INSIDE • Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 2 • Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 3 • UCO Internationl House . . PAGE 5 • Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 6 • Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 7 & 8
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Shack-a-thon
organizers pleased with money raised • BRYAN TRUDE , Senior Staff Writer • UCO students in ramshackle huts taking part in Shackathon were panhandling for charity, along with a food drive during the Volunteer Service Learning Center’s Poverty Awareness Week, which ran from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5. The drive was able to raise $1,150.17 and 252 pounds of non-perishable food items for the upcoming Central Pantry. Kappa Sigma fraternity led in fundraising out of 12 teams participating in the fundraiser, raising $222.68. “We are very please with how the week went,” Lyndsay Holder, assistant director of the VSLC, said in a press release. “Our students were very active participants and never lost interest during the week.” All money and food donated will benefit Central Pantry, set to open at 10 a.m. Nov. 15 in the Nigh University Center, room 203. “Central Pantry is an emergency food bank,” Holder said. “We’re opening in partnership with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, that will provide for UCO students, faculty and staff who are experiencing food insecurity.” Holder said that UCO community members will be able to self declare their income level at the bank. That, and the number of people in the family, will dictate how much food bank officials will allow a student, faculty or staff member to take. “There is not a limit, but we’re trying to say [people cannot visit the bank] more than once a week, because people normally only go grocery shopping once a week,” Holder said. “Our pantry is a choicestyle model, where they come in and choose what Continued on Page 3
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TUESDAY• November 6, 2012
Election 2012 •Campus Quotes: “Obama or Romney?” (Pg. 2) •The true story of the electoral college (Pg. 5) •Election fun facts (Pg. 5) •Early voting (Pg. 5)
HOMECOMING
CONCLUDES
Photo by Aliki Dyer, The Vista
Central pride was on full display this weekend, despite UCO’s tough loss to Southwest Baptist on Sat. See more on Page 4.
Healthier vending machine options coming next semester • JOSH WALLACE , Staff Writer • ent programs and services that could encourage healthy eating habits, and one of the areas we wanted to look at were healthy vending options. As we were doing that, the university was re-negotiating its contract with Coca Cola, which has the pouring and vending rights for campus, and as we were re-negotiating, they gave us the opportunity to have six healthy vending machine placements on campus.” Dill explained that Coca Cola doesn’t offer the vending machines
A student considers his snack options at a vending machine located in the Mass Comm Building. Photo by Josh Wallace, The Vista
Starting in the spring semester of 2013, UCO will be looking to integrate new vending machines around campus that will give students alternative options among the traditional choices available today. As part of the Healthy Campus Initiative, the introduction of healthy vending machines will offer students more options when it comes to grabbing a snack between classes. Danielle Dill, Assistant Director of Fitness and Health Promotion, explained that every two years the university goes through a strategic planning process, that utilizes survey data from students, to look at the highest priority areas as far as what health issues might be impacting students and what can be done to address any problems. Throughout the years of looking at the survey data, similar issues continue to stand out, and so,
over the next few years, UCO will be focusing on four main areas that are affecting students health the most, which include physical activity, nutrition, sexual health, and stress management. According to recent findings, Oklahoma is currently on track to become the second highest in the nation in terms of obesity within the next 20 years and our state is looking to buck the trend. With state initiatives being showcased on shapeyourfutureok. com and recent commercials promoting the consumption of more fruits and vegetables throughout the day, the move to become healthier is coming to the forefront, especially on UCO’s campus. The vending idea came about while taking a look at nutrition on campus, Dill added, “As we did our strategic planning we thought about differ-
“What we’re looking to do is increase people’s options. What they chose to eat is their choice, but often times if you don’t have the choice for healthy options you end up going with an option you may not prefer.” Danielle Dill Assistant Director Fitness & Health Promotion
required, so the university would be looking to work with another vendor to operate and service the new machines. She also wanted to stress that these machines will be in addition to the vending machines already found on campus, adding “We’re not replacing any vending machines on campus, we will just be adding six, what we’re looking to do is increase people’s options. What they choose to
eat is their choice, but often times if you don’t have the choice for healthy options you end up going with an option you may not prefer.” As the contract with Coca Cola was just recently finalized, the offerings won’t be available on campus this semester. Currently, UCO is researching their options, looking at multiple vendors and what offerings they have, with some health based vendors offering items like dried fruit snacks, yogurt, pita chips, and even fresh fruit. They are also researching other aspects as to where to best place the vending machines, by looking at foot traffic throughout the buildings on campus, getting feedback from students on what types of options they would want, as well as working with dietetic students to help with choosing the options and to look specifically at the nutritional value of the offerings. Dill says the program will be in a sense a trial, starting off with a couple of machines next year and gathering more information from the process to give students the options they want and that could have an impact on the health of our campus. As to whether she thought students would elect going for healthier options over the traditional vending items, she believes that some students will be happy to have the choice, adding “for us it’s not about getting people to necessarily change, but what we do want to have is to give people more of a variety.”