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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2002
Education budget crisis historic by Mark Schlachtenhaufen ms@thevistaonline.com Facing a $158 million common education budget shortfall, state Superintendent Sandy Garrett has organized a task force that will study the situation and then report to the Legislature in January. State education officials say that unless legislators act or the state economy improves in a hurry the budget crisis could cause many Oklahoma school
districts to run out of money before the end of the school year. Carolyn Crowder, president of the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), said if no action is taken, the state will lose 5,000 public school teachers April 10. Also, at least 100 districts, and possibly more, could go under, she said. If districts do go under, beginning sometime in the spring before school is out, the cost of bailing them out would be passed
on to taxpayers, Crowder said. Most of the impact would be felt in May or June, she said. The payments that would be made by property taxpayers within those districts to the district's lender would be made over a three-year period, Crowder said. The courts would then raise the property taxes. "This funding crisis is huge," Crowder said. "It's the biggest crisis that our state and particularly our schools
have ever, ever been in. These are the largest cuts our schools have ever had to make. Most people don't realize there is a crisis, or certainly how deep it is." Wendy Pratt, Education Department communications director, said Garrett is appointing a School Finance Task Force that will review past reforms and legislative mandates and examine bureaucratic barriers and various expenditures. "Oklahoma should not turn
its back on 12 years of education reform progress by ignoring the dire financial straits schools face at this time," Garrett said. Crowder has accepted Garrett's invitation to be a part of the task force, which will begin meeting Dec. 3. The task force, which will then meet on a weekly basis, will look at the big picture and issues within it, she said. Pratt said the task force will
Score two for the Lady Bronchos — Page 7
See Public Ed page 4
Iraq showdown nears deadline by Mark Schlachtenhaufen ms@thevistaonline.com
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Armed with a tough Bush administration-brokered resolution aimed at disarming Iraq, United Nations weapons inspectors return to work Nov. 27, beginning a new phase in the president's showdown with Saddam Hussein. Iraq must declare what weapons of mass destruction it possesses in a report to the U.N. by Dec. 8, sixty days after inspections resume Nov. 27, the inspectors will give their findings to the U.N. Security Council. "The clock is ticking right now," said UCO Provost Dr. Don Betz, a Middle East expert. According to the U.N., 10-12 inspectors were scheduled to arrive in Iraq Nov. 25. By December, a total of 80-100 inspectors will be in the country, looking for weapons of mass destruction. Last week, an advance team finished its work in Iraq, establishing inspection offices. No weapons inspectors have been in Iraq since 1998 when they were recalled by the U.N. Recent reports in the news media have raised concerns that Iraq is maintaining a nuclear weapons program. Iraqi officials have said that its military possesses no nuclear
weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction. Bush administration officials have repeatedly said they do not believe Iraq's claims. In recent weeks, President Bush has rarely mentioned "regime change," instead choosing to discuss the removal of weapons of mass destruction," Betz said. Some would • suggest Secretary of State Colin Powell influenced the shift in administration rhetoric, he said. Now Iraq must produce the required information, Betz said. "There will be a tremendous amount of pressure on the part of the United States to demonstrate that Saddam Hussein's regime either is not cooperating fully and or is purposefully hiding information or support systems or weapons systems themselves from inspectors," Betz said. The intense lobbying and compromises by the Bush administration that preceded the Security Council action on Iraq resulted in the unanimous 15-0 vote, Betz said. That effort swayed Syria, France, Russia and China. France and Syria were eleventh-hour converts, Betz said. The support from China was historically meaningful. "Fifteen to nothing is a real "
See Inspections page 8
UCO budget cuts total $3.7 million by Mark Schlachtenhaufen ms@thevistaonline.com Due to the continuing weak state economy, UCO has been forced to make additional cuts from its budget, bringing the total reductions for the current fiscal year to $3.7 million. The Office of State Finance has reported each of the last few months that state tax revenue collections have been less than the agency had projected. As a result, the State Regents for Higher Education have been ordered to trim their budget, resulting in reductions at state colleges and universities. To date this fiscal year, which began July 1, UCO's budget cuts have totaled 8.09 percent, or $3.77 million, said Steve Kreidler, UCO vice president for administration. In July, UCO reduced its budget by two percent. Mid-year reductions totaling 6.09 percent brought the total cut to 8.09 percent. In September, UCO reduced its budget by $1.9 million, or 4.34 percent, Kreidler said. In November, the reduction was $810,150, or 1.75 percent. Another $69,0(i0 was reallocated from Legislature funding to meet the mid-year reduction total of
6.09 percent, or $2.8 million. To offset the regent-mandated reductions, UCO depleted the $1.5 million it had set aside for just such an occasion, Kreidler said. Another $300,000 came from additional tuition income generated by an enrollment increase. Also, $100,000 came from administrative reimbursement from Wellness Center bond funds and $118,600 was taken from the regents' "Brain Gain 2010" allocation. Additionally, a worker's compensation reimbursement of $182,000 was reallocated. Plus, $998,550 was carried forward from the fiscal year 2002 budget, matching the total of 6.09 percent, or $2.8 million. No faculty or staff positions were lost, Kreidler said. Due to the size of the cuts, some operating costs, such as travel expenses and overtime, had to be reduced, he said. During the planning stage, UCO anticipated further budget reductions, Kreidler said. Administration made every effort to minimize the impact CO operating costs and in areas directly related to the student learning process, he said.
Beware of the 'Holiday Blues' Photo by Tina Fowble
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Muslims gather to pray at the Mosque on Second Street to observe Ramadan.
Muslim students to observe holy month by Stephanie Nease sn@thevistaonline.com The pristine white stucco building across the street from the Wellness Center could be a house in any town. At second glance, it sits slightly askew on its lot as though placed there by some careless builder, although that is not the case, said Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Muslim Student Association sponsor. Built as a mosque for UCO students, the building's main wall, its "qiblah," faces Islam's holy city Mecca, toward which all Muslims pray. Just before sundown, worshipers begin to arrive, many with dark hair and various shades of tawny or brown skin. Some blond-haired, blue-eyed. Many men wear beards. Women dress traditionally, with heads covered. They have met nightly at sundown since Nov. 6 to share a simple meal and water, and to pray and hear readings or recitations from the Qur'an, Islam's holy book. This is Ramadan, their holiest time of the year. The ninth month on the Islamic lunar calendar, Ramadan is when Muslims believe the Archangel Gabriel delivered the first verses of the Qur'an from God to the Prophet Muhammad. Because the lunar year is about 11 days short of the Gregorian year, Ramadan comes about 11 days earlier each year. It changes seasons every 33 years. The Qur'an forbids filth in a place of prayer — such as what may be tracked in on the soles of shoes. As people enter, they remove their shoes and place them on shelves. In the main prayer room, men and boys sit on the floor to prepare for the meal. Males and females may not break their fast or pray together, as that might distract them from worship, Dr. Ahmad said. A glass wall separates the men's prayer room from the much-smaller rectangular women's prayer room. By a trick of lighting, women can see out,
but men cannot see in. Usually women worshipers break their fast in this room. Today, however, they gather elsewhere because of the presence here of men. In the women's prayer room, Dr. Ahmad and Muhammad Ali Shahzad, president of the Muslim Student Association sit at a rectangular table with non-Muslim visitors and explain Ramadan and the breaking of the fast. Two young men with sparse beards join Dr. Ahmad and Shahzad at the table to observe the visit of non-Muslims to the mosque. With downcast eyes, they do not speak out of reverence for their elders. Traditionally, the Prophet Muhammad broke his fast with figs and water, said Ahmad, so partaking of these items is part of the ritual of the evening Ramadan meal. Their conversation is accompanied by an undercurrent of murmuring in several languages seeping through the glass wall. Exotic smells and voices emanate from a tiny kitchenette. After a time, plates of spicy, aromatic food appear from the kitchen — homemade delicacies brought by local families to share with their brothers. Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, is said to be the language of God, therefore all prayers and readings of the Qur'an are done in Arabic, Shahzad said. Allah is the Arabic word for God. The Qur'an teaches that Allah is the God of the Jews and Christians. It speaks of Moses, Abraham, Jesus and others. For this reason, Muslims call Jews and Christians "people of the book," he said. When time for prayer is near, the meal is cleared away and the four men join their brothers, leaving the women's prayer room to its purpose. A call to prayer is sounded.
Design senior unveil final exhibit —Page 5
See Ramadan page 5
New law affects Internet radio by Michael Larso n
mlUthevistaonline.c om
The Small Webcasters Settlement Act (SWSA) passed Nov. 14, providing temporary respite for small Internet radio companies who've fought a long battle with the music industry over royalty rates for using musicians' music online. The SWSA allows webcasters to negotiate with SoundExchange, the entity responsible for collecting and disseminating to artists royalties for all webcasting usage. Webcasters will strive for a rate
lower than the 0.14 cents per listener per song that the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) originally decided on in February, a rate which was halved to 0.07 cents by the Librarian of Congress before its approval. Webcasters will still have to pay for the music they are using in the coming six months, but retroactively, at rates decided upon by CARP on June 20, 2003. It was a victory for Jay Inslee, a democrat U.S. representative from Washington who had authored a similar bill earlier this year and is among the cause's sev.
eral proponents in congress. Sara O'Connell, a spokesperson for Inslee, said, "It costs a fair amount of money to participate in CARP, so many of the smaller webcasters were unable to, which we didn't feel was fair." The original legislation for protecting small webcasters was called the Internet Radio Fairness Act, which was introduced in July, and became tangled in the House's Judiciary Committee. "The chairman wanted the parties to explore it themselves," O'Connell said, which was what
See Internet Radio page 3
Gov.—elect pushes for lottery whiledenouncing casinos —Page 4