25 January 2016

a student newspaper of the university of tulsa

january 25, 2016 issue 14 ~ volume 101

TU "Vaudeville Museum" showcases marginalized American voices, p 12

for Trump

Donald Trump brings Sarah Palin to town, draws Tulsa’s own “silent majority,” p 8

TU recognized as a top school for veterans, p 5 Graphic by Elias Brinkman

Sports

The Collegian: 2

25 January 2016

Men’s basketball winning streak now sits at five

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photos by Greg Diskin

Clockwise from left: Shaquille Harrison dribbles past UCF 7’ 6” big man Tacko Fall in Sunday’s 75–60 win.

D’Andre Wright jumps to the hoop against Fall. Rashad Ray drives down the court against UCF. He had 12 points.

The men’s team continues their winning streak with victories over conference foes East Carolina and UCF. Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer Defense fuels strong win vs ECU The Golden Hurricane men’s basketball team played solid defense in a road game against East Carolina, leading to a 84–69 victory.

The first half was tight, as the teams traded the lead multiple times. Tulsa opened an eight point lead at 21–13, and the rest of the half was a series of short spurts that kept the score close. At the break, Tulsa led, 42–37.

In the second half, the Golden Hurricane defense took over, and they were able to put away the game. With ten minutes left, the score was 63–61 in favor of Tulsa. For the final ten minutes, Tulsa held East Carolina to eight points, while scoring 21 of their own to open a comfortable lead. The defensive outburst was fueled by many of the 19 turnovers that Tulsa forced over the course of the game, which includes 12 steals.

Dominance on the boards makes up for slow shooting start against UCF In their next game, the Knights of Central

Results from July 2015 Bar Exam

Florida came to town. The Knights brought a unique challenge for Tulsa: 7’ 6” center Tacko Fall. Fall’s presence altered the offense, forcing a lot of outside shots early.

Early in the game, the Golden Hurricane weren’t able to knock down the open outside looks they were getting. James Woodard was 0 for 7 from beyond the three point arc in the first half.

Despite these shooting struggles, Tulsa was still able to claim the lead halfway through the half, and kept it until halftime.

They attacked the middle, and drew contact and got to the foul line.

In the second half, the shots started to go down, and the Tulsa’s defense buckled down and shut down the Knights. The lead opened up, and led to a comfortable 75–60 victory.

The Golden Hurricane forced 19 turnovers, while protecting the ball and only turning the ball over 5 times themselves.

Despite facing a large Knight frontcourt, Tulsa still crashed the offensive boards, coming up with an incredible 18 offensive rebounds. And, while the starters struggled to score more than usual, the bench, especially Brandon Swannegan and Rashad Ray, had large contributions.

The Golden Hurricane now have won five straight conference games, and sit at 13–6 (5–2 American Athletic Conference), good for second place in the conference. Their next game is on the road against the Houston Cougars, on January 27.

Sports

25 January 2016

Tennis has strong season openers

After a two month long break from their fall seasons, the men and women’s tennis teams did not lose a step in play when the spring season started up again.

Matt Rechtien Sports Editor

The women’s team won their first five games before dropping their first match to the No. 5-ranked University of North Carolina team. The men’s team has won three of their first four, knocking off the No. 21 and 36 teams, and losing to the No. 25 team.

The women’s team hosted a preseason tournament, the Hurricane Invitational, in the early part of January. The tournament was a strong opening to their season, as the women’s team picked up 34 individual wins, and only lost three total matches for the entire three-day tournament.

They dominated their next five matches, sweeping ORU (twice), Arkansas Pine Bluff (twice) at home in back-to-back doubleheaders before beating Marshall in Chapel Hill at the opening portion of the ITA KickOff Weekend this past weekend. The Kick-

Off Weekend, which includes 60 teams across 15 different sites, serves as a qualifier for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February.

In the conclusion of the weekend, the Golden Hurricane fell to the Tar Heels 0–4, despite No. 46 ranked doubles pair Martha Matoula and Rongrong Leenabanchong defeating North Carolina’s No. 16 pair Kate Vialle and Jessie Aney.

The women, now ranked No. 48 in the country, sit at 5–1 and will continue their season at home against Baylor this upcoming Saturday.

The men, going into the season ranked No. 29 in the country, opened up their season with morning and night victories over ORU and the No. 21 ranked University of California respectively.

After the season-opening win Head Coach Vince Westbrook said, “I thought that the ORU match was great. We played good in the doubles, and good in the singles.

We had two different line ups today, and it has been a while since I have had a team this deep. We put a different lineup out there and I think that we were pretty convincing.”

After the upset over the Bears, Westbrook

said, “Cal. is going to be the favorite in the northern part of the PAc-12, and they are one of the best teams in the country. [Or] Ram-Harel goes out and beats the No. 3 player in the country, and [Carlos] Bautista goes out and beats the No. 30 player in the country. Our three and four spots weren’t very good, but I don’t think that our freshmen have played in an environment like this. Our doubles were awesome, and it came down to our upper classmen. I think that we are at about 60-percent or 70-percent of what we can do, but it’s going to be a puzzle putting the pieces together against the right opponents.”

After their first two wins, the men moved up to No. 24 in the country before participating in the Men’s ITA Kick-Off Weekend, aslo this past weekend. In their opening match of the weekend, the Golden Hurricane fell to No. 25 Northwestern 1–4, but bounced back against No. 36 Notre Dame on Saturday 4–3 to finish the weekend 1–1, and put their overall record at 3–1.

Next up for the men’s team is a doubleheader at home against Purdue and Wichita State on Sunday.

the halftime break, Tulsa led by 2.

In the third quarter, though, the Golden Hurricane started to impose themselves on the game. They outscored the Cougars 15–2 in the opening seven minutes of the third quarter, pulling ahead for a 42–27 lead. For the rest of the game, Tulsa played solid defense, and were able to keep their lead from being jeopardized. They came away with a 79–62 victory, with senior Ashley Clark scoring a career high 33 points.

After the road win, Tulsa returned home to face the Memphis Tigers. Similarly to the game against Houston, the first half was close. The teams traded the lead a few times, and Memphis managed to take a small lead

at halftime, 36–33.

The third quarter was tough for the Golden Hurricane. They were outscored 20–7 in the quarter, and had trouble with turnovers, from which the Tigers were able to create numerous scoring opportunities. In the fourth quarter, Tulsa scored 18 points, nearly as many as the 19 points they scored in the previous two quarters combined. Yet, it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback, and they fell 69–58.

Tulsa now has a 7–13 (4–5 American Athletic Conference) record. Next up on the schedule is the No. 1 ranked UConn Huskies, who come to the Reynolds Center on January 27.

recent slump, he is quietly putting up a fantastic line and shooting as well as anybody in the league not named Steph, with percentages of .507/.390/.889 (shooting/threepoint/free-throw).

Westbrook, meanwhile, has managed to maintain the “Alpha Dog” status he achieved last year in Durant’s absence, emerging as the clear leader of the team and scoring 23.9 PPG with a point guard-leading 7.1 RPG and a career-high 9.8 APG. He has recorded five triple-doubles and continues to terrorize opponents with his relentless style of play and gravity-defying athleticism, while also continuing to grow as a distributor. Once criticized as being more concerned with scoring than setting up teammates, West-

Some of that disparity comes from the greater depth of the former two teams. It’s an old cliché that it takes an entire team to win, but it’s a truth that comes to bear time and again. Both the Warriors and Spurs are amongst the deepest teams ever, playing regular rotations of 11 or 12 men and bringing players off the bench that could probably start for the majority of teams in the league. It’s simply a fact that the Thunder don’t have that kind of depth.

Still, it would be fallacious to suggest that there is no talent surrounding Durant and Westbrook. Serge Ibaka, though he never developed into the pick-and-roll beast he was expected to, is still one of the top rim protectors in the league, as well as a capable

Women’s basketball cruises past Cougars, falls to Tigers

The women’s team continued conference play with a road victory over Houston followed by a loss to Memphis.

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer The Golden Hurricane women’s basketball team played a pair of conference games this week, splitting the results.

For their first game, they travelled to Houston, to face the Cougars. The first half was tightly contested, and neither team could find a way to break off a large lead. At

Thunder trying to find balance As the NBA season approaches the All-Star break, the Thunder are trying to balance their two superstars in a way that can make them one of the top teams in the league.

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer

On January 22, the NBA announced the starters for the 65th annual All-Star game in Toronto, as selected by fan voting. Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, playing in his final season, and Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, the reigning MVP and burgeoning face of the league, made the biggest noise throughout the selection process but neither was joined in the starting lineup by a teammate. That distinction went only to the dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Neither selection should come as a surprise. Both players are immensely popular nationwide despite being in a relatively small media market, combining highlightreel playmaking ability with the charisma and bravado of movie stars. Curry is in a conversation by himself for MVP at the midway point of the season, but Durant and Westbrook are certainly worthy of their starting nods and are waiting at the door should anything happen to derail Steph’s magical three-point stroke.

Coming back from a devastating foot injury that kept him out for most of the 201415 season, Durant is averaging 26.5 PPG, good for third-best in league, as well as 7.7 RPG and 4.5 APG. Despite struggling to find his legs at the start of the year and a

Monday

“The styles of Durant and Westbrook simply do not mix” brook has finally reached a happy balance: he ranks seventh in the league in scoring and second in assists.

The two together make up what is inarguably the most talented pairing in the league…so why do the Thunder continue to play at a level below that of the league’s true elite?

Let me be clear, the Thunder have been very successful to this point in the season.

At 33-12, they rank third in the Western Conference and would probably be the favorite to advance to the Finals if they played in the East. But compared to the Warriors (40-4) and San Antonio Spurs (38-6), the Thunder look closer to a middle of the pack playoff team than a legit contender.

Tuesday

No Events No Events

Wednesday Women’s Basketball vs.

UConn 7:00 p.m.

Men’s Basketball @ Houston 7:00 p.m.

shot-maker from midrange. Steven Adams does everything that fails to show up in the stat sheet, effectively boxing out, rotating on defense and passing from the interior while slowly improving his offensive game.

Off the bench, Dion Waiters can make a shot from just about anywhere on the floor when he’s hot (and can shoot the team out of the game when he’s not), Anthony Morrow continues to be one of the game’s premier snipers, and Enes Kanter, a one-dimensional talent who lost favor with the Utah Jazz, has found an effective role as perhaps the best post scorer in the league. In short, this isn’t LeBron James dragging a collection of scrubs to the Finals in 2007 or Michael Jordan single-handedly battling the great teams

Thursday

No Events

The Collegian: 3

McCoil and Bourgeois newly signed

Ex-Golden Hurricane athletes Dexter McCoil and Bradley Bourgeois will look to make impacts for their new teams.

Mason Morgan Sports Writer

Dexter McCoil and Bradley Bourgeois are making a national presence for TU athletics as they have both signed contracts with American professional sports franchises.

McCoil last played football for the Golden Hurricane in 2012. A linebacker from Louisiana, Dexter signed with the San Diego Chargers earlier this month. He signed with the Oakland Raiders after his senior year as an undrafted free agent and eventually ended up with the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League. McCoil had an instant impact, winning the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie award in 2014.

After Edmonton won the CFL championship in 2015, McCoil entered a contract dispute with the club that made him eligible to sign with an NFL team. The Chargers signed him but if he fails to reach an extension, McCoil can rejoin Edmonton after this season. San Diego is hoping McCoil can replicate the success of their other former CFL players such as Dontrelle Inman and Cordarro Law. Bourgeois, a soccer player from Cypress, TX, has signed to play with the Major League Soccer Club Houston Dynamo.

Bradley is a defender who played his final season this year for TU. He started in every game of his TU career and scored seven goals, one assist and contributed to 25 shutouts for his career. The way the MLS usually works for players coming out of college is that they get signed with the club, work out with the team, and eventually try to work their way up through the club’s developmental leagues. It’s very early in Bourgeois’ career so there are no guarantees, but his contributions to TU’s team over the past four years would point in the general direction of his success. of the ‘80s. The Thunder have everything in theory that they need to tackle Golden State and San Antonio.

The main problem, and it’s a hard one to admit, is that the styles of Durant and Westbrook simply do not mix. This has been evident for the eight years the two have played together, as KD works best shooting off the dribble and Westbrook needs to dominate the ball to succeed. When Scott Brooks coached the team, the offense looked like a jumbled, horribly-spaced mess, with the two superstars often just trading off possessions and standing in the corner while the other went to work. It was a criminal misuse of talent and a terribly easy strategy for an elite defensive team to defend, the primary reason why Brooks was fired despite never failing to win 45 games with the team.

Brooks’ replacement, Billy Donovan, has done a slightly better job in getting both of his stars consistently involved, mainly by using the pair more frequently in high pickand-rolls, but in doing so he is not utilizing the best abilities of his players. In truth, it is probably impossible to do so. Durant’s and Westbrook’s best seasons came when the other was out with an injury and each was allowed full jurisdiction over running the offense. The two can be friendly and show each other as much solidarity as they want, but they and anyone looking at the situation honestly knows they play best without one another.

It’s a difficult truth to swallow but one that the team’s brass will have to consider in the upcoming years as Durant and Westbrook reach free agency. Fans will likely clamor to re-sign both but even if the Thunder can afford it, the smarter move may indeed be to let one go.

: Jan 25–31 Friday

Men’s Golf @ Arizona Intercollegiate All Day Indoor Track @ Jayhawk Invitational

Saturday

Women’s Tennis vs. Baylor 12:00 p.m.

Women’s Basketball @ UCF 12:00 p.m.

Men’s Basketball vs. Tulane 5:00 p.m.

Men’s Golf @ Arizona Intercollegiate All Day

Sunday

Men’s Tennis vs. Purdue 10:00 a.m.

Men’s Tennis vs. Wichita State 5:00 p.m.

News

The Collegian: 4

25 January 2016

Episode One: From Aleppo to Tulsa

TU students Sunna and Dana Sous spent the halcyon days of their childhood just outside Aleppo, Syria. But Syria was a different place then. They remember the first shopping mall in the country, as well as the first internet service in 1997. This changed in 2011, when a civil war broke out. Now, the town they grew up in is torn between rebels and government forces.

Fraser Kastner Managing Editor

Sam Beckmann Producer

For the continued story go to:

http://tucollegian.org/podcast/itunes or

This QR Code

Let us know your thoughts on Collegian Voices, our new podcast, by contacting us at tucollegian@tucollegian.org

Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00pm Tyrrell Hall, Ellen G. Adelson Auditorium

Book Launch: The Unraveling of Mercy Louis Please join the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities as we help Keija Parssinen, Assistant Professor of English at TU, launch the paperback version of The Unraveling of Mercy Louis.

After a reading and conversation, a reception and book signing will follow.

Tuesday, January 26 at 7:30pm Lorton Performance Center, Meinig Recital Hall

United States Marine Corps Jazz Quintet Concert The University of Tulsa School of Music will present a concert by the United States Marine Corps Jazz Quintet.

The quintet will perform a wide variety of jazz music ranging from bebop standards to original compositions. Come enjoy a jazz performance by the nation’s finest.

The event is free and open to the public.

Wednesday, January 27 at 7:30pm to 8:30pm Hardesty Hall

VegWeek: Quick, Cheap, and Easy Vegan Cooking Interested in reducing the amount of meat or dairy in your diet, but worried it’s too hard or expensive? Stop by our class! We’ll be making recipes that fit the average college lifestyle: busy and broke.

Plus, all attendees will recieve a free booklet of quick and easy plant-based recipes and cooking tips!

Thursday, January 28 - Sunday Jan. 31 at 8:00pm Kendall Hall, Chapman Theater

I Hate Hamlet The Department of Theatre presents the hilarious, long-running Broadway smash hit I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick.

TU Theatre welcomes guest director Erin McLaine from Los Angeles. McLaine has worked as an actor, director, choreographer, playwright and teacher with over 150 national and international productions.

A reception will be held for McLaine following the Friday performance.

Taken from publisher, Dramatists Play Service: A young and successful television actor relocates to New York, where he rents a marvelous, gothic apartment. With his television career in limbo, the actor is offered the opportunity to play Hamlet onstage, but there’s one problem: He hates Hamlet. His dilemma deepens with the entrance of John Barrymore’s ghost, who arrives intoxicated and in full costume to the apartment that once was his. The contrast between the two actors, the towering, dissipated Barrymore whose Hamlet was the greatest of his time, and Andrew Rally, hot young television star, leads to a wildly funny duel over women, art, success, duty, television, and yes, the apartment.

Friday, January 29 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm Tyrrell Hall, Ellen G. Adelson Auditorium

Final Friday: Vaudeville Museum Reprise Machele Miller-Dill, director of TU’s musical theatre program, directs this throwback performance with TU’s James Gregory, musical theatre specialist, on piano.

And did we mention there’s a dog? Join us for an evening of humor and context exploring the era of Vaudeville. Complimentary treats and beverages will be provided while they last.

Sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities at TU and the Department of Theatre and Musical Theatre.

Free and open to the public.

Friday, January 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30 at 10:00pm Circle Cinema

Alien Director’s Cut Alien will be playing on the big screen once again this weekend. For fans of the Alien trilogy this is a most see event.

News

25 January 2016

The Collegian: 5

TU named Top 25 Military Friendly school Victory Media certified TU as a 2016 Military Friendly School, Top 25 Grad Program for Veterans.

Trent Gibbons Distribution Manager The University of Tulsa was recently recognized, though not for the first time, as a Military Friendly School by Victory Media. For over a decade Victory Media, a Veteran-owned organization, has been offering institutions an opportunity to distinguish themselves in this manner. Furthermore, the University of Tulsa was designated a Top Twenty Five Military Grad Program.

Victory Media determines these achievements through proprietary data gathered from free online sur-

the current President of TU’s Student Veterans’ Association and a Graduate Student in the I/O Psychology program.

While all three voiced minor ways in which the university could improve its treatment of veterans, they claimed the awarded merits to be well deserved.

They went on to say that the administration provides them ample means to help military students make maximum use of their benefits.

Watts explained the five types of federal aid programs through which military veterans can attend TU. Chapter 33, which supports the vast majority of military students on campus, provides financial aid to students annually, with a maximum of $21,000 offered per individual.

Chapter 30 provides educational benefits to students who have

One big way the University of Tulsa has distinguished itself in terms of military accommodation is through its participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The program itself is voluntary for private institutions.

Typically, under the aforementioned Post-9/11 GI Bill alone, tuition to attend public schools would be funded in totality by the federal government, while private school tuition aid was capped off at approximately $21,000 per year.

Yellow Ribbon, if the program is adopted by an institution, allows the administration to provide further financial aid to its military students, which is in turn matched by federal funds.

TU makes full use of this program, in many cases fully funding a student-veteran’s tuition.

Watts and Weddle are re-educated three times a year (though

“TU makes full use of this program [Yellow Ribbon], in many cases fully funding a student-veteran’s tuition” veys and an assortment of public and government sources which they evaluate to ensure consistency and legitimacy.

For schools in particular, they access federal databases regarding student’s graduation rates, placement rates and loan default rates.

Helping clarify how our school had distinguished itself in terms of veterans’ benefits are Cindy Watts, TU associate registrar, Derrick Weddle, who assists her in the certifying process, and Matt Luetjen,

served for at least two years, while Chapter 1606 offers educational and training benefits to active duty members in a monthly stipend lasting up to three years.

Chapter 35 offers monthly stipends to dependents and survivors of servicemembers, and Chapter 31, finally, covers the educational costs of rehabilitative/disabled veterans “down to the pencil.”

There are over one hundred students on campus eligible for and using these programs.

Tulsa Public Schools proposes a school bond to create subsidized housing for teachers.

cil as a part of Vision 2025. Vision 2025 was a series of proposals in 2003 to raise the county’s tax rate in order to fund city improvements or create economic development incentives. The goal of this proposal is to attract and retain new teachers for Tulsa area schools.

“Teach. Live. T-Town.” is similar to programs in other cities facing the same teacher shortages.

The proposal would give prospective teachers incentives for renting or buying a house in the Tulsa area, under the condition that they then work for the school district.

they hope to lower that to two) on the strict federal guidelines and rapidly-changing laws regarding veteran aid.

Many of the school’s accommodations for veterans are governed by the Veterans’ Administration and ultimately Congress above them, which is why TU’s willingness to go beyond its obligational responsibilities is so unique.

Luetjen expressed his thanks for the plentiful support from administration and the business office,

courtesy Victory Media

Victory Media rates schools based on extensive veteran support criteria.

namely Geoffrey Allen, a veteran himself who does the university’s sponsored billing (such as to the VA).

None of this means that there isn’t room for improvement, according to Watts.

Perhaps the chief complaint was how militarily disabled students find it especially frustrating to have to prove their disability to CSAS, which is often backlogged with other matters, after already jumping through hoops with the Veterans’ Association.

Luetjen, who headed up the Student Veterans’ Association after active membership dropped from thirty to ten students (it has since returned to 30) pointed out that getting student veterans to participate in the organization was difficult, since he was provided with a ‘blind email’ and not a list of students to contact.

Finally, there were a few gripes with the on-campus Veteran’s Lounge, as its location on the second floor of a building without wheelchair access makes it inaccessible to disabled servicemembers. There was also some talk about the rooms being too small.

When viewing Victory Media’s list of its certified Military Friendly schools, TU is one of four universities in the state of Oklahoma to entirely fulfill the criteria listed under Support. Within this category are “No Penalty for Deployed MIlitary Students,” “Full-time VA Counselor on Staff,” “Veteran Clubs/Groups,” and “SVA Chapter on Campus.”

This extensive, personalized support offered to servicemen is no doubt prevalent among the reasons why service members may be attracted to the University of Tulsa.

“Teach. Live. T-Town.” school bond proposed Talia Shaull, the human capital officer for Tulsa Public Schools (TPS), said this idea came about because Tulsa is in the middle of a “climate in which we need to think about alternative scenarios” for attracting teachers. Raising salaries Michaela Flonard is not currently an option for the Student Writer school district. Shaull and other members of TPS have expressed A collaboration between Tulsa, hope that Oklahoma might fix its Jenks, Union Public Schools and teacher shortage by changing its Tulsa Technology Center has proeducation policies. duced a proposal known as “Teach.

When it was initially proposed, Live. T-Town.” This proposal was Tulsa City Councilperson Anna presented to the Tulsa City CounAmerica says there was concern over the city interfering with school districts.

“But,” she said, “we’ve seen that our schools being successful has a huge tucollegian@tucollegian.org impact on our neighborhood and on our city The Collegian is the student newspaper of the University being successeditor-in-chief of Tulsa. It is distributed Mondays during the fall and Giselle Willis ful.” spring semesters, except during holidays and final exam Since its proweeks. The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on posal, the promanaging editor the basis of personal status or group characteristics gram has also Fraser Kastner news editor

Kayleigh Thesenvitz sports editor

Matt Rechtien variety editor

Abigail LaBounty commentary editor

Hannah Kloppenburg satire editor

Caitlin Woods photo & graphics editor

Elias Brinkman

business & advertising manager

Paul Moses web manager

Sam Chott

distribution managers

Kayleigh Thesenvitz and Trent Gibbons

including but not limited to the classes protected under federal and state law. Inquiries regarding implementation of this policy may be addressed to the Office of Human Resources, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-9700, 918-631-2616.

Requests for accommodation of disabilities may be addressed to the University’s 504 Coordinator, Dr. Tawny Taylor, 918-631-3814. To ensure availability of an interpreter, five to seven days notice is needed; 48 hours is recommended for all other accommodations. Advertising Policy: Advertising appearing in this publication does not imply approval or endorsement by the University of Tulsa or The Collegian for the products or services advertised.

For advertising information, email the Collegian at advertising@tucollegian.org. The deadline for advertising is 12 pm on the Friday prior to publication. Letter Policy: Letters to the editor must be less than 500 words and can be sent to tucollegian@tucollegian, or dropped off at Oliphant Room 110. Under no circumstances will anonymous letters be published. The name of the person submitting the letter must be published with the letter.

We reserve the right to edit or reject all letters. The deadline for letters is 5 pm on the Friday prior to publication. Editing Policy: The Collegian reserves the right to edit all copy submitted by all writers. This editing may take place in many forms, including grammar corrections, changes in paragraph structure or even the addition or removal of sections of content. Editorial Policy: Columnists are solely responsible for the content of their columns.

Opinions expressed in columns may not represent the opinions of the entire Collegian staff, the administrative policies of the University of Tulsa, the views of the student body or our advertisers.

evolved. Currently, the city is discussing the renovation of an existing building downtown into micro-lofts for prospective teachers. Other ideas, such as regular teacher incentives not tied to property and rental, are also being discussed. The city’s legal team is looking at the feasibility of the proposal under current state law and state statute, which will help determine what occurs.

The micro-lofts idea, according to America, would create an “exciting and neat place to live.”

These would be micro-units, with a shared common space and lounge for community events.

Furthermore, America believes that even if creating micro-lofts is a legal issue for the city, the city council may try to pass the project on to philanthropic organizations.

“At the center,” Shaull says, “is partnering with Tulsa, Jenks and Union public schools to offer some type of solution and retain and train teachers.”

So far, the public’s response has been positive, according to Shaull.

Most people are supportive of implementing an effort to recruit

teachers. “Some people’s first reaction is that the city and schools are supposed to be separate,” America says, but once the idea is further explained, most believe in the need to attract good teachers.

Oklahoma has faced trouble attracting teachers, and Tulsa reflects this struggle. In 2012-2013, the state was ranked 49th in terms of annual teacher salary. Due to the city’s lack of competitive salaries for teachers, proposals like this one focus on support and mentoring available to new teachers. America hopes that the school districts will eventually no longer need incentives, saying that “the goal should be in any nonprofit to work yourself out of a job. Whatever need you’re meeting, you hope to change the circumstances enough that you’re no longer needed.”

Currently, Tulsa Public Schools offers a one-time stipend as an incentive for hard-to-staff areas like math and special education. The “Teach. Live. T-Town.” idea will be reviewed by the City Council in the coming weeks. A decision will come by February 4.

The Collegian: 6

News

25 January 2016

Petroleum engineering not hurt by oil prices, according to professor TU’s own Dr. Kelkar explains why the recent drop in oil prices is not cause for alarm.

Kayleigh Thesenvitz News Editor Forty seven cents per gallon. At a gas station in Michigan on Sunday January 17, consumers flocked to fill up their tanks on the cheap during a price war between local gas stations.

In the last 18 months, the national average for gasoline fell from $3.58 a gallon to $1.89 and the international price of crude oil dropped from about $100 a barrel in 2014 to about $30 a barrel today.

Williams Endowed Professor and Chairman as well as McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering professor Dr. Mohan Kelkar explained why many PE professors believe this strange occurance is no cause for alarm.

The triangle depicts how technology is making it possible to refine previously unusable forms of oil so we can access large reserves of low quality oil. Due to the ever improving technologies, although we use nine and a half billion barrels per day, we have only used one-third of the earth’s supply of crude oil.

The other associated problems with the oil industry are how it will affect the University of Tulsa’s enrollment in the petroleum engineering program.

Bloomberg Business reported that the petroleum engineering degree is “a path to the unemployment office.”

Dr. Kelkar responded by pointing out that enrollment has increased across the US for the last several years so if the unemployment rate is increasing it is most likely due to the increase in the amount of petroleum engineers.

This situation makes the job market more competitive. Approximately 90-95 percent of PE students who graduated in 2014-2015

“The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stone, and the fossil fuel age won’t end because we run out of fossil fuels” “The petroleum industry is cyclical,” explained Dr. Kelkar. The decline in fuel prices we are seeing now is part of the normal cycle of the petroleum industry. In fact, today’s prices are still higher than they were in 1998 or 2007.

In addition, Dr. Kelkar suggested that common concerns about the eventual depletion of the world’s oil supply are not as urgent as many organizations have encouraged consumers to believe. Although there is a finite amount of fossil fuel on earth, Dr. Kelkar said that “the stone age did not end because we ran out of stone, and the fossil fuel age won’t end because we run out of fossil fuels.”

In order to illustrate the world’s supply of fossil fuels, Dr. Kelkar described an energy triangle like the one seen here.

year had jobs waiting for them after graduation. Yet so far in the 2015-2016 year only about 25 percent of students have jobs. The percentage will likely increase as the academic year nears completion.

Dr. Kelkar mentioned the industry doesn’t have enough mentors, and has more demand for older experienced workers, but the job situation normally changes from year to year and oil companies, “will continue to hire young people.”

Dr. Kelkar assured that 2016-2017 freshman will most likely have no problem finding jobs after graduation, and furthermore, “it’s not like you are learning something so specific that you cannot apply it to other industries.”

Sammie Hottel Student Writer

Haitian elections canceled due to protests The Provisional Electoral Council in Haiti announced Friday that elections scheduled for Sunday would be canceled because of escalating protests throughout the country.

At a news conference, the officials explained that safety could not be guaranteed for voters and poll workers because of “too much violence throughout the country.”

Although certain voting materials had already been sent out, officials halted distribution and began recalling the material hours before the announcement.

The election, a presidential runoff, was originally scheduled for December 27, 2015 and has now been postponed twice.

The council’s decision did not set a future date for the election, nor did it specify what was to be done when the incumbent president’s term of office expires on February 7.

Forty migrants drown in boats headed for Greece Forty migrants, including seventeen children, drowned when two wooden boats sank in the eastern Aegean Sea. The Greek Coast Guard has since rescued several survivors and continues to search by air and sea.

The boats left Turkey and were heading for Greece, the most popular entry point for migrants trying to reach Europe. According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 37,000 migrants are reported to have arrived in Greece and Italy in the last month.

Currently, no comprehensive border policy has been set up by European nations.

At the World Economic Forum, US Secretary of State John Kerry stated that President Obama would be working to increase global humanitarian funding at a United Nations summit as well as attempting to expand the number of nations taking refugees.

Tunisia imposes a nationwide curfew In response to protests that coincide with the anniversary of the Arab Spring, Tunisia has imposed a nationwide curfew.

The curfew is scheduled to take effect at 8:00 p.m. local time on Friday.

Protests broke out last Sunday when a young man committed suicide after being rejected from a list of jobs at the education ministry.

The man’s death incited sit-ins at the city council with tear gas, and the demonstrations continued to grow as the week progressed.

Protests only increased when Prime Minister Habib Essid mistakenly promised 5,000 new jobs, only to retract this statement later, explaining that 5,000 unemployed people would be given job training.

The demonstrations have since turned violent, with one police officer killed and twenty people arrested.

Virginia student detained in North Korea

graphic by Elias Brinkman

called The University’s Communications Center and was very disrespectful to the university dispatcher.

Jan. 8 9:45 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to a possible motor vehicle accident located at University Square South Apartments. Upon arrival TPD was already at the scene. Both drivers were TU students and they were not injured. The accident happened off campus on Interstate 244 East.

They did not want to file a TPD report so TPD left the scene. Officers collected their information for a TU report.

11:30 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to investigate a possible noise complaint at Mayo Village Apartments. Upon arrival, officers could hear loud music coming from an apartment.

Officers made contact with the resident who stated they would turn down the music. A housing contact card was issued.

Jan. 10 3:00 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to a possible fire alarm at Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Upon arrival officers made contact with a TU student who set off a fire extinguisher in another students room. It was determined that the student was intoxicated and had set off the fire extinguisher as a prank. The TU student also

9:05 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to Phillips Hall in reference to a report of water flooding the ground floor. Upon arrival officers notified the on-call engineer from the Physical Plant who found a part of the air conditioning system had ruptured. The engineer cut off the source of the water. Some items in the room had been damaged from the water.

9:50 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to Fisher West to investigate a fire alarm. Upon arrival officers found no fire, smoke, or damage and cancelled Tulsa Fire Department. A smoke detector was activated after a student turned on a hair straightener.

Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia student, was arrested in North Korea on January 2.

He was detained at the Pyongyang airport where he was preparing to depart after his five day trip.

The Korean Central News Agency stated that Warmbier was being questioned for “anti-state” activity and that he was accused of “perpetrating a hostile act” against the country.

A spokesman from the University of Virginia expressed that there was some communication with Warmbier’s family, but the details of his trip or the allegations against him are not clear.

Friends and family describe Warmbier as “buoyant” and “exceptionally smart.”

Nigerian former advisor accused of corruption Retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, a former national security adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, was accused of diverting $2.2 billion meant to buy weapons to fight Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group.

In a written statement, Dasuki claimed that he acted on Jonathan’s orders to pay delegates so they would nominate Jonathan for their party’s presidential candidacy.

Dasuki has remained imprisoned for two months despite three courts granting him bail, and he claims that he cannot be lawfully prosecuted by a government disobedient to the courts. The case was adjourned until February 4.

from Norman Village earlier in the night.

One of the individuals was carrying a soft guitar case, concealing both bolt cutters and a small socket set. The individuals claimed to have just found the bag near a dumpster on campus but could not recall exactly where it was found. Neither individual had prior contacts or any outstanding warrants.

They were trespass banned from campus and warned that they would be arrested if they returned to University of Tulsa property. Officers impounded the guitar case and burglary tools because they did not belong to either individual.

Jan. 11 12:35 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa campus Security officers were approached by a WFF worker who said they found a credit card in Helmerich Hall. The owner could not be located so it was placed into the property locker for safe keeping.

2:30 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security were dispatched to Mabee gym in regards to a motor vehicle accident. Upon arrival the officers made contact with a student who stated while their was parked in the Mabee West Lost someone caused damaged to a tail light. Officers are utilizing available video footage for investigation.

Jan. 12 1:30 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa campus Security officers conducted a pedestrian check on two individuals that seemed out of place at 3200 E. 8th Street (8th and Gary Pl). One of them matched the description of a suspicious person call originating

Jan. 13 10:45 a.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to Keplinger Hall in reports of a suspicious person. Upon arrival officers made contact with the individual who they identified as a non TU affiliate. They individual stated they were on campus looking

for a friend. They also stated they were currently homeless and suffered from bi polar and schizophrenia. Officers explained that they were on private property and given the boundaries of the property. The individual was trespass warned, a contact card was issued and they left campus without incident.

Jan. 15 6:20 a.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to Lorton Hall for found property. Upon arrival, security was met a WFF worker who found an cellular phone in a room while cleaning. The owner could not be determined so it was placed into the property locker for safekeeping.

Jan. 16 4:10 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to Fisher West Hall to investigate possible smell of marijuana. Upon arrival officers smelled an odor of marijuana masked with air freshener. A search of the suite found evidence of alcohol use, but no marijuana. A fake driver license was found and confiscated. The alcohol contraband was thrown away.

The Collegian does not edit the Campus Crime Watch except for content and brevity.

25 January 2016

Commentary

The Collegian: 7

Pretentious fans damage fanbases Pretentious fans can make fanbases an unwelcoming space for new admirers of a band, movie franchise or TV show. This is ultimately damaging to the future of the fanbase.

James Whisenhunt Student Writer Your favorite band releases a new album.

A new game from your favorite developer, another season of your favorite TV show.

No matter the medium, you can understand the initial joy of new material from your favorite artists.

Then something happens. Suddenly, you’re seeing T-shirts for the band in Hot Topic or Pop! figures of your favorite characters. People you never would have considered a part of the fan base start posting your fandom’s memes on their Facebook profiles.

And it’s all just a bit disheartening. Suddenly, something you held so dearly feels ripped away from you, shamelessly thrown to the mainstream. It’s okay to feel that way, but there are constructive and destructive ways of handling it.

An important distinction to make before describing constructive and destructive fan behavior is that this scenario assumes that there is not a significant change in the art.

The focus of this article is not on the hipsters who feel one of their favorite bands changed their sound too much (I am a prime example of this type of hipster). This is about the territorial hipsters who hate when a large influx of new people comes into their fanbase because it means dealing with people that are uninformed or, in some cases, “trying too hard to be cool” by trying to be a part of their fanbase.

In all fanbases, there’s a natural segregation into groups of more casual fans and devoted fans.

Many new fans will stop at a surface level, perhaps only listening to a band’s radio singles or recording a show week-to-week and catching up at their convenience. Other fans will devote themselves to the media, doing everything from making fan art to writing stories to covering their favorite songs.

When there’s an influx of new fans, they all start with very little knowledge of the work that old fans may have spent months or years researching.

It’s easy for old fans to look down on new fans due to their initial lack of knowledge, and it’s easy to project a dissatisfaction with the newfound popularity of the artist on the new fans of that art. Some go as far as to leave the fanbase completely, with a mentality of “I used to like them, but then they got popular.”

These behaviors all stem from a negative view of an artist’s new popularity. For a fanbase to be successful, there needs to be a fundamental shift in how old fans view an influx of new fans: not as an inconvenience, but as an opportunity.

When something starts becoming popular, even if only for a moment, the initial influx of new fans may be very large. Of course, not all of those people are going to stay, and time will sift out the casual, passing fans and let the new devoted fans trickle into the same channels the old fans inhabit.

This process will most likely feel drawnout and frustrating to old fans—those who tire of getting memes spouted at them when they want to talk about their favorite game or deal with what feels like an infestation of excitable high schoolers at their concerts.

The process may not feel worthwhile in the beginning, but it will eventually allow the number of devoted fans to grow while the casual fans slowly disperse after the artist’s spike in popularity levels out.

What’s most important, though, is that the old fans are welcoming to new people interested in joining their community. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been watching a show from Season 1 or just started on Season 4. New fans can come to just as deep an appreciation as the old fans, and the process can be more efficient if old fans are willing to help.

This leads to new fans finding something they love, old fans having more people to talk to about their favorite things and an overall healthier and less polarizing fan culture.

graphic by Madeline Woods

Pretentious fans shouldn’t dismiss popularity as a negative change.

Lack of diversity in Oscars reflects movie industry Diversifying the nominees at the Oscars would be a step toward diversifying the movie industry on a more general level.

Nate Gibbons Student Writer Next Thursday, the 88th Academy Awards will air. There’ll be the usual celebrity excitement, some Star Wars jokes, and DiCaprio might finally win an Oscar. There will also be an air of embarrassment. For the second year in a row, all nominees are white.

This hasn’t gone unnoticed, of course.

Social media is fuming (#oscarssowhite) and celebrities such as documentary-director Michael Moore and director Spike Lee, whose films have explored racial discrimination, are joining a boycott of the award show. Jada Pinkett Smith has released a video explaining her decision not to attend, and her husband, who wasn’t nominated for Concussion, has since joined her. Janet Hubert, or Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince, attacked the Smiths’ behavior and questioned why anyone should care about what’s going on with something as pompous and ‘highsociety’ as the Oscars.

The answer might become more apparent as the Oscars’ nomination process is examined. Ballots are sent out to a little over six thousand voters who have likely met a certain criteria in both the quality and amount of work they’ve done in their field of filmmaking.

New voters are added by way of sponsorship, not application. Alternatively, anyone who wins or is nominated for an Oscar automatically becomes eligible to vote for future awards. These six thousand voters are then asked to write down five nominees for Academy Awards in the one respective field they are assigned. Actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors.

Based on the voting process alone, you

graphic by Elias Brinkman

An artist’s depiction of an Oscar statue which reflects the characteristics of the majority of Oscar nominees: white males.

might see how the Oscars process is vulnerable to a lack of diversity. White voters make up about ninety-five percent of the vote and male voters seventy-six percent.

For an increasingly diverse art, that’s not a very impressive statistic.

Voters may have nominated people they do feel deserve the Oscar, but the resulting list expresses a majority bias that cheapens the nominations. The chances that Will Smith, Idris Elba, and many from Straight Outta Compton just didn’t make the cut is extremely slim. Creed’s Michael B. Jordan doesn’t get a nod, but Sylvester Stallone is nominated for best supporting actor.

The problem runs much deeper than a biased voting party. It exemplifies how fewer roles are offered to minority groups in mainstream Hollywood. White actors are largely the go-to guys. Unless the protagonist’s role specifically requires that a Hispanic or African American actor play them, the part will likely go to a white guy. Films are segregated into black or white movies. Many praised John Boyega’s addition to Star Wars, but he plays the only prominent black character there. If he’s there for the same reason Billy Dee Williams and Samuel L. Jackson were included before him, it might have more to do with marketing than we hope.

The Oscars shouldn’t necessarily matter to the average person. It is just an awards show for celebrities. But right now, it’s the larger trends of Hollywood and mainstream film shrunk down to an easy-to-read example. Changing it for the better would surely be a step in the right direction. Jada Smith’s persuasion to leave mainstream media and act more in minority communities might be a good plan for now, but the industry cannot stay this segregated. Movies should be as diverse their national audience.

The Oscars have been a window for national issues in the past. Marlon Brando sent Shasheen Littlefeather to turn down his Oscar in protest of Native American treatment.

Eddie Murphy already spoke about lack of diversity at the 1988 Oscars while presenting the Best Picture award. Next week, there will be plenty of chances for host Chris Rock or any other star to address the deeper meanings of the white-out. The Academy has acknowledged their problem and recently laid out a new plan to diversify their members by 2020. Let’s hope Hollywood does the same to its ranks.

Commentary

The Collegian: 8

25 January 2016

All photos by Hannah Kloppenburg / Collegian

Donald Trump speaks to a crowd at ORU’s Mabee Center last Wednesday.

Commentary Editor Hannah Kloppenburg and Editorin-Chief Giselle Willis venture into Tulsa’s Donald Trump rally, are shorter than everyone else, learn about kicking ISIS’ ass, and get some cool pins.

Summary The opening guitar chords of “Eye of the Tiger” cut through the crowd in ORU’s Mabee Center.

Suddenly, the stadium surged. The crowd stood up, wild with “Make America Great Again” signs. As the song gained momentum, so did they. It was finally Trump time.

The man himself came “risin’ up” from behind the black curtains surrounding his podium. He introduced his “great wonderful friend Sarah Palin,” and she proceeded to explain how her son, who is a veteran, acts horribly because he has PTSD, and he has insufficient treatment for his PTSD because the Obama administration does not care about veterans. Donald Trump, however, does (or at least hasn’t gotten the opportunity to vote against funding for veteran benefits the way most other GOP candidates have).

She talked about how “former President Obama” (cue fervent cheering and the people in front of us high-fiving) will have to live under Trump Tower’s literal shadow when he returns to Chicago. And she praised “President Trump’s” negotiation skills and refusal to bow down to the “GOP machine.” Sarah Palin claimed that because Trump was accountable only to himself, he was the most reliable choice for the presidency. Which, I guess if your political party distances itself from you, the best thing you can do is pretend that you were too cool for them anyway.

Palin then noted how “haters” want them to “chill” (at this, one guy in the crowd promptly held up a sign saying ‘Chill’), but that she and the crowd had every right to be angry. Indeed, people had no chill after that. Their anger was a rallying cry.

So Trump returned to the stage, said some nice stuff about Oklahomans in an attempt to seem relatable and affectionate towards the crowd, and then started complaining that President Obama gave the Iranians 150 billion dollars for the

hostages. If he were president, Trump said, he would just walk out of the negotiation if the Iranians didn’t agree to his proposals.

This was the closest thing to a concrete policy plan that Trump offered, and after watching the audience, we don’t blame him. They didn’t really care about his hostage negotiation plan. At least, they definitely weren’t cheering as much.

So Trump got to vaguely talking about guns and, in a complete non sequitur, Common Core.

“Protect the Second Amendment! Down with Common Core!”

The crowd roared in response.

He pointed out how the cameras never showed his adoring fans and only focused on his face. He said they only turned when there was a protester because it was scandalous. He was right. The crowd booed the camerapeople with an intensity that was unsettling to us small student journalists, to say the least.

We left the rally with a vague sense of unsettlement. Something about it was frightening. Trump’s policy and speech were, for the most part, either factually incorrect or based only on how great Trump himself was. Who could take him seriously?

Protesters outside the Donald Trump rally.

The Trumpeters It was easy to make fun of Trump until we saw his huge crowd of supporters. And let’s be honest, it’s still easy to make fun of Trump. But obviously he appeals to some people, and as reassuring as it is to dismiss them as lunatics, we’re a little bored of everybody doing that. So, here’s our portrayal of the “silent majority,” as exemplified by the attendees of Trump’s rally.

1. Woman who yelled at protesters to “get a job” Trump supporters think of themselves as hard workers. They’re just trying to protect their jobs and, by extension, the livelihoods of their families.

In this country, if you work hard you’re supposed to be able to get rich and famous, just like DJ Trump. To Trump supporters, this “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality is only ruined by the fact that some people cheat, and by cheat I mean enter the country illegally and get access to jobs that they, the hard workers, maybe possibly might have (but probably wouldn’t have) taken. That just adds insult to injury. In this (not necessarily founded in reality) scenario, they’re understandably afraid for their job security, and angry about unfair job-stealing.

2. Guy selling Trump merchandise whose pins said “Bomb the shit outta ISIS” Another thing to be afraid of: ISIS. The presence of salesmen yelling “Bomb the shit outta ISIS” at top volume in a crowd containing families and children speaks to Trump and his supporters’ reliance on shock value as a selling point. American media already

A vendor selling Trump-themed buttons outside of the rally.

portrays ISIS as an unquestionably evil entity, so all Trump is doing is capitalizing on this supposed clear fight between good and bad.

People don’t want ISIS to bomb them, so apparently the mentality is to bomb them first.

3. Protesters A number of anti-Trump protesters popped up at various points throughout the rally. These ranged from a gaggle of college-age people standing outside of the rally with clever signs to a few people who actively caused a disturbance during the rally itself. On three separate occasions, protesters interrupted the rally, including a man who walked into the middle of the crowd with an American flag bandana over his mouth and his fist held high. Each time, the Trump followers converged on the protester, screaming things like “HATER” and “KICK HIM OUT!” as security guided them out of the venue.

It was a Trump rally, after all. If you were trying to have a peaceful (albeit loud) convention about Finnish movies and some people showed up to complain about Finnish movies, you’d tell them to leave. The protesters had every right to be there, of course, and to be angry. But the Trump supporters were angry too, and feel marginalized by what they think is a “politically correct” society that doesn’t care about them. In the end, no one listens to you when you scream at them. Even if you’re screaming a message of love.

4. What can we do?

Donald Trump, believe it or not, has a couple decent ideas: for example, opposition to Common Core and better care for American veterans. These few and far between policy points, however, are drowned out by overwhelming buzzwords and inaccurate facts.

It’s a very weird and confusing combo but it makes him very influential.

The point we’re making with this is to not be like a Trump supporter—or at least, an unquestioning supporter of any politician. At this rally, we watched people cheer at blatantly false statements. You have to keep yourself informed, because if you don’t you’ll turn into a mindless Trumpish zombie and you might even start to grow a hairpiece and squint a lot.

The point of a rally like Trump’s is to stir up people’s emotions and whip them into a frenzy, and the best way to address that isn’t to act that way yourself and retaliate just as mindlessly. For example, the protester who came out with that bandanna on his face holding his fist in the air. Regardless of his intentions, he just got the Trump supporters more riled up and more convinced of the righteousness of their cause. Rather than unintentionally feeding into the machine, the way to combat this sort of thing is to take a step back, educate yourself, and, well, chill.

React by starting informed political discussions, writing to government officials, protesting peacefully rather than aggressively, and most importantly by voting.

Commentary

25 January 2016

The Collegian: 9

Anti-Islamophobia rally a needed display of acceptance

The recent #HateFreeTulsa rally makes it clear that Tulsans must make a conscious choice to support Muslim Americans.

Tara Grigson Student Writer Over the past couple of weeks, Tulsa has seen some beautiful highs and some hate-filled, crushing lows. For some reason, we hosted Donald Trump and 15,000 people turned out to see him.

Alarmingly, some of those people were not there to gawk, but actually embrace Trump as a presidential contender. Trump has been outspoken about his desire to effectively force all Muslims to be on what would be a “Muslim registry” of sorts.

Historically, singling out “others” and using them as a scapegoat for all problems has been very effective (think Japanese internment camps, for example) so at least Trump’s plan has a historical precedent.

In spite of our apparent willingness to welcome a hate-filled hairpiece into our hearts, many Tulsans have been involved in creating a visible backlash against the Islamophobia which is becoming more and more apparent and dangerous.

About a week ago a group of young people—college students,

All photos courtesy CAIR Okahoma

Participants hold signs at the #HateFreeTulsa rally.

home for winter break—planned an anti-Islamophobia rally as part of a movement they are calling Hate Free Tulsa (#hatefreetulsa). It was literally freezing outside, but a sizable group of folks participated to show their support for Oklahoma’s Muslim community. While a small portion of the crowd identified as Muslim, the majority of the crowd did not. Seeing so many folks who were not Muslim come together in the freezing whether to support Muslims was incredibly heartening. It was a beautiful display of allyship.

The rally was at John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. This park is in the Greenwood district, and was created as an attempt at “reconciliation” for Tulsa’s 1921 race massacre, as well as all of the racism and discrimination that

existed and continues to exist in the years since then. The park is a symbol of a community that wants to do better in the future, but that recognizes the incredible damage of its past.

The park is almost certainly too little too late. People died and an entire community was burned to the ground. Reparations did not happen in any meaningful way.

What happened here is not forgivable, but we can make sure it does not happen in the future.

Trump’s stance on Muslim Americans is incredibly dangerous—and it is that exact kind of overt hateful rhetoric that leads to violence.

In December, a handful of Tulsans got together to start “The Peace Project.” This project involves calling all Tulsans who “stand for peace” to have their picture taken.

Each participant is given a chalkboard that says “I am” and “I stand for peace.” People fill in their names or occupations or whatever they want to say about themselves, and then their picture is taken.

So far, hundreds of folks have participated in the project. This past week, the project was at the Little Blue House’s weekly lunch (12pm, Wednesdays) along with several students from TU’s Muslim Student Association.

Tulsa is at a crossroads at which each citizen has to decide whether they stand with American Muslims or against them.

Because TU has such a diverse student body, and because so many

Speakers share anecdotes at the rally.

of our students are Muslim, nonMuslim students are at an important place in deciding what kind of campus our campus will be.

Will our campus be an example to Tulsa of a place where nonMuslims have chosen to love our Muslim neighbors and classmates and friends?

There are a lot of opportunities for us to visibly show our support. As hate and discrimination becomes more and more visible, it becomes increasingly important to be visible in our love and support.

Next time there is a rally, stand outside in the cold to fight against discrimination. Next time there is a “Peace Project” photo shoot, come get your picture taken to show your support for all Tulsans.

As non-Muslim students at this University and as non-Muslim Tulsans, we have to choose whether we want our community to be one of love or hate. It is up to us.

I choose love. #hatefreetulsa #istandforpeace

Rally participants gather in Reconciliation Park, a fitting location for an event that calls for demonstrations of support.

Speakers at the #HateFreeTulsa rally.

Candidate fact-checkers underrated An exploration of the myths and facts surrounding factchecking organizations and how they do not receive the credit they deserve for their work in the political arena.

Kayleigh Thesenvitz News Editor

In the last few weeks, and arguably all of the past year, the media has been saturated with political rhetoric. From the State of the Union Address, to the many debates, to the individual speeches along the Campaign trail, we have heard plenty of conflicting information from our country’s leaders.

That information has been routinely monitored by fact-checking organizations such as factcheck. org, set up by the Annenberg Public Policy Foundation. These organizations work hard in the hours after an important political event to double check the accuracy of every statement each politician makes.

Unfortunately, the hard work of these people is often ignored by the populace for various reasons.

Sometimes that’s because these

organizations do not have a large following, but likely the most significant reason for their lack of popularity is that they seem rather politically charged themselves.

Most people don’t want to think that their favorite politician would lie to them. In fact, it is common practice to blame the fact checkers of bias rather than admit to being lied to by one’s preferred politician.

The mission statement of factcheck.org disagrees, saying, “We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in US politics.

We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major US political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to

apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”

Another well known organization, PolitiFact, “checks claims by elected officials, candidates, leaders of political parties, and political activists. We examine officials at all levels of government, from county commissioners to US senators, from city council members to the president.”

Even if you look at the parent company behind fact-checking organizations, you will find that most are backed by nonpartisan groups.

Despite these facts and the hard work these people put into researching the statements each politician makes, they are still not given much credit in the world of

politics. The problem surrounding the distrust of these organizations is surprisingly not one of political corruption, but of the voluntary ignorance of voters.

It is crucial that those claiming to be well-informed citizens must be willing to challenge what they are told by politicians, even those who you honestly believe have the best ideals for the country. Blindly believing what you are told by anyone is a bad practice, and one that is not conducive to being a good college student or American citizen.

If we want to call ourselves educated voters, then we need to put more emphasis on the often neglected form of truth available to us.

The Collegian: 10

Commentary

25 January 2016

Haven or Hell? Attendance should increase at TU bystander intervention workshops

Many TU students dislike Haven, but an alternative–bystander intervention training programs–has received little to no attention.

Kyle Crutchfield Student Writer When the topic of rape surfaces, many college students shy away from it. The word carries explicitly violent imagery—something that is objectively unpleasant to talk about. Although the stigma around sexual assault is slowly decreasing and sufferers of rape are increasingly sharing their experiences, the topic is still avoided by many students. This is not just because of its inherently unpleasant nature, but also for a far more mundane reason: its increasing cultural ubiquity.

We hear stories about rape and sexual assault occurring on college campuses all the time now. The topic of sexual assault has become a sort of fly in the face of students, and our instinct is to swat it away. It’s as if the notion of rape has shifted from being taboo to being tabbed boring. It’s something that we just have to hear about, and when we do hear about it, our instinct is not to embrace, but to evade.

Of course, this type of reaction comes from those individuals who have not had experience with rape. Those who have been

raped, or have had a friend, family member, or partner raped, understand the need for continued conversation and education about the topic. It’s those of us who have no experience with rape who may be less likely to understand why it is so crucial to keep a seemingly tired topic within earshot of the public.

Often, what constitutes rape, and how it’s different from sexual assault, is blurry to many. The FBI’s definition of rape is fairly straightforward. Rape is a form of sexual assault that specifically involves penetration, although there exist many different types of sexual assault, all of which are unwarranted by the victim and are often violent.

A 2015 study conducted by University of North Dakota psychology professor Sarah Edwards revealed how merely changing the wording regarding unwarranted and/or violent sexual behavior can have a significant impact on our perceptions of such behavior.

After surveying 86 male college students (all of whom were Caucasian), nearly 32 percent of those surveyed said that they would “act on ‘intentions to force a woman to sexual intercourse’” if there were no consequences, while 13 percent said they “had ‘intentions to rape a woman’” if there were no consequences.

It appears that there’s a difference in some students’ minds between unwarranted sexual intercourse and rape. The need for continued education couldn’t be more clear.

TU’s Student Advocacy for Violence Education (SAVE) President Emily Farrar continues to call attention to this issue.

“There is not enough education about the subject,” she says. “And when there is education about it a lot of students just roll their eyes and don’t care or understand how important it is.”

This brings to mind Haven, the online sexual assault tutorial that all students must complete in order to enroll. For most students, Haven is more like hell. A tedious, mind-numbing, mouse-clicking hell.

“It’s just another hassle in the grand scheme of things students have to do,” Farrar states. “The videos for Haven are boring. The training is fundamentally okay, but students are annoyed that they’re required to do it.”

Last semester, in order to offer students an alternative educational experience to Haven, the Advocacy Alliance, along with SAVE, offered free bystander intervention training programs to students. They roused next to no interest.

“Ideally, having 10 students per session

would be great,” says Farrar. But not even that could be swung. “If we could have just 10 students at a training session with one happening each month, that is 50 students.

50 more students around campus with their eyes peeled and helping their peers. That would be huge, and wonderful.”

About the sessions, Farrar says, “The courses are super interactive, make you think but in a fun way, and are way more educational. Our trainers are fun and nonjudgmental. They want to help you understand what is going on and answer any questions. Plus, for the four hour trainings you get an awesome shirt and sometimes free food!”

Sadly, we may just have to resort to food incentives to arouse student interest. In the overwhelming clout of apathy about sexual violence education, however, there is growing hope. “Our attendance at SAVE meetings has grown, and so too has interest,” Farrar comments. “But we should continue this. Learning about these issues, discussing them, and providing [victims] with the best care and love.....we all want to be there for our peers to the best of our ability.”

So put down your fly swatter and trade it in for a T-shirt, because this stuff is important.

courtesy EverFi

Star Wars toys wrongly lack main female character

Speaking out against gendered toys garners real results. This is evident in the backlash against recent Star Wars VII toys, which didn’t include the main female protagonist.

Michaela Flonard Student Writer Spoiler-alert: Rey, from the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie, is one of the main characters. Spoiling this fact is what Hasbro says prevented it from making a Rey figurine in their Force Awakens Monopoly set. The game was released before the movie, and Hasbro claims “Rey was not included to avoid revealing a key plot line that she takes on Kylo Ren and joins the Rebel Alliance.”

Since the game’s release, fans have taken issue with this omission, however, and have demanded her inclusion, starting a Twitter campaign called #WheresRey. Because how much does a Monopoly character actually tell you about the film? Rey was prominently featured on most movie posters, suggesting she had an important role.

Hasbro now says Rey will be included in the Monopoly Star Wars game out later this year, and that Rey action figures, of various sizes, will also be released. Some industry insiders have claimed that Hasbro deliberately left out Rey, as they were worried about sales when featuring a female protagonist. Lucasfilm has not commented on this.

Monopoly is not the only set which has excluded Rey, and she is far from the only female character to be missing from official merchandise. Earlier this year, Target had a boxed set of characters that included Finn, Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, a random Stormtrooper, Chewbacca and an unnamed TIE fighter.

Why exactly was one of the main characters of the movie excluded, in favor of masked villains? Honestly, I can’t think of a reasonable explanation. One theory posited by fans is that the company wanted to balance out good guys versus bad guys: Poe and

the TIE fighter, Chewbacca and the Stormtrooper, and Finn and Kylo. Of course, with this theory, you instead could’ve included Rey and Captain Phasma or Hux or any number of other bad guys in the movies.

And Rey is far from the only female character in a major franchise to be excluded from sets like this. Gamora, from Guardians of the Galaxy, also dealt with similar nonsense, as has the Black Widow. In one Hasbro toy, Black Widow wasn’t just ignored, she was replaced; instead of her jumping out of the Quinjet on her motorcycle, as seen in the newest Avengers, Captain America was the one on the bike.

Many people have come to the defense of these companies as they’ve repeatedly ignored female characters. One popular argument, in Black Widow’s case, is that she doesn’t have her own movie, like most of the male Avengers, and Hawkeye is generally absent from toys as well. They don’t have their own toys because they won’t make money.

That argument certainly holds some weight. But then again, there’s a Avengers: Age of Ultron toy pack at Target that has the heroes assembled to defeat Ultron. The heroes included? Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, Thor, Vision, Quicksilver and War Machine. Yes, War Machine was also at the final battle. But so were Black Widow and Scarlet Witch.

Another argument, usually brought up as a last ditch defense against all-out calls of sexism, is that female-centered things, whether that be action figures or movies, don’t sell well. Boys don’t want female figures, the argument goes, or else the companies would be willingly making a killing off of all the female characters in action movies.

Now, there’s not enough space or time to fully delve into this argument. In Rey’s case, I can’t imagine having one of the main characters as part of your set could, in any way, detract from sales. After watching an entire movie in which she figured prominently, I doubt most people would put that boxed set down because it had Rey, instead of a TIE fighter. There are some indications that Rey toys are selling out quickly because people enjoyed her character so much. Because, spoiler!, she helped save the day.

But that’s the problem. Companies continue to do things like this because we let them. As consumers, we have a great deal of power. If people want more female representation, then they need to demand it.

Lots of people have complained over the exclusion of Rey in the Monopoly set,

courtesy amazon.com

The figurines in the recent Star Wars Monopoly game. Rey is notably excluded.

and the company said she would be in the next one. Was she always slated for just this Monopoly set? We’ll probably never know.

What we do know is that people had some sort of power, to make the company acknowledge there was a problem.

Actions like this continue to reinforce stereotypes about what each gender is into.

Yes, some boys might only like playing with male action figures, and some girls may only want to play with princesses. But a lot of them don’t mind either way; instead, societal pressure and parental buying habits determine what toys they have.

While the separation of boy and girl toys is nothing new, some research, including that by Dr. Elizabeth Sweet, at University California, Davis, suggests gendering of toys has increased since the 1950s. More and more toys are gendered according to color or design, which leads to a culture in which societal pressure determines, to a large degree, what toys children play with.

And if you think this gendering is okay,

are you okay with allowing racial stereotypes to come into play? Would it be okay to market a toy to African-American or Latino children, based on stereotypes, because they “play different” than Caucasian children? I hope most people would say no, and then question why we allow gender to determine so much. Segregating toys based on one chromosome makes little sense, especially if you consider it could lead to segregation of play and, to a certain degree, affect presuppositions about gender.

If people want to change the current dynamic, which I hope they will, they have to continuously make it clear to companies.

Unfortunately, right now, “women (and people of color) don’t sell” can be used as a last-ditch effort to excuse females repeatedly being left out even as main characters because people only try to dispel this excuse when a movement like #WheresRey occurs.

25 January 2016

The Collegian: 11

Don’t Make us Make the News Sports Editor Pays Athletes to Lose

EDitor-In-Chief Leaves country in Hurry Amidst Scandal

Managing Editor Not-So-Mysteriously Disappears

Satire Editor Plots World Domination

Commentary Editor Turns Pumpkin Carving Into Sorority Hazing

News Editor Indulges Childish Humour

Variety Editor Part-Time Furry

Calling all organization leaders, well-informed hipsters and freshmen who accidentally stumbled into an administrators’ meeting. If you are in the know about something newsworthy happening in or around campus, let us know!

Contact our editors with your story ideas at tucollegian@tucollegian.org

Variety

the Collegian: 12

25 January 2016

Tom Huck creates refreshing satirical pieces

photo by Elias Brinkman

Tom Huck posing in front of “The Transformation of Brandy Baghead, Part III: Skating with the Scars” at the Alexandre Hogue Gallery.

Tom Huck’s Evil Prints combine pristine work, satirical commentary, high art and low art influences to create edgy pieces.

Elias Brinkman Photo/Graphics Editor Go ahead and walk into the Alexandre Hogue Gallery in Phillips Hall sometime between now and February 18th—I dare you. The prints you’ll find lining the walls are unquestionably disgusting:

cross-eyed, gap-toothed figures violate and maim each other, with religious and commercial imagery interspersed. The scenes are offensive, self-indulgent, crass and beautifully intoxicating.

These are the “Evil Prints” of Tom Huck, and despite the extremely pervasive vulgarity, there’s a sense of legitimacy afforded by his meticulous craftsmanship and satirical edge.

Consider the enormous centerpiece of the show: “The Transformation of Brandy Baghead,” a triptych which took nearly five years to complete. Huck described

his inspiration for the piece in last Thursday’s lecture at Phillips Hall as stemming from a reality show called “The Swan,” featuring “ugly” women working with the help of plastic surgeons to succeed in beauty pageants. “Brandy Baghead” is then the story of a rural woman selected to undergo a barbarous surgery, transforming her into a human-chicken hybrid star.

The final panel of the triptych displays Brandy, complete with beak and feathers, skating in the KFC-sponsored pageant. It’s all visually dense to the point that another detail can be found on each

subsequent viewing. Generally, those details serve to make the scene even more disturbing.

However, not all of the works in the exhibition were necessarily as conceptual. His “Evil Death Bugz,” for instance, are much simpler, and serve as something more along the lines of cheaply available promotional material, and this reflects an important point Huck delivered in his lecture.

As he sees it, there is not a clear distinction between high and low art. Among his largest influences, Huck included not only classic printmakers like Daumier,

Albrecht Dürer or George Cruikshank, but classic rock and metal outfits like KISS, Frank Zappa and Motörhead as well.

You can equally expect to find Huck’s work in the Whitney or in hard rock concert posters.

Even if the prints in Alexandre Hogue are in some ways decidedly hard to look at, Huck’s rejection of established art world pretensions is very refreshing to see. If you can stomach it, it’s well worth taking a look.

The Vaudeville Museum: On racism, anti-semitism, homophobia and body-shaming

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities’ Vaudeville Museum offers an entertaining look into the past while taking on important social issues.

Tara Grigson Student Writer The Vaudeville Museum ran this past Friday and Saturday. It was a part of the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities focus on humor. It was researched, written and directed by Machele Miller Dill, the Applied Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre and Director of the Musical Theatre Program.

The show was, on a surface level, very enjoyable. However, by the end of the show, the audience realizes that the show is not only superficially entertaining (certainly a good thing), but also makes a profound statement about American culture with regard to the prejudice and discrimination that were, and are, so common.

Upon arrival, each visitor to the “museum” received a ticket. Each of the three “docents” participated in a short spiel about the history of vaudeville. Then the audience split into groups and the tour began.

Because vaudeville is a form of entertainment from the 1900s to the 1920s (or thereabouts), having the show take place in the reading rooms of the library provided an interesting background. The reading rooms are quiet and full of history, so putting a historical show there was conducive to the overall turn-of-the-century experience.

My group went first to Bert Williams, played by Nash Wayne McQuarters. Williams was a black

man who performed in blackface.

There is something incredibly powerful about mixing that kind of “comedy”—comedy that is dependent upon systematic oppression of an entire race—with statements about racism and what it feels like to be “othered.” And there is something really fucking cool about a black person “reclaiming” blackface.

We moved to another room where we saw Fanny Brice, a Jewish singer and comedian, played

by Machele Miller Dill (who also wrote and directed the whole shebang). I am a fairly massive Fanny Brice fan, so I was so excited for this part of the evening. It did not disappoint. Dill was funny, got the Fanny Brice cadence down, and sang “My Man.” All of which were exactly the things I wanted out of her performance.

We next met Bert Savoy (Pat Hobbs) and Jay Brennan (John Orsulak). Brennan was the straight man to Savoy’s DRAG QUEEN. There are few things I love more than a good drag queen, and “Maude” was a very good drag queen. ‘ The act was kitschy and funny and over-the-top (like any good

The cast of Vaudeville sings a poem to wrap up the performance.

tors performed “Who’s on First?” the famous (infamous?) Abbott and Costello routine.

By this point in the evening, we had all heard statements on racism, homophobia and antisemitism. Tucker provided a look

show. O’Reilly provided another example of discrimination—because around the turn of the century there were few things America hated more than immigrants.

This remains an important message, especially with the rise of

at body-shaming and gender— she was told she was “too fat and ugly” to perform. The policing of women’s bodies is nothing new, and this was an interesting look at how little has changed.

At the end of Tucker’s act, Kathleen O’Reilly (Liz Hunt), an Irish immigrant, auditioned for the

Donald Trump who is actually xenophobia with hair.

After this, the show got a little kitschy for my tastes, and the cast members recited statements about equality and sang that poem from the statue of liberty.

The actors stressed that vaudeville was so important because it

“It was not an ideal life, but it was better to have the audience laughing with you than at you”

drag show). Outside of the comedy, the actors also made powerful statements about queerness, and comedy as a way of making queerness acceptable.

The final stop was with Sophie Tucker (played by Tulsa’s own indomitable force, Rebecca Ungerman). Before she came on, two ac-

photo by Elias Brinkman

provided a safe haven for America’s “others”—it was not an ideal life, but it was better to have the audience laughing with you than at you.

Overall, the show deserved the standing ovation it received. It was simple, funny and profound.

It made the audience laugh, and it addressed the ways in which prejudice has shaped American culture.

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities and Machele Miller Dill provided a fascinating look at the way humor is shaped by oppression—and how oppression can be fought with humor.

Variety

25 January 2016

the Collegian: 13

Pops mixes retro products with modern style

Pops, an Oklahoma institution, offers a classic diner and over 700 flavors of soda, to those willing to venture out to it.

Morgan Krueger Editor-in-Chief Emeritus If you’ve ever wanted to drink a soda called Swamp Swill, take a selfie in front of a giant soda statue, or consume the most delicious floats in existence (seriously, dat ice cream will rock your socks off), then Pops is the place to go.

Some friends and I made the excellent decision to road trip over to Pops for the holiday weekend. The estimated drive time is an hour and thirty minutes, but we made it there in an hour and fifteen. If you ever get the urge to do the same, Pops is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. almost every day.

When you finally decide that seeing the real world is preferable to Netflix (I know, I’ll keep dreaming), the first thing you will see is a giant soda statue rising out of the distance.

This shrine to soda expertly mixes modern white with the retro shape of a glass soda bottle, topped off with a ringed structure that really makes you want to climb it.

And if that wasn’t enough, it lights up at night.

Yeah, now you’re reaching for those car keys!

But before you leap into your car, let me give you a heads up

courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The 66 foot tall retro soda bottle statue outside Pops lights up at night. Because it’s awesome.

of what to expect. Half of the inside of the architecturally modern building has been converted into a diner. They have the crispy, skinny fries, too. None of that fat, soggy fry nonsense you get at most restaurants. When you order, I would especially recommend the spicy grilled cheese sandwich, but only if you can handle ghost peppers!

After your meal, forget about how many calories you’ve just consumed and indulge in a float.

It doesn’t have to be limited to the delicious, classic root beer float.

Remember, this is a place with 700 flavors of soda! Have any float you like!

Plus the vanilla ice cream is to die for. I was informed by one of

McNellie’s: worth it for the fries

the waiters that the ice cream is actually the most expensive product Pops buys. So if you want quality, get a float.

When you’re done eating you can head over to the other half of Pops. This is where the magic happens. Shelves upon shelves of soda, all in retro glass bottles.

There are the traditional flavors

of Coke and Mt Dew right next to novelty flavors such as the Leninade Soviet-Style Soda.

For the braver folk, there are even the SODASGUSTING flavors (I didn’t make that up, it’s on the sign). Personally, I felt safe skipping the Pimple Pop and Swamp Swill.

“twenty-one plus” Custom cocktail creations and accompanying critiques presented by TU’s own hobbyist mixologist.

Sara Douglas Student Writer Nutty Bee’s Knees

This week, Managing Editor Fraser Kastner sacrifices his lung health and patience to explore the wonderful world of $4 burger night at McNellie’s. Instead, he reviews the fries.

I went to McNellie’s last Wednesday with fellow Collegians Sam Beckman and Abigail LaBounty, along with a group of their computer-science-major friends, to try out McNellie’s four dollar burger night.

McNellie’s, for all you outof-towners, is an Irish pub-style bar and restaurant located on First and Elgin. The pub has been a Tulsa fixture for years, and is famous for its wide selection of beers.

plain about service at restaurants because I know being a waiter is a hard job, especially on a busy night like Wednesday was.

However, the service we received was pretty slow, and my companions assured me that they had gotten faster service on busier nights. I don’t doubt them, but it was annoying to see our waiter walk by us multiple times, even though we were a large group sitting in the middle of the room and everyone had shown up.

Once we got our waiter’s attention, we placed our orders, and I was excited to see that we got the choice of sweet potato or regular fries.

Now, I love sweet potato fries. I love sweet potato fries

“When the food got to the table I found that the fries, rather than the burger, were the highlight of the meal” When we got to the restaurant, it looked to me like it was pretty much packed, although Sam told me he’d seen it busier. A few people were waiting to be seated, which is always a discouraging sight.

Fortunately, a few of the CS people had arrived ahead of us and had secured a table, albeit in the smoking section.

I usually don’t like to com-

so much that I actually received them as a gift for Christmas this year, and was completely overjoyed. My family has been instructed to put “Loved Sweet Potato Fries” on my tombstone.

On the day of Ragnarök, when the heavens are torn asunder and the forces of good do battle with the forces of evil until nothing of our puny universe exists, one certainty shall re-

main: I love sweet potato fries.

Aside from income inequality, discrimination and climate change, the greatest crime of our generation is the comparative difficulty of finding sweet potato fries in restaurants. No, regular potato fries are not an acceptable substitute. No, you’re being a baby.

You can imagine my delight when I found out that McNellie’s offers the option of sweet potato fries. This is probably partially my pro-sweet potato fry stance talking, but when the food got to the table I found that the fries, rather than the burger, were the highlight of the meal.

That isn’t to say that the burger was bad, it was just pretty standard as burgers go. Probably because of the large number of burgers being ordered, they were all cooked medium, so if it’s important to you that you get it rare or well-done you may have to go some other night.

Also, cheese costs extra, which for some reason was mildly annoying, even though I don’t like cheese.

If you’re in the mood for really good fries, a pretty good burger and possibly a few drinks, and you don’t mind potentially having to sit in the smoking section, McNellie’s is the place to go on a Wednesday night. The worst that can happen still involves a night out with your friends.

honey 2 ½ oz. dry gin 1 oz. amaretto ¾ oz. honey syrup* ½ oz. lemon juice optional: 3 drops each of almond and lemon extracts nutmeg almond *Honey syrup: Pour boiling water over an equal amount of honey and stir until dissolved.

Drizzle honey into a martini glass in a spiral fashion. Place almond in bottom of glass.

Pour gin, amaretto, syrup, juice and extracts (optional) over ice in a mixing glass.

Add a dash of nutmeg, then

stir gently until glass is frosty and drink is very cold.

Strain into martini glass; garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and a lemon twist.

Drink this if: the winter blues have you feeling down and you’re in need of a pick-me-up. An adult version of the honey and lemon concoction my mom used to make when I was under the weather, it doubles as a variation on a classic cocktail dubbed the “Bee’s Knees.”

Nutty notes and a zesty zing are contributed by the amaretto and nutmeg, respectively, while the honey mellows the drink. This golden libation will leave you calm and refreshed.

photo by Sara Douglas

Variety

Youth overcomes contrived script through brilliant characters

the Collegian: 14

courtesy StudioCanal

In Youth, scenes like the elderly residents being greeted mechanically by a young nurse feel feigned and affected.

Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel shine as balanced, believable characters in Youth despite scenes trying too hard to be “artsy.”

Nate Gibbons Student Writer Youth is a very admirable but scatterbrained film. It’s greatly helped by the performances, but

thrown off course constantly by a flawed script. Retired composer Fred Ballinger tries to enjoy a vacation at a Swiss resort with Mick Boyle, a filmmaker and longtime friend who struggles to finish his last script with younger co-writers.

Due to a failing marriage, Fred’s daughter stays at the resort with them as the old men reflect on their lives.

Michael Caine and Harvey Kei-

TU Ten: Just skip class

Looking for an excuse to skip class after just the first couple weeks? Satire Editor Caitlin Woods has you covered with the Top Ten reasons you should ditch classes and celebrate your youth.

1. It’s too cold to walk around campus.

2. You got all the readings in your syllabus, so if you stick to those you can just show up on test days and you’ll be golden.

3. You haven’t seen your friends all break and you finally have a chance to catch up before schedules get too hectic.

4. You forgot your notebook in your room and it’ll take too long to go back and get it.

5. You have three absences allowed with no questions asked. You should just get them all out of the way now so you’ll have more motivation to go later in the semester.

6. You missed the date to add the class you wanted so you could drop this one, but if you dropped now you wouldn’t have enough hours. But do you really wanna be miserable all semester? Just skip.

7. You were late to the first day of class, so the professor probably has a bad impression of you to begin with. Just fuck it.

8. You’re really not feeling it today.

9. You’ve figured out the work schedule of a really cute guy at one of the coffee shops, and his hours conflict with your afternoon classes.

10. It’s really nice outside for January, and you should take advantage of that. You shouldn’t be cooped up inside some windowless dungeon in Kep or the musty classrooms of Chapman when the sky is this blue.

tel, as Fred and Mick, put in wellrounded work. The two characters are treated with great moderation and neither seems overtly optimistic or pessimistic about their lives, past or present. They both pride themselves on having been successful in their lines of work while avoiding becoming intellectuals.

Mick and Fred speak passionately about their lives, but can also discuss their failing bodies with

25 January 2016

some levity. Despite some more outlandish scenes, they both come off as realistic.

The resort houses a variety of people that help shape the story.

Rachel Weisz plays Fred’s daughter Leda Ballinger as she struggles to cope with her new single life and come to terms with her relationship with her father. Paul Dano plays Jimmy Tree, an actor preparing for an ‘important’ role while deeply regretting his choice to ever play a robot on a past television show.

Dano’s character can be pretentious to the point that I’m unsure how we’re supposed to see him at first. Regardless, it’s nice to see so many characters actually inhabiting a location. Recurring elements like the boy practicing the violin in the distance, a silent escort and an odd masseuse help add substance to Fred and Mick’s stay.

In contrast to the more realistic characters, the film also turns random resort inhabitants artificial for the sake of artful shots.

When the elderly walk single file past a nurse who welcomes each one with the same wave and inflection, it feels less like they’re moving to get somewhere and more like they’re moving for the film. Two elevators pass each other as three robotic elderly faces stare at three similar doctors. These

scenes aren’t terribly frequent, but they feel out of place despite their own isolated quality.

In sharp contrast, other characters are too quirky, but do feel actually alive. A mountain climber awkwardly attempts to flirt with Leda, and stares wide-eyed at her from a distance. Mick’s co-writers appear so strongly as caricatures in their first scene that I thought it was a fake conversation. Many of these scenes are accompanied by an unbearably sappy tune and vocals as characters reflect on what it means to live.

The movie’s largest fault is that it does not strike a complete balance between the tones, but again its strongest assets are Caine and Keitel. The movie thrives on the way they can move from one feeling to the next in different circumstances.

The tones might be a bit uneven, but at least it’s not a one-note film.

It’s not necessarily a thriller that ‘keeps you guessing’ but it’s not clear what’ll happen to the characters either.

The ending pulls the movie together very well, and Youth partially overcomes its flaws to become better than the sum of its parts. If you want to see a mix between a life-affirming comedy and an arthouse drama, you won’t regret seeing Youth.

Snobuccino percolates in Lottie

photo by Madeline Woods

Topeca Coffee offered a coffee bar and crafts in Lottie Jane Mabee Hall last Thursday.

The smell of coffee enveloped the common area at Lottie Jane Mabee on Thursday night during Topeca Coffee’s Snobuccino event. Topeca, a local roastery, was serving freshly-pulled espresso drinks while students sat around and talked, making crafts and coffee foot scrubs. The event pulled in a good number of students, even if only to get a cup of hot, delicious, free coffee from one of Tulsa’s most expansive roasters.

Dicture: the response to dick pics we’ve always wanted Dicture allows the user to dress up penises, making them even more ridiculous.

Tara Grigson Student Writer

In the interests of journalism, I recently found an “app” entitled Dicture which allows the user to put little tiny clothes on pictures of penises. I used quotation marks around the word app

because it is not really an app. It says it is, but it is actually just a website: Dicture Gallery.

I would give this app two out of four skins, because while it is the funniest thing that exists in the universe, it is not actually an app and also there are a very limited number of choices for what you can put on the penises.

Pictured here: a banana masquerading as a swanky penis.

There are, in fact, only four choices. There is one mustache, one pair of glasses, one hat, and one sportcoat.

Some might argue that that is exactly the

right amount of clothing for a penis, but those people are wrong.

Four choices are a great starting point, but it is not enough to make for hours of fun (which is the exact amount of time I want to spend putting clothes on dick pics).

You can change the size of these items and move them around, which is helpful. My personal motto is “penises are like Bertie Bott’s, you never know what you’re gonna get”, so I think it is important to be able to accommodate for the diverse range of penises that exist in the world.

The app also provides filters— so that your penis can be welldressed and pretentious as fuck.

The app is a spinoff of a photography project by Soraya Doolbaz and is an attempt to normalize penises. Her goal is to make them funny and cute, in order to make them more publicly accepted. She claims her reason for doing this is that most women and gay men like penises (#imnotmostwomen).

In doing research for this article, I learned that looking at pictures of penises actually makes me feel physically ill. However, courtesy Tara Grigson/Dicture put tiny little clothes on a dick and

I can look at it no problem.

So I guess she is achieving her goal?

And what a noble goal it is!

The app also has the potential to make receiving undesired dick pics a better experience. Instead of being effectively a form of sexual assault, it becomes an opportunity to use the dicture app!

Send the pic back to the guy with the dick dressed in little tiny clothes! He will probably never message you again.

Overall, the app is a great idea and has the potential to make dick pics far more hilarious. The quality of the app is bad—but the idea is good, and I have high hopes for this app in the future.

The long and hard of it is, it is an app that lets you take pictures of penises and put little tiny outfits on them. I do not know what els e you could want in this life.

I am not sure what my life was before I had the ability to put little tiny clothes on phalluses using my phone, but I know for a fact that it is better now.

the Collegian: 15

25 January 2016

CONNECTIONS

COMFORT

CONVENIENCE

What do you love about living on campus? n n n

Meeting new friends and attending fun events Rolling out of bed and being minutes from class

Close to fitness center, library, computer labs and more n Wireless internet EVERYWHERE n Convenient laundry facilities n Fill in the blank (you know you could)__________ Housing Selection Information Sessions

GENERAL INFORMATION SESSION There will be information booths in the Union Food Court and Pat Case Dining Center on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at noon from February 9 – March 1. Please stop by and ask any questions.

LIVE CHAT AVAILABLE ON CANELINK! Sundays through Fridays, Feb. 10 – March 1. Chat live with a housing professional from 2 p.m. – 10 p.m.

To start a live chat, click on the “Apply for Housing,” link within Canelink and look for the tab at the bottom.

@TUCampusHousing

“My room is only a short walk from all of my classes, making it very convenient.”

- David Horton, Class of 2017

Housing Office: 918-631-2516

canelink.utulsa.edu Housing Love about campus Collegian Ads.indd 2

1/22/16 3:12 PM

The State-Run Media

25 January 2016

the

State-Run media What is yellow black and orange? A newspaper.

State governor discovered to be money-eating nightmare monster Reports of an encroaching menace to education have stirred writers at the StateRun Media to investigate further, and the findings are unsurprising.

Caitlin Woods Just another brick in the wall For the past six years, reports of a “horrible, sandy blonde” creature have circulated throughout Oklahoma schools. This monster, said to prey on underprivileged youth and working class adults, has been something of an urban myth in Oklahoma. That is, until this past year.

Beginning late in 2015, soon after the governor announced budget cuts to education, Oklahoma administrators noticed a disturbance in their students. Children aged six to twelve reported nightmares of a “snake-like creature” who appeared in their rooms and schools, threatening to devour the children alive. Most authorities initially dismissed these reports as childish whimsy, until it came to light that every child had experienced the same dream every night.

“It was actually pretty shocking,” said Tulsa detective Sam Wiseman in an interview with State-Run reporters, “Each kid we brought in told us the exact same story.” Wiseman told reporters that children described the nightmarish creature as having “hair like a middle-aged woman who tries to return ice cream after she’s already licked it,” and “a huge, gaping maw that seemed ready to swallow up anyone who wasn’t wealthy or privileged enough to afford shelter.”

State-Run investigators found that many of these reports were concentrated around the Oklahoma City area and, after a bit of digging, have discovered the source of the rumors. A gorgon-like creature matching the nightmare described by children was found to reside in the State Capitol. For years, this creature has been living as Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin.

The monster’s actions up until this point have targeted Oklahoma school funding and, as State-Run investigators discovered, its goal seems near completion. Up until the announced budget cuts of 2015, however, nobody really noticed that the state governor was a man-eating demon. This

A child’s artistic rendering of the reported nightmare.

is, presumably, because it mainly eats poor children and people otherwise forgotten by Oklahomans.

The monster, or “Mary Fallin,” appears to thrive on money, and has been slowly gaining strength

graphic by Elias Brinkman

by draining all the funding from Oklahoma schools.

We can only hope that someone destroys this creature before it grows too powerful. For many of the children traumatized by vi-

sions of this terrible nightmare, it may already be too late.

Students living in the apartments here at TU have reported cases of paranormal incidents. Those cockroaches in the residence halls are probably ghosts, too.

“How could something like this happen? I literally have no idea how dog poop could appear in an apartment complex that expressly forbids owning pets. The students wouldn’t lie to us, would they?”

Sources indicate that the University has brought in an outside consultant to assess the nature of the incident.

“What we have here is a classic pet cemetery scenario,” said Harold Jones, a professional paranormal investigator hired by the University. “I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Well, I haven’t exactly seen the ghost dogs themselves, but I have seen a lot of mysterious poop in pet-free apartment complexes.”

“I really think it’s a ghost,” said one Lorton Resident who preferred to remain nameless.

“I hear all kinds of barking from my neighbor’s apartment, even though he insists he doesn’t have a dog. Weird.”

As of press time, the University of Tulsa has not issued a statement regarding the poop.

Paranormal activity feared on campus Fraser Kastner Ghost writer

Investigators interview residents about mysterious leavings in their apartment complex.

graphic by Elias Brinkman

propagandist For the new semester, the State-Run Media’s faithful editor returns with a letter to the readers.

Caitlin Woods If you ignore a problem for long enough, it’ll just go away.

Has anyone ever noticed how scary Oliphant is when the lights are out? Maybe it’s because I’m being held here against my will, but the building has an eerie feel about it. Hello, it’s the Head Propagandist here for the spring 2016 semester.

I trust everyone had a good winter break. I, for one, had a wonderful vacation, all things considered. See, as editor for the State-Run Media, the administration won’t let me leave. I haven’t seen my family since this summer. But even amidst these bizarre

times I find myself in, things are going pretty well.

For Christmas, I was allowed to leave my office and look out the front doors of Oliphant at the beautiful edifice of the Physical Plant. I never realized until that day how wonderful a building it is, with its big limestone walls and industrial-looking pipes twisting about behind glass windows.

I would have liked to see more, but unfortunately I had to return to my office. Ever since then the windows have been bolted shut, so I guess it’ll probably be an-

In a turn of events that defies logic and reason, dog poop has appeared in the courtyard of Lorton Village, a supposedly pet-free apartment complex. The StateRun Media has responded to reports in an attempt to get to the bottom of this.

“I just don’t see how this could happen.” said Tanisha Wells, a resident. “Are we haunted? Are they… ghost poops?”

Campus Security has cordoned off the area, and a spokesperson from the University has confirmed that this is being investigated as a haunting.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Bill Hendricks, a longtime member of Campus Security.

other year before I can venture out again.

For the New Year, the shadowy figures who control the State-Run Media brought in a newspaper from last winter. I’m not quite sure what this gesture means, but I think I’ll choose to interpret it as benevolent. Maybe I’m supposed to be reporting on something in that paper…? Nothing was circled, it wasn’t open to any page in particular. What do I do with it?

I’m not quite sure.

Actually, a few days after the semester started a similar incident occurred. I was in my office, contemplating the far too short life of the former Propagandist and what his unfortunate end might mean

for me, when I heard a thump outside the window. When I looked to investigate, I discovered a damp sack lying on the ground. I opened it and, lo and behold, it was full of soaking wet newspapers from 2014. But I don’t think I was supposed to read them, because when I went to pick one up it was so waterlogged it just fell apart, making a thick “splat” as it hit the rest of the stack.

What does this mean? Why do I keep getting these old newspapers? Maybe I’ll find the answers if this goes on for long enough.

Until then, however, I’ll just faithfully continue publishing the news I’m presented with every week. I hope it’s helpful to you readers.