The Student Voice Since 1903 University of Central Oklahoma
tuesday, september 12, 2006
Date rape trail leaves students to decide
Remembering 9/11
by Andrew Knittle Staff Writer
by Vista photographer Alex Gambill
Three-thousand eleven flags were planted Sept. 10 by the College Republican Club and the Young Democrats and displayed Sept. 11 north of Broncho Lake.
He said it was playful sex; she said it was rape; the jury was undecided. About 250 students served as the jury at the mock date rape trial, complete with real attorneys, a judge, a bailiff. Each student took the Juror’s Oath before the Sept. 7 trial in Constitution Hall. Like an actual trial, the judge called the court to order and directed proceedings throughout, sustaining and overruling the various objections raised by the attorneys. Pamela Stillings, a prosecutor for the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office, represented the victim, 23-year-old Sara Craig. Specializing in sex crimes and child abuse cases, Stillings presented her case first, calling the victim to the stand to give her account of the events in question. Recalling a night in late August 2005, Craig told the jury she was personally invited to a party at the home of Daniel Gilbert, the accused. After playing the drinking game “quarters” with Gilbert and consuming around four beers, Craig said the party’s host invited her to his
upstairs bedroom to watch some “web junk” on his laptop. Following some small talk, Craig stated the two began to “kiss and grope one another,” but said she felt uncomfortable when Gilbert put his hand up her skirt moments later. “I told him I wasn’t ready to do that,” Craig said, “because this is our first date and I’m not that kind of girl.” Despite Gilbert’s unwanted advance, Craig told the court that the two continued making out consensually. At that point, Craig claimed that Gilbert abruptly grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her back, spread her legs and proceeded to rape her. During the attack, Craig said she noticed a huge change in Gilbert’s demeanor. “It was like he completely changed,” Craig said. “He became very intense and had crooked smile on his face…he didn’t resemble the guy I was with before.” Once Gilbert had finished, Craig said she felt “extremely upset and humiliated,” and quickly left the party without telling anyone what she had been through. “I just went home,” she said. “I wanted to take a shower and clean him off of me.”
see JURY page 7
Facebook changes President infuriate students “It still feels like, even though they put certain security things up, it still feels like people can see what you’re doing, and I don’t think it’s any of their business what I do on my computer.” by Nathan Winfrey Senior Staff Writer UCO students were outraged Sept. 5 when Facebook, a popular online profile system, introduced a new format and new features including a news feed and mini-feed, a constant update on the actions of users and their “friends.” Within hours, several groups formed within the network itself in protest of the changes, some with memberships in the hundreds. Chance McCall, engineering physics freshman, started the group “I HATE the New Facebook,” and says the new features present a safety risk for users and are an invasion of personal privacy. “It pretty much shows what everyone is doing at all times,” he said. “There were already problems with people stalking on Facebook. It’s just so accessible for random people to get online and see what you’re doing. They don’t even have to put any effort into it.” The new features do not disclose any new information to users, just present it in a convenient method, rather than requiring users to scour profiles and photo albums for the same information. “It shows whose wall someone posted on and their
relationship status. It shows comments they leave on people’s photos and groups that they leave,” McCall said. “In some ways, it’s kind of cool because it makes it easier for people who have less time to check Facebook but really want to,” said Kellen Hodgeson, journalism freshman. “It makes it to where you can check Facebook and see what’s going on with everybody in your network a lot quicker. It makes it faster.” “I don’t like the whole news feed thing, just because of my past experiences that I have had with certain people on it,” said Erin Abernathy, architecture sophomore and victim of Facebook stalking last summer. “He was able to hack into six of my friends’ Facebook accounts and started messaging me from their accounts asking me personal things that I didn’t feel comfortable answering. When I found out what he was doing, I went to the cops,” she said. “Even though he’s not one of my friends, if he’s friends with one of my friends, he can get on their profile and get on the news feed and see what I’m doing even with the new security changes, so I’m still uncomfortable,” Abernathy said.
see FACEBOOK page 7
Evidence collection vehicle possible because of grant.
See pg. 7
Webb launches Lessons in Leadership class by Desiree Treeby Staff Writer
“Major in major things and minor in minor things,” explained guest speaker Dr. Mike Anderson during UCO President Dr. Roger Webb’s first Lessons in Leadership class Monday. “The changes before you are unimaginable,” Anderson said. His number one concept is communication; he believes communication is most important for all people, especially leaders. We’re in an era of communication, he said, if you cant communicate well, you’re a poor leader. Using the Pope as a leader’s communication model he said, his point is that people can say the same thing and have different ways for understanding. “Communication is always two way,” Anderson said. “It’s a two-way street in which you take time to study traffic each way.” Dr. Anderson believes that using a model created by Peter Drucker, an author, teacher and strategy consultant, allows students to focus on direction, like giving a skeleton flesh. Dr. Anderson said Drucker’s model comprises four things used over and over again in leadership roles. The model does not apply only to business, it can apply to all aspects in life. 1.) Know your business; know what you’re doing and what it’s about. “You can’t be a leader if you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dr. Anderson said. 2.) Know who your customers are.
3.) Know what product you have. “Know what ideas you have; know what products you have, that are most valued b your customer,” he said. 4.) Ask, ‘What mediocre thing are you doing?’ Anderson said number four is the hardest to do because of the human ego. “If you do one, two and three you won’t have time to be mediocre… Stop majoring in minor things.” Dr. Anderson explained to spend time majoring in major things and minor in minor things by not spending 40 hours a week drinking coffee and hanging out at the local café. Something common among all leaders is they’re not only inspirational, they also aspire, he said. “Have a goal in life higher than yourself. That’ll keep you motivated,” Dr. Anderson said. He added a personal fifth leadership element consisting of perseverance and discipline. With these two characteristics, leaders can follow through in the key moments. He used an example of a tied basketball game that the team with the most discipline with perseverance will win. “Discipline is life’s freedom,” Dr. Anderson said. “You as leaders shall know what the leading idea in your life shall be.” He read a favorite quote of his, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “The Higher Life.” "The distant mountains, that uprear; Their solid bastions to the skies; Are crossed by pathways,
Soccer wins again and again.
See Sports pg. 10
by Vista photographer Travis Marak
President Webb speaks about communication and ethics Sept. 11 in Constitution Hall. that appear; The heights by great persons reached and kept." Dr. Anderson’s purpose of this quote is that those who persevere succeed and to spend your time majoring in major things. Ministering for 25 years at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City,
Dr. Anderson is the current president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation. He graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary, earned his Ph.D. in theology and is the author of five books. Desiree Treeby can be reached at dtreeby@thevistaonline.com.
UCO theatre to serve up 'Tea'
See pg. 6