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Campus Quotes
Winter Daze
Mr. Marmalade
Football
What can we do to make you happy?
Photo spread of last week’s winter storm .
‘Mr. Marmalade’ to perform at regional theatre festival in Texas.
Broncho coach Tracy Holland signed 29 prospects Feb. 4.
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THE VISTA
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
SNOW DAZE
LEAKS SET OFF FIRE ALARMS, FORCE EVACUATIONS IN SUITES
Record snowfall blanketed the Midwest last week, closing UCO for three days.
PHOTO BY GARETT FISBECK
By Cody Bromley Staff Writer
FEB. 8, 2011
While the recent round of snow and ice has been a cold battle for all UCO students, one section of the student body has been forced to bear the weather in the name of safety. Since last Tuesday evening, residents of UCO’s University Suites housing building have been subjected to three emergency evacuations of the building, the most recent of which happened last Wednesday around 11 p.m. “We had a leak because the pipes froze,” Sheri Edwards, University Suites hall director, said. “This interior leak set the fire alarm off.” When the alarm first went off on Tuesday around 7:30 p.m., residents scrambled to put on warm clothing and hurried to Hamilton Field House, the building’s safe destination in case of an emergency. Only a small number of building residents had made it all the way to the field house before being given the all clear. The pipe that leaked was one of the main pipes that carry water to the building’s sprinkler systems. The pipe’s Cindy McCulloh, a UCO student, builds a snowman on top of the Transformative Learning Center’s sign. View the entire photo spread on page 3. leaking partially flooded the stairway in which it resides and also disturbed the building’s elevator service. Campus Finance Edwards said that the reason the alarm continued to go off on Wednesday was that the pipes, where there were leaks, had dripped onto a smoke detector and caused the system stance, utility bill increases and insurance. These By Christie Southern / Staff Writer to go off again. mandatory cost increases could raise the cost of “We’ve been doing fire With the last of the millions in stimulus federal student tuition. walks since the sprinkler sysAccording to Kreidler, the university always tries tem had to be shut down so it funds going away soon, state agencies may see a decrease in funding for the upcoming fiscal year. to look at the gap and see where they can reduce Alex Weintz, spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin costs in order to keep tuition down. Continued on page 4 said earlier this month “The reality of the budget “We don’t know that we’re going to need a tuition situation is that every agency is going to have to increase and we won’t know until the end of the find ways to tighten its belt and save money.” semester,” Kreidler said. WEATHER Any significant reductions are expected to land In the past, student tuition has increased without heavily on education which consumes approxi- the state cutting funding. These increases, however, mately more than 50 percent of state funding, ac- were put toward opening new services for students, TODAY H 37° L 11° cording to an article published by The Oklahoman. like Wellness Center additions. Despite this, Higher Education Chancellor Glen This year, the university had a five-and-a-half Johnson asked lawmakers for a six percent increase percent increase in tuition; however, Kreidler notes in state funds for Oklahoma colleges and universi- there was no tuition increase the year before. ties, stating that a cut of five percent or more would “Our goal is always to get to zero,” Kreidler said. likely require tuition increases. “We figure out everything we can do to not raise In mid-February, the Oklahoma State Equaliza- tuition first.” tion Board will decide how much money is going to Kreidler pointed out the importance of student be allocated for the different state agencies. input on the budget. “It’s frustrating because all of TOMORROW H 17° L 7° During the first meeting, the Board discussed the the real action happens in May when students have “We don’t see any scenario where UCO, or possibility of bringing in slightly more funds, ap- already left.” any other school, gets more money than last proximately $50 million, for the next fiscal year. year,” Executive Vice President Steve Kreidler Since a decrease in funding seems inevitable, the said. However, the money allocated to UCO will not be budget task force is not expecting any increase in revealed until the end of May. money. Additionally, some services have been outsourced Meanwhile, the university budget task force, “We don’t see any scenario where UCO, or any and new contracts with vendors have been made, which includes the faculty senate, UCOSA, the other school, gets any more money than last year,” aiming for better prices and new ways to save president, and the vice presidents, work on cre- Kreidler said. money. Barnes and Nobles and the campus food ating possible scenarios for what the budget may “The gap is too big,” he added. “We see scenarios service providers are among these vendors allowing look like. that range from very modest cuts as high as 10 per- UCO to gain more money from their transactions. More weather at www.uco360.com “We play this kissing game,” UCO Executive Vice cent …we may find out it’s worse, like 12 percent... Certain positions on campus have also been elimiPresident Steve Kreidler said. “Maybe it’s going to but until we get to the end of May we just don’t nated. be like this, maybe it’s going to like that.” know.” “One of the reason students have to stand in lonIn these scenarios, the task force looks at decreasFallin has singled out supporting education as ger lines is because we’ve not refilled these posiDID YOU es by various percentages like five, seven, and 10 one of her top priorities, but earlier this month she tions.” KNOW? percent cuts and how they might affect the campus. called for agencies to “tighten its belt and look at Nevertheless, Kreidler emphasizes that the uniIn the last year, Kreidler notes how other state ways for continuous improvement in the services versity has gotten through this economic difficulty When cranberries agencies received much higher cuts (15 percent or they deliver and how they spend their time.” without having to fire or furlough faculty and staff. are ripe, they bounce more) and in comparison, common education and Consequently, UCO has had a number of cuts in Furthermore, UCO has saved money by refilike a rubber ball. higher education cuts (5 to 6 percent) were not so order to decrease spending. nancing debt on campus property. In the past, the bad. “We’ve cut utility use by 35 percent and we’ve Nigh University Center, the Education building, Despite this, Kreidler admits that there are costs formed a lot of consortiums with other universities to the university that are out of its control, for in- to buy in bigger quantities,” Kreidler said. Continued on page 4 P H O T O B Y R YA N C O S T E L L O
UCO, OTHERS FACE BUDGET CUTS