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Campus Quotes
March of Dimes
Beta Upsilon Chi
NFL Draft
What are you doing to prepare for finals?
Local bands gather together to participate in ‘Rock-ABy-Baby’ to benefit March of Dimes.
Prospective members of BYX, a Christian fraternity, have recieved permission from thier headquarters to form.
The Vista’s sports minds pick the first round.
APR. 28, 2011 uco360.com twitter.com/uco360
THE VISTA
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
Student Profile
SB 529 MAY STALL IN HOUSE By Ryan Costello Managing Editor
Senate Bill 529, which would impose heavier consequences for drunk drivers, is at risk of stalling in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The bill passed unanimously in the State Senate earlier this month, and again in House committees after an amendment process, but may never be heard in the final general session of the House. The bill, more commonly known as the Erin Swezey Act, was named for UCO Professor Dr. Keith Swezey’s daughter, who was killed by a drunk driver on April 4, 2009. “We felt that [SB 529] had a lot of support in the House,” Swezey said. But District 71 Rep. Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa), the majority floor leader, may stymie the bill’s progress. Sullivan, who Swezey said the thought the bill was too strong, would decide whether the bill would be heard as floor leader. SB 529 would require drivers convicted of a single DUI to have devices that would lock their vehicle’s ignition if they failed a Breathalyzer test. The bill was already significantly weakened in House Appropriations and Budget Committee, who made the bill apply only to drivers whose blood alcohol was at least .15 percent, more than twice the legal limit. Thirteen other states enforce similar legislation, each of which saw an at least 35 percent decline in DUI-related deaths in the first year of the new law, Swezey said. “Essentially by not allowing a vote, [Sullivan] has sentenced at least 75 people to death. I hope it’s not one of his family,” Said Swezey, who is looking into a petition for SB 529 if it is not brought to the floor. Sullivan did not return calls for comment in this article.
IN A WORLD WITHOUT SOUND Mysti Littlehead grew up in a world meant for those with the ability to hear. Now as a sophomore graphic design student, Littlehead has found special accomodations hard to find. PHOTO BY GARETT FISBECK
By Ben Luschen / Contributing Writer “I live in a hearing world,” Mysti Littlehead said. “Everything that I come into contact with has a sound.” There are some students at UCO who choose not listen to their professors in class, but there are also students like Littlehead, a deaf sophomore at UCO, who cannot hear them at all. “Any technological device has a sound. Outside sounds such as the rain, thunder, or even the wind. Warning sounds like a car horn or alarm, tornado sirens. Alarm clock, doorbell, phone ringing. Every sound ever made, I don’t hear. Most people don’t know sign language so it’s hard to make new friends.” Littlehead is a graphic design major and a photography minor. She is also a cheerleader at UCO, participating both on the national and game squads, though she will only be on the national squad after this year. Her love affair with the sport began when she was young. “I like tumbling. I’ve done tumbling ever since I was little, so I got involved with that and I also got involved with the skills for cheer. I feel like cheer was the best sport for me.” Littlehead tried out for her high school cheer team as a freshman and has been doing cheer ever since. In her spare time she also enjoys the sport of power tumbling, which involves both gymnastics on the floor and the trampoline. Though Littlehead feels at home while cheering, schooling presents its fair share of challenges. “The most challenging thing about being a deaf student is having accommodations,” Littlehead said. “Good interpreters are hard to find. I moved from Shawnee [Oklahoma] to Ed-
Mysti Littlehead, sophomore graphic design, said that “being deaf isn’t a big deal to me because that is part of who I am.”
mond when I was seven years old because my parents thought Edmond offered a better education for me as a
deaf student.” Finding understanding teachers can often be as hard as finding reli-
able translators. “Another huge challenge as a deaf student is most teachers do not realize that I can’t take notes, I can’t watch the interpreter or movies and take notes at the same time,” Littlehead said. When at a restaurant or store, communicating with the staff can have its complications. If she is with someone else, they can usually interpret for her, but if she is alone, Littlehead will try to communicate the best she can, sometimes using the Notes app on her iPhone to communicate. Though she does encounter some problems with school and the rest of the hearing world, for the most part Littlehead, does not face too many additional challenges. “Some deaf people have challenges but me personally, I don’t because I grew up with my parents, they’re not deaf and they both taught me to live with a disability,” she said. “I know some people that have deaf parents and they can live in the [hearing] world but they can’t socialize as well, they can’t really adapt as well with the hearing world,” she said. “With me, my whole family is hearing, my boyfriend is hearing, everyone’s hearing, so I grew up knowing how to act... but some people don’t always have the option for that.” Though she’s well accustomed to the fact that she is deaf, Littlehead cannot help but feel a little left out. “Being deaf isn’t a big deal to me because that is part of who I am, but I do feel like I miss out on a lot – more than people would realize,” Littlehead said. “I miss out on music, I miss out on going to the movies, I miss out on jokes, I miss out hearing my baby sister’s voice [and] I can’t talk on the phone.”
Opinion / Editorial
UCO LOSING THE STATE FUNDING BATTLE
WEATHER TODAY
H 77°
H 82° TOMORROW Note: In Thursday’s issue of The Vista, the graph labeled as the University of Oklahoma’s allocation and enrollment was incorrect. The above graph (left) shows OU’s actual allocation and enrollment since 1980. Also shown are Oklahoma State University’s statistics (right) and UCO’s (below).
FACULTY SENATE VP: UCO’S STATE FUNDING ISSUE ‘TOO BIG’ TO IGNORE More weather at www.uco360.com
DID YOU KNOW? According to some estimates, Americans are sitting on $30 billion worth of unredeemed gift cards
By Brian Lamb Faculty Senate Vice President
One of the most important issues in the history of this university is being addressed this week in the media and in public forums. For over 30 years, UCO has suffered tremendous financial challenges because the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education are allocating money with a funding formula that is inherently unfair. Students at UCO receive less money than students at any other Oklahoma
research or regional university. UCO students and their families pay the same taxes as everyone else in the state, but when taxpayer dollars are distributed to universities, we come out on the short end of the stick year after year. Yet, when public forums have been held, there have been less than 50 faculty, staff, and students in attendance. If public forums were announced and publicized for things that would
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The Ad Hoc Study Group for Equitable State Funding will hold its final public forum Friday at 2 p.m. in the Pegasys Theater. in Liberal Arts.