians Making Movies in Other Lands” will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

There will be a free young men’s vocal workshop concert at 4:30 p.m. at the Sharp Concert Hall. SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Detroit executives ground jets for Washington trip DETROIT — If the Detroit Three automakers have learned anything since their last trip to Washington, it’s that the old way of doing business just won’t ﬂy. So the decision by auto executives to travel in hybrid cars rather than corporate jets is just the start to overhauling their image as the industry pleads its case for $25 billion in federal loans. Automakers “should not be afraid to acknowledge their mistakes,” said Adam Mendelsohn, a partner in Mercury Public Aﬀairs and former communications director for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It’s not necessarily a weakness. It’s actually a positive. It will send a very clear message that they intend to make changes.” The CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are making the roughly 525mile trek from Detroit to Washington in hopes of securing loans to help them through the recession and the worst sales downturn in 25 years. Hearings are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

— AP

HOROSCOPE By Bernice Bede Osol

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008 SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- There is a strong possibility that you will have to make due with what you have, be it money, possessions or opportunities. The less you complain about it, the easier things will be. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Events will provide the opportunity to get in touch with yourself in ways that could help reshape your life at this time. Make something good come out of it. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Many of your feelings will stem more from psychological forces than from actual events, so be aware that your responses to people or situations may be unconscious reactions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -Because you’re able to perceive the many benefits that shifting conditions can bring, you’ll be more agreeable than usual about going along with twists and turns that today’s events introduce. CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Inner, unsettled energies might make it difficult for you to settle into any kind of routine. If you keep yourself mobile as much as possible, life will be easier on you. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- If you adopt a careful physical regimen, you should be able to recharge your tired body and actually feel well by day’s end. Ignore your health needs, and you’ll pay the price.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Be PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) careful not to apply too much -- Normally, you’re happy just pressure on co-workers; you hanging out with those you enjoy, don’t want to create some kind but you may subconsciously look of a power struggle. Patience and for more intense encounters. consideration will bring results. Friendship might need to serve some kind of purpose. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Lessons learned over the ARIES (March 21-April 19) past year or two could help you -- Sometimes we can only get considerably in understanding what we want by giving, and this the consequences of your own might be the case for you. If you actions. Today, you’ll use these prime the pump, that flow of lessons wisely. generosity you’re seeking will be forthcoming. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Changes you hadn’t anticipated TAURUS (April 20-May 20) may take place, forcing you to -- You are making the right handle things in a totally differchoices because past experiences ent manner. If you don’t rebel, are maturing you in ways you events are likely to work out couldn’t have understood previquite well. ously. You’re wiser now, and it’s for the better.

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Arts & Entertainment

Norman dessert: So many sweets, so little time • The Daily’s Stephen Pyle checks out Norman’s dessert options. Hope you saved room — you totally deserve it. Michelle Gray/The Daily

IL DOLCE GELATO

Neil Buss, co-owner of Il Dolce 1318 N. Interstate Dr., waits for customers in the front of the gelato shop. The store is the only gelateria in Norman, and produces 24 flavors each day. Buss said he and his wife personally make the store’s gelato.

1318 N. Interstate Dr. Il Dolce Gelato exudes a European feel from the moment you walk in. Customers are greeted with background music that fits the mood set by the shaded lamps, artwork and wooden chairs. Instead of chocolate, cioccolato is served. Rather than lemon, the shop offers limone. Aside from the Italian names and flavors, Il Dolce also serves up a Snickers flavored gelato as well as cappuccino, fruit and other recognizable flavors. Norman’s only gelateria produces 24 flavors of gelato every day. Lavazza coffee — a European favorite — lattes, hot chocolate, teas and espresso are all available as well. — STEPHEN P YLE/THE DAILY

Michelle Gray/The Daily

Michelle Gray/ The Daily

Kim Patterson (right) owner of the Pink Elephant Café, Lindsay Martin (center) a waitress at the Pink Elephant and Stephan Collen, a Norman vintage store owner, stand against a collage made by Patterson in the Pink Elephant Café, 301 E. Main St. The Pink Elephant serves a variety of desserts, including many that are organic and glutenfree.

Sung Chou, physics senior and Passionberri manager, makes a fruit frozen yogurt cup at Passionberri, 1204 N. Interstate Dr. The store serves low-fat frozen yogurt, herbal teas, smoothies and milkshakes.

PINK ELEPHANT CAFÉ

PASSIONBERRI

301 E. Main St.

1204 N. Interstate Dr.

The Pink Elephant Café, located on Main and Crawford, opened its doors for business on Aug. 16. Not only does the café serve a variety of fresh cakes and teas. Lunch is served every weekday. Kim Patterson, owner of the Pink Elephant, said she prides herself in creating a wide variety of cakes, including blueberry, lemon, peach and a tornado cake that includes chocolate, pecan, cream cheese and coconut. The Pink Elephant is filled with ‘60s decor such as homemade art, bright colors and collages. Patterson said she bakes enough dessert to feed 150 people every day. “If you set out to be the best at something, then people will come,” Patterson said of her cooking.

Unlike traditional ice cream shops, Passionberri serves nonfat yogurts. “Aside from our plain yogurt, we serve citrus and green tea flavors,” said Sung Chou, physics senior and Passionberri manager. Fruits, granola and cereals are offered as yogurt toppings. Passionberri has a contemporary atmosphere, decorated with modern furniture and colorful walls, giving the shop an artsy vibe. A variety of hot and cold herbal teas, juices, fruit smoothies and milkshakes are also on the menu.

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