APRIL 17, 2012
Football
Apps
The Vista continues its series on schools of the MIAA with NebraskaKearny Lopers and the Missouri Western Griffons. Page 7
Facebook announced last week it will be buying photo sharing app Instagram. Page 3
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THE VISTA
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
UCOSA
ELECTION WINNERS INAUGURATED By Danniel Parker / Contributing Writer Last Friday, Alex Braden was voted President of the University of Central Oklahoma Student Association in the run-off of a closely contested election. Braden edged out a victory over runner-up Mackenzie Hall winning by eight votes out of 1012 total. Evan Askey, a friend of Braden and fellow Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brother, won the Vice Presidency by two votes over Paul Brown. Pi Kappa Alpha is the largest fraternity on campus with 88 current members. Also passed was SBR 11-203, the “Fair Elections Act,” which would increase the voting time from 24 to 72 hours and require that elections be announced a week in advance.
I am truly humbled to stand before you as your next student body president. I believe this will be more than a learning experience but the experience of a lifetime Alex Braden
UCOSA Student Body President-Elect “It was a rough campaign. I think the numbers speak by themselves,” Askey said. His victory is the closest in UCOSA history. Both presidential candidates worked together on the Campus Improvements Board until Braden left the group. During the debates held last week Braden called the board “sketchy” for the way it raised the student activity fee and allocated the funds. “Hall and I are the only outsiders running,” Braden said. “All the other candidates have worked closely for years in the UCOSA office, or right next door.” Both Braden and Hall claimed to be angered by the corruption and lack of accountability of UCOSA officers, citing their mismanagement of the student activity fee. They both also took issue with the way Sigma Nu fraternity currently dominates the student body government. “I believe in accountability of UCOSA officers. I don’t believe people should get grandfathered into the next position, if they haven’t been able to handle their duties at a previous position,” Hall said during the debates. Vice President Elect Evan Askey took a similar stance against the current administration. “Matt Blubaugh didn’t live up to the standard UCOSA should have for their president,” Askey said. “I’d like to repair UCOSA’s relationship with the rest of the campus after the anger caused by the campus improvements act.” Askey’s main campaign promise is to design a public forum website where students can track and vote upon what projects their fees fund for the university. At the top, Braden’s platform is the issue of
Alex Braden after his acceptance speech, Monday, April 16, 2012. Photo by Trevor Hultner, The Vista
improving the safety of UCO. He said while serving on the Student Conduct Board he dealt with problems like students being assaulted or raped on campus. “This stuff happens, there are attacks and sexual assaults on campus and it’s a real issue. People don’t know about it because they don’t put these crimes in the newspaper, and they aren’t publicized,” Braden said. In response to these issues Braden plans to cover every corner of campus in security cameras and install as many police call boxes as possible. Broncho Safe-Ride is another program Brasden wants to put into effect. This is a designated driver service where impaired students can anonymously call for a safe and free ride home. Braden also wants to install more streetlights so every street, sidewalk and parking lot on campus is visible. A perfect example of the type of incident Braden wants to prevent is the hit and run accident on March 29, when two female UCO students were struck by an unidentified van. With more and better lighting, Braden hopes something like this would never happen again. Braden and Askey will take office next semester. Askey and Braden were inaugurated on Monday. Also inaugurated were Jason Robison, the incoming speaker of the UCOSA
Alex Braden (left), Evan Askey (middle-left), Jason Robison (middle-right) and Jasmin Worthy (right) are respectively sworn in for the offices of UCOSA president, vice president, speaker of the house and president pro-tempore of the senate on Monday April 16, 2012. Photo by Trevor Hultner, The Vista.
house and the first graduate student to hold that or a UCOSA executive position, and Jasmin Worthy, the incoming president pro-tempore of the UCOSA Senate. “I am truly humbled to stand before you as
your next student body president. I believe this will be more than a learning experience but the experience of a lifetime,” Braden said. Trevor Hultner contributed to this report.
Severe Weather
TORNADOES HIT OKLAHOMA COMMUNITIES By The Associated Press
Carole Beckett reacts as she sorts through belongings at her home after a tornado moved through Woodward, Okla., Sunday, April 15, 2012. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Bryan Terry)
WEATHER
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Forecasters say it appears about 75 tornadoes touched down in four Great Plains states Saturday. Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said Monday most of the tornadoes were in Kansas, followed by Oklahoma, Iowa and Nebraska. The tornadoes hit during a 24-hour period from 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday after forecasters warned of a “high risk” of severe
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weather. At least six deaths were blamed on a storm that went through the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward and destroyed more than 100 homes and businesses. Dozens of people were injured. Many tornadoes hit in unpopulated rural areas in Kansas and Oklahoma, and Carbin says researchers are still collecting data. Initial observations from spotters produced an estimate of more than 100 twisters.
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DID YOU KNOW? 95 percent of people feel uncomfortable when the television volume is at an odd number.
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