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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2003
New online voting delays election by Thad Danner td@thevistaonline.com UCOSA passed a bill March 3 delaying the deadline for posting rules governing elections. The new deadline for posting is Monday, March 10.
J.P. Jordan, UCOSA president, said the delay was needed to adjust campaign rules "because of going to online voting.
Jordan said UCOSA is switching the upcoming election to an online vote because "they're
[the bursar's office] having trouble getting the books of names. They're no longer able to get the printouts." He said the referendum on the student facility fees, to be held March 11 and 12, will also be conducted online.
Jordan said an old policy banned campaigning within 15 feet of the voting booth, raising a question of how to regulate campaigning around computer labs. Jordan said they would probably model this election, as well as the facility fee referendum,on
the freshman King and Queen elections. Jordan acknowledges there were "some issues with people not being able to get onto UCONNECT. Students need to
see Voting page 4
Academic relief bill among focuses in UCOSA session by Thad Danner td@thevistaonline.com UCOSA House and Senate approved joint resolutions seeking academic relief for students involved with Homecoming Week, and approved next year's general budgets for various student groups. The UCOSA Senate officially recognized students with disabilities as a campus organization March 3. Senator Dallas Strimple and Speaker of the House Jake Winkler coauthored the homecoming academic relief bill. The resolution requested that professors be provided a schedule of homecoming events a week before the fall semester. The bill also directed UCOSA to ask professors not to administer "crucial" exams or assignments during homecoming week, and that with the professors approval, a student involved with homecoming could be excused from class. Strimple stressed that the resolution yvAs:just,,irequest without force of law." The Senate approved the schedule of regular funding
introduced by senate appropriations chair Amy Dunaway. The joint resolution outlined the funds allocated to the various student groups recognized on campus. The top recipients were the Student Programming Board with $55,000; UCOSA with $18,266; the Homecoming Activities Board with $16,000; the President's Leadership Council with $13,000; the Interfraternity Council with $9,000; and the Panhellenic Association with $7,000. The Budo Society received the smallest amount--$500. The total funds allocated came to $273,838. • Dunaway stressed that "every budget submitted" was given money. The remaining legislation recognized Students with Disabilities as a campus organization. The resolution declared that they had submitted a constitution and that Blake Fry, director of Campus Life, approved their admittance. It also allowed the group to provide a senator s.rOr the 2002-2003 academic year.
UCO wrestling qualified seven wrestlers and took four individual crowns on the way to their 14th Midwest Regional Championship. - Page 8
Photo by Justin Avera
Winners of the 2003 Miss Hispanic UCO scholarhsip pageant from left: second runner-up Brenda Lenis, Miss Hispanic UCO Adelita Alvarez-Dixon, and first runner-up Anna Gloria Martinez-McCormick.
Alvarez-Dixon wins Miss Hispanic UCO by Summer Pratt sp@thevistaonline.com Adelita Alvarez-Dixon was crowned Miss Hispanic UCO on March 1 at the Fourth Annual Miss Hispanic UCO scholarship pageant. , Along with her crown, Alvarez-Dixon, junior dance major, will receive a $1,800 scholarship. Alvarez-Dixon also won the
In the Name of Love
People's Choice Award, voted on by the audience, and the Talent Award. She competed against nine other women for the title of Miss Hispanic UCO. Anna Gloria MartinezMcCormick, freshman pre-med major was the first runner-up. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Second runner-up was Brenda Lenis, freshman premed major. She will receive a $400 cash scholarship.
Cori-Dawn Sanchez, senior finance major, was named Miss Congeniality. Judi Reyes, senior marketing major, was named the Hispanic Business Woman of Today and received a $200 cash prize. Veronica Pena, pageant director, said the title Latina Business Woman of Tomorrow is awarded to the contestant who raises the most advertising
War veterens voice their support for the government's war effort during a rally March 3. - Page 5
see Hispanic UCO page 4
Club fires can be avoided, Fire Protection officials say by Mark Schlachtenhaufen ms@thevistaonline.com
Photo by Justin Avera
Leslie McElroy, Sheena Marie and Megan Kubik perform "You'll Never Get To Heaven If You Break My Heart" during the "Love Sweet Love" concert at the UCO Jazz Lab Feb. 28.
Sometimes natural forces take control and UCO student Dylisa Smith has to cut loose on the dance floor. Her favorite venue is Velocity, an Oklahoma City club that plays a blend of hip-hop and rhythm and blues. But Smith said her desire to dance has been smothered since she heard about the Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed more than 90 patrons. "It kind of makes me not want to go there very much," Smith said. "In most of Oklahoma City's clubs I think the safety is pretty good. Some are pretty bad." The last time she went dancing was about a month ago,
6,000 Oklahomans, governor show for U.S. troop rally by Caroline Duke cd@thevistaonline.com A crowd, estimated by organizers to be about 6,000, erupted in synchronized chants of "Bush, Bush, Bush..." and "U-S-A, U-SA, U-S-A..." several times during a rally at 50 Penn Place in Oklahoma City for American troops abroad and those who face the possibility of being sent overseas. Veterans of past wars, current military personnel, and local media personalities spoke at the March 3 event sponsored by Clear Channel Communications. Governor Brad Henry, featured speaker at the rally, said, "Our Oklahoma troops are absolutely dedicated in their resolve to protecting this great country and our great state." "There is absolutely no question in my mind, as I travel across this great state, that Oklahomans
are absolutely, 100 percent behind and in support of our [troops]," he said. "God bless Oklahoma and God bless America," Henry said before he exited the stage. Oklahoma City mayor Kirk Humphreys, who was one opening speaker, said, "I don't have all the information that George W. Bush has, but I'll tell you what I do know: I trust our president." "Every generation, sooner or later, comes face to face with the reality that freedom is not free; it comes at a cost." "I trust George W. Bush to count the cost of war. It is not cheap, it's not pretty. If he gives that order to go to war, he knows what he's doing," Humphreys said. Paul Flowers, a 70-year-old Korean War veteran who served 20 years in the Oklahoma
see Rally page 5
Smith said. She has always paid attention to the location of exits in nightclubs. When she goes dancing again, which may not be anytime soon, she said she will think about safety issues even more. Rhode Island Nightmare Officials say a good number of the estimated 350 patrons jammed into The Station initially thought the fire lighting up the stage was part of Great White's act. Minutes after the 1980s heavy metal band began the set, pyrotechnic sparklers resembling July 4th fireworks fountains spewed streaks of fire into the air. Then sparks ignited the ceiling and soundproofing near the stage. Panic spread through the
UCO instructor faces summer deployment to Afghanistan with the Army Reserves. - Page 6
see Club page 10
Applications due for student body office candidates by Thad Danner td@thevistaonline.com
Photo by Juli Barker
Six thousand came to show their support at the rally March 3, 2003
Applications to run for student body president, vice-president or for representative of the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Business, the College of Media Arts and Design, the College of Education or the College of Math and Science are due Friday March 7 at 5 p.m. The forms can be picked up in the Campus Life office in Room 424 of the Nigh University Center (NUC), the UCOSA office in Room 148 of the NUC or found under the "Leadership Square" tab at uconnect.ucok.edu .
"Shanghai Knights" reteams Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson for an encore in London.
see UCOSA page 4
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