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June 1 2,
2008 The Student Voice of the Link el- sky of Central Oklahoma Since I 903
â– Mickelson to challenge Woods p.6 UCO represented at medical conference p.3
By Nelson Solomon and Carrie Cronk
see SECURITY, page 5
Students enjoy summer jobs
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I Beijing? Olympics means unity
P. 2
UCO student to assist Going Omen at Olympics
Officials: threat didn't warrant alert
When a recent bomb threat was reported at UCO, there wasn't enough of a threat to notify the campus using Central Alert, said Dr. Cynthia Rolfe, vice president of Information Technology. Central Alert is the emergency notification system that allows authorized UCO officials to send news and instructions simultaneously to individuals through landline phones, cellular phones, text messaging and e-mail, according to the IT Web site. "At the time of that particular threat, seniorlevel administrators and Jeff Harp, chief of police, gathered together to figure out the true level of the threat," Rolfe said. . "And based on the information that we had, the situation did not appear to be a serious threat," she said. Harp said on the morning of the bomb threat they met in President Webb's office at 5 a.m. to discuss the threat and to make decisions based on the known information. "At that time there was information that steered us to believing that it might not be true." Harp said authorities spent the majority of the day pursuing the threat from two different angles. The first angle involved verifying the information about the threat and performing an investigation to identify a suspect. The second angle involved if the threat was false and how that could be determined. Rolfe added that even though the situation ended up being resolved, "people who were going to be
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to Save
Trainer passes screening tests
Omen
By Rachel Van Horn AP Writer
Savings 'blowing in wind' By Jordan Richison Staff Writer
UCO has saved nearly an extra $2,000 per month so far this year because it's not at the mercy of oil and gas price fluctuations said Charles Burgett, general manager at Edmond Electric. UCO originally estimated on saving $260,000 a year on energy cost when it switched to wind electricity in 2004. But that was when gas prices were at a little more than $2 per gallon. This makes the switch to wind energy look even better. UCO is one of the biggest users of wind energy in the country as it receives all its energy on campus from ,wind power. This has led to UCO being recognized for
see GREEN, page 5
Photo illustration
Security making strides toward improvement By Carrie Cronk Staff Writer
Even before a shooter opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus over a year ago, UCO was working on a proposal to purchase a campus emergency notification system, which is now known as Central Alert, according to UCO Chief of Police Jeff Harp. The university isn't stopping there to ensure the safety and security of students, staff and faculty. "We're trying to find the balance between all the different mechanisms to communicate," Harp said.
"There's multiple ways we're going to, have to communicate to get everybody. When we have a crisis, we've got to quickly implement and figure out if [we're] going to make the notification, [and] what [we're] going to communicate." "We're in the process now of implementing an additional communication mechanism," Harp said. The new addition will enable any computer logged on the university's network" will display a window anytime an emergency message is sent out.
WOODWARD -- Krista Fagala is looking for inspiration in all she does in life. So perhaps it is appropriate that the 22-yearold University of Central Oklahoma senior would become involved with the Paralympics, the worldwide celebrated event similar to the Olympics for those who have physical disabilities such as lost limbs, blindness, paralysis or a host of other physical disabilities. This year, the Paralympics will be held for three weeks in September in Beijing, China and Fagala, who is a health and physical education major, will be there as an assistant trainer. It will be the second worldwide running of the event. "UCO hosts one of two of the national sites for the Paralympics here in the U.S.," she said. "Since we are the host for the "Some of these people Paralympics here, the have really had to Kinesiology overcome things... Department sometimes their times decided they would send are as good as the someone to Olympians." train for two -Krista Fagala and a half months in Colorado Springs at the training center and go to the Paralympics event in China this fall." She was chosen for the role after she had participated in several screenings through UCO, by the United States Olympic Committee. "I will be a part of the Growth and Development Outreach Program while I am in Colorado Springs," she said. She will spend her next two months learning how to assist and coach people with every kind of physical disability to perform many different sporting events. "These are people who have blindness, lost legs or arms," she said. "Many people confuse the Paralympics with the Special Olympics. In the Paralympics, people have physical disability and with Special Olympics they have cognitive disability." Traveling all the way to Beijing is hardly something the former nursing major would have thought she'd be doing in the summer of 2008 when she began college nearly four years ago.
see IMPROVEMENT, page 3
see TRAINER, page 5
Chartwells wins 10-year contract Students will notice change at food service venues, officials said. By Nelson Solomon Managing Editor
Every food venue on campus will undergo renovations, thanks to a new 10-year contract between UCO and its food service provider, officials said. Chartwells, part of the Compass Group, will undergo several changes as result of the new contract, which goes into effect Photo Provided July 1, said Greg Schwartz, director of dining services. The convenient store in the Nigh University Center is one of several food When asked about the terms venues that is being renovated as part of Chartwells' new contract with of the new food service contract the university. with Chartwells, Schwartz said
they were "unable to discuss the details of the new contract terms." Construction is already underway on the Central Cafeteria resident dining facility, which should be completed by the fall semester, Schwartz said. The new construction is paving the way for a concept called Pulse on Dining, in which "we bring the cooking from behind the scenes out front, so the students and customers will see the cooking in front of them," he said. Pulse on Dining is an organized and intelligentprogram thatfocuses on fresh food, healthy options, and unparalleled customer for today's
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millennial students, according to a provided information sheet. The concept promises students 15-, 18- or 20-day menu cycles to eliminate recipe repetition, hundreds of ethnic recipes and more than 1,200 vegetarian recipes and promises that every dish is prepared with the best ingredients to make a healthy and delicious meal, the sheet states. Also, the concept promises cutting edge dining rooms with open kitchens that allow students to experience the comfort and familiarity of eating in a restaurant-styled environment,
see CHARTWELLS, page 5