15 April Issue of the Collegian

a student newspaper of the university of tulsa

april 15, 2013 issue 23 ~ volume 98

Voter turnout:

21%

With 931 voting for president and no fewer than 891 voting in any category, this year’s executive elections enjoyed a turnout of 21.4%.

With the exception of Ben Chong, who was elected treasurer by a 558-vote margin, all candidates won by less than a hundred votes.

Executives to take office after highly contested race The +/- system was among the central issues in this year’s hotly contested SA executive elections.

Walker Womack Student Writer

A

lthough vestigial posters and chalk markings—with slogans like “He’s the Baum,” “Vote Mancini and Chong” or even “Join Me and Together We Will Rule the Galaxy”—still litter the University of Tulsa campus, the polls for next semester’s Student Association executive offices are closed, and the results are in.

Next autumn will usher in the victors of the SA executive officers’ elections, with last semester’s treasurer Katlyn McGouran as president, Brett Baumgartner as vice president, Victoria McGouran as secretary and Ben Chong as treasurer.

For the most part, the elections were close. In the presidential election, for instance, McGouran won with a rather slim majority, 52% of the vote.

In last year’s election, on the other hand, John Lepine ran for president uncontested except for 13 votes to a write-in candidate.

No position was uncontested this semester, and the fierce competition between candidates was decided with relatively high voter turnout: 931 ballots were cast in the presidential race.

This contest also saw some “negative campaign tactics,” as described by presidential candidate Jordan Hendrickson. Hendrickson’s Facebook page the day of the election noted that “very “negative posters (had) been hung regarding Hendrickson’s opponent Katie McGouran. Hendrickson

made clear that she was not “involved in the creation, printing or hanging up of these posters.”

The posters made an appearance in Campus Security’s daily report for Apr. 10, noting that an “unknown suspect had posted untrue information on the doors of Keplinger Hall.”

Multiple winning candidates included the potentially polarizing plus-minus grading system, announced in March, in their platform.

Both President-Elect McGouran and Vice-President-Elect Baumgartner featured it prominently in their policy profiles, with each promising to make concerted efforts to fight the upcoming shift Whether their respective victories validates the stance as shared by the majority of the student body is open to interpretation, but there is no doubt that the issue will color the Board’s politics over the course of the next semester.

Now that the elections are over, the candidates will have time to implement campaign promises for next semester as the current officers are transitioned out.

Baumgartner wrote that his highest priority, as head of the SA Senate, would be to increase recruitment for that body in earnest.

By integrating the best of incoming freshmen as senators as quickly as possible, Baumgartner hopes to establish more cohesion and to “keep senators around in order to have less of a turnover from year to year.”

The set of winning candidates have a wide range of experience levels, ranging from freshman to multi-term Senators and cabinet members. Moreover, the winners are far from a single unified ticket.

While Ben Chong was elected trea-

surer, his ticket running-mate, Michael Mancini, lost to Baumgartner for the vice-presidency.

Also of note is the election of two McGourans, Katie as president and Victoria as secretary, to executive offices.

Baumgartner, when asked whether he found the prospect of working with a family duo to be alarming, said that although he “didn’t know Victoria that well,” his past experience with Katie on various SA projects prompted his “full faith that she will be a great president.”

Baumgartner also noted that the connection between previous president John Lepine and the elder McGouran, who is engaged to Lepine, will ensure a “smooth presidential transition” in terms of experience.

The election also included a vote a measure banning the lineitem veto. Although the “yeas” to the proposed amendment held a majority, the two-thirds margin required to pass it was not reached.

Thus, it will not be in effect next semester, and the line-item veto will remain in the president’s arsenal.

The line-item veto became the subject of contention after President Lepine controversially rejected funding for a portion of a Senate bill allocating travel money to Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority to stay in a Tulsa hotel.

Representative Shaliah Thierry took the case to the judicial branch of SA, which nominally consists of seven justices, though only five participated in this case.

The majority of the court, consisting of Justices Charlotte Hale, Ali Calkins and J. Christopher Proctor, sided with Lepine in a 3–2 decision upholding the line-item veto.

Jill Graves / Collegian

The Holmes Student Center and the adjacent parking lot are slated to be replaced by a new dorm and office.

Holmes to be replaced by housing A 300-bed housing facilty and office space is to occupy the current site of the Holmes Student Center.

Anna Bennett Staff Writer

T

hings have been quiet on campus since construction wrapped up on Razor and Stephenson Halls in the fall. But soon that may change, as the university now plans to begin construction on a new dormitory and adjoined offices that will be on the current site of the Holmes Student Center.

Bob Shipley, TU’s VP of Operations and the Physical Plant, has confirmed that the university has contracted Hastings + Chivetta Architects to design the 300-bed dorm and adjacent office space, which would replace both the Holmes center and the adjacent parking lot.

Hastings + Chivetta may not be a familiar name to many students, but their work certainly is. They are currently the primary firm responsible for buildings on TU’s campus.

In addition to the freshly minted Rayzor and Stephenson, they are also responsible for the Lorton PAC, Collins Fitness Center,

the Case Athletic Center, Collins Hall and Helmerich Hall. Hastings + Chivetta updated the existing “master plan” of the university in 2002, and designed the subsequent renovations of Tyrell Hall and McFarlin Library.

On a smaller scale, the Hurricane Hut is also their architectural handiwork. So when the new dorm is unveiled, it will undoubtedly look very aesthetically familiar to students.

Should the university proceed with the plans, several adjustments would need to be made to accommodate the displacement the construction would cause.

Shipley says that the offices now located in Holmes will be located in the new building once it has been completed.

Though “the interim location for the Holmes staff has not been determined,” there is talk that some of the offices may be temporarily housed in the basement of Keplinger Hall, the current interim location of the Center for Global Education.

Replacing lost parking space is another major concern, as parking in general is a hot topic at the moment. Shipley assuaged the fears of some, saying that the parking

See Building page 4

Sports

15 April 2013

the Collegian : 2

Strong season for Tulsa women’s rowing Hurricane rowing has had a successful season including victories against Southern Methodist University, the University of Central Florida, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Amanda Schenk Student writer

Will Bramlett / Collegian

Hurricane men’s basketball will be heading into the newly-formed American Athletic Conference with new opponents to consider in 2014.

Tulsa basketball to face new challenges in AAC In 2014, Tulsa basketball will head from the C-USA into the recently named American Athletic Conference. TU’s young team must continue to grow in order to champion new foes and old rivals.

Nick Lewellen Student writer

On Apr. 2, the University of Tulsa announced it would become a full member of the new American Athletic Conference in 2014. Tulsa will face many familiar foes in the AAC, as nine other schools from C-USA have already agreed to move to the AAC, including basketball powerhouse Memphis.

Changing conferences raises questions for each of Tulsa’s 18 intercollegiate athletic teams, however TU’s men’s basketball team might face the most interesting challenges of all of TU’s programs.

By 2014, it’s likely that South Florida, University of Connecticut, Temple and Cincinnati will be the only AAC members that were not former members of Conference USA. Most experts expect current Big East members Rutgers and national champion Louisville to move conferences before the 2014 season.

In terms of competition, the move to the AAC will be a step up for Tulsa. Each of the four teams not from Conference USA bring impressive resumes to the newly formed conference.

The University of Connecticut has one of the strongest basketball programs in recent history, with three national championship wins

and four Final Four appearances since 1999.

Though Temple hasn’t won a national championship in its school history, it has made the NCAA tournament appearance every year since 2008. Cincinnati has also had a streak of tournament appearances and strong conference play over the last three years. Even South Florida, the least impressive of the group of fresh challengers, made an appearance in the 2012 NCAA. Tulsa’s immediate and longterm success in the AAC will depend on two factors. First is the development of the youngest players on the roster. TU was one of the youngest teams in college basketball in the 2012-2013 season.

Despite their youth, several of Tulsa’s freshman players, like James Woodard and D’Andre Wright, demonstrated the ability to compete at a high level. For Tulsa to succeed in the AAC, these players and others need to continue to develop.

Second, Tulsa must continue to recruit quality players. While it may be more difficult to win in the AAC, it might be easier to recruit.

Young players and their families are sure to be attracted to Tulsa’s quality academic programs and the increased national exposure Tulsa athletes will find in the AAC. The transition to the AAC is sure to be difficult for Tulsa basketball. The team will face stronger teams and unfamiliar environments. Still, TU fans have every reason to be excited about the change. The offer to join the AAC shows that Tulsa has increased its reputation as an athletic institution over the last decade.

The University of Tulsa women’s rowing openweight team returned home this weekend after winning the Lawless Cup, competing against Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

TU defeated SMU in all racing categories, including the varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four, and novice eight events.

Tulsa’s novice four also notched a victory against SMU’s varsity four.

“The idea was to come down to SMU and work on our race plan and perfect it. We knew SMU was going to be challenging, especially since they were racing at home,” said coach Kevin Harris, “I think the women handled the challenge really well.”

While the victory against a conference opponent was a good one for the women, the Hurricane’s eye is set on other teams. The rowers head out to Folsom, Ca., to race at

the Lake Natoma Invitational this coming weekend.

The race features notoriously fast teams, including Berkeley, Stanford, Washington State University and conference rivals University of Southern California and the University of Kansas. The team will look to make a name for itself and for the University of Tulsa as it lines up against these crews on Apr. 20 and 21.

One of the purposes of these mid-season races is to set the team up for a good seeding heading into the conference championship.

Like other sports, seeding can play a large part in a team’s chances of victory.

So far this season, TU women’s rowing has defeated conference opponents Kansas State, the University of Central Florida, and Southern Methodist University. The team will race against the University of Kansas this coming weekend in one final regatta (or series of races) before the conference championship on May 18.

The Golden Hurricane has only lost to one conference opponent in the 2013 season, the University of Oklahoma Sooners.

Heading toward the conference championship, some of TU’s major opponents seem to be OU, the University of Texas Longhorns, and the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers. While the Gold-

en Hurricane has placed behind these teams in previous conference championships, TU women’s rowing hopes to capitalize on this season and close some of the margins between itself and its opponents.

The University of Tulsa women’s rowing program also features a lightweight team, consisting of female athletes who weigh under 130 pounds. These athletes compete in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association, as they do not constitute an NCAA-sponsored sport.

After racing elite teams such as the Wisconsin, Buffalo, Bucknell, MIT and Boston University lightweight programs this past weekend, the lightweights are looking to the Dad Vail Regatta on May 11, which will serve as their qualifier to the IRA championship, to be held at the beginning of June.

The fastest lightweight teams in the country race at the IRA championship, and teams such as the Stanford Cardinal will likely be featured at the event. The Golden Hurricane hopes to be present among these elite teams for the first time since 2011.

Both the openweight and lightweight rowing teams at Tulsa have positioned themselves well in the midseason, proving themselves teams to watch as they head to their respective championships in May and June.

Drillers baseball brings it home The Tulsa Drillers garnered a victory against the San Antonio Missions with a deciding run in the final play of their second home game on Friday.

Christopher Fisher Student writer

After a disappointing road trip to start the season, which resulted in a 1–5 record, the Tulsa Drillers headed home for their first regularseason home series, and did not disappoint.

Following a 6–2 win against the San Antonio Missions in their first home game of the season, the Drillers won a 2–1 thriller with a late comeback Friday night.

The game was quite the pitchers’ duel, as San Antonio’s Burch Smith and Tulsa’s Chad Bettis both brought their A game. Smith pitched a nearly perfect five scoreless innings, only allowing two men on base while striking out eight.

Bettis displayed poise as he was able to settle after allowing a run in the opening inning and also pitched well, throwing 5.1 innings and not allowing another run.

The game moved quickly, as hitters on both teams were early and often behind in the count. The Drillers were not able to create any offensive momentum for the entirety of the first seven innings.

San Antonio gave up only three hits through the first seven innings by remarkably striking out 11 and

turning two timely double plays.

However, in the bottom of the eighth, after some help from San Antonio reliever Matt Stites in the form of a throwing error, Delta Cleary advanced to third base.

Drillers’ third baseman Joey Wong then laid a well-placed suicide squeeze bunt down the first base line that brought home Delta Cleary, tying the game at 1.

In the bottom of the ninth, with two runners on base, Drillers’ left fielder Kyle Parker stepped to the plate and hit a very deep ball off the center field wall to end the game in walk-off fashion, with a final score of 2–1.

Fittingly, fireworks followed the incredibly exciting game, and the Drillers sent fans home very happy for the second night in a row.

Photo courtesy mlib.com

Drillers pitcher Chad Bettis allowed only one run by the San Antonio Missions in their game on Friday, setting the stage for a 2–1 Drillers victory.

Canadian and American collegiate athletics provide different experiences The provision for and demand upon collegiate athletes varies widely between the United States and our northern neighbors.

Amanda Schenk Student writer

Each time the Olympics come around, Canadians compare their own medal count (in 2012, 18 medals) to the USA’s (in 2012, 104) and, upon realizing the disparity, are likely to grumble something along the lines of, “Our medals mean more to our country because there are fewer of them,” or, “That’s what you get when the population of the U.S. is ten times the size of the Canadian population.”

Regardless of whether or not these statements reflect reality, they do get at something important; there are significant differences between athletics in the U.S. and in Canada.

These differences include fund-

ing, national attention, participation, spectatorship and resources.

As an athlete who was born and raised in Canada, and attended my first year of university at a Canadian institution, I immediately knew things were different when I saw TU’s athletic facilities for the first time.

This insight proved true, and rowing for an American university has turned out to be a whole different sport than rowing for a Canadian school.

To find out more about some of the differences in athletics, I spoke to a female basketball player attending the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada.

She informed me that Canadian athletic funding cannot cover any part of housing costs. They are able to give full tuition and books scholarships, but these awards are few and far between; on her basketball team of 14 girls, only one receives a full scholarship.

She reported that most of her teammates are responsible for at least half of tuition, in addition to

housing costs. At the beginning of each season, she and her teammates pay $500-$1,000 to cover costs for ‘gear,’ including shoes, new uniforms, track suits and other clothes.

A male Canadian rower told me that while his teammates were not required to pay for travel and clothing, the females were.

All of this was due to the differences in the ways that coaches handled the budgets. While the male coach accommodated team expenses like travel in his budget, the female coach spent more money on equipment, leaving the female athletes to absorb additional costs.

Title IX, an American institutional amendment, has essentially ensured equality of resources between men and women’s teams in the United States.

While the exact details of the amendment are complicated, Title IX would prohibit any sort of disparity (to the extent seen at this Canadian university) between male teams and their female coun-

terparts.

All of this stands in stark contrast to my experience with American Division I athletics. The days when gear arrives and my team walks into the locker room to find a locker stacked with new clothing is like Christmas, with each athlete ripping open the plastic bags that contain essentially free clothing.

Travel costs are paid for by the team, and the NCAA mandates that teams provide at least some money to athletes for food while traveling.

Each sport varies in the way it is required to handle scholarships, but the vast majority of athletes on an American college campus are receiving some form of athletic funding, and most athletes in more visible sports, including football and basketball, can expect to have a significant portion of their college costs covered by athletic scholarship.

That is not to say all of these ‘perks’ of participating in collegiate athletics in the U.S. do not come at a cost. As a Canadian ath-

lete, you have significantly more freedom to do as you please. No one will check up on you in class, if you are sick you can simply text your coach and tell him you will not be at practice, rather than check in with an athletic trainer (often because there are no athletic trainers for Canadian teams).

As a result of their significant investment into individual athletes, American schools and the NCAA have strict and high expectations of their student-athletes, and an NCAA student-athlete can expect to be monitored and held accountable by these rules.

None of this is to say Americans student-athletes are spoiled, or that Canadian institutions do not care about their athletes.

Rather, the fundamental differences in the way athletics are treated at the collegiate level clarify how Olympic medal totals, in addition to symbolizing the difference in population, also represent differences in the ways athletic programs in the U.S. and Canada are structured.

Sports

the Collegian : 3

15 April 2013

Tulsa football to remain competitive in the AAC Sam Morton Student Writer

Did you know that Alex Rodriguez is set to make more money ($29 million) than the entire roster of the Houston Astros ($25 million) next year?

Or that Alex Rodriguez won’t play the first half of the upcoming baseball season?

Photo courtesy cdn.faniq.com

Baseball player Alex Rodriguez’s earnings will top the cumulative salary of Houston Astros players in the upcoming year.

Did you know that boxer Floyd Mayweather signed a 30 month, six-fight contract with Showtime for over $200 million?

That’s about 80 million a year!

Did you know that Tiger Woods’ annual earnings were above 80 million for seven straight years (May 2003-May 2010)?

Did you know that in 2010, super-investor Warren Buffett made $62.8 million?

Did you know that the minimum wage for a rookie in the NFL next year is $405,000?

Or that the minimum wage for about everyone else in the America is roughly $15,000?

Did you know that the University of Texas’s football program generated $78 million in the 2011-2012 season?

If you’re opposed to these trends, it’s tough to figure out who to blame. Put yourselves in the shoes of the professional athlete. Would you turn down a humongous deal? Would you turn down the opportunity to provide financial security for yourself and for your family for a long, long time? Nope.

With a successful season and a bowl win behind it, Tulsa football looks forward to its upcoming years with the AAC, and the opportunities and challenges a new conference promises to bring.

Staff writer

The University of Tulsa has officially accepted the offer to join the newly formed American Athletic Conference and, although nine of the teams joining the new conference are Tulsa Conference USA rivals, the Golden Hurricane will be facing new foes.

With 11 football schools in the conference by July 2014 and 12 by 2015, a television contract with ESPN and a brand-new athletic director, the TU football program may be facing its toughest season yet.

Despite the challenges, coming off a 10–3 record that included the C-USA championship victory and a win over Big 12 member Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl, the TU football program definitely has what it takes to do well in the new conference.

The main factor that favors the Golden Hurricane is that many teams in the AAC are former C-USA members. Since TU was the most successful C-USA football member, there is a high probability that the Hurricane will continue to dominate these old foes in the new conference.

Although the 2014 season may be a breezy first year in the AAC for TU football, the real test for Tulsa will likely come in 2015 when the AAC will sponsor its first full-blown football championship.

However, judging by the 2012 records, there are only a few teams that the Golden Hurricane will need to worry about.

The likely rivals for TU are the Cincinnati Bearcats, who finished the 2012 season 10–3 and were previously members of the

Put yourselves in the shoes of the college athlete. Do you opt to attend four years of college, or do you head for the pros and the millions of dollars professional sports puts in your pocket? Surefire first round pick from South Carolina Jadeveon Clowney considered sitting out his sophomore season as a Gamecock to ensure his health going into the 2014 draft. He decided against it, but could you really blame him if he didn’t?

Put yourselves in the shoes of the general manager. Do you routinely offer huge contracts to star athletes to put a winning product on the field? Of course you do; what other choice do you have?

My point is that though the dollar figures involved with sports are slightly disturbing, especially compared to the 30-cent-packetof-ramen lifestyle I’m leading, there’s not a single person to blame.

J. Christopher Proctor / Collegian

Trey Watts runs down the field out of reach of Iowa State defenders in the University of Tulsa’s first game last year, and game whose loss was redeemed in the Liberty Bowl victory also against Iowa State.

Much work and much play for student athletes TU athletics is successful across many fields thanks in large part to the investment of student athletes in the form of long practices and calculated athletic, social and academic prioritization.

Staff writer

Photo courtesy starvingcreatives.wordpress.com

the 2012 C-USA conference championship 33–27 against Central Florida, neither Cincinnati and Navy have shared a conference with Tulsa, and bouts between the teams could go either way.

Victoria McGouran

Beate Hall

The riddling of professional sports with obscene amounts of money is seen as a defilement of the profession by some fans.

Big East, the Central Florida Knights who finished 10–4 and were members of C-USA, and finally, the Navy Midshipmen who finished 8-5 and were members of the Patriot League.

Now, while the Golden Hurricane did win

The student athletes of the TU Golden Hurricane have to balance school, work, social time, practice, weight days and games into their already busy schedules.

This year, student-athletes’ accomplishments included the Liberty Bowl football victory, an NCAA mile record by runner Chris O’Hare and C-USA championships in volleyball, women’s tennis, football, men’s cross country, women’s basketball and postseason men’s soccer in the 2012-2013 academic year alone.

Tulsa’s athletes provide a physical representation of the Golden Hurricane spirit competing against other schools. TU plays a game nearly every week of the school year, not to mention the countless hours devoted to practice over holidays. Athletes sacrifice their time and provide the average student with something to cheer about.

The men’s soccer team went from 20th in the conference at the start of the season to the No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament last fall. Historically, Hurricane soccer has been ranked in the top ten of our conference.

Tulsa softball is currently ranked No. 17 in the nation. Since 1993, the softball team has continued to improve each season.

These are not the most accomplished teams or even the most popular, but they are still

a part of Hurricane athletics and they still work hard every single day to represent the university well.

Freshman Hurricane softball player Jocelyn Sheffield is an early riser. “In the fall, we had weights practice at either five thirty or six and regular practice at seven,” Sheffield said. “I typically got up between five and six.” These early hours are just the start to her day.

“We typically practice every weekday except for Monday,” Sheffield said. “We lift weights two or three times a week.”

On any given day, softball practice takes no more than four hours out of the day.

Time taken up by travel is nothing new to Sheffield. She is an outfielder on the softball team who has been playing since the third grade. “This is my tenth year playing softball in general, and eight of the ten years I spent on a traveling team,” Sheffield said.

Other spring sports include women’s rowing, golf and tennis.

Junior Omar Mata has a very different typical day right now. “Fall is considered season,” Mata said. Since soccer is not a spring game, the athletes get a bit of a break.

Practices still happen from Monday through Friday, but the players are free to develop their athleticism outside of practice on their own. “I lift twice a week,” Mata said.

Despite playing different sports and being in different parts of their season, Sheffield and Mata, like other athletes, do have things in common. Both Sheffield and Mata are taking 15 credit hours this semester.

“During study hours, I try to get ahead on upcoming assignments, especially if I will be missing school days due to travel,” Sheffield said.

Mata has a different approach: “I study at my apartment and try to hydrate to recover

from practice.”

In addition, both Mata and Sheffield eat most of their meals in the Pat Case Dining Center. “I try to eat as healthy as possible,” Mata said. Unlike football players who have weigh-ins during the summer to make sure they are maintaining a healthy weight or gaining muscle, most other sports do not weigh their athletes on a regular basis.

It’s Delta Gamma’s Philanthropy week with their dinner on April 15 at the sorority house DG Lip Sync is on Thursday, April 18 DG Anchor Splash field games are on Saturday, April 20

15 april 2013

Eye on the world:

Witt Womack Student Writer Asia JAPAN Since at least 2010, Australia has been trying to curb the practice of whaling by Japanese ships in Antarctic waters, despite the latter’s insistence on what it calls legitimate practices.

As of last week, the United Nations International Court of Justice released the scheduled days for a mediated hearing between the two

nations, starting June 26 and ending July 16.

Commercial whaling has been illegal for 25 years among UN countries, but it is known that Japanese ships catch up to 1,000 whales a year, which they contend are used for research purposes.

Africa SUDAN After decades of civil war and a recent squabble over oil rights, Sudan and the newly formed South Sudan appear to be maintaining a

NEWS

Steven Buchele Student Writer

Physics professor Jerry McCoy’s educational science show, “The Wonderful World of Physics,” is full of “fast-paced, very interactive demonstrations of all sorts of very interesting physical phenomena,” McCoy said.

He promised that the free show at 6:45 p.m. April 16 in the Chapman Theater of Kendall Hall will be “very entertaining.”

McCoy has had a lot of time to perfect his show during its 15 years of production. “I have lost count of how many times I’ve done (the show),” McCoy said.

McCoy has given the show to audiences ranging from around 10 to over 500 people. This year, he did not widely advertise “The Wonderful World of Physics,” so all of his inventions come by word of mouth.

Part of the charm and success of “Wonderful World” is its approachability. “It’s very accessible,” McCoy said. “You don’t have to know any physics to come and enjoy it.”

The show started out as just a series of demonstrations about electricity and magnetism for McCoy’s son’s elementary science

class. “The kids just kind of went nuts,” McCoy recalled. “Half the fun is seeing nature do something you’re not expecting.”

Another part of the fun is seeing what McCoy will do next as he brings out electricity, lasers and liquid nitrogen—“You can do a lot of cool things with liquid nitrogen,” McCoy said.

McCoy has done shows for audiences ranging from third graders up to adults. “Oftentimes when I’m doing a show for fifth or sixth graders, it’s the parents and the teachers who are getting the biggest kick out of it,” he said.

McCoy aims to instill childlike wonder in his audience and fulfill the desire to “know why.”

“I really try to pitch it at a level that everyone understands,” McCoy said. “One of the things that I enjoy doing is trying to explain the physics behind the phenomena ...

I always try to explain why things happen the way they do.”

“The Wonderful World of Physics” is a very interactive show, according to McCoy: “I’m dragging people in from the audience to (help).”

“I could do hours of demonstrations,” he said, “but I’ve been able to see what the audience responds to and what to kick out.”

McCoy’s work in “Wonderful World” led him to get involved with several other opportunities to show people “how physics shows up in their daily lives.”

McCoy has worked with dance professor Jessica Vokoun and cre-

shaky peace.

Sudan’s President Omar alBashir actually visited South Sudan for the first time since its independence two years ago and has called for the border between the two countries to be opened.

Bashir, speaking to a crowd in the South’s capital, Juba, made numerous conciliatory remarks favoring an active reengagement with the seceded state. Apparently talks with the South’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, led to an agreement that conflict was to be avoided at all costs.

ative writing professor Michael Wright on a theater production called “Momentum: A Body in Motion” which explained the physics of dance. “Momentum” showed to two sold-out audiences.

McCoy was also involved with the TU 12-12-12 festival last December. He has recently begun a podcast/radio show with mechanical engineering professor John Henshaw called “Science Matters,” which can be found on the KWGS website.

Kimberly Poff

Student Writer The scene is set: NCIS characters surround a body splayed on the pavement between two crumpled vehicles.

Agent Leroy Gibbs frowns, ex-

Courtesy of Jeremy Daily

Dr. Jeremy Daily has performed two-car crash tests in almost every orientation possible, in the pursuit of improved crash simulations.

amines the skid marks on the road, and determines that the car on the left was speeding to get away from someone chasing it while the car on the right swerved head-on into its path. But how does he know?

Gibbs isn’t magic: it takes significantly more math to determine in real life what detectives seem to intuitively know on television.

In real life, the crushed parts of the car, called the “crumple zone,” are measured and examined, the skid marks are analyzed and the weight of the cars as well as the conditions of the road are all taken into account in mathematical models.

Mechanical engineering professor Jeremy Daily does his primary research in these mathematical models and the physical testing which goes into constructing them.

In other words, he crashes cars for a living. This semester alone

The Jewish movement Women of the Wall (WoW) seeks to overturn the division of gender for prayer at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, a place of sanctity for Jews.

At dawn on the April 11, 120 women from the group gathered in the women’s section, some dressed in garb traditionally worn

by Orthodox Jewish men, violating a 2003 restriction passed by the High Court.

Five women were arrested, and many others were admonished by more conservative Jews in the vicinity. One man burned a WoW prayer book and was detained also.

WoW currently seeks the approval and implementation of a mixed-gender and women-led prayer sections of the wall. Such a plan is being cautiously examined

by Israel’s government, in light of the sensitive religious climate in Jerusalem.

Europe PORTUGAL, IRELAND In 2010, Ireland had to be bailed out by its fellow European Union member-states. In 2011, Portugal followed suit. Now, a conference of Euro-using countries has announced a seven year extension period during which the two coun-

March 31 1:42 Officers were called to Mayo Village apartments for a drunk student that was crying and walking around the complex.

Officers made contact with the student who exhibited all signs of intoxication.

The student refused to state where the party was and was taken back to her apartment where the PSM meet security and the victim.

8:00 Officers were called to the Henneke building for the theft of copper.

During an unknown time frame suspects(s) cut and removed copper in and around the air conditioner. The physical plant was advised.

19:00 A student that was rehearsing a dance hit her head. The student was transported to a local hospital.

April 4

Courtesy of Jerry McCoy

After 15 years of presenting “The Wonderful World of Physics,” McCoy has learned which demonstrations the audience most responds to. In the above picture, he opens a can of liquid nitrogen for use in a demonstration.

he will travel to Tennessee, Texas and Florida to do crash demonstrations.

Daily came to crash reconstruction by a circuitous route. His father was a sheriff in Wyoming.

Instead of going into local law enforcement, however, Daily enlisted in the Air Force, where he worked in navigation maintenance.

While in the military, he attended Wright State University for his bachelors, masters and Ph.D. Aside from being a bit of a gearhead, Daily says the thing that really draws him into his research and keeps him excited about it “is the 15 seconds leading up to a crash, the raw adrenaline.”

If Daily has done the math to set up crash demonstrations wrong, or if his gear breaks, the situation can go wildly out of hand, costing lives.

This semester he will crash eight

tries may pay back what they received in the emergency bailout.

The meeting comes in the wake of a similar crisis in Cyprus, which EU members are planning to give ten billion euros.

The seven-year period was arrived at with the intent of allowing Ireland and Portugal to rebuild their economies as the initial bailout money dwindles. Ireland is expected to run out of its emergency funds by the end of the year, and Portugal is slated to follow next year.

South America URUGUAY Having already passed through the upper house of Uruguay’s congress, a bill legalizing gay marriage in the country was approved by the lower house on Wednesday.

More than two-thirds of the legislators voted in favor of the bill, making Uruguay the second Latin American country to approve such legislation, following Argentina’s lead. While homosexuality was decriminalized in the country as early as 1934, same-sex marriage met opposition from many Catholic churches there.

The bill’s passage in both houses and President Mujica’s expressed intent to sign the bill indicate that the law will be put into effect with little controversy.

April 7

April 2

Mech. engineer tinkers with crash simulations

Mechanical engineering professor Jeremy Daily crashes cars for a living in an attempt to improve crash simulations.

Middle East ISRAEL

Professor’s science show is physics for masses Physics professor Jerry McCoy will attempt to educate and entertain a wide audience with his science show on Tuesday.

the Collegian : 4

15:30 A student received a minor eye injury from a chemical while working in a lab in Keplinger Hall.

0:30 Officers were called to the Sigma Chi house by the house members who informed security there were non-house member at the house who refused to leave.

The students were asked to leave the house and one TU student threw a bottle through the back window while exiting the area.

April 10 9:15 A student reported an unknown suspects posted untrue information on the doors of Keplinger Hall.

21:00 A student had a parking permit on her vehicle that belonged to another student. She stated she paid the student money for the permit.

The student who sold the permit reported the permit stolen to staff members.

April 10 16:30 A trespassed non-student called and wanted information on current student.

The caller was advised that he needed to call security and speak to the patrol Captain. The subject then hung up.

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

From Building on cover

lot on the south side of ACAC will not be removed.

Shipley says that Holmes is the only lot that will be affected, but in that event “it would be our objective to replace the parking space lost from the Holmes” with construction of another parking lot serving ACAC. In response to the issue of parking campus-wide, Shipley reports that while the university has looked at several sites on which to build a parking garage, no schedule for such a project has been set.

While plans for this new dormitory are undeniably moving forward, there are still many decisions the university has yet to make or release.

Although current Holmes offices will definitely be located in the new facility, it is unclear who will be joining them, as the issue is currently the subject of “space planning.”

In addition, no definite timeline for construction has been set, so staff and students do not yet know if and when the new construction will affect them.

different cars, including a Pontiac and a Crown Victoria. A selection of his crashes, including roll tests, can be found on his YouTube channel and research website.

In order to reap useful data from the crashes he instigates via tow vehicles, Daily uses computer systems embedded in the car to track its speed, the rotation of each wheel and the shock absorbed by the car.

In addition, he sometimes uses crash dummies to measure the amount of force absorbed by the passengers.

Daily has done crash tests between two cars in almost every orientation possible, but has also tested crashes where cars run into

stationary semi trucks, poles and walls.

Daily’s primary research quarters at TU is Joe’s Garage, a recently acquired university property just south of campus which is under his sole domain.

There much of Daily’s research, his automotive design class and the automotive-related design projects at the university are based.

It is used in addition to Hurricane Motorworks, which was housed at North Campus. The research facility, located at Lewis and Marshal, also holds the university’s primary machine shop and many of the large pipeline and pump structures required for petroleum research.

variety

15 April 2013

the Collegian : 5

“Spring Breakers” a colorful and energetic exploration of self Director Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” is a dark commentary on party culture, as seen through the eyes of young girls who are pushed from innocence to depravity.

Eric DiGiacomo Student Writer

“Spring Breakers” is dubstepinfused, neon, gun-toting, drugfilled, porny hedonist extravaganza. Does that sound like a lot for you to handle in 94 minutes? If so, then good, you are human.

Harmony Korine, wacky hipster director of other cinematic psychofests such as “Gummo” and “Trash Humpers,” happily creates a deceptively simple, seemingly degenerate party movie that is equal parts indictment of both MTV Spring Break culture and a creepy love letter that is 100 percent entertaining and disgusting.

Let’s rattle off the negatives first. The story is pretty thin. Selena Gomez plays Faith, a pretty Christian girl who feels bored and unfulfilled at her typical Midwestern college and wants to break free and find herself.

She discovers equally understimulated confidants in Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) and they all decide it’s time to cut loose and party their hearts out. The only problem is that they need cash, and quick. A couple armed robberies later, they reach

their destination, spring break.

After a few days of partying, things go haywire and the girls find themselves in intense legal trouble, until a rapper named Alien (James Franco), helps bail them out. However, Alien leads them into a world far more dangerous than the one in which they were already embroiled.

The movie’s style often takes precedence over the story. Sixty minutes of story laced with frequent graphic neon-bikini-body shots and sequences laced with drugs, sex and alcohol—typical spring break debauchery—could make many squirm.

There is a persistent dubstep murmur in each scene, which is effective in adding a consistent creepiness to the movie, though the bad music is irritating. More than anything, Korine is attempting to catch youthful energy with the film.

Franco’s performance compensates for his snoozy “Oz” role— Alien is a hilarious composite of popular rappers, “believin’ in the American Dream, dolla billz and big booty’s ya’ll.” The girls— mainly teen starlets trying to break away from the squeaky-clean, round-ear shadows of their previous Disney legacies—are not given very substantial parts.

Still, they are game in their roles of drifting co-eds of varied degrees of degeneration, with Hudgens and Benson making an impressive commitment.

Moreover, they seem to be symbols of what current party culture is doing to the younger generation, as director Korine leads the group of familiar young girls astray from their sweet world to one of depravity. What makes it more interesting is that, through the film, Korine is

not really condemning this culture as much as simply observing without judgment.

The Britney Spears song scenes are the movie’s most memorable and best, because at its crux the movie is about the effects of the post-Spears world. One scene depicts the girls drunkenly singing in a parking lot to “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” while the other shows Alien playing “Everytime” to the girls.

The latter is so absurd, hilarious and ridiculous that it is truly aweinspiring. The plot of the movie can easily be described with the Britney Spears sexuality dynamic; just like Spears’ “Hit Me Baby” video, “Spring Breakers” is a commentary on the experience of being pushed from naïve to naughty.

Each of the girls are themselves different versions of Britney, complete with the occasional “ya’lls.”

Faith is sweet uncorrupted Britney, and Cotty is the Britney wounded by the people fascinated by her.

They both go away.

Brit (Korine’s never one for subtlety) and Candy, are the sassiest, most daring girls who make it to the end, however, they both finish with the same sad, emptyeyed vapidity reminiscent of the current Britney Spears. They end the movie “wanting to be better,” but leave uncertain as they return to the world that caused them to change in the first place—like the pop queen who remains in the tight control of those who exploited her.

Overall, “Spring Breakers” is a fascinating movie, lecherous of its young women, but also rooting for them the entire time. Those uninterested in the general plot of the movie should at least go see it for James Franco’s hilarious American Dream monologue.

New mobile phones pave way for future This spring, a number of companies, including Samsung, HTC, Blackberry and Facebook, are competing to be the future of the mobile phone industry.

Will Bramlett Student Writer

Spring has become the mobile phone industry’s go-to time for big announcements, and this season has been no exception. Samsung, HTC, BlackBerry, T-Mobile and even Facebook are just a few companies with major announcements about new products and services.

Samsung kicked off the festivities with the reveal of its newest flagship device, the Galaxy S IV, on March 14. Unlike prior Galaxy S flagship phones—which were starkly different than earlier models—the GS4 is more of a refinement of the Galaxy S III. However, the GS4 does have some wonderful new additions.

The GS4 features a very large 5-inch, full 1080p high definition display, a vast improvement over the GS3’s 4.8-inch 720p HD display. This 36-percent increase in pixel density, along with other new screen technologies, will improve the crispness of photos taken by the 13-megapixel camera. The GS3 uses an 8MP sensor.

The display also uses Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which claims to be stronger and three times more scratch-resistant than Gorilla Glass 2. Gorilla Glass 2 is found in nearly all smartphones including the GS3 and iPhone 5.

The GS4 includes many new features that some call “innovation” and others label “a bunch of flashy extras.” Some of these features include an eye-tracking, front-facing camera that can, among other things, pause

video when the user looks away.

The phone can also detect finger swipes above the glass, unlike most phones that require contact with the display.

In addition, Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry released the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S. on March 22. The phone—announced in January when BlackBerry changed its name from Research In Motion—is the company’s first to run its new operating system, BlackBerry 10.

The Z10 is more like a modern smartphone, relying entirely on a touch display for control while still retaining popular features, including BlackBerry Messenger.

BlackBerry and its investors are hoping this new software and hardware will help reverse the bleeding caused by the rise of iOS and Android. Most fear the nearly year-long delay of BB10 and new hardware’s release could be too much for the once-strong BlackBerry brand to handle.

Early reports look grim for BlackBerry. However, the company has one last chance to shine with its next smartphone, the Q10, which will still include the beloved BlackBerry keyboard. A release date has not been announced, but will likely revealed in the coming months.

The fourth-largest U.S. cellular company, T-Mobile, has been trying to identify itself as the scrappy underdog following its failed acquisition by AT&T. In the next round of self-rebranding, T-Mobile referred to itself as the “uncarrier” at an event on Mar. 26.

As a result, T-Mobile is removing two-year contracts and allowing users to either pay for a device entirely up-front, or pay it off over time. Two-year contracts, hidden fees and terrible service are things which T-Mobile hopes it can fix.

Overall, T-Mobile’s change is for the best.

Still, T-Mobile is misleading customers somewhat by billing itself as the company out to change an industry known for duping cus-

tomers. T-Mobile can advertise a lower monthly bill for service because it does not include the cost of the phone, while still advertising the lowest up-front cost of a phone. Customers will most likely continue to pay the price of the phone over two years, virtually changing nothing.

T-Mobile also announced the rollout of its high-speed LTE network and finally reached a deal with Apple to sell iPhones on its network. T-Mobile will be the last of the major four carriers to have an LTE network and officially support the iPhone.

Last on the list is HTC and Facebook, whose founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new project called Facebook Home. The software modifies the default Android system, and brings Facebook data front and center. A user’s news feed and messages will be easier to access.

The first device to ship with Facebook Home is the HTC First.

The phone costs $99 and currently is only available on AT&T in the U.S., however, interested customers should expect more phones featuring Facebook Home soon.

It is also installable on select devices via a free download from the Google Play Store.

Do not feel left out, iPhone owners—Apple is expected to preview iOS 7 at the World Wide Developers Conference this summer.

The event is yet to be announced, but traditionally it has been held in early June. However, with Apple’s recent break from traditions, no one can know for sure.

Overall, consumers should not choose a phone and carrier based on a few lines in a newspaper, tech specs and advertising alone.

Those looking to buy a new device should do research online, ask questions in the store, play with the devices and check the carrier’s cellular service.

Students who really need some help can probably find people on campus who are willing to help find the right phone.

Graphic by Caroline Kohlhagen

Urban Journal

creative

g

Alexander Bischoff Student Writer

I woke up on Tuesday, head throbbing, to a blaring alarm. I silenced the incessant bright screen and began my day. As I walked downstairs I could hear a cacophony of TV stations emanating from several different floors.

“This just in...” two steps later “And here is a modern kitchen...” a few more steps, “God is calling us to...” I tied my shoes as fast as I could and bolted for the nearest escape from the media barrage.

As I opened the car door, I waved at a neighbor lounging in his front yard. I think he was listening to NPR. I could barely make out the voice of the aging Diane Rehm.

With the windows down, I began my daily commute. I passed four people paying less respect to the road than a senile old man.

Toying with their smartphones was of greater importance than managing a one-ton SUV barreling down Harvard at 40 miles an hour.

While sitting in neutral at an intersection I felt the rumblings of a loud bass system course through my body. At 9 a.m. on a Tuesday some kind stranger decided to grace the audience of this particular intersection with the musings of Skrillex, played at an ear-shattering decibel level. Although the thought of a bass war was tempting, I decided against it for the sake of arriving at class in a timely manner.

Walking down fraternity row

I noticed the blue sky, the bright sun, the green grass and one lonely looking fellow whose only company was that of a headset. He was focused on nothing more than the concrete beneath him. I could hear the faint echoes of System of a Down from his Beats headset.

For once, I arrived at my Tuesday lecture on time. Looking at the crowd of people waiting near the door, it appeared that my professor was running a little late.

The atmosphere was that of a library. Over seven people sat, comfortably, staring at a bright screen.

Not a single person said so much as a word.

Normally I would break the smartphone barrier and strike up a conversation, but today was different. This particular crowd was more infatuated with their bright screens than a compulsive gambler with a slot machine. The screen had an invisible far-reaching adhesive that latched onto their retinas.

The bond was not even broken by a simple smile accompanied with, “Hello, how are you doing?”

The question brought a look of horror to its recipient’s face. He gave a short reply and frantically played with his phone a bit more.

I sat there confused, looking out the window. Two squirrels seemed to playing a game of tag. The scene was more entertaining than that of the silent crowd, so I took a step outside and decided to watch.

They raced up a budding tree, scared away a few birds, and lost themselves in the distant horizon.

I took a breath of fresh... *BUZZ* *BUZZ* “Hey dude, want to hang out tonight?”

I turned off my phone, and went on with the day.

By Anna Bennett

Reasons to Move Back in with Your Parents I know you’ve got this super awesome life plan in your head, and part of that plan is to never, ever move back in with your parents. You’re done with that, hear me? Done.

But now that summer is approaching, you may be faced with the reality that you may not have gotten than internship with an oil company, or you may not be employable even with your freshly earned bachelor’s degree.

At this point, taking up mom and pop’s generous offer may not sound so bad after all. If you’re in this situation, here are a few positives to consider.

1. Free rent. No bills. Boom.

tell you what setting to put the dryer on.

5. Access to embarrassing evidence from your childhood that you might want to censor before your new girlfriend comes over.

6. The little things they take for granted that you know you won’t be able to afford for a long time. Like a fridge with an icemaker, or cable TV. Or more than one room.

7. Since they missed you so much these past few years when you never seemed to have time to visit, it’ll take them a while before they start complaining about your habits.

2. What’s one more mouth to feed? Your younger brother probably just moved out anyway, and he eats more than you.

8. All that vintage stuff you thought was totally lame when you were younger is now the apex of cool. Like your dad’s record collection, or your mom’s ugly sweaters.

3. Drinking with your parents.

Now that there are no children in the house, they suddenly become a lot more fun. And they swear more too.

9. Because family is important, and you shouldn’t take a single moment with your loved ones for granted.

4. Instant access to years of wisdom and advice. Someone to help you file your taxes and

10. Also, you’d like to stay in the will.

opinion

15 april 2013

the Collegian : 6

OK education cuts ignore state’s future In efforts to reduce the state budget, OK leaders are forgetting that the best investment is our children.

Victoria McGouran Staff Writer

Many Oklahomans—especially students—are unaware that since 2008, Oklahoma’s per-pupil spending has been cut by more than 20 percent and, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the cuts made by Oklahoma legislators were the third deepest in the nation.

Secondary and elementary school funding in Oklahoma has dropped as enrollment is rising, and more than 4,000 jobs were cut from 2009 to 2011 in public schools.

You do not have to be a genius to understand that these facts are not exactly great news for the Sooner State.

Now, on top of all the budget cuts, Oklahoma legislators have recently passed numerous educational mandates that are completely unfunded. For example, Oklahoma is going to start requiring that children who do not pass a

reading test be retained in the third grade.

Now, while this mandate sounds harsh but potentially helpful, it comes at the worst possible time.

This is because Oklahoma just cut $6 million of overall educational funds as well as $3 million from the statewide “Literacy First” program.

This situation may seem rather dismal, but it gets worse.

Oklahoma legislators are also requiring high school students to pass four out of nine endof-instruction tests before they can graduate. Again, a reasonable hard-hitting requirement for schools.

However, in 2012 the state cut funding for programs that help students struggling to pass the tests, stalling potential graduates from being able to go to college, find a job or even join the military.

Without an extra boost from support programs, some students may never be able to receive their diplomas.

students as well. The situation in the Oklahoma educational system is dire and Oklahoma politicians need to stop being so negligent in their actions and consider all the possibilities before they slash at the education budget with their overused legislative box-cutter.

I say negligent, because that is the only word that honestly captures the absurdity of these cuts. It is almost as if there is some politician at the state capitol, assigned to balance the budget and armed with a sharpie, who randomly selects things to cut with wild abandon.

I do not think that politicians in Oklahoma—or the whole of America for that matter—realize that much of our nation’s success depends on the quality of education that the next generation receives.

Slashing the budget while simultaneously upping educational standards and lowering the pay of teachers is quite possibly the worst way to achieve any kind of educa-

“Without an extra boost from support programs, some students may never be able to receive their diplomas” Not only are these particular cuts and unfunded mandates devastating to the profession of education, but they are crippling the

tional growth in the public school system.

By neglecting the Oklahoma educational system, politicians are

Graphic by Caroline Kohlhagen

doing a huge disservice to an already collapsing public obligation.

Educational progress in the state not only determines the future success of individuals but the future success of the economy and the development of a highly skilled, competitive workforce.

It is almost laughable that legislators are being so short-sighted in their current decisions regarding the state.

Admittedly, the path to fully balance any budget is not always clear and historically, education has always been the first thing to get slashed. However, the current and proposed cuts for education in Oklahoma are disturbingly deep and could cause wounds to the system that will be hard to heal.

The powers-that-be in this state need to realize that while education may not be the most glamorous thing they can fund, they simply have to supply more support for the system. Education is a vital asset to this state, both economically and socially.

While I understand that the recession caused necessary cuts in every sphere of the government, they should no longer be allowable in the field of education.

The problems caused by a lack of public funding for schools are crippling the present generation of students, and without immediate support from the government, the schools may take too long to recover and a large group of students will be lost in the system.

Slaughter bill resurrects inhumane industry The horse slaughter industry is bad for the US, economically, environmentally and morally.

Cara Dublin

Student Writer

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin recently signed into effect House Bill 1999, ending the state’s ban on horse slaughter, which has been illegal since 1963.

The bill would permit slaughter plants to open or re-open under the inspection of the Oklahoma State Department of Health. It is one of a small number of such state bills passed since the five-year federal ban on horse slaughter expired in 2011.

The legalization of horse slaughter in the state is deleterious, wasteful and ultimately harmful to humans.

Opposing horse slaughter in the U.S. is not just a matter of bleeding-heart animal rights but a complicated mesh of ethical dilemmas, environmental complications, state-versus-federal rights and domestic-versus-foreign eco-

nomic stakes.

The sale of horsemeat for human consumption is illegal in the U.S., and it has been banned in U.S. pet food since the 1970s. All horsemeat produced domestically must be exported. Before horse slaughter was banned nationwide, 90 percent of meat was exported for consumption in Europe, chiefly France and Belgium, or in Japan.

The national ban on horse slaughter, in effect since 2006, has never been completely water-tight.

That year, the proposed American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act was overwhelmingly approved by the House, but never came to vote in the Senate.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress has since then annually prohibited the use of federal funds to inspect horses before slaughter, a USDA obligation, which effectively renders all domestic horse slaughter illegal.

In 2011, this hack-job ban was quietly repealed as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2012. Oklahoma is acting on this lapse.

Nowhere in the U.S. are horses bred and raised for consumption by humans. Horses that end up “rendered,” the industry term, at the plants are usually purchased at auction by “kill buyers,” who

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make a living purchasing horses for less than market price and shipping them across the border. The U.S. Department of Transportation is technically responsible for overseeing the welfare of transported horses.

There are three major problems with this, the very real possibility of inhumane death at the foreign plants aside.

First, as no U.S. horses are intended for meat, they are regularly treated with drugs that the FDA

the ethical question of whether the U.S. should permit the tainted meat to be knowingly sold for profit, especially from within our own borders.

Legislation could be enacted to protect horses bred for meat, but this would require more Congressional time, more USDA money, and would be incompatible with the current horse auction-toslaughter system. Oklahoma used the logic that slaughter offers a humane alternative for old, stray or

“The legalization of horse slaughter is ultimately harmful to humans”

labels harmful to humans. For example, phenylbutazone, called “bute” by horsemen, is an NSAID pain reliever, the one most commonly administered to equines.

In humans, it causes liver damage similar to what an ibuprofen induced overdose would cause.

Most horses have been exposed to bute at least semi-routinely.

Bute and other drugs are still present when the horses are slaughtered, and have sometimes been administered only days or possibly hours before death.

Since the majority of horsemeat in the past has been exported for human consumption, this raises

unwanted horses, preventing them from starvation and abuse, to help pass HB 1999.

The second problem is the way horses currently end up in the hands of kill buyers.

The popular vision involves putting an aged, used-up horse out of his misery. The reality is that kill buyers purchase any horse offered at auction which is not bid up by other buyers.

Third, horse slaughter can be uneconomical and can have a negative environmental impact. Horse meat is one of the most extremelycarbon intensive meats to produce.

Horses convert food-to-body

weight at a much lower rate than other livestock, and it is thus more expensive to get them to slaughter weight.

The last three slaughter plants, especially Beltex, were closed in large part due to local complaints about polluting runoff and foul smells.

The environmental impact of a slaughter plant must be borne by U.S. neighbors and U.S. soil and inspected with U.S. federal money, while the profit is made and the meat is eaten by Europeans.

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act would ban export of horses for slaughter for human consumption as well as domestic slaughter.

A network of dedicated rescue groups works with willing kill buyers, trying to place horses in permanent homes within the single week the animal is at the kill buyer’s facility before the next auction forces it onto to the slaughter truck.

Such non-profits are swamped and need more help, more funding and more willing adopters.

More attention needs to be paid to anti-breeding campaigns and helping to stop the irresponsible breeding of horses in the first place People within the horse industry need to adopt the mantra “train, don’t trade” when horse-owning hits a rough spot.

Opinion

the Collegian : 7

15 april 2013

Drone warfare makes terrorists of U.S.

Because drone strikes kill more than just the targets, their continued use is an unjustifiable policy.

Alexander Bischoff

Student Writer

Mr. Woodifield sat in his office, staring at a fly drowning in a pool of ink. It fought against the black ooze and managed to dry off its wings. He admired its tenacity.

Mr. Woodifield proceeded to drop another blotch of ink on the weak fly.

This scene, from Katherine Mansfield’s short story “The Fly,” is all too reminiscent of our nation’s drone strike program.

The program started with the targeted killing of Taliban leader Nek Mohammad in 2004, an act that also killed two children.

Within the next year the program started targeting high profile al-Qaeda members.

In May, a terrorist explosives expert was killed, along with at least one other person. By the turn of the year 2006, the Taliban had dried off the blood from the 2004 strike just in time for another drop of metaphorical ink.

On Oct. 30, 2006, an alleged Taliban training camp was targeted. An estimated 12 civilians were killed.

Sixty-nine children also lost their lives to the strike. No highranking members of the Taliban were reported dead among the many victims.

Between 2008 and March 22 of this year our drone strike program has killed an estimated 97 children and over 480 civilians.

The frequency of the strikes has also increased. In the first

To be fair, the strikes are increasing in accuracy. Fewer innocent civilians and children are dying each year from the program, but that seems like a low standard with respect to the goal of eliminating all unintended casualties.

In Mansfield’s story, Mr. Woodifield eventually kills the fly after several more drops of ink.

After it dies, he realizes that he had completely forgotten what he was doing before torturing the fly.

Overall, the drone program has killed an estimated three children for every high-profile terrorist.

Looking at the facts forces us to ask whether we are killing “high profile” terrorists or little boys and girls with a several hundred pound payload.

I believe that our nation, much

“At the point in which we kill three children for every intended target, we become terrorists” three combined years of the program there were a reported seven strikes. Last year alone there were at least 42.

like Mr. Woodfield, has forgotten something important. The chase for terrorists has blinded us from the reason we targeted them in the

Photo courtesy of Fast Company

A General Atomics Predator MQ-1, one of several unmanned aircraft put into substantial use in recent years.

first place. Our nation has become what it once declared war against.

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and anonymous interviews with high-ranking members of the CIA have all called out the program for its notorious “signature strikes.”

In these strikes a drone can attack an unidentified target, with disregard toward factual identification.

The combination of these “signature strikes” and what a UN investigation has called the “double tap” policy of the program, whereby a second strike is targeted at medical responders coming to the scene of the initial strike, leaves little justification for the program.

At the point in which we kill

three children for every intended target, issue strikes with little to no regard for identity authentication, and go after medical responders, we become terrorists.

This is not a party issue. Both sides of the political aisle can easily rally behind a cause to either scrap or dramatically improve the program.

A simple requirement for identity verification can put a sizable dent in civilian casualties. This should be a prerequisite for any “targeted killing” program.

The time has come to put the lives of innocent Pakistani civilians into our thoughts, lest they befall the fate of the fly—death by our indiscriminate dropping.

tool which allows me to see my options laid before me and take them apart and put them back together—to help me fill in the gaps that I may miss.

In an age when nearly anyone can create a user-friendly interface or build a useful iPhone app, such a digital tool shouldn’t be so much to ask for from a well-renowned institution. The glitchy, confusing, un-synchronized digital tools TU students have at their disposal (and which are often necessary to get by) are frankly disappointing, and in my eyes, there’s no excuse in today’s day and age.

It took me forever to figure out what I needed to get from WebCT (also Harvey now), what I should go to WebAdvisor for, and what I would simply have to search the TU website to find.

Have you ever tried finding anything on the TU website? I still have to use the search bar. It’s quicker than navigating anyway.

Perhaps all that’s a lot to ask, but it shouldn’t have to be an accommodation. Wouldn’t it make everyone’s lives easier if the whole

process of choosing courses, planning one’s major and enrolling was centralized and streamlined?

If every professor and advisor had immediate access to up-todate information on what every student was taking, or planning to take, and if they could see what subjects each course was counted under, the process would be streamlined and the margin of error reduced.

I’m not opposed to a little leg work. I work hard out of sheer habit, after all. I think most TU students do.

But in instances where worry and negotiation are inherently unnecessary, why make students work harder than necessary when they could be spending energy on the tasks at hand—like the classes they are currently taking?

Creating an online, real-time, up-to-date interface that makes planning and enrolling totally easy seems logical.

We’ll get more done if the system works with us, not despite us, as it seems to now.

Enrollment up, but faith in process down

Enrollment is currently too complicated for both the students and administration, and should be all-online.

Anna Benett

Staff Writer

Three years in, college is still full of surprises—some good, some ugly and some inconvenient and slightly ironic. I’ve often found the topic of enrollment to be in this third category.

For such a seemingly well-funded university teeming with computer whizzes, the whole process seems a bit ramshackle—not completely digital, not completely personal, and therefore leaving plenty of room for error on both ends.

For me, enrollment has always been a bit nerve-wracking—mostly because I make it that way, but

the system doesn’t help.

Every semester, it seems like something comes up in the process itself that hinders what should be a simple procedure.

For one reason or another, this is the first time I have successfully enrolled online. However, no one explained to me how I’m supposed to enroll in a senior project, so that’s an ongoing process. At least that class can’t fill up or get cancelled, right?

At the very least, my surprises at my grad check were not earthshattering. Turns out, I was not mostly done with my major as I had previously thought, I was in fact completely done. And that Block II class I had taken sophomore year was apparently not necessary, even though I had been told I needed it?

OK, whatever, nothing wrong with an extra Block II. But why is the whole process set up to be as vague and mysterious as possible? All the erasing and remembering and replacing and doing by hand sort of, well, makes me nervous. I consider my-

self a pretty intelligent human being, with an adequate memory and a good working reasoning facility.

Yet I catch a glimpse of my balance sheets and I sort of shut down.

It doesn’t mean anything to me—I couldn’t tell THEA 2113 from FLM 3213, and with my luck they are probably cross-listed anyway.

My advisors on all levels have been very helpful and knowledgeable; but I don’t think any of them know the full story of my education—only I know that.

The experts in advising don’t know the direction I’m going with my future career, and my advisors in my major can’t be expected to know how other programs work.

There’s a disconnect. And as a person who has never been inclined to take someone’s word on anything, and who needs time to manipulate and reconsider and plan, I need a different way of looking at things that gives me a bit more power—not to mention understanding.

What I really want is a tool to take ownership and direction over my education with confidence, a

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editor-in-chief—Kalen Petersen managing editor—Kyle Walker news editor—Conor Fellin sports editor—Aubry Midkiff variety editor—Stephanie Hice opinion editor—Patrick Creedon satire editor—Tim Nissen photo & graphics editor—Jill Graves staff writers—Anna Bennett, Beate Hall, Oscar Ho, Victoria McGouran, Zhenya Yevtushenko business & advertising manager—Liz Cohen distribution manager—Tyler Magill web editor—Mary Carol Franko adviser—Kendra Blevins

15 april 2013

the

the state-run media

State-Run media Loyal since 2013.

King John I dead, long live Queen Katlyn Tim Nissen

Seventh in line for the throne TU’s reviled former hegemon, King John I, was found dead in the gardens of the Lorton Palace this Friday, poisoned and at the brink of death. Despite doctors’ best efforts, bloodletting failed to revive the monarch, who was pronounced dead at the site.

Divine decree dictates that King John I will be succeeded by Queen Katlyn of House McGouran, the first of her name. Long live the queen!

The campus released a collective sigh of relief as flights of demons sang King John I to his uneasy rest. “King John the Incompetent,” as students called him, was a symbol of pitiful in-

adequacy and bumbling silliness who fancied himself to be a tyrant.

Known as well for his tonguetied public appearances and intellectual shortcomings as he was for his unpredictable temper and unrivaled vanity, King John I has long been derided by the State-Run Media as the most laughably pathetic king to wield the crown and scepter at TU. And after a long year of defiance by the State-Run Media, which boldly criticized King John despite the threat of rack and sword, TU’s prayers and the StateRun Media’s calls to action have been answered, and King John the Faithless has been justly assassinated.

“At last! At long last, this fine university will have a leader who is worth a damn!” said Queen

McGouran the Merciful, when reached for comment. “At last the thirsty gutters will overflow with the blood of the disloyal incompetents that once called themselves a ‘Royal Court.’”

Queen Katlyn the Just went on to describe in vivid and harrowing detail her intentions for former royal advisers Michael Mancini and Ben Chong, whose unfaltering but foolhardy allegiance to King John earned them power, prestige and now grisly death.

Beyond bathing in the blood of traitors to the crown, Queen Katlyn the Benevolent plans to erect a seven-story-high statue of herself majestically riding a chariot across Chapman Commons, her noble visage blocking McFarlin Library’s view of the unsightly downtown Tulsa.

Graphic by Jill Graves

Her Majesty Queen Katlyn the Beneficent makes good on her kind promises of swift justice and scarce mercy, which are a welcome change from the permissive rule of her spineless and sniveling predecessor, King John the Cowardly.

China to let North Korea fire nuclear missile “just this once” Jared Starkweather A real bombshell

After weeks of threats from North Korea, sources have confirmed that the People’s Republic of China has agreed to let the communist state fire a nuclear missile “just this once.”

The UN started growing increasingly concerned after they noticed China beginning to give in last week.

“We worried that China might eventually cave,” said Kevin Earnst, a U.S. ambassador to the UN who attended a meeting of the UN Security Council with leaders from China and North Korea.

Sources say that Kim Jong-un requested to meet with the Security Council on Wednesday, claiming that he was “ready to start discussing peace terms.”

“It started out nicely,” said Earsnt. “Kim Jong-un was cordial and playful, and he even tried to cook us some pancakes and set the table. It was cute, even though he just wound up making a mess in the kitchen. We pretended to eat the pancakes and were very grateful for what he had done, but we knew that when (Kim Jong-un)

does something nice he usually just wants something.”

“And then,” continued Earnst, “out of the blue Kim Jong-un said he wanted to launching a missile at Seoul and ‘make a big boom.’ We were furious.”

“After we said no, he just wouldn’t stop whining,” reported Earnst. “‘But everyone else gets missiles,’ ‘pleeeeease, can’t we launch just one,’ and ‘you don’t love me’ were just some of Kim’s teary-eyed complaints.”

“I tried to stay around and back China, but I lost it when the little brat started screaming, kicking chairs, and threatening to obliterate the west,” Earnst added. “The rest of the representatives and I just had to get out of there. To be honest, I’m surprised China lasted as long as they did.”

Members of the UN who did not attend the meeting criticized the representatives for leaving China alone to deal with the dictator. Trends show that China has always tried to be the “cool parent” to North Korea, allowing Kim Jong-Un to have friends stay over and torture them, even on school nights.

Representatives from China re-

Photo courtesy of RYOT News, friends of the State-Run Media

Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Un, pictured in a boat given by People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping.

Sources in the President’s office report Kim Jong-Un failed to thank President Xi “even once.” Sources also report that Kim JongUn’s friends, also pictured, are “bad influences” and “usually up to no good.”

leased an official statement after the incident in which they reportedly “threatened to take away all food aid and fuel trade.” After Jong-un didn’t budge, leaders “started counting to three, but only

got to two and a half before they finally just gave up and gave agreed to let the Supreme Leader of North Korea launch ‘one warhead, but just one—and we mean it.’”

At press time, the People’s Re-

public of China was complaining to Russia that the U.S. was a “helicopter parent” to South Korea and that “you have to let a child make some mistakes, or he’ll never learn.”

Nuclear proliferation: is it time for a fresh perspective? Yes. Nick Blandino Bomb enthusiast

Lately, I’ve heard a lot of talk about nuclear proliferation (or, for those of us who don’t care for big words, the creation of big-boy toys by people who aren’t allowed to make things go boom).

Now, I don’t care too much for the news and gossip, but when I hear that Psy’s brother (who can’t dance, apparently) is making nuclear weapons, I get a bit worried.

Now, when I say “I get a bit

worried,” I mean that I’m not worried at all. Sorry if that was confusing for you. Because really, nuclear proliferation isn’t all that bad. Think about it: it allows for the creation of jobs in a country that has no food. You wouldn’t want to keep all of those hungry people from having the chance to eat and to make things go kablooey, would you?

And if it’s so important to use nuclear warfare to distract international attention from the widespread North Korean famine, think

about how much you need that distraction is if you’re a North Korean. It has to be nearly impossible to forget about a famine when you’re actually starving.

Think about it from their perspective: Which would you rather have on your mind—nuclear capability, or some delicious but tragically unattainable sweet and sour pork? That’s what I thought.

Nukes.

Plus, I think that nukes should be allowed to run rampant, since that way we can keep things safe

for us Americans. Sure, it’s fun being one of only five countries allowed to have nukes. But when nukes are outlawed, then only outlaws have nukes, and do you really want to live with that fear in your otherwise fearless American heart? I didn’t think so.

Now, I admit we don’t want a bunch of people dying because of a nuclear war. But weapons don’t kill people, people kill people (sometimes yetis and aliens kill people too, but don’t nitpick).

We have to learn to just use nu-

clear devices in a safe and wholesome way. For instance, you have a huge termite problem? Nuke it.

Your microwave just doesn’t get food hot enough? Nuke it. Your birthday needs some extra sizzle?

Bust out the big-boy fireworks!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I support nuclear weapons in the hands of someone who looks like the kid from Up—but hey. Sometimes you’ve just got to live a little. And by live a little, I mean do what the Death Star did to Alderaan. KABOOM!

Assassination heightens tension between TU residents, commuters Tim Nissen

Now sixth in line for the throne The Imperial Investigatory Force believes it has closed the case of the murder of King John the Ridiculous.

Queen Katie the Wise has yet to declare a formal conviction, but the IIF reports that the leading suspect in the murder of King John the Worst is Aaron Derkin, a commuter student whose body was found on dry land in the middle of the Arkansas River, dead from

cyanide poisoning.

Eyewitnesses report seeing Derkin, a commuter student, shoveling cyanide capsules into his mouth and jumping spread-eagle from the Riverwalk into a bonedry stretch of the river shortly after the assassination of John the Despised.

Derkin’s involvement corresponds to the prevailing theory of King John I’s assassination, which connects the killing to the “commuter wars” that have plagued campus for years. The theory holds

that commuter students killed the former “king” in an attempt to install Queen Katie, herself a commuter, and bring about a “Second Golden Age of Commuting” after the first Golden Age ended in the late 1990s.

Critics point out that this theory leaves much unexplained, most significantly the improbability of a commuter student being capable of coordinating such an involved assassination when so much of his time was spent driving back and forth between TU and his off-

campus home.

Despite the improbability of a commuter accomplishing such a task, many in Tulsa fear that the assassination and consequent ascension of Queen Katie I will aggravate the already strained relationship between commuters and on-campus residents, the latter of which can, as TU Campus Housing reports, “simply accomplish things.”

Ultimately, Tulsa fears that the incident may ignite the so-called “Chapman Powder Keg” and

plunge TU into war. Experts with knowledge of the Tulsa region surmise that such a war would inevitably draw Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Community College, and ITT-Tech into the fray as all of the colleges are part of an intricate web of alliances.

At press time, Queen Katie I was brandishing her sword, still wet with the blood of Michael Mancini, and loosing a bloodcurdling cry of “death to all oncampus residents and traitors to the crown.”