26 October 2015

a student newspaper of the university of tulsa

october 26, 2015 issue 8 ~ volume 101

The rise of artificial intelligence draws near, p 3

Don’t know what to do this Halloween? Check out The Collegian’s top ten horror movies and games, p 10

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

News

The Collegian: 2

26 October 2015

TU students enjoy Homecoming spirit

photo by Chuyi Wen

photo by Greg Diskin

photo by Greg Diskin

photo by Greg Diskin

photo by Chuyi Wen

photo by Chuyi Wen

photo by Chuyi Wen

photo by Chuyi Wen

Last week, TU celebrated homecoming week with a hypnotist, a bonfire, street painting, fireworks and food trucks. Above are some of the best moments from those events.

26 October 2015

News

ficers advised the victim to file a report with Tulsa police.

Oct. 18 2:10 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to Phillips Hall in reference to a intoxicated individual on the north side of the building. Upon arrival, the individual was identified as a student and was in an out of consciousness, so the Emergency Medical Service Authority was contacted. EMSA arrived and transported the student to OSU Medical Center for further treatment.

2:50 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were flagged down by University of Tulsa students at the Kappa Sigma Fraternity event due to 2 students causing a disturbance. One student was intoxicated and was trying to fight with other students and also had a bag of marijuana on their person. The other student was also intoxicated and was making threats in front of officers towards a member of the fraternity. Both students were arrested by Tulsa Police Department (TPD).

3:10 p.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to Fisher South for an intoxicated student. Officers arrived and when talking to the student they discovered they were underage. The student was compliant and told officers that they got the alcohol at one of the fraternity’s. The student went to their room and officers left with out further incident.

Oct. 19 7:40 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to investigate a possible Stolen auto. Upon arrival, officers met with a student who parked their vehicle in University Square West Apartments for the evening. When the student returned to where they last parked their vehicle to find out it had been stolen. The vehicle is believed to have been taken by using a spare key that was taken from another vehicle in the area. A police report was filed. No suspect information was given.

8:30 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to investigate a possible hit and run motor vehicle accident.

Upon arrival, officers met with a intern who reported their vehicle was hit. Officers reviewed video and checked the area. No suspects could be determined at this time. Of-

1:00 p.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to investigate a possible burglary from the Kappa Sigma Fraternity house. Upon arrival, officers met with a student who reported their backpack was taken from their room after a party. Due to the volume of visitors officers are not able to identify a suspect. Officers advised student to file a report with Tulsa police.

8:30 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to investigate a possible harassment. Upon arrival, officers met with a student who reported that another TU student was harassing them. A Tulsa Police Department report was completed and a protective order was filed.

8:20 p.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to investigate a possible burglary from an auto. Upon arrival, officers met with a student who stated that their vehicle was locked and all of the compartments in the vehicle were closed when they parked it. The student was advised this would be an ongoing investigation.

11:55 p.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security officers observed an unlocked vehicle parked in University Square Apartments West. The Communication Center notified the vehicle owner who had been out of town. The owner determined that an unidentified person had rummaged through the vehicle, but nothing had been taken.

Oct. 20 9:40 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers towed a vehicle off campus from 4th & Evanston. A vehicle was found parked contrary to university policy and officers verified that the vehicle had been identified as a habitual offender. Towing of the vehicle was authorized by the on-duty supervisor and the vehicle was towed from a University-controlled street off campus without incident.

11:00 p.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security officers observed an individual riding a university bicycle out of the West Residential lot headed off the university property. When approached the individual stated that they were not affiliated with the university and that they had taken the bicycle. The individual had a felony warrant and was arrested.

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

School shootings rattle campuses nationwide

After the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, schools around the country have been ramping up security and early-warning systems. For TU, this includes monitoring social media.

Natalie Wood Student Writer

On October 1, Chris Harper-Mercer, a student at Umpqua Community College killed nine of his classmates and himself in a school shooting. As many as twenty others were injured.

On the previous day an anonymous and fairly ambiguous threat had been posted to the imageboard “4chan.”

Because of the anonymity of the post, it is difficult to trace the source, which caused some dispute over whether the author of the post was Harper-Mercer or not.

At 5:19 pm on September 30, the anonymous source wrote: “Some of you guys are alright. Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest. happening thread will be posted tomorrow morning so long space robots” Many threats have been posted around the Internet, especially to 4chan.

One in particular was a notice to students in the Philadelphia area and an excerpt reads: “The first of our kind has struck fear into the hearts of America. His cries have been heard, even by the President. This is only

the beginning. The Beta Rebellion has begun. Soon, more of our brothers will take up arms to become martyrs to this revolution. On October 5, 2015 at 1 pm CT, a fellow robot will take up arms against a university near Philadelphia. His cries will be heard, his victims will cower in fear, and the strength of the Union will decay a little more. If you are in that area, you are encouraged to stay at home and watch the news as the chaos unfolds. His sacrifice will echo throughout the nation.”

This post caused alarm in Philadelphia residents, considering the similar threat directed toward the Oregon schools.

This caused many of the area schools’ administrators to advise the students against attending classes on October 5.

Although the threat did not play out, universities have been very cautious and attentive to social media.

While none of the more recent threats have been carried out, the number of recent violent threats is large.

Regarding the University of Tulsa’s response to threats of this nature, Mona Chamberlin of University Relations laid out the details of the extensive training that TU’s security officers undertake.

TU’s Office of Campus Security conducts comprehensive training for officers as soon as they are hired and then follows up with regular training, on its own and with the Tulsa Police Department, including responses to an active threat on or near campus.

The university utilizes an emergency notification system in which the campus community can be alerted as needed via text and social media.

Also, both Campus Security and University Relations actively monitor social media for potential threats, and all tips are investigated promptly.

The Collegian: 3

A computer with the mind of a child Scientists have been exploring the subject of teaching artificial intelligence.

Katy Nichols Student Writer Computer science is an ever changing field, and many await to see which new gadgets will be buzzed about in the tech industry.

One very hot topic is Artificial Intelligence, or AI. AI is a machine’s ability to mimic a human’s consciousness and selfawareness.

Machines can already do so much from pattern recognition and identification of facial expressions; some consider it only a matter of time before an Ai is created.

A recent paper by MIT Technology Review asked the question, What qualifies a machine to be the equivalent to human intelligence?

In attempting to answer this question, researchers looked into an AI research group from the University of Illinois Chicago.

The machine system this group uses is called ConceptNet, an open-source project created by MIT’s Common Sense Computing Initiative. ConceptNet implements a Py-

thon code module of AnalogySpace.

The MIT researchers decided to test this machine’s intelligence with a common IQ test, the Wechsler test.

The result was a score of WPPSI-III VIQ, an average score for four year olds.

The test was given verbally, with ConceptNet answering the questions it was asked.

However, the words it used were very jumbled, not proper english.

Also, it sometimes converted the meaning of one word to that of another word.

Such as the words saw and see.

For example, one question the machines was asked was “What is a saw used for?”

To which the machine responded, “An eye is used to see.”

When the machine was asked questions that had to do with inherent meaning, typical with human interaction, the machine dropped in performance.

When the machine was asked “Why do people shake hands?” it responded “They are having an epileptic fit.”

All things considered, this is a large step for the AI world and computer scientists alike.

It has taken 60 years to get to this point, and progress is increasing rapidly.

Sammie Hottel Student Writer Hurricane Patricia declared a Category 5 in Mexico In response to Hurricane Patricia’s approach, the Mexican government declared a state of emergency on Friday in the states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco. Patricia began as a tropical storm on Tuesday but transformed overnight into a fierce Category 5 hurricane that hit the southwest coast of Mexico on Friday evening. A Category 5 hurricane usually has winds above 155 mph, and some experts are suggesting that Patricia shows a need for the five category system to be expanded. Thousands of tourists and residents evacuated the area, crowding bus terminals and clogging the streets with traffic. The American Embassy in Mexico City even issued its own warning to American citizens in the area, suggesting that they “make preparations immediately to protect life and property.”

The storm initially brought 165 mph winds and mudslides, but it degenerated into a tropical depression upon encountering Mexico’s southwestern mountains. There have not been any storm-related fatalities.

Malaysian Prime Minister unveils budget Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Friday that he has plans to increase cash handouts to low-income citizens and decrease taxes on the middle class.

He also announced plans to raise income taxes on those earning more than 600,000 ringgit from 25 percent to 26 percent, and on those earning more than 1 million ringgit from 25 percent to 28 percent. He hopes the changes will stimulate capital markets and increase investments in smaller enterprises. The plans would especially benefit the Malay ethnic group, which forms the majority of support for the Prime Minister’s political party. Economist Weiwen Ng called the budget “prudent” and said the government “is undertaking a potent mix of measures to increase revenue and containing expenditure to narrow the fiscal deficit.”

The announcement came during an ongoing investigation of a government scandal involving investment funds that resulted in a no-confidence motion on Thursday against the Prime Minister. Mr. Najib, however, stated “Do not be worried. Have faith,” and urged the people to “rely” on the government.

Yemen government and Houthi rebels agree to peace talks United Nations envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed stated on Friday that he will begin work on scheduling and setting an agenda for the forthcoming peace talks between the Shiite Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government. The conflict between the two factions has resulted in over 4000 deaths and has left nearly 80 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. Ahmed confirmed to the UN Security Council that both sides were planning to send delegations to the talks in hopes of ending the conflict. Furthermore, both sides have accepted a Security Council approved resolution that requires the rebels to withdraw “from Yemen’s key cities” and agree to a “surrender of all heavy weapons to the state.”

Indonesia seeks US help to build new coast guard Indonesian President Joko Widodo plans to meet with President Barack Obama next week to discuss plans to develop an Indonesian coast guard that would allow the nation to play a more active role in resolving territorial disputes with China. Earlier this month, the United States said that it would spend 100 million dollars on maritime law enforcement in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. An Indonesian official, however, stated that it is not yet clear how that assistance will manifest.

Indonesia offers a strategic position in that it lies directly in between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The nation currently lacks the resources to patrol the entirety of its waters, but President Widodo hopes to change that. His meeting with President Obama will be his first state visit to Washington DC, and he plans to visit the Pentagon as well to discuss military relations.

Taiwanese woman faces fine for giving birth on plane In an alleged attempt to give her baby US citizenship, a Taiwanese woman gave birth on a China Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles on October 8th. In order to ensure the baby’s health, the plane made an emergency landing in Alaska. The insurance firm of China Airlines is currently deciding whether the woman should be responsible for covering the cost of the stopover. The Taiwanese media has estimated the cost to be around 33,000 dollars, but the insurer has not released an official amount. Although there is no definite way of determining the woman’s intentions, she did lie to the airline, saying she was less than 32 weeks pregnant when she was actually in her 36th week.

According to Alaska state officials, the baby is still eligible for US citizenship. Susan Morgan, spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Social Services, said, “A baby born in flight has the right to be a US citizen if that is where the child first arrives, even if born in international airspace.” The woman has since been deported to Taiwan, but her child remains in the United States with a friend of the mother.

News

The Collegian: 4

26 October 2015

Lesser-known Democratic candidate profiles Often overshadowed by Sanders and Clinton, here are three lesser-known Democratic candidates running for president.

same-sex marriage as an ally to the LGBTQ community. He is a proponent of gun control and is an opponent of capital punishment.

According to a recent CNN/ ORC poll, Martin O’Malley is currently polling at about one percent.

Hannah Kloppenburg Commentary Editor

Larry Lessig: Lester Lawrence “Larry” Lessig lll is a politician, activist, academic and attorney. He is the current Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has previously worked at the University of Chicago and Stanford Law Schools, and is known for founding Creative Commons.

Lessig has called for state-based action to reform government from the inside out. His campaign is primarily based on campaign finance reform and electoral reform.

Lessig claims that the American political system is faulty and that “partisanship doesn’t work.”

Upon starting his campaign, he famously claimed he would reform the campaign system, free the American people from corruption and then give up the presidency to his vice president. Lessig later revised this statement, saying that he would instead serve a full term.

Lessig is skeptical of government regulation, a view which stems from his Republican affiliation as a young man, but would permit some for administrative purposes. He favors reduced copyright restrictions.

Many of Lessig’s social views are somewhat ambiguous, but he appears to be fairly socially liberal. He is a supporter of Planned Parenthood and seems to support gun control.

Lessig believes that hard-working undocumented immigrants

Martin O’Malley: Martin O’Malley is a former Governor of Maryland, Mayor of Baltimore and Baltimore City Councilman.

O’Malley is most famous for having decreased crime rates by 40 percent in Baltimore during his term as mayor, which allowed for economic revitalization. He did so with a drastically increased amount of arrests, which gave him a mixed reputation in the city.

In a Democratic shadow of sorts to Donald Trump’s platform, O’Malley’s campaign is based on “rebuilding America.” He claims that economic reform is necessary, as “conditions of extreme and growing poverty create conditions for extreme violence.”

O’Malley claims that there is an excess of corporate power in the United States. He supports middle-out economics instead of trickle-down economics, and wants to fight big banks and hold Wall Street CEOs responsible for the 2008 deficit.

He also supports comprehensive immigration reform, and believes that undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children should be eligible for in-state college tuition.

Additionally, O’Malley believes that abortion should be legal without restriction and supports

graphic by Elias Brinkman

If you can’t decide which Democratic presidential candidate you want to dress up as this Halloween, don’t fret! The Collegian designed a costume for you.

should have the opportunity to become citizens, and that American workers deserve “a minimum wage that is a living wage.”

According to the most recent CNN/ORC poll, Larry Lessig is currently polling at less than 1 percent.

Jim Webb: Jim Webb is an author, filmmaker and current US Senator from Virginia. He has served as Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and as an officer in the Marine Corps.

Webb champions a few conservative views; he has campaigned as a Republican in the past and is still apparently a favorite for conservatives. He supports gun rights and measures which would limit affirmative action.

On the other hand, Webb strongly opposes Citizens United and the war in Iraq, and is a standout supporter of criminal justice reform and the demilitarization of police forces.

He also supports many economic stimulus packages and is a famous proponent of the common man, claiming that corporations and government should be putting the individual worker first.

Additionally, Webb supports fewer restrictions on abortion and increased stem cell research.

Webb’s most notable moment is perhaps his widely criticized complaint that he wasn’t getting enough time to speak in the recent Democratic debate.

Jim Webb dropped out of the presidential race on October 20, 2015. A CNN/ORC poll showed that he was polling at 1 percent shortly before he dropped out. At a press conference, Webb stated that the Democratic Party has moved away from “millions of dedicated, hard-working Americans.” He is now considering an Independent run.

In the near future, robots could be run by bacteria A recent study has introduced the idea of using bacteria to function as an artificial brain for robots.

Sunday, October 25-June 5 Philbrook Museum Downtown, Burnstein Gallery Off the Wall: Street Art by Thomas ‘Breeze’ Marcus Inspired by traditional imagery, artist Thomas ‘Breeze’ Marcus creates larger-thanlife murals as well as small-scale paintings on paper, wood panels and even vinyl records. He begins with a foundation of bold geometric patterns from traditional Pima (Tohono O’odham) basketry and adds his own unique style of colorful and imaginative painting to capture the energy and rhythm of contemporary urban life.

Monday, October 26 to 29 Alexandre Hogue Gallery Art Exhibit: Norbert Herber Norbert Herber is a musician and a sound artist. His work explores the relationship between people and sound within mediated environments—spaces created by software, sensors, speakers and other mediating technologies.

Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00pm Chapman Hall, LH HeadStrong Movie Viewing Come watch The Babadook- a spooky movie dealing with the subject of grief. Free Elote for dinner.

Tuesday, October 27 at 8:00pm McFarlin Library, Faculty Study Michael Ruby Public Reading Michael Ruby is the author of five full-length poetry books: At an Intersection, Window on the City, The Edge of the Underworld, Compulsive Words, and American Songbook. His trilogy, Memories, Dreams and Inner Voices, includes Fleeting Memories, a web-book with 80 photos. A graduate of Harvard and Brown University’s writing program, he lives in Brooklyn and works as an editor of U.S. news and political articles at The Wall Street Journal.

Thursday, October 29 at 7:00pm to 9:00pm Gilcrease Museum, Tom Gilcrease Jr. Auditorium Historical Monologue: James Anderson In collaboration with The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, the museum offers a program of living history featuring Tom Plott as James Anderson, Washington’s farm manager. George Washington’s venture into the whiskey business began at Anderson’s urging. He had been involved in the distilling industry in Scotland before immigrating to America in the early 1790s, and was convinced that a distilling business would round out Mount Vernon’s complement of economic ventures and generate substantial profits.

Due to the anticipated interest in this program, reservations are required. For more information, please contact Deborah Burke at deborah-burke@utulsa.edu or 918-5962768.

The Collegian does not produce all event descriptions in the Community Calendar.

Contact News Editor Fraser Kastner at fjk219@utulsa.edu with events.

Katy Nichols Student Writer Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in the tech world. AI is the idea that a machine could not only speak and act like a human; but also be consciously aware of itself and its surroundings.

Studies on AI have been conducted for decades. Some hypothesize that one would teach the machine as one might a child. Others hypothesize that a language would have to be created specifically for an AI that equips them with logic and conceptual distinctions. However, a paper published on July 16 in Scientific Reports gave a very different idea.

A Virginia Tech scientist, Warren Ruder, created a mathematical model to demonstrate the idea that bacteria could potentially control the behavior of a machine, such as a robot. He proposed that he could build a living microbiome on a non-living machine, or robot, and control

the device through the microbiome. Essentially, the bacteria would act as a living and fully functioning brain.

Ruder is an assistant professor of biological systems engineering; his research conducted at the university found that robots may be able to have an actual brain.

In the future, Ruder would like to design and create robot-type machines with the ability to read the expressions coming from the bacteria, such as E. coli.

In Ruder’s mathematical experiment, the bacteria would turn either green or red in response to what they ate. Additionally, the theoretical robot used sensors to read the color of the bacteria; thus telling it how to act and where, depending on the color.

While Ruder plans to use his findings for the biological development for the interactions between soil and bacteria, he very well might be onto something much more... intelligent.

His discovery that a machine could potentially be controlled by a living and functioning “brain” may lead to thousands of other similar studies and further development in the on-going search for the first artificial intelligence.

Students enjoy Oktoberfest

photo by Shuman Zhang

TU students Luna Lu and Chuyi Wen celebrate Oktoberfest with a diminutive party-goer.

26 October 2015

News

The Collegian: 5

Oktoberfest: Tulsa’s slice of Germany

photos by Chuyi Wen

Last week, the Collegian misattributed a picture of students receiving free t-shirts to Chuyi Wen. It should have been credited to Greg Diskin.

Also, we printed that the price for Hex House was 15 dollars. This should have read 20 dollars. Lastly, the event “V World” was miswritten as “V Word”

Commentary

The Collegian: 6

26 October 2015

Oklahoma education crumbles Government “cures” for Oklahoma’s dire education crisis have resulted in little success. The newest proposal, a penny tax, is yet another pathetic effort.

Morgan Krueger Editor-in-Chief Since the 2008 recession, Oklahoma has led the nation. In the percentage of cuts made to school funding, that is.

According to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, per-pupil spending has decreased by nearly 23 percent in Oklahoma.

34 states reduced education funding after the recession, and while a giant recession may seem like a decent reason to cut education funding, in the long run it will cause more problems than it solves.

One problem is that—surprise!—cuts to education harm students‘ education. This may have a ripple effect when those students try to get into college or try to get jobs later in life.

According Kathryn McNutt of NewsOK, “More than one-third of freshman at Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities can’t handle the mathematics courses because there are not enough good high school math teachers to prepare them.”

As a result, in the 2013-2014 school year college students in Oklahoma spent 2.89 million dollars on non-credit coursework in order to catch up on skills and knowledge they failed to receive in high school, according to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

To compound the problem, college students who are good at math often go into careers such as engineering or computer programing. Few look at the 35 thousand a year they would get as a high school teacher and decide that is what they want to do.

This brings us to the second, more immediate problem that has arisen due to low education spending: a severe teacher shortage. In the Oklahoma public school system 600 teaching positions have been eliminated since last year, and yet there are still 1,000 teaching vacancies. These vacancies,

courtesy Brad Flickinger

Oklahoma’s public school system would be improved by smaller class sizes, more teachers, and ample resources, similar to the setting shown above.

teacher-student gap, many school districts are trying to obtain record-breaking numbers of emergency teaching certificates.

Such certificates would allow people who are not certified teachers to become temporary teachers in order to fill the shortage.

This means people who have not completed basic training or basic higher education requirements will be in charge of educating Oklahoman youth for the foreseeable future.

Shawn Hime, the executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, is fed up with low teacher salaries. “Saying we don’t have the money for teacher pay raises is no longer an acceptable excuse.

Schools are doing the best they can under the circumstances, but we have to ask ourselves: Are we really OK with 5- and 6- year olds who will go without a teacher trained to

single year Texas calls me! Kansas and Arkansas are close by and pay better. I sometimes wonder how we keep any teachers at all. My family lives in Oklahoma or I would be gone.”

Ken Ramey, part of the Siloam Spring School District in Arkansas, says they have teachers from Tulsa, Claremore, Grove and Vinita working in their schools.

Ramey said, “We have had wonderful teachers coming to us with experience along with strong content knowledge. Our children benefit from well-prepared teachers, and Oklahoma has sent us some really welltrained, experienced teachers who have contributed strongly to our school system.”

The effects of poor funding are evident.

Oklahoma, which spends a total of 7,672 dollars per student each academic year (this number includes local, state and federal money) is ranked in 44th place on the list of 2015 Best High Schools. California, ranked second on the same list, currently spends 9,200 dollars a student, and paid nearly ten thousand dollars a student before the recession hit.

In the 2013-2014 school year, 36 US states saw their high school graduation rates climb. Oklahoma was among the five states whose graduation rates dropped.

A recent plan to raise the much-needed education funding in Oklahoma is a proposed penny sales tax. It is estimated this tax would cost an average Oklahocourtesy Phil Roeder man family 262 dollars Lack of funding causes a ripple effect which will harm children in the Oklahoma public school system for years to come. a year, but would annudevelop young readers? Are we really OK ally raise over 600 million dollars for educaaccording to the Oklahoma State School with eliminating high-level science classes tion.

Boards Association, are largely due to the because we refuse to pay teachers a comThe poorest 20 percent of Oklahomans low teacher salaries that are offered in Oklapetitive wage?” would pay 90 dollars a year, and the top 1 homa.

Tulsa Public Schools specifically has had percent would pay over 1500 dollars a year.

Last year Governor Fallin said, “Our 20 percent of its certified teaching positions, However, when looking at percentages it economy is now growing after several long which amounts to 568 teachers, leave in the becomes evident that this tax will affect the years of recession. As our revenue grows, I last 14 months. poor more, as a larger chunk of their income am absolutely committed to continuing to Teacher morale is low in Oklahoma. is spent on retail purchases. build on the recent funding gains we have Oklahoman college graduates with degrees The Oklahoman education system needs made in our schools. Specifically, I would in education have little incentive to look for the money: there’s no doubt about that. But like to see money set aside for teacher pay employment in their home state. Some who many teachers wonder if this is the correct raises to help us attract and retain the best have family ties in Oklahoma choose to live way to raise funds. teachers in our classrooms.” in-state but commute across state lines for Other states have tried similar methods.

This commitment is yet to be seen. work.

In Iowa over one billion dollars have been The Oklahoman teacher shortage is ocWhen asked if she had ever considered raised for improving schools with a penny curring at a time when student enrollment is teaching in a different state, Kendall-Whitti- tax. In Arizona, however, the tax plan did growing. In a frantic effort to deal with the er art teacher Kathleen Walker said, “Every not stop the state from making deep educa-

Words placed above the doorway of a school building send a poignant message about the importance of education.

tion cuts—some of the worst in the country.

Local Kendall-Whittier teacher Rita Ballew is against the penny tax proposal because, “the monies would be redirected by government officials and very little would actually trickle down to teachers. For example, casinos were supposed to be the big answer to the education funding problems and yet when casinos contributed…the state/ federal government took monies away.”

The Oklahoma government has come up with many ‘cures’ for education, including taxes on horse racing and casinos. This money goes into a general fund, but then the state contributes less money to schools. The result? Education sees no increase in funding.

Walker quoted the same concern about the penny tax. “We were promised big bucks with the pari-mutuel gambling thing and [we’ve] hardly seen any of that.”

Schools tried to compensate with “local bonds to keep our technology up to date, and buildings maintained,” according to Walker.

“However, that isn’t always enough.”

Without additional funding, schools face a variety of problems. Ballew explained, “There is no money for the consumable products I buy out of my almost empty pockets, and yet we are asked to teach hands-on lessons. No money is given to teachers to spend on classroom supplies that are staples to the effectiveness of our teaching.”

This is a problem in many states. According to a former teacher and superintendent of Montpelier Public Schools in Montpelier, North Dakota, “When we ordered supplies, teachers knew that was all they were going to get. Teachers spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket for their students.”

The federal government contributes to education, but it can’t shoulder the entire cost. At some point the states need to step up and give education the funding it requires.

Meanwhile Walker believes that, “The biggest problem [in education] is class size...the one thing schools could do to combat [poverty] is to lower class size. But that requires salary money, and enough money to keep teachers in the state. A teacher with 18-20 kids can have quality face time daily with every student…[but] every child over 20 feels like 5 more added to the class.”

Without proper educational spending students don’t get field trips, science enrichment programs, tutors and—most importantly—enough teachers to ensure that every child gets daily face time.

If Walker could make a change to the Oklahoma school system, she would want a “smaller student to teacher ratio.”

Ballew answered the same question with, “Let teachers teach and pay them with what they are worth! Support teachers with supplies they need in order to effectively teach their content.”

courtesy jdog90

26 October 2015

Commentary

The Collegian: 7

TU nutritional information inaccurate

Nutrition inaccuracies on TU’s campus should be addressed, starting with small changes in labeling.

and degree of the inaccuracy did.

Many items routinely weighed in anywhere from 1.5 to twice the labeled serving size. On items like the fruit cups, this is relatively harmless: an extra 25 to 50 calories should have little to no effect on one’s diet.

It’s when this level of inaccuracy is found in the higher calorie foods such as sandwiches, wraps and parfaits, that it becomes a problem.

For example, the blueberry granola parfait, an old favorite of mine, is listed as being a serving of 5oz.

Consider that these errors are recurrent, and likely amount to anything from 20-40 percent in excess calories in a day for any one individual. For those who count calories, whether to maintain or gradually lose weight, this can be detrimental to the efficacy of the practice.

These nutritional mistakes are found in much more than the labels on our to-go meals, but they’re usually so minimal as to be totally negligible (an extra slice of ham on a Subway sandwich or a little too much cheese on an Einstein’s Bagel are everyday

Trent Gibbons Student Writer As a college student, you’ve probably found many ways to maximize the efficiency of your purchases—food included.

Besides subsisting entirely on instant ramen noodles, an inferior food if there ever was one, you might also take advantage of the school’s easily-accessible To-Go Line, which at least offers a greater variety.

If you’re like me (having become diet conscious after losing 40 pounds over the course of my first semester) you may often factor in the nutritional value of the items into your meal arrangements. These can be found on the nutritional labels provided with each item. After taking the truth of this information for granted for a year, I decided to test its accuracy myself.

I’ve since brought a multitude of these items to my room to be measured on a scale designed for portioning food. This yielded ‘mixed’ results.

The inaccuracies in the provided information didn’t surprise me; the consistency

Eating healthy can be hard, even with proper labeling.

In reality, the provided serving can often weigh up to 9oz. This means the actual calorie value of the food is 565 calories, rather than the listed 315. This difference of 250 calories can seem minimal, but for the average college male, whose recommended caloric intake is 2500 calories daily, this means an excess 10 percent.

courtesy US Department of Agriculture

occurrences). These are the product of spontaneous human error; by no account can they be predicted by the corporations which print and distribute the information.

No, my attention is now turned to the stickers whose placement in the campus’ vending machines is meant to identify healthier, ‘lighter’ options. I purchased one

of these items and compared it to the qualifications it was supposed to have met. It was immediately disqualified, containing 100 more calories than the number specified, a much higher sodium count and finally higher trans fat. Each of these lends themselves kindly to my growing skepticism regarding the caf’s posted dietary information.

I’d like to specify that I don’t believe there’s any kind of conspiracy occurring within or intentional deception by our campus’ food provider, Sodexo. In a brief online interview with Mike Neals, a representative of the company, I didn’t even get the impression any of the news I told him would be surprising, except for the fact that I or anybody else cared.

Honestly, none of his information surprised me too much either. Sodexo’s individual plants each follow the same standardized portion sizes, are regulated by the FDA (despite having their headquarters in Paris) and are not responsible for the information provided with name-brand product like Lays’ chips.

This is where my frustration rises. I recognize that it would be a challenging process if the campus’ food services were to make a stronger move towards legitimately healthy or at least precisely portioned items.

This is why, for now, we should be encouraging small changes, like having low-fat granola available as often as sugar loaded cereals like Krave or Fruit Loops. Or ensuring that the to-go meals’ nutritional information is accurate. Or at least updating the stickers in the vending machines, supposed symbols of health-conscious choices, so they don’t recommend the Three Musketeers Bars.

US deports immigrants who deserve asylum

The United States should assess the potential refugee status of Central American immigrants—most notably children—before resorting to deportation.

Nathaniel Beckemeyer Student Writer Recently, several independent studies have found that the United States has been deporting Central Americans, including children, to their deaths in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

According to the Guardian, “Human rights experts warn that in its haste to expel or deter undocumented immigrants, the US government is scrimping on its obligation to provide asylum to those genuinely in peril in violation of international law.”

According to Article 14 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the US helped draft, “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”

Additionally, in 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles cannot be executed for their crimes, on the basis that doing so would classify as cruel and unusual punishment.

Yet we send immigrants, who are sometimes juveniles, to their deaths.

Fernando Protti, UNHCR regional representative for Central America, said “We

believe that if their cases were further analyzed, many would be recognized as refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution and lack of protection in their country of origin.”

Most children who try to visit the US do so to escape gang violence and extortion in their home countries.

Reuters reported that “Gangs control entire neighborhoods of towns in Honduras through extortion, sexual violence against girls and women, threats, killings and forced recruitment of children. Children also face danger if they witness a gang crime, defy gang members’ orders and cross streets that mark gang territory.”

El Salvador and Guatemala face similar problems.

Protti confirmed, saying, “This violence is why families send their children to the United States on their own, UNHCR research shows.”

In 2014, the Obama administration began an immigration crackdown. This change, however, did not solve immigration problems; rather, it increased death rates of immigrants who attempted to arrive illegally.

And as a consequence of this change, the US has been appallingly unfair to the immigrants. We didn’t always grant them interviews to determine if refugee status should be granted, and consequently sometimes send children to their deaths.

The disrespect that the US has shown towards basic human rights is disgusting, particularly in regards to children. As Protti said, the US is simply not paying enough attention to these cases. The humanitarian benefits of helping those in need outweighs the cost incurred by improving the accuracy of our immigration process.

Consequently, the US should put more effort into investigating the potential refugee statuses of immigrants, especially children, rather than deporting them.

courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A sign at one of the United States borders attempts to deter undocumented immigrants from crossing.

courtesy Lwp Kommunikacio

“Movin’ Up” is nothing more than exploitation Alana Thompson got her start on the reality show “Toddlers in Tiaras.”

Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson’s new single is a disturbing indication of the exploitation of impoverished Americans.

Fraser Kastner News Editor For a long time, my attitude toward Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was much the same as my attitude toward the Kardashians, or any of the spoiled kids from My Super Sweet Sixteen. A general sense of hostility, mixed with contempt and a little disgust, made them the perfect target for the occasional punchline, while the rest of the time I could forget about them and probably be better off for it.

But in light of recent contemplation and the release of Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson’s single “Movin’ Up,” I have reconsidered my opinion.

I want to make something clear: I have no problem with the lifestyle of the Honey Boo Boo crowd. Watching their show, you can tell they really care about each other.

They have problems and a certain degree of dysfunction. Sure, most of the members of that household are overweight. And yeah, their speech is so regional that it requires closed-captioning to understand. But these are things that have more to do with poverty than with their character.

If you stick people in a tiny corner of the country with little opportunity for education or upward mobility, this is the kind of thing

that happens organically.

No, my problem is with the fact that the show itself exists. When watching, it becomes clear that the show is intended to highlight the worst excesses of this family.

The camera records every misspoken word, every awkward moment, every little nuance of their lives that betrays their lack of sophistication.

This is just poverty tourism. One could make comparisons to the buses full of white South Africans that would tour Soweto in the days of Apartheid, ogling at the squalid conditions of their black countrymen. Sure, there’s no racist component to Honey Boo Boo, so I guess that’s nice, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t exploitation.

And what’s worse, it probably won’t go away for little Alana. This kid, before she’s ten years old, has already been subject to the heavy gaze of the American viewing public. Imagine if there was a film crew there to see you in all your glory when you were six years old, and that every person you met after that would know who you were and where you came from before you met them.

She can never go back to not being Honey Boo Boo. That’s what’s so disturbing about “Movin’ Up.” Even after the show was cancelled, she’s still playing the character. While she’s straight-up yelling her vocals into the microphone and some guy in a floral shirt (who I’m assuming is the Devil) holds her lyric sheet for her, it’s hard to envision a much brighter future for her. And what happens once the whole diminutive pageant queen thing stops being cute?

I recall hearing once that the family was saving the money they were making with the show to put toward Alana’s college fund. I applaud this decision, I really do. But that doesn’t really undo the damage this whole circus has probably already done. Even if she ends up as an astronaut and saves the Earth from an asteroid or something, the headlines will still say “Honey Boo Boo Saves Humanity.”

The Collegian: 8

Commentary

26 October 2015

Twilight revamp continues to stereotype

Stephanie Meyer’s genderswapped re-release of Twilight ultimately perpetuates just as many gender stereotypes as the original.

Lauren Rogers Student Writer A little over ten years ago, Stephanie Meyer released a novel that would grow to become a worldwide phenomenon. Twilight found a special place in the hearts of mil-

lions of teenagers. The Twilight saga went on to spur a film adaptation spanning five movies, and even a brief novella about some random character in the third book.

In celebration of her novel’s 10th anniversary, Meyers released a new addition to the saga titled Life and Death. This new novel features the same storyline as Twilight, with an added twist––all of the main characters are the opposite gender.

Meyers’ inspiration behind this novel was proving that “it would have made no difference if [the] human were male and the vampire female,” therefore dismissing the idea that Bella was a typical “damsel in distress.”

In this story, the Bella character, Beaufort, moves to Forks and falls in love with a female vampire, Edythe. Meyers’ new novel has everything fans loved about the original, with even more gender stereotypes.

Meyers’ agent wanted her to release something new for her fans, but the author didn’t have enough time to finish Midnight

Sun, which is Twilight from Edward’s point of view. Fortunately, Meyers was able to, as she put it, complete her new “fast and easy” project, which consisted mostly of changing names and pronouns.

However, Meyers also adds changes she saw necessary in order to solidify Beau as a male character. Bella, as Meyers states, was “flowery with [her] words and thoughts,” whereas Beau is “more OCD.” There is an excellent example of Meyers solidifying Beau’s masculinity in the first few pages of the novel. In Twilight, Bella describes the nature surrounding Forks as “beautiful, of course.” Beau, as a male, is unable to acknowledge beauty, and says that “it was probably beautiful or something.”

Meyers also makes sure that Edythe reaffirms Beau’s sense of masculinity when she explains the struggles of having superhuman strength and adds “‘Beau, you don’t know how… well, fragile you are. I don’t mean that as an insult to your manliness,

because of issues of public health.

The two main components to the bill address personal and religious reasons for avoiding vaccinations.

First, personal reasons for vaccinations have very little backing to stand on. Antivaccine groups claim that vaccines cause autism in children.

There have been nine Center for Disease Control (CDC) backed or performed studies all concluding that ingredients within vaccines do not cause autism (cdc.gov), so this concern is unfounded. These studies and many more have all proven that there is nothing wrong with the common vaccines in the world. While there are vaccines that are in a trial phase, vaccines on the forefront of medical care are safe.

Religious reasons are a little harder.

While freedom of religion is important, it should not come at the cost of people’s lives. There are several cases in the United States of people being infected by people who haven’t had certain vaccinations.

In 2013, non-vaccinated children caused a large case of whooping cough in California that infected more than 9,000 people.

The government should be allowed to mandate that children get vaccinated because it will help save lives of people who are negatively affected by other’s choices.

While these type of laws can set a dangerous precedent, when laws will directly save lives, they should be allowed through without any problems.

I honestly did not expect that we would get through the interview and be allowed to attend the party. I told the dungeon owner about my interest in exploring consent as a writer for The Collegian, and she was wholly on board.

Unsurprisingly, I was incredibly ill-prepared to go to a dungeon. Like, what do you wear to a dungeon? I generally describe my wardrobe as dyke-y preschool teacher, so I was pretty clearly unprepared. I ended up wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and my chucks. My friend wore tight leather pants.

She had a better grasp on the situation than I did, although I will say that my outfit of choice did not make me feel out of place.

The adventure got off to a poor start when it took us an hour to find the place. I also realized in the car on the way there that I was not sure whether BDSM was even legal. After some quick iPhone googling, we determined that it did not seem to be super legal, but also maybe it was? The laws were very unclear. The general impression we got was that if a cop sees someone assaulting another person, whether or not it is consensual, he or she has to look into it and treat it like it is nonconsensual.

Getting into the dungeon cost 20 dollars and a snack. We picked up cheetos on the way there. We also had to sign and initial a bunch of documents and provide photo ID. We got a tour of the dungeon. I will say, as dungeons go, it was very dungeon-like.

When I say “the dungeon” I mean the whole shebang—store, two actual dungeons, a common area, front room, office space.

The very first stop on the tour was the store, which was definitely a good clue that I was in over my head. Collars, and floggers, and knives, oh no.

The “small” dungeon was full of beds and miscellaneous accoutrements (effectively various ways to restrain people). It was very dark (as was the large dungeon), and there was some intense music playing. There was an area within it that was walled off—it was like a very small room, which contained a couple of plastic chairs, for easy clean up.

This room was entirely for medical play and/or bodily fluids.

The large dungeon had St. Andrew’s crosses and fire extinguishers and a swinging bed and a chain hanging from the ceiling in order to suspend people. It will soon have an electric chair - it just is not fully constructed yet.

There were a couple of noteworthy things we saw on our tour. Each dungeon had a station full of “safe” things such as lube and condoms. The large dungeon also had a room for people to change clothes in. We were informed that a number of transgender people come to the dungeon and that that room is informally their hangout place. A lot of them are unable to be “out” outside of the dungeon, so the dungeon, in spite of its overall darkness and tone of terror, can be their only “safe” place.

After the tour we went over the rules.

They were primarily focused on safety and consent—so if you engage in fire play (exactly what it sounds like), make sure you have a fire extinguisher and bucket of water on hand. If you engage in bloodplay (also exactly what it sounds like), make sure you put a tarp down. Use a condom, and so on.

At this point the night really got going as people moved into the dungeon-areas to start “playing.”

I think that by far the most important part of this situation was that I hated it. It was basically a night of me watching things happen that did not in any way make me feel sexual. Not at all. However—I was there the whole time of my own free will, I was able to leave whenever I wanted, I did not experience any pressure to participate and I never felt unsafe.

I also want to clarify that although I have

anyone human is fragile to me.’”

While it is great that Meyers is trying to make her novels less sexist, she doesn’t seem to grasp that the damsel-in-distress trope isn’t the only stereotype to look out for when writing a novel. Her approach towards the issue of Bella as a useless character amidst a conflict that is mostly penciled-in in order to add fuel to the love story driving the saga is disappointing, at best.

Meyers missed out on an opportunity to have an emotional, feminine male character at the center of a semi-alright storyline that was already extremely popular. If she had just stopped at hitting Ctrl-F and changing the names, she could have had a male character that actually broke gender stereotypes by crying, acknowledging adolescent insecurities and everything else Bella did in those books. But Meyers cuts out all of Bella’s feminine characteristics for Beau, and ultimately accomplishes nothing.

OKC vaccination bill vital, should pass

A proposed Oklahoma City bill would discredit personal and religious reasons as justification for abstaining from vaccinations.

Nathan Hinkle Student Writer

In Oklahoma City, senator Ervin Yen has put forth a bill that will get rid of the ability to abstain from getting children vaccinated due to religious and personal reasons. Medical reasons will still be a valid distinction for children going to school.

While this may seem to be an affront on the first amendment, this law should pass

graphic by Elias Brinkman

My journey into a BDSM dungeon

A local BDSM dungeon reveals the beauty of consensual sexual relationships.

Tara Grigson Student Writer You might think it will be a cold day in hell when you see someone tied up and being slapped repeatedly and think, “that is beautiful”—and until recently I would have agreed with you.

Somehow I found myself at a BDSM dungeon the other week (long story), and I was literally watching a woman hitting another woman who was tied up with ropes.

I was struck (pun intended) by the beauty of consent—not so much the carnal human sado-masochism stuff, but the idea that two people could collectively decide what their limits were and based on those limits devise a safe, comfortable, consensual way to enjoy an activity in which they were both interested.

I said earlier that my being at a BDSM dungeon was a long story, but I lied. It’s actually really short. I had heard there were a couple of BDSM dungeons in Tulsa, and I thought “hmm, I could write about this.” I asked The Collegian if I could write about it, assuming they would say no and I would move on with my life, but actually they said yes. They called my bluff and I ended up at a dungeon. Sometimes life just happens, you know?

I am not about BDSM, so a lot of the stuff that was happening just seemed overwhelmingly silly to me. However, I am about consent and I think it is really damn beautiful that a group of people get together to do something that looks just like assault, but that is consensual and loving and really healthy for everyone involved. It is amazing to me that these folks get together with the intention of hurting each other—but that that hurt is based on increasing the other person’s pleasure.

Actually getting to a dungeon is sort of a challenge. I went with a friend (you know you have good friends when they are willing to go to a literal dungeon with you), and we had to be vetted by the owner of the establishment prior to attending a party.

We met up with the dungeon owner at a Starbucks, talked a little bit about our interest in the dungeon and then we were told we were welcome to attend a party that very night.

been fairly adamant that I was not interested in the things that were happening, some people are and that is okay. I do not judge other people for their (consensual) sexual preferences, and I think that it is really wonderful that these kink communities exist and provide a space for folks to explore and discover what they do and do not like. I am not into BDSM, but other people are, and I think that is great.

My goal in going to the dungeon was to see firsthand how beautiful consensual sexual relationships can be, and it did not disappoint. I will probably never go back. I did not like most of what I saw. It was not for me. However, I loved the idea of consenting adults engaging in play that was safe and agreed upon. Everyone was happy with what was going on, there was no force or coercion and there were numerous safeguards in place to keep it that way.

tucollegian@tucollegian.org

editor-in-chief

Morgan Krueger managing editor

Giselle Willis news editor

Fraser Kastner sports editor

Matt Rechtien variety editor

Kayleigh Thesenvitz commentary editor

Hannah Kloppenburg satire editor

Caitlin Woods photo & graphics editor

Elias Brinkman

business & advertising manager

Paul Moses web manager

Sam Chott

distribution managers

Katie Hill, Walker Womack, Witt Womack and Kyranna Gilstrap

The Collegian is the student newspaper of the University of Tulsa. It is distributed Mondays during the fall and spring semesters, except during holidays and final exam weeks. The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on the basis of personal status or group characteristics 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.

Variety

26 October 2015

the Collegian: 9

TAKE ME

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

Sara Douglas Student Writer Pumpkin Spiked Halloween Brew* * Approved by SA’s Chief of Staff 6 oz. Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat Beer 3 oz. (non-alcoholic) apple cider 1 oz. Jeremiah Weed Spiced Whiskey 2 oz. Bailey’s Vanilla Cinnamon Irish Cream 1 oz. pumpkin purée optional: 1 oz. DARK Coffee Liqueur whipped cream cinnamon

ther a chilled punch or a steaming cider for Halloween parties!

Simply combine everything but the beer and keep over ice or simmering on the stove; have guests half-fill their cups with the prepared base, then top with beer and whipped cream. (A scoop of pumpkin ice cream would go well in either.)

HOME TONIGHT

Put whiskey, Irish cream, pumpkin and cider in shaker with no ice and shake until well-mixed. (Add coffee liqueur here if using.)

Strain into chilled glass, then slowly pour pumpkin beer on top of mixture.

Top with whipped cream and cinnamon; serve with a cinnamon stick stirrer.

SERIOUS DELIVERY!

Drink this if: you’ve been craving a delicious mash-up of spiced cider and a PSL— shot of espresso optional.

The cider and pumpkin purée contribute slightly acidic freshness, while the warm spices of the whiskey and the creaminess of Bailey’s mellow out this drink.

Shock Top’s Pumpkin Wheat Beer is the smoothest pumpkin ale I’ve tasted, and it is complemented well by the other fall flavors present in this drink.

Whip this up in group proportions as ei-

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TM

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©2014 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. photo by Sara Douglas

Matt Damon’s relentless cheeriness too much for The Martian

The Martian was not as great as it could have been due to misplaced humor and vanilla acting.

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer

Summer has come to an end.

The days are getting longer, the leaves are changing and school is well under way. As movie fans, we all know what that means: it’s Oscar-bait time!

Yes, it’s that glorious time of the year when the studios finally stop shelling out juvenile and repetitive blockbusters and introduce a bunch of by-the-numbers biopics (what’s up Steve Jobs!), pretentious and overacted drivel (here’s to you, 2014’s Birdman), and decently-made, feel-good films that will clean up in award season but which wouldn’t stand a chance in festivals. Director Ridley Scott’s latest big-budget space feature, The Martian is definitely the latter.

It’s a story that has been told a

Matt Damon gives a sub-par performance in The Martian.

thousand times, but one that audiences never seem to get tired of: a lone hero, stranded without any conceivable possibility of help, is forced to fend for himself in the wild until he is rescued against all odds from his harrowing adventure.

Plenty of good movies have been made from this premise—All is Lost and Cast Away come to mind—and The Martian is timely in establishing its survivor story in an extraterrestrial setting, what with the commercial and critical

success of space films like Gravity and Interstellar in recent years.

Unfortunately, something just doesn’t quite work here.

As much as I hate to say it, most of The Martian’s problems could be boiled down to the forgettably vanilla showing of its star, the usually terrific Matt Damon as astronaut Mark Watney.

Damon has shown himself to be a highly diverse actor over the years, consistently delivering believable performances as anything from a troubled genius to an alphamale politician, even showing range as a first-rate jackass, a particularly difficult feat for many leading men.

Still, he hit all of the wrong notes in this one.

Despite being trapped on a planet some 250 million miles from Earth and with scarcely enough resources to survive, Damon rarely flinches, with the notable exception of one gut-wrenching scene of self-surgery.

Perhaps it was Scott’s and Damon’s intention to have the character remain so cheery and optimistic in the face of near certain doom, but it served to diffuse all the dramatic tension rather than show Watney as some paradigm of Hemingwayian stoicism.

Even in a scene where Watney details what to tell his parents in the result of a failed rescue, Damon never once portrays any realistic reasonable doubt that his character will make it through things alright in the end.

Sure Watney says he is in trouble, vocalizing the possibility that this mission could be a one-way trip after all, but it is not enough to merely say the lines. In order for the audience to feel a real connection to the character and truly want him to return courtesy IMDB home, it needs to see the des-

peration and struggle for itself, witness some kind of physical toll, mental breakdown or other indicator of verisimilitude.

At times, Damon’s character felt painfully aware that he was in a movie and this made it difficult to immerse oneself in his plight.

In fairness, not all of this was Damon’s fault as an actor.

The dialogue was painfully cheesy, with lines such as, “Let’s science the shit out of this” and a heap of look-how-impressive-andscientific-this-is-techno-babble clogging the script. Wherever this problem originated, it stood out like a sore thumb.

There were plenty of redeeming qualities about The Martian.

Visually, it was a beautiful film to behold, particularly the edge-ofyour-seat rescue sequence and the use of the Valley of the Moon in Jordan to portray the dusty emptiness of the red planet.

And while I wasn’t the biggest fan of most of the awkwardly placed humor—or the casting of comedic actress Kristen Wiig for that matter—there was a fantastic bit of meta-humor in a scene where Sean Bean’s character discussed a rescue initiative named after a character from the Lord of the Rings, movies in which he famously appeared.

Nevertheless, I expect that Scott and Damon’s names will carry enough influence for the film to be a hit with the Academy, as it has already proved to be with mainstream critics and audiences. And if you are a person who likes easy, sentimental, feel-good movies, I would definitely recommend The Martian.

Of all the movies I’ve seen, it reminded me the most of Ben Affleck’s 2012 hit Argo. Both star talented Boston actors in success stories that take as few risks as possible and appeal to a wide array of audiences from casual moviegoers to more seasoned film buffs.

Neither is a bad movie, but I think you will find that both are remarkably forgettable.

the Collegian: 10

Variety

26 October 2015

Creepiest Horror Movies Spookiest Horror Games

I

Trent Gibbons Student Writer

t’s such a shame to know October is already almost over. After the spooky climax of Halloween, it won’t be long before Thanksgiving is totally eclipsed by gingerbread houses, candy-canes, fir trees and poorly-wrapped presents. For those desperately resisting this incoming assortment of holiday cheer, here are a few noteworthy horror films to fan the fading flames of terror.

Alien: Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), arguably the strongest female protagonist in horror, and her crew are forced to fight for their lives after their massive cargo-bearing spaceship is breached by an unknown element. Ridley Scott’s masterpiece is a marriage of sci-fi and horror, and uses only the best elements of both.

The Thing: A research team in the Antarctic finds themselves victim to a parasitic extraterrestrial—one that can almost flawlessly imitate its prey. Paranoia consumes both the characters and audience in this disturbing remake by director John Carpenter, starring Kurt Russell.

Evil Dead trilogy: Ash Williams, undoubtedly the strongest male protagonist in horror, transforms from inexperienced everyman to wisecracking deadite-hunter over the span of this horror-comedy trilogy.

The first two see him hold a single cabin against an assault of evil forces which have corrupted the surrounding forest; the third follows his time-traveling escapades in medieval fantasy.

The Shining: Stanley Kubrick’s loose adaptation of the Stephen King novel is a cleverly unsettling film. Jack Nicholson is brilliant in his role as Jack Torrance, whose solution to marriage troubles seems to be isolating himself and his family in a haunted hotel for the winter season. This is a patient thriller, subtly themed and elaborately puzzling.

The Fly: David Cronenberg mixes body horror and relationship drama about an aspiring inventor whose teleportation machine splices his DNA with that of a fly. Few things in film are so sorrowful and simultaneously terrifying as Jeff Goldblum’s mental decay, and especially his gradual physical transformation from man to insect. The movie is grisly, disgusting and heartfelt all at the same time.

Poltergeist: A relatively kind-hearted inclusion, this 1981 film saw a suburban family experience the horrors of a vengeful spirit inhabiting their home. A horror movie you can watch with your family unashamed!

-for whatever that’s worth. The characters feel more real than most in the genre, like their motivations actually exist in the realm of reality.

An American Werewolf In London: Two American tourists are mauled by a werewolf while hiking through the English countryside. The monster is killed, but not before one boy is fatally injured and the other bitten. It isn’t long before the latter, our good-natured protagonist, realizes his curse:

Jacob Eddy Student Writer

to hunt and kill innocents every night of the full moon. John Landis’s cult hit is an 80s take on a classic tale: exploitative, experimental and campy.

Under The Skin: This minimalist film follows a mysterious beauty as she stalks and seduces desperate men all across Scotland. Her intent is a mystery, her identity even more so. Scarlett Johannson is surprisingly talented in the lead role as the siren herself, looking one second cold and detached, the next as if she’s truly fallen in love.

Rosemary’s Baby: A young married woman (Mia Farrow) becomes an expecting mother not long after she and her husband, a struggling actor, move into an apartment building in New York City. Soon her neighbors, a nosy bunch of seemingly well-meaning elders, intrude her life and obsess over her pregnancy. The film is as terrifying in its demonic nightmare sequences as it is in its portrayal of people with incessant, unwarranted advice.

Psycho: Alfred Hitchcock is a proven master of suspense, and his chilling masterpiece Pyscho lends itself well to this fact.

The movie follows the visitors of the quaint isolated Bates Motel and the darkly twisted family that runs it. Infamous for its ‘shower scene,’ the film helped to define a genre of fright, and legitimize it in the eyes of critics.

One of the most famous horror movies of all time—and with good reason.

L

ooking for a great interactive horror experience that doesn’t involve walking around “the bad part of town?”

Have movies become too predictable to successfully scare you?

This Halloween, why not try one of these top ten horror videogames?

Outlast: This game is a great experience to play alone or with a group of friends.

Set in an insane asylum, it boasts a plethora of jump scares and horrific encounters with no guns or offensive weapons to defend yourself.

It can be found on almost any platform.

Five Nights at Freddy’s (series): Looking for a game that is cheap but effective?

Five Nights at Freddy’s has you covered.

This game (or any of its sequels) can be picked up on PC for anywhere between five and seven dollars.

It is comprised almost solely of jumpscares, but is a great game to play with friends.

Dead Space (1 or 2): Asylums and pizza restaurants not your thing?

Try taking a vacation in the cold vacuum of Dead Space.

Featuring futuristic settings, zombie-like abominations and copious amounts of dismemberment, this game is a solid choice for those looking to be spooked in space.

It can be picked up on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 as well as PC.

Alien: Isolation: In space no one can hear you scream.

And scream you will, either out of fear or frustration of this difficult game.

Alien: Isolation is a great example of high budget horror done right.

With stunning graphics, intelligent enemies and a lot of sneaking around, this game is one of the best choices on this list and can be found on almost any platform.

Slender: the Eight Pages: It was popular a few years ago and is still around for those who want to play a horror game at the low price of zero dollars.

It’s similar to Five Nights in the sense that it mostly relies on the feeling of something coming to get you mixed with the occasional jump scare and is probably best played with friends.

Amnesia: the Dark Descent: Nightmare castles, dark dungeons, tortured monsters; if any of these sound like a great experience, check out Amnesia on PC. It can be purchased on Steam and is just the right thing to scratch that “spooky dungeon” itch.

Bioshock: Bioshock, while a little dated in graphics, remains an eerie experience.

It is set in the failed underwater city of Rapture where looting and insanity have become the norm.

The dimly lit art deco hallways of a once great metropolis are filled with danger.

This game isn’t quite as horror driven as the others on this list, but it is still worth checking out and can be found on most last gen platforms and PC. SOMA: Created by the same minds behind Amnesia, this game is set in an underwater base named PATHOS-II. You must outsmart your way around ever-present danger, as there is no way to fight back in this game. It can be purchased on PS4 and PC. Silent Hill (series): The silent hill series is to horror games what The Exorcist is to horror movies.

Relying mostly on psychological horror and atmosphere, this series inspired many others to take the atmospheric and less gorebased approach to creating Horror games.

These games can be found on Xbox, Playstation and PC. Resident Evil (series): Another grandfather of survival horror to make this list, this game strives less for atmospheric and mental horror and more for the gritty/gory type of encounter.

The earlier games in the series provide a classic horror experience, while the newer games provide a challenging adventure.

These games can be found on Xbox, Playstation and PC.

Crimson Peak stitches romance and horror into one plot

Guillermo del Toro offers a good ghost story with great visuals in his latest film despite the heavy romantic theme.

Nathan Gibbons Student Writer

In Guillermo del Toro’s newest film, which is set around the turn of the twentieth century, Mia Wasikowska plays Edith Cushing, a woman who has been able to see ghosts her whole life.

She falls in love with a mysterious English baronet (Tom Hiddleston), and accompanies him and his creepy sister (Jessica Chastain) overseas to live in their dilapidated mansion. Meanwhile, she is visited by her mother’s ghost for the first time since her childhood and warned of a place called ‘Crimson Peak.’

Guillermo del Toro is one of those directors who believes the unreal should have substance on the big screen. His other films, such as Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, and even (say what you will) Hellboy and Pacific Rim boast great looking sets, costumes and violence, as well as a healthy avoidance of computer generated effects (when possible).

Crimson Peak is no different. It shows off great nineteenth century dresses, suits and buildings, but the real quality is to be found in the mansion.

The work put in the mansion alone makes the movie worth seeing. Red clay oozes from rotting floorboards like thick blood, a gaping hole in the roof allows snow to gather in the main room, moonlight shines through long, empty hallways, etc.

Films like Paranormal Activity, who for years have been using the excuse that a familiar-looking house is better, are put to

shame.

The mansion isn’t plagued by the nowfamiliar slamming doors or invisible ghosts, either. Doug Jones, who played both the faun and ‘the pale man’ in Pan’s Labyrinth, puts in a great deal of effort under a great deal of makeup.

When he asked del Toro what he should tell people he’s playing in Crimson Peak, del Toro advised to “tell them it’s a haunted house story...and ask them what they f-ing think you’re going to play.”

However, Crimson Peak has received a lot of criticism for not just being a haunted house movie. For any unsuspecting audiences, such as the group to my above right

in the theatre, the romance received far too much attention.

I disagree. True, the romance takes up a startlingly large part of the first half of the film. Edith and baronet Sharpe find each other interesting, dance and are frowned upon by Edith’s father.

Cheesy love is abundant, the drama rises, and it’s hard not to step back and realize how mushy some scenes are. I’m not that fond of romance films and don’t know how cliché a lot of the mush was, but it works on the whole.

What’s important is the second half, where the horror really gets started. The romance reaps its rewards here. We aren’t

The romance found in Crimson Peak improves the horror in the latter half of the movie.

being immediately thrust into a story of newlyweds moving into a haunted house.

We know their characters, and have our suspicions and guesses from early scenes. The movie’s ending isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it works a lot better than other movies thanks to its context.

It’s debatable how scary the film is. Perhaps we’re all too conditioned to bloody ghosts and jump-scares, but I was never on the edge of my seat. That may vary person to person, of course. As a haunted house movie, I enjoyed Crimson Peak entirely for its quality. You might not want to watch it for Halloween, but should see it unless you can’t stand romance.

courtesy AMC Theaters

Variety

26 October 2015

the Collegian: 11

Tim Sult of Clutch on the band’s newest album

Clutch guitarist Tim Sult speaks with The Collegian on the band’s recording processes, what inspires them to make more music and what has kept the same four men together for over twenty years.

James Whisenhunt Student Writer

Clutch’s eleventh album, Psychic Warfare, was released on October 2. In the 22 years since their first record, the hard-rock band has managed to keep a consistent feel for all of their records and make each section of their discography seem like part of a larger vision.

Many bands, some having released significantly less music than Clutch has, run out of ideas for new ideas or disband due to lack of motivation. Sult pointed out just the opposite.

He noted that “we find inspirations by being music fans ourselves… and creating new art.”

Sult also said that “it feels like it’s easier for us now-a-days to come up with material than it was back in the old days.”

In the case of Clutch, he felt that “we have a lot more time these days to work on material.”

Sult notes that, for older re-

cords, Clutch would put out a record in around half the time that they work on a record now, and that newfound time fosters creativity.

Part of what may have helped the band is that in 2008 they opened their own record label, Weathermaker Music.

Though Sult felt like “we’ve always been able to do whatever we want as far as the music goes,” he did say that it’s helped their timeline.

As opposed to major labels that may want an album ready by a specific release date, Sult said that now “it’s all just based on doing what we’re ready to do.”

Of course, even with their own label Clutch has noticed that there have been changes in the recording process that have affected the band.

Sult said in older albums, “we just went in and played as much as we could live…then just start putting tracks on top of it.”

With their newer albums the process comes off as “a bit more clinical, but, somehow, it turns out not sounding clinical.”

Sult seemed content with the changes, saying that “Psychic Warfare, to me, sounds like what we sound like live, more so than any other album we’ve ever done.”

In spite of all the changes, both for the industry and the band, that

have occurred over the last twenty plus years, Clutch is still made up of the same four men that founded the band.

Sult said, “we’re always working on new material, moving forward and we always have something on the horizon.”

Even during a small stint when their vocalist, Neil Fallon, moved away from the rest of the band, the other members started a jazzy, solo-oriented side-project, The Bakerton Group, which eventually

The members of Clutch are all still making music togeether after twenty two years.

Beach House releases surprise follow-up album

The release of Beach House’s newest album Thank Your Lucky Stars confuses fans.

Savanna Deweese Student Writer

Beach House is a Baltimore dream pop duo made of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboard) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard).

On October 16, Beach House released their second full length album of the year entitled Thank Your Lucky Stars. This album was released as a surprise follow up to their earlier album from August, Depression Cherry.

The release of Thank Yours so soon after Depression Cherry left many fans feeling conflicted, where it was almost too much of a good thing. Although the timing makes it difficult, and all of Thank Yours was completed even before the drop of Depression Cherry, these records were intended to be heard apart from one another.

Beach House has been noted for their consistently slow, syrupy pop songs that are lovely, hazy and completely drenched in reverb, particularly in their albums Teen Dream and Bloom.

Although Thank Yours is distinctly Beach House, in many ways it does not feel complete.

Since they released it so closely to

their last album, Thank Yours almost ends up feeling like an afterthought. Not only in concept, because of the tight release dates, but also because the songs themselves are forlorn and feel fragmented.

There aren’t any particular stand out tracks on this album where Beach House shows off their experimentation of multitudes of instrumentation like they did on Teen Dream, or any heart

That being said, the album does pick up towards the end with tracks like “Common Girl” and “Elegy to the Void.” These songs have lyrics that are the most driven, significant aspects of each track. These songs are characteristically darker and more melancholy in lyrics and in tone than anything Beach House has previously released and they are captivating for that reason alone.

“Thank Yours almost ends up feeling like an afterthought” wrenching power ballads like on their album Bloom.

Thank Yours did see a split from their typical reverb usage but the keyboard is relatively dry, the machine drum beats are simplistic, and the overall feel of the music is rather incomplete. One noteworthy thing this album did see was twangy, bolder guitar leads, which made this record feel closer to indie rock in some places than it did American dream pop.

The problems with this album may have very well been avoided had Beach House waited longer after Depression Cherry to release Thank Your Lucky Stars, because then the similarities would not seem so striking.

incorporated Fallon as well.

The fact that the members stay together at times when the band could not be particularly active proved Sult’s point that “it’s not like Clutch just stops, and all we have left is our old songs.”

He mentioned that the band has had “a slow-moving process over the last 23 years,” and stated that he’s “just very happy to be a part of it.”

Thanks to that slow, but consistent, forward movement, Clutch is

In 2012 Beach House refused to license their song “Take Care” for commercial usage for Volkswagen. The ad agency reacted by having a different band simply mimic Beach House’s sound. Part of the reason Depression Cherry felt so skeletal for Beach House was a reaction against their sound having been copied. Some of this experimentation with different sounds on Thank Yours, like heavier guitar leads, is carry over from the backlash.

Beach House isn’t changing their sound or dropping dream pop, they are solely looking for new ways to push the limits of their same vision, and Thank Your Lucky Stars is an extension of that.

currently the most commercially successful they’ve ever been. Psychic Warfare opened at #11 on the Billboard Top 200, the band’s best opening to date. Sult said the band will most likely start working on new music after they finish their current tour.

Psychic Warfare is now available via iTunes, Google Play and Amazon. Those interested in learning more about Clutch are encouraged to go to the band’s website, pro-rock.com.

courtesy Loud Wire

TU’s E-Sports team elevates recreation to competition TU’s E-Sports team is setting its sights on international victory and recruiting hopefuls.

Trent Gibbons Student Writer Among TU’s fastest growing organizations is undoubtedly the E-sports team. Last year they sent a single team to a tournament of the multiplayer online battle arena League of Legends. Since then, they’ve expanded to Defense of the Ancients (Dota) 2 (of the same genre), and currently sponsor four teams, participating in Divisions 1 and 2 for both titles.

In events featuring Dota 2, TU’s team is as-of-yet undefeated and, according to Thomas Littlejohn, the team’s coordinator, they hope to remain that way.

In the Collegiate Star League, in which the team competes, there are over 140 teams hosting Dota 2.

For League of Legends, there are over 300 competitive teams.

Against these odds, the team already has their sights set on an international tournament to crown themselves the best collegiate eSports team in the league. Last year’s Dota 2 and League winners were UC Berkeley and the University of British Columbia. The teams have already begun practicing (a joyless task, I’m sure) for this and other competitions.

Besides the official TU club, another E-sports team representing our university has formed on campus. Its focus is not on League or Dota, but is instead directed towards Hearthstone, a free-to-play

At the turn of the century, real time strategy games such as Starcraft and Warcraft 3, the former of whose sequel remains highly popular today, were televised internationally. Now most gaming competitions are streamed via online services such as Twitch, which recorded 4.5 million individual views in a single day during The International, an annual Dota 2 tournament.

The International had a prize pool of 18 million dollars last year.

The prize-pool was subsidized by players of the game through ingame purchases. This, however, is not always as the case, as prize money is often funded by sponsors or companies hoping to promote their game through lively competition.

Straying from this assortment of top-down real time strategy and multiplayer online battle arena games is the fighting game community (anachronistic to fgc).

Here the prominent features are titles such as Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the Street Fighter series, and lesser-knowns such as Blazblue and King of FIghters.

Each year, a completely open tournament known as the Evolution Championship (evo) is held, which began in 1996 with Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournaments in an event known as “Battle by the Bay.” This year, as in years prior, the event will feature hefty monetary rewards for the winners, such as the 30,000 dollars available to the winner of the Tekken 7 tournament.

Back on campus, the E-Sports club hopes to broaden its range to fighters such as Mortal Kombat X

“Against these odds, the team already has their sights set on an international tournament” online card-collecting game. They are also undefeated in their craft and currently number one in the North American region.

E-sports is a rapidly growing phenomena around the world.

These events have seen an exceptional growth in popularity over the last decade and a half, especially in Korea, where extensive construction of broadband internet networks might have accelerated the trade’s transformation to professionalism.

and even Super Smash Bros. Beyond this, they also hope to incorporate shooters such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

For anyone hoping to participate in or at least learn more about the club, Lan events are frequently held (the next being October 30), in which players can compete in teams with varying levels of skill.

You can also contact the team through its email, tu.esports@ gmail.com.

Sports

The Collegian: 12

26 October 2015

Men’s soccer has tough week with loss to SMU and heartbreaking draw with UConn Tulsa played a ranked SMU team strongly, but fell and were on the side of some bad luck against UConn at home in a game that the Huskies tied with less than a second left.

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer On Wednesday evening, the Golden Hurricane men’s soccer team travelled to Dallas to face the No. 16 ranked team in the country, SMU. The game started poorly for Tulsa, as they found themselves on the downside of a 1–0 scoreline after only 23 seconds when Stanton Garcia scored on a breakaway.

Idrissa Camara added a tally for the Mustangs half an hour later when he converted a free kick from 20 yards out, putting SMU ahead 2–0. Tulsa couldn’t get out of the first half with just that deficit, though. Ray Saari was shown a red card with two minutes remaining in the half, leaving the Golden Hurricane to play the remainder of the game with ten men.

A mere minute after halftime, Tulsa hit their low point of the game, as Camara net-

ted his second goal of the game. The Golden Hurricane weren’t going down without a fight, though. In the 66th minute, Bradley Bourgeois got on the end of Cole Poppen’s cross to cut the deficit to 3–1.

Tulsa earned a free kick in the last minute of the game, and Geoffrey Dee converted to bring Tulsa within a goal of SMU, but they wouldn’t get any closer, falling 3–2. Considering they played the entire second half with a man down, the Golden Hurricane mounted an impressive comeback against the top team in the American Athletic Conference.

Tulsa hosted UConn on Saturday evening for their senior night game. Seniors Bourgeois and Dillon Alexander were honored before the game.

After a scoreless first half, Dee put the Golden Hurricane in the lead when he scored on a strike within a minute of the second half.

As time started to wind down, UConn played with more offensive aggression, trying to find an equalizing goal. In the final minute, they brought an attacking movement down the right wing. With a few seconds left, Abdou Thiam received the ball in the box, and put a shot on goal. As time expired, the ball passed Tulsa goalkeeper Jake

McGuire and crossed the goal line.

The referees discussed whether or not the goal was scored in time to count, and decided to award the goal to UConn with 0.1 seconds remaining.

The goal sent the game into overtime with a tied score of 1–1. Each team was able to create chances to earn the win, but neither could beat the opposing goalkeeper and the game ended in a draw.

After the game, McIntosh talked about his team’s performance; “I thought our play defensively was quite good for much of the night. We created some better chances and it was obviously frustrating to give up a goal with one second left, but overall our performance was good.”

“We dominated much of the game, controlled large stretches of the game and really dictated the terms of the game. I thought we had a lot of guys come in off the bench and play really well.”

Tulsa now sits at 6–6–3 (2–3–2 AAC) on the season, and are scheduled to play their final game of the season in Memphis at 7 pm on Saturday evening. After that game, the team will look to defend their conference title at the American Athletic Conference tournament, which will take place in Tampa, Florida starting on Nov 7.

Women finish off season with fifth seed The women’s soccer team finished the last week of their regular season with a win over the East Carolina in overtime, but fell to the Bearcats on the the road.

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer The Golden Hurricane women’s soccer team played their final two games of the regular season this week, each on the road.

First, they travelled to Greenville, N.C. to take on East Carolina before journeying to Cincinnati to play the Bearcats.

The game against East Carolina got off to rough start when Danielle Eule netted a goal for the Pirates three minutes into the game.

Tulsa couldn’t tie the game in the first half, and the score remained 1–0 at the break.

In the second half, Tulsa found the equalizer it was looking for when Christina Holmes finished off a string of strong offensive play with a goal.

The tie score took the game into overtime, but the overtime was short-lived. Less than a minute after the period started, Kajal Parmar settled the game, scoring a goal to give the Golden Hurricane the 2–1 sudden death victory.

In the game against Cincinnati, the teams were evenly matched. On the line was fourth place in the American Athletic Conference as the teams were tied heading into the match and looking to get the better seeding for the conference tournament.

The first half featured a lot of midfield

play, as neither team was able to put too much pressure on the opposing goal.

In the second half, Cincinnati was able to punch through with a goal on a header from Jaycie Brown to take the lead. They managed to hold on defensively, and saw out the 1–0 score to the end of the game.

Tulsa finished the regular season at 13– 5–1 (4–4–1 AAC), good for the fifth seed in the conference tournament. Their opponent in the quarterfinals will once again be Cincinnati, and Tulsa will look to change the outcome this time around.

The Conference Championship will be hosted by Southern Methodist University and Tulsa will play their first match at 11:30 am on Tuesday Nov 3.

Anything but a championship is a disappointment for the Thunder Professional basketball will finally return on Tuesday night, so we’ll take this chance to explain why this season is a make-or-break season for the Thunder.

Mason Morgan Sports Writer It’s time to forget about last year. And the year before that, and before that… This season, Oklahoma City should have one goal, and that is to win it all.

It’s difficult to rank seasons by importance, but it is fair to say that this may be the most important year in Oklahoma City professional basketball history.

With Kevin Durant facing free agency after this season, the Thunder need to convince him that this team is loaded for the future and that they are committed to winning for a long period of time.

Winning a title does not necessarily mean that Durant will absolutely stay—as Albert Pujols can attest to when he left the St. Louis Cardinals after winning the World Series

Monday Men’s Golf @ Royal Oaks Intercollegiate

Women’s Golf @ Palmetto Intercollegiate

in 2011—but it is definitely an important factor for players when deciding where to sign their free agency contracts.

Offensively, this is probably the best

der’s primary defensive plan is to funnel opponents to Serge Ibaka and hopefully he will block their shot. Kanter and McGary are two of the worst defenders in the league

“Offensively, this is probably the best Thunder team they have ever had.”

Thunder team that they have ever had. With two of probably the best five players in the NBA and scorers at every position, Oklahoma City is a favorite to lead the league in points this season.

Durant and Russell Westbrook will help lead the scoring this year, but quality rotation players like Serge Ibaka, Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters will help as well. The team also has promising young players like Mitch McGary and Cameron Payne to back them up.

What will define this team all year is how they play defense. The previously mentioned players can definitely score, but they are mostly limited defensively. The Thun-

Tuesday Men’s Golf @ Royal Oaks Intercollegiate

Women’s Golf @ Palmetto Intercollegiate

and their play on defense will impact every game.

A new coach comes with extremely high expectations, and the Thunder are projected to improve from last year’s disappointment when they missed the playoffs.

Billy Donovan seems to have a better basketball mind than Scott Brooks, but he will likely be judged all year based on the final result of the team performance.

It doesn’t really matter if the Thunder show improvement at all over the course of the year; if they win the title, it’s a success, and if they don’t, it’s a disappointment. It’s as simple as that.

Volleyball The volleyball team returned from Florida this week to take on the Memphis Tigers on homecoming and the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday afternoon. On Friday they fell to the Tigers three sets to none.

Junior Rebecca Reeve led the Hurricane on offense with 10 kills, and Brooke Berryhill led defensively with 13 digs. In their next game, Tulsa lost a thriller to Cincinnati on Sunday. After losing the first two sets to put themselves in a 0–2 hole headed into the break, the Golden Hurricane rallied to take the next two and force a fifth set. Down by three late in the set, Tulsa rallied again to tie it at 12 apiece before falling 16–18, and losing the match 2–3. Tulsa’s record sits at 10–12 overall and 5–5 in conference play.

AAC Bowl Watch As Golden Hurricane fans it can be hard to look at other teams in our conference and want them to succeed, but this year there is a really good opportunity for the AAC to cement itself as the strongest Group of Five conference as well as strong enough to compete with the Power Five conferences. Memphis, Houston and Temple are all undefeated and ranked in the top-25 thus far and if one of these teams finishes the regular season undefeated—which from due to their schedules only one can—they would most likely be the highest ranked non-Power Five team and earn a spot in one of the coveted New Year’s Six Bowls. This would be a great step forward for the American Athletic Conference because after the most recent conference realignment it was deemed a lesser conference. So while these teams might be our rivals, they are helping make our conference one to be reckoned with.

Tennis The women’s tennis team finished their play in the ITA Women’s Central Region Championship on Monday, a tournament that included 23 different schools and 130 student-athletes from across the Midwest and Central US Tulsa was led by senior Saana Saarteinen who went 5–1 in the tournament, going all the way to the semifinals before falling to Katarina Adamovic who went on to win the bracket.

Junior Rongrong Leenabanchong and sophomore Ksenia Laskutova both went 3–1 in the main draw and both lost in the quarterfinals. Four other women’s tennis players won at least one match in the main draw before being knocked out including; Mahitha Dadireddy (2–1), Renata Kuricova (1–1), Marcelina Cichon (1–1) and Martha Matoula (1–1). Laskutova and Dadireddy went 3–1 in the doubles main draw bracket. After their success in this tournament, the women will next compete in the SMU Invite before traveling to Flushing, New York for the USTA/ITA Nationals tournament in their last event of the fall season.

: Oct. 26–Nov. 1 Wednesday

Volleyball vs. SMU 6:00 p.m.

Thursday

No Events

Friday

Women’s Basketball vs.

Rogers State (EXH.) 7:00 p.m.

Volleyball @ East Carolina 6:00 p.m.

Saturday

Sunday

Men’s Soccer @ Memphis 7:00 p.m.

Cross Country @ American Championship Football @ SMU 3:00 p.m.

No Events

26 October 2015

Sports

The Collegian: 13

Tulsa athletes take home top honors

Four Golden Hurricane athletes took home conference and national honors this past week across three different sports for their performance two weeks ago.

Matt Rechtien Sports Editor

This has been a historic week for Golden Hurricane athletes, with four different students—across three different sports— earning honors for their performances two weeks ago.

The first honors that were awarded this week were American Athletic Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week for se-

niors Marc Scott and Rachel Baptista.

Both Scott and Baptista led the Tulsa teams in the Wisconsin Invitational last week with Scott winning the 8K on the men’s side and Baptista taking 21st in the 6K on the women’s side.

The Wisconsin Invitational is one of the premier races for cross country with 36 different schools from across the country participating and over 240 runners in each of the races.

The men took home eighth-place, beating out fourteen higher ranked schools in the process while the women took 28th place with 25 team who were competing either ranked or receiving votes nationally.

In addition to the honor from the American Athletic Conference, Marc Scott was

photo by Adam Lux

Senior Ashley Hooper spikes the ball against Memphis on Friday’s loss. She took American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for her play against USF and UCF with 29 kills and eight blocks

named the Division I Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

This was again due to his performance in the Wisconsin adidas Invitational which was his second straight first place finish this season.

This helped the men’s cross country team earn their first top-30 ranking this season by the USTFCCCA, and moved to No. 2 in the Midwest Regional rankings, while the women moved up from No. 8 in the Midwest to No. 6.

The men and women’s teams will look to defend their titles this upcoming Saturday at the Conference Championships in Greenville, N.C. The next TU athlete to be honored this week was senior volleyball player, Ashley Hooper, who was named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for recording a .382 hitting percentage, 29 kills and tabbing eight blocks two weekends ago in Tulsa’s wins over USF and UCF. This is the first conference award for Hooper in her career at Tulsa and the first Conference Player of the Week for the volleyball team this season.

They will finish up their current homestand against Southern Methodist on Wednesday before traveling to take on East Carolina, Cincinnati and Memphis in the next two weeks.

Finally, freshman soccer player Cole Poppen took home the American Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week, the first for Poppen, and the first for the men’s soccer team this season.

Poppen started and played the entire 90 minutes against Temple at home two weeks

courtesy Ben Soloman, American Athletic Conference

Senior Marc Scott run in a race last year, Scott has won two straight races in the past month alone.

ago and helped the Golden Hurricane record a 2–0 shutout, while also recording three shots himself on offense, one of which was on goal.

The men’s team plays their final regular season game on Saturday afternoon in Memphis and following that will defend their title in the American Conference Championships which begins on Nov 7. The location for the quarterfinals is unknown at this time because it is hosted by the team with the higher seed.

Tulsa falls to Memphis in a battle of offenses

The Golden Hurricane played their second ranked opponent this season, falling to the red-hot Memphis Tigers on Homecoming in a 66–42 shootout on Friday night.

Wade Crawford Sports Writer

This Friday, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team hosted the Memphis Tigers in the annual Homecoming game. The Hurricane fell to the Tigers by a score of 66–42.

Defense was pretty much absent on either side, as both teams combined for 108 points, the highest-scoring FBS game of the year.

There were a combined 1,238 yards over 177 total plays, resulting in an average of just under seven yards per play.

Quarterbacks Paxton Lynch and Dane Evans both had outstanding passing games, each throwing for over 400 yards and four touchdowns.

Tulsa wide receiver Keyarris Garrett had an outstanding game of his own, catching a career-high 268 yards and scoring three touchdowns. The Tigers had four players with over 100 yards gained.

After a quiet pair of drives to start the game, Lynch hit a wide-open Tevin Jones

for a 58-yard touchdown to give Memphis the first score of the game. Tulsa answered with an Evans 36-yard pass to Garrett. After Evans was sacked for the third time in the opening quarter, Lynch’s touchdown pass to Anthony Miller for 45 yards brought a close to the first-quarter scoring, with Memphis ahead 14–7. The end of the quarter also saw the play of freshman quarterback Chad President, rushing for 11 yards on three attempts.

The second quarter was the highestscoring of the game, with 35 total points.

The quarter began with a pair of rushing touchdowns, by Tulsa’s Ramadi Warren and Memphis’s Jamarius Henderson. Memphis then made the next two scores, on a 21-yard pass to Henderson and a rush by Doroland Dorceus. Tulsa ended the half on one of the most phenomenal plays of the year* by Keyarris Garrett, as he caught a tipped hail mary pass with one hand before falling into the end zone.

Tulsa took a 35–21 deficit to the half, and got the ball to begin the third quarter. After they couldn’t get any points, Dorceus rushed for his second touchdown of the night, making it a three-touchdown gap for Tulsa.

Evans passed Tulsa back into the game, with touchdown passes to Garrett and Josh Atkinson, on the first play of the drive. Paxton Lynch decided to take his third touchdown in himself, with a three-yard rush.

Memphis kicker Jake Elliott made a 30-yard field goal to give Memphis a 52–35 lead after three quarters.

Memphis quickly got back on the board again, as Tevin Jones caught his second touchdown of the evening. Rowdy Simon scored a rushing touchdown for Tulsa, yet the game was sealed with the final score of the night, a 20-yard touchdown run by Henderson.

Memphis found themselves ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after their 37– 24 upset of the Ole Miss Rebels. The Memphis Tigers are one of four teams in the AP Poll that are not a part of the top “Power 5” NCAA football conferences.

They join the Toledo Rockets from the Mid-American Conference, as well as the Temple Owls and the Houston Cougars from the American.

Next week, the Hurricane take to the road to play the SMU Mustangs, while the Memphis Tigers go back home to play the Tulane Green Wave. *Editor’s note: we’re not just saying that because we’re Tulsa fans. That play made it to SportsCenter’s top ten plays on Friday night which means it really was one of the most phenomenal plays Keyarris Garrett has made this season.

Joe to simulate the thrill of being a general manager and an outlet for competition between friends.

However, in recent years there has been a new trend in fantasy sports, one which is decidedly more controversial and some might even say sinister. If you watch or follow sports at all, you have probably already seen some its relentless advertising, which has undoubtedly gotten under some people’s skin. But love it or hate it, Daily Fantasy Sports are here to stay.

DraftKings and FanDuel, the two largest Daily Fantasy services, brought in $426 million and $363 million over the latest football offseason and are now both valued at over $1 billion.

To give those numbers some further context, the two sites’ combined $60 million entry fee haul from opening week of the NFL season was almost twice what sports books made in Vegas. The appeal of DFS is simple: a common selling point is that one is not locked into a season-long commitment as is the case in a traditional fantasy league.

Participants enter tournaments on a weekly basis and select their players based only on how they believe they will perform on that given Sunday. In addition, there is no option on the major sites to play for free against one’s friends, to simply experience the joy of friendly competition. Rather, the nature of the beast is money, putting in a little to try to make a lot.

If that sounds like gambling, it should, because there is absolutely no difference in principle. Under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), provisions are made for fantasy sports and other “games of skill,” but this is merely arguing semantics over how large a part skill plays in the success of DFS players.

There certainly exists some element of skill in the game, but it is one based mostly on analytical savvy and capability, as well as the actual time commitment one is willing to take. The most successful DFS players treat it as their everyday job, critically analyzing thousands of subsets of data and placing entries in hundreds, if not thousands of tournaments, daily.

An everyday person who just wants to pick his favorite players and enter a few tournaments stands virtually no chance of earning any significant amount of money in

photo by Will Bramlett

Keyarris Garrett hauls in a pass that was originally ruled incomplete, but was overturned and ruled a touchdown after review because his foot was down.

Just how legal are daily fantasy football leagues?

If you’ve ever watched ESPN or any sports game in the last year, you know all about the FanDuel and DraftKings. We take a close look at just how legal these online games are.

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer

Being a sports fan in the 21st century means something different than it did 20 years ago. Where before one had to wait to read the daily sports section in the paper to find out what was happening with one’s favorite teams and players, such information is now available at a moment’s notice through the internet.

Statistical analysis is no longer so rudimentary, with a growing number of people becoming increasingly acquainted with more sophisticated advanced statistics and sabermetrics when judging performance.

And of course, maybe the biggest change has been the explosion in popularity of fantasy sports (especially football), in which competitors assemble teams of their favorite players and pit them head-to-head against their friends’ teams, with the outcomes being based on the players’ statistical performances. Fantasy sports are a generally harmless pastime, a fun way for the Average

Now you can convert all of your hard-earned dollars into fake fantasy football dollars!

the long run, despite the lavish promises offered by the industry in its advertisements.

Unfortunately for DraftKings, FanDuel, and the other DFS providers, a federal probe has been launched in an effort to make them face the music. Following the scandal of Ethan Haskell, a DraftKings employee, using alleged insider trading to win $350,000 from FanDuel with a $25 entry fee, the office of Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, began its investigation. Bharara has had success in the past in his crusade against violators of the UIGEA, particularly in regards to online poker; his probe in 2011 forced the shutdown of several providers and saw multiple hundred million dollar settlements.

Whether or not he will experience a similar level of success in DFS remains to be seen, but the story will be an interesting one to watch in subsequent months.

graphic by Elias Brinkman

The Collegian: 14

Sports

26 October 2015

Homecoming football in Oklahoma

photo by Greg Diskin

Quarterback Dane Evans looks down the field in Friday’s 42–66 loss to Memphis in a game that featured very little defense, but a whole lot of offense. There were a combined total of 1,238 yards of offense, with Tulsa accumulating 534 of those yards. Evans threw for 421 yards and four touchdowns, with only one interception in the game. Tulsa continued to use true-freshman Chad President in select situations to change their offensive pace.

photo by Greg Diskin

photo by Greg Diskin

Left: Freshman Myles Mouton prevents Memphis wide receiver Mose Frazier from scoring a touchdown in the second quarter of Friday’s loss. The Tulsa defense forced one turnover in this game, a fumble that later turned into poor field position for the Tigers. Right: Keyarris Garrett catches a bomb from Dane Evans in the second quarter. Garrett set an American Athletic Conference record and had a career game with 268 yards on 14 receptions in addition to three touchdowns (one of which was a SC Top 10 Play).

photo by Will Bramlett

The Tulsa Spirit Squad celebrates one of the Golden Hurricane’s six touchdowns on Friday by running with the Tulsa and Hurricane flags.

Sports

26 October 2015

The Collegian: 15

Volleyball falls to Memphis and Cincinnati at home

photos by Adam Lux

Left: Junior outside hitter Rebecca Reeve goes up for the spike against Memphis on Friday. Tulsa fell three sets-to-none to the Tigers, and Reeve led Tulsa with ten kills in the game. She had four aces in the game against Cincinnati on Sunday. Right: Junior libero Brooke Berryhill serves the ball against Memphis. She led Tulsa in digs on Friday and Sunday with 13 and 26 digs, respectively.

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tudents graduating in December 2015 or May 2016 who demonstrate a generous

spirit, creativity, vision, pursuit of excellence, and commitment to serving others both on campus and in the greater Tulsa community are eligible to receive the Marcy Lawless Service Award.

Applications can be found at the Office of Student Affairs Office in Hardesty Hall, Housing in Fisher Hall, Registration and Records in McClure Hall, and in the True Blue

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26 October 2015

The State-Run Media

the

State-Run media We control what goes bump in the night.

Communal drinking fountain discoved near Hardesty Who needs regular drinking fountains when you can have a water spectacle in the courtyard outside? This question is what motivated the architects behind TU’s recently built Hardesty Hall.

Sarah Noonan Has a decorative foutain instead of a sink.

At the beginning of this school year, the entire student body was excited for the new residence hall, Hardesty.

But the obvious main event was the completion of the million dollar fountain that was built as the centerpiece of the courtyard in the

middle of Hardesty Hall.

The masterpiece comes with flashing lights, different ways for water to spill out, and even mist that emerges from the top of the fountain. To top it all off, the fountain even looks like a hurricane, representative of the University’s completely Oklahoma-relevant label, the Tulsa “Hurricane.”

One of the biggest advantages to the giant fountain, however, is its use for drinking water. In response to the large amount of money and water used for the fountain, the halls of Hardesty were built with no drinking fountains or sinks.

Arthur Curry, one of the lead designers of the Hardesty fountain, told State-Run reporters he realized that “College students don’t want to use regular, boring water fountains.” In designing the

hall and its fountain, Curry stated his motivation being the students’ best interests. “Kids these days need excitement in every aspect of their lives,” said Curry, “including filling their water bottles.”

“The fountain in the courtyard doubles as a drinking fountain and an interesting show,” he continued. “In every way, it is better than regular water fountains.”

When asked about the possible lack of convenience of the location of the sole source of water fountain for the entire residence hall, he explained his reasoning.

“Kids in America are becoming obese. It’s just a fact. Therefore, we decided to give the residents of Hardesty Hall a kickstart to a healthy life by giving them a walk to get water. In Africa, kids have to walk miles to get water. I think

these college students can walk down a few flights of stairs to fill up their water bottles.”

The students’ reaction to the extremely costly water fountain are all-around positive.

Jessica McKeever, a 3rd floor resident at Hardesty Hall, stated that she “[finds] normal drinking fountains to be quite humdrum and unimpressive.” With this new and improved water exhibit, she said, “I anxiously await the times when I finish the water in my water bottle so that I can walk down two flights of stairs, fill up my water bottle, and walk back up two flights of stairs to my room.”

Another student living in Hardesty Hall enthusiastically said that he could “think of no better use of the 50,000 dollars [he’s] spending yearly on tuition than a flashy

presentation of water, lights and mist!”

This seems to be the general consensus of the student body. It is always heartening to see students and faculty alike stopping by the gargantuan fountain to get a cold drink of water before their class.

What will be the next innovative project for the University of Tulsa administration? Will they get rid of all water fountains in every building in exchange for larger, more awe-inspiring sources of drinking water? Will they throw out the idea of trashcans and recycling bins in order to create massive art sculptures of the trash of TU for everyone to see?

Everyone at the University waits with bated breath for the next inspiring and magnificent idea for the betterment of our campus.

Hypnotist visits university, school spirit up 60 percent

School spirit mysteriously increased after the University held a hypnotism show, which nobody can remember.

Sarah Noonan Smells like school spirit.

On Sunday, October 18, a professional hypnotist was hired by the University of Tulsa administration to perform at the beginning of Homecoming week so that the students would get excited for the other events of the week.

When Jack Woodworth, a junior petroleum engineering major, was asked about his experience at the hypnotist show, he was more than happy to comment.

The beginning of the interview went smoothly, and he described the hypnotist

show as being “the greatest event he had ever attended.”

Woodworth went on to say that he had “never been more psyched for the rest of the homecoming events. [He was going] to attend all of the events and show as much school spirit as possible.”

Although Woodworth had not been called up to the stage to be hypnotized, he said that “being in the audience was just as much fun, and everyone was so full of spirit.” When asked what made the show so much fun, Woodworth struggled to answer, confused.

He responded with, “Well… You know…

It was just really fun… Like all TU events are… The administration is so amazing at planning events, and I love our school so much!”

When pressed further, Woodworth struggled to remember the funniest thing the

hypnotist had asked the volunteers to do, and he was again greatly troubled until he remembered that “the administration is just so great, and I love our school so much.”

A day after the interview, I was approached by another student who wishes to remain unnamed. She expressed her concerns about her friend who, like Woodworth, does not seem to remember the hypnotist show but was not a volunteer.

The student was close to tears as she explained her friend’s newfound love for the university and its administration.

“He doesn’t talk about anything anymore except homecoming and TU and events that are planned by the administration. He never used to care all that much about Tulsa football or school spirit, but now he is obsessed.”

The student fears that her friend, along with the rest of the audience, may have been

Anthropology student finds skeleton inside herself

hypnotized into having a greatly increased amount of school spirit.

The administration has been recently pushing for students to show more school spirit, and many people are suspicious about the coincidental hypnotist show and strange influx of school spirit since.

“Would the University of Tulsa administration really go so far as to infiltrate the minds of the students via hypnotism?” the student asked State-Run reporters, before anxiously shaking her head and turning away.

This link between the unremembered hypnotist show and the school spirit could either be a harmless coincidence or an attempt at mind control by our very own administration, but one thing is for sure: the rise in school spirit has had absolutely no bearing on how well the school performs in sports.

Ghost complains millennials too self-absorbed, “impossible to scare”

graphic by Caitlin Woods

Above are the results of Jane Doe’s x-ray.

A student had a pretty big scare last week when it was discovered that a skeleton had been living inside of her.

Samuel Beckmann A skeleton wearing a human suit.

In an event that authorities can only describe as “creepy,” last Friday Jane Doe, a Junior majoring in anthropology, was found to have a skeleton hiding inside her body.

According to reports, Ms. Doe was visiting a nearby health clinic

for a routine check-up when her doctor, on a whim, decided to take an x-ray.

“It was hard for me to believe at first,” says Dr. John, Jane’s doctor, “but there it was staring right at me. This poor girl has a skeleton inside of her, and I have absolutely no idea how to get it out.”

After discussions with a few other equally-confused physicians, Dr. John decided the best immediate course of action was to place Ms. Doe in quarantine until more can be discovered about her condition.

In response to the incident, TU has gathered up an international consortium of doctors, aimed at

courtesy Wikimedia Commons

developing a revolutionary new surgery to remove the skeleton from Jane Doe. Although she herself is unavailable for contact, Ms. Doe’s family has announced that while Doe is terrified of what’s inside her, she remains hopeful that she will come through this horror.

Doctors also expressed concern that Jane had contact with other students at the University before her skeleton was discovered, and her condition might be contagious.

“It’s a scary thought,” Dr. John informed State-Run reporters, “What if we didn’t put her into isolation fast enough, and there’s a skeleton hiding inside of all us?”

Kids these days just don’t scare anymore, leading to the highest rate of unemployment in the world’s ghost population since the height of the scientific revolution.

Samuel Beckmann Future ghost.

A local TU ghost is starting a campaign aimed at creating jobs for him and his ghost-brethren within the local community.

The movement, which brands itself on social media with #ghostafterlivesmatter, began when one ghost realized millennials are far too focused on electronics to waste their precious time being scared by a ghost.

“They spend all their time look-

ing at their phones. You can form out of thin air right next to them, screaming as loudly as the day you died, and they’ll just turn up the sound in their headphones, not even giving us the respect of acting scared,” the spectre moaned in an impromptu interview with the State-Run Media.

The reporter mentioned that the ghost said some other stuff too, but a new Twitter follower notification popped up on his smartphone, so he missed what the ghost said.

As of press time, ghosts were rescheduling their meeting to 100 feet over the McFarlin Library, as when they tried to hold their meeting on the ground, students repeatedly interrupted by walking through the ghosts in order to have a slightly shorter path to class.