1 February 2016

Interview with Cain’s owner highlights history of the Ballroom, p 8

Trey Barnett sues TU over his suspension last year, p 5

“I Hate Hamlet” a hilarious take on acting, p 13

Photos by James Whisenhunt

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

Sports

The Collegian: 2

1 February 2016

THE RICHARDS GROUP TRG JOB #: SBU-14-0065 CLIENT: SMU TITLE: Master’s College Print PUB: Tulsa Collegian INSERTION: 11/10/14 TRIM: 5.125" x 10.5" COLOR: CMYK LINE SCREEN: SNAP/85

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FOR QUESTIONS CALL: Kathleen Pendergast 214.891. 2918

photos by Greg Diskin

Clockwise from top left: James Woodard saves a ball from going out of bounds under the hoop during a Tulsa offensive possession. Woodard had ten points and tacked on six rebounds against Tulane. Brandon Swannegan hooks the ball into the basket against Tulane. Swannegan had a career-high 19 points in the 62–48 and added eleven rebounds, three of them offensive, in the win on Saturday night. Rashad Ray drives to the hoop against the Green Wave on Saturday.

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Sports

1 February 2016

The Collegian: 3

What’s the point of All-Star games? The disparity If the All-Star games are competitions between the best players in the sport, then why are the games they play so bad?

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer

By the time you read this article, the NFL Pro Bowl will have already taken place. But this is not a preview, nor do I think you can expect a review of it in next week’s edition, at least not from me. The reason? I just don’t care enough about it. And no offense, but if you care about watching it, you are one of the few.

Why do we watch sports? The earliest athletic events originated as a means of simulating warfare, which, when it existed in the hand-to-hand format of antiquity, was the purest way of determining physical superiority. Of course, fighting for one’s life usually ends with the other side dead and thus unable to compete in the future, not to

a game is competition. Without both sides giving it their all to win, our minds are reminded painfully that we are watching nothing more than a cheap simulation, the same way a terrible accent or badly rendered CGI can take you out of a movie.

This of course brings us full-circle back to the Pro Bowl and for that matter, any AllStar game. Despite the best efforts of each major professional league to market their respective game as exciting and competitive, the result is always the same: a poorly executed scrimmage of a bunch of disinterested professional athletes enjoying a vacation and trying not to get hurt.

This is especially evident in a sport like football, where injuries are such a frequent part of the game and teams’ playbooks are ridiculously complex and unique. There is nothing preventing a bunch of neighborhood kids gathering for a game of pickup football but when NFL athletes line up next to players who they are more or less unfamiliar playing with, the drop in execution and quality of play is jarring. And forget

“The single most important element to our enjoyment of a game is competition.” mention all of the physical and emotional trauma affecting the victor that any reasonable person would like to avoid. Therefore, in order to simulate the excitement of combat that we all crave so much in a non-lethal environment, we invented sports! Not too many sports fans make this connection today but if you look at the similarities in the rising of dopamine in the body during both war and when watching one’s favorite athlete perform well, it’s clear this connection still exists.

Now given all that, I ask you what the single most important variable in an athletic competition is as it relates to our collective enjoyment of it. Some people might just enjoy looking at the supremely fit bodies of professional athletes or simply like marveling at feats of superhuman athletic prowess like Aroldis Chapman’s 105 mph fastball or Odell Beckham Jr.’s leaping one-handed, three-fingered catch. But if we are to accept that sports began as, and still are, a simulation of war, then that means that the single most important element to our enjoyment of

any defensive end trying to make a particularly sharp cut to stop a juking RB or a slot receiver giving up his body to go over the middle; with few NFL contracts guaranteed, players would have to be pretty stupid to risk their health in a game that means absolutely nothing.

The NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in just a couple weeks’ time, might be even worse than the Pro Bowl because it doesn’t seem to understand what its fundamental flaw is. The Pro Bowl, at least in NFL circles, is recognized as somewhat of a joke but the NBA markets its game as arguably the biggest event of the year besides the Finals. Many players even have substantial financial incentives built into their contracts for making an All-Star appearance.

Yet the game itself is just one long layup line and dunk-fest for 46 minutes, then perhaps two minutes of competitive basketball at the end if the score is close and rival players share the floor. Barrages of three-pointers, snappy passing, and ferocious slam dunks are all exciting, but not

in a vacuum. Performing these feats over a group of defenders that is actively trying to stop them is what makes them so exhilarating and there is absolutely no tension if they are simply allowed to happen. A team scoring 125 points in an actual game is thrilling basketball; a final score of 163-158 in the All-Star game is not.

At the very least, the NFL and NBA believe that their All-Star competitions are exhibition events. But the MLB is asinine enough to lend their “Midsummer Classic” real ramifications, awarding the winning league home field advantage in the World Series. This decision was made with the design to ensure that the players gave their all and ignored such contradictory provisions as every team being required to send at least one representative to the game (ensuring that the squad probably isn’t entirely made up of the actual best players) and the managerial tradition of getting as many players into the game as possible (leading to frequent substitutions). What’s more, baseball isn’t really a sport than can be played at the half-assed pace of a relaxed game of football or basketball, so the World Series decider isn’t even necessary!

I am not the only one to notice or voice these complaints about All-Star games, so one may wonder why they even still exist.

The simple answer is that they continue to be justified through revenue and viewership. The NBA and MLB All-Star games are consistently the most viewed TV events of their respective sports outside of the Finals, quality be damned, just because they appeal to nationwide audiences wanting to catch a glimpse of their favorite players and the fact that they are the only product of their leagues playing at the time (in other words, there aren’t other games to watch).

The Pro Bowl, on the other hand, is experiencing steadily declining viewership and lags behind every Sunday and Monday night regular season game, let alone the NFL playoffs. And yet never having dipped below 10 million viewers, it still ranks ahead of most anything any other American sport puts on television. The unfortunate truth is that these yawn-fests still have a place in the business models of sports. And that means gritting our teeth as fans of actual competition and putting up with them. But we don’t have to like them.

Head coaches don’t have job security If you are an NBA coach not named Steve Kerr or Greg Popovich, there is a high chance that you could lose your job.

Mason Morgan Sports Writer Earlier this month, the first place Cleveland Cavaliers fired their head coach David Blatt. These are the very same Cavaliers that made the NBA Finals last year and pushed the Golden State Warriors to six games.

To be fair, there were many reasons why Blatt was fired. Kevin Love is essentially one-dimensional for the team, they were getting stomped by the league’s best teams and some say that LeBron James was really the most important coach for the team.

The only problem for the Cavs is that there wasn’t much of a back-up plan for after Blatt was gone. Their move to hire assistant coach Tyronn Lue to take over is interesting. Lue was one of the options before Blatt was hired, stayed on as an assistant and contains just as much NBA head coaching experience as I do.

The move by the Cavs is following a current trend in the NBA. You’re either contending or you’re nothing. This is usually the norm, but is being magnified as of late by two super teams: the Golden State War-

Monday

riors and San Antonio Spurs. This year, they have been blowing out really good teams and are on pace for historical records while essentially knocking out any other teams that considered themselves “contenders.”

This includes Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Houston and Chicago, all of whom fired their head coaches in the past year.

It’s hard to say if all of these moves are

courtesy Wiki Commons

Blatt is only the third coach in the last forty years to be fired after going to the Finals the year before.

justified, but when there really isn’t any upgrade in coaching, it’s difficult to see how they make any sense. Houston has gone

Tuesday

No Events No Events

backwards after making the conference finals last year, Oklahoma City still can’t play defense or run any set plays late and Chicago hasn’t seen any improvement across the board. It will be interesting to see in Cleveland, but the trend of these moves has so far been unfavorable.

What the GM’s of these teams want is to be the next Golden State. After Golden State fired Mark Jackson and hired Steve Kerr, it propelled them to a historic season and a title. This, however, was not a result of just the coaching change. Steph Curry transformed into a superstar, Draymond Green is probably the best role player for any team and their bench is probably good enough to make the playoffs by themselves.

It was pretty evident that coaching wasn’t as important when Luke Walton, the interim Golden State coach, started them off on a historic pace to start this season when Kerr took a leave of absence for health reasons.

It was funny to see San Antonio’s coach Gregg Popovich poke fun at the recent high turnover rate of coaches in the NBA. After the Spurs were blown out by Golden State on the road, he said that he was happy his GM wasn’t there or else he would be fired.

This is the way of the world now in the NBA and Cleveland’s move is probably not the last. I would not be surprised one bit if the LA Clippers fired their coach in the next few weeks.

Wednesday

Thursday

Women’s Basketball @ ECU 6:00 p.m.

Men’s Basketball @ Temple 6:00 p.m.

in professional soccer

Since 2008, the top awards have gone to the same two players. When will someone else challenge Messi and Ronaldo for the title of best player?

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer

Prior to 2010, two major awards were given out in the world of men’s international soccer: the Ballon d’Or, or Golden Ball, and the FIFA World Player of the Year. The Ballon d’Or was awarded to the player of the year in Europe, while the FIFA World Player of the Year, as the name states, was awarded to the best player in the world that year.

In 2010, the two awards were merged, and the FIFA Ballon d’Or was created. The new award covers the scope of the entire world.

Since its creation, only two players have won this award: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two are widely accepted as the best players in the world. It is frequently debated which of the two is better, but no one else has entered the conversation of the best player in the world in many, many years.

Even before the FIFA Ballon d’Or was created, the two took both awards in the final years of their existence, with Ronaldo winning both in 2008 and Messi taking both in 2009. They last player besides the two to win was Kaká. In total, Messi has won the award 5 times, including receiving the award this past month for the 2015 year, and Ronaldo has collected the award 3 times.

courtesy Wiki Commons

This trophy, which has existed for five years now, has only been held by two soccer players.

How much longer will this streak last?

They have won the award 8 years in a row, with no other player in the world coming close to interrupting the streak. The third place player in this year’s ballot, Neymar, only received 7 percent of the votes, while Messi won with 41 percent and Ronaldo was second with 27 percent.

For the next few years, there is no foreseeable end to the streak of dominance of the soccer world that the two have shown.

Ronaldo is 30, and Messi is 28; each have many more years of play ahead of them.

At this point, I feel safe predicting that their streak of earning the highest individual award in the sport of soccer will reach ten years. Predicting which of the two will win is another issue, but I don’t see Neymar closing the gap enough before the two are a few years closer to retiring from the sport.

Messi himself has stated that he believes Neymar will win the award one day, which I agree with entirely. Neymar is a young player that is still getting better, while already being in the top tier of players in the world.

I would not be surprised if Neymar wins the Ballon d’Or multiple times, but I can’t see him pushing Messi or Ronaldo off the top for another few years. The two have exhibited a combined dominance of being so far ahead of the rest of the sport that is rarely seen in sports today, and will continue that excellence until their final days of playing.

: Feb 1 – 7 Friday

Women’s Tennis @ Arkansas TBA

Saturday

Sunday

No Events

Men’s Basketball vs. Houston 2:00 p.m.

The Collegian: 4

Super Bowl Picks by the Sports Staff

Justin Guglielmetti: Some fans subscribe to the idea of rooting for the team that beat your own because it makes your own team look more impressive having lost to the best. I can sometimes get behind this; when TU’s basketball team beat Wichita State early in the season I was hoping WSU would go undefeated the rest of the way. But in the playoffs, when rankings no longer exist to make your team look good, when all that matters is whether you’re in or out, all of that goes out the window.

When the Denver Broncos beat my New England Patriots last week behind the play of their dominant pass rush (I’m not giving Peyton Manning any of the credit), they ensured my support of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl.

This is a matchup of two defensive juggernauts but ultimately Cam’s playmaking and Peyton’s inevitable choking will make the difference in Super Bowl 50.

Carolina 24 - Denver 13 Matt Rechtien: The Carolina Panthers have been playing with a chip on their shoulder all season, being called the worst team to be undefeated every week throughout the regular season. Critics were quick to point out that their record was simply the product of an easy regular season schedule. The Panthers ran with this chip all season and responded with the best points-per-game average in the NFL, primarily because of probable MVP Cam Newton. After dismantling the Arizona Cardinals, who were widely considered the second best team in the league, I predict they will carry that momentum into the big show. While I do think that Denver’s toprated defense will slow down Carolina’s offense, Peyton Manning will not be able to keep up.

Carolina 28 - Denver 14 Joseph Edmunds: When looking at this year’s Super Bowl matchup, many fans will be hesitant to predict a Broncos victory with the painful, blowout loss to the Seahawks two years ago still relatively fresh in their memories. The team this year is nearly the reverse of the team two years ago; the current team is orchestrated around the defense. The number one defense in the league has a lot of momentum, as they forced Tom Brady to play most of the AFC Championship game from the ground. I’m looking forward to seeing Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware chase Cam Newton around the field. The Panthers offense relies too much on Cam, and he doesn’t have enough support players that can step up in the clutch, which will be the Panthers downfall.

Denver 21 - Carolina 17 Wade Crawford: The Carolina Panthers surprised everyone during the regular season, going from mediocre preseason predictions to being the top seed in the NFC, due to MVP-caliber play by Cam Newton and an incredibly tough defensive unit. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos overcame some quarterback issues (who would’ve thought that would be a headline?) and relied on a strong defense of their own to get to the Super Bowl. The Broncos defense is riding high after dismantling the Patriots offensive line, yet the Panthers have a better offensive line and the scrambling abilities of Cam Newton.

Based on the AFC title game, the Panthers may try and utilize Greg Olsen, as Denver had trouble stopping Gronkowski. However, Olsen is no Gronk, and the Broncos will walk away with the Super Bowl trophy.

Denver 28 - Carolina 24 Mason Morgan: Usually the Super Bowl is not kind to heavy favorites. Many people, including Vegas, believe that Carolina should handle Denver easily. The current line is hovering around five points for the Panthers. Every player will hear during media week about what should happen and that stuff never usually happens.

Just like the Buffalo Bills against the Giants in Super Bowl 25 and the St. Louis Rams against the Patriots in Super 36, the overly cocky team ends up having some issues. Denver has an awesome defense, an incredible kicker, and Peyton can move the ball in warm weather as long as he doesn’t throw near Josh Norman. Carolina could still definitely win, but I think it will be closer than the gamblers think.

Denver 26 - Carolina 24 Gregory Diskin: I think this Super Bowl will be a lot closer than everyone thinks. Denver’s defense is one of the most extraordinary defenses I’ve ever seen and it’s going up a great offense in Carolina. In the end, I think that Carolina’s defense will be able to stop Denver and Peyton Manning more than Denver will be able to stop Cam Newton. I’m predicting a loss in Peyton Manning’s last game as a player as he slowly transitions into being a great coach somewhere in this league.

Carolina 30 - Denver 17

Sports

1 February 2016

After a split week, men sit second in AAC After a tough loss to Houston on the road and dominant win over Tulane at home, the Golden Hurricane sit at second in the conference.

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer

The Golden Hurricane men’s basketball team split their conference games this week, falling on the road at Houston, but bouncing back with a home victory against Tulane.

In Houston, the Cougars jumped out to a quick 9–0 lead. After the Golden Hurricane had started to chip into the lead, Houston went on another run, this time a 12–0 run, which pushed their lead up to fifteen points.

They ended the half with nearly that large of an advantage, as the score was 40–27 at the intermission. Tulsa shot poorly in the first half, converting on a mere 27 percent of their attempts from the field.

The second half featured much of the same play as the first, as Tulsa continued to struggle offensively. At one point, the Cou-

gars were able to push their lead up to 24 points, and fended off any hopes of a Tulsa comeback to earn the 81–66 victory.

Included in Tulsa’s shooting struggles for the game was a horrid 3 for 26 from behind

the three-point arc, good for 11.5 percent.

Pat Bird was the high-point man for the Golden Hurricane, scoring 16 points.

After the loss, Tulsa returned home to face Tulane, the last-place team in the American Athletic Conference. The game started out

ugly. Each team had trouble shooting, and turned the ball over frequently. The Golden Hurricane were able to grab the lead with an 11–2 run, that put them ahead 19–10. They couldn’t push the lead any farther in the first half, and took a 27–21 lead into the break.

In the second half, Tulsa started to shoot better, and Brandon Swannegan started to take over the game. He scored 12 of his career-high 19 points in the second half, and the Green Wave didn’t have an answer for him in the low post. Freshman Sterling Taplin also had a strong game, as the Golden Hurricane were able to pull ahead for a comfortable lead that turned into an easy win.

Tulsa now sits at 14–7 (6–3 AAC) on the season. Five different teams all sit behind SMU in the conference standings with three losses, but Tulsa is tied with Cincinnati for second place at the moment with their win total of six.

Up next for the Golden Hurricane is a trip to Philadelphia to face the Temple Owls on Feb 4, before they return home for a chance to avenge the loss to Houston on Feb 7.

Golden Hurricane could do little to attempt to change that. After just one quarter, the game was out of hand, and Tulsa managed to score only three points, facing a 27–3 deficit. The game didn’t get any better from there, and ended up in a 94–30 defeat for Tulsa.

In their next game, Tulsa travelled to face UCF, the team second from the bottom of the American Athletic Conference standings. The game was very tightly contested from start to finish. UCF took the lead in the first quarter, and held it by a small margin for the remainder of the first half.

In the third quarter, Tulsa started to let the

game slip, as UCF was able to pull out to a ten point lead midway through the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, though, the Golden Hurricane pressured the Knights, looking for the comeback victory. Tulsa managed to pull ahead with just 17 seconds remaining in the game, but Zykira Lewis drained a threepointer with four seconds remaining, giving the Knights the one point victory, 75–74.

The Golden Hurricane have now lost three straight, and sit at 7–15 (4–7 AAC).

That mark is good for seventh in the conference. Next, they play a road game at East Carolina on February 3 before returning home for a pair of home games.

into mainstream media, it is important to understand that this is not a new thing. ESports on TV started in the early 2000s with the game “Starcraft: Brood War” having competitive matches that were being shown on TV in South Asian countries. In fact, there was a channel in South Korea called NBC Game that was entirely devoted to gaming content. This was also attempted in the US with a channel called G4, which had content

the main site for video game streaming, around 2 years ago for $970 million. There are people who play video games on Twitch for a living, and these people are making 6 figure salaries. There are online and offline competitive leagues for every competitive game imaginable, and the prize pools in these leagues can be massive. Dota 2 had a world wide competition known as The International last year that had an $18 million prize pool. The research firm Newzoo predicts that eSports profits will reach $765 million by 2018.

So it is simple to see that eSports is on the rise. To those who have never watched a video game played competitively, I would recommend that giving it a shot. Competitive gaming is incredibly high energy, fastpaced and involves a huge amount of technical ability and game strategy, but can still be enjoyed with little knowledge about the game. There are some games like LoL or Dota 2 that require in-depth knowledge to watch, but there are also games like CS:GO or Super Smash Brothers Melee which are easy to watch without ever having played them. In fact the competitive gaming scene has become large enough to where anyone can find a game they enjoy watching, even if they are not a skilled gamer themselves.

So I would recommend that everyone give ESports a shot, because they won’t be going away for quite some time.

American Conference Standings #13 SMU Tulsa Cincinnati Temple UConn UCF Houston

8–1 6–3 6–3 5–3 4–3 4–3 5–4

Women fall to UConn, lose close one to UCF

The Golden Hurricane hosted top-ranked UConn and lost, before losing to UCF in a close road game.

Joseph Edmunds Sports Writer

This week, the Golden Hurricane dropped a pair of conference games: the first game was a home loss to UConn, and the second was a road loss at UCF. Tulsa faced a tall task when No. 1 ranked UConn visited the Reynolds Center. The Huskies are undefeated with a win streak of 56 games over the last few seasons, and the

ESPN now covers eSports ESPN recently opened up an eSports page on their website, a reflection of the rise in popularity of competitive video games in the past few years.

Alex Newell Student Writer ESPN recently opened a new section of its large media empire that will be devoted to eSports. The new addition, ESPN ESports, will provide offseason coverage on players and leagues, gamer profiles and videos and articles dealing with the current topics in the eSports scene. The website currently has devoted sections for “League of Legends,” “Dota 2,” and “Hearthstone,” however there has also been coverage of “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.”

Many people voiced criticism about the creation of ESPN ESports, but this has actually been in the works for a while now. In an interview with Forbes, ESPN.com Editorin-Chief Chad Millman said that the creation of ESPN ESports began about a year ago after an eSports edition of ESPN The Magazine was published. He said that after seeing the positive feedback to the eSports coverage and the growing fan base, they decided to create a permanent sector devoted to eSports.

To understand the movement of eSports

courtesy Wiki Commons

Cloud 9, a competitive eSports team, competes in a Dota 2 tournament. Cloud 9 is one of the teams that receives a lot of exposure on ESPN.

focused on gaming, technology, movies and comics. Sadly, both of these channels have been shut down.

But the past failures of mainstream eSports came from poor planning on the production side, not the gaming side. In fact, eSports as a whole have never been as big as they are now. Amazon bought Twitch,

Stories from baseball’s offseason

Even though the season ended back in October, the baseball world still remains active during the cold months.

Two of the biggest stories this winter are the Hot Stove (free agency) and the new push for the DH in the NL.

Big names make big moves Should baseball keep the DH? Wade Crawford Sports Writer

While everyone was getting excited over the NBA, NFL and college football seasons, Major League Baseball had another great offseason. Major names were moved around, both in trades and free agent acquisitions.

During the winter months, there were four surprising trades that were the biggest moves of the offseason. First, the Red Sox picked up Craig Kimbrel from the Padres for four minor leaguers, as Kimbrel goes to his third team in under a year. The Yankees traded for the heir apparent to Derek Jeter, acquiring Starlin Castro from the Cubs. That same day, Shelby Miller was shipped to the Diamondbacks for a package that included Dansby Swanson, the first overall pick in last year’s draft. Finally, the Yankees made another huge trade, trading for Aroldis Chapman and strengthening an already scary bullpen.

Trades weren’t the only big

news this offseason, as there were several free agent acquisitions as well. The Red Sox paid the biggest individual price of the offseason, signing David Price in a seven-year deal worth $217 million. The Detroit Tigers also shelled out a lot of free agent money, signing Justin Upton and Jordan Zimmermann to deals worth a combined $242 million. Other big arms that left their former teams were Johnny Cueto (to the Giants for $130 million) and Zach Greinke (to the Diamondbacks for $206.5 million).

The biggest position player to leave was Jason Heyward, signing an eight-year, $184 million deal with the Chicago Cubs.

Finally, several players resigned from their former teams, including Yoenis Cespedes, Chris Davis and Alex Gordon.

The MLB offseason was as busy as ever, with several huge trades and free agent pickups.

These deals are sure to drastically change the outlook of the national pastime, for next year and beyond.

Wade Crawford Sports Writer

Baseball is unique from other professional sports in multiple ways, one of the biggest ways being the distinct rule difference between two leagues at the highest level.

It’s a simple change, really—in the National League, the pitcher bats, while in the American, a designated hitter is used in place of the pitcher.

Ever since the adoption of the rule in 1973, there has been a hotly contested debate as to which brand of baseball should be adopted across the entire league.

On one side, you have the more purist argument of having the pitcher hit. The main argument is that every player has to bat, why exclude the pitcher?

There’s nine players on the field while the other team is at bat, there should be those same nine players batting.

However, some support the designated hitter rule. These people feel that the pitcher

shouldn’t have to worry about hitting, since baseball has evolved to the point where pitchers aren’t just another fielder, they are heavily specialized to pitch.

Plus, it gives a major role to a player that would otherwise be a liability due to their defense—take Edgar Martinez, for example.

For the past forty years, the DH debate has raged on every offseason. Personally, I really enjoy the current layout, and wish for nothing more than status quo.

The discrepancy between the leagues is one of the major unique parts of baseball. The rule gives the best of both situations, having good hitters but subpar defenders excel in the American League, while having pitchers that can hit well showcase their skills in the National.

Additionally, it shows the interesting difference in strategy between the leagues, with the additional hitter.

News

1 February 2016

The Collegian: 5

Trey Barnett takes on TU After his suspension last year, Trey Barnett has decided to take legal action against the University of Tulsa. He is suing for improper handling of his case and damages. Editor-in-Chief Giselle Willis and Managing Editor Fraser Kastner report.

A little over a year ago, the University of Tulsa suspended student Trey Barnett for harassment charges that revolved around Facebook posts made by his thenfiancé, now husband Christopher Mangum. He was eleven credit hours away from completing his degree in theater.

After Barnett’s suspension, The Collegian and other organizations, including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), accused TU of violating its own Policy on Harassment by failing to provide Barnett with a hearing.

Now, Barnett is suing the university for neglecting to perform a fair and reasonable investigation, for breaching due process in denying him a hearing, for a breach in contract between student and university that allows the student free speech and for “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

In filing the suit, Barnett hopes to do away with what he calls a “state of fear.”

He says his friends still worry that they will get in trouble for visiting him and that he himself has lost his sense of security.

Since his suspension, he has suffered from anxiety and depression. He has had

difficulty getting involved with theater productions in Tulsa because he has trouble getting out the door for auditions, and even once he is part of a show, he says it is hard for him to follow through.

According to Barnett, Tulsa’s theater community is tight-knit, so he assumes

professor in the 2013-14 school year.

Barnett also believes that administration made a scapegoat out of him because they couldn’t do anything about Mangum, who has never been a TU student.

During his own time at TU, Barnett had also sought protection under TU’s ha-

“In filing the suit, Barnett hopes to do away with what he calls a ‘state of fear.’” most of his potential coworkers know about his suspension from TU. One of the sanctions against Barnett prevents him from contacting the professors who were involved in his harassment charges.

Yet he believes that their motivation for accusing him was the need to “set an example.”

According to him, the theater department is the “redheaded stepchild” of TU’s departments because of its continuous problems with harassment, which, for example, led to the dismissal of a theater

rassment policy, but he says the student who accosted him for four months did not receive penalties as harsh as the ones he received later.

Regarding his own penalties, Barnett thinks TU administration missed pertinent information that “they just didn’t want to hear about” by neglecting to conduct an investigation.

Barnett’s lawyer, Steven Terrill, added that the whole case seems as though TU “had a desired outcome, and then worked backwards.”

For example, says Terrill, Senior Vice

Provost Winona Tanaka imposed sanctions on Barnett before receiving a formal written complaint, which violates university policy.

Terrill claims that Tanaka also could have investigated the harassment claims by following up on emails that Barnett cited in his defense, or by interviewing Mangum, but did not because she decided those sources were not credible.

This decision, according to the lawsuit, was “not only disingenuous, but confirms that TU approved the deficient investigation and denial of any meaningful process.”

Terrill says, “TU didn’t just suspend Trey.” Instead, he calls Barnett’s punishment a “constructive expulsion,” because of the emotional difficulty it has caused and because he is not allowed to complete his theater major even if he returns to TU. Barnett is asking for more than $75,000 in damages. The university does not comment on pending legal action and has yet to respond to the lawsuit.

Professor invited to join UN advisory group Dr. Eduardo Faingold, a TU professor of Spanish and linguistics, has been invited to join a group of scholars that advises the UN on issues of language policy and language rights.

Hannah Kloppenburg Commentary Editor Dr. Eduardo Faingold, a Spanish and Linguistics professor who has worked at TU since 1995, recently joined a distinguished group of scholars who advise the UN on language policy.

The group, known as the Study Group on Language and the United Nations, is primarily an academic group composed of specialists in language policy.

Dr. Faingold elaborated on the group’s members in a podcast interview released by Tulsa Public Radio on January 5.

“Language policy is a very wide field, so there are people who study issues like education… there are people who study organizations and the languages they choose, there are people who are studying languages which are disappearing and trying to understand how to revive these languages… You have basic policy issues in mind but most of us are interested in linguistics and some other field.”

Each member, Faingold said, has something specific to bring to the table. He himself was chosen because of his experience with a particular field.

“In my case, I’m interested in the law: what constitutions and statutes say about which languages should be used in different settings.”

He has published over 50 papers and written eight books in the areas of psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, language policy, immigration studies,

Professor Faingold has published many papers and books involving the multiple aspects of language.

expected to do what we do—to publish in major journals, and to produce knowledge,” said Faingold, adding that it is also, however, an advisory committee.

The Study Group on Language and the United Nations is not a part of the UN, but rather an external group which meets at the United Nations headquarters to discuss relevant language policy issues and advise the organization on how best to address them.

Issues up for discussion range from lan-

if you want to learn another one, they are going to support you.”

The UN, however, is lacking in some of its language policies.

“In the United Nations, they have chosen languages for historical reasons, not for, I would say, pragmatic reasons.” Faingold said.

“Its languages were the languages of the victors of the second world war. Which brings us to the problem that German and

“We—people in language policy—we have a consensus that we want to minimize conflict in the world that arises from language differences.”

Spanish in the United States and language rights; accomplishments which likely contributed to the decision to invite him to join the group.

Dr. Faingold told the Collegian that he was nominated by a current member of the organization to be invited, and his nomination was reviewed by a head juror before the invitation was issued.

The group is primarily academic. “We are

guage discrimination and questions of language rights (for example, cases such as the use of Catalan in Spain, and the issue of English-only ballots in the United States) to deciding which languages UN ambassadors should be trained in.

“What the United Nations has been doing very well is the issue of training diplomats,” Faingold said.

“They have a language training scheme which works for the six official languages…

Japanese are not official languages of the United Nations.”

Issues of language policy are important for the UN because they can affect communication between ambassadors and the natives they interact with, as well as communication between members from different nations.

Dr. Faingold explained how improvements to language policy affect effective communication:

courtesy University of Tulsa

“For example I can tell you personally, my case, you know I speak English fluently but fluency is not the same thing as being native in a language. So when you speak a language and you are not native and you are speaking it to natives, you are at a disadvantage.

So in many situations, English is being used to communicate with people who are fluent in English, but may not understand everything and that puts them at a disadvantage.”

The Study Group on Language and the United Nations aims to solve these and other language conflicts within the scope of the UN. “We—people in language policy—we have a consensus that we want to minimize conflict in the world that arises from language differences,” Faingold said.

Members of the Study Group on Language and the United Nations conduct individual research throughout the year, then meet each spring at an annual conference to discuss and advise.

Dr. Faingold will attend his first conference as a member this April. He told the Collegian that he sees the position as an opportunity to increase his network of colleagues and to contribute to language policy at an international level.

News

The Collegian: 6

1 February 2016

Student Association passed several bills before break The bills featured SA reform and improvements for the Student Union.

Brennen VanderVeen Student Writer

SA passed five different bills during its last meeting of the fall semester. Two of them had to do with improvements in the Student Union, while the other three had to do with reforming the way SA works.

One of the bills for the Student Union, titled “A More Perfect Union,” calls for a system with which people could check the availability of rooms to check-out in the Student Union. According to the report from the Student Inves-

tigative Committee (SIC) during the senate meeting, the Union’s administration was hoping SA would not pursue this resolution since apparently posting the information online has complications.

The resolution calling for the online system recognizes that “implementation may be difficult.” As of this writing, such a system does not appear to be online.

The other Student Union bill was to put lockers in the commuter lounge. The resolution was authored by Anna Rouw, a senator for the residence halls. According to Jennifer Steere, who represents the Arts and Sciences College, putting the lockers into the commuter lounge wouldn’t cost much since the lockers just needed to be moved back after being removed.

These lockers are available for rent in the Commuter’s Lounge.

There are a total of twelve lockers.

Students are able to check-out a locker for a semester, with priority being given to commuters but otherwise being on a first come, first served basis.

The other bills all had to do with changes to SA’s governing documents. They were all put forward

by Government Operations Committee (GOC) directly, or at least

by Whitney Cipolla, the GOC chair. One of them was essentially an editing of the Judicial Code in order for it to make more sense.

The Judicial Code is the document that governs SA’s Judicial Council, is subject to the discretion of Senate and hadn’t been edited since April 2013. The big change was to “fix” the numbering system. Before the changes, the sections were: 1.00, 1.05, 1.10, 1.20, 1.25, 1.30, 1.35, 1.40, 1.50, 1.60 and 1.70. There is no easily apparent reason for this numbering. That question was actually asked in Senate, and no one had any idea. Also, subsections were labeled with numbers (though without decimals). The new system labels sections with whole numbers and subsections with capital letters.

The Judicial Code was also edited to be in compliance with the SA Constitution. The Juphoto by Brennen VanderVeen dicial Code had

required a two-thirds majority for justices to be approved, while the Constitution only required a majority. The Judicial Code is now in line with that requirement. Also, justices are now required to be confirmed by Senate by the sixth week of the fall semester, rather than the first Senate meeting in October.

Another bill concerned the Judicial Procedure. In contrast to the Judicial Code, the Judicial Procedure is controlled by the Judicial Council and sets the policies regarding trials, rather than of the Judicial Council itself. As such, the bill is merely a resolution requesting that the Judicial Council make changes to the Procedure.

Two of the requested changes are just a numbering change and capitalization changes. Another has to do with how things would be filed.

If enacted, it would require everything to be submitted via email.

The more substantive requested changes have to do with how the records of the Judicial Council are handled. As it currently stands, all records are private and must be kept confidential without any exception. The resolution calls for it to be slightly more transparent. If the Judicial Council adopted those changes, all records would still be confidential by default unless several conditions are met. One of those conditions is that somebody actually file a request for information with the SA Secretary or Chief Justice. Another condition is that any release of information would require the consent of both parties in a case, the SA advisor and a majority of the justices. All of those individuals would have 24 hours to change their mind before information could be released. A third condition is that the Chief Justice still has full discretion not to release something, in full or in part. The Chief Justice is assigned

with amending records’ confidentiality to determine “what can be released, who it can be released to, and the manner in which” records can be released. If information is to be withheld, the Chief Justice is required to respond to the person who requested it with a reason.

Any violation of the confidentiality procedure would be “handled on a case-by-case basis.” According to Chief Justice Brittany Johnston, making changes is “in the works.”

The final bill amended SOC Guidelines, which govern student organizations. The changes were primarily grammatical or for clarification. One of the changes was to make SOC stand for “Student Organization Committee,” matching the actual committee that uses the acronym, rather than the more obscure “Student Organization Chartering.” Another change was to fix an ambiguity of what was meant by a “viable presence.” Last semester, TU for Bernie Sanders was denied a charter in large part because several senators didn’t think they’d be viable long term, i.e., beyond this election season.

However, some senators did vote to charter them. The change makes it clear that an organization needs to have a long-term presence by explicitly stating so and also stating that an organization “must possess a purpose that stands firm regardless of time.”

Another change is to make the requirement for a faculty advisor stated in the SOC Guidelines itself. Other changes were relatively minor or purely grammatical. For instance, organizations would be required to submit a Resolution for Agency Account Form to TU before, rather than after receiving a charter, a reference to a fiscal year was changed to academic year and a petition period was changed from two to five days.

plantation and treatments for septic shock, cancer anemia, vision and aging.”

The school also faced citations for killing dogs by applying a “9volt battery ... to the heart,” according to a report by USDA inspector Jeffrey Baker.

“It’s pretty shocking to see that

director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! stated that “The University of Oklahoma has demonstrated an almost unparalleled ability to violate federal regulations and policies, resulting in a death toll which includes dogs, baboons and now guinea pigs. The long-term pattern of violations,

are identified by the University or brought to the University’s attention are addressed immediately, and corrective actions are implemented swiftly. The University has provided such a response to the USDA and will continue to work with USDA representatives as appropriate to demonstrate its commitment to a program that meets and exceeds national standards.”

In his own statement, Dr. Tomasek of the Health Sciences Center stated that the Center will take additional steps to address the issues: “[OU] holds in the highest regard its responsibility to comply with all federal and regulatory standards related to animal welfare, and to ensure humane and ethical treatment of any animals used in research and education,” Tomasek said. “The Health Sciences Center has implemented comprehensive corrective actions in response to each of the incidents identified by the USDA as part of its internal compliance review.”

OU to face USDA punishment for animal cruelty

The University of Oklahoma will receive a large fine for the maltreatment of several animals in the Health Sciences Center.

Lauren Rogers Student Writer

The University of Oklahoma has received over $19,000 in fines from the US Department of Agriculture after being cited for animal testing violations in experiments conducted by the university’s Health Sciences Center.

Citations by the USDA include failure to follow research protocols, failure to administer pain relief to animals in connection to surgical procedures and inadequate veterinary care.

Examples of violations include guinea pigs that bled to death, several rabbits that underwent procedures without the proper administration of approved pain reliever buprenorphine and the hos-

Jan. 16 5:20 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to Lorton Village in to investigate a possible stolen bicycle. Upon arrival officers made contact with a student who had their bicycle taken from the second floor landing of the Apartment building. A search of the area met with negative results and there are no known suspects at this time.

ing down of baby baboons.

The USDA claims that there were at least eleven incidents in 2014 and 2015.

This is not the first time the University of Oklahoma has been accused of animal testing violations. The school had previously been cited by federal regulators

“The school had previously been cited by federal regulators for abuse of baby baboons.” for abuse of baby baboons. This prompted OU President Boren to announce in September that the school would “wind down” the baboon program, and end it in the next three to four years.

This program involves baboons of all ages kept at a reserve in El Reno, Oklahoma.

According to Dr. James Tomasek of the university’s Health Sciences Center, these animals were used for “vaccine development for infectious diseases, organ trans-

12:00 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security were dispatched to LaFortune Hall for a fire alarm. Upon arrival the fire panel was reading smoke in a room and when Officers arrived at room they saw smoke coming from the kitchen. A student burnt some food while cooking which caused the alarm to go off. Officers opened windows in the room to clear the smoke. Tulsa Fire Department (TFD) was canceled.

a university of that caliber has those kinds of practices in place,” Susana Della Maddalena with the Central Oklahoma Humane Society remarked. “We hope the university does the right thing and does it quickly.”

Animal rights group Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! has taken part in investigation of the university, and has raised several complaints against OU over the past few years.

Michael A. Budkie, executive 4:30 a.m.

While on routine patrol University of Tulsa campus Security officers observed an individual skateboarding. The individual was going northbound on 11th St. and then enter campus near the LPC lot and continued down 5th Place towards Hardesty Hall.

Officers made contact with the individual between ACSU and Hardesty Hall. Officers were able to identify the individual as a student.

1:30 a.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to a call of underage drinking in Lafortune Hall. Upon arrival officers went to the room and the door was locked, officers knocked and announced there presence several times before keying in. When entering, the room smelled of al-

non-compliances, and negligent fatalities raises serious doubts about every single OU animal experiment.”

The University of Oklahoma recently released a response to local Norman news station KFOR: “The University of Oklahoma takes seriously its obligation to comply with all federal and regulatory standards related to animal welfare and scientific research,” the statement read. “Any deviations from those standards that cohol and two individuals were passed out on their beds. Officers then confiscated all alcohol and disposed it. The Professional Student Manager arrived and EMSA was contacted. Both individuals were transported to Saint Johns.

Jan. 17 1:45 a.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to a fire alarm/burglary alarm at the Pi Kappa Alpha house. Tulsa Fire Department was contacted. Arriving officers viewed the fire panel and spoke with house members, who said an unknown individual pulled an alarm station on the second floor of the building. The fire panel was reset and officers did a walkthrough of the building to confirm no signs of smoke or fire.

Tulsa Fire arrived on scene.

5:10 a.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to reports of an unknown person yelling and trying to kick in apartment doors on the east side

of Norman Village. Responding officers found the individual and determined they were a current student. Officers escorted the student back to their residence and interviewed them. The PSM on-duty was notified. The student admitted to drinking alcohol earlier in the night. The student declined medical assistance or need for EMSA transport.

4:20 p.m.

University of Tulsa campus Security officers were dispatched to the turf gym inside of the Mabee Athletic Gym on report of unauthorized use. Upon arrival officers found six non TU affiliates using the turf gym. Officer informed the individuals that the University of Tulsa Campus is private property and that they are not authorized to use the facilities. The individuals were trespass warned and left without further incident.

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

1 February 2016

News

The Collegian: 7

TU student receives NSF grant for doctoral research

TU doctoral candidate Alicia Odewale was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to continue her archeological studies in the US Virgin Islands.

Michaela Flonard Student Writer Recently, TU doctoral candidate in archeology Alicia Odewale received a National Science Foundation grant for her research into enslaved Africans in the Christiansted National Historic Site in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Odewale, along with the help of Associate Professor Thomas Foster, will use the grant to continue her work.

The NSF grant will provide the funding for Odewale to find more evidence to support her hypothesis, discussed below. To get the grant, she submitted a research outline, which included timelines she now has to follow, and the paper was reviewed by experts in her field. She is the first TU doctoral student in the archeology PhD program, which is four years old, to receive this grant.

For her research, Odewale is comparing the enslaved populations of St. Croix and the Montpelier Plantation in Virginia. The enslaved Africans in St. Croix were owned by the king of Denmark. Comparing a rural site, like Montpelier, with an urban site like St. Croix, will show the “different challenges this community [St. Croix] is faced with compared to a more traditional plantation in Virginia,” Odewale says.

An urban site wouldn’t grow tobacco or other goods, and the community would be much less spread out than a plantation. With this research, Foster says they hope to uncover the hazards, whether that be disease, natural disasters or other events, that the enslaved population endured. Odewale’s hypothesis is that there would be increased variability and hazards in St. Croix.

During her excavations, Odewale has found possibly part of a floor, one laid

with conch shells and the other with ballast stones and mortar. Based on historic maps, she believes this would’ve been where the enslaved people were living. She’s also found metal, architecture material, ceramics and glass.

This summer, she will target a feature, which is something that cannot be removed from the site. She will explore the floor space further, in hopes of determining what type of space it is. Once that is complete, she can compare the site to similar sites in rural settings.

The St. Croix site is owned by the National Park Service. As the site had not been excavated to a great degree before Odewale’s work, “any new information that I was getting was going to benefit everyone involved.” While there, she was assisted by National Park Service interns, Youth Conservation Core volunteers, and others.

Her work has been well received on the island. Much of the population feels as though they are still not the owners of their history, according to Odewale, as many artifacts reside in Denmark. Archeology done in the park was done in the open, leading to tour groups and citizens dropping in. Many were concerned the artifacts found would be taken permanently, but Odewale says anything found will be returned.

“Their [the enslaved peoples] story has been told from one perspective,” adds Foster, “and [Odewale] is looking at it from their own perspective, and the things they had to deal with on a daily basis.” She looks through first-person accounts to determine what they felt threatened by, from which she can track natural disasters, disease and other events.

Odewale hopes her work will “help with our understanding of the African diaspora in general,” as well as understanding how the population overcame these different experiences and risks. Doing research in this area “further educates us on cyclical historic periods,” says Odewale, which is important because what happened during that period has had a lasting impact on people today.

Tuesday, February 2 at 4:00pm to 6:00pm Hardesty Hall, 3rd Floor Lounge Study Abroad Welcome Back Party The CGE is excited to welcome back all our returning study abroad students!

All students who studied abroad in fall of 2015 are invited to attend. We’ll provide dinner (with foods from different cultures), present you with your returnee t-shirt in the language of your host country, and give you a chance to share your experiences with us and your fellow globe trekkers.

We’ll also present resources and opportunities to keep your international adventures alive on campus - you don’t want to miss this!

Tuesday, February 2 at 7:30pm Lorton Performance Center, Gussman Concert Hall Leona Mitchell Concert The School of Music welcomes Leona Mitchell to the TU campus.

Mitchell is an African-American and Chickasaw operatic soprano and an Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee.

She is also a GRAMMY Award-winning performer who sang for 18 seasons as a leading spinto soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, February 4 at 11:00am to 2:00pm Student Union, 1st floor World Hijab Day 2016 World Hijab Day has been celebrated worldwide since 2013 to encourage women to try the hijab for a day.

Organized by the Malaysian Students Association, we would like to invite all female students at TU to experience wearing the hijab and discuss more about the fashion among Muslim women.

Free hijabs will be given out.

Thursday, February 4 at 7:00pm to 9:00pm Tyrrell Hall, Ellen G. Adelson Auditorium Harriet Tubman Lecture The lecture is called Harriet Tubman: Slavery, the Civil War, and Civil Rights in the Nineteenth Century.

TU’s Mary Frances Barnard Associate Professor of 19th Century American History, Kristen Oertel, will conduct a lecture presentation and host a book sale and signing for her newest publication.

The event is co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities and the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences History Department.It is free and open to the public.

Friday, February 5 at 7:00pm to 8:30pm Tyrrell Hall, Auditorium Delightfully Sketchy: A Comedy Show Come join us for a night of comedy as we read some delightully funny sketches written by Maggie O’Gara. (Disclaimer: Brief, Strong Language) This will be a staged reading. Show starts at 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public. Come on out for some free laughs and fun!

Odewale (left) showing her work to children from the Humane Inclusion Camp.

courtesy Alicia Odewale

Sammie Hottel Student Writer

US considers military action in Libya The Pentagon announced Wednesday that the US was considering fresh military action in Libya to combat the Islamic State. According to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, officials are “looking at military action” as a means of preventing ISIS from claiming the oil-rich nation. Four years have passed since the air raid that helped topple Muammar Gaddafi, which later became controversial after the death of four Americans at Benghazi.

Cook stated that a “small group” of US troops had made contact with militiamen in Libya to “get a sense of who the players are.” Cook did not divulge how many were sent or if they were still there. Cook emphasized that the mission was meant as an assessment rather than a precursor to imminent combat and stated that “We are extremely worried about the metastasis of ISIL in a number of locations, Libya being just one of those locations.”

British cult leader sentenced to 23 years in prison Seventy-four year old Aravindan Balakrishnan, known as “Comrade Bala,” was sentenced to twenty-three years in prison for rape, indecent assault, imprisonment and child cruelty. Balakrishnan ran a small, secretive Maoist commune for three decades.

He was accused of sexually assaulting and brainwashing his female followers, who believed him to have God-like powers. Among his victims was his own daughter, who was born in the commune and rarely allowed to leave.

The investigation began in 2013 when police rescued three women, the daughter among them, from a house in south London. At court, Judge Deborah Taylor told Balakrishnan that he “developed into a largely housebound demagogue, or dictator,” and that “two women were abused psychologically and sexually.”

Japan on military alert for North Korea missile test After increased activity in North Korea’s missile site, Japan went on military alert, suspecting that “there may be a launch within the next few weeks.” Japan’s Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani ordered that destroyers operating in the Sea of Japan be prepared to target any North Korean projectiles. Additionally, Japan has Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries stationed around Tokyo. The greatest concern is not a direct attack, but rather the possibility of debris falling into Japanese territory.

Nakatani, asked in a press briefing whether Japan would shoot down any North Korean missile, said, “We will take steps to respond, but I will refrain from revealing specific measures given the nature of the situation.”

Kremlin riled over US remarks about Putin In an interview broadcast by the BBC, Adam J. Szubin, the Treasury Department’s acting secretary for terrorism and financial crimes, stated that Vladimir Putin was a “picture of corruption,” suggesting that Putin was using state funds to enrich his friends and disguise his own wealth. White House spokesman Josh Ernest backed Szubin’s statements by saying that they “best reflect the administration’s views.”

Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, said that these statements were “outrageous and insulting.” Peskov went on to accuse the Obama administration of attacking Putin to influence the results of the Russian presidential election in 2018.

The Kremlin demanded clarification from the White House, saying “We need further explanations, because such a statement is absolutely unprecedented.”

UN launches Syrian peace talks Syrian peace talks sponsored by the United Nations began in Geneva on Friday with the arrival of the Syrian government delegation.

In addition to Syrian government representatives, a Saudi-backed umbrella group called the High Negotiations Committee is coming to represent opposition forces.

The HNC covers a wide spectrum of groups, including moderate factions and hardline Islamists.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said that the Syrian government and the HNC would participate in “proximity talks,” meaning that they would meet in separate rooms and avoid face to face contact.

The HNC initially refused to attend in protest of the ongoing airstrikes, but, according to spokeswoman Farrah el Atassi, they received guarantees that their demands would be met and were now coming to Geneva.

News

The Collegian: 8

1 February 2016

Chad Rodgers on Cain’s new golden age

The manager of Cain’s Ballroom speaks on the history of the building, the process of booking and the current success of the venue.

James Whisenhunt Student Writer The office near the front of Cain’s Ballroom is filled with impressive memorabilia. Signed photos, guitars and posters hang on the walls, immortalizing everyone from Bob Wills to Elvis Costello to Jack White.

A piece of old drywall punched in and signed by Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious sits framed on the south wall, a proud token of the venue’s mesmerizing 80+ year history.

This was the setting in which I interviewed Chad Rodgers, the general manager of Cain’s and a TU alum.

Rodgers and his family bought the Ballroom in September of 2002, after about 18 months of owning and operating the Hardwood Sports Bar & Grill across from TU’s campus.

Initially, Rodgers and his family had drawn up a venue where the Legends dance hall now stands, but had decided at the last-minute to buy and rejuvenate what had become a run-down Cain’s Ballroom, wanting to keep the venue Tulsa-owned and operated.

Rodgers bought the Cain’s just before the revitalization of Tulsa’s downtown, and he describes the development of the Brady District as “tremendous.”

On the process of booking musicians, Rodgers mentioned that he, “had a little bit of experience on a local level booking artists [at the Hardwood], but on a very low level compared to what [Cain’s] is all about.”

He found that the process of booking an act differs greatly for each artist. Some acts, such as the upcoming Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, reach out to them because they want to play at the venue. Chad is also always on the lookout for new and emerging artists to contact to play at Cain’s.

He mentioned that the name recognition of the venue has been immensely helpful, pointing out that “everyone’s pretty much heard of Cain’s in the business.”

Ultimately, though, the final question becomes how many tickets an artist can sell and how much the venue can offer. The industry standard now is that there’s a guaranteed amount of money for an artist regardless of ticket sales, then an addition of 85 percent or more of the extra revenue after the show breaks even.

This doesn’t leave a lot of money for the venue, as some shows may not sell enough for the venue to break even, and there isn’t a very large percentage of the profit left for the venue after they do.

However, the venue makes extra money from the bar and concessions to cushion the cost of shows that may not do so well.

Despite some hardship from the industry standards, Cain’s is thriving. 2015 was the best year for ticket sales the venue has ever had, having sold 130,641 tickets and

ranking #17 in the world in ticket sales for venues with capacity of 3,000 or less.

Rodgers is very grateful for the success he has seen since taking over the venue, and is honored that he and his crew have been able to “help further the legacy of [Cain’s].”

Rodgers was also happy to speak on the broad strokes of that legacy. He mentioned how the music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys from the late 1930s to 1950s “reached across the world, I feel like.” He also complimented Wills on his incredible musicianship and his unique blend of genre influences.

The second historical high point Rodgers cited was Larry Schaeffer’s ownership of the Ballroom in the late 1970s. Under Schaeffer’s ownership, Cain’s brought many of the most influential acts of the era, such as Van Halen, Willie Nelson and the aforementioned Sex Pistols.

Rodgers mentioned that Cain’s Ballroom is, “the only venue still standing that [the Sex Pistols] played on their last North American tour,” and that Sid Vicious’ fist in the drywall is a favorite to see among artists that play today.

Rodgers also said that a book on the building’s history, titled “No Place Like The Cain’s,” has been written and is soon to be published.

When the topic of future plans came up, all Rodgers had to say was, “we’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing because things are going great.”

A guitar signed by Jack White featured in Cain’s.

A Dead Weather poster autographed by Jack White.

all photos by James Whisenhunt

A signed Willie Nelson poster on display.

A wall of signed posters from years of musicians who played at Cain’s, prominently featuring autographed Sid Viscious wall decor.

TU law alum becomes district judge Governor Mary Fallin appointed TU law school alum Kelly Greenough to be a district judge in Tulsa.

Brennen VanderVeen Student Writer On January 8, Governor Fallin announced the appointment of Kelly Greenough to become a judge for the 14th district, which includes Tulsa and Pawnee counties. In Oklahoma, district courts have general jurisdiction. This means that they are able to hear virtually all types of cases that occur within their geographical area. Different district courts have different numbers of judges.

The 14th district has several judges. Judges are assigned to different legal areas, including criminal, civil and juvenile divisions. According to the Tulsa World, Greenough will focus on the criminal docket.

Ordinarily, district judges are elected. Fallin was able to appoint her because the position was left open due to Carlos Chappelle’s health-related resignation in May 2015. Gre-

enough assumed office on January 12. Her term will end in 2018. However, she could run for reelection.

Greenough received her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and her J.D. from TU’s College of Law. Before taking office in her new role, she served as the director of Tulsa County’s Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) Court. The IDV Court was started in 2014 with a grant from the federal Department of Justice and was the first of its kind in Oklahoma. It’s described on the district court website as “an accountability court dedicated to improving the Court’s response to domestic violence” and as a “collaboration between the justice system and the local community to effectively respond to domestic violence, hold offenders accountable, enhance victim and child safety and strengthen families.” As its director, Greenough was responsible for both designing and implementing the IDV Court, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

In the past, Greenough has also worked in family law, workers’ comp and for the State Insurance Fund.

Commentary

1 February 2016

The Collegian: 9

Student suspended for leaving class deserves public apology

Gateway Middle School was in the wrong and should issue a public apology to Anthony Ruelas, a student who was suspended for leaving class to assist a friend with asthma.

James Whisenhunt Student Writer On January 19, 15-year-old Anthony Ruelas was suspended for two days from Gateway Middle School, an alternative school in Killeen, Texas, for leaving class.

Only given that information, the decision seems pretty cut-and-dry.

However, when the context of

the scenario is taken into account, it quickly enters a moral gray area.

Anthony left class because he was carrying another student to the nurse’s office when she was having an asthma attack.

During class, another student complained to the teacher that she was having trouble breathing. The teacher contacted the school nurse and was waiting for a response via email when the student fell out of her chair, gasping for air.

The teacher had told the class to stay seated and remain calm while she waited for the nurse’s response. Anthony, however, decided that action needed to be taken, saying “Fuck that, we ain’t got time to wait for no email from the nurse.” Ruelas carried the student to the nurse’s office.

Ruelas was suspended for disobeying a teacher’s orders and is now being home-schooled.

From one perspective, his suspension makes perfect sense. No matter the situation, Ruelas disobeyed a teacher’s orders.

It’s worth noting that Gateway is an alternative school, meaning that Ruelas must have been consis-

tently in trouble before in another school to be sent there. Alternative schools tend to be much stricter and more severe in their policy enforcement, so it’s somewhat unsurprising that he was suspended for something that seems trivial.

While the most infamous case is the choking death of Eric Garner in 2014, other major cases have seen media attention as well. Last week, Denver officials released footage of a 50-year-old prison inmate being subdued by officers in the same fashion, possibly playing a role in his death later that day.

According to police, the method is still the most effective in subduing a offender. The current method consists of controlling the limbs of the subject while gaining leverage, either due to a knee over the subject’s stomach or a hold around the carotid arteries on the sides of the neck, causing unconsciousness without the risk of major damage.

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey supported this notion, saying that “the deputies’ use of force was necessary against the struggling inmate” in his decision not to charge the deputies.

On the other hand, the current

method certainly has its drawbacks. Force is usually applied to individuals under arrest, and any resistance is met with even more force.

First, in an attempt to subdue the subject due to a carotid hold on the sides of the neck, officers put pressure on the front of the neck, compressing the trachea and eventually causing asphyxiation.

Sometimes, the individual being arrested is under duress, moving around under the influence of a psychotic episode rather than trying to resist arrest. However, officers still recognize this activity as resistance, and apply unneeded force to the person in question.

The well-documented history of deaths with this method has to leave room for thoughts of a better way of restraint.

With the understanding that the current method is one of the best ways to subdue a perpetra-

Telling the students to remain calm wasn’t a bad decision, but at the point that the student in danger fell out of her chair, the teacher shouldn’t be angry at a kid for carrying her to the nurse’s office.

Frankly, that’s what the teacher

less their actions are wilfully and wantonly negligent.”

It’s obvious that Ruelas’ actions were in good faith, but it may be possible to debate whether actively disobeying the teacher’s orders constitutes negligent action.

“Ruelas managed to help another student in need when traditional means were ineffective.”

On the other hand, Ruelas may have saved another student’s life, and the context of the situation should be taken into account when punishment is considered.

An important consideration when looking at Ruelas’ actions is that typical means of contacting the nurse were not working effectively.

It’s strange to begin with that the process of getting a child to the nurse involves waiting for emails.

Surely, an intercom system or simply walking over to the nurse’s office with the student would be more efficient.

should have been doing instead of waiting for an email from the nurse.

The context of the scenario justifies Ruelas’ actions, despite having received instructions to the contrary. This sentiment is echoed in Texas state law.

Texas is one of many states to have a Good Samaritan Law in place to encourage civilian action in emergency situations.

According to the Texas Medical Association website, the Good Samaritan Law “limits the civil liability of persons administering emergency care in good faith un-

Typically, in a law context, performing an action negligently is to commit it in a way that is more harmful than how a typical person would commit it. This is different than in popular connotation, which sometimes equates neglecting something with ignoring it.

In the context of the law, Ruelas managed to help another student in need when traditional means were proving ineffective. The school is in the wrong, and should issue a public apology.

Police restraint deaths call for overhaul

Current police restraint methods, while effective, are also dangerous and can lead to serious injury or even death. Alternative methods should be considered.

Wade Crawford Student Writer Over the past few years, there has been increased recognition and fight against police brutality. The deaths due to improper restraint of offenders have been a major mobilizer.

courtesy Charly Miller

Examples of restraint tactics which, if improperly used, can cause unintended injury.

tor, there is still room to overhaul the system. For example, only using force on the stomach area until handcuffs have been placed on the individual. Or, a technique could be developed that minimizes

the force on the stomach overall.

For example, the “Canadian Response” uses multiple officers to subdue the limbs of the individual, while Pittsburgh police use another limb-control method.

Being a newsboy:

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business & advertising manager

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distribution managers

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Commentary

The Collegian: 10

1 February 2016

Consent: A vital lesson for preschoolers

courtesy Wiki Commons

Sanders must promote bipartisan government

Sen. Bernie Sanders has a chance to become president, but will encounter adversity due to his polarizing policies.

Bernie Sanders has a definite shot at the presidency, but runs the risk of governmental stagnation.

Kirby Hockensmith Student Writer Bernie Sanders has been gaining ground in the polls for the Democratic primaries on an almost daily basis. With every new Iowa sample poll released, he is inching closer to long-time favorite Hillary Clinton. He has managed to capture a good deal of both the minority and youth votes, and a significant portion of the female vote, which is quite impressive for a seventy-four-year-old white male.

It is a definite possibility that Bernie Sanders will win the Democratic primary, and as it stands now virtually the only thing between Sanders and the White House is the very radical and very polarizing Donald Trump.

At that point, one would think the

seasoned politician with years of experience in the Senate would prevail over the billionaire with no political credentials whose policies include building a giant wall on the USA-Mexico border and banning all Muslims from entering the country.

If, against all odds, Bernie Sanders ends up being inaugurated as the first openly socialist President of the United States, the political landscape of the United States will be drastically changed. However, with this achievement comes the very real possibility of a government that is even more stagnant and unable to pass legislation than the current administration.

Bernie Sanders has made it very clear that he is a democratic socialist and his proposed policies reflect this political alignment. If elected president, he intends to double the current federal minimum wage to a rate of fifteen dollars an hour in an effort to make it a viable living wage and take the Affordable Care Act to the next level by installing a universal healthcare system in the United States.

The fact of the matter is, almost every Republican, and even some of the more conservative Democrats, will be staunchly opposed to policies such as these, especially when it comes to a universal healthcare system. The Republicans fought tooth-and-nail to put

a stop to Obamacare, and Sanders’ proposed system is even more comprehensive than Obama’s.

Sanders does have a history of going across party lines to get legislation passed, but policies such as these would likely be considered too radical by conservatives.

This creates an impasse: How is a socialist going to pass legislation in a majority conservativeRepublican congress? There is no doubt that Sanders’ policies will benefit the American people, but if he sticks to his guns and makes no effort to moderate these policies, you can almost guarantee his four to eight years in office will be mostly ineffectual.

For Sanders to be successful, he needs to make an effort to inspire bipartisanship right from the start by listening to the concerns of the opposition and trying his best to mold his policies to an acceptable level in the eyes of all concerned parties. If he manages to build a working relationship with conservative legislators during the early stages of his term, we could see a period of governmental cooperation that establishes positive social changes and beneficial policies.

If he does not, the United States could be in for four more years of partisanship and spitefulness that leads to the continued unproductivity of the American government.

courtesy Wiki Commons

Teaching preschool-age children about consent can help eliminate the damaging mindsets that lead to sexual assault.

Teaching children principles of bodily autonomy and consent from a young age can help address rape and sexual assault.

Tara Grigson Student Writer It is not a secret that rape and sexual assault are overwhelmingly common both on and off college campuses. There is not a clear number that experts agree on, but most statistics reflect that around 20 percent of women experience sexual assault, and around 3 percent of men. If we look at the prison systems, the numbers for men skyrocket to nearly 20 percent.

The Department of Justice indicates that most men who experience sexual assault experience it, on average, at age 4.

Sexual assault does not wait until a person turns eighteen.

If sexual assault does not wait, then neither should the concept of bodily autonomy.

We are very aware of teaching the concept of “consent” to high school and college students, but for a lot of students this concept is difficult to grasp. Something about requiring a “sober yes” is very complicated for some folks.

I would venture to say that part of difficulty is because we do not allow children, from around 2-years-old on up, autonomy over their own bodies.

Certainly one of the most obvious examples of this is spanking, which involves literally hitting children. When adults hit each other, it is either consensual or it is assault. When adults hit children, it is perfectly acceptable. That child did not, could not, consent to that action. This teaches the kid that if adults cause them to experience pain it is acceptable.

We should not teach children that some people are allowed to hit them. If the first person a kid loves hits them regularly, but they are forced to live with them, what does that say about staying with someone who hurts you in the future? We teach kids that some people are allowed to hit them, so maybe their future partner is one of them.

Similarly, we force kids to hug people. We shame kids who do not want to hug family members, teachers, family friends and so on. As adults, we often do not ask kids, especially little kids, if they want to be hugged, we just do it. Forcing kids to hug people is absolutely a way of undermining their concept of bodily autonomy.

Adults do not have to let other people touch their body—but we force little kids to allow others to touch their body in a way that is not for their safety or protection.

Making a kid hold your hand in a parking lot is to keep them safe, making them hug you does not protect them in any way.

Tickling without consent is actually unacceptable. A lot of adults will use tickling to effectively force kids who are sad or angry to smile—which undermines not only their bodily autonomy, but the validity of their emotions. Children are allowed to be sad and angry. They are allowed to experience emotions in

the same way adults are. Forcing them to laugh is incredibly patronizing and undermines their feelings and experiences.

If we do not allow children the space to feel sad or angry, then they cannot learn how to cope with those emotions, or they learn that those emotions are not okay.

This concept plays into toxic masculinity, and reinforces the idea that women are just “too emotional.” Everyone has the right to emotions, including children. Teaching kids that their feelings are not acceptable is actively dangerous.

Another thing adults have a habit of saying to children is “you can’t say ‘no’ to me.” Except yeah, they definitely can and sometimes they should. Teaching kids that they are not allowed to say “no” is a scary concept. Everyone has the right to say no, to anything at any time. Saying “no” is an integral part of consent. Instead of telling kids they are not allowed to say ‘no’ it is much healthier to attempt to explain why doing whatever thing is necessary. Sometimes kids are not willing to hear that, and in those cases you can take other measures (take things away, time out, etc.).

Another option is to work on their empathy, by saying something like “I feel sad when you make bad choices” or “I do not like what you are doing right now.” This approach models an appropriate response to people doing things you do not like, not responding in an angry way that elevates the conflict, but in a calm way. If a kid is tantruming, your best bet is always to remain calm.

They will echo that energy, and it will help them learn how to manage their anger in the future. You can choose a number of behaviors that will make their saying “no” to a simple request less likely in the future without ever telling them they are not allowed to say “no” to authority figures.

If a child is being touched in a way that they do not like, they should be able to say “no” and expect that touch to stop.

Telling kids that they are never allowed to fight, especially physically, is incredibly dangerous. If a person is being hurt by another person, they have the right to tell them to stop, and if that does not work, they have the right to physically fight them off. Children deserve those same rights.

Teaching little kids that they do not have the right to touch their friends if their friends do not want them to, or even their parents if their parents do not want them to, is a good way to start to teach the idea about what it means to be an abuser. It begins to teach the idea that everyone has bodily autonomy, and that they do not, inherently, have the right to touch someone who does not want them to.

There are a lot of really simple behaviors that caregivers could engage in that would be helpful to teaching children about consent.

Allowing children control over their own bodies, letting them know that no one has the right to hurt them, allowing them to experience and cope with their own emotions, and giving them the right to say “no” to behaviors that hurt them. Simple changes have the potential to make a world of difference with regard to this culture’s ability to understand and implement consensual relationships. It would increase children’s safety, improve mental health outcomes (because experiencing and expressing emotions is acceptable), and lead to increased mutual respect in relationships.

1 February 2016

Commentary

Minister Tara:

How I became an ordained minister in two easy steps

The sanctity of marriage seems like a weak point in the argument against queer marriage when one considers how easy it is to become an ordained minister.

Tara Grigson Student Writer

Tara as a minister, in traditional garb. #ministertara

graphic by Elias Brinkman

The Collegian: 11

I decided to become an ordained minister. It took literally seconds. I am officially an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church in Seattle. I have never even been to Seattle.

I did this primarily because I thought it was funny (because it is), and I now receive emails addressed to #ministertara. But, if I were to jump through a couple of tiny legal hoops, I would be able to perform weddings.

I could legally marry two human people together. I could have that power, because I am legally a minister.

It turns out, becoming an ordained minister—in order to perform a wedding—is actually the easiest thing in the world.

Once I located the website for the Universal Life Church, I clicked a tab about getting ordained. I entered my name and email, checked a box or two and then clicked “submit.”

The website said it might take a while, because they had to make sure I was worthy (basically), but they actually just redirected me to another page that said #ordained, and gave me a certificate.

It took dozens of seconds, and now I can ask people to call me Minister Tara. I will not, because I’m not an asshole, but I could if I wanted to.

As a gay human, I frequently hear about the sanctity of marriage. It seems that everyone who does not want me to be able to get married to a woman likes to talk about the “sanctity” of marriage.

Generally, what these people mean by the

“sanctity” of marriage is that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman and their God. Because the “sanctity” of marriage requires a man and a woman, a marriage between two folks of the same gender, or two folks of different genders but the same “biological” sex, it excludes a lot of queer people. Like me, for instance.

A brief side note: saying “same sex marriage” can exclude transgender folks, so from now on I will be using “queer marriage” in order to include the entire spectrum of LGBTQ+ folks.

If I can become a minister in literally seconds and perform a marriage, and no one has a problem with that, how can the “sanctity” of marriage even be an argument?

It seems the primary problem with the sanctity of marriage argument is that I, and any other human person over 18, can become a minister in a matter of seconds.

I am Christian, and I know a lot of Christians who are totally on board with queer marriage. These folks absolutely believe that queer marriage can be “sanctified” in the same way a heterosexual marriage can.

Given that some Christians believe in queer marriage, the argument that reading the Bible demands that a “sanctified” marriage be between a man and a woman becomes a little ridiculous. Maybe, in your interpretation, it does demand that, but the Bible has been translated and interpreted by literally millions, if not billions, of people.

It is not fair to say that any interpretation is any more correct than another interpretation, and it is not fair to demand to get married in churches that do not accept queer marriage—but it is also not fair to use an interpretation to deny queer people the right to get married legally.

If I can gain the ability to marry people, after literally seconds and no human interaction at all, then how “sanctified” can legal marriages really be?

The idea of “sanctity” is arbitrary, and mostly seems to be used to hurt queer people.

My relationships are just as valid and holy as yours are. And I deserve the right to get married legally.

And if you are queer and are in the market for a minister, feel free to hit up #ministertara. I charge a reasonable fee and I bring my own glitter. Think about it.

Creationism has no place in science courses

Though the belief in Creationism is an important aspect of history, it is also a pseudoscience with little factual evidence and should not be taught as part of a science curriculum.

Justin Guglielmetti Student Writer

Oklahoma residents who are defenders of the principles of progress, those of logic, reason, empiricism and science, should be appalled at the educational legislation that has recently passed in their state. By a vote of 9 to 8, the Oklahoma Common Education Committee passed the Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act, which, though it sounds innocent enough, will allow by its ambiguous wording the teaching of pseudo-

hand, is supported by virtually all of the world’s biologists and premier scientists and an extraordinary amount of evidence, and while consensus is not necessarily proof of fact in science, there are no current alternative theories in academic circles. Similarly, the age of the Earth is accepted to be approximately 4.5 billion years from evidence obtained by the radiometric age of certain rocks and meteorite samples, not the 10,000 years that most Creationists postulate.

With such overwhelming evidence to support it, one would think that the American public would largely accept evolution as fact but according to the most recent Gallup polls on the subject, more than 40 percent of the US population rejects evolution and believes that God created life in its present form at some point in the last 10,000 years. This case of societal cognitive dissonance probably stems largely from a misapprehension about what is actually meant by the word “theory” when it is used in a scientific context. Colloquially, the word is used loosely for just about any idea, but in science, a theory is an explanation based on a set of general principles or already proven hypotheses. In other words, it is not a word that is used lightly; theories are accepted as fact unless radical new evidence emerges that can disprove the logical string that led

Despite not believing in the literal interpretation of the Creation story myself, I sympathize with those who feel as if their beliefs are being persecuted. There is oftentimes rhetoric used in the anti-religious community that seeks to belittle those with more fundamentalist beliefs, when efforts would be far better spent attempting to educate and enlighten. In addition, there exist the hints of censorship when people (like me, in this article) attempt to prevent the teaching of certain factually incorrect prin-

ciples in an inappropriate setting. To that, I would say that I do not necessarily oppose the teaching of creation myths—Christian or otherwise—in a public school as long as they are taught as part of literature or history. They are, after all, important parts of the history of our Judeo-Christian culture, and a familiarity with them is fundamental to our understanding of the past. Let’s just make sure that in the present they are taught in the proper context.

“People have a right to believe whatever they want, but only science belongs in a science classroom.” science like Christian Creationism as part of the public school science curriculum.

Before going any further, I would like to clarify that I am in no way against the personally-held beliefs of anybody who subscribes to Creationism. Under the First Amendment, every citizen has a right to say and believe what they want in their personal lives.

But this right does not extend to teaching factual inaccuracies to students in a science classroom of a publicly funded school. Because whether or not you choose to believe in Creationism, the fact of the matter is that there is not a shred of credible evidence to support it, or the creation myths of any other religion for that matter.

The theory of evolution, on the other

to the conclusion.

It is this fundamental misunderstanding of scientific vernacular and the scientific method (hypothesize, test, observe) that leads people like state senator Josh Brecheen, the sponsor of the bill, to push for education on “differences of opinion about controversial issues.” He believes that evolution is just one community’s opinion on how life developed on Earth and that his own opinion is just as valid, even though one is backed up by concrete scientific evidence while the other is supported by the stories of a more than two millennia old text that many scholars doubt were ever supposed to be taken literally. People have a right to believe whatever they want, but only science belongs in a science classroom.

courtesy Wiki Commons

Artist Lucas Cranach’s depiction of God pointing at things and explaining that he created them.

Variety

USMC Jazz Quintet offers unexpectedly soulful performance

the Collegian: 12

1 February 2016

The United States Marine Corps Jazz Quintet’s skillful playing and playful duets overcome the small size of their band.

Michaela Flonard Student Writer

Seeing a group of Marines in their dress blues generally means you’re going to watch them take part in some sort of military exercise or march. And during the whole thing, you’re thinking of how terrifyingly serious they look, your feelings about America, or just how bored you are. Even with a band accompanying them, generally Marines in dress blues don’t break into saxophone solos. It’s just not done.

Last Tuesday, however, the United States Marine Corps Jazz Band visited TU to play six compositions. The band was composed of a saxophone, guitar, bass, trumpet and drums, all of which were played by officers of varying rank. The small size of the band lent itself to a personable, unique experience peppered with several memorable solos.

The piece which introduced the band, Maceo Parker’s “Chicken,” previewed what was to come. It started as a melody of the instruments and gradually faded into various solos. The trumpet stood out, piercing the auditorium and requiring your attention.

As it was only one of two wind instruments, it was always noticeable. Having only two wind instruments meant that there wasn’t always a meshing of winds in the background, like many jazz pieces. The trumpet and sax sounded competitive at times, each vying

The United States Marine Corps Jazz Quintet is quite small, but that doesn’t stop them from making intricate music.

for attention, because there just wasn’t a huge amount of similar sounds to meld together. These two, however, had no trouble keeping the swing alive.

Nevertheless, the instruments bended together well. They flowed in and out of solos, which showed off the talents of each player. Energy from each carried into the others; most obvious during a

saxophone solo in “Whisper Not.” As the sax player fell deeper into an emotional solo, the bass player followed suit. At this, and other points in the performance, it was easy to get confused over how such sternly dressed men had a capacity for soul.

The songs chosen also ended up highlighting, to a certain degree, different instruments. In the final

piece, “Mr. Clean,” for instance, the bass player hit and fingerplucked his strings, which gave the composition a sort of modernrock feel. It was an inventive use of the bass, created to deal with the small number of players.

If there was a tone to the night, many of the pieces were reminiscent of theme songs. The second piece, “El Gaucho,” with its

courtesy USMC

breezy lightness and occasional high trumpet notes, reminded me of a 80s cop show introduction.

And in “Whisper Not,” the trumpet whistled and the piece sounded like a noir detective movie. This added to the character of the night, and further blurred the edge between Marine and soulful musician.

Anomalisa’s stop motion humanizes characters Charlie Kaufman’s newest film delivers surprisingly real characters through animation.

Elias Brinkman Photo/Graphics Editor In the world of cinema, those who consistently deliver the kind of films that resist predictability are agonizingly rare.

Thank god for Charlie Kaufman.

Although Kaufman is more famously known for his writing, including credits for features like Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind— huge boons for established directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, respectively—Anomalisa firmly cements his capabilities as a director (as well as those of codirector Duke Johnson).

The story is an initially unusual choice for stop-motion. Unlike something as otherworldly as Coraline or the Nightmare Before

Christmas, Anomalisa centers around the rather mundane problems of a writer as he prepares to give a speech on customer service.

However, the animation manages to feel necessary. Without revealing too many important details, the ability to reuse the same models for different characters is a critical component of the film’s narrative.

Rather than accentuating the fantastic, the meticulous attention to detail that went into rendering and moving the characters gives them naturalism and subtlety which not only transcends the uncanny valley, but also much of the wooden or exaggerated acting of many films out of Hollywood.

For instance, Trey Parker and Matt Stone demonstrated in Team America: World Police that there is potential for hilarious spectacle from two puppets having sex, but Anomalisa manages to create believable intimacy that is unfortunately absent in the majority of cinema.

courtesy Paramount Pictures

Anomalisa tells a surprisingly down-to-earth story for an animated film.

That isn’t to ignore the film’s humor though. Kaufman’s somewhat surreal writing does lend some comedic charm, but it is largely vowice actor Tom Noonan’s exceedingly well paced and often politely impassive delivery that carries the most laughs—act-

TwentyOne+

Bourbon Dandy Custom cocktail creations and accompanying critiques presented by TU’s own hobbyist mixologist.

3 oz. bourbon 2 oz. fresh grapefruit juice 1 oz. honey syrup* dash of Angostura bitters 4 drops mint extract 6 drops vanilla extract pinch of rosemary leaves 3 mint leaves 2 honey roasted grapefruit slices** 3 grapefruit rind twists

Sara Douglas Student Writer

*Pour boiling water over an equal amount of honey and stir until dissolved. **Drizzle honey over grapefruit; broil on high heat until edges are blackened.

Add one roasted grapefruit slice, mint leaves, rosemary, vanilla and mint extracts, and bitters to a cocktail shaker. Muddle with a wooden spoon until crushed.

ing as the perfect counter to the more distant and dismissive tone of the protagonist, voiced by David Thewlis. Suffice it to say that Anomalisa is probably one of the funnier films of the past year.

While comparatively one of the least bizarre films under

Kaufman’s belt, Anomalisa is still an incredibly unique experience, and deserves as blind a viewing as possible.

Pour bourbon, juice, and syrup into shaker; add ice and shake well.

Finely strain into a glass.

Garnish with grapefruit peel twists and the other broiled grapefruit slice.

Drink this if: A springtime sipper sounds just dandy to you.

The mellow bourbon brings out the silkiness of the honey syrup, resulting in a subtly sweet cocktail. Tart grapefruit juice and aromatic herbal inclusions render the drink very refreshing while not masking the liquor’s strength. Sip and savor this drink rather than throw it back—it’s worth it! (The 3-2-1 ratio of bourbon to juice to syrup is a fine concoction on its own if you don’t have the extracts or herbs on hand.) photo by Sara Douglas

Variety

1 February 2016

the Collegian: 13

“I Hate Hamlet” hilarious, cast discusses obstacles

Bottom to top: Robert Lovitt, Tabitha Littlefield, Emma Lucas, Mia Graham, Jacob Patterson, Austen Naron and Chris Jett pose on the set of “I Hate Hamlet.”

Friday’s production, as well as interviews with the cast and crew of “I Hate Hamlet,” reveal the dilemmas of actors in general and TU theater, specifically.

Kayleigh Thesenvitz News Editor “It’s not about the money. I’m not that superficial. It’s the fame,” said Andrew Rally, played by Austen Naron in last weekend’s many performances at Chapman Theater.

Without spoilers, “I Hate Hamlet” is the story of an actor trying to fill a role that is much grander than his own self-image. Although it is first and foremost a comedy, that designation did not stop writer Paul Rudnick or guest director Erin McLaine from creating an intense and thought-provoking work of art on the intimate Kendall Hall stage.

Before curtain, the atmosphere of the theater was grandiose. Even the pre-show music sounded like a collection of bold film-scores that I couldn’t quite place.

The setting for all three acts was a ridiculously and intentionally over-the-top New York apartment designed almost as if for a Danish prince (the pun was definitely intended). It was also once the home of the real-life actor John Barrymore.

For historical context, Barrymore acted on stage and in many silent movies throughout the 1920s and 30s. He is also the predecessor of one of Hollywood’s royal families and the grandfather of wellknown actress and producer Drew Barrymore.

The play had an interesting factor in that the stage crew, who the audience is typically supposed to ignore, helped set the scene before each act. By acting as if they were part of a moving company, the stage crew not only brought props on stage but used humorous quips of dialogue to add context for the audience even before curtain.

The opening act introduced Rally, a TV and commercial actor who recently relocated to New York at the insistence of his agent who wants him to take on a role as Hamlet for a charity event called Shakespeare in the Park.

Act I also introduced Felicia Dantine (played by Mia Graham) the full-time real estate agent and part-time ghost whisperer, Lillian Troy (Tabitha Littlefield) the very old, very German agent, Gary Lefkowitz (Jacob Patterson) the perverted and fast-talking producer, Deirdre McDavey (Emma Lucas), the overly romantic 29-yearold virgin love interest, and the ghost of John Barrymore (Chris Jett) who was just as horny and prone to alcoholism in death as he was in life.

And I cannot fail to mention the marvelous suit of armor called Lord Herb (Robert Lovitt) who by

some miracle managed to sit and stand perfectly still for the whole play, with exception of the minimal changes in blocking used to add comic relief to the more tense scenes.

The main plot point for most of the show is Rally wrestling with himself as an actor. He isn’t sure that he has what it takes to play the role that is larger than life, but he also isn’t sure if the part is worth

juvenile humor was pleasant.

The ridiculous blocking that the characters went through was really fun to watch, there was hardly ever a moment of complete stillness.

The audience was either dying of laughter or so silent you could hear a needle drop—there was no in between.

The acting, the stage, Barrymore’s bravado—all were of a quality much greater than one

photo by Kayleigh Thesenvitz

McLaine and Barrett chose this play because, “It had a small cast, which allowed [them] to work in depth with the actors.”

“I have a soft spot in my heart for comedy. But I like comedy that gives a stick and twist, so you feel a bite. It’s not just all fluffy,” McLaine shared.

“It was an odd rehearsal because it happened before and after Christmas break with a hiatus in

“The audience was either dying of laughter or so silent you could hear a needle drop—there was no in-between.” it, considering the offer he received for a new TV role.

Barrymore, who is idolized by the other characters as being the best American Hamlet of all time, is returned to earth by a nameless higher entity with the purpose of teaching Rally how to be Hamlet.

Most of the production focuses on the relationship between Rally and Barrymore as they fight and learn from each other.

However, each supporting character also gets their own story which mirrors that of Rally and was later described by McLaine as, “a mini redemption.”

Each of the characters was selfaggrandizing in their own way, but none of them so much so that it was off-putting. Even the often

TU professor hosts book release

Keija Parssinen reads an excerpt from her book to the audience at her book release party, held Tuesday.

photo by Caitlin Woods

This week, University Professor Keija Parssinen hosted a release party for her newest novel The Unraveling of Mercy Louis. Professor Parssinen discussed her inspiration for the novel, read an excerpt from the work and hosted a Q&A section about her creative writing process.

would expect from a university play. Following the play, the cast and director attended a reception in Kendall Hall.

While comparing himself to Barrymore, Jett said, “Our sex drive and alcohol tolerance are probably similar.”

“A lot of the monologues hit very close, because they talk about actors and their views. I even hit some roadblocks because of how close they are,” said Naron. However, he wanted to be sure that audiences knew, “I don’t get humped that often in real life.”

“It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of technique and research I had to do to really get the character fully,” Graham shared. She had to practice her New York accent for about 6 weeks in order to get it down perfectly.

“It was really fun getting to wear all the cool clothes,” Graham added, “because as you can tell my outfits were flawless.”

Lucas shared that, “I have a lot in common with Deirdre. One of my favorite things about her is that she is so romantic and grandiose.

She sees life as this amazing wonderful thing.”

“I am not a 70+ year-old woman, but sometimes I feel like one.

Sometimes I’ll walk onto the stage and my knee or butt will be hurting and I let that effect me,” said Littlefield. “I think Lillian has a deep respect for actors and the theatrical community which is why she pushes Andrew so hard.”

Patterson assured that he is in no way the drug abuser that Gary is but, “I feel like my internal monologue is a lot more similar to Gary than I actually am.”

As guest director, McLaine was involved with the whole process of the play. She met with Susan Barrett, the chairwoman of TU’s theater department, and the two decided which play to perform and how they would design and schedule the production in the last few weeks of the fall semester.

between,” McLaine said. Coming back after the break the actors, “had to have had their lines memorized and their blocking down.

They were exceptional!”

McLaine works with several small universities and has started, “a more entrepreneurial directorship,” where she can travel and work all over the country.

“I have never seen a group of professors rally together and work as hard as the professors here, or be as selfless and generous with their time and training,” McLaine said. “The students are sweet and talented and magical. They do not have enough support from the university to sustain this.”

The cast was concerned about getting attention for their evershrinking department. “It breaks my heart to see that they are not given the resources and support that they truly deserve,” McLaine said.

“Theater does play an incredible role in developing the mind, in critical thinking and in emotional intelligence,” she continued.

“Susan Barrett gives her heart and soul into every production, and how she manages to be so amazing all the time is incalculable to me,” Naron shared. “Machele Dill and Laura Skoch and Michael Wright and all of them really give so much.”

Naron also explained part of the theater department’s problem. “We have a faculty per student issue.”

Typically the goal is 22 students per faculty member. “Of course there is no way to do that with a department like this because you wouldn’t be able to get the education you need.”

“It sometimes feels like we don’t get the same representation as other organizations on campus,” said Jett. “We aren’t as big as other departments, but we still need the same kind of attention and possibly even more to get it back to where it was.”

Variety

Room more than just a crime drama

the Collegian: 14

Room dominates with exceptional performances and delivers a beautiful coming-of-age story.

Morgan Krueger Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Room begins with a mother and son’s morning routine. From exercising to taking vitamins and brushing their teeth, the film’s opening is mundane.

That choice is only the beginning of Room’s genius. By starting with these simple wake-up rituals, we are shown how normal life is for Jack. This is how his life has always been. For him there is comfort in the routine.

As the film unfolds, we realize how wrong Jack’s life is. In Jack’s eyes, the small room he lives in is the entire world. Instead of Earth, he lives in Room.

For five years Jack has lived in a tiny world that contains only him, his mother and Old Nick, who Jack considers to be half-real.

Jack’s innocent acceptance of his reality contrasts sharply with his mother’s depression. Even when her love for her son shines through, the ironically named Joy never fully escapes her depression.

Her eyes often remain dead and hopeless even when her son makes her smile. Her love for her son drives her act of normalcy, but it is never more than a brief distraction from her horrific life.

But this act of normalcy is compelling enough to fool her son. She has created a nurturing, vibrant

world for her child to grow up in.

The film uses voiceover to allow Jack to describe his world in his innocent voice.

“There’s Room, then outer space with all the tv planets, then heaven. Plant is real, but not trees.

Spiders are real, and one time the mosquito that was sucking my blood. But squirrels and dogs are just tv...monsters are too big to be real and the sea. TV people are flat and made of colors, but you and me are real. Old Nick, I don’t know if he’s real. Maybe half.”

There is no mention of the outside world until ten minutes in, when Old Nick makes his first appearance. Sean Bridgers gives a flawless performance as the captor. He doesn’t make Old Nick into an overpowering villain, but instead develops his character’s mental instability through his soft spoken words and sudden outbursts of anger.

Often we only see bits of Old Nick and hear his voice, as Jack hides in Wardrobe when Old Nick visits. But that small exposure is all Sean Bridger’s needs to establish his character. One moment he is demeaning his captive and the next, asking her for some gratitude because “Who pays the power bill, who pays for everything?” Old Nick is a terrifying image. He is the nightmare that plagues mothers when their daughters are late getting home.

But Old Nick is only a small part of Jack’s life. Jack doesn’t understand his mother’s desire for escape, who veils her desperate attempts as games. When she and

1 February 2016

In Room, Jack lives his whole life in one room until the day he and his mother attempt their escape.

her son scream at the top of their lungs Joy is hoping someone will hear them, but Jack is screaming to outer space.

“Why do the aliens never scream back?” he asks, revealing the game his mother has made their screams into. When his mother says, “I guess they still can’t hear us,” Jack reassures her by saying “We’ll do even louder, okay?”

But his innocence can’t last forever. After Old Nick threatens to kill her, Joy reaches her breaking point. Through barely concealed desperation she struggles to convince a skeptical Jack that there is a world outside the four walls of Room, and enlists his help in a plan to escape.

I won’t spoil the scene where

they attempt to escape, but let me say it is one of the most intense scenes I have ever watched. Remember what it is like to be utterly terrified as a child? This scene brings that awful feeling back, yet at the same time you can feel his Joy’s utter desperation as she is forced to leave their fate in her son’s hands. The suspense is nearly unbearable. This scene made me cry even the second time I saw Room.

The soundtrack for Room perfectly heightens and enhances the emotions portrayed by the characters. In the forefront of several songs is all the innocence and wonder of Jack’s childhood, but also present are deeper undertones of the more adult flavors of des-

courtesy A24 Films

peration and depression.

The best thing about this movie is that it did not turn into “some sort of invasive crime tale,” which was one of Larson’s concerns before accepting the role of Joy. Instead of another Jaycee Dugard documentary that nabs viewers based on the promise of vicarious thrills, Larson “wants to tell universal tales,” and she manages to do so even in the incredibly specific circumstances of Room.

There is no narrow, distanced gawking at someone’s horrible life in Room. The intimate openness of Larson’s portrayal allows Joy’s story to become universal. But in the end, it isn’t Joy’s story at all. It is a coming of age for Jack, as he discovers the world.

The Void: Am I just a pawn?

In which Student Writer Adam Lux discusses writing The Void and waxes nihilistic about his choices (or lack thereof) in life.

graphic by Elias Brinkman

My other article got canceled this week so I guess I HAVE to write a void… ya know, if I wanna eat. But I was thinking to myself, “Do I really get a choice if I write or not?” I mean I’ve never said no.

I’ve never been like oh I’m too busy for a void this week.

In fact I don’t really even plan to write them, they just sorta appear out of my fingers. Something just clicks inside my head and I sit down and stuff shows up on my screen. It’s as if the words are not my own, but rather like I am

just some function or tool used by a higher power to deliver its message. As if I am a telegraph button being pressed to form sentences.

I wonder if all of us are just specks, atoms of swords or bullets being forced to fight a war of which we know nothing. We are being carried by leaders with unknown intention and ideology.

Then I thought that an even more terrifying possibility exists. Maybe I am even less than some nameless soldier, following orders and fighting a war too broad for my

narrow vision.

There exists the possibility, and not improbably so, that all we know, and are, is a game with some finite set of rules and players let go until everything sorts out and disorder wins. I wonder if even these thoughts are just the result of a couple equations and a list of initial vectors.

As I feel my fingers slowing down and my thoughts wrapping up I question whether I have the choice to continue thinking at all.

Oregon militia erotica has surprising message

Student Writer Tara Grigson bought Oregon militia erotica on a whim, and found a surprising message of tolerance and understanding.

The other week I encountered an ebook on Amazon called Oregon Patriots Occupied My Butt. I read the title and bought it instantly (because one-click ordering is a dangerous thing). For a minute, I thought I might have charged it to my parents’ credit card, and I was very worried. But I did not, so it was fine.

At the point that I bought it, it was $0.99 but now it is going for $2.99, so demand must be high, as it should be, because I can only describe this book as a work of genius.

It is five pages long (so like a novellellella). Before I read it, I read the author’s biography, which stated that he is from Canada, and just read about the Oregon situation and “found it very erotic”. Because who didn’t?

The gist of the story is that a guy who might be Captain America(?) but gets called Cap, wants to go hangout with the Oregon terrorists to explore his masculinity and sexuality. He knows that he is, on some level, attracted to men, and this just seems like the perfect opportunity to look into that.

He meets several members of the militia - including Aimon, who is the leader, and Garnth whose name is really fucking stupid.

They tell him that they like being there because they have a lot of beef jerky, but they do not like being there because they do not have any women. So they have started literally fucking their guns.

Cap gets noticeably turned on watching them, so they decide that

he must be gay, which they think is really bad. They want to figure out if anyone else is gay, so everyone has sex with everyone else.

By the end, they have all learned to respect each other’s sexualities.

It is very funny, and has an uncomfortably beautiful message about the importance of respecting people who are different from you. You should come for the gunfucking, and stay for the message about diversity. Also it will take you ten minutes to read.

To quote Steven Schwartz’s lyrics for Glinda in the Broadway musical Wicked, “Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better...I have been changed for good.”

I do not know if my life is better because of this book, but it has certainly allowed me to see problematic American attitudes toward liberty, freedom, and guns as far more sexual. I cannot think of any idea more American than literally putting penises into vagina guns, so really this book is exceptionally patriotic.

Overall, I would give it 3 vagina guns out of 5. It is definitely a classic work of literature, written by a Canadian, about American politics, because he thought it was erotic - but it is also very short, and probably not worth $2.99. If it were still $0.99 I would definitely highly recommend you purchase it for yourself - but it is around three times that. And if proportions work the way I think they do, I would need to rate it 15 vagina guns out of 5 for it to be worth that price.

graphic by Elias Brinkman

Anti-government sentiment never looked so good.

the Collegian: 15

1 February 2016

Housing selection starts in February.

Complete housing licenses to retain current space/ apartment or enter the lottery to select a new space: February 10 - 22, 2016.

Campus Housing Selection Timeline SUN

MONDAY

22

F E B

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SAT

23

24

25

26

27

1

2

3

4

5

7

8

9

10

11

12

8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Law & Graduate, Seniors then Juniors

8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Sophomores

8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Mapworks Freshmen

8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Freshman/ English Institute Students

9 a.m.- 3 p.m.

First come, first serve.

n Deadline to

Retain and Enter Lottery

(11:59 p.m.). n Theme

House Video Applications due by 5 p.m.

M 29 A R C H 6

3-5 p.m.

Theme House Selection for groups that have been accepted for 2016-2017.

4-4:30 p.m. Missed your selection? First come, first served

8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Apartment Switcher Lottery 4-4:30 p.m.

Missed your selection — first come, first served

Stop by the Mayo SAC with any Housing or Dining Selection issue

Housing Office: 918-631-2516

canelink.utulsa.edu

2016 Collegian Ads.indd 4

1/29/16 8:19 AM

The State-Run Media

1 February 2016

the

State-Run media Deviation from the norm will be punished unless exploitable.

Lawmakers introduce very similar bills in long-standing one-upmanship contest

Politics aren’t pretty, and as two Oklahoma representatives have proven, sometimes personal rivalries play a part.

JD Wessinger Entrenched in a proxyproxy-proxy war.

Last week in an unprecedented turn of events, two Oklahoma representatives proposed nearly identical bills, refusing to compromise one for the other. Oklahoma State Representative Andy Rudy’s (D) proposed bill for a $10 minimum wage was countered by Representative Bill Rudyer’s (D) bill for a $10.10 minimum wage. When asked the reason for the ten cent

Representative Rudy

difference, Rep. Rudyer explained his bill was, “For the betterment of the middle class in a real, substantial way,” according to him being a “more ambitious step than my fellow Representative was willing to take in the service of our constituents.”

“Those two have been at it since the spelling bee,” said Mrs. Jackson, the Representatives’ fifth grade teacher. “They kept trying to spell bigger and bigger words to outdo each other; they wouldn’t even listen when I told them they couldn’t keep adding S’s to ‘Mississippi’.”

Sources reported that throughout their academic careers, the prospective one-uppers performed with dazzling mediocrity. Their attempts to outperform the other progressively broadened to popularity contests, talent shows and accruing the most senior superlatives. “It was one of my greatest triumphs when I won homecoming king my senior [undergraduate] year,” stated Rudyer in his memoir, released at the young age of 40, one week before Rudy’s own memoir was released. “It became one of my darkest moments when Rudy was crowned homecoming queen.”

The pair both went to law school, failed the BAR exam twice each before passing, and announced their campaigns for representative within 20 minutes of one another. Despite running for office in different districts, the candidates publicly debated each other multiple times, running at-

Representative Rudyer

tack ads on the other’s campaign.

Only one of the debates between Rudy and Rudyer was recorded, but when local networks were contacted, the footage was reported to have been destroyed “out of respect for the dignity of the network and all persons involved.”

One eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous stated that

graphics by Elias Brinkman

the debate broke down at the four hour mark, when each candidate blamed the other for the audience leaving, and proceeded to slapfight until security escorted both representatives out of the building.

When contacted for comment on the bills, both representatives issued statements not fit for StateRun Media’s decency standards.

The State-Run Media reviews: Monday Collegian meetings

If movie reviews get people to go see a film, newspaper meeting reviews should get people to come to newspaper meetings. That’s at least what the State-Run Media’s secretive sponsors thought when they asked us to run this article.

Samuel Beckmann The only critic endorsed by the State-Run Media.

I recently attended the weekly Collegian meeting, which takes place at 5 p.m. in Oliphant hall every Monday, to bring you, readers

of the State-Run Media, a completely unbiased take on how the news is manufactured at the University of Tulsa.

As the meeting began, dejected writers filtered in, taking seats on overstuffed couches spread throughout the room and making smalltalk with those also unfortunate enough to be in attendance.

Finally, several minutes late and in a tone much too pleasant for a state-run newspaper, Managing Editor Fraser Kastner informed all of the writers that they needed to fill out some paperwork to be paid for their articles. Personally, this reviewer was appalled by the idea of citizens being paid to perform good journalism, but some part of

me is holding out hope that these forms were merely a ruse to steal employee information.

After that business was concluded, Editor-in-Chief Giselle Willis announced that the meeting would largely be split into three sections. In the first section, both satire and news would be holding caucus. As much as I would have enjoyed insulting those who stayed in the news section in an attempt to bring back “journalistic integrity” (whatever that means), I could not miss the opportunity to attend a glorious satire meeting.

The satire section was absolutely delightful! Not only did we talk about [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], we even discussed plans for [REDACTED], led by our glorious leader, [REDACTED]. It was not a meeting to be missed.

After that experience, the entire staff reconvened for commentary.

Now, I often take issue with the commentary section, as any outlet by which ordinary citizens can express discontent with the system is inherently dangerous, but I was pleasantly surprised by this particular meeting. Not only were there a list of available stories to write about on the board, which reduces the chance some maverick will go off on his own writing about some delicate topic, but the stories were often presented with a strong bias towards one side. I admit that I may have underestimated the power of commentary.

By using psychological manipulation, it seems indeed possible to get individuals to write passionate articles furthering our objectives,

The newsroom is a place where journalistic integrity reigns supreme.

while having them believe the ideas were of their own creation.

I will have to keep a close eye on this....

Finally, the last section of the meeting was split between sports and variety. Normally, I would simply zone-out from discussions about ultimately meaningless forms of cultural expression and entertainment, but Variety Editor Abigail LaBounty caught my attention. She had a wonderful habit of calling out specific individuals to write articles for her, and con-

stantly harassing them until they accepted her offer. There’s certainly a potential for leadership in her, forcing other people to her will. I’ll have to mark that in her file.

Now that all of you are familiar with the grueling process of sitting through the weekly Collegian meeting, I invite you all to attend next week’s meeting, at 5 p.m. Monday night, Oliphant Hall, room 110. Seriously, be there. We’ll know if you aren’t, and there will be consequences.

photos by Caitlin Woods