17 November 2014

a student newspaper of the university of tulsa

november 17, 2014 issue 11 ~ volume 100

Laureate Institute to study float tank therapy, p. 3 TYPros opens the door for Uber in Tulsa, p. 5 Soccer takes conference championship! p. 7 The Russian space pencil is a lie, p. 8

Sarah Power / Collegian

the Collegian : 2

17 November 2014

International Bazaar draws crowd, celebrates culture

The International Bazaar took place in ACAC last Friday. Students clothed in native dress manned booths that featured food and info. The setpiece was an international dance display.

Brownie Day

Chuyi Wen / Collegian

Each year, Brownie Day brings Girl Scouts to TU for science lessons and demonstrations.

The event is meant to instill a love of science and engineering in the participants.

Gregory Diskin / Collegian

NEWS

17 November 2014

the Collegian : 3

TU student to show work at RAW Artists Showcase On Thursday, TU freshman Emily Steward will have photographs on display at the RAW Artists Showcase at 7 p.m. Sports Reporter Joseph Edmunds sat down with her to talk about the showcase and her artwork.

Collegian: What is the RAW Showcase?

Emily Steward: It’s for underground artists that haven’t really been recognized. They choose artists from across the city and the surrounding areas that haven’t really been represented well and put them all in the show to showcase their work.

C: What types of art will be on display?

Photo courtesy Emily Steward A photo of a paraglider taken by TU freshman Emily Steward. Steward’s work will be featured at the RAW Artists Showcase Nov. 20.

Tulsa research center set for premiere of float tank studies A research facility in Tulsa will soon be the first in the world to conduct experimental trials on the effectiveness of treating psychological disorders with float tanks.

Commentary Editor Giselle Willis reports.

The Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR) in Tulsa held its first open house last Wednesday.

The evening featured talks on noninvasive brain imaging, float tanks and the upcoming LIBR T-1000 research initiative.

Dr. Justin Feinstein has been overseeing the lab at LIBR focused on the effects of floating— lying in a tank of water for about an hour and a half. His lab is called the Float Clinic and Research Center (FCRC). Yet the tanks are more than just containers of water.

LIBR has two float tanks: one is an open circle of water that looks like a jacuzzi, and the other is a circular, eight-foot-tall tank. Each has about a foot of water and 2000 pounds of epsom salt, making the water denser than that of the Dead Sea. The tanks are completely dark and soundproof. Since skin temperature is around 94 degrees Fahrenheit, the water and air are heated to the same temperature so that the brain’s ability to perceive its own body’s boundaries is reduced. As a result, the visual, au-

ditory and tactile areas of the brain get a break from the usual bombardment of stimuli.

Dr. Feinstein explained that feelings of control are especially important with any clinical population, so floaters will also be able to decide whether or not they want lights on, when to get into the pool, and how long to stay in it, among other things.

Research involving float tanks has not centered on sensory deprivation, mainly because the tanks don’t actually deprive the senses, according to Dr. Feinstein. Instead, they enhance interoceptive sensation, such as awareness of one’s own heartbeat and breathing.

A majority of the research on floating has been conducted with patients who were not known to have any physical or psychological disorders. Dr. Feinstein reported that even among these patients, there was significant reduction in stress and anxiety after floating, as well as a decrease in blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones during and after floating.

LIBR will be the first clinic in the world to conduct research on the possibility of float tanks as a viable treatment for people with anxiety disorders and anorexia.

Emily Noren is a former anorexia patient living in Portland.

She’s had eating disorders since the age of 14 and underwent a wide variety of treatments with no results. She began floating be-

cause her friend owns a float shop and convinced her to try it, but not with the intention of treating her eating disorder.

When she first got into the tank, she was “very uncomfortable, because the only voice (she) could hear was (her) own voice.” The experience was both relaxing and unsettling, according to Noren.

Now, after floating for six months, she is completely free of her eating disorder. When sitting through her more mainstream treatments, Noren said she felt that the best she would be able to do was get her symptoms under control. But now, she explained that floating helped her realize that she “didn’t need someone else’s theory as to what was wrong with (her).” Floating gave her the tools she needed to cure her negative thinking.

Noren met Dr. Feinstein at an international float conference held in Portland. He invited her to come to Tulsa and help open the clinic to anxiety and anorexia patients here.

She filmed a video with LIBR about her floating experience and how recovery from eating disorders is real and attainable.

The float lab will begin recruiting participants in January. Anyone interested in volunteering with FCRC can email jfeinstein@laureateinstitute.org. Those looking to participate in LIBR research can go to www.researchmatch.org.

Pride hosts marriage equality panel Apprentice Editor Sara Douglas and Features Editor Morgan Krueger report on a panel that discussed the advent of marriage equality in Oklahoma.

The panel, held on Thursday, Nov. 14 in Tyrrell Hall, featured notable persons from the Tulsa community and was mediated by Jennie Wachowski, the director of United Campus Ministry, whose mission is to “awaken an ecumenical voice for peace and justice on the University of Tulsa campus by fostering a benevolent and inclusive environment”.

The panel opened with an overview of the panelists’ knowledge of and history, personal or professional, with the gay rights movement.

TU political science professor Matt Hindman said, “The LGBT movement is pretty young, probably as young as most of you. We’re living in a time of rapid change.”

He went on to describe the precipitating event for the movement as the 1969 Stonewall riots. The next important move was when nonprofits supporting the LGBT community were formed in the 1970’s. However, these groups were largely ineffective.

Hindman said the 1980’s AIDS crisis gave a lot of momentum to the movement, but an agenda for initiatives wasn’t firmly estab-

lished for a relatively long time afterwards.

In 1993, the Defense of Marriage Act was proposed and then approved in 1996 by a Republican-dominated Congress. The federal government would not recognize same-sex marriage licenses granted by state governments.

Also, states were not obligated to recognize same-sex marriage licenses that had been awarded by other states.

The first half of the DOMA was overturned in 2012, but the second half is still legally enforceable for the states which have not approved same-sex marriage.

Mary Bishop-Baldwin, plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, spoke on her personal experience in the battle for same-sex marriage rights.

“In 2000, Sharon and I had a commitment ceremony, which is like a marriage, but just not legally recognized.”

The Bishop-Baldwin couple had to go to an attorney to get the rights to each others’ property, healthcare, trust funds and other legal holdings usually shared by married couples.

Mary said, “We didn’t have those rights, even though we felt like we were just as married as anyone else.”

Mary is adamant that, “The rights of any minority should not be left to the vote of the majority.”

Governor Mary Fallin said 75 percent of Oklahomans voted against same-sex marriage, to which Sharon responded, saying the Governor is very bad at math.

“Not even a simple majority of Oklahoma has ever voted for a ban on same-sex marriage. If we want progressive law in Oklahoma, we have to go to the ballot box and get it ourselves.”

Next, the panelists were asked how the marriage equality ruling has affected their lives and their work.

Hindman said, “It’s a dynamic situation, but not much has changed for me personally.”

Vic Wiener, GSA Coordinator for Youth Services of Tulsa, agreed that the ruling may not be as groundbreaking as people think.

“The fact that (my partner and I’s) relationship could be legally recognized and we could be there for each other is powerful. But at the same time, so much is being forgotten.”

Both Mary and Sharon are happy with the direction things are going, but recognize there is still a long way to go.

Mary said, “This will change our lives in so many ways that we don’t even know. For the first time in our lives, we’ll be filing our income taxes jointly as a married couple. There was always an

See Panel, p. 5

ES: There’s photography; there’s drawing and painting. There will be jewelry and fashion art. Last month there was a comedian; there will be a band and a DJ. C: How did you get invited to the showcase?

ES: I got a message from the Tulsa show director in the summer on my photography page that said, “Hey, I’ve been keeping up with your work and really like it, so I would like to showcase it.”

C: Do you know what you will be displaying?

ES: Yes, I’m displaying a lot of film photography, and then a couple of shots that I’ve taken over the years that I really like. I will also be displaying a few pieces of client work as well.

C: Now I have some questions about your background in photography. When did you become in-

terested in photography?

ES: During sophomore year of high school, my friend’s mom decided to start teaching at my school. She’s a photographer, a professional, award-winning photographer. I took her class and that’s when I got interested.

C: What about photography interested you?

ES: I think it’s a really creative way to display the way that you look at the world. It’s a lot different than other types of art. You know, with other types of art you spend hours actually creating the composition whereas with photography you snap a picture and then you’re able to edit it afterwards. I also loved that I am able to create memories with it.

C: What do you typically take pictures of?

ES: Normally clients, so family shoots, senior photos, portraits; I’ve done weddings, things like that. And then for fun, I love to do travel photography and other artsy stuff.

C: Where can people find your work?

ES: They can find it on Facebook where I have a business page “Emily Steward Photography,” and then my website which is emilysteward.com.

Nikki Hager / Collegian Freshman chemical engineering major Juan Alvarado, senior speech pathology major Preslie Watkins and freshman biochemistry major Thomas Jefferson (Kristina Scott) celebrate election night at a watch party hosted by CSA on Nov. 4.

CSA plans immigration policy round table

In preparation for a campus congress in December, TU’s chapter of Common Sense Action is hosting a round table discussion about national immigration policy with local leaders and experts.

Politics Reporter Brennen VanderVeen reports.

Common Sense Action (CSA), a student group devoted to bipartisan advocacy for millennials, is hosting an Immigration Round Table on Wednesday, Nov. 19 from 6-7 p.m. in Chapman Lecture Hall. TU CSA Vice President of Events Chandler Moxley says that they will be specifically discussing “ways to reform immigration policy,” and how it “relates to millennials.”

The round table will provide an opportunity for students to discuss immigration issues with three locals whose work involves immigration policy. University of Tulsa Professor of Law Elizabeth McCormick directs TU’s Immigrant Rights Project. Attorney Marvin Lizama works with immigration law. Kasey Hughart from Dream Act Oklahoma, an advocacy organization, will also be speaking.

CSA has both a national organization and a chapter on campus.

Individual chapters are encouraged to look at local and state issues. TU’s CSA chapter has been looking at incarceration rates and education policy in Oklahoma.

However, the national organization is focused on immigration policy this year, so TU’s chapter is also spending some of its time on it this winter and spring.

The national organization doesn’t direct local chapters, though. Rather, local chapters develop policy ideas. TU CSA Vice President of Policy Andrew Cummings says that “the work on immigration that TU CSA does this year will become a part of a larger discussion with other CSA chapters” and will eventually become a part of the national organization’s Agenda for Generational Equity, their platform that emphasizes fiscal responsibility, millennial investment and economic mobility. As of yet, TU’s local chapter is still developing its policy goals.

They’re looking at incorporating both center-left and center-right policy ideas to create a range of policies that they believe will be “reasonable and beneficial” and that “can help promote compromise.”

With this round table, Cummings says CSA is aiming “at making sense of a complex procedure, dispelling myths about immigration, and providing direction and inspiration to our policy-writing, as well as simply sparking greater awareness and involvement in both immigration discussions and the political process as a whole.”

As an example of a misconception, he pointed out the large percentage of illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. legally and just overstayed their visa.

On Dec. 6, CSA will be hosting a campus congress, in which students will be able to vote on CSA policy proposals.

Full disclosure: News Editor Nikki Hager is President and Cofounder of TU’s CSA chapter.

NEWS

the Collegian : 4

17 november 2014

TU students volunteer with Habitat for Humanity

by News Editor Nikki Hager

G-20 Meets in Australia Leaders from G-20 nations met in Brisbane, Australia last week to discuss economic and global issues.

The leaders pledged to invest over $2 trillion in infrastructure, supposedly leading to over a 2 percent increase in global GDP if fully implemented over the next five years.

The meeting also focused on issues like stopping the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, climate change and Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

While Russia’s takeover of Crimea was not officially on the agenda, Australia, Japan and the United States issued a statement condemning Russia’s actions.

ISIL kills another U.S. hostage A video has been posted online of the beheading of U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig. The group calling itself the Islamic State has taken credit for the murder.

The United States is investigating the authenticity of the video, which also shows the massacre of 18 Syrian troops.

According to the BBC, this video is much more graphic than previous beheadings by ISIL. Kassig had converted to Islam and was helping refugees in Syria when he was captured by ISIL.

Riots in Mexico over students’ disappearance Forty-three students were abducted and killed in September by members of a drug gang in the southern state of Guerrero.

Thousands of demonstrators have responded in the streets of Mexico City, blocking major highways and setting fire to political offices. The protesters claim the government has not done enough in response to the abduction and that they are tired of living in constant fear of gang violence and drug cartels.

Government corruption is seen as a major contributor to such violence.

Airplane debris removal begins in Ukraine Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in July; however, crews are just now beginning to remove the wreckage. Access to the crash site has been limited by Russian separatist rebels in the region.

Teams from the Donetsk’s emergency ministry are removing the debris, under the oversight of Dutch authorities. The flight originally took off from Amsterdam and many of the people on board the flight were Dutch.

Investigators have not been able to identify the exact cause of the crash. However, Ukraine and Western nations accuse pro-Russian rebels of shooting down the plane with a Russian-manufactured missile. Russia denies the claim.

Chess, mental health, other clubs form at TU The Student Association chartered four new clubs last month. Staff Writer Caitlin Woods reports on what the clubs hope to bring to campus, as well as the process of getting an SA charter.

This month, four new clubs have been chartered by TU’s Student Association. Women in Business, The University of Tulsa Chess Association, HeadStrong and TU Toastmasters are all new additions to the list of clubs sponsored by SA. The four clubs all formed as a result of something the founders found missing on campus. HeadStrong, for example, is “a student group to form community and address stigma surrounding mental health through advocacy, education and awareness.”

“I was mostly just surprised that it didn’t already exist,” said Tara Grigson, HeadStrong’s founder.

“I think that college is just such a dramatic time of transition that having something on campus that can connect people to other resources (is) important.”

Once chartered, a club is eligible for SA funding to support travelling and events. Additionally, an officially chartered club has the opportunity to be recognized by a national or international branch of the organization.

In the case of the TU Toastmas-

ters, the public speaking club, the TU charter is under the umbrella of an international organization.

“Toastmasters is a huge international organization which provides such groups as ours with mentors who train us,” said Giorgiy Lutidze, one of the club’s founding members. “So to become recognized (by Toastmasters) we definitely needed to become recognized by SA first.”

“The requirements include having at least 10 people interested, two different people serving as president and treasurer, a constitution and an OrgSpace,” said Grace Doyle, Student Organization Committee Chair and SA SenatorAt-Large. TU OrgSpace is where all SA-funded clubs have their profiles, and having a page is necessary to receive funding. “If you do not have an account number you cannot receive funding.”

“We wrote a constitution, got the founding members an advisor, created a business account following the steps on the SA website and set up the TU OrgSpace page,” said Nate Beckemeyer, treasurer and charter member of the University of Tulsa Chess Association.

“An SA representative contacted us, and we got an interview to approve our meeting, making us a chartered club.”

“We wanted people at the University of Tulsa to be able to find us and join a pre-established group if

See Clubs, p. 5

Sara Douglas / Collegian

Homeowners Peter San and Mary Mueh listen to instructions from a Habitat for Humanity volunteer on how to paint a cabinet that they've just installed in their soon-to-be-completed home.

TU’s chapter of the international organization Habitat for Humanity works hard to make a positive impact on communities by building affordable housing in partnership with people in need. Apprentice Editor Sara Douglas reports on their history, projects and needs.

Volunteers with Habitat for Humanity at TU donate their time each Saturday to providing better housing for individuals and families in undesirable living situations in the Tulsa area.

The group brings volunteers to various build sites throughout Tulsa for 12 Saturdays each semester. Each site takes between six to eight weeks from start to completion.

Habitat’s secretary Katie Burch, a sophomore biochemistry major who has been involved with the group since this past spring, said that the first day on a new build site always begins with setting up the pre-constructed walls on the foundation.

After the walls are up and nailed together, professional tasks like installing drywall and roofing are done throughout the week by construction groups. When Habitat volunteers return the following Saturdays, they can proceed with siding, painting and other work.

The site they are currently working on is on N. Quincy Ave., just off Peoria Ave. north of Highway 75. It is about two weeks from completion; volunteers painted and installed cabinets this past Saturday.

Usually the volunteer group

consists of about five students from TU along with permanent Habitat workers, members of other organizations from around Tulsa, and oftentimes the homeowners.

At the build site, lunch is traditionally provided by local church groups.

Senior English education student Hannah LaFranzo, the treasurer for the TU chapter of Habitat for Humanity, would like to see more students from TU take part in the group’s work.

The rowing team volunteered two weekends ago, but it is rare for other athletics teams and student organizations to help out. An exception is that APO members are known to individually volunteer, but the group itself does not regularly organize outings to build sites, said Burch.

The officers and some of the more regular volunteers also hold fundraising events throughout the year. Just before Halloween, the group sold pumpkins on campus.

The next fundraising and awareness event, called “Build a (Gingerbread) House with Habitat,” is planned for Dec. 3. Gingerbread decorating contests will be held, and donations for the Tulsa Day Center Homeless Shelter will be collected.

Meetings to plan fundraisers are held about once each month.

General meetings for volunteers and interested students are twice a semester.

Habitat is an organization in which people who may not be able to volunteer due to physical, scheduling or other constraints can still help by being involved in fundraising and advertising for the group.

Ventfull, digital signage, the Activities Fair, email and Facebook are all outlets through which Habitat advertises. But recruiting volunteers is still a struggle for the club at times, especially during the winter months when cold weather deters many students.

LaFranzo says the best part of being involved in Habitat for her is participating in fundraising. She gets to see that “people actually care” about helping their community, and “they have fun while doing it.”

Seeing “all of the progress made on the house and the difference volunteers make” is Burch’s favorite component of being a Habitat for Humanity volunteer. Also enjoyable is meeting the homeowners and getting to attend the dedication ceremonies after the sites are completed and moved into.

Earth Matters to film sustainability video Other events include a showing of “Your Environmental Road Trip” this week. Student Life Reporter Michaela Flonard reports.

Earth Matters, TU’s environmental student group, is working on a video promoting sustainability on campus to be shown at freshman orientation in future years.

The video is “focusing on recycling, specifically why to, where you can on campus, and what is and isn’t recyclable,” said Earth Matters President Sasha West.

West said that the video has “a solid (secret-ish) plot, but help would always be appreciated, in any area.” She added, “so far there hasn’t been any outside student involvement, but we’re definitely welcome to it.”

Jordan Hoyt, a member of the club, suggested the video in hopes of setting “a visual example that can only be spread by viral video.”

Hoyt said “recycling really isn’t a part of our culture hardly at all... even though our recycling process is incredibly simple here at TU.” He believes the lack of recycling is

“due to lack of education on how easy it is. It is also partially due to apathy.”

Because Hoyt has “connections to new student orientation being an orientation leader,” Earth Matters hopes they “can get it shown to new students once it’s made so we can incubate the culture of recycling in the next class and so on.” “The university isn’t involved right now, but we hope they’ll approve it for orientation,” she said.

If not, the group plans to upload it to their Vine account. “There’s no posts yet (on our Vine),” said West, “but once we’re done with the video we’ll focus on getting them done and up.”

West said these video projects are a result of “the creativity of this year’s group.” The projects will also help the group as they try to advertise themselves more, as West has heard “a surprising number of comments from stu-

dents who didn’t realize we exist.”

However, West notes that “student response (to Earth Matters events) has been good. We often get a few outside students joining in our events with the Sierra Club or Green Team.”

This year, West said the group also plans to host “the annual Earth Day festival, a camping trip, and a ‘green’ scavenger hunt with prizes.” The club has also been working with “the Tulsa chapter of the Sierra Club, Green Country,” said West, and has been “joining a lot of their events, including participating in the People’s Climate March.”

On Nov. 18, the group will host a showing of “YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip.” The film follows three friends as they “explore the landscape of America’s unique approach to environmental sustainability,” according to the film’s website.

SA passes lighting, dining resolutions SA passed resolutions to add lighting to fraternity row, allow credit for fitness classes and extend dining hall hours. Student Life Reporter Michaela Flonard reports.

In October, SA passed several resolutions. These include adding lights and other safety features to fraternity row, making exercise classes worth credit and extending dining hall hours.

President of SA Senate, Brett Baumgartner, authored the “Paving the Way” bill. This bill asks the university to place pavers “to Fraternity Row and the area outside of Lafortune House” to help make the area “better linked with the rest of campus.” The pavers would be the brick pattern that links most of campus. The resolution asked that pavers be added on “the south curb of the ‘E. 7th Street’ between S.

Gary Place and S. Tucker Drive” to “pass (the fraternities) and Zink Hall at a distance and pass directly in front of the Mabee Gym.” Baumgartner also said adding pavers would add “an element of safety as well because it would create crosswalks at two streets.”

With the pavers, the bill proposed “adding the same post lighting that is normally used along the pavers (which) would go a long way to brightening this area up.” “(Pavers) really brightened (Sorority Row) up and made it seem more inviting and aesthetically pleasing,” Baumgartner said as an example. While “it is in (the uni-

versity’s) master plan,” Baumgartner hoped SA’s resolution would show student support for the issue.

SA also passed a resolution advocating for exercise classes to count as credit. Laura Holmes, the chair of the Student Investigation Committee of SA, who proposed the resolution, said she knew “several other universities offer courses like this, and thought it would be a great addition to our campus.”

With the resolution, she hoped to “suggest to the administration to add these courses to the curriculum,” including “basic fitness

See Resolutions, p. 15

NEWS

17 November 2014

the Collegian : 5

Special Collections holds bizarre donations

Michaela Flonard / Collegian Top left: A sword with dragon-shaped hilt. Bottom left: Box containing some very large teeth. Top right: Beak of the extinct dodo bird. Bottom right: Opium pipe.

TU has received a variety of bizarre donations over the years. Student Life Reporter Michaela Flonard and Student Writer Renan Kuntz report.

Special Collections sometimes receives donations from alumni and other sources. While these donations are generally books and other historical materials, as to be expected, occasionally the department receives items that one might consider odd.

When TU received a whole

personal library collection from a donor, no one suspected anything apart from regular books. Amid the miscellany of books and magazines, a specific set caught the attention of the worker doing inventory.

To everyone’s surprise, it included a collection of porn magazines dated from the 50s. “Most of what we got from him was very interesting stuff, a lot of Native American paraphernalia,” said Marc Carlson, the Librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, “but you know, he had his stash of stuff too.”

Archives in Special Collections are composed of more than books and papers. Other items have been received as well—for example, a monkey skull, a large collection of dollies and false teeth.

“Before staplers became really prevalent,” Carlson said, while discussing the writings the university has of author Anna Kavan, “people would use string to keep their papers together. Yeah, no, Anna used her heroin needles.”

“We have kept the heroin needles,” Carlson said, although he notes there’s still debate over whether the needles constitute a biological

Tulsa is Uber-friendly: TYPros and Tulsa City Council support ride sharing

TYPros campaign “Bring it to Tulsa” demonstrated an interest in ride-sharing to the taxilike service Uber. Editor-in-Chief Kyle Walker reports on TYPros’ campaign and the City of Tulsa ordinances that make Tulsa an Uber-friendly city.

TYPros and city councilman Blake Ewing agree: Tulsa is one of America’s most Uber-friendly cities.

The San-Francisco-based ridesharing company began Tulsa operations on March 27 of this year, after a “Bring it to Tulsa” campaign led by Tulsa’s Young Professionals asked Tulsans to register with Uber as either drivers or riders.

Isaac Rocha, TYPros’ 2014 Chairman, described the campaign as a search for “eyeballs.” Uber “wanted to see how many eyeballs we could get in a four-month period,” he said. That is, how many people would express direct interest in using Uber’s service.

But “it wasn’t specifically about Uber,” Rocha said.

The “Bring it to Tulsa” campaign is a way of highlighting unfilled niches in the Tulsa business community. Last year, TYPros set up an online store where Tulsans could buy products from the grocery chain Trader Joe’s, which does not currently operate in Oklahoma.

They sold over $7,000 in goods.

The orders were picked up in Kansas by volunteers and distributed at a stand in downtown Tulsa.

“Our goal wasn’t to bring Trader Joe’s to Tulsa,” Rocha said, “but to show the need for a grocery store downtown.”

The campaign also served to address the commercial impact of alcohol regulation, a feature of Oklahoma’s legal regime that has so far deterred Trader Joe’s from opening stores here.

Similarly, TYPros’ 2014 “Bring it to Tulsa” campaign was about pointing to gaps in Tulsa’s transportation infrastructure, gaps that

services like Uber might help to fill.

“In a city that struggles with transportation options, this thing fills a void,” said Blake Ewing, Tulsa City Councilor.

“Tulsa has horrible access to transportation,” Rocha said. He believes that young professionals will be more attracted to a city with better transportation: “We want to be able to work and play all in the same area, preferably in an urban core.”

But demand for a service is not the only requirement for success.

Legal questions are also of great importance. Ride-sharing companies, including Uber, have faced resistance in cities across the U.S. and the world.

Sometimes, local governments have safety concerns about ridesharing. Often, the local transportation companies, especially taxi businesses, mount resistance as well. In both cases, city law comes to play a major role.

“We knew from our research that ordinances become a real challenge,” Rocha said. A “longterm, sustainable look at the ordinances” was a major component of opening Tulsa up to ride-sharing companies.

In part, the legal challenges are a consequence of the changing technological scene, since “existing laws were not made with (ridesharing) technology in mind,” Ewing said. The same is true in other parts of the so-called sharing economy.

As of Sept. 24, Tulsa’s ridesharing businesses are regulated under a new section of the city’s ordinances, which requires companies like Uber to hold a “transportation network company” certifi-

cate, authorizing them to provide ride-sharing services within the city limits.

According to Ewing, the ordinance was written to match Uber’s existing policies: “We trusted that those companies had an incentive to adhere to their own in-house regulations because violating the trust of their customers would destroy their company,” he said.

Under the ordinance, transportation network companies are required to meet certain requirements before receiving a certificate. Some of these requirements are unsurprising: drivers must be at least 21 years of age and have a driver’s license, proof of vehicle registration and proof of insurance.

But companies must also meet other requirements. They must hold an excess liability insurance policy that provides a minimum of one million dollars per-incident coverage. Companies must conduct local and national criminal background and driving history checks for all potential drivers.

Companies also owe the city an annual fee which depends on the number of drivers working for the company. The fee ranges from $300 for a company with 10 or fewer drivers to $1,200 for a company with more than 70.

“Blake Ewing and G.T. Bynum put together what Uber is calling the best ride-sharing ordinance in the country,” Rocha said, but “a lot of Tulsa’s ordinances are antiquated. Our city needs to pass ordinances that have creativity in mind.”

Uber did not respond to a request for comment.

hazard.

Of more historic importance, TU has gotten the beak of a dodo, the bird from Mauritius which was extinct by the 17th century. In this same collection, all donated by the son of Daniel Soper, were dozens of animal teeth, a slave tag that permitted slaves to travel, a sword and whale bone.

Special Collections has a considerable amount of materials relating to world-renowned writer James Joyce, such as first editions of his books and manuscripts. In the same collection that included “an extensive collection of dol-

From Clubs, p. 4

they wanted,” said Beckemeyer.

“Being formally recognized allows us to expand through publicity, funding, events and eventually travel.”

The Women in Business club enjoys SA funding as a way to build teamwork. “We have social events, and we do fun things. We do yoga together, we have stuff at Purple Glaze,” said President Lindsay Cunningham. “Fun, teambuilding stuff.”

Clubs can use SA funding to help sponsor events, speakers and travelling, but in many cases it is necessary for the club to operate at an effective level. “For our official meetings, (successful women) come in from around the Tulsa community,” said Cunningham.

TU Toastmasters

Friday at 7 p.m. in the conference room of Stephenson Hall. Contact: Giorgiy Lutidze or Muna Lemma

HeadStrong

Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in the Little Blue House. Contact: Tara Grigson

From Panel, p. 3 asterisk (by Marital Status), and our relationship was not only not recognized by the government, but not recognized by society. It’s not just the legal protection, but the acknowledgement that we’re married.”

Sharon notes that you can still be fired for being gay. You can still be evicted for being gay, just because someone is discriminatory, and there’s no legal protection against that.

Another problem is that trans people and people of color within the LGBT community are still be-

lies...and grandpa’s false teeth,” Carlson noted that they also received “James Joyce’s library card, (and) James Joyce’s tie, with the gravy stain.”

Pat Cawiezell, TU’s Coordinator of Annual Giving, shared a more romantic story from past donations involving the bricks that students can buy before graduation. Some years ago, after a couple bought their pair, the man asked his girlfriend to look at his brick. “When she came closer and saw ‘Marry me?’ written on the brick, she promptly said ‘Yes!’ to his proposal,” Cawiezell said. “(They) give us their advice and speak to certain things that they’ve had to deal with as women in the workforce, give us advice of what we should do differently or do the same.”

For Toastmasters founding member Muna Lemma, funding is a vital part of the club’s proceedings. “There are sponsored industry people who actually come in and see how the charter is working. So, in order to do that I guess money is the key.”

The only requirement for a club to maintain its charter is to stay active. “Also they can keep updated on SA changes that might affect them in any way,” added Doyle.

“If a club becomes inactive, it’s a real easy process to become active again.”

The TU Chess Association

Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in Fisher South. Contact: Nate Beckemeyer or Joe Edmunds

The Women in Business Club Fridays at 12 p.m. in Helmerich Hall. Contact: Mackenzie Hall

ing overlooked and alienated within the community.

Panelists were also asked about the difference between acceptance and tolerance. The Bishop-Baldwin couple puts it beautifully.

Sharon said it simply, “If you are straight, be willing to listen and be an ally.”

Sharon sees the future moving past tolerance and more towards acceptance.

“People will get over it. Nobody notices, nobody cares eventually.

It’s about who we love. Someday we won’t be talking about gay people, and we will just be.”

the Collegian : 6

Sports

17 November 2014

Women fall to Panthers of Northern Iowa

Greg Diskin / Collegian

Clockwise from left: Senior guard Kadan Brady takes a three-point shot from the field againt the Panthers’ defense. Sophomore center Rickae Jinks dribbles to the basket against Northern Iowa. Sophomore guard Teanna Reid takes a free throw on Friday night. Senior forward Mariah Turner goes up for an uncontested basket against Northern Iowa.

The women’s basketball team hosted the University of Northern Iowa Panthers for their first regular season game of the year. After two halves of competitive basketball, the women lost a close game, 69–66.

Sports Editor Matt Rechtien reports.

Both the first and second halves of the game were close with seven lead changes throughout the game. The first half started with TU on top, but Northern Iowa took the lead (and their biggest lead of the half) 13– 8, before Tulsa retook the lead, and a nine point advantage with a score of 29–20 with just four minutes left in the half.

Northern Iowa was not just going to go

away, going on a 13–0 run to take the lead going into halftime.

Northern Iowa was able to take the lead after the first half by a score of 33–29—not because their shooting percentages were greater than TU’s (they were less accurate than the Golden Hurricane throughout the night), but because they just took more shots, which gave them the lead at halftime.

Tulsa came out of halftime looking to get back in control of the game, scoring two quick baskets to tie it at 33–33. Northern Iowa made a three-pointer to retake the lead, with Tulsa once again making two quick jumpers, this time to steal the lead 37–36.

Tulsa and Northern Iowa battled for five minutes into the half until Jan Keitel scored on a layup to give the Panthers of Northern Iowa a 46–44 lead which they would never

give up.

With five minutes left in the second half, the Panthers saw themselves holding onto a 12-point lead, the highest of the match.

The Hurricane gave it one last effort, going on an 11–2 run to bring them within three points, but time was not their ally as they couldn’t get those last points before time expired.

In the losing effort, Mariah Turner had her second career double-double, with a career-best 24 points and 11 rebounds while Kadan Brady added 11 points on the night.

Northern Iowa out rebounded the Hurricane 43–36, lead in steals 12–10 and lead in blocks 3–2.

Tulsa will look to bounce back from this loss when they play Lamar University on Monday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m.

Football travels to Florida, loses to the Knights on the field of battle

On Friday night Tulsa played against the Knights of the University of Central Florida. It ended much like seven of their other games.

In the city that can boast having ‘The Happiest Place on Earth,’ the Golden Hurricane returned home sad, as Sports Writer Wade Crawford tells us.

The Tulsa football team took to the road Friday night, falling to the UCF Knights 31–7 at Bright House Networks Stadium.

Quarterback Dane Evans threw three interceptions while being held to only 69 passing yards, and the rushing attack was held to 129 yards.

The game began with a slow first quarter, as the only score was a 27-yard field goal by Knights senior kicker Rodrigo Quirarte. The biggest share of scoring occurred in the second quarter, with three touchdowns between the two teams.

UCF scored the first touchdown within the opening four minutes of the quarter, as sophomore quarterback Justin Holman completed a five-yard pass to senior wide receiver JJ Worton to bring the score to 10–0 UCF. The Knights didn’t waste any time on their next possession, as Holman threw a 77-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage to another senior wide receiver, Josh Reese. Tulsa capitalized on a fumbled punt, scoring on a Dane Evans pass to Keevan Lucas.* The 17–7 score carried through to the end of the first half.

The remainder of the scoring came in the third quarter, as UCF tacked on two more touchdowns. Holman found junior wide receiver Breshad Perriman for 25 yards, and sophomore running back Dontravious Wilson scored on a one-yard rush putting the Knights up 31–7. That score held for the rest of the game, as the Knights sealed their fourth American Athletic Conference victory.

The offense could never get traction as

Tulsa only gained 201 total yards (129 on the ground and 72 in the air), while the defense, after a strong first quarter, faltered and gave up a total of 506 yards of offense to UCF (215 on the ground and 291 in the air).

Justin Holman passed for three touchdowns on 291 yards, while Wilson and sophomore William Stanback combined for 141 of the 215 total rushing yards.

UCF improved to 6–3 (4–1 AAC) and hosts the winless SMU Mustangs next week.

Tulsa, falling to 2–8 (2–4 AAC), goes on the road again to play the Houston Cougars before finishing their season at home against the East Carolina Pirates on the Friday after Thanksgiving. *Editor’s Note: I would like to point out that this was no ordinary “Dane Evans pass to Keevan Lucas”. This was one of the greatest catches I have ever seen in my time watching Tulsa football. If you haven’t seen it, look it up now. It gave Tulsa some national recognition (positive this time) because it was a top-10 play on Sportscenter.

Men’s basketball suffers a disappointing loss to the Golden Eagles in first game

The men’s basketball team went on the road for the first game of the regular season, to the uncharted territory of 81st and Lewis to play against the other golden team in Tulsa. Sports Reporter Joseph Edmunds documents Tulsa’s loss to Oral Roberts University in the distinguished Mayor’s Cup.

On Saturday, Golden Hurricane men’s basketball fell to Oral Roberts University in their season opener, 77–68, allowing the Golden Eagles to retain possession of the Mayor’s Cup. Tulsa opened the game with an 8–4 lead, but ORU responded to even the score at 11.

After a TU basket, ORU hit a three-pointer to go up 14–13, and continued to gain a small edge, heading into the half with a

29–25 lead.

The second half featured a lot more scoring than the first half. The half opened up very even, and Tulsa came out of the backand-forth play with a one-point lead at 3635 with 15 minutes remaining. At that point ORU scored eight straight points and kept Tulsa from getting close for the rest of the game. The smallest deficit the Golden Hurricane faced for the rest of the night was four, when they were down 47–43 with nine minutes remaining. However, the Golden Eagles went on a 13-1 run to put the game out of reach.

Tulsa was able to pull within eight multiple times in the final few minutes, but couldn’t come any closer than that. The Golden Hurricane shot a mere 34% from the field, including a dismal 2 for 19 from the three-point line. ORU, on the other hand, shot 49% from the field on the game, including 7 for 18 from three, as well as scoring 32

points on free throws, with 17 coming in the final six minutes of action.

The game saw seven players foul out, and the teams combined for 60 fouls. Said Tulsa coach Frank Haith of the physical game: “I thought ORU played with great toughness.

The game was going to be physical, and it was physical. I thought, in terms of post play and in terms of driving the ball, they were way more aggressive than us. You look at a game like this, it’s hard getting a rhythm with a lot of fouls. When we play a game like this we need to have a little more toughness that we didn’t have tonight.”

With the loss, Tulsa starts the season 0–1, while ORU opens 1–0. TU’s next game is a home game on Monday, November 17 at 8:30 p.m. against Louisiana-Lafayette University, the first of a basketball doubleheader with the women playing at 6 p.m., and another game against Abilene Christian on Wednesday.

Jesse Keipp is…

Faith in Haith The TU men’s basketball team fell to crosstown rival, Oral Roberts University, for the second year in a row on Saturday night. TU athletics’ biggest expenditure, $1.2 million per year head coach Frank Haith, couldn’t secure the Mayor’s Cup in his regular season debut. Having reached the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time in a decade, expectations are high for the junior-led squad. Hopefully, the embarrassing defeat was just a fluke in the Hurricane’s march to the Big Dance. Being the shameless opportunist that I am, I will be selling “Faith in Haith” shirts for $15 each.

They come in scarlet red, royal blue and beige.

Twitter Woes On Thursday, the Galactic Empire, er, the New England Patriots became the first NFL team to reach one million Twitter followers. In order to commemorate the social triumph, the Patriots tweeted digital customized jerseys at a few lucky fans, featuring each fan’s twitter handle. One lucky fan, who goes by the not-so-creative name, IHATENIGGERS, was featured in the congratulatory campaign. Of course, anyone with a twitter account was quick to notice the gaffe, which prompted an apology from the Patriots’ Twitter account. The apology claimed that the “filtering system failed.”

You know what they say: if your filtering system can’t filter out the n-word, you need a new filtering system.

No Rest for the Great?

In the Green Bay Packers’ week ten blowout of the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field, star quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained an injury that most players would envy.

Rodgers matched an NFL record with six touchdown passes in the first half, propelling the Packers to a 42–0 lead by halftime.

Consequently, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy sat Rodgers for much of the second half. However, McCarthy’s cautious move was perhaps too cautious. Rodgers suffered a mild case of back tightness from standing on the sideline for too long. Team doctors reportedly recommended that Rodgers not play so well in future games.

How to Win the Lottery Tanking sits on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s agenda. Futile teams can’t resist blowing an entire season when one good draft pick can launch them to playoff contention. Obviously, tanking isn’t the best thing for entertainment value. A pair of fans at last week’s Mavericks–76ers match up in Dallas elected to read newspapers instead of watching the “contest” in front of them.

Who even reads newspapers anymore? The listless and still winless 76ers stumbled to a 123–70 loss, five points shy of the largest deficit in franchise history.

Courtesy sbnations’ Twitter account

“I’m so glad that we remembered the papers today, we almost had to actually watch this sham of a game.”

Top Tier Wide-Receiver Talent Everyone needs to hit the fantasy waiver-wire because there’s a new touchdown magnet in the NFL. Houston defensive lineman J.J. Watt recorded his second receiving touchdown of the year against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon. These two receptions go along with his two defensive touchdowns, giving him more touchdowns than the likes of Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green and Victor Cruz. Watt, forgetting that the NFL isn’t high school football, lined up on defense and forced a fumble.

Courtesy Jason Miller / Getty Images

With a fade route and a diving catch, J.J. Watt could teach some of the NFL’s top receivers how to properly play some football.

How to Play Quarterback Rams starter-turned-backup-turned-starter-again quarterback Shaun Hill channeled his inner Brett Favre against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Hill attempted to bullet a pass across the defensive line, only to see it bounce around like a pinball and appear in his hands. This led to a fun description on many play-by-play boxes across the internet of “Hill pass to Hill for no gain.”

17 November 2014

Sports

the Collegian : 7

Gameday: how the college football experience looks outside of Tulsa

Sports Writer Wade Crawford wanted to experience college football at a school where football means a lot. He traveled to College Station to see the Aggies play the Missouri Tigers to see why everyone (except fans at TU) is obsessed with college football.

Six Soccer Players Receive American Accolades This past week, six Tulsa men’s soccer team received American Athletic Conference accolades. Junior defender Bradley Bourgeois was named to the first team.

Senior forward Akeil Barrett, senior midfielder Abe Matamoros and sophomore midfielder Ray Saari were named to the second team. Midfielder Geoffrey Dee and forward Aymar Sigue received AllRookie Team honors.

Brooke Berryhill Wins Defensive Player of the Week Sophomore libero Brooke Berryhill won her second American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week award for her play against Cincinnati and Memphis. She average 5.5 digs a game and eclipsed the 1,000 dig mark in her career. This is the second time that Berryhill has won this award.

Volleyball Avenges Their Loss The volleyball team traveled to the University of Central Florida to play the Knights who they lost to earlier in the season. After losing the first two sets the Hurricane faced a potential game point as they were down 24–22 in the third set.

The Hurricane rallied back and scored four straight points to take the 3rd set 26–24. Taking this momentum into the 4th set, Tulsa continued to put on pressure and won the fourth and fifth sets to stun the Knights, giving them only their second conference loss of the season. On Sunday they played the other Florida team that beat them, USF. Tulsa beat them in dominating fashion, sweeping the Bulls to win their sixth straight and 11 of their last 12 games. They play their next game on Friday, looking to avenge the last team that has beaten them in conference play, Temple.

Men’s Cross Country Takes Second This last friday the men’s cross country team took 2nd place at the NCAA Midwest Regionals to receive an automatic bid for the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute. Junior Marc Scott took second individually and the rest of the men’s scorers were all within the top-27 runners.

This is the second straight year that the men have received an automatic bid and the third consecutive year that Tulsa has placed a runner at first on second at the Midwest Regionals. The women placed fourth at the event led by senior Brandi Krieg who placed 18th at the event.

With the absence of TU sports this weekend, I decided to spend a weekend with some friends at College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University. Texas A&M is a school known for its pageantry and tradition, especially around football. This was an environment I knew I had to experience.

The weekend did not disappoint, as Aggie gameday turned out to be simply incredible.

Though this was not exactly a matchup with College Football Playoff implications, the game still held some weight. Texas A&M was 7–3 and recently broke a threegame losing streak with an amazing upset win on the road against Auburn, the third best team in the country at the time.

Missouri was 7–2, good for first in the SEC Eastern Division. The Tigers took to the road after back-to-back home wins against conference bottom feeders Vander-

bilt and Kentucky.

After the boring seven-hour drive to College Station, I arrived just in time for Midnight Yell practice. Perched on the second deck, I had a full view of Kyle Field in its gigantic glory. Three decks surround the field, seating over 106,000 fans with standing room for many more.

With the entire east side of the field filled, the Yell began. I attempted to keep up with all of the chants and yells, with miserable results. Between yells, the leaders gave various speeches to get us riled up for the game—capped off by the special guest, a Vietnam veteran and Class of 1966 graduate.

The yell practice continued by breaking into song, where I found myself lost again (seriously, they need to have some lyric sheets on hand). The practice ended with “sawing Varsity’s horns off” in the Aggie War Hymn, where the rows overlap legs and sway to song. I found it funny that we were doing this when the Aggies don’t even play against Texas anymore, but hey, tradition is tradition.

The actual game proved to be a much more hectic environment. Between the huge groups of fans and the university’s cavalry unit—yes, a cavalry unit—getting to the sta-

Soccer Wins AAC Tulsa traveled to the Arctic tundra of Storrs, Connecticut to play the final rounds of the AAC conference tournament, where they would go on to win it all after winning their first match in front of the home crowd last week. TU Sports Reporter Joseph Edmunds recounts what went down during their weekend.

The men’s soccer team played their final two American Athletic Conference games of this season this past weekend. They had high hopes going into the weekend, having been recently ranked No. 24 in the coaches poll.

On Friday, the TU men’s soccer team won 2–0 in the semifinal match of the American Athletic Conference tournament against Southern Methodist University. On Sunday, they played against the University of South Florida in the tournament final, winning in penalty kicks to capture their first ever American Athletic Conference championship.

Senior midfielder Abe Matamoros opened the scoring, on Friday night, with his second goal of the season, which would turn out to be the game winner, after 35 minutes of play, giving Tulsa a 1–0 lead. The Golden Hurricane held the lead, and then added to it when Cameron Drackett scored his fourth goal of the season with less than 20 minutes remaining in the game. The defense stood strong, and goalie Jake McGuire notched four saves in the net to earn his fifth shutout of the season.

Having won their first two conference tournament games in dominating fashion against Cincinnati (1–0) and SMU (2–0), Tulsa moved on to play USF in the conference championship game on Sunday. USF had beaten Memphis (4–2) and upset host and top seeded UConn (0–0, 2–0 in penalty kicks) to reach the championship.

The championship game remained scoreless through regulation and two periods of overtime mostly due to the strength of both teams’ goalies. McGuire had 8 saves during regulation and overtime, while USF goalie, Spasoje Stefanovic, had six, including an incredible dive with five minutes in the second half to send the game to regulation.

In the penalty shootout, each team made their first five attempts sending it into sudden death PK’s, meaning the first team to score while the other misses wins. On Tulsa’s sixth attempt, Matamoros converted for the Golden Hurricane’s, and McGuire blocked the last Bulls’ shot to win the game and claim the conference title.

After the win, Matamoros and McGuire were named as the Most Outstanding Offensive and Defensive Players, respectively.

In addition that, Bradley Bourgeois, Quinn Starker, Tony Rocha, Matamoros and McGuire were all named to the All-Tournament Team for their play during these three games.

With a win in the championship game, Tulsa earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which they return to after missing it last year. They will find out their place in the bracket during the DI men’s selection show, which will take place at 12 p.m. C.T. on Monday.

dium was an adventure by itself. Our spot for the game was part of the third deck, conveniently just past the rain-protective overhang, which meant we were pelted by the rain for the entire game.

The pre-game events blew me away. After a couple of highlight videos, the real entrance began. After an introduction reminiscent of a boxing main event, the video board cuts to footage of the team walking to the edge of the tunnel on the south side of the stadium. The team then entered the field to the tune of “Power” and over 104,000 fans cheering them on.

The game itself was, in the beginning, a tightly-contested matchup. The Aggies took a 13–6 lead into halftime, which was highlighted by an exceptional band performance and the corps of cadets making the famed block “T” on the middle of the field. However, the second half did not favor A&M, as Missouri scored 28 points in the third quarter to eventually win 34–27.

Even in the loss, I had an amazing visit to the university. Gameday at College Station was an experience like no other. From the Midnight Yell practice to joining a group of 104,000 Aggie fans in those synchronized yells, Texas A&M football is quite the sight to behold.

2014

Collegian sports contests

Think you have a knack at predicting sports? Think you can beat our sports editor and sports writers? Want to win some money for your knowledge of sportsball?

Then come back to the next issue for the first Collegian sports contest of the school year.

The Collegian will be hosting a college bowl pick ’em for the bowl games this year, with the winner taking home $20 (or more depending on our budget). More details will be made available in the next issue (Dec. 8) after Thanksgiving break.

Other contests coming up this year include; Super Bowl, AAC Conference Tournaments and March Madness.

Have any other suggestions for contests? Let me know at: mlrechtien@gmail.com.

‘Cane Calendar Nov. 17 – Dec. 7 Monday, Nov. 17: Women’s Basketball vs. Lamar;

Reynolds Center, 6 p.m.

Men’s Basketball vs. LouisianaLafayette; Reynolds Center 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 19 Men’s Basketball vs. Abilene Christian;

Reynolds Center , 7:05 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 21: Women’s Basketball @ Oral Roberts

University; Tulsa, OK, 7 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball vs. Temple;

Reynolds Center, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 22: Tuesday, Nov. 25: Cross Country @ NCAA Championship; Women’s Basketball @ Texas Southern;

Terre Haute, IN

Houston, TX, 2:30 p.m.

Football @ University of Houston;

Houston, TX, 2 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 26: Men’s Basketball vs. Oklahoma State/ Sunday, Nov. 23:

Oregon State; Las Vegas, NV, TBA Women’s Volleyball @ University of Women’s Volleyball @ Southern

South Florida; Tampa, FL , 11 a.m.

Methodist University; Dallas, TX

2 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball vs. Connecticut;

Reynolds Center, 12 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 28: Football vs. East Carolina University; Monday, Nov. 24: Men’s Basketball vs. Auburn;

H.A. Chapman Stadium, TBA Women’s Basketball vs. Buffalo;

Las Vegas, NV, 10 p.m.

Coral Gables, FL, 2 p.m.

The Collegian is the independent student newspaper of the University of Tulsa. It is distributed Mondays during the fall and spring semesters except during holidays and final exam weeks. The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on the basis of personal status or group characteristics including but not limited to the classes protected under federal and state law in its programs, services, aids, or benefits.

Inquiries regarding implementation of this policy may be addressed to the Office of Human Resources, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-9700, 918-631-2616. Requests for accommodation of disabilities may be addressed to the University’s 504 Coordinator, Dr. Tawny Taylor, 918-631-3814. To ensure availability of an interpreter, five to seven days notice is needed; 48 hours is recommended for all other accommodations.

Advertising Policy: Advertising appearing in this publication does not imply approval or endorsement by the University of Tulsa or The Collegian for the products or services advertised. For advertising information, email The Collegian at collegian@utulsa.edu or jesse-keipp@utulsa.edu. The deadline for advertising is 12 p.m. on the Friday prior to the publication. Editing Policy: The Collegian reserves the right to edit all copy submitted by all writers.

This editing may take place in many forms, including grammar corrections, changes in paragraph structure or even the addition or removal of sections of content. Editorial Policy: Columnists are solely responsible for the content of their columns. Opinions expressed in columns may not represent the opinions of the entire Collegian staff, the administrative policies of the University of Tulsa, the views of the student body or our advertisers. Letter Policy: Letters to the editor must be less than 500 words. While we do not require it, letters sent via e-mail to the Collegian are encouraged. Under no circumstances will anonymous letters be published. The name of the person submitting the letter must be published with the letter. We reserve the right to edit or reject all letters. The deadline for letters is 5 p.m. on the Saturday prior to publication.

Saturday, Nov. 29: Men’s Basketball @. Wichita State;

Wichita, KS, 2 p.m.

Women’s Basketball vs. Miami/Illinois

State; Coral Gables, FL, TBA Women’s Volleyball @ East Carolina

University; Greenville, NC, 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 3: Women’s Basketball vs. Saint Louis;

Reynolds Center, 11:30 a.m.

*There may be some games that are not announced as of yet, such as NCAA tournaments for soccer and volleyball. editor-in-chief—Kyle Walker managing editor—Conor Fellin news editor—Nikki Hager sports editor—Matt Rechtien variety editor—Abigail LaBounty

commentary & barricade editor—Giselle Willis satire editor—Fraser Kastner apprentice editor—Sara Douglas photo & graphics editor—Sarah Power feature & layout editor—Morgan Krueger copy editor—Will Boogert, Amanda Hagedorn business & advertising manager—Jesse Keipp distribution manager—Witt Womack, Katie Hill web manager—Sam Chott

Commentary

the Collegian: 8

17 november 2014

Prejudice against single people unfair People who are single can be just as happy and mature as those who are in relationships.

“When are you going to get a boyfriend?”

“You haven’t matured until you have to think about someone else.”

These are just a few of the wellworn phrases that well-meaning friends and family say to single individuals, especially around the holidays. Couples and married family members tend to think that life doesn’t start until you say “I do,” or that if you don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend it is because something is wrong with you.

Couples pity you on Valentine’s Day, which is dubbed Single’s Awareness Day just for us, and they not so subtly mention how they would hate to be alone for Christmas, as if a boyfriend or husband is the only human contact you’ll have.

Everyone idealizes being in a

relationship as if nothing can ever go wrong in the magical world of intimate togetherness. They act like singles have contracted a vicious disease that can only be cured by putting a ring on it.

The government is on the singlism bandwagon too. We singles pay more health and car insurance and don’t get equal tax breaks or promotions like married couples do according to The Daily Beast. As stated in the New York Times Magazine, “about 100 million Americans, nearly half of all adults, are unmarried, according to the Census Bureau.”

This study might strike close to home. From PhD author Bella DePaulo on YourTango,“in universities, students can find course offerings on marriage and family in departments of psychology, sociology, history and more, but woe to those who would like to pursue an intensive study of the 102 million American adults who are not married or the

33 million who live alone.”

However, being single doesn’t have to be a sign of your inability to find love, despite what others say. There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to tie the knot to another soul and instead just live for yourself.

No one considers that maybe being single and independent is exactly what you want to be.

Relationships come with a lot of pressure to find the right person that you can be your true self with.

Saying ‘I’ve always been single’ shouldn’t equate to ‘I have ebola.’ As Carrie Bradshaw said, “Hallmark doesn’t make a ‘congratulations, you didn’t marry the wrong guy’ card,” but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your own.

Maybe someday Hallmark will make it when their movies stop being melodramatic, but until then we’re just going to have to tell our friends and families that we’re waiting on our soulmate.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

This man stands alone atop the craggy mountains of single life, and as the masses blend into a foggy Hallmark movie, he remains stalwart, head high above the clouds.

Don’t trust this article (or your newsfeed)

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” –Not Mark Twain

Mark Twain was a very witty person, don’t get me wrong.

But not quite as witty as half the Facebook posts attributed to him would have you believe. The above quote, often misattributed to Twain, was actually said by Benjamin Disraeli, who you’ve probably never heard of, making it much more boring to attribute the quote to him.

The Internet is an incredible source of information, but the ease with which anyone can publish

means that any information you get from it at the very least needs to be fact-checked, and in some cases (such as Facebook quotes) should be disregarded entirely.

A prime example of the untrustworthiness of your newsfeed made its rounds about a year ago. An anecdote taking easy potshots at bureaucracy provides just enough cleverness and believability that it might slip past your radar, and go unchecked as a fact: When NASA started sending astronauts into space, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity.

To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and 12

million dollars developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upsidedown, on almost any surface including glass, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300°C. When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil.

Although certainly humorous, this anecdote provides a prime example of why you should be wary to trust random stories in your newsfeed. Unlike a book or magazine, that at least has to have its content approved by an editor, anyone can post a factually incorrect statement, despite a lack of any evidence supporting it.

Meagan Collins laments

For instance, in the early days of spaceflight, both the Americans and the Russians used pencils to write in space. This “solution” has a number of problems associated with it though.

Primarily, flakes of graphite posed a significant danger in space: Not only could they impact an astronaut in the eye, but the conductive material could also easily short-circuit any number of electronics within the craft. Plus, the flammable nature of pencils made them far from ideal to carry into the readily-explosive atmosphere aboard spaceships at that time. A better solution was needed.

Enter Paul Fisher and the Fisher

Sam Beckmann warns

Pen Company. An active follower of spaceflight, Mr. Fisher saw the problems with pencils and decided to fund a solution out of his own pocket.

One year and one million dollars later, the Fisher Space Pen made its debut. Using a nitrogen cartridge to propel the ink towards the tip in zero gravity, and a metal casing to protect the ink in the hostile environment of space, the space pen solved all of NASA’s problems.

So how much did NASA pay for this magical solution? About $5 a pen. Plus, the Russians switched over to the pen as soon as they could. Nobody liked pencils.

“Stream Your Life Away,” don’t “Stay, Stay, Stay” away from Spotify

In light of Taylor Swift’s recent breakup with Spotify, Apprentice Editor Sara Douglas argues that Spotify and other streaming services are valuable to the artists they support.

Take that, Spotify.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Uber should be accountable for harm to customers Managing Editor Conor Fellin believes Uber and similar companies need to stop hiding behind the “sharing economy” and start taking care of their customers.

Companies like Uber and Lyft are promoting a new twist on public transportation. Rather than buy cars and hire full-time drivers like traditional taxi companies, the companies coordinate transactions between passengers and a group of vetted drivers who provide rides on an at-will basis. Some drivers choose to make a full-time job out of Uber, but many others just give rides in their spare time as a secondary source of income.

These companies recently gained media attention after the Better Business Bureau gave them an “F” rating for failing to file responses to customer complaints with the bureau. This is not as big of a deal as it sounds; as Forbes points out, Yellowcab, Zipcar and other traditional taxi companies have all received F’s for the same reason.

More foreboding are a series of accusations that Uber drivers have perpetrated violent crimes against their passengers. In one instance, a driver who had two felony convictions for drug offenses in the past seven years allegedly assaulted a passenger. In another, a dispute over which route to take culminated in a driver attacking a passenger with a hammer.

Complaints have also been raised about Uber’s lack of driver training. Uber drivers undergo no mandatory training, though they are required to submit proof of a vehicle inspection.

These and similar incidents raise the question: does Uber have the responsibility to take reasonable precautions so that its riders have a safe experience?

Uber transactions exemplify a “sharing economy,” an economy based around peer-topeer transactions where shared access to products and services (e.g. a ride) is more important than individual ownership (e.g. having a car). Sharing economies rely heavily on self-organizing communities and emphasize the monetization of reputation on the

Following the announcement of 2015’s “1989 World Tour” in promotion of her album, Taylor Swift made the decision to pull all of her music off of the popular streaming service Spotify.

The response from Spotify and Spotify users was not particularly warm.

Although Swift has her reasons for leaving the streaming service, the impact of this move on her public perception as an artist is not necessarily positive.

Streaming is the de facto mode of music ingestion nowadays.

Many customers are willing to pay for the ability to stream music in place of buying a physical CD or vinyl, or a full album on iTunes or other music purchasing platforms.

And if they don’t want to pay, customers will settle for the free version of streaming services and tolerate advertisements interspersed throughout their listening experience.

Fifty million users worldwide have Spotify subscriptions. When artists release and keep their music on Spotify, it is shared with this huge cohort of potential fans rather than solely with people who are already fans and actively seek out specific artists’ music.

Spotify tends to promote new releases from artists on its home page, always encouraging its users to “discover new music.” Listeners are able to do this more easily, and less expensively, on Spotify than they would by browsing their

local Target, Best Buy or record store.

When artists like Swift only release music in physical forms and on iTunes, where users have to pay for the music before having the opportunity to listen to it, a smaller audience is undoubtedly reached.

Vance Joy is the Australian indie folk pop artist set to join Swift as the opening act on her 2015 tour.

His music, including the newest album “Dream Your Life Away,” has been promoted on Spotify and is available in its entirety on the platform for fans to enjoy.

Joy and other artists who continue to use Spotify as a musicsharing platform see the value in giving fans the ability to “listen to music wherever and whenever they want,” which is Spotify’s stated belief and motive.

Adele, Coldplay and Beyoncé have previously opted to not immediately release new music on Spotify when it is released in other forms, but they later gave permission for their music to be put on the platform. Swift is the first to specifically have all of her discography to be removed from the service.

Record sales may go up because fans who were already planning on listening to her new album will now buy it instead of stream it. That is the reason Swift’s label gave for requesting that her music be pulled from Spotify.

But people who might have newly discovered, listened, enjoyed and then purchased Swift’s new (and perhaps also old) music, or begun a paid subscription to Spotify to gain more usability and lose advertisements, won’t be reached.

The service gives almost 70 percent of its revenue back to artists.

This is a generous cut considering

that some profit is needed to pay employees and keep the platform running smoothly.

Spotify’s payments to the artists it hosts amount to $2 billion in total since the platform’s founding, with half of those funds being given to artists within the past year alone. This is money they wouldn’t be seeing if customers decided to pirate music instead of paying for full, physical albums.

Spotify does what it can to build a good relationship with the artists it services, but ultimately their customers matter more. Providing as much music from as many artists as possible to fans is Spotify’s goal, although that goal appears to be out of line with that of artists like Swift.

Musicians who don’t support streaming platforms like Spotify are more interested in driving up album sales than sharing their music with as wide an audience as possible. If artists want to limit their music to only being listened to after purchase, which inherently limits the number of people who will listen to their music, it is their loss.

In the end, this practice of exclusivity does not enhance the public’s perception of an artist. It makes them appear to be profitdriven rather than motivated by a desire to share art with the world.

Respect for artists rests largely on an appreciation of their passion for their work. When they produce art only when profit is promised, that passion is diluted, at least to the public eye.

Artists like Swift who have shown they are more interested in revenue than in their fans, old and new, ultimately lose respect. They end up putting their future success, which is dependent on fans, on the line.

part of the producer.

If we are to take Uber at its word, then, it is not a transportation business in the traditional sense so much as an app that connects drivers with riders. If a driver is cross, then that driver will get bad reviews, people will stop accepting rides from the driver, and the system will take care of the problem. If a driver bashes in

a customer’s face with a hammer … well, even Uber admits that it’s time for that driver to be banned.

But Uber is not just passively observing transactions between two people who could just as easily have interacted without them.

They are companies that make money off of rides that they pay people to give. They should be taking more care to exercise some

degree of quality control.

I like Uber and similar companies. I like how they make the worker a little less anonymous to the customer. But these infant businesses can’t keep pretending that they don’t have the basic obligations of a business. They need to start investing more into protecting their customers.

barricade

17 november 2014

the Collegian: 9

Graphic by Madeline Woods

Scientists should be tried by their peers Scientists should not be held criminally liable for being wrong, especially by those who do not understand scientific procedures.

In 2012, an Italian court convicted six prominent geologists and one government worker of manslaughter for falsely assuring the nearby town of L’Aquila that seismic activity was “normal” and even “favorable,” failing to predict an earthquake that killed more than 300 people, according to The Guardian.

A Nature editorial published soon after the conviction called “the verdict … perverse and the sentence ludicrous.” Seth Stein, an earth scientist at Northwestern University in Illinois, said “I think it’s very unfair and very stupid.”

A large contributing factor to the outrage over the conviction is a result of the difficulty of predicting earthquakes. As an example of how difficult prediction is, Berkeley’s new early-warning system predicted an earthquake ten seconds in advance, a feat that has many people very excited.

By most standards, ten seconds is not a lot of time; however, it’s enough time to stop elevators at

the nearest floor and open doors, slow or stop subway trains, and issue a bed count to emergency services for hospitals.

The fact that earthquakes can only be predicted ten seconds in advance should be indicative of the trouble the L’Aquila scientists had predicting the earthquake. Although the conviction was overturned recently by an appeals court, some important questions remain: can scientists be held accountable for misleading advice that they truly believe? If so, for what kinds of mistakes?

After Louis Pasteur developed germ theory, disease rates began decreasing. Now the existence of germs is an unquestionable fact.

However, before he created germ theory, most people believed that disease was spread by miasma (essentially bad air) or by overcrowding. Many people died as a result of this ignorance, yet most people today don’t blame these scientists for being wrong.

There are three common reasons why we don’t: there was insufficient evidence to overturn the widely accepted miasmic theory, so it appears reasonable for the scientists to have been ignorant; this ignorance was prevalent in all societies; and there was wide-

spread long-term medical beliefs surrounding miasma at that time.

These reasons assure us that the intent of those scientists was not malicious, but benevolent.

Examine the similarities and differences between responses to the L’Aquila earthquake and miasmic theory. In the case of the L’Aquila earthquake, the evidence seemed questionable to the judge.

The experts concluded that there would probably not be an

denced by the fact that the charge against the scientists was manslaughter, not murder.

Although the scientists were convicted on the premise of the first difference, that they should not have informed the public of the lack of danger when some was present, their conviction was overturned by the second difference, that they were not wrong but probability did not favor their prediction.

earthquake, and there was an earthquake.

The area had been experiencing tremors. Yet tremors are rarely predictive of earthquakes, a fact that brings up the second point of comparison: are all societies incapable of predicting earthquakes?

Yes. They are. Hence the displeasure of the Nature journal (that published the editorial mentioned above.) and many seismologists.

Lastly, in both cases no malicious intent was assumed, evi-

This examination excellently illustrates the problem with attempting to charge scientists based off of their predictions: scientists generally perform their best, and therefore have almost no accountability for failure. They can only really be wrong when they tamper with data or say something that is untrue.

But what if they miss some important detail that they should have noticed? Well, that’s when it becomes very important for your

“The jury for technical subjects should consist of technically competent individuals”

Nate Beckemeyer asserts jury to be of your peers: people who understand science and your specialty in it.

Most likely, had the court that convicted the scientists consisted of geologists, the scientists would have been vindicated in the first trial because they would have voted that predicting earthquakes was way too difficult.

The other advantage to this method is that the people deciding the verdict don’t have to be playing catch-up in order to figure out the scientific method and what exactly it means to be a scientist.

In conclusion, the jury for technical subjects should consist of technically competent individuals.

Therefore, whether or not we can blame scientists for misleading advice depends on how relevant and well-backed their advice is.

Of course, I believe that if a scientist tampers with data, or overlooks simple procedure (such as washing one’s hands), then that scientist can be held accountable for his or her actions.

In general, however, I don’t think that people trying to advise the public should have to worry about legal ramifications for being wrong, when in reality predicting the situation may be far more difficult.

Veterans celebrated, but not helped Veterans return to high likelihoods of unemployment, psychological disorder and homelessness, but their plight is often overlooked or unknown, according to Student Writer Hannah Kloppenburg.

Last week, we celebrated the contributions and sacrifices of American veterans with Veteran’s Day. As we do so, it’s important to keep in mind that for many American veterans, the struggle doesn’t end after they come home.

As a whole, veterans have higher rates of homelessness, unemployment and drug abuse than other American citizens.

Homelessness is one of the most prominent issues that veterans face. Of all homeless males in the United States, 33 percent are estimated to be veterans.

Veterans are twice as likely as regular Americans to become

plague veterans are often interconnected. Mental illnesses such as PTSD can lead to unemployment, which can lead to homelessness. Mental illness in turn can be aggravated by the struggles of homelessness, specifically the lack of familial and social support that comes with it.

It’s a vicious cycle, and for many veterans, it’s nearly impossible to break free.

Programs like the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (commonly known as VA) are intended to provide assistance to veterans after they’ve been discharged. These organizations offer benefits such as healthcare and pension for unemployed veterans. Unfortunately, government funding is limited, and programs like the VA can only help veterans as far as they can stretch their funding.

In order to make a significant difference, programs that promote a community for veterans are absolutely necessary. Many organi-

“In order to make a significant difference, programs that promote a community for veterans are absolutely necessary” homeless. Why? On top of the factors that normally contribute to homelessness, veterans are also often plagued by issues such as physical disability, drug abuse and mental illnesses such as PTSD. Many veterans receive mental and physical wounds in combat, and because more than a million take strong opiates for pain, veterans are highly susceptible to drug addiction. The social stigma against both mental illness and drug abuse results in very little societal support for veterans who suffer from these conditions, and sometimes even affects whether veterans will receive support from family and friends.

This social stigma also inhibits veterans’ ability to find and retain viable jobs. Veterans tend to experience difficulty when trying to apply their military-taught skills to the civilian workforce. These factors contribute to the heightened unemployment rate.

Unfortunately, the troubles that

zations are already putting in the time and effort to do so, but their outreach is often restricted by funding issues, particularly in the case of non-profit organizations.

Veterans in need would benefit from more programs that offer housing, healthy meals, basic healthcare and a supportive community, as well as job training and employment opportunities.

If you’re looking to help veterans in need, you can start by being aware of the challenges that American veterans face. Part of the reason veterans have so little societal support is that many people aren’t aware of the challenges they face.

You can also become aware of the organizations in your community which are intended to help veterans, make a donation, volunteer, or send a care package to a veteran. And of course, it never hurts to say a simple thank you and be supportive of the veterans in your own life.

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

Safety in numbers for Republicans Now that Republicans make up a majority of Congress, News Editor Nikki Hager thinks common goals would ideally play more of a role in policy-making than extremism.

Republicans did overwhelmingly well last election day, claiming eight new senate seats, 12 new House seats and five new gubernatorial seats. We do, however, still have a Democrat in the White House.

There has been a lot of analysis on what voters meant when they elected Republicans to a large number of offices. Some say that Americans are so sick of the current state in Washington that they’re willing to try anything, even the GOP (conservatives, by the way, traditionally favor the status quo). Others would argue that Americans feel so hopeless that they didn’t even bother showing up at the polls, with the lowest overall voter turnout since WWII. Regardless of how we got here, we are going to have to deal with this divided government for the next two years.

Now is as good a time as ever for bipartisanship.

Often it seems like Republicans and Democrats are on completely different pages. And on certain issues, there often is a partisan line that cuts deeper than the TexasMexico border. However, more often than not, most Republicans and Democrats agree on the fundamental issues.

For instance, everyone can agree that capitalism and job creation are both desirable. Neither party is arguing for a centrally planned economy or for communism (despite what Fox News might say).

And if you throw out a handful of extremists (ah-hem Tea Party sympathizers) the two parties agree on a whole lot more. They agree that infrastructure is important, that secondary education should be more accessible and that a social safety net (namely Social Security and Medicare) are necessary. Everyone can agree that we should have immigration reform, that we should reduce the federal deficit and that the first amendment is fundamentally important.

And for that matter, that all of the amendments in the Constitution are fundamentally important.

Unfortunately, despite a massive amount of common ground, there’s those few on the outskirts, the Jim Bridenstines of the world, that would rather shut down the government than keep the Affordable Care Act in place.

Unfortunately, there are a few loud voices that would like you to think that Obama is a Muslim communist that was not born in America and whose only goal is to run our country into the ground.

If we can get around the few at the margins—those that are elected in unopposed elections or elections with low voter turnout— hopefully President Obama and Congress will be able to make a deal.

They could make a deal on infrastructure by passing The Part-

nership to Build America Act (PBAA). Our bridges and roads are falling apart. If we want to grow the economy, then functional infrastructure is an absolute necessity. Yeah, yeah, Obama’s a socialist because he wants to have functional roads and bridges (said no one ever).

The two parties could also make a deal on international trade. An agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership would reduce tariffs and barriers to trade with 11 countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

They could make a deal on immigration. They could make a deal on tax reform. They could make a deal on a number of issues.

But what’s the likelihood in that? There certainly will be more agreement within congress, but will the Republicans pass measures that President Obama will be able to pass? Or will they continue try to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass extreme right-wing legislation.

I am worried that the Republicans already have their eyes turned to 2016. They’re stuck with Obama for two more years, why not wait until the next election when they could win the White House and hold on to Congress. Just think of what they could do then. If moderate Republicans side with Democrats now, they risk alienating the extreme end of their party, which could hurt them in the long run.

If Americans see a divided congress working, then they might be willing to elect a Democrat again in 2016.

Last week’s story “SA passes a new smoking ordinance” ended on a cliffhanger. The last sentence should read as follows: “Things like these always take time,” said Mancini, “but now that the resolution’s passed students have an established position on it.”

the Collegian: 10

Commentary/barricade

Conway’s “Game of Life” simple, yet useful

We asked our writers to think of a time when something was more complex than expected. This simple “game” can be used for everything from math to molecular biology.

John Horton Conway, a British mathematician, invented the Game of Life in 1970. The rules are fairly basic: first, take a two-dimensional plane stretching out infinitely in all directions. Then divide the plane into a grid of squares. Each square is either “alive” or “dead,” with its state being determined by its eight neighbors.

The game plays in turns, with the following rules determining the fate of each cell: Any cell with less than two living neighbors dies, due to underpopulation. Any cell with more than three numbers alive dies from overpopulation.

Cells with precisely two or three neighbors live. And a dead cell can

only come to life if it has exactly three living neighbors, due to the game’s rules on reproduction.

The process is repeated indefinitely, and that’s all there is to it.

To “play” the game, simply choose which cells start out alive, then watch the magic happen. And I don’t use the word magic lightly here. For its seeming simplicity, some incredibly complex systems can arise. Cells can be arranged in a way that they remain perfectly static, never dying or creating new life.

Alternatively, a set of cells could oscillate back and forth between various positions with no end in sight. Slightly more complex configurations send “gliders” down the field, combinations of cells that move themselves at an angle.

When we get very complex, it’s possible to make spaceships, propelling themselves through the grid while retaining their form,

and even more fascinating patterns.

Despite its simple rules, we are far from understanding everything there is to know about this game, and new discoveries are made all the time. In fact, only a year ago a mathematician discovered how to make a replicator in the game, a set of cells that infinitely reproduces itself. Seemingly endless complexity arises from those few simple rules.

The game isn’t just an idle pastime, though. Mathematicians are using it to understand how complex algorithms develop from a static starting point. This concept is surprisingly similar to modern struggles in artificial intelligence: starting with a program written by a human that then allows the program to expand upon and improve itself.

The replicators in the game work by sending “instructions” via a constant stream of gliders.

These instructions are capable of

assembling an exact copy of the original. Even molecular biology is taking an interest in the game for its similarities to cellular and DNA replication.

One reason for all of the mathematical interest surrounding it is that the game can be used as a virtual Turing machine. Meaning that

17 november 2014 Sam Beckmann explains in theory, it is possible to solve any problem that any other computer can solve through the game.

All you have to do is come up with the right starting position— and be willing to wait however many generations are required to solve the problem. Not too shabby for an infinite grid of squares.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The pattern above is a still from a sequence that can be produced using the basic functions in Conway’s “Game of Life.”

GCHQ displays wrong attitude about privacy While it’s true that terrorist organizations have been using the Internet, it’s wrong for GCHQ’s director to say that Americans don’t have some right to privacy.

Robert Hannigan, director of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), wasted no time in making his agency’s agenda obvious. On November 4, the day after taking his

role as director, he published an essay in The Financial Times. His language was stunning, and for all the wrong reasons.

“Privacy has never been an absolute right,” he wrote, seeking to justify GCHQ’s web surveillance activity. Hannigan also accused American tech companies of implicitly helping terror networks grow and organize. “They have become the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals,” he wrote.

Hannigan’s opinion piece is unhelpful at best. Since the Snowden leaks, American tech companies and regular folk worldwide have been greatly distrustful of the United States’ National Security Agency and its bunkmate in England, GCHQ. Perhaps the feeling is mutual.

Hannigan’s accusatory tone toward American tech companies essentially demonstrated that GCHQ is frustrated with their efforts to harden themselves

#GamerGate covers for harassment What is it and why is everyone fighting? Student Writer Sam Beckmann explores how quickly the meaning of a Twitter campaign can change.

Let’s go over some forms of art: Painting. Literature. Sculpture.

Film. Video Games?

The debate’s been going on for years now—are video games art?

By and large, the answer being given by gamers is yes.

However, with this newfound status of art comes a number of changes to the way society approaches games. Games journalism, in particular, provides such a change. As games have developed as an art form, game reviews have transformed from objective measures, such as how well-done the graphics were or how much content was in the game, to more subjective measures, such as what is this game trying to tell you and why you should care about it.

One of the most recurring aspects of this new social critique has dealt with how women are treated in video games. Although it has certainly improved over the past decade, the female representation in games still has a long way to go.

As more and more games journalism websites and journalists began to cover these social justice topics, #GamerGate was born.

As far as I can tell, the original use of the hashtag came from gamers wanting games journalism to return to objective reviews based on how the game played, and not

on how the game ties into social justice issues. But #GamerGate quickly changed. Then the shots started flying.

Zoe Quinn, the developer of the game “Depression Quest,” a text adventure about dealing with depression, began to receive threats of social media shortly after the release of her game. The reason?

At the time, she was dating a reporter from a game magazine, which also happened to give her game a good review. Supporters of the GamerGate movement quickly jumped on this as a prime example of a violation of ethics in journalism (despite the fact that reviewer in question had nothing to do with the review of her game).

The response was swift and brutal, eventually escalating to death threats against Quinn and her family, forcing her to flee her home for her own safety.

Several other female game developers and journalists who expressed support for Quinn or brought attention to the portrayal of women in video games also began to receive death threats by supporters of GamerGate. The “movement” completely transformed from a critique of games journalism to an all-out assault of females in the gaming field.

When anyone tried to challenge this, pointing out the seeming little-known fact that threatening someone’s life and forcing him or her into hiding was a bad thing, GamerGate supporters claimed that they were only trying to improve games journalism.

In short, people with apparently nothing better to do are using the

controversy over games journalism as a cover to get attention. You issue a death threat and who gets blamed? GamerGate.

Part of the confusion involved with this whole argument, and why people can use it as a cover for terrible acts, is the entire concept of a Twitter hashtag movement. #GamerGate has no leaders, no official members, and really no allegiance. It’s impossible to know just what GamerGate “wants” because it’s not an organization—it’s a collection of individuals who happened to use the same hashtag.

Most of those involved with GamerGate are against harassment and death threats, but are largely outspoken by the few that partake in the harassment. The meaning of the hashtag changed in the public eye, but those who supported the original meaning decided to come on for the ride anyway, ending up supporting a movement best known for its horrible treatment of women. Which is why this “movement” needs to stop. Now. I don’t think anyone will argue against me when I say that harassing people online is bad. And despite whatever original intentions the starters of the GamerGate movement had, it has turned into a cover for those who wish to partake in online harassment.

If you believe something needs to change, then do something about it! But don’t feel a need to associate yourself with some movement unless you’re comfortable with everything that movement stands for.

Because if we can end GamerGate, that provides one less cover people can use for harassment.

against surveillance.

To be fair, Hannigan voiced several valid concerns in his essay. He pointed out that terror groups have been using social media to popularize themselves, recruit fighters and coordinate their activities.

He used ISIS as an example.

Among an array of online platforms, it famously used hashtags on Twitter to boost views of its content, and it used digital moviemaking expertise to produce footage of beheadings.

Hannigan also said that terror networks have been using encrypted communication services.

But after he made this case, he destroyed his legitimacy.

Referring directly to “the largest U.S. technology companies which dominate the web,” Hannigan demanded that the American

Oscar Ho argues

ignoring them entirely.

I wonder why the director of GCHQ would be so eager to make war on American corporations and the global population. His essay did not reveal that GCHQ would make any changes to its practices.

“GCHQ is happy to be part of a mature debate on privacy in the digital age,” was all he said, and he might as well not have said that at all. His next sentence was “privacy has never been an absolute right.” GCHQ and the NSA had already abused its powers, as the Snowden documents demonstrated. And neither agency is about to change its practices, as seen in Hannigan’s essay.

Perhaps government will not apologize for these transgressions, as is customary for any transgression. But being dismissive toward

“Mr. Hannigan has one of three problems: he could be ignorant of America’s fundamental laws, he could be convinced that these laws are powerless, or he could be willfully ignoring them entirely”

industry cooperate with the security services. Hannigan even accused them of denying that terror networks make use of their services. “Some technology companies are in denial about its misuse,” he wrote.

Hannigan then stated the unforgivable: “Privacy has never been an absolute right.” Perhaps that is a reasonable statement in the United Kingdom, but since he explicitly mentioned American tech companies, it seems that he believes privacy has never been an absolute right in the United States as well.

The problem is, Amendment Four of the United State Constitution does, in fact, guarantee privacy as an absolute right to Americans. Interpretation of this amendment also extends some of this coverage to businesses, including those in the American cyber industry.

This means that Mr. Hannigan has one of three problems: he could be ignorant of America’s fundamental laws, he could be convinced that these laws are powerless, or he could be willfully

Hannigan’s views would be a critical mistake. Hannigan is being as belligerent as he is because he can get away with it. American citizens should take concern because his views are similar to those of American officials. NSA Director James Clapper and FBI Director James Comey have also insisted that digital surveillance is vital to fighting crime. The NSA is busy defending itself while refusing reform. In October, the FBI threatened action to enable it to access encrypted phones.

Robert Hannigan has, if anything, made matters worse for the public and his own agency. He has succeeded only in making the Cheltenham doughnut more unpalatable for American citizens and web companies. He is more than a baby throwing his rattle out of the pram. His attitude closely parallels the stances taken by the NSA and FBI. Yes, GCHQ, NSA and the FBI should be perceived as the same threat. They threaten American citizens’ privileges under the law, and they threaten the law itself.

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

These Twitter birds are angry because people keep using their social media platform as a place to hashtag weird crap. Consequently, they are planning on rioting in the streets, “old school” style.

The State-Run Media

17 november 2014

Collegian beat reporter covers Beat beat The State-Run Media investigates the Collegian’s latest moves and passes judgment on those dirty corporate stooges.

Adam Lux

Corporate Spy A new position has been added to the already overly complicated hierarchy of the Collegian: the beat reporter. Only 4 echelons under the Editor-in-Chief, it is the highest ranking position to be added to the organization since its founding in the year 499 B.C. So who are these new soldiers in the battle against the truth? The State-Run Media tracked down newly appointed beat reporter Joe Edmunds at a coffee shop/homemade paper supplier off campus.

When asked for a short description of the new position, Edmunds replied with “Uhhh it’s like all about fighting the man, man.” He then proceeded to fix his beret and vigorously snap at a woman on stage reciting spoken-word poetry.

When asked in an interview about the new position of Beat Reporter, Editor-in-Chief Kyle Walker responded “I’m not allowed to give you any specifics, the voices from the skies told me that, but I can say you should expect more

protests at any sort of building construction, people chained to trees that no one is planning on chopping down, and scoffs and turned noses when anyone drinks anything but black coffee and earl grey tea.”

A high-end position created with a conveniently vague job description. It reeks of conspiracy and inefficiency. These greedy capitalist pigs just want to lay around and feed on your hard earned tuition money.

I don’t know what’s going to become of this new position, but loyal readers, in this reporter’s opinion, it is not trustworthy.

As with everything I don’t understand, it is obviously evil and needs to be persecuted. That is obviously the logical response. I call for a rebellion. I’m setting up an angry mob to gather outside the Collegian’s office, also known as the Fortress of Lie-atude, on November 30, 2014. Bring your own pitchfork.

Editor’s note: We regret to inform the reader that, due to the tenuous diplomatic relations between the State-Run Media and the Collegian, we were forced to encourage Mr. Lux to go into hiding. Our condolences to Mr. Lux’s loved ones, who should not be alarmed if they never see him again.

Graphic by Elias Brinkman

The Collegian’s new Beat reporter, whose beat will include beatniks, beat culture, fresh beats and beat poetry. He refused to give his name because he “doesn’t like labels, dig?”

White Republicans rise up, make voices heard in recent elections Despite losing the popular election, Republicans now hold the majority of seats in Congress. This is considered a major success in the white upper middle-class’s struggle to make itself heard.

Caitlin Woods

Getting a Pony for Christmas This year’s midterm elections marked a milestone in American history; for the first time, the longmarginalized white Republicans have taken over both Senate and Congress.

“This is a really exciting time to be alive,” said country club

Masters, another member of the country club, as he polished his golf clubs. “Your dad gets you a high-paying position at his friend’s office, or you sign on as a partner at his law firm.”

The shift to a white Republican majority promises big changes in the United States. For the minority whose net worth is over $16 million, life can be pretty tough. With the majority of lawmakers now a part of the minority demographic, wealthy Americans won’t have to worry about estate tax, or higher taxes than their less-wealthy neighbors.

“The past few years have been tough on my family and my business,” said Lindsay Aberdeen,

“Current lawmakers don’t understand that corporations are people too”

Photo courtesy flickr

Pictured here is a white Republican, celebrating this momentous day for his people. Note the designer tie and perfect hair.

Outrage as TU confessor’s identity revealed When an anonymous online commenter had their identity revealed, they learned a valuable lesson about having an opinion.

Fraser Kastner Anonymous Source

The unthinkable occurred last Thursday when an anonymous online commenter was held accountable for their ignorant opinion.

The TU Confessions page, which features anonymous messages posted by TU students, suffered a glitch last week that temporarily allowed Tad Jones’ comment to be posted under his own name.

The post, which featured sexist language directed toward

“feminists,” a group demonized in Jones’ mind as responsible for his perceived life problems, also called out several women by name for being “frigid” and “total bitches”. At press time, Jones was in hiding.

The State-Run Media did, however, manage to contact him through e-mail. He said that he was “very confused” about what he did wrong. “I’m a nice guy,” said Jones from an undisclosed location. “It’s not my fault that people don’t understand me.”

The rest of Jones’ e-mail contained a lengthy and borderline masturbatory catalogue of every bad thing that has ever happened to him, as well as a list of reasons why none of it was his fault. The

State-Run Media decided not to publish it, or even read most of it.

Meanwhile, Jones’ friends, family and acquaintances are trying to make sense of it all.

“It gives me the creeps to think about him now,” said Ashley Williams, one of Jones’ classmates who was explicitly mentioned in the post. “I’ve sat next to that guy for several classes, and we never exchanged more than five words.

I don’t know why he decided to single me out.”

“I’ve never even met the guy,” added Bridget Washington, another of the post’s targets. “You sit in front of a guy in one class and he decides to take all his frustrations out on you.”

“Cases like this are always in-

member Bill Jones after hearing the news. “It’s incredible the kinds of advances society is making in terms of equality. I’m truly blessed to be alive to witness this momentous shift,” he enthused as he boarded his yacht, carrying a $800 bottle of white wine.

Jones hopes that this new shift in power will lead to more representation for him and people like him. “It’s tough, growing up in an affluent home,” he said. “My father went to Harvard, as did his father and his father’s father. It’s a vicious cycle.”

“There are only two ways out of that world,” chimed in George

teresting,” commented Dr. Susan Mathews, a Behavioral Psychologist. “Surely this person has a mother, maybe even a sister. And yet he uses anonymity to attack all women.”

Unlike most online commenters, who voice their opinions without fear of being confronted

heiress to a $13 billion sugar empire. Aberdeen, waiting on a new shipment of whale caviar for her daughter’s 2nd birthday party, included the statement that, “... current lawmakers don’t understand that corporations are people too.”

The history of American politics has been rife with gerrymandering, with laws constantly made in favor of the poor, the working class, racial and ethnic minorities. Now that wealthy, white Republicans are in power, American society will finally experience real change. Change to benefit not only the everyday man, but those who benefit from his hard work. with them later on, Jones has repeatedly been asked to account for his statements.

“When I said all women were bitches, I didn’t mean all women are bitches,” Jones whined. “I mean, aside from spreading sexist ideology, what have I ever done to deserve this?”

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17 November 2014

Human flag created at Guthrie Green Apprentice Editor Sara Douglas attended last week’s Guthrie Green Veterans Day celebration, which featured a flag made of attendees in colored t-shirts.

A Veterans Day celebration took place on Guthrie Green in the Brady Arts District of downtown Tulsa on Tuesday afternoon.

The event included veteran and current military speakers, a recitation of Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag” and a silent drill routine performed by Union High School’s Junior ROTC. The event concluded with the retiring of the colors by U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol members while “Taps” was played over the speaker system.

A representation of the American flag was constructed by attendees who donned red, white and blue shirts, then oriented themselves on the Green in the stars and stripes pattern. News On 6 had a helicopter above to grab footage of the display. Approximately 300 people braved the chilly conditions to participate in the demonstration and pay their respects to veterans of the U.S. armed forces.

Junior ROTC members from Union High School watch as Veterans Day attendees listen to a speaker.

Sara Douglas / Collegian

“Fifth Horseman” difficult to follow Student Writer Lizzie Connor found the awkwardly paced docu-drama “The Fifth Horseman” difficult to follow. The film charts the life of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, author of “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” and the producer’s research into his life.

Courtesy Buenpaso Films The Fifth Horseman premiered at the University of Tulsa on Nov. 11 in the Lorton Performance Center.

The University of Tulsa featured a world premiere of “The Fifth Horseman” on Nov. 11 at the Lorton Performance Center. Directed by Rosana Pastor and Enrique Viciano, the docudrama portrayed the life of Spanish writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, emphasizing his famous novel “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

The docudrama’s release at the centennial of World War I sought particularly to relate Blasco’s work to its harrowing commentary on The Great War. Pastor’s film begins with a black-and-white dramatization of Ibáñez brainstorming in his office.

Featuring professors wellversed in Ibáñez and Spanish literature, the film used contemporary interviews to reveal the life and work of the early

twentieth century author. The University of Tulsa’s Christopher Anderson, Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, is spotlighted throughout the interviews with his input on Blasco and World War I propaganda.

Aside from the informative interviews, the docudrama was permeated throughout with cheesy scenes portraying the director’s research. The sporadic reenactments misled the viewer into believing the film wasn’t about Ibáñez at all, but rather about Pastor’s Big Book Report.

“The Fifth Horseman” was paced awkwardly and was difficult to follow for viewers not familiar with Ibáñez’s novel.

Multiple scenes poorly depicted an actress that portrayed Pastor viewing informative video clips on Ibáñez as research for the documentary. Despite its best efforts, the scene could not enthrall viewers in the minutiae of late night research fueled by caffeinated beverages and mysterious phone conversations with producers.

The self-congratulatory ending created an unintentionally comical scene where a dramatization of Ibáñez smiled contentedly at Pastor for her biographical work.

Students study fuzzy Australian marsupials

Guest Writers Hamp Freshley, Jeffrey Prado and John Tindle write about their experience performing research abroad in Australia and surveying populations of local fuzzy marsupials.

Imagine you are in the tropical rainforests of Australia and hiking around a pristine lake.

Spiky wait-a-while palms flank the pathway while birds chatter overhead. The day is young but sunlight is just starting to shine through the almost impenetrable canopy.

Just then a small brown flash of fur scampers across the trail with a distinctive hop. Surely this must be some sort of supersized rat.

However, this is no rodent. It’s a musky rat-kangaroo.

Musky rat-kangaroos are just one of the unique mammal species that can only be encountered in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, located in northeast Queensland.

“Hypsiprymnodon moschatus,” or a Hypsi as locals refer to them, is a diurnal marsupial that can often be found foraging for food on the forest floor.

They tend to eat native forest fruits, seeds and even some types of fungi. Interestingly, this is the only marsupial species in

the rainforest known to collect and hoard food in the leaf litter during bountiful periods in the rainforest.

Like the North American squirrel, Hypsies will inevitably forget about some of this stored food, giving these seeds the chance to germinate and compete for resources in the forest. This unique behavior makes the musky rat kangaroo a valuable disperser of rainforest plants.

University students on a study abroad program in Australia surveyed musky rat kangaroos in the fall semester of 2014 at two forest fragments and two continuous forest sites near Yungaburra, Queensland.

The sightings from the forest fragments were compared to a similar survey conducted by students the previous semester.

Last semester in the wet season, students observed a large quantity of fruits and seeds on the forest floor. Students this semester (the dry season) observed little to no

fruits or seeds lying around. We expected that times with more abundant fruit and seed crops would also have a higher number of Hypsies scurrying on the forest floor due to the availability of more resources.

by Hypsies in the wet season, but there may be other types of food available to them in the dry season such as fungus.

The dry season is also the time when joeys emerge from the pouch, leading to a small population boom. Also, if there is less fruit available in the dry season Hypsies may need to spend

“Queensland is so diverse in

flora and fauna species that it may be difficult to predict how the ecosystem will respond to change”

Our survey this semester, however, found almost twice as many Hypsies than last semester during the bountiful wet season.

A few different factors may contribute to this difference. Fruit crops are the main food eaten

more time foraging and range farther from their home nest. This would give us a higher chance of seeing them on our walks than the students last semester.

Observations from the continuous forest sites and the forest

fragments were also compared.

Interestingly, our surveys also found an astonishing seven times more kangaroos observed in the fragmented forest sites than in the continuous forest. This seems counterintuitive because we typically associate habitat loss and fragmentation with population declines of forest wildlife.

Overall these surveys seem to give an optimistic outlook for Hypsies in Queensland which is not quite what we would expect with the fragmentation and dry periods. This just illustrates the fact that some ecological predictions are not accurate for all species.

Queensland is so diverse in flora and fauna species, many of which have not been studied in detail, that it may be difficult to predict how the ecosystem will respond to change. A better understanding of how individual species are affected by ecological processes will give us the ability to make more accurate predictions and allow us to plan future management strategies accordingly.

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“Birdman” tripped up by its many artistic goals

University News Reporter Caitlin Woods won $30 for her review of “Birdman,” a film that tries hard to be a lot of things, but fails at most of them.

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” is unique, bold, and only slightly off-putting.

Michael Keaton stars in the film as Riggan Thomson, a washedup actor whose former identity as the movie superhero “Birdman” continues to haunt him. The film follows Thomson as he struggles to regain his former fame by producing, directing and starring in his own Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.”

The film has all the makings of a Hollywood movie—washed-up actor lives in an apartment in New York City; said actor has a strained relationship with his daughter and ex-wife, and has a relationship with a younger woman.

However, González Iñárritu uses these tropes as a foundation upon which he builds a much more complex story, one which delves into the mind of the actor and the true causes which drive him. Using common, overplayed tropes, González Iñárritu looks into the heart of society and its obsession with remaining relevant.

Thomson is a unique spin on the common “narcissistic old actor” trope. He hears the voice of his superhero identity, Birdman, speak to him, and even fantasizes that he has superpowers such as telekinesis and flight. The film constantly drifts between making Thomson’s perceived superpowers a symbol for his inability to let go of the past, and making them look like actual superpowers.

The film at its core is about the constant struggle to remain relevant in today’s society, specifically as a former movie star.

Oftentimes, though, the film moves away from that core theme and into something more personal, involving individual characters and their relationships with one another. This is cool, but when trying to find something to latch onto in terms of ideas and themes, the constant shifts can be jarring.

The film is very stylistic, which is really cool, but it occasionally moves into the realm of straightup absurdity. Most of the film takes place inside one building, the theatre where Thomson’s play is being rehearsed. There is a very solid rhythm to the film, and the way individual characters are used to move the action is really cool.

However, there are a few moments that, frankly, fall pretty flat.

In one scene, Hollywood-style explosions destroy the city of New York. Ironic though the scene may be, the explosions and grimdark mechs making a mockery of Hollywood hype, it takes the viewer completely out of the experience.

Up until then, the movie cultivated a completely different feel.

In using these weird modern tropes, the continuity of the film is broken and it leaves the viewer kind of lost in limbo for the next few scenes before the film regains its footing.

The film tried too hard to say too many things. At once it is the story of a single narcissistic has-been, a commentary on American pop culture, a parody of Hollywood film hype and a surrealist drama.

For all its absurdity, “Birdman” is worth seeing at least once. Thomson’s inner struggle is incredibly engaging, the jazzy drumbeat and play-like scenes making you feel like a part of the action.

Courtesy Fox Searchlight

“Birdman” stars Michael Keaton, an actor whose own life as the star of Batman movies parallels that of protagonist Riggan Thomson.

TU Chorale concert brings holiday cheer The concert debuted on Friday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lorton PAC. Maybe it’s just my own enthusiasm for the holiday, but the whole concert had a taste of Christmas cheer to it. It was a warm and welcoming concert compared to the wintery weather outside.

The Touch Jazz started the choir concert with a few sweet songs.

“A Cole Porter Jazz Trio” was the beginning song. It was very gentle and turned a little melancholic towards the end, but was handled well. The mini solos throughout the songs and the solo by Emma Cantrell were a bit hard to hear in the back, but when they came through at the climax it was gorgeous.

The group got more comfortable when it came to the Gershwin Trio. You could see their enjoyment during the classic “I Got Rhythm” and Morgen Culler’s voice was magnificently articulate.

The final song for the group, “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me,” was by far the best. Their enthusiasm made me smile, and it was a cute and cozy song. Overall, the group had a strong sense of togetherness and great eye contact with each other that made the Touch Jazz a solid start to the concert.

The TU Chorale choir came on

next. “Chariots,” a mysterious and eerie piece for the large group, gave me goosebumps. It was an intricate layering of voice tones and precise drama that reminded me of the inspiring poem “Invictus” by William Henley. ‘Dat bass though.

The humble basses were the shining star in “Adoramus Te.” I didn’t know frequencies that low could be heard much less made so well.

“Seal Lullaby” brought back childhood memories. Remember when Bambi’s mom got shot or when Dumbo was rocked to sleep by his mother in the cage? Yeah, it was one of those songs that brought a tear to your eye.

It would take a lot of happiness to bring back a cheerful mood.

“El Cielo Canta Alegria” did that successfully. It was clean and energetic and a good meld of voice ranges that could bring anyone out of a Disney death depression.

Affectionately dubbed the “Conley Chorale” by assistant conductor Taylor Conley, the small group appeared and was sophisticated and thoughtful with each song. The words were clear from the back of the theatre and had great dynamics throughout. They ended on “Sure On This Shining Night” with a grand bow.

TU Chorale came back bent on making the audience cry again with “Where Your Bare Foot Walks.” When our tears had been shed, they performed “13 Paradoxical Pithy Paraphrases” for our enjoyment. Their final song, “Salmo 150,” was a nice tribute to Biblical scripture and concluded the night of dainty and loveable songs.

The most striking aspect of the show was the harmonies Cantus incorporated into each song.

Many of them were slightly unconventional, and for this reason they had a particularly strong impact. The seamlessness of their voices was almost unearthly. I was very moved by the performance.

The story of the Christmas Truce is particularly enticing simply because it appeals to our sense of hope. We’d like to think that there can be some good in the light of something as horrible as war, despite the fact that many

good things, like the Christmas Truce, fall to violence in the end.

For this reason, it seems proper to honor the soldiers of WWI by giving them a sense of humanity.

In doing so, we remember that these soldiers were also people with hopes and families and hobbies and common interests, German or French or English, all of whom made great sacrifices. “All Is Calm” was so striking because it brought the voices of those soldiers to life, not only in speech but also in song, making them all the more vivid and touching. It seems a fitting tribute.

Student Writer Meagan Collins describes the intricate melodies and soulful jazz found at the latest TU Chorale concert.

Photo Courtesy Cantus The performers who make up Cantus. The group performs a mixture of songs and monologues that center around a main theme.

“Cantus: All is Calm” brings voices of soldiers to life Student Writer Hannah Kloppenburg reviews the Cantus show “All is Calm.” She finds the show moving and vivid in the way it pays tribute to the voices of WWI soldiers.

To mark the 100th anniversary of World War I there have been countless performances, exhibits and collections meant to both educate people and honor those involved in the war.

“Cantus: All is Calm,” was held at the Lorton Performance Center on November 15th. This choral concert, presented by Cantus and Theatre Latté Da, focused on the famous Christmas Truce of 1914.

For those who aren’t familiar with the story, the Christmas Truce took place along the Western Front on Christmas Eve, 1914. German, French, Belgian and English troops laid down their weapons for the night in favor of an impromptu truce, in which members of both forces sang carols and crossed into noman’s land to play football, celebrate and trade small gifts.

The show was fairly minimalistic, with all the performers dressed in black and the members of Cantus standing behind three actors seated on stools. The three actors summarized the events of the truce, not only narrating from

an outside point of view but also presenting actual accounts of the event written by WWI soldiers.

They adopted a myriad of accents to tell the story of the truce almost literally in the voices of the German, English and French soldiers, but within those cultural

is unfitting and unfair to refer to their part as an accompaniment because the two parts of the performance, speaking and singing, flowed together so seamlessly.

Peppy English tunes burst into the audience as the soldiers left for war, while the night of the

“We remember that these soldiers were also people with hopes and families and hobbies and common interests”

spectrums they adopted unique inflections for the account of each individual man. I don’t believe I heard any distinct voice repeated during the entire length of the show. Their skill was absolutely incredible, and it gave the performance life without a need for costumes or scenery.

Cantus’ choral accompaniment to the actors’ story was nothing short of stunning. In fact, it

truce began with somber carols sung by the soldiers. The German and English rendition of “Silent Night” was hauntingly beautiful and melancholy, and the French opera version of “O Holy Night” was particularly noteworthy as well. It was interesting to hear traditional English and German songs, as well as the Christmas songs with which many of us are so familiar.

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17 November 2014

From world to world, love goes on

“Interstellar” follows a group of astronauts as they journey through space and time in an attempt to save humanity from the crisis it faces.

Apprentice Editor Sara Douglas reviews the space-time epic “Interstellar.” The movie provides convoluted science fiction, comedic release and ultimately a love story.

Director Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi “Interstellar” is an astronomical film in all senses of the word. Weighing in at 169 minutes and loaded with an all-star cast including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine and more, the movie leaves viewers with a heavy sense of their place in the universe—or universes?

The journey through space and time presented by the film is convoluted, in part because the timeline is set along a non-linear, closed-loop interval. It mostly progresses forward in time, but includes interactions with the future or past, or both, depending on how you view the loop.

Nolan planted a lot of plot twists which crop up in action sequences that result in dramatic turns of events, but they also appear in conversations held between the galactic travelers and the scientists remaining on Earth.

Although some of these twists, character deaths and revelations are predictable, they are spaced out enough to retain their value.

The premise is that not far off in the future, Earth runs out of food because the majority of the plants

have been destroyed by “blight”— you know, that disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine?

The scientific accuracy of the movie has been hotly contended by critics and scientists alike.

There is no denying that Nolan imbued the movie with inherent scientific value if it is being seen as close enough to realistic to be scrutinized for its representation of space travel concepts.

Most sci-fi movies are seen

seemed out-of-place in their obviously artificial construction for the sake of the plot, but it is good to remember it is a sci-fi movie, so some dramatic liberties are allowable.

Fortunately the movie felt serious enough throughout that my questioning of the logic and physics behind the timelines and travel constraints was postponed until later discussions, which inadvertently became quite heated, with

“‘Interstellar’ is a thrilling story of love between a father and daughter spanning all of space and time” as more fictional than scientific, but because esteemed astrophysicist Kip Thorne of Caltech was brought onto the movie as an executive producer and adviser, it is being evaluated on its scientific standing.

The implementation of relativity in the film was slightly skewed and part of the concluding scenes

fellow viewers.

Comedic relief was provided throughout by the robots that accompanied the astronauts on their journey, whose “humor,” “sarcasm” and “discretion” settings allowed them to crack jokes or reveal pertinent information at times when the plot was weighed down with too much tension.

Some of this tension (and unintentional humor) was given to the film by an astoundingly overdramatic soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. The film likely could have benefited by toning down the suspenseful musical buildups at parts and letting the fantastic visuals speak for themselves. McConaughey’s dialogue was also sufficiently clear enough to convey the important moments in the film, so the big brass band was unnecessary at times.

Additionally, any audience member who was paying attention could likely predict the impending character deaths, of which there were a few well-paced throughout the movie, if they were paying attention. Highlighting them with huge musical crescendos was overkill—no pun intended—and made the deaths seem a bit more staged and cheesy than they would have otherwise.

The answer to how inter-universal and -dimensional travel happened in the first place also feels like a plot device instead of a natural procession of the film’s logic, but within the already fantastical scope of the film, it is justifiable.

If you have trouble accepting paradoxes, be prepared to take issue with “Interstellar,” as Nolan presents a Paradox with a capital

Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures

‘P’ as a plot device by which Coop is justified in getting to where he ends up.

Love is presented as a stronger permeating force than gravity, one that acts as a constant across all time and space and pulls characters to take actions one way or another. For example, Coop is committed to the mission because of his love for his daughter; Brand is in love with a scientist who had traveled before their team did to a planet in that alternate universe and is drawn to him.

The conclusion, at least within the scope of these universes, is that love is the sixth dimension and is an absolute constant among all lower dimensions. “Interstellar” is ultimately a love story, although Nolan is considerate enough of his audience to not throw in overstated romantic sub-plots or gratuitous sex scenes.

“Interstellar” is a thrilling story of love between a father and daughter spanning all of space and time. If that doesn’t appeal to you, remember that space travel and adventures on foreign planets comprise most of the plot. The emotion throughout is palpable and relatable. Also, all of the lead characters are scientists, nearly half of whom are female, so see it for those reasons and for science.

Movie night should have done more for the uninitiated Web Editor Sam Chott attended the International Living Community’s movie night and felt disappointment in the lack of focus on cultural awareness.

I love martial arts movies. I’m a fan of action movies in general, but there’s a special place in my heart for martial arts movies.

There’s something about stylized and choreographed violence that’s compelling and absurd at the same time, and action movies have a formula that’s comforting when followed and thrilling when broken from.

The problem with martial arts movies, though, is that it’s hard to engage with them. American films come from a strong tradition of Americanism; imagine watching “Pulp Fiction” or “Forrest Gump” without recognizing the constant allusions to American culture.

Even more pedestrian films make assumptions about the viewer’s familiarity with the culture that the films are produced in.

With all that in mind, it’s difficult for anyone to fully understand a foreign film. America is the Mecca of filmmaking, so it’s a problem that those of us born here rarely

have to deal with.

The reason I’m bringing this up is that the Center for Global Education recently put on a movie night at LaFortune, as part of a series of internationally-focused events.

The movie shown was Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” perhaps the most critically-acclaimed martial arts movie of all time, and also the first martial arts movie that I can remember watching.

At the time, I thought the wireassisted stunts looked egregiously fake. This time, whether because of familiarity with the genre or just a lifetime of reveling in far worse special effects, I hardly noticed them.

The first time I saw the film, I missed much of the plot, not because I wasn’t paying attention, but because some of the concepts discussed were untranslated.

For example, many of the main characters are part of the “jiang-

hua,” which is sometimes translated as “underworld” but means something that’s almost a cross between our cultural conception of medieval knights and Western cowboys.

There are also allusions to different ethnic groups, time periods and regions of China, which high school history definitely did not prepare me to understand.

I guess what I’m saying is I wish more of an emphasis was placed on actually understanding other cultures. I know it’s difficult for event planners to pull that off while still making the event enjoyable and that it’s a lot of planning for relatively little material benefit, but whatever understanding I have of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is mostly taken from reading Wikipedia pages.

It’d be really nice to actually be able to hear from people who know what they’re talking about.

Photo Courtesy Internet Movie Database

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was one international film shown at the International Living Community’s movie night.

17 November 2014

the Collegian : 15

Self-Preservation: Tips for Personal Safety Anytime, Anywhere

From Resolutions p. 4 courses, sport classes focusing on technique and current events, and lecture courses (like nutrition, weight management and self defense).” “I was hoping to motivate the students to become more health conscious,” Holmes added.

While Holmes noted “the students and faculty that I talked to seemed very open and excited for these sorts of classes,” she reported that “the Provost Office, who carefully puts together our curriculum, considered it but found logical problems with this solution.”

“If enough students are interested,” she added, “these classes can be implemented in the very near future.”

Student interest also drove the dining hours resolution proposed by Senator Rob

Egan. “Students were wanting extended hours on the to-go bar during the weekend in the Caf,” said Holmes.

Egan’s resolution will “leave the to-go bar open for about 30 minutes longer on the weekend,” said Holmes, “to align with the normal Caf hours on the weekend.”

While “this is also a trial run,” Holmes added that “if Dining Services sees that students are using this extended time, then they will permanently change the hours for the to-go bar at the end of the semester or early next year.” Holmes also noted that “this trial run also opens the door for other resolutions involving the Caf hours.”

In the end, Holmes “wants students to know they can contact me or their senator at any time if they see a problem or if they have a solution.” tact Security if any further messages were received, and the process of filing a police report and obtaining a protective order.

Nov. 12

with

Lori Fullbright Monday, November 17th 2014 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Great Hall B in the Student Union Jimmy John will be provided Speaker Lori Fullbright, news anchor for KOTV Channel 6 will be giving a presentation on personal safety and the importance of being aware on campus, while traveling, and in new places. Lori is a powerful presenter and is known in the Tulsa community for her personal safety presentations to a wide variety of audiences! Come listen to Lori and learn more about how you can take charge of your personal safety!

Nov. 8 4:48 p.m.

Student Union staff contacted Security because they felt threatened after a non-TU affiliate attempted to contact an employee for an unknown reason. Officers made contact with the individual and issued a trespass warning before escorting the individual offcampus.

8 p.m.

Officers investigated a noise complaint at a Mayo Village apartment. Upon arrival, Officers determined an unattended dog was incessantly barking in the apartment. Officers were unable to locate the resident and informed housing officials.

Nov. 11 9:00 a.m.

A student reported receiving a harassing message from a former boyfriend via text messages. The student was advised to contact Security if any further messages were received, and the process of filing a police report and obtaining a protective order.

4:53 p.m.

A student reported receiving a harassing message from a former boyfriend via text messages. The student was advised to con-

11:15 a.m.

Officers were dispatched to the Westby Lot in response to reports of an unknown, irate woman. The woman claimed to be a current student who was attempting to enroll for a Spring 2015 course. An investigation confirmed her claims to be false. The woman was banned from campus as a result numerous past incidents.

Nov. 14

1:30 p.m.

Officers responded to University Square West apartments in response to a report of unusual activity inside an apartment. The resident stated that after returning from a trip there was damage to the bedroom doorknob (facing bedroom). There were no signs of forced entry, nor was there property missing from the residence.

Nov. 15 10:10 p.m.

Officers noticed a white car parked between the Lorton Performance Center and Sigma Chi fraternity that had been running in place for an extended period of time. The officer tried to wake the driver who was passed out in the vehicle. After trying for a few moments to wake the driver, the officer opened the driver door and noticed a handgun wedged between the driver seat and the center consol. The officer removed the handgun and was then able to wake the driver. The driver was intoxicated and was arrested for intoxication while in possession of a firearm.

May 2015 Graduates

Nominate the high school teacher who inspired you TU undergraduates who will graduate in May 2015 may nominate the high school teacher who inspired them. The winning teachers will be recognized during the May commencement ceremony. Only high school teachers throughout the United States are eligible. n Nominations are due by 5:00 p.m., December 13, 2014. n Selected teachers will receive a $2,000 award and their high schools will receive $1,000. n Students whose nominated teachers are selected will receive $500. n For more information including the nomination criteria, go to the Student Affairs website: www.utulsa.edu/student-affairs/inspirationalteacher

Collegian Ad HS Teacher Nomination.indd 1

n Graduating seniors should send nominations to the dean’s office of their college via e-mail as follows: — Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences: Stephanie-Boulden@utulsa.edu — Collins College of Business: Tami-Barrett@utulsa.edu — College of Engineering & Natural Sciences: Dottie-Smith@utulsa.edu

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17 November 2014

A New Online History Course for Credit!

Earn 3 hours of transferable credit for only $500 in this interactive and engaging online course.

Class Starts January 12th Register at: historychannel.ou.edu