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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2002
Contract change may cause custodial lay-offs by Timber Massey tn@thevistaonline.com Charles Johnson, University Relations news bureau director, said UCO will enter into an agreement with a new custodial company, called Aramark, on Jan. 1 upon approval of The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. An employee of UCO's current custodial service, Witt, Fiala, Flannery and Associates
(WFF) who wished to remain unnamed, said that WFF employees will be terminated on Dec. 31. The WFF employee said the custodians may have to apply for unemployment if they are not hired with Aramark. The employee added that they fear they may lose vacation time and have their hourly wages decreased if they are hired. Faculty and staff members at UCO have raised concerns over
UCO Professor serves on Henry's transition team by Mark Schlachtenhaufen ms@thevistaonline. corn Gayle Miles-Scott, UCO assistant accounting professor, has joined a team of prominent Oklahomans working to make the transition from the Keating administration to the Henry administration a smooth one. State Treasurer Robert Butkin, transition team chief, called Miles-Scott Nov. 21 and asked her if she would be willing to serve as a member of the informal advisory panel that would forward its recommendations to Governor-elect Brad Henry. Henry will be inaugurated on Jan. 13 at the state capitol. "He just said the governorelect would be honored if I would serve on his team and I told him I would be honored to serve,"
Miles-Scott said of the phone call from Butkin. "It's an opportunity to help the state of Oklahoma become better for all of us, financially, economically." Public service is in her blood. Miles-Scott's sister, who was a state legislator, is now a federal judge in Oklahoma County. Both of her parents are retired educators. Miles-Scott said they were proud of her when they heard the news. She said she hopes she can help keep college graduates in Oklahoma. Miles-Scott said she has questions about state budgeting practices and economic research methods and improved fiscal
See Transitions Team page 11
Survey reports that young Americans are lost in the world by Mark Schlachtenhaufen ms@thevistaonline.corn In the post-Sept. 11 world of the Information Age, more Americans age 18-24 know where "Survivor Island" is located on a map than Afghanistan, according to the results of a National Geographic Society survey. The National GeographicRoper Global Geographic Literacy Survey polled 3,250 young adults and a slightly older comparison group in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Japan. Respondents in Germany, Sweden and Italy ranked highest. Those in the United States, Canada and Great Britain ranked lowest. Young adults in the United States finished next to last, just ahead of respondents in Mexico. On average, young Americans answered 23 out of 56 questions correctly. More Americans than others were unaware that the Taliban and al-Qaida were based in Afghanistan. They also had trouble finding France, the United Kingdom and Japan on a map. And 30 percent of the American
the treatment of WFF employees. Dr. Paul Lehman, English professor, said Darrell Ogle, a former employee of WFF, was fired because he had to take time off due to deaths that occurred in his family and health problems. "Darrell applied for unemployment after he had been terminated. The unemployment agency was told by WFF that he had just 'gotten angry and quit.' Darrell had to produce a letter of termination from the company in order to prove that he had
See Custodians page 3
Need some gift ideas for someone special this Christmas? Two Vista reporters give their two cents — Page 6
Venetia Ballard cleans the ladies' bathroom on the fourth floor of the Nigh University Center. Employed with WFF Facility Services, she has worked at UCO for three weeks.
Graduate, transfer students to benefit from Wellness Center after graduation by Dara Lawless dl@thevistaonline.com UCO graduates or transfers leaving campus before the Wellness Center opens will receive free membership for as many semesters as they paid fees, said Charlie Johnson, UCO news bureau director. The $2.30 Wellness Center fee was first added to the student facility fee in the 2000 spring semester, he said. Johnson said the free memberships will be effective immediately after the center opens. How the memberships will be distributed or verified is uncertain at this time, he said. UCO students enrolled in the spring 2003 semester will have access to the center as soon as it opens, he said. The individual faculty and staff membership fee is estimated at $22 per month Johnson said.
Johnson said the Wellness Center will include a fitness area with tread mills, upright and recumbent bikes, stair steppers, rowing machines and a rubberized indoor track. There will be separate areas for cardiovascular workouts with TV sets and strength training offering plated-loaded machines and free weights, Johnson said. Johnson said there will also be an aerobics room with a suspended wooden floor to minimize impact and three full length courts, two indoor, one outdoor, for basketball and volleyball. - A juice bar serving health drinks and a pro shop to buy sports paraphernalia will be also available, he said. The Student Health Center, relocating to the new facility, will be equipped with four exam rooms, a lab, a pharmacy and a waiting area covering approximately 2,000 square feet, Johnson said.
Minor construction delays and the holidays have postponed the Wellness Center's anticipated January opening to sometime between February 15 and March 1 he said. David Stapleton, director of UCO Architectural and Engineering Services, said administrative decisions such as adding laundry facilities were part of the opening setback to mid-February. "With a project of this size, that's not unreasonable," he said. Stapleton said administration would move in, sound and security systems would be installed and furniture and sports equipment in place Jan. 15. Construction should be complete Jan. 31 he said. Stapleton said the Wellness Center remains within the $9.2 million budget provided by a revenue. bond funded with student fees.
UCO Men's Basketball suffered an upset over the Thanksgiving Break — Page 8
Malaysian student in hospital: Friends, fellow students raise money to help with medical bills by Stephanie Nease sn@thevistaonline.corn
Natalie McDougle
Scott Davis
respondents believed the United States had a population of one billion. The actual number, according to the Census Bureau, is 288,623,125. Worldwide, three out of 10
See Geography page 4
A UCO student needs a $250,000 bone marrow transplant, said Yin Hwee, president of Malaysian Student Association (MSA). Her intent is to see that he gets it, with the help of MSA and anyone else she can recruit. Tan Boon-Seong, known as Danny Tan to his fellow UCO students, called his parents in Malaysia Nov. 25 just to talk. He was doing fine, he said. By the next afternoon, Danny was at Edmond Medical Center Emergency Room with intense abdominal pain. Within hours, doctors diagnosed him with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML). Danny's girlfriend, Joey Leong, was with him at the hospital. She telephoned his parents in Malaysia with the frightening news. It was she who waited by Danny's bedside for four days
until his parents arrived. After arranging an emergency Visa, Danny's father Tan Say Teong and his mother Lim Kim Luang embarked on a 32-hour trip from Teluk Intan, Malaysia, arriving on Dec. 1. "He told me he's so scared," Tan Say Teong said. "I told him I wouldn't live without him." Covering his face with his hands, he composed himself and continued. "In this hospital," he said, "there are good people. In ICU they are very supportive." Tan said he wants his son to be treated here rather than back in Malaysia. "The doctors and nurses are very kind and helpful. They have given us hope," he said. Dr. Alexandra Ikeguchi, an Edmond oncologist, started Danny on chemotherapy Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day. ."He's on seven days of chemotherapy," she said. "He
For your listening pleasure - three CD reviews to check out before spending a dime — Page 7 Danny Tan, UCO senior finance major from Malaysia, is diagnosed with leukemia. may need more but we won't know for awhile yet." The chemotherapy kills all the white blood cells. It takes three weeks before new cells appear to show us if the drug worked, Ikaguchi said. If only good cells appear, Danny is in remission. If not, he
See Tan page 10
Anonymous circulating petition requests faculty evaluations to be open to public by Danny Peters dp@thevistaonline.com A petition in the Liberal Arts Building is calling for the end-ofsemester student evaluations of professors and faculty to be made public. The anonymous sheet is entitled, "Petition to Permit the Making Public of The Biannual Collected Statistics Of the University of Central Oklahoma Student Evaluation of Professors and Faculty." Among other
things, it says, "Help us tell UCO that we pay for the evaluations and we insist that we be privy to the data to make wellinformed decisions about the quality of instructor's we choose to educate us." It also points out that "evaluation fees" are $1 per credit hour and that an average fall or spring semester would yield around $185,000. According to current enrollment data, that is $350,000 total for the spring, summer and fall 2002 semesters.
The petition points out that this is a large amount of money, much more than is necessary for the end-of-semester evaluations. What is known as evaluation fees are actually assessment fees, says Karen Maltby, UCO director of assessment. Each college has a committee that is given an allocation of funds and the committee oversees the use of those funds. "The funds are used to pay for surveys, test instruments, evaluators that come from off campus
and a few salaries." None of the deans contacted had heard of the petition. Liberal Arts Dean Dr. T.H. Baughman said that the petition could hardly be taken seriously since it was anonymous. "I'd have to read it to see," said Dean of Math and Science Dr. William Caire. "I don't have a real firm feel on it at all." Chris Markwood dean of arts, media and design said, "I'd have to see the petition." Then he said
that he didn't have an opinion
and thought that this was a question better left to the Provost and other administrators. The two other deans could not be reached for comment. At the end of each semester, students are given evaluations in each class. These ask questions about the professors, the coursework, and the overall experience of the class. According to UCO's News Bureau Director, Charles Johnson, the evaluations are not public record.
He's making his list and checking it twice - find out what UCO students are asking Santa to deliver on Christmas morning — Page 6