28 September 2015

a student newspaper of the university of tulsa

september 28, 2015 issue 4 ~ volume 101

Sound the Trumpets Republican candidate Donald Trump visited the Oklahoma State Fair last Friday to rally his supporters, p. 3 Experience with our news editor the ineffable horror of Donald Tump, p. 9

Elias Brinkman / Collegian

TU students discuss the pros and cons of Sanders’ platform, p. 9 Learn more about the democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, p. 3

Feel the Bern a student newspaper of the university of tulsa

september 28, 2015 issue 4 ~ volume 101

News

Voices for acceptance

The Collegian: 2

28 September 2015

Sara Douglas / Collegian

The panelists at the Trans POC panel answered audience questions that were anonymously submitted via a text line and using “#TUTransPOC” on social media.

On Thursday, September 24, an informative panel gathered to discuss transgender people of color and their roles, rights, and struggles in a predominantly cisgendered and judgmental society. Three people of color from the Tulsa LGBT community came to speak and share their individual experiences.

Natalie Wood Student Writer Each of the three individuals at the panel were asked to share their stories, specifically about their experiences and struggles being both transgender and people of color.

The first panelist spoke about her struggles as a transgender African-American woman. Born and raised in Tulsa, she eventually went to New York City for college where she began her physical transition into a woman.

During this period, she was raped by a taxi driver while she was drunk. She notified the police, but they only asked what she did to incite the violence. A second assault took place against her in 2006, and she encountered her attacker in December of last year, triggering her to return to old and unhealthy coping mechanisms.

She got her third DUI following this interaction, and was sent to David L. Moss Correctional Center. She was denied a true bed, showers and meals for an entire week.

Officers watched her while she bathed in the sink to see for themselves if she had developed breasts yet.

She continuously felt that she was “better off dead than to be part of their society.”

Following her release from jail the panelist began attending Tulsa’s chapter of Women in Recovery, which allowed her to confront her mistreatment and unhealthy behaviors.

She said the program allowed her “to live instead of just exist.”

The next panelist who shared her story is a transgender Native American woman belonging to the Choctaw tribe working at the Oklahoma Equality Center. Growing up in a Mormon family, her initial questions about her sexuality and gender identity felt sinful and unnatural.

She did much reflection on this time in her life, and considered what would have happened had she come out at that age.

While many trans individuals are regretful that they did not come out earlier in life, she believes that she “wouldn’t still be alive” if she had.

Prior to her transition, she served in the Navy from 1988 to 2009 where she attempted to overcompensate for these thoughts by casting her previous notions away and acting more masculine and macho.

She did, however, begin to research what she had been speculating about herself.

What she discovered was the concept of a “Two-Spirit,” which was a concept several Native American tribes had of an individual who transcended their typical gender norms. These people were targeted by Euro-

pean settlers as threats to their conservative values despite them being widely revered within the tribes for purportedly possessing the understanding of both sides of humanity.

As a transgender Native American woman, this was a great revelation. This allowed her to adapt the mindset that “not only was everyone else wrong, but [she] was special in her community.”

However, others in the Navy still did not accept her for this. She had a long-term pattern of depression with one attempted suicide.

She eventually determined that it was “more important to find peace of mind than to be dismissed for using the ‘trans’ word,” which was when she retired from the Navy and was free to continue her transformation as she pleased.

The final panelist was a black, non-binary freshman at TCC who was adopted into a lower-class family where they were the youngest of 16 children. They were sexually abused by two of their older brothers, which caused them to question their sexuality at a young age. They attended a predominantly white school, so being part of not only one, but two marginalized groups presented many problems, and caused them to feel estranged from their fellow students. Transphobic, homophobic and racial slurs were thrown at them, which caused them to doubt their own gender identity even further.

They were told that they weren’t “recognized as black, as if it was supposed to be a compliment when really it’s the greatest insult ever.”

This lack of confirmation and constant questioning of themselves led to a pattern of acting out, which led them to begin an inpatient program at the Shadow Mountain Behavioral Health System. They were placed in an all-girl unit along with a transgender boy, simply because of the fact that he still had a vagina.

They were told continuously by the staff that they “didn’t know what [they] wanted,” they “didn’t know who [they] were, and that was the end of the story.”

They begged to be placed in any other unit, but the staff would not allow it. This complete refusal of their gender identity posed a further threat to their mental health, and eventually they were let out of Shadow Mountain’s facilities.

To wrap up the panel, each speaker was asked to provide some insight into what the general public should know about how to educate themselves on the transgender community and respect those in it. The most important thing was that trans individuals did not feel included in most social justice movements, particularly with feminism, which tends to focus on cisgender white women, and with the LGBT community where “the T is often silent.”

What is also important in regard to the respect of the transgender community is awareness and education of the public. Most often, the largest contributor to transphobia is the lack of knowledge on the subject.

Finally, the most crucial aspect of respect is acceptance. Comfort for people in the trans community is a very rare sensation, as

one of the panelists stated perfectly: “I feel comfortable where I am accepted—not tolerated—accepted.”

They each agreed that if there is ever a question of someone’s preferred pronouns, the best way to ask is to be straightforward.

For instance, “what are your preferred pronouns?” is a respectful and thoughtful way of asking someone.

There are many resources for people

questioning their sexuality, gender identity and gender expression.

The Oklahoma Equality Center fights for equal rights and seeks to provide resources, support, and a welcoming environment for those in the Tulsa LGBTQIA+ community.

The United Campus Ministry (the Little Blue House) is located on campus and seeks to give a safe judgment-free place for TU students.

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News

28 September 2015

The Collegian: 3

Candidate Profile: Bernie Sanders

Currently polling in second place in the Democratic primary race, Sanders’ main issues are economic inequality and the growing cost of attending university.

Lauren Rogers Student Writer

With the 2016 Presidential heating up, some voters are beginning to “Feel the Bern.” Independent senator turned Democratic nominee Bernie Sanders has been trailing behind frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the polls so far this election season, but that does not mean he is lacking voter support.

Standing on a progressive platform, Sanders has gained popularity in many states around the nation, including some of the earliest primary states where polls have showed him in the lead.

In New Hampshire, the most recent CNN/ WMUR poll shows Sanders ahead of Clinton with a 16 percent lead. Of those polled, 63 percent view Sanders as the “most progressive” Democratic candidate running.

Being the longest-serving independent senator in history and a self-described socialist, Sanders has a long history of being progressive. His campaign is gaining popularity for his staunch support of a 15 dollar minimum wage, LGBT rights, single-payer healthcare and tuition free public universities.

The Senator bases much of his campaign around income and wealth inequality, a topic that has been centerfield in his agenda for decades. Sanders became widely known in 2010 after his 8.5-hour filibuster against the extension of the Bush tax cuts.

In a recent interview with Late Show host Stephen Colbert, Sanders stated he believes a government “should actually represent working people and the middle class rather than large campaign donors.”

In that same interview, Sanders also explained he sees a “moral outrage” in the United States.

“In concrete terms,” Sanders explained, “what it means is that it is a moral outrage that the top one-tenth of one percent today

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That is the outrage and that has got to change.”

Sanders began his political career as the mayor of Burlington, Vermont. After serving for three terms, Sanders took his policies to the federal government, getting elected as a congressman and eventually a senator.

Before becoming a politician, Sanders

participated in civil and human rights demonstrations. As a college student, Bernie Sanders was a member of the Congress on Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at the University of Chicago, his alma mater. At one event in 1962, Sanders was arrested for protesting segregation in public schools in Chicago.

Sanders continues to promote nonviolent

protesting today, recently telling a group of Burlington High School students to “argue with [their] teachers, argue with [their] parents,” and saying that “at the end of the day, democracy is a tough process.”

“I’m not afraid of being called a troublemaker,” Sanders claims, “but you have to be smart. And being smart means not creating needless enemies for yourself.”

politicians are all talk and no action. All talk and no action.”

“We have people running who are pathetic...These people are not going to take you to the promised land. We need tough negotiators.”

Trump called Senator Rubio a “lightweight” and a “dope.” He also accused Rubio of not voting and not being able to pay his own credit card bills.

He followed the last comment by suppressing the crowd’s Boos and saying, “No, no, you have to be respectful. See, I’m respectful.”

A few sentences later Trump called Hillary the “ultimate lightweight.”

Trump also attacked the press by accusing them of distorting the truth. He said journalists “are terrible people.”

Convinced the press would underplay the number of people who showed up to hear his speech, Trump directly addressed journalists who were recording his speech on a media platform.”

“Do me a favor, take the cameras off me and pan the crowd. Be honest. Be honest.

You’re not panning it. Pan it. No, no, turn (the cameras) all the way back there.”

The crowd jumped in, booing the journalists for not panning their video equipment to record the crowd.

Trump paused in his attacks long enough to say “I’m leading every poll nationwide... we’re smashing everyone.”

“We’re going to take our country back.

We’re going to make it so amazing.”

According to Trump, if he becomes presi-

dent the infestation of Mexican gang members will “be out of here.”

Part of his plan to keep illegal immigrants out is to build a wall on the Mexican border.

“We need a border. We need a wall, but we don’t need a wall where you walk to (the store) and get a ladder...No, much higher.

The kind where if you make it to the top you don’t come down.”

He referenced an incident where a truck full of drugs drove over a border wall with the aid of a ramp to demonstrate the United State’s need for a higher wall.

A higher wall would also prevent the occurrence of when a “woman is pregnant... they bring her over past the border...they have the baby in the US and we have to pay for that baby for 80 years.”

Trump’s inflammatory stance on illegal immigrants, and his tendency to paint Mexicans as criminals, was the main reason for a political protest staged on the edge of the fair. During his speech he gave no less than three examples of people who were murdered by illegal immigrants.

Signs at the protest read, “I am not a drug dealer,” and protesters chanted, “One country one heart, say no to Donald Trump!”

Donald mentioned the protest briefly. He later stated, “I’m not politically correct. I don’t want to be politically correct. I don’t have time to be politically correct,” which garnered a large cheer from the crowd.

On women’s health issues, Trump stated, “I want to help women with women’s health issues. No one can do (women’s health issues) like me.”

On the Iran deal Trump said, “This is one of the dumbest contracts I’ve seen at any time. This was done by extremely stupid people...Did you ever see a negotiation that’s lasted this long?

Trump would have handled negotiations with Iran differently. He would have told them, “So do us a favor, let these four (prisoners) go...we’re going to kick your ass if you don’t.”

Trump emphasized that he is a strong negotiator, and a self-funder. “I’ll turn down my salary (as president). I don’t even know what the salary is.”

On why he is running for president, Trump mentioned McCain, saying he “choked” at the end of his presidential campaign. Trump then mimed McCain choking, complete with his hands clasped around his neck.

“I backed him, and he lost. And this time I thought I’m not taking a chance, I’m (running for president) myself.”

Trump declined to describe his foreign policy plans, which he insisted do exist, because he doesn’t want the enemy knowing what he is going to do.

He did, however, describe himself as “the most militant person here. I’m the most militaristic person you will ever meet.”

Perhaps the largest cheer during his speech came after Trump said, “You’re going to be so proud. Obamacare will be over.”

Trump ended his hour long speech with, “You are going to be so proud of your country and hopefully of your president.”

Trump speaks at state fair in Oklahoma City

Trump found no shortage of supporters during his speech in Oklahoma City last Friday.

Morgan Krueger Editor-in-Chief

Republican candidate Donald Trump spoke to a large crowd at the Oklahoma State Fair last Friday. Though scheduled to speak at six, Trump did not arrive until 6:30 pm.

Oklahoma Senator Ralph Shortey gave an opening speech which garnered little applause. Then, to kill time until the presidential hopeful arrived, a young Oklahoma fiddle player came on stage. After playing the Devil Went Down to Georgia, the fiddler played songs on broken violins to show that beauty can be found even in something that is broken. The crowd groaned every time the fiddler started a new song on his broken violins.

Finally Trump walked on stage to massive applause. Phones went up everywhere as the crowd tried to get a picture of the candidate.

Trump began his speech with “Unbelievable. Unbelievable. This is incredible. We’re going to make this country great again.”

He then stirred up his own “Trump, Trump, Trump” chant.

In typical Trump fashion, he went on the offense, attacking everyone from Mexico to the other presidential candidates.

Trump said, “Our biggest difficulty is our

Protestors gathered outside of the fairgrounds. They objected to Trump’s stance on immigration.

Morgan Krueger / Collegian

News

The Collegian: 4

SA holds senate elections Last week SA held its senate elections. New procedures were used for vote collecting and counting.

Brennen VanderVeen Student Writer

SA’s legislative body is its senate, composed of 34 total seats. The seats are divided into different constituencies. Five seats are at-large. Each academic college, including the College of Law, the Graduate School and the new College of Health Sciences, receives two seats. Apartments, commuters and residence halls all get five, while Greek housing gets two, in accordance with relative population. Further, only half of the seats for a constituency are up for election per semester. In the case of an odd number of seats, the fall semester will have one more.

The election took place on September 23 and 24 on Harvey. Polling booths were open in the cafeteria and the student union. Voter turnout was high, with 590 total ballots cast compared to an average 300-350. SA Chief Elections Officer Colleen Yoder speculated that the change to using Harvey for voting is a possible reason for the rise in turnout.

Elections used to be held over WebCT Vista.

There was also a slight change in the procedure. Preparing the election results requires the coordination of the three SA officials. In the past, this has been done over email. That process normally took 24-48 hours. Yoder wanted to expedite the process, so she met with Chief Justice Brittany Johnston and Information Services Executive Director Austin Fehr at 9:30 pm, half an hour after polls closed. The whole process was done before midnight. Having the vote count be completed and posted in one night also allowed The Collegian to be present.

Because the election took place over Harvey, Janet Cairns, TU’s Director of Academic and Learning Technology Services, had to edit out some personal information before sending the data to Fehr. He and Yoder computed the number of votes for each candidate. After that, Yoder entered that information into a PDF form that could be uploaded onto SA’s website. After receiving the signatures of both Yoder and Johnston, the document was uploaded.

The residence halls had three people on the ballot for an available three seats. However, Tate Atkinson and Michael Spencer Hartwig had been disqualified by the time

voting took place, either for failing to meet certain requirements or for withdrawing.

Luke Lau won one of the seats with 104 votes. Ricky Ricardo did not appear on the ballot but filed for a write-in campaign, so he will also receive one of the seats with nine votes.

Greek Housing had two people on the ballot for one available seat. Megan Grier won the seat with 68 votes as compared to Nadia Posluszny with 50.

Apartments had five people run for three available seats, though Shelby Branch was disqualified. The top three candidates are Saswat Das at 85 votes, incumbent Caitlyn Slattery with 84 and Hunter Goff with 69.

Robert James Seaver received 30.

Commuters had four people run for three seats. However, Shahzaib Ali and Ohm Devani were disqualified. Michael Wentz and Eric Ko, who received 47 and 24 votes, respectively, will get two of the three seats.

The College of Arts and Sciences, which had two people running, will continue to be represented by Jennifer Steere, who received 124 votes against Kimberly Bartlett’s 22. Kaitlyn McKee, with 207 votes over Nathan Williams’ 81, will represent the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences. The College of Business will be represented by Alex Garoffolo with 67 votes over Jeffrey Bacon’s 40. Former SA President Michael Mancini and Treasurer Nicole Coppola each competed for the Graduate School seat.

Coppola won with 16 votes to Mancini’s ten. The College of Health Sciences and the College of Law both fielded no candidates.

Six people ran for the three at large seats, but Garrett Newsom was disqualified. The three highest ranking candidates are Patrick Culp with 255, incumbent Brett Baumgartner with 232 and incumbent John Talmage with 196. Alexander Reinert came in a very close fourth with 191 votes, and Lincoln Brown received 86.

These candidates will be sworn in on Tuesday, September 29 during the senate meeting. This election leaves four seats vacant for the fall semester: The College of Law, College of Health Sciences, Commuters and Residence Halls. SA Vice President Conner Wurth has the ability to appoint people to fill these seats as well as any left open from last spring. Typically people who either didn’t win in the election or whose names appeared in a write-in ballot get appointed, but that is not a rule. He hopes to have the seats for Commuters and Residence Halls filled by October 6, but people can be appointed at any time in the semester.

28 September 2015

Sammie Hottel Student Writer Pope Francis urges Congress to take in immigrants On his third day in Washington D.C., Pope Francis made the first papal address to Congress in history. He implored American leaders on Thursday to treat each immigrant as one of their own, embracing those who “travel north in search of a better life.” In his speech, he brought up several American icons, including Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. He used them to preach against polarization and partisanship. He stated that “Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation.”

After the address, the pope went directly to attend a lunch event for St. Maria’s Meals, a program designed to help the homeless and mentally ill, as well as new immigrants.

The focus of the trip is the poor and disenfranchised, and the Pope plans to continue visiting Catholic charities for the remainder of his time in Washington D.C.

China and the US agree to stop cyberspace espionage In a series of talks on Thursday and Friday, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping made a pact to ensure that neither country would conduct economic espionage in cyberspace. The US has previously accused China of stealing intellectual property from US companies via cyberspace, but Xi has denied all allegations.

Similarly, the US has denied any such activity, but the disclosures of former NSA conductor Edward Snowden have since given China reasons to doubt.

Under the agreements, both nations will set up a joint dialogue on cyber-crime and establish a hotline to discuss related issues. Although the pact does not address traditional espionage, it is a significant step toward resolving the issue.

Magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Indonesia An earthquake with magnitude 6.6 hit eastern Indonesia early on Friday, injuring at least 39 people and damaging at least 260 buildings. The quake had a depth of 15 miles and struck only 17 miles from the town of Sorong, where most of the damage occurred.

In Manokwari City, 195 miles from Sorong, panicked residents evacuated hotels and hospitals in the area. Fortunately, Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency has declared that the quake has no potential to generate a tsunami.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location in the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines. In 2004, a large quake triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people.

Ukraine closes off skies to Russian airlines Beginning on October 25, Ukraine announced that it will close its airspace to all Russian airlines. Furthermore, no Russian planes transporting cargo or soldiers will be allowed to fly over Ukraine. The ban will significantly affect air traffic for Russian companies Aeroflot and Transaero.

The Ukrainian government has stated that “Airlines with the Russian tricolor have no reason to be in Ukrainian airports.” Russia’s response was immediate. Russian Transportation Minister stated that the Russian authorities would “take countermeasures” and that “Ukrainian citizens would suffer first and foremost.” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko plan to meet on October 2 to discuss a settlement.

Graphic by Sam Beckmann

Sunday, September 13 - October 11 Gilcrease Museum On 52nd Street: The Jazz Photography of William P. Gottlieb Tulsa and Oklahoma have a rich history and tradition of jazz music, so it’s only fitting that Gilcrease should celebrate this uniquely American form of music with a special exhibition that opens summer of 2015.

On 52nd Street: The Jazz Photography of William P. Gottlieb opens July 25 and runs through October 11, 2015.

In New York City, 52nd Street was the epicenter of a music and social revolution during the 1940s. Known as “Swing Alley,” or simply “The Street,” it was “heaven on earth for jazz fans and jazz musicians,” photographer William P. Gottlieb (1917–2006) recalled. In the dozen or so nightclubs that located there — mostly in the converted basements of former speakeasies — jazz emerged as distinct concert music with featured soloists.

Tuesday, September 29 at 7:30pm Helmerich Hall, Room 219 Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know Singer is considered a leading expert on changes in 21st century warfare. He has consulted for federal agencies as well as advised a range of entertainment programs for Warner Bros., Dreamworks, Universal, HBO, Discovery, History Channel and the video game series Call of Duty. He has provided commentary on security issues for ABC, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NPR and NBC. In addition to his work on conflict issues, Singer is a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

Thursday, October 8 at 1:00pm to 3:00pm Hardesty Hall, Archway

Soda-Pop Culture We’re not that different – every country has their own favorite form of carbonated beverage. Try sodas from around the world while learning about their cultures. Experience beverages from countries like Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Peru, Canada, China, South Africa, and Germany, to name just a few!

Thursday, October 22 at 7:30pm Dietler Commons Homecoming Pep Rally and Bonfire The 2015 TU Homecoming Pep Rally and Bonfire has moved to Thursday night!

Celebrate Hurricane pride at this annual Homecoming tradition and FREE event. Refreshments for alumni are available in the Alumni Tent. The Future Alumni Council hosts Taste of TU for students. Parents and families are always welcome!

Friday, October 2 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm Gilcrease Museum From My Point of View - The “Doomed Indian” – Stanley and American Perception Mindy Besaw, curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and cocreator of Painted Journeys: The Art of John Mix Stanley, will discuss the image of Native American culture that Stanley presented to his audience and collectors.

From My Point of View is an informal presentation and audience participation is welcome. Bring a sack lunch to eat while you learn!

Sept. 20 1:15 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to meet with Tulsa Police Department in reference to a university owned “yellow bicycle.” Officers met with a TPD officer at the Taco Bell at Pine & Peoria to confirm the bicycle belonged on campus. A non-TU affiliate was in possession of the bicycle, and arrested by TPD for concealing stolen property.

1:20 a.m.

University of Tulsa Campus Security officers were dispatched to Mayo Village regarding the sound of someone crying. Upon arrival, officers found the suspect and victim putting items in an outside storage unit.

Upon questioning the suspect and victim, it was determined that they were in a relationship and were arguing. The suspect emptied the victim’s belongings from their outside storage unit onto the walkway. Officers separated the victim and suspect, and had the suspect leave to go stay with a friend.

4:00 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security officers observed two students arguing outside of the Pi Kappa Alpha House. The students continued to argue while walking to Delta Delta Delta House.

Responding officers spoke with each party who each stated that the disagreement was

verbal. Officers advised the student to return to their respective residences for the night.

Sept. 19 1:50 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security officers observed loud music, people screaming, and alcohol at Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Officers spoke with residents and asked all the guest to leave the residence. The resident was confrontational towards officers and was upset that their friend could not stay.

Sept. 18 2:30 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security officers observed a disabled vehicle in the north bound lane on Delaware between 6th and 5th street. Officers helped push the vehicle out of the road on 5th street and noticed that the windshield on the passenger side was almost busted out from the inside out. Upon further investigation, the driver had hit the curb on 6th and Delaware and was also intoxicated. Tulsa Police Department was called but could not arrest the driver because officers could not prove that he was physically driving the vehicle.

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

Last week, The Collegian published pictures of the Gatesway Balloon Festival. These should have been attributed to Sara Douglas.

Additionally, the name of the festival was misspelled on the cover.

Variety

28 September 2015

Rocket League excites casual and competitive players alike Psyonix’s new game Rocket League has experienced overnight success and is paving new ground in the competitive e-sports community.

Adam Lux Student Writer

A new game has exploded into the world of e-sports. Rocket League, a fast paced team based game where supersonic rocket powered cars can also fly and play soccer, rolled out in early July for Playstation network and Windows PC. The game is a sequel to developer Psyonix’s previous title Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars or SARPBC. While SARPBC was loved by many it was a niche game and didn’t have a large fanbase. However, its sequel Rocket League became an overnight sensation. Just a week after it’s launch RL had over two million downloads. By the end of July it had over five million downloads and 180,000 concurrent players. By August 27 over one million copies had been sold on Steam.

Rocket League can be played 1v1 up to 4v4. The field is set up pretty much like a soccer pitch, with orange and blue halves, but with a dome over the entire field that can be driven on. Boost pads are located around the pitch and boost can be used to accelerate to supersonic speeds or even fly through the air to score sick aerial goals (or whiff completely).

Each game begins with a kickoff. The ball, which is bigger than the cars, is in the middle of the pitch and each team is on their respective colored sides; the game will

and extremely entertaining e-sport.

The Electronic Sports League (ESL) has already hosted 19 Rocket League cups and consistently gets over 100 Teams per cup.

High level teams such as Cosmic Aftershock and Team Rocket have been steadily gaining a fanbase not unlike that of a nonelectronic sports team.

Rocket League is different from the other big name e-sports games like DOTA2 or CS:GO because just about anyone can understand what’s going on. Most people have played soccer before. Therefore the game makes sense even to people that have never watched or played it before.

Rocket League also has its own flair and nuances which require an insane amount of technical skill and game knowledge. This is what differentiates it from its real world comparisons and creates amazing moments during matches. Where other games had to spend years building a community with enough working knowledge to appreciate the game, Rocket League has an almost instant familiarity for most observers. It requires enough skill and nuanced gameplay, however, that it does not easily become boring or repetitive.

Also Rocket League is extremely balanced, something other e-sports have had trouble with. The difference between the playable cars is fairly negligible although sometimes noticeable. One thing Rocket League doesn’t have right now is the large cash prizes for tournament winners that are seen in high level DOTA and CS:GO tournaments.

If you play FIFA or racing games, you’re going to like Rocket League. If you are a fan of real world soccer and racing, you’re

Photo courtesy steampowered.com

Rocket League’s combination of fun themes and challenging gameplay excites gamers.

reset to this position after each goal. Games last five minutes but go into overtime if the game is tied after five minutes until a goal is scored.

It wasn’t only the general population that responded well to Rocket League’s launch, but the e-sports community too. At first glance the game is simplistic and easily mastered, but after seeing a video of high level players, such as Kranovi or Frysokid, scoring amazing aerial goals and making last millisecond saves it’s easy to see the potential of Rocket League to be a competitive

going to like Rocket League. If you like crazy fast paced, competitive, team based video games that require insane technical skill and quick thinking, you’re going to love Rocket League.

This variable baby to the competitive video games world is turning a lot of heads, changing a lot of minds on what e-sports can and should be, and may be a huge step in legitimizing the e-sports world to the mainstream. Oh yeah and it’s really freaking fun.

I give this game a 9.8 out of ten. One of the best games I’ve played in years.

“twenty-one plus” Custom cocktail creations and accompanying critiques presented

by TU’s own hobbyist mixologist.

Sara Douglas Student Writer

each other well, resulting in a sweet, creamy drink with a citrusy zing. A variation on the piña colada, this cocktail is blended and blue, offering twice the fun! Make it for tailgates to showcase your TrueBlue spirit and support our athletes.

True Blue Dew (times two) 3 oz. blue curaçao 2 oz. coconut rum 1 oz. triple sec 4 oz. unsweetened coconut cream 2 oz. simple syrup ice Pour all ingredients into blender.

Fill to liquid level with ice.

Blend and serve with a straw.

(Note: this recipe makes two; share with a friend! I’d suggest you hit up the Lorton Village sand volleyball courts to bask and booze with this beachy drink, but that would be illegal.)

Drink this if: Savoring the sweetness of summer before pumpkin spice season kicks in is your jam.

The coconut and orange flavors complement

Sara Douglas / Collegian

the Collegian: 5

Variety

the Collegian: 6

28 September 2015

Kenneth Goldsmith tells American tragedies with poetry

On Tuesday night, conceptual poet Kenneth Goldsmith gave an impactful reading in Tyrrell Hall.

Mason Whitehorn Powell Student Writer

Kenneth Goldsmith, the First Poet Laureate of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, stood in front of a nearlyfull Tyrrell Auditorium on Tuesday night.

Known for wearing a pink suit on The Colbert Report and a paisley suit during a reading at the White House, on that night Goldsmith was wearing white suit and pants, a tie with broad pastel stripes and glasses reminiscent of James Joyce.

“This may be the last time I read this,” Goldsmith said. “From Seven Deaths and Disasters … I can’t promise it.”

He was referring to his book Seven American Deaths and Disasters, composed of news reports the poet transcribed and rearranged into poems. If that sounds uncreative, good, because it’s supposed to.

Goldsmith is a conceptual poet, meaning he purposefully uses appropriation, word processing, unoriginality, falsification and boredom to create his work. The ethos of conceptual writing is this: if you understand the concept behind the work you don’t need to read it. This begs the question, why did Goldsmith travel from NYC to read at TU? Beginning with the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy, Goldsmith assumed the voice of a frantic reporter relaying information in real time. Listening to Goldsmith read his work feels familiar. The type of reports he transcribed are painful to hear, but still captivating to an audience raised on American media culture. The broadcasts were meant to be momentary, the reports fading away as the events

were ingrained in the American psyche.

Goldsmith reshaped those reports into poetry.

The audience was sombre and silent as Goldsmith read excerpts from all seven chapters without pausing to speak in between. The most impactful readings seemed to be the Columbine High School Massacre and the September 11 attacks.

For Columbine, Goldsmith read Patti Nielson’s 911 call from the library.

“I am a teacher at Columbine High School, there’s a student here with a gun,” Goldsmith read. “He shot out a window. I believe one student um, um, um. I’ve been um, I don’t if it’s uh, I don’t know what’s in my shoulder. If it’s just a piece of glass he threw, or what.”

In an auditorium full of teacher and students, Patti’s perspective of events was troubling on a personal level. The audience had experienced the news coverage surrounding 9/11 and saw how the disaster impacted America, but as a poem, the disaster felt much more personal. Goldsmith has manipulated the way information is presented to our culture by narrowing the focus on something widely shared.

The Kennedy assassinations, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the murder of John Lennon, the Columbine shooting, the September 11 attacks and the death of Michael Jackson—most Americans are familiar with these tragedies. It’s not only about the events, it’s about the individual’s relationship to them and how tragic information is relayed.

Goldsmith said his work is autobiographical, that he lived during each tragedy and remembers where he was when he heard the news. This was true for many of the older audience members in attendance, while the younger students may only recall the reports about 9/11 and the death of Michael Jackson.

Those in attendance were fortunate to hear a moving reading by one of the hardest working experimental poets alive. During his Q&A, Goldsmith drew the audience in even further, backing up his methods with sharp responses and explaining his process.

“Many of us have lived through something that’s much more profound than the shift from radio to television,” Goldsmith said, speaking about his work compared to traditional poetry. “This is the

be characterized by proxy wars and unregulated privatized militaries.

Most recently, Ground Zeroes plunged players into the fictional black-site of Camp Omega, a chilling reflection on inhuman practices present in both Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Phantom Pain’s focus lies in the concept of Lingua Franca.

As one character observes, “The greatest symbiotic parasite the world has ever known isn’t microbial—it’s linguistic.”

When The Phantom Pain launched earlier this month, nearly a year and a half had passed since the release of Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V’s first chapter. Despite Zeroes’ lackluster length, the fluid gameplay and stirring narrative were promising enough to leave both longtime fans of the series and newcomers alike anticipating the title’s larger release.

Fair warning, however: The Phantom Pain, at a narrative level, is an unwelcoming affair to those inexperienced with the series.

While it’s the fifth numbered installment, it lands in the middle of the fictional timeline and makes innumerable references to events both past and future.

If you lack the ability, time or interest to experience the previous games yourself, as recommended, Phantom Pain offers in consolation collectible cassettes. The tapes serve as substitute for the Codec system present in previous titles, now playable simultaneous to gameplay. These include tutorials, character dialogue, hyper-accurate political exposition and, my favorite, 80s classics like a-ha’s “Take On Me” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown.”

Players adopt the role of Big Boss, a famed mercenary, and his tortured comrades as they hunt down ‘Skull Face’, the disfigured man responsible for their army’s destruction a decade earlier. Beyond him lies the organization Cipher, the primary antagonist of the larger franchise.

The series’ familiar melodrama, supernatural elements and sharp tonal shifts might be surprising, if not unappealing to newcomers.

In the introductory episode, for example, players quickly encounter

twenty-first-century, I want a poetics that reflects what it means to live in a digital world, and I think that’s the difference.

It’s very much a continuation of modernist discourse but then it goes off into mimesis, replication, unoriginality and uncreativity in order to re-inspire creativity of the twentyfirst-century.”

Goldsmith captured American anguish and caused the audience to look at America’s darkest memories in a new way.

Adam Lux / Collegian

The somewhat eccentric Kenneth Goldsmith gives a marvelous performance at Tyrrell Hall.

Metal Gear Solid V captures ugliness of revenge MGSV is an impressive conclusion, despite lacking its own finale, to the Metal Gear Solid series.

Trent Gibbons Student Writer

The Metal Gear Solid series is now nearly two decades old. It originated in the grainy, polygonal renderings of the PlayStation 1.

Besides pioneering the stealth genre, it advanced games as a way to weave a narrative, exploring topics with a level of immersion only available to that medium.

In 1998, it discussed the contrary notions of nuclear bombs as a political tool and a genocidal weapon. In 2001, Sons of Liberty predicted governmental internet censorship.

By 2008, Metal Gear Solid’s world would

Newest release in the Metal Gear Solid series sacrifices a full plot to produce great gameplay.

Photo courtesy ign.com

a fire-manipulating superhuman, accompanied by the mysterious psychokinetic ‘floating boy.’ Much of the franchise’s charm can be found in the realities it suspends, a novel contrast to the global history it depicts and preserves.

Story progression itself is extremely nonlinear. Some main missions can be ignored entirely while the occasional side mission is essential to further the game’s plot. This concept is charming at first but, paired with unspecified progression requirements, results in a poorly paced second half.

My hopes for a strong conclusion were crushed after I discovered there existed a ‘Phantom Chapter’—essentially the game’s missing climax. Concept art and bonus footage included in the Collector’s Edition confirms as much. Whether this is the product of the falling out between Hideo Kojima and Konami is as of yet unknown, but its significant detrimental effect on the game’s plot is undeniable.

In Phantom Pain, players will be dividing their time between three distinguished locations: Afghanistan, Africa and Mother Base. In Afghanistan, periodic sandstorms lower enemy visibility but prevent allied helicopters from landing or providing air support. In Africa, torrential rain makes Boss’s movement less audible but temporarily immobilizes certain ‘Buddies.’ The Buddy system, in which the player can choose a cooperative AI to accompany them on missions, is one of the most substantial additions to the series.

Metal Gear Solid V, despite its flawed pacing and late-game stumbles, is easily recommended to series regulars and stealth enthusiasts alike for its expansive open world and wealth of gameplay options. While the rushed finale and unresolved conflicts leave me feeling exceptionally bitter, the existing content is of a quality far above average.

Shepherd’s Cross Pumpkin Festival delights visitors Sara Douglas Student Writer

Shepherd’s Cross Pumpkin Festival began last week and will be continuing through Halloween. Located in Claremore, just short of an hour’s drive outside of Tulsa, the family-friendly pumpkin patch offers a wide selection of pumpkins at good prices.

In addition to selling pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, colors and patterns, Shepherd’s Cross has free activities scattered throughout their farm for families to enjoy.

As the name suggests, it is a Christian business, so most of the quaint farm’s aspects had a Bible theme as well.

Rather than featuring a traditional corn maze, hay bales were fashioned into a maze at the far end of the pumpkin field. A game in the style of “pin the tail on the donkey” had players “pin” the Armor of God—the sword of truth, shield of faith, cloak of invisibility and whatnot—on a painting of a

A hay bale maze, dozens of pumpkins and fun activities are scattered across Shepherd’s Cross Farm to welcome visitors.

farmer.

The Bible Garden was a botanical garden with plaques describing plant species alongside their appearance in biblical passages, and the animal petting area showcased information about how those animals were

used in biblical times. (I did not observe any sacrificed goats.)

A couple unique displays at Shepherd’s Cross included the covered wagon, in which guests could pose for photos using pioneer accessories, and the farm history section of

Sara Douglas / Collegian

the barn. This area showed the processes of making wool into usable material, spinning cotton and processing crops. Taking a spiral staircase up from that room offered a picturesque view from the barn’s upper level.

Variety

28 September 2015

the Collegian: 7

An overly simplistic take on good and evil buries “Black Mass” “Black Mass” does a disservice to the real characters that the movie is based on.

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer

Twenty five years ago this month, Martin Scorsese unveiled Goodfellas, a knockout success that gained immediate entry into the American film canon. In case you haven’t seen it (and I would make a plug for it, although this isn’t the place), just know that it’s a disturbingly good-natured romp through the glamorous lives of low-level members of the Italian Mafia.

Despite the various unsavory activities witnessed on screen— brutal slayings, rampant drug abuse, chronic infidelity—the viewer can’t help but idolize and envy what they are seeing in Goodfellas. It’s an uncomfortable film to sit through, but for the very reason of induced introspection, it is a masterpiece. I know it’s because I sat and pondered what it said about myself that I took so much pleasure in watching it.

Maybe in making Black Mass, director Scott Cooper didn’t want to put his viewers through any sort of moral dilemma. But his film is the weaker for it. The problem with Black Mass ultimately lies in its overly simplistic, dare I say childlike treatment of good and evil.

Johnny Depp was an intriguing choice to play James “Whitey” Bulger, the Boston crime kingpin

who spent more than fifteen years as a fugitive from the FBI, but his performance ended up being compelling for all the wrong reasons. Whereas the trailers advertised Depp’s usual routine as the quirky yet roguish and charming anti-hero, a “Captain Jack Bulger” if you will, what we got instead was a snarling caricature of a mobster, a villain oozing pure evil from his pores.

On the one hand, I was pleased that Depp stepped away from his usual one-note persona and showed some diversity in his acting, but at the same time it actually served to make the movie boring. Say what you will about Johnny Depp, but Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Whitey Bulger leaves a lot to be desired. he is usually charismatic a microcosm for the entire film’s they are so human. We see their enough to keep an audibelievability problem. They are familial and social lives and come ence glued to its seat.

Combine that with a story that so jarring that it took me right out to empathize with them. We care is about as compelling as the truth every scene as soon as there was about what happens to them, and can be (Bulger brokered an al- a closeup. He could bare his teeth I couldn’t care less about Depp’s liance with the FBI in which he and fire off as many rounds as he Bulger.

And what is perhaps most anwould give up intel concerning the wanted, I was still entirely unconnoying is Black Mass’s refusal Italian mafia in exchange for oper- vinced I was watching a gangster.

A look into the great characters to acknowledge a more rounded ating with impunity) and it seems impossible that the film could be of cinematic history reveals that portrayal of Whitey is that it could dull. Yet there is never any tension, complexity is key, particularly very easily have been done! The no uncertainty, no deeper look into when the main character is an man was revered in parts of South the mind of James to see what unsavory type. Michael Corleone Boston, a Robin Hood type figure, and Tony Soprano, of The Godfa- yet the film only briefly alludes to made him Whitey.

Nothing feels real, from the ac- ther and The Sopranos respective- this relationship in an ultimately tions of the mobsters to their ap- ly, are two of the most famous and meaningless scene with an elderly pearances. Depp’s eyes are col- fleshed-out mob characters in film, neighborhood woman about five ored an astonishing blue and are and treated as works of art because minutes in.

Photo courtesy people.com

Instead, the audience is treated to countless looks at how much of an evil bastard Whitey was, and the lack of variation severely stilts the pacing, making the movie feel like a drag far beyond its two hour run time. If you are a big fan of mob movies, Black Mass might be worth your time just from some of the supporting performances alone (David Harbour was excellent as one of the agents working with Whitey). If not, sit back, relax and pop in Goodfellas for the tenth time.

Metric’s “Pagans in Vegas” may be polarizing to fans Pagans in Vegas has the lyrics and vocals that fans love, but comes in a package of electronic instrumentation they may not be as fond of.

James Whisenhunt Student Writer

Photo courtesy Consequence of Sound

The new sound may diminish Metric’s following.

Metric was formed in 1998, the brainchild of vocalist Emily Haines and guitarist James Shaw.

Their first album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? (2003) was an alternative rock record fueled by electric guitar and plenty of angst.

Over the last twelve years, however, Metric has been slowly moving toward an electronic pop-rock sound.

Metric has featured electronically inclined songs since their first album, slowly expanding into an almost even split of guitar-and synth-driven songs in their 2012 album, Synthetica.

Pagans marks a complete electronic takeover. In Metric’s other albums, the synth serves to accent the guitars.

Pagans shows an instrumental role reversal, using the occasional guitar to accent the electronic base.

This change doesn’t detriment the album’s diversity.

Pagans features beat-heavy dance tracks like Cascades and

leading single The Shade.

It also doesn’t shy away from contemplative songs like For Kicks and Other Side, the latter a rare duet between Haines and Shaw.

Outside of the instrumentals, Pagans in Vegas is the Metric that fans know and love.

Lyrically, this is one of Haines’s most introspective albums yet.

Songs deal with typical fare: love and loss, feeling out of place in the modern world, and the perversion of the media.

Despite the usual topics, Pagans places its emphasis on personal feelings and personal failures.

Lines like “Why’d I have to be such trouble to please?” and “The worst was all for me, not hurting anyone” show a side of Haines that isn’t as often seen in Metric’s more aggressively political albums.

Haines’s vocals are as competent as ever, fully utilizing her wide vocal range.

High-energy tracks like Too

Bad, So Sad feature her voice soaring in choruses.

Slower tracks like The Governess showcase Haines’s lower range, emphasizing her lyrics over her vocal prowess.

New listeners will find that Pagans in Vegas is a very personal album that simultaneously makes listeners want to dance to the beat and sit down to decipher the themes.

Fans of bands like CHVRCHES and Passion Pit will be comfortable with the dance beats and find depth in the especially personal lyrics.

The emphasis on synthesizers may be jarring to seasoned Metric fans who are accustomed to loud electric guitars and strong antiestablishment themes.

There’s plenty to experience, though, for one willing to look past the beeps and boops to take another plunge into Haines’s mind.

“Stanford” proves chilling and dramatic, seldom strays from reality Director Kyle Alvarez and writer Tim Talbott’s dramatic thriller, starring Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan and Billy Crudup, documents one of the most infamous psychological experiments in history.

Trent Gibbons Student Writer Stanford Prison Experiment is based off a simulation of the same title, conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971, in which male students recreated the conditions of a prison in the basement of an office building. I use the word simulation because, despite the renowned psychologist’s reluctance to admit such, the ‘experiment’ lacks an independent variable.

Twenty four college boys are randomly assigned to the roles of either guards or prisoners based on nothing more than a dozen coinflips, though the guards are led to believe it was due to the leadership abilities they displayed in their individual interviews.

What was expected to be an uneventful two-week study on the effects of institutions and dehumanizing practices instead becomes one of the most infamous cases of

sadism and psychological torture ever documented within a professional study.

The participants are introduced in a montage of private screenings.

Some are anxious, others good-humored, most are honest about why they agreed to participate: the pay.

The characters appear, initially at least, as average college students because they are average college students. Yet through their extreme role-fulfillment, the guards adopt such cruel practices as sleep deprivation, selective isolation and public humiliation.

The most prominent of these characters, and perhaps the film’s acting antagonist, is Christopher Archer. Archer’s character is even more menacing for the accuracy with which he is portrayed (due in no small part to his gifted actor Michael Angarano, who I’d previously associated with films of the family-friendly, critically-panned variety.)

When asked why he’d prefer the role of a prisoner, he responds, “Nobody likes guards.” This is a statement he aims to make true when he ends up randomly assigned to be a guard and finds a dozen pseudo-prisoners subject to his command. Donning an exaggerated southern accent and fueled by motivations still unclear to himself, he certainly makes for

one of cinema’s more noteworthy villains.

In contrast to Archer is the emotionally vulnerable and highly unpredictable Daniel Culp, or Prisoner 8612. While Archer plays the part of a fascist, Culp emerges to challenge him as a would-be revolutionary, plotting escapes and inspiring insurrection amongst his oppressed peers. The idea that we associate either student with these extreme archetypes lends itself well to the significance of the simulation, and the film’s powerful characters.

Particularly interesting on the topic of characters is the twisted fascination and manipulative practices of Philip Zimbardo himself, a

figure whose exposure to the public is usually very sanitized.

Stanford Prison Experiment’s most impressive feat is its unrelenting devotion to truth and its effort to convey with complete accuracy the events that transpired.

In a few cinematic ways, it suffers for this. While the tension could be heightened by trapping the camera within the prison, so that we’re often just as clueless as the prisoners, we’re instead constantly exposed to the discussions of the psychologists.

Just when it seems the film has found a worthy protagonist, they disappear. Some characters can seem inconsistent, but this is due to the reality of their being human.

Finally, some audiences might find the ending anticlimactic.

It’s a shame most viewers will begin the film with some preexisting notion of what’s to occur. This is not the moviemakers’ fault, as the nature of the film’s marketing and the infamy of the study it documents makes such issues unavoidable. Still, the shocking events would be greatly amplified if we were caught just as unaware as the psychologists themselves. I would recommend Stanford Prison Experiment to anyone interested in the topic, and maybe especially to those unfamiliar with the results of the test.

The “Stanford Prison Experiment” movie documents the infamous psychological experiment with accuracy.

Photo courtesy IMDB

The Collegian: 8

Commentary

28 September 2015

Australia’s power struggle hits home Alarmingly rapid changes in politcal power disturb Australian citizens and remind US citizens to be grateful for our relative stability.

Kayleigh Thesenvitz Variety Editor Emily Harris Student Writer

Australia has had five Prime Ministers in the last eight years. How does that even happen?

The Australian government is a federal one, much like the US, with six individual states united under a single constitution.

What’s unique about it is that in doing so, they never fully separated from England, and Elizabeth II is still their queen. However, she is represented in Australia by a governor-general, and the real force of the executive branch comes in the highly sought-after position of prime minister.

The position of prime minister holds much more power than the United States’ position of president. The prime minister is a member of the House of Representatives and is the leader of whichever party has a majority in the house. Their powers include the ability to hand out ministerial and cabinet positions, decide when to hold elections and have an effective say in commerce and legislation.

In contrast, the US president is limited to the power to appoint cabinet and judicial positions.

There are several ways to become prime minister or get ousted from the position: through a general election, a defeat in Parliament, party-room coups, vice-regal intervention, death and voluntary departure.

Without delving into the politics behind these changes, the transition of leaders in the last eight years began with the defeat of John Howard, who had been Prime Minister for 11 years, in a general election. He was replaced by Kevin Rudd, who served for two years and six months before he was deposed as the leader of his party. Julia Gil-

The position of Australian Prime Minister seems to be a bit of a gamble.

lard replaced Rudd as both party leader and Prime Minister for exactly three years and three days before Rudd was renamed party leader and reinstated as Prime Minister.

During Rudd’s second term of office he only served for two months and twentytwo days before he was defeated in a general election. Anthony Abbott was elected in his place and served for one year, eleven months and twenty-eight days before he was replaced as party leader on September 15 of this year by Malcolm Turnbull.

In direct contrast, the last eight years have seen two U.S. presidents: one who concluded his second term of office, and one with one year left of his second term.

As much as pointing to the US as a good example of anything makes my whole body cringe, the provisions we created in our political system to prevent the chaotic power struggle of both individuals and parties that Australia is facing have worked.

For starters, having four year terms of office means, in theory, that no one will be attempting to take the position for the next three and a half years. In addition, the framers of our constitution made it incredibly difficult to remove a president from power

by making the impeachment process intentionally complicated. Then in 1951, the US ratified the twenty-second amendment which officially created presidential term limits.

If Australia employed these same practices certain things wouldn’t happen, like the eight day term of Prime Minister Francis Forde in 1945 or the sixteen year term of Prime Minister Robert Menzies that ended in 1966. Also, the parties that currently dominate Australia in a way that makes the US party system look weak would have less direct control over the federal government.

A question arises, is mirroring US stability even something that Australian citizens want?

Tess Connellan, an Australian film studies major studying at the University of New South Wales, said she has no faith in the stability of her government, and when asked how her government functions she said, “Fuck up. And repeat.”

“My daily life is affected by politics being controlled by men who think they know better than women about their [women’s] lives… The ignorance is exhausting,” Connellan continued.

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

She is not the only one who feels this way. Students who have spent their whole lives surrounded by a government more concerned with who has power than what they do with it have lost faith in Australia’s ability to care for its citizens.

However, Courtney Gray, another student of film studies at the University of New South Wales, shared some confidence in the government “because we vote in a party rather than a person and then when our prime ministers change it is still the party that we voted in at the time of the election in power.”

“I think that the government is very backward in their stances and needs to come into the 21st century. I also wish that the government figures for both sides of parliament weren’t so embarrassing on a global scale,” Gray said. “I think it could be changed now though that Malcolm Turnbull is in.”

Australia is a great country, and the United States could probably learn a few things from them about finance, considering their national debt is only in the billions instead of the trillions. However, many Australians are desperate for some stability in government.

Presidential debates don’t (and shouldn’t) matter

Contrary to popular belief, debates don’t and shouldn’t matter much in the grand scheme of the presidential race.

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer On September 26, 1960, presidential candidates John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhous Nixon took the stage in CBS studios in Chicago to debate the hot-button issues of the day and argue their own merits as candidates.

Debates had been an integral part of American politics for much of its history— think Lincoln-Douglas—but never before had they been structured in such an accessible format, or more importantly, televised.

On that day, the American political scene

was changed forever.

Today, when even the primary debates are a spectacle given pomp comparable to a major sporting event, it is difficult to imagine a time when they wouldn’t have been an established part of the election process.

Most casual voters who don’t pay an excessive amount of attention to the news of the day tend to use the debates as their primary source of information about the candidates’ policies.

Some may find it troubling that this is the only way that such people learn about the candidates; others are content just that the populace will have seen and heard who they will be voting for before they step into the booth. But there is also a third school of thought, one that I subscribe to: that the debates ultimately do not matter all that much, and even when they do, they shouldn’t.

Granted, this is merely an opinion, and there is no clear consensus among political scientists as to its validity. I’m sure Carly Fiorina would disagree with me, and she could point to her new 15 percent support rating in the CNN poll after the debate— second in the GOP field only to Donald Trump—as the proof in the pudding. But looking at the raw numbers without context isn’t enough to come to a conclusion.

Consider that Fiorina has seen her numbers rising steadily for a month, when she sat at just three percent in early September.

It’s been the result of public appearances, advertising money, and a (largely) positive narrative in the news media, and not just her reiteration of already established viewpoints and conservative vitriol on a random Wednesday in September.

Further proof can be found in the past: Mitt Romney was the initial GOP favorite in 2012 and saw a different challenger threaten his top spot after every debate only to win the nomination anyway; political scientists Robert Erikson and Christopher Wlezien found in a comprehensive study of every presidential election between 1952 and 2008 that “the best prediction from the debates is the initial verdict before the debates.” In other words, while they may affect the route to the final destination, they rarely change it.

Furthermore, even if they did matter a little (and for the sake of this argument we will assume that they do) would it even be a positive thing? Political debates as they are set up today are hardly fair, particularly in primary season when up to a dozen candidates can be pitted against each other at the same time.

Left: Kennedy and Nixon at the first televised presidential debate. Right: Carly Fiorina, the supposed “winner” of the most recent GOP debate.

Some candidates, invariably the favorites, will be allowed to speak more, and by design not everyone is allowed to respond to the same questions or address the same issues. Debates, particularly when televised and arranged as entertainment, also favor attractiveness, skillful oration, and uniqueness from the rest of the field over any of the subject matters actually being discussed.

Case in point being Carly Fiorina, the popular pick as the “winner” of the debate, who was the only woman on a stage with ten men and drew the biggest audience reaction of the night with an utterly meaningless jab at something Donald Trump once said about her face. It was irrelevant to the actual political discussion and yet was probably her shining moment of the night.

Whether or not they are ultimately important, debates are here to stay. I suppose it never hurts to hear a little more about what the candidates have to say, even if it won’t change your mind. Or maybe I just love to watch Donald Trump make emoji faces. Either way, whether you think it’s a voter’s responsibility or just pure entertainment, millions will be watching the next debate too.

Including yours truly.

Courtesy Wiki Commons

28 September 2015

Commentary

The Collegian: 9

Sanders offers hope Sanders falls short Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate who is truly capable of representing the average American.

Lauren Delucchi Student Writer

The American political landscape is extremely disheartening. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that offers a glimpse of hope in the 2016 election.

The Supreme Court decision concerning Citizens United ruled that political spending is a form of free speech, therefore allowing corporations and wealthy individuals to pour unlimited money into super PACs. These political action committees are not subject to restrictions and are commonly referred to as “dark money.” Of the one billion spent in federal elections by super PACs since 2010, nearly 60 percent of the money came from just 195 individuals and their spouses, according to a Brennan Center report.

The result is that the American democracy is rapidly transforming into an oligarchy. A small class of wealthy individuals influences the outcomes of elections and the candidates elected by their money reward these individuals by passing legislation that multiplies their power. A study by Princeton Professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern Professor Benjamin I Page confirmed the fact that America is no longer a true democracy.

The study states, “When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”

The growing income inequality in this country is a direct result of a government that is elected by the rich to serve only the wealthiest Americans. The gap separating the rich and the poor is rapidly increasing and the middle class is disappearing.

Middle class income has decreased 36 percent since 2005. On the other hand, over the past two years, 15 Americans have seen their fortunes increase 170 billion. Wealth is being transferred from the majority of Americans into the hands of the few.

America is one of the wealthiest countries and the only industrialized country to not provide healthcare to its citizens. We also have the highest rate of childhood poverty.

Over 20 percent of children in America live in poverty. Meanwhile, the rich keep getting richer by evading tax laws and buying off politicians.

Where does Bernie Sanders fit into all of this? Sanders has a long history of speaking out against corporate greed and propos-

ing amendments to limit the power of Wall Street. He not only promises campaign reform and the repeal of Citizens United; Sanders refuses to accept money from PACs and billionaires. His campaign is entirely funded by average citizens.

Sanders stands in stark contrast with the rest of the presidential candidates. Trump boasts a fortune of 1.39 billion. Eight candidates (including Clinton) have assets exceeding 10 million dollars and five candidates have fortunes ranging from ten million to one million dollars.

Are these people supposed to represent the average American?

Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that will be able to carry out any of his promises because he is the only candidate who is not a slave to corporate greed and who is invested in the betterment of the American people.

His economic platform includes raising the minimum wage to a living wage because no working American should be living in poverty. He also promises to close the gen-

Bernie Sanders is both very vulnerable to losing in a general election and very wrong on various policies.

Brennen VanderVeen Student Writer

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, has raised much excitement in certain segments of the left. There are no scandals or investigations hovering over his campaign. He has shown no hesitance to embrace the progressive vision. However, no matter how much some voters like

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been the subject of much debate.

der pay gap and implement a job program that would provide Americans with at least 13 million good paying jobs.

The United States is also the only industrialized country that doesn’t provide maternity leave. Sanders views this as a national disgrace and prioritizes the family and working mothers. Americans will pay more taxes under Sanders’ proposed system.

These taxes, however, will cover health care and college, things which Americans are already paying for out of pocket.

To fund college education, Sanders suggests a tax on Wall Street trading. Then Americans could attend college for free, rather than graduating with massive debt.

A common accusation of Sanders is that he is a self-professed socialist. Many Americans still see socialism and communism as closely linked. He is not advocating for a massive redistribution of wealth but rather more opportunities for everyone to achieve the American dream. He has stated he wants different parties to come together to establish an economic system that benefits the majority of the people, rather than a select few, a moral economy that allows all hard working people to make a living does not need to go as far as total socialism.

Sanders or his ideas, this doesn’t necessarily translate into electoral victory.

For one thing, despite many conservatives complaining about President Obama being a socialist, Obama has never openly identified as one. Not so with Sanders. He has openly embraced both the label and a number of very left-wing positions.

His supporters might not either care about these things or may even regard them as positives, but that doesn’t mean the voters as a whole will. While somewhat flawed, conventional wisdom is that a candidate should move to the center during a general election. This will help him capture supposedly more moderate independent voters.

This could be a major problem for Sanders. Assuming the GOP doesn’t nominate someone who is very right-wing or an otherwise weak candidate, he would be faced with maximizing the progressive vote and historically Democratic constituencies in order to make up for the loss of more moderate voters.

Even within the uber left Sanders might not be able to accomplish this. Obama was able to win in 2008 and 2012 in part because

The Trumpening:

Donald Trump presented himself well at the Oklahoma State Fair, but the lack of substance behind his proposed policies is disconcerting.

Fraser Kastner News Editor In the year 2015, humanity’s downward spiral has finally leveled off into a sheer vertical drop. As I stood in the midst of the crowd gathered at the Oklahoma City State Fair to hear Donald Trump speak, I found myself comforted by the fact that reaching terminal downward velocity at least means things can’t get worse any faster.

The event kicked off with a state senator, whose name I have forgotten, with the purpose firing up the crowd, promising a change, taking America back, etc. God was mentioned several times, but not really in connection to anything. To be honest it was kind of hard to pay attention because the guy next to me intermittently yelled something about building a wall. Regardless, the speech seemed to be well rehearsed, including the cheers that seemed to originate from the speakers, but which I could not place in the crowd itself.

Trump himself managed to show up half an hour late to his own rally. At one point I spotted his hair moving through the midway, cut off from me by a sea of cameras, only to disappear behind a corndog shack.

Meanwhile a fiddler and a singer had been brought out to get the crowd going, and they played several enjoyable tunes and did their best to make it through the technical difficulties that afflicted the sound system. As the audio cut out during Rolling in the Deep, I remember fearing for the life of the poor sap in charge of the sound system should Trump’s speech be cut off.

When the duo left the stage, the speakers began to play Sharp Dressed Man, which riled the crowd up a little. This was followed

by Rolling in the Deep, which was followed by an opera number I couldn’t identify. Finally, the senator walked onstage and introduced “the next president of the United States.” The crowd cheered as You’re The Best Around struck up and Donald Trump finally took the stage.

Trump’s manner was informal. His speech appeared unrehearsed and loose, which seemed to work in his favor. He wore his Make America Great Again hat, and the crowd seemed to react well to his promises.

He came off as likeable in the way that lizard people do when they’re pretending to be human.

Trump’s main target seemed to be other Republican candidates. At several points he explained how he would have handled recent events, such as the moving of an American auto plant to Mexico and the Iran nuclear deal. According to himself, he would put a 35 percent tax on any product

Courtesy Wiki Commons

of extremely high turnout among black voters. While it remains to be seen if any Democrat can replicate the high turnout, Sanders in particular has struggled to gain momentum among black voters. Some commentators blame this on him being from Vermont, one of the demographically whitest states in the union. Sanders lacks experience campaigning for the black community.

There’s also a demographic issue. Sanders isn’t just a white male. He’s also very old. If elected, he would be the oldest president in US history. The only current Republican presidential candidates that even come within ten years of his age are George Pataki, Donald Trump and Jim Gilmore.

At this point, Marco Rubio has a decent, but by no means certain, chance of winning the GOP nomination. If he does, a white Sanders would be running against the first Hispanic major-party candidate who is also thirty years his junior and running on the theme of a new American century. I’m not saying, nor do I believe, that a candidate’s age or ethnicity should matter in an election.

However, the optics of it could play into a narrative that would make it more difficult for Sanders to win.

Besides questions of electability, Sanders’ positions should also be addressed. My disagreements with him would be too numerous to list here, and some of them are simply a result of different values. However, a few do deserve mention.

One on which I think he’s clearly wrong is trade. Sanders has been a leading opponent of both trade promotion authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. His campaign website also blasts free trade areas like NAFTA. He blames free trade for lowering American wages and costing American jobs.

He specifically mentions China, even though NAFTA is just with Canada and Mexico. But in any case, Sanders isn’t alone in being critical of free trade. It’s just that generally the critics are outside the mainstream. Virtually all mainstream economists support free trade. It is one of the most universally accepted ideas in economics.

Another issue is his opposition to Citizens United. He criticizes it for allowing big money to influence politics; a large part of his platform is against allowing corporate money to influence elections. The Citizens United case, however, looked at whether the government should have been allowed to stop a conservative non-profit from showing a movie critical of Hillary Clinton. The answer to this question along should be an emphatic no.

Thirdly, there should be serious concerns about the costs of his programs. For instance, he supports raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars by 2020 and requiring employers to offer two weeks of paid vacation. No one would argue that these are bad things, but it’s hard to imagine that this wouldn’t increase the cost of doing business and productivity. Depending on how they’re implemented and the businesses involved, they could cause some unemployment.

An observer’s account of Donald Trump’s state fair appearance

coming over from Mexico and would not able Care Act, but offers only a promise to cave to pressure from his donors because he find some better way to do things. And how doesn’t have any. How he would deal with exactly would he enact a 35 percent tax on pressure from business associates was not imported goods? mentioned.

In short, Trump is a fantastic campaigner.

The picture Trump painted for the audi- It’s undeniable that the man can move a ence was of a world where no problem is crowd. However this seems to be his main too challenging for a sufficiently smart and skill. He seemed to carry the speech on the tough individual. His opponents, whom he strength of his personality, but if he has othvariously described as idiots, stupid, light- er strengths they went undisplayed here. weights and low-energy among other things, If I had to concoct a metaphor for the were not cut out for the job simply because whole rally I would compare it to the funthey lacked the iron will of Donald Trump. nel cake I bought on the way out. The At this point, one of the Duck Dynasty whole thing had an unmistakable appeal guys came onstage and declared that he to the senses, but under the sweetness and liked him some Trump. crunch was absolutely nothing of value. The In spite of these claims to toughness, whole thing had been a waste of time and Trump didn’t seem to supply any actual so- was probably mildly poisonous. Soon it was lutions to the problems he seems convinced over, and I realized that I was worse off for we have. When he posited a solution I the experience, perhaps forever. found myself thinking “Okay, but how?” In most cases, this question went unanswered.

He claims that he can pass an amendment to build a wall across the Mexican border, but doesn’t explain how he would actually do so. He claims that the countries with which we negotiate are “ripping us off,” but gives us only a promise to do better than his predecessors in the realm of negotiations. He Courtesy Wiki Commons criticizes the Afford- Donald Trump: actually a lizard person?

Commentary

The Collegian: 10

28 September 2015

School handled Condragulations: On drag queens, puns, and toxic masculinity hoax bomb correctly

Ahmed Mohamed’s school responded appropriately to a perceived hoax bomb; the police, on the other hand, did not.

Nathaniel Beckemeyer Student Writer Although what happened to Ahmed Mohamed started in an unfortunate manner, the school actually responded properly; the police, however, responded inappropriately.

After bringing a homemade clock to school, Ahmed was accused of creating a hoax bomb and subjected to numerous interrogations.

There were two main questions surrounding this issue: was the accusation racist, and what was the school thinking?

that looked similar to a bomb.

So, the school came to the conclusion that Ahmed had brought a hoax bomb to school. The teacher contacted the police, who investigated the matter. In that regard, the school acted as it was supposed to. They treated the matter seriously, informed parents that the police had investigated a “suspicious object” and ultimately came to the conclusion that there was no threat.

If the school did anything wrong, it’s that they then suspended Ahmed for three days rather than issue an apology.

The police then arrested Ahmed.

A picture of Ahmed in police handcuffs surfaced on the internet, causing a lot of outrage over his arrest. They then subjected Ahmed to numerous interrogations before contacting his parents. They brought him to a juvenile facility where he was processed, including fingerprinting.

These are the horrifying actions taken—not the school’s contacting the police about a potential threat.

As a result of this mistake, however, Ahmed was invited

by President Obama to visit the White House, by Facebook to visit its headquarters, and by MIT,

“Was the accusation racist, and what was the school thinking?”

The school has, of course, stated that the matter had nothing to do with Ahmed’s ethnicity; we won’t know whether that’s true or not.

It did, however, concede that its protocol wasn’t perfect because at no point did Ahmed try to instill fear with the hoax bomb—the main purpose of a hoax bomb and part of the justification of their response.

In the school’s defence, however, the clock was a bulky briefcase with circuitry and exposed wires

Ahmed’s dream school, to visit its campus.

So, although the school did not apologize, Ahmed’s misfortune turned into a blessing.

Ahmed has since stated that he will be transferring schools.

Ahmed’s arrest was certainly unfortunate, but the school was not at fault in its response. In addition, Ahmed appears to have left the situation much better off than he went in.

By embracing feminine personalities, drag queens combat toxic masculinity and redefine what it means to be a man.

Tara Grigson Student Writer I recently started watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, and was so inspired by the drag queens on that show that I felt compelled to write what is essentially a love letter to drag queens for the Collegian.

Drag queens, for anyone who is not aware, are men (typically gay men, but not always) who dress up and perform in hyper-feminine, campy, over-the-top attire. Generally they have their character and their self; their self is a “he” and their character is a “she.” Drag queens are known for raunchy humor, lip synching and larger-thanlife personalities.

From a sociocultural standpoint, drag is fascinating. It is the ultimate act of rebellion. Culturally, the United States is very attached to “traditional” gender roles: women cook and clean and men don’t cry.

Traditional gender roles for women are rough, because they do not allow for freedom or independence and they often require the presence of a man (problematic for me as a free, independent lesbian).

That being said, women, as a collective, have made great strides toward finding a more equal footing with men, at least in the US. Traditional gender roles for men, however, remain rigid.

Modern masculinity is so strict, and so harmful, that in academic

circles it is often called “toxic masculinity.” This damage occurs since misogyny is so rampant and widespread that anything a man might do that can be perceived as feminine (like having emotions, for instance) is ridiculed or is grounds for ostracism, even violence.

Toxic masculinity and misogyny are part of what makes homophobia and transphobia so rampant. Men who are attracted to men are experiencing what women are supposed to feel. Male-bodied persons who are transgender women are literally women, which is not how a male-bodied person is supposed to be.

Even for men and boys who are cisgender or trans men, this notion of masculinity causes tremendous distress. It is a tiny little box of manliness, and if a man chooses to leave this box, he is taking on a tremendous amount of risk.

It is the rigidity of masculinity, the unwavering “toughness” and the constant stony-faced machismo that makes drag so spectacular.

In the face of “toxic masculinity” drag queens exist as men who are more than happy to get in touch with their feminine side. They are men who will do things typically reserved for women.

In the United States, men have historically been required to be “tough”—they were the breadwinners, they had to have a family and feed that family. Masculinity is also associated with heterosexuality. In order to be a man you have be virile and sexually attracted to women.

Drag queens say “fuck it” to toxic masculinity. Drag queens exist as they are and as they want to.

Drag culture has an interesting history. If we look at the 1980s, for instance, drag was used, sometimes, as an escape for transgender women.

Because they were unable to be “transgender” because that terminology and any semblance of acceptance did not exist, some transgender women would do drag as

a way of easing their dysphoria at being a woman with a male body.

Gay men, again in the 1980s, would be connected to the drag world because they were left out of the heterosexual world. They were not given access to the same social resources as heterosexual people, so they withdrew from heteronormative society completely. These men competed in “balls”—big drag competitions—with other drag queens.

They had “houses” or “families” with different last names and a defined familial structure.

Such families, which still exist today, include one queen who is the mother, her children and, of course, whatever other roles the family creates.

These men and transwomen literally created families for themselves because their biological families rejected them. As gay men and transwomen were forced out of their homes, and out of straight society, they found new homes and families in the drag world.

In modern parlance, drag exists as an entirely separate entity from someone being transgender.

Transgender people are literally a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth, while drag queens are performers who largely identify as men except when they are in drag.

They are men who refuse to conform to what society requires of them. They are men who laugh in the face of toxic masculinity and who are reinventing what it means to be a man.

Drag exists because a group of people who were wholly ostracized by the rest of the United States chose to form their own society. Drag exists because the queens were told they were not supposed to exist, but they chose to do so anyway. Drag exists because these people would not give up their identities, even when threatened with poverty, ostracism and violence.

OMG! Here’s five reasons why you need clickbait Clickbait articles present eye gripping titles that grab the reader’s attention, causing them to take the bait and click the article. Some find the tactic annoying and unnecessary; such an idea is ridiculous.

James Terrell Student Writer With the advancement of technology anyone and their mother can make a website.

With all these articles left and right, a problem appears for said creators.

This problem resides in the fact that certain sites don’t receive as much activity, because there are thousands of the same kind.

Thus, clickbait was born, and while some might believe it to be the bane of our internet community, I for one am a proud supporter of these clickbait articles.

For one, without clickbait, the internet would be incredibly dull.

You’ve done all your homework and there’s nothing else to do but sit and watch a bug crawl from one end of your dorm to the other.

Suddenly, you realize you could watch Netflix, so you pull out your laptop and start to type in the URL. Without these amazing ads, you’ll watch your show or movie without any pauses or interruptions, and by the time you’ve watched the final episode of Orange is the New Black it will only

be 10 pm.

You decide to call it a night and get a fair amount of sleep. You roll over and try to get some shut eye, but unfortunately your energy drink of choice has you by the neck.

Now what? Suffer? Of course not.

You pull out your laptop, and here’s where the magic happens.

“Top Ten Reasons Why You Can’t Sleep” pops up. How relatable!

You click it, and realize that it’s completely true, and that’s when another article comes up, “You Won’t Believe What This Cat Has to Say About Bernie Sanders!!”

In your heart you know that you’re about to see something really entertaining, so you click the link.

This goes on for a couple more hours, and your eyelids are heavy.

As you lay in bed, you smile at all this new information you never would have known.

Granted, this example might be a little much, but it isn’t too incredibly far fetched.

A (perhaps slightly exaggerated) sampling of clickbait articles.

Without clickbait, there would not be much to break up the monotony of everyday life. In addition, clickbait works great for study breaks. Unlike a real interaction with real people, you are in full control.

Need a five minute distraction?

Clickbait.

Need a group of cucumbers dressed up as the cast of “Friends”?

Clickbait.

It’s all out there for you to take advantage of.

Granted, some clickbait ads don’t have quality content underneath, but that’s the same for any-

thing in life.

You aren’t going to enjoy every book you read or movie you see, so it’s odd that clickbait gets the bad rep.

Perhaps it isn’t what you expected it to be, or rather than five tips there’s only three legitimate ones and two half-baked ideas, but at least you got to enjoy an eye grabbing title.

Finally, clickbait is a way to get mass media attention for something that previously would never have received any attention.

A policeman has shot and killed someone in some town you have

Graphic by Will Smith

never heard of.

Without a clickbait article, this might never get to a wider audience.

With clickbait, however, a nation can realize and rise together in an issue that needs fixing, like the events surrounding Trayvon Martin.

Overall, clickbait isn’t perfect, but it’s way better than boredom and in some cases it can help.

It isn’t where you should always turn, but it’s nice every now and then. So indulge away!

Commentary

The Collegian: 11

28 September 2015

Student advocacy groups inform on mental health issues

Student groups like TU’s HeadStrong are invaluable resources which spread awareness about mental health issues.

Kyle Crutchfield Student Writer

With the recent rise in mental health issues in students across college campuses in the U.S., one student here at TU has created a group to bring awareness to the problem.

According to the American Psychological Association, in the 2012-2013 school year, onethird of U.S. college students had difficulty functioning due to depression. In addition, one-half of college students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety. Although anxiety and depression rank at the top of the list, other such reports by students include problems associated with relationship issues, substance and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and self-injury.

First, let’s clarify what’s meant by anxiety and depression. Although many people use these terms in a colloquial or even joking manner, anxiety and depression are serious mental health diagnoses with very specific symptoms. Anxiety is characterized by “a feeling of uneasiness or apprehension” (DSM-5, 2013).

is a place for discussion, not therapy.”

Tara explains, “the biggest difference between HeadStrong and the counseling services here at TU is that the counseling services are clinical in nature; qualified professionals treat the students. With HeadStrong, we’re not professionals. We don’t have degrees. We simply talk about important mental health issues in order to raise awareness.”

One of these important issues HeadStrong members discussed includes the stigma surrounding people with mental health. Last year, Tara organized a panel that discussed just that. It was pointedly titled, “Don’t Tell Me I’m Sick”.

Five panelists, each of whom were LGBTQA+ or had a personal connection to the LGBTQA+ community, shared their personal stories of dealing with depression and anxiety surrounding their struggle for identity and for acceptance in society. I learned what gender dysphoria is, how gender is fluid, and how most people simply don’t understand, or really care to understand, the struggles these individuals faced and continue to face daily.

“I think my mental health issues may be connected to my sexuality,” Tara comments. “I came out as gay one year ago, but before that I did go through some pretty painful experiences.”

Although I don’t probe any further, I understand immediately what she means. Having been through an eating disorder myself, I know how intense the anxiety is living through each day with such a burdensome secret. I would

have to plan out every single meal, counting the calories in everything I consumed so I wouldn’t get more anxious by not knowing my intake. I couldn’t tell anybody because it was so raw and embarrassing. It was hell.

Aside from such anxiety-producing things that affect only a portion of college students, like being in the closet or having an eating disorder, we all face so many stressors in day-today college life.

Tests, extracurriculars, socializing, maintaining good grades, etc. all are inherently anxiety-producing and affect all of us students.

I would go so far as to say that if you haven’t had at least one anxious episode in college then you aren’t doing college right.

With that said, I think that’s why groups like HeadStrong are so vital to student health. They allow us to realize that having a mental health issue is not embarrassing.

Rather, it’s empowering. It gives students the opportunity to teach other students about mental health so that they can, in turn, spread this knowledge, increase understanding and acceptance, and decrease stigma.

As Tara puts it, “The most rewarding part of being involved in HeadStrong is seeing that more and more people are supporting mental health advocacy. People are recognizing its legitimacy.”

It comes in good time, too. With the rise in mental health issues in colleges, it’s becoming more and more important to spread awareness about mental health. With HeadStrong, students at TU have the opportunity to do just that. So be awesome like Tara, and spread the knowledge.

It’s also anticipatory, meaning the feeling of uneasiness or apprehension comes before something unpleasant happens, like that knot you get in your stomach the night before a final exam. In low doses, anxiety is beneficial, as it allows us to avoid potential threats to our well-being.

However, it becomes problematic when it disrupts daily functioning and causes distress. Then it becomes a disorder.

Symptoms of depression include intense sadness, feelings of worthlessness, and withdrawal from others. It is a mood disorder and falls on a spectrum. Depressed individuals express low mood and low energy. It is the polar opposite of mania (high mood and high energy) and comprises one-half of the behavior observed in people with bipolar disorder (shifting from low/high mood/energy).

I want to be very specific when talking about anxiety and depression because far too often they’re used in inappropriate and offensive ways. Saying you’re “depressed” because you received a bad grade on a test not only butchers the clinical meaningfulness of the term, but it minimizes the whole agonizing range of emotions and experiences of an actually depressed person to a fleeting moment of disappointment. It’s a grossly insensitive categorization, something students like Tara Grigson fully understand.

“I hate it when people use clinically meaningful terms so loosely.

It’s infuriating.” I tell her I agree, adding that I hate it when people overuse the word “awesome”.

(Let’s be honest; did my story about me visiting my grandma

actually fill you with awe? I don’t think so.)

Last year Tara created HeadStrong, a group here on campus that helps raise awareness about mental health issues. Over the next half hour we discuss HeadStrong in rich detail, covering its origin, its meaning, its significance, and its impact on those involved with it. In the process, I begin to realize just how awesome Tara is.

HeadStrong, more formally known as HeadStrong: Student Advocates for Mental Health, is “a place for students to form community and address stigma surrounding mental health through advocacy, education and awareness.”

In other words, it’s a place to talk openly and shamelessly about mental health issues.

“I was surprised TU didn’t have already something like HeadStrong. I went to OU and they had mental health awareness groups on campus. Same with other colleges I visited. But not TU.” Tara said she’s been working on HeadStrong for two years. “I got really interested in mental health awareness in high school. It’s just grown since then.”

Although it’s still in its baby stages (having been chartered last fall), HeadStrong, Tara informs me, is strong and kicking. Members meet every Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Blue House behind Chapman Hall to discuss certain mental health issues.

“We’re not a support group,” Tara clarifies. “We’re an advocacy group. We discuss mental health issues as a group. We help inform each other about different aspects of mental health, but we don’t therapize each other. HeadStrong

“Haven: Understanding Sexual Assault.” Over half a million college students supplement their education with classes from EverFi each year. The fact that each student is required to complete the course says a lot about the university’s commitment to preventing sexual assault, and supporting the survivors of sexual assault and relationship violence.

The class began and ended with a survey of the student’s knowledge in sexual violence statistics, values and experiences. This is an indication that the results, while anonymous, could be used to measure the effectiveness of the course as well as the statistics about sexual violence in college.

1 in 5 women and 1 in 33 men in college report being sexually assaulted in college, and half of the women assaulted do not report their attack. Haven brings another startling fact to light: 90% of sexual assaults are carried out by somebody that the victim personally knows. This shows a clear rift in communication and respect between members of university student bodies.

While completing the sexual

Something perplexing about the culturally imposed stereotypes so violence training, I could not help but admire the well roundedness class was that when issues of cul- that they can be sensitive to the opof the class. The course’s broad tural stereotyping were addressed, posite gender as well as their own.

While it may be too early to topics included relationship vio- the course did not require that I lence, stalking, and what to do educate myself on the gender ste- judge the effectiveness of Haas a bystander.

Sample scenarios with possible responses to difficult situations were given, as well as videos, testimonies and graphics with shocking statistics. Careful instructions were given on how to speak out as a bystander, which is a valuable tool for safety in social situations.

Haven did an excellent job of providing model Julia Westbrook / Collegian scenarios of both A TU student completes Haven, the university’s required online sexual violence training. straight and LGBTQ couples, showing that sexual reotypes of the opposite sex. This ven, could the bigger question we violence is not exclusive to hetero- seemed like a mistake, because should be asking ourselves be: sexual relationships. This made stereotyping and sexist language what does required sexual viothe class more accessible to stu- are major factors in patterns of lence training say about these gendents of all sexual orientations and sexual violence. Women and men der roles we impose on each other gender identities. should be aware of both sexes’ as a society?

Sexual assault training points to a bigger issue

TU’s required sexual violence training is wellrounded, but the fact that it’s needed speaks volumes about college in our society.

Julia Westbrook Student Writer

At the risk of having one’s enrollment availability disabled, each student at the University of Tulsa must complete an online sexual violence training course. The university claims that this class, along with the Alcohol Awareness class, is aimed at educating students and creating safer communities. The class incorporates a variety of topics and teaching methods and even invites the student to add their input. While the overall effectiveness of these classes is debatable, the more pressing question to the student body should be: what does a required course about Sexual Violence say about college in our society?

The company EverFi, whose mission is to educate college students on pertinent life skills, runs the course. The course is called

Automation will force us to change views on unemployment

As many industries become automated, our society will need to reconsider its focus on work as part of the intrinsic value of a person.

Steven Buchele Student Writer

As humans we have unjustly attributed inferiority and brought moral judgement upon many undeserving groups. People of different race, gender, religion, culture, preference, beliefs, sexuality; all these and more have suffered under the weight of prejudice and stigma. And we like to think we’re at least getting better.

“Sure,” we might tell ourselves, “we’re not perfect yet. But we’re moving towards there. We’re having conversations and bringing these problems to light. We are addressing it.”

Yet, even though these conversations are good and necessary things, even as we try to improve, we are overlooking an immense systematic persecution, so large

and “acceptable” that it is practically invisible: the persecution of the poor, homeless and unemployed.

“Not true!” a small part of us screams when confronted with this accusation. “I donate to the homeless shelter at Christmas. I help out with Habitat for Humanity.”

And yet we also treat panhandlers with a mixture of fear and disgust. We don’t want the poor and destitute “invading” the places we frequent or the neighborhoods we live in. We actually applaud cities that build benches that are impossible to sleep on in parks.

And though we may occasionally assist a charity, how often do we do it without some hidden satisfaction of being, somehow, “better” than those pitiful creatures we claim to help?

“Oh, they’re not educated enough.” We try to excuse these prejudices by pointing out some perceived inadequacy. “They are lazy, don’t work hard enough.

They’re incompetent, addicted, miscreant, criminal, worthless, junkies.”

They are not.

This is the dark side of the American dream. We believe if we just work hard enough, do enough, try hard enough, we can be successful. Our success, we like to imagine, is our own. Failure, then, must be the fault of the failed.

And nowhere is this disgusting kind of capitalist morality found than in “employment.” It’s politics season again, and I can guarantee that you have heard lots of people talking about “creating jobs,” or “boosting employment.”

A lot of the reason this is so important to people is that we consider some large part of a person’s value to be encapsulated in their job.

Yet equating goodness to employment is false. There is nothing about going to some place to earn money that makes a person good, worthy or valuable.

Having a job means that a person can contribute to their community and have value that way, right?

Wrong. Having a normal job is far from the only way that we contribute to our community. It isn’t even

one of the most important ways we benefit our communities. How many jobs are a greater benefit to a community than they are a benefit to a company?

Let me inform you of one huge reason you should care about this: there are going to be fewer “jobs” in the future. Computers, robots, on-demand freelancers and automatization are on the verge of killing thousands of jobs.

Consider the transportation industry, which moves millions of tons of people and goods a week.

Google cars, hyper-loops, Uber and more could replace the millions of people driving our cars, trucks, planes and trains within a decade.

Cheap robotics are bringing manufacturing back to North America, yes, but they’re not going to be hiring hundreds of people to work in these new factories. Try dozens. Automated call directing programs are replacing secretaries. Artificial intelligence chat bots are replacing sales representatives.

Big data and algorithms are replacing marketing professionals.

Machine learning is getting better than humans at diagnosing illnesses. Japan has robots replacing nurses.

New machines and materials are constantly cutting down the number of humans necessary at construction sites. Your brochure can be generated by a computer.

WATSON (the computer that won Jeopardy) can create a brand new recipe based on what you have in your fridge.

How many of you even talk to a clerk at a grocery store? (Oh and by the way, if Target has its way, the only humans in a Target ten years from now will be customers.)

Folks, as our population increases and the number of jobs that can’t be done more cheaply and better by computers decreases, more people will become not only unemployed but unemployable.

So, we’re going to have to get over this backward capitalist morality that equates human value to wealth and employment status or we’re going to have problems.

Sports

The Collegian: 12

28 September 2015

Baseball predictions, oh how wrong we were Last year Collegian sports writers collaborated on an article titled “Count down to baseball, how will the divisions play out in 2015.” As it turns out, most of our predictions were off the mark. Here’s a look at our predictions and what really happened.

Matt Rechtien Sports Editor I’ll go division by division starting with National League East.

Please note: all the quotes I use come from the article we ran last spring and represent our predictions.

National League East “This division will be dominated by the Nationals. Adding Max Scherzer to 2014’s best pitching staff will prove devastating to a division weak on offense.”

We’ll start off with one of the biggest surprises (there were a lot of surprises this season) and that’s the Nationals—everybody’s favorite pick for the World Series—fall from the top of their division and sitting out in October.

While the Nationals did lead the East for a large part of the first half of the season, they were never truly able to dominate the NL East even with probable NL MVP Bryce Harper.

The Mets stayed with them, and eventually surpassed them after drastically improving their roster at the trade deadline, by adding some power to their roster in the form of wx-Detroit Tiger Yoenis Cespedes.

With their strong, young pitching and their new-look offense, the Mets captured their first division title since 2006.

“The only surprise out of this division will be if the Phillies finally trade stars such as Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon and Chase Utley.”

None of those players play for Philadelphia now.

National League Central Our best prediction without a doubt came from the NL Central.

“The NL Central is again one of, if not the most, stacked divisions in the Major Leagues. Likely headed by perennial championship contenders the Saint Louis Cardinals, the division is the strongest from top to bottom.”

That is one of the biggest understatements of the century. The NL Central not only boasts the team with the best record in baseball—the Cardinals—but the second and third best as well—Pirates and Cubs respectively.

they still haven’t officially clinched a spot (it’s Sunday).

That was pretty much the extent of our prediction—well that and the Giants would return to the postseason in 2016 to keep their every-even-year streak alive.

Fun fact: the Dodgers have one of the largest payrolls in baseball, and a lot of that is paid to players who either aren’t on the team or never start.

American League East We were a lot worse at predicting the American League, which turned out to be the weaker league this season (mostly because of the strength of the NL Central), at least in the regular season.

Starting with the East, which has turned

“As it turns out, most of our predictions were off the mark” In fact, if these three teams were all in separate divisions in the National League they would have each clinched a division title. But instead they are all still fighting for position in the division.

“Look for the Central to send two teams to the postseason, the division winner and a wild-card team.”

So it will be three teams instead of just two, but we were pretty close on this prediction—the Cubs were just a lot better this year than expected.

National League West “Tickle me surprised if the Dodgers don’t more or less run away with this division come October.”

There really were no surprises from this division, except maybe that the Dodgers struggled as much as they did in one of the weakest division in baseball. I’m writing this with one week left in the season and

out a lot different than we thought: “The AL East holds the winner of free agency this past season, the Boston Red Sox. They have the most dominant lineup in the MLB after acquiring Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.”

This turned out to be completely wrong.

The Red Sox are the worst team in their division this season, and will not come close to making the playoffs.

While we did predict that the Blue Jays would make a push for second in the division—which exceeded thanks to great trades for Troy Tulowitzki and David Price in July—we were wrong in our prediction for the Yankees.

“The Rays and Yankees bring up the bottom of the division. It may be a rough year for the Evils Empire.”

American League Central “At the end of the year, I like the White

Sox to be the surprising Chicago team to make the playoffs.”

Everything about that prediction was wrong. The South Side will not be hosting any playoff games this year, but the North Side will.

We assumed after the Royals miraculous run in the postseason last year—where they went from wildcard to one game from winning the World Series—they would stumble this year, and just remain competitive.

Instead they have one of the top two records in the American League and have won the American League Central for the first time in their team’s history.

American League West Finally we come to the worst of our predictions. While it was one of the more competitive divisions in league—with only four games separating the top three teams—we were wrong again about who would be on top.

“The Rangers have been plagued by injuries yet again and it will show in their record. The Astros will not compete by any means, but will improve as their young roster continues to develop...I think the Angels and Mariners will make the playoffs in a tough division.”

The Rangers currently lead the division, the Astros surprised everybody and remain in playoff contention after leading the West for a good part of the season and the Angels and Mariners are currently out of the postseason.

So what did we learn in all of this? First, we aren’t the greatest at making predictions.

But second, and perhaps more telling, is something I said in another article I wrote last year about baseball: “the length of the season and the nature of the sport allow a type of suspense and strategy that no other sports can offer.”

In the realm of sports, and especially baseball, what all the facts point to happening doesn’t always end up happening.

Baylor assistant seen on Tulsa’s sideline at OU The Golden Hurricane had a bye this week, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t make the headlines, as a Baylor assistant coach was seen on our sidelines, a violation of NCAA policy.

Wade Crawford Sports Writer There was an unexpected guest on the University of Tulsa sideline during the Oklahoma/Tulsa game this past Saturday.

Baylor assistant coach Jeff Lebby was on the Tulsa sideline, seemingly getting a firsthand view of the Oklahoma defense in lieu of their matchup on November 14th.

The presence of Lebby on the Tulsa sideline violates NCAA bylaw 11.6.1, which prohibits “off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents.”

Lebby’s presence on the sideline was due to sideline credentials left behind by head coach Philip Montgomery. Montgomery was quick to take responsibility for the incident.

“Obviously, it was a mistake and a poor decision on my part to leave a credential for Jeff and his wife,” Montgomery said in a statement.

“They were in the Oklahoma City/Norman area for a wedding and came to the game to support me...there was no malicious intent on my part...I called [Oklahoma coach Bob] Stoops and apologized for the situation.”

Even with Montgomery’s explanation,

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

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

Thursday

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: 9/28 – 10/4 Friday

Saturday

Cross Country @ Chili Pepper Festival

Women’s Tennis @ Charleston ITF 10K No Events Men’s Golf @ Windon Memorial Classic

Baylor head coach Art Briles, Baylor University and the Big 12 Conference have all weighed in on the matter.

“If I had been aware, that situation would have never happened,” Briles said. “As a coach, you’re never a fan. You always fall under different guidelines.”

Briles continued, explaining that Lebby’s presence was moot. “But from a strategic standpoint or an advantage, it’s absolutely goose egg*. You learn more watching on TV than you can standing on the sideline.”

Baylor University has already instituted a self-imposed suspension on Lebby for the first half of the Oklahoma game, which was accepted by Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby in the following statement.

“The opportunity for Coach Lebby to scout a future opponent by being on the sideline of a conference member’s opponent is inconsistent with the principles and expectations of the Big 12 Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Policy.”

Baylor has already dealt with a pair of other assistant suspensions, as offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and receivers coach Tate Wallis were out for Baylor’s game against Lamar on September 12th.

In other news the Golden Hurricane will return to Tulsa on Saturday looking to get back on the winning track when they play the University of Houston Cougars in their first American Athletic Conference game of the season. Houston defeated the Hurricane 28–38 last season in Houston. *Editor’s note: I find it amusing that Art Briles uses the term goose egg because I’ve never heard that used in this context.

Volleyball @ SMU 6 p.m.

Women’s Soccer vs. SMU 7 p.m.

Softball vs. Butler CC 5 p.m.

Football vs. Houston 11 a.m.

Rowing @ Head of Oklahoma

Men’s Tennis @ ITA All-American Men’s Soccer @ Cincinnati 6 p.m.

Sunday

Men’s Tennis @ ITA All-American Women’s Soccer vs. Houston 1 p.m.

Volleyball vs. East Carolina 1:30 p.m.

28 September 2015

Sports

The Collegian: 13

Women’s soccer opens conference with a draw

Collegian / Greg Diskin

Left: Junior midfielder (24) Claire Maris pushes the ball forward into Memphis zone in Thursday night’s draw against the Tigers at home. Right: Junior midfielder Lana Bermel beats the Tiger defender in Thursday’s game. The Golden Hurricane had 12 shots on the night, including three on goal, but failed to score any goals.

The Golden Hurricane women’s soccer team hosted the Memphis Tigers last Thursday. The Hurricane look to build off their momentum from out-of-conference where they went 9–1.

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer On Thursday night the Golden Hurricane women’s soccer team played their first

American Athletic Conference game against the Memphis Tigers.

Last season, Tulsa lost to Memphis, who finished second in the conference. This year’s contest had a different result.

Throughout the game, each team had numerous chances to get on the scoreboard, but couldn’t get around the goalkeepers.

Tulsa goalkeeper Courtney McKeon and Memphis goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel were very active, and kept the clean sheet for their respective teams.

Both sides had double digit shot counts,

but the game ended as a 0–0 draw after regulation and two overtime periods.

After the game, Golden Hurricane coach Kyle Cussen said, “I thought we did some things really well in the back, including getting the shutout, and I feel like our midfield was really strong tonight and we created some good chances. There is a lot we can take from tonight.”

Tulsa’s record now sits at 9–1–1 on the season and 0–0–1 for conference play. Their next game is on Thursday night at 7 pm, when they host SMU at Hurricane Stadium.

College football once again exciting for all three Div. I Oklahoma teams

Being a college football fan in the state of Oklahoma has been rough for a couple years, but this season looks to be a return to winning for all three Division I teams.

Mason Morgan Sports Writer

It took a few years, but the tradition of winning has returned for Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa’s football teams.

After last year’s disappointing seasons, each team is looking to build off of their most recent successes.

OU’s season last year had them finishing at 8–5, with an unprecedented three losses in Norman but a somewhat traditional noshow in their bowl game.

They came into this season with thier new “Air Raid” offensive system and a new quarterback and have yet to lose a game.

OSU ended their disastrous season last year on a high note, beating Oklahoma and then going on to win their bowl game. But before those last two games, they had lost five straight and only finished 7–6 on the season.

They also haven’t lost yet this year but haven’t really had any big challenges yet.

They have capitalized on their much improved defense while their offense has struggled.

The Golden Hurricane looks completely different from last year, when they finished 2–10. They’ve already matched that win total after only three weeks and had a really strong effort against Oklahoma in Norman. They have a revitalized offense under Coach Montgomery and quarterback Dane Evans has looked like a totally new player throwing for over 300 yards in every game this season.

All three have had scares early on the season, but they have come out on the winning

side of those close games.

OU pulled out a close game late against Tennessee, OSU had some trouble in Texas this week, and TU needed overtime to win their season opener against Florida Atlantic University.

It’s still early, but this could be the best year for the three schools since 2008, when all three won at least nine games. Those three teams were led by record breaking quarterbacks Sam Bradford, Zac Robinson and David Johnson.

Dane Evans and Baker Mayfield look to follow in those footsteps, while OSU is having some quarterback issues.

The bigger games are still to come, with Tulsa facing Houston at Chapman Stadium this week and OU hosting West Virginia, but early indications seem to show that all three teams this year look to be significantly improved.

It’s certainly been awhile since college football in Oklahoma has been this exciting.

After Popgeorgiev’s goal, the Golden Hurricane pushed forward. Cameron Drackett took the ball down to the endline and crossed it into the box. Kangaroo goalkeeper Nathan Spores stopped the cross, but the ball ended up sitting right in front of the net, and Cole Poppen was able to get there in time to pop the ball over Spores to put Tulsa on the scoreboard.

In the second half, Tulsa was searching for an equalizer. As time was winding down, they continued to push forward, and broke through with less than ten minutes remaining. Cameron Drackett again put a cross in, and this time Juan Sanchez was there to drill the shot into the corner of the goal, leveling the score at two goals each.

At the end of regulation the score remained tied, so the teams headed into overtime. Tulsa wasted no time in getting up the field. Lesley Nchanji had space to cross into the center, and Juan Sanchez ran under the ball, heading it over Spores to give the Golden Hurricane the sudden death victory, with a score of 3–2.

After the game head coach Tom McIntosh said, “I thought we moved the ball pretty well tonight and we were much better going forward than we were on Saturday. It

was a tough game after coming off the loss at Creighton and then going down two goals early, but the guys were never rattled and they just kept playing.”

On Saturday night the Golden Hurricane played their first game against an American Athletic Conference opponent when SMU travelled to Tulsa.

In the first half Tulsa held possession better than SMU, but weren’t able to put many attempts on target. SMU, though they had fewer chances, made the most of them. Seven minutes into the game, SMU counterattacked down the left side of the field, and crossed it into the center.

Brenden Lee was able to knock the ball down, and let it bounce once before firing across the goal into the lower lefthand corner to give the Mustangs a 1–0 lead.

That goal proved to be all SMU needed, and the teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the game, but no one was able to find the back of the net. Tulsa had fifteen shots, but only three of them were on target.

After the loss, the Golden Hurricane dropped to 4–4–1 on the season (0–1 in the American Athletic Conference). Their next game is on road Saturday night at 6 pm at Cincinnati.

Men’s soccer outlasts the Kangaroos, falls to SMU to start conference play

After playing three of the top five teams in the country, Tulsa traveled to Kansas City, before hosting SMU as they look to defend their American Athletic Conference title.

Joseph Edumnds Sports Writer

The Golden Hurricane men’s soccer team bounced back from their loss to top ranked Creighton with a road victory against the Kangaroos of UMKC. The game started out rough for Tulsa, as the Kangaroos jumped out to an early lead, getting on the scoreboard in ten minutes. After Tulsa goalkeeper Jake McGuire cleared the ball, Didrik Rinde settled the ball at his teammate Hamish Smylie’s feet, and Smylie put a powerful shot past McGuire into the lower left corner of the goal.

The Kangaroos second goal came on a break, when Pandeli Popgeorgiev got behind the defense and curved the ball around McGuire into the right side of the net. The goal gave UMKC a 2–0 lead.

Tulsa bounced back quickly, however.

Softball Opens Season With Exhibition The Golden Hurricane Softball team opened their fall exhibition season last Wednesday beating Crowder College by a score of 14–2, followed by a trip to Wichita, Kan. to play the Shockers and Creighton. These were the first three of eight games the Golden Hurricane will play between now and mid-October. Tulsa has eleven players returning from last season including seven starters and two pitchers. Maddie Withee was a first-team AllAmerican Athletic Conference selection in 2015, and Caitlin Sill led the pitching staff with a 2.21 ERA last season. In addition to the eleven returning players, the Golden Hurricane also brought on seven freshman. Their next game is on Friday at home against Butler Community College.

Volleyball Starts Conference Play The volleyball team went on the road for their first conference games, with the first stop being New Orleans on Friday to take on Tulane. TU fell in five sets to the Green Wave, and their record now sits at 5–8. Junior outside hitter Rebecca Reeve led the Hurricane with 23 kills and junior libero Brooke Berryhill recorded 27 digs in the loss.

Next up, Tulsa traveled to Houston to play the Cougars on Sunday afternoon.

Trailing two sets to none, Tulsa rallied to win the match 3–2 in five sets. Junior Erica Bohannon led Tulsa with 24 kills and Berryhill once again led in digs with 20 TU will finish the road trip on Tuesday against SMU before returning home to play the East Carolina Pirates on Oct. 4.

Men’s Golf At Windon Memorial The men’s golf team is playing in the Windon Memorial Classic with two rounds of play on Sunday and one round to close out the Classic on Monday afternoon. The 14-team field consists of Georgetown, Indiana, Lamar, Loyola, Marquette, Michigan, North Texas, Northwestern (host), Ohio State, Princeton, Purdue, SE Louisiana, Tulsa and UC Davis.

Soccer Coach Elected to Hall of Fame Men’s assistant coach Justin Cook was selected last week by Ohio State to be inducted into their Athletics Hall of Fame.

Cook played four years at OSU and is one of only two players in Big Ten history to win both Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2000) and Big Ten Player of the Year (2004). Cook is one of only three soccer players ever to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

28 September 2015

The State-Run Media

the

State-Run media Alternative is the new mainstream

Professors swap subjects, classes more enjoyable In an attempt to implement an interdisciplinary learning strategy, some professors have taken it upon themselves to teach students in polar opposite fields.

James Whisenhunt Swapped with an evil twin TU student Margaret Skinner approached The State-Run Media last week after noticing that something seemed a bit off about her professor in Thursday’s session of Foundations of Psychology.

“When I came into class on Thursday,” stated Skinner, “it seemed that, for once, there wasn’t an inherent disappointment in her eyes.”

A similar report came from biology student Andrew Carson concerning his Intro to Biological Science class. Carson reported that he saw his teacher laugh, but

Bi

Foundations of Tenth Edition

Copyright 2015 Graphic by James Whisenhunt

Professor Fleming’s personal copy of the Intro to Biological Sciences textbook his friends didn’t believe him.

These outlandish accusations piqued the interest of the StateRun Media’s top-notch investigative team. It was soon discovered there had been a “switcheroo” among University faculty.

The State-Run Media’s inquiries uncovered that psychology department adjunct Elise Fleming and tenured Biology professor Elliot Beck have been teaching each other’s classes for the last two weeks. This switch has been met with little to no acknowledgement

from fellow faculty members or University officials.

When asked if they understood their new subjects, it appeared neither of them had any clue what they were doing.

“I’ve just been pulling stuff out of my ass,” Fleming reported excitedly. “I don’t have any idea what cellular respiration is, and I guess these kids don’t either.”

Regardless of whether or not the teachers understand the subjects, students mostly seem not to have noticed. Or, in some cases,

they enjoy the classes more.

“My mom said getting a Psych major wouldn’t involve Tarot cards,” reports freshman psychology enthusiast Alan Rogers.

“But Professor Beck’s midterm involves both tarot reading and Freudian psychoanalysis.”

Students in Fleming’s Intro to Biological Science class have reported that, although they haven’t learned much, the class is much more enjoyable than they had expected. “I had heard this was a weed-out class,” student Daria

Watson told State-Run reporters, “But Professor Fleming believes in culturing a ‘healthy learning environment’, and I haven’t pulled a single all-nighter for this class!”

It is uncertain whether this interdisciplinary teaching strategy will adversely affect the students’ academic futures, but Biology Department Chair Jeremy Crick wasn’t concerned by the switch.

“It’s just the Intro class,” he stated. “Who cares?”

can neither be created or destroyed, some lucky kid might just inherit enough points to get an A. Adjectival Assessment: If your class isn’t particularly “numbers friendly” you might consider just ditching the numerical stratification all together. Apply creative adjectives to your students’ work and use those as your grades. The best part about this system is that it allows for a much broader and more expressive scale. A boring old “55” could never express the Lilac-ness of Norm’s paper. Students might be a bit confused, but they’ll come around when they

find out that they can get a “Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious” on their transcript.

Evolution: It might take a while, but this is a surefire way to raise your class’ average grade.

After each assignment, kill off the bottom fraction of the class and force the remainder into pseudoarbitrary mating pairs. Wait until their offspring reach an appropriate level of maturation and give them the new assignment. Repeat this until you have enough assignments for a respectable gradebook, then award final grades based on lineage and pedigree. You’ll have

the best students in any college, guaranteed.

Whose grade is it anyway: This is for those classes where everything is made up and the points don’t matter. Award arbitrary points to students when they make you laugh, bring up an valid and poignant point that you don’t know how to answer, or do a particularly good job on the weekly “things you can say to a Kant scholar but not a women’s and gender studies major.” This method might not provide the most solid results but you’ll have the most fun.

Tournament Class: If you’re teaching a weed-out class and the Evolution Grading scale is just a little too slow for you, try taking a page from the sports world and set up a tournament. Each assignment is a head-to-head competition between two students. Winner takes an A, loser gets an F. (And for those unsatisfactory ties, give both of them a C.) At the end of the season—err, semester—give everybody a final grade based on their win record and go home!

Best class ever!

The State-Run Media’s top five alternative grading scales Midterms are right around the corner, and in the spirit of academic excellency, writers at the State Run Media have compiled a list of suggestions for professors to make grades more personal, effective, and reflective of student engagement. Try one of the following systems in your next class and see how they work!

Steven Buchele Grades based on feeling Entropic: If you really want to follow the laws of thermodynamics in your classroom, this is the way to go. Start out the class with a certain number of points distributed in a very structured, organized and centralized way.

For example, give ten percent of your class 100 percent and everybody else zero percent. Then every interaction that happens in the class—every question they ask, every lecture, assignment or assessment you give, every time one of them shows up for office hours, every time they talk to each other—increase the chaos of the grades. Sure the students’ grades might tend toward this barely differentiable background noise somewhere far south of 30 percent, but it will really get the lesson across. And as a plus, every time a student drops, since grades

Student consumes too much pumpkin spice This week State-Run investigators looked into one student’s obsession with pumpkin spice, and discovered what happens when addiction goes unchecked.

Lauren Rogers Just bought new Uggs The beginning of autumn has brought on the first round of exams for the semester at the University of Tulsa. Luckily for students, this season also heralds the return of Starbucks’ beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte.

For some, this drink can be a much-needed study aide. But for others the combination of stress and lack of sleep can lead to what is known as a “PSL overdose”.

Finding no previous record of a PSL-related hospitalization on record, doctors are baffled after local Education student Mary Meehan sought medical attention last week complaining of a strange

Graphic by James Whisenhunt

An example of an exam graded with a more personalized system

“cinnamon feeling.”

Meehan reports she had been working towards her Starbucks Gold Card, and began buying even more drinks once she earned her membership. According to Meehan, it just “made sense” to buy upwards of ten drinks at a time, in order to earn that one extra free drink.

Meehan insists that there are added health benefits to the drink as well, given recent changes to the latte’s recipe.

“The PSL has real pumpkin in it this year,” Meehan stated after doctors asked her about her intake of the beverage. “So it’s definitely healthier, right?”

Doctors noticed that Meehan’s condition worsened after her sorority sisters brought more lattes to the hospital to cheer her up. According to Dr. Meredith Cheney, Meehan’s physician, upon drinking the lattes the student’s complexion suddenly turned orange, and she complained that her mouth tasted like nutmeg and clove.

“She had started drinking more lattes when she realized she had some exams coming up,” Meehan’s sorority sister, Audrey Obaidi stated. “Mary asked us to bring her more drinks, but we started questioning whether or not we should.”

Meehan’s condition took a turn last week when, suddenly, she completely turned into a fullfledged Pumpkin Spice Latte. She was found unresponsive next to her open “Intro to Education” textbook.

Dr. Cheney believes that there is only one answer as to what caused Mary’s ailment. “The diagnosis is simple,” Cheney stated. “You are what you eat.”

Starbucks has yet to comment on the issue, but medical professionals are warning fans of the latte to keep their intake at a “reasonable” level. As for Meehan, doctors are hopeful that abstinence from the drink will repair her condition.

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