Graduation This week, caps and gowns will be on sale for spring graduates in the Barnes and Noble in the Nigh University Center. Page 3
Tennis UCO gets handed a 9-0 defeat against Oklahoma Christian on Saturday Page 7
FEB. 28, 2012 uco360.com twitter.com/uco360
THE VISTA
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
Elections
STUDENTS, FACULTY TO “PLAY POOR” AT POVERTY SIMULATION By Trevor Hultner / Staff Writer
RON PAUL MAKES WHISTLESTOP AT OKLAHOMA STATE CAPTIOL By Trevor Hultner / Staff Writer As Super Tuesday – arguably the most important date in the Republican primary season – draws nearer, candidate hopeful Ron Paul made a whistlestop in Oklahoma on Saturday, drawing approximately 1,700 people to a rally on the South Plaza of the State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. “I’m sure glad the revolution has arrived in Oklahoma,” Paul said, “Because it is spreading, it’s an intellectual revolution, and it’s not going to be stopped. An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by armies or any government.” Paul was backed up by an array of speakers, including State Senator Ralph Shortey and State Representative Mike Christian, who endorsed him. “If we don’t elect Dr. Paul, the freedoms we lose today will never return,” Christian said. “In this election, you will get to decide if your children will be a free people. That is your inescapable burden.” State Representative Charles Key read a statement from former gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon, who said, “A Paul presidency will be the only presidency that holds the Fed accountable.” Key himself told the crowd, “When you show up in force like this, they feel the heat and see the light.” “We’re supposed to be your public servants, not your masters,” he said. Paul told his supporters that the campaign was doing well in terms of accumulating delegates. “Sometimes they get confused in the voting and counting the votes, but so far, right now, they’re admitting that we are in second place with delegate counts,” he said. Not doing as well, according to Paul, is the state the country is in. “I’ve been talking about our problems for a good while; as a matter of fact, when I first got involved in politics in the 1970s, I was trying to head off some of these problems,” he said. “But, lo and behold, the government continued to grow.” Most of the problem, according to Paul, stems from sending too many people to Washington, D.C. who “either didn’t read or didn’t understand or take their oath of office seriously like they should.” “In Washington, they’re still sound asleep,” he said.
UCO students, faculty and staff will have a unique opportunity next week to experience nine years in the life of someone living in poverty through a simulation being conducted by sociology professor Amanda Miller. During the simulation, called “The Perils of Poverty,” student participants will get a character portfolio, which, according to Miller, will give them information about their families, years of education, and occupational prospects. “They will then decide how to invest their limited time: in recreation, welfare, education, work, hustling, Congressman Ron Paul, (R) Texas, speaks to a crowd outside the Oklahoma State Capitol on or by working with others to Feb. 25, 2012. Photo by Trevor Hultner, The Vista make their neighborhoods safer,” she said in an email. A diverse range of fans of the candidate came out “He wants to end the war and bring all the troops “Their efforts combined with from all over the state to see him speak on Saturday. home,” she said. “And he doesn’t want to just comrandom instances of good Edmond Memorial High School senior and Paul pletely get rid of contraception. He thinks it’s not a and bad - luck will help desupporter Grayson English said, “I think all of the federal problem, and it shouldn’t be.” termine their pathways.” candidates talk about liberty, and I think that it’ s Supporters thought Paul has a good chance to According to Miller, the fair to have a distrust of politicians generally, but win the candidacy, but acknowledge he still has simulation was designed by [Paul] is the only one who actually is talking about much in the way of obstacles to overcome – like Dr. Charles Petranek from ending the Federal Reserve, which I consider imwinning a caucus. the University of Southern portant because inflationary monetary policy aids “I think – I’ve heard at least – that he has the Indiana as a way for groups us in warfare, devalues the dollar and hurts poor second-most delegates, because people stay behind to learn more about some people.” after caucuses and all that,” English said. “But uh, of the challenging choices Ardmore resident Joshua McGowan, who was I think eventually he’s going to have to win somethat low income individuals there in part to see how event was organized, called thing just to stay in the headlines.” experience and difficulty of Paul’ s campaign “grassroots” and said, ”[Paul] says Paul’ s message to the crowd was mostly positive, getting out of poverty perthe exact same things when he ran for president but he did take the time to attack American exmanently. under the Libertarian Party that he’ s saying right ceptionalism and corporate-government collusion. “The Institute of Hope now.” “If corporations are wealthy thanks to the governhere at UCO will be utilizing Terra Dodson, of Sulphur, said that she supment, that is not fair,” he said. it to help spread awareness ported Paul because of his views on the war and ”I believe we can win this argument, and we can about the lived experiences contraception. win it soon,” he said. of low-income Americans as a part of our spring mission,” she said. UCONNECT The simulation will be conducted on March 6 at 7:00 p.m. in the Liberal Arts building, room 128, and March 8 at 2:00 p.m. in LAR room 211. Interested parties can sign up to participate at By Mervyn Chua / Staff Writer room 211B, though space is Starting May 5, students accessing email through UCONNECT will be redilimited. rected to the newly implemented Google email system. For UCO’s faculty and staff, accessing email through UCONNECT will be directed to the Microsoft Outlook Web Access by clicking on the email icon. Microsoft Outlook funcWEATHER tionality through a web browser will be offered. The change comes in part because of complaints from students regarding TODAY H 70° L 45° storage space. “I find it to be really frustrating that our UCONNECT isn’t able to hold Graphic by Cody Bromley more emails,” Brooke Davis, a junior majoring in interpersonal communication, said. “I know that I like to save my emails from teachers, and not having May 5, the date of spring commencement, was settled on because it is the enough storage makes that really inconvenient.” only time on calendar it will not be affecting any classes. Haley Rodriguez, a sophomore majoring in family life education, cleans her Instructions for students will be provided closer to the time of transition on email frequently. how to move your existing UCONNECT email to Gmail. “I usually clean mine out everyday because I am afraid that the new important emails will not get through,” she said. TOMORROW H 70° L 45° Through the new Google email system, students will also be able to access Project Timeline (subject to change) their email via their smartphones. This change will make the school email more available and have wider access. April 2011 – Student Forums: Email Features “I wish I could [access my email via my phone] because it would be so much more convenient to email my professors, or get information about class being Sep 18 - 22, 2011 – Student Email Survey cancelled without having to pull out my laptop”, Shelby Judd, a junior majoring in organizational communication, said. Sep 26, 2011 – Email Program Selection Stephanie Edwards, head of the project and the director of the Office of Information Technology’s Internet Services, mentioned the project started last year. Edwards and her team met with students from UCOSA to ask for feedDec 2011 – Contract Review More weather at www.uco360.com back about the project. There was also an email blast to all students for opinion last April and almost 2,000 students responded. Jan 2012 – Begin external testing Google was selected to be the host because the results of the survey sent DID YOU out to students last September showed a large percentage already had a Gmail Feb 2012 – Testing within UCONNECT account or are using some kind of Google apps. Students were also asked for KNOW? feedback on their email usage and habits. The majority considered “getting According to an April 2012 – Instructor-led training available email via a mobile device” the most important feature, followed closely by old superstition, Technology Resource Center (405-974-5595) more storage space, virus protection, calendaring, and access to the address it is bad luck to book anytime and anywhere. whistle in a theatre. May 2012 – GO LIVE (Scheduled for May 5, 2012) One of the biggest challenges of this project is the scheduling of the change. The new email system cannot be implemented in the middle of the semester, making it hard to find the right timing.
CHANGES COMING TO STUDENT EMAIL