Billionaire’s rocket a waste of time

As burnout combines with poor working conditions and irate customers, some employees have started saying no.

Myranda New Student Writer

Signs are posted on a number of businesses across the nation. “Due to an understaffed kitchen, wait times may be longer than normal, and we apologize.” It was around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that these signs started popping up, but it is surprising that as other aspects of daily life ruined by the pandemic are starting to heal, these signs are not going away. In just August 2021 alone, the US Labor Department announced that 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs, furthering the surge of the Great Resignation.

At the start of the pandemic, the economy faced trouble very quickly as citizens stayed in their homes and limited their interactions at stores and restaurants. Businesses, especially ones that were locally owned, were only receiving a fraction of the income they had in years past. For many businesses, they were forced to make difficult decisions due to this limited income, either laying off employees or closing down entirely. This was the beginning of the labor crisis.

Many employees who were laid off sought out new positions, but with a number of businesses unable to hire more employees with their limited funds, it was a futile search. A number of families can relate to this experience at the beginning of the pandemic as Harvard University’s Economic Tracker project claimed earlier this year that there were 37.5 percent less small businesses than the year prior.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, though, there began a shift in the workforce from being laid off to actually deciding to quit. For those employees that remained hired when others were let go, they experienced pay and vacation cuts to minimize company spending. At some companies, this decrease in pay could have even been paired with an increase of hours. A trend began of employees deciding to quit their jobs in an effort to pursue better working conditions. This was the beginning surge of the Great Resignation, the effect on the world of so many employees deciding to quit their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was most commonly seen in the service industry, particularly restaurant and retail where employees often make minimum wage or slightly more for hours of effort each week. According to the BBC, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 6.8 percent of food service workers quit while 4.7 percent of workers in retail quit during August 2021.

There are a number of reasons motivating employees to quit this far into the pandemic. Poor working conditions, though, are cited as one of the largest reasons. At the height of infection rates, there were companies that would not protect the health and safety of their employees, either not requiring masks to be worn by customers or not social distancing tables. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) may not have been supplied or other products that could minimize the spread of infection. Many employees reported that at their workspaces, they felt unsafe going to work.

This was especially true in school districts, where some schools did not require children to wear masks to school or school districts that still had employees teach in person while others shifted to virtual learning. Many teachers trended on social media and Buzzfeed for showing what their schools supplied as “COVID-19 protection,” panning their cameras to show a bottle of hand sanitizer and a box of Clorox wipes that was allegedly meant to last an entire year. For many teachers, they purchased PPE with their own money and were not reimbursed by their districts. There was little support extended towards their safety.

Not only did employees have to put up with poor working conditions, but they also battled rude customers on the daily. Hundreds of videos circulated online and through local news sources of customers or employees recording interactions that quickly escalated into arguments. Some of these interactions were of customers refusing to wear their masks even though they had been asked multiple times or even customers arguing with fast food workers over their orders or retail workers over their returns.

All of these scenarios summed together with the mental, emotional and physical exhaustion caused by surviving a global pandemic clearly equated to burnout in employees around the world. Healthcare workers who were pushed to the edge showed the way their multiple layers of masks left their skin indented and bruised from hours in the emergency room. Teachers gave interviews with local news sources to describe the absolute loss they feel having to teach to turned-off cameras through a non-interactive zoom classroom. Fast food and retail workers are still earning minimum wage for no satisfaction. The workforce is exhausted.

People choose their jobs for a reason, whether that be the student interactions, getting to save lives or work in the kitchen of a favorite restaurant, but the COVID-19 pandemic robbed many of that joy for their job. As Derek Thompson in “The Atlantic” says, “we may instead look back to the pandemic as a critical inflection point in something more fundamental: Americans’ attitudes toward work.” Resigning instead of fighting for better conditions, to petition for higher minimum wage and to heal from burnout, the Great Resignation is rooted in what all major events that occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic are rooted in: the urge and fight for change.

photo by Adam Walsh Supplies on TU campus resemble those in public schools with unclear channels for replacing used products.

Bezos’ rocket a waste of resources

The world’s richest man keeps moving away from Earth, but what does that mean for us groundlings?

Myranda New Student Writer

Last week, Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon, announced that he was headed to space by partnering with Blue Origin on the Orbital Reef, a low-orbit space station described as a “mixed-use business park.” You would think that being a mechanical engineer who wanted to work at NASA, I would be super stoked for this project, but actually, I’m quite appalled.

If you would’ve asked me five years ago how I felt about this project, I would have been quite excited. This is getting us one step closer to humans living in space, like the film “Passengers” or the novel “Artemis” by Andy Weir, but it’s also getting us closer to movies like “Wall-E,” in more ways than one. to the elements for long periods of time and further our technologies to achieve bigger and better projects. It’s a research dream because this is the kind of innovation that will further our society like never before to reach a new age of engineering, but it is all for the wrong reasons.

This project is commercialism at its finest, taking exciting new technology and using it towards the gain of companies that already make billions of dollars a year in sales. This will be a project that only those who can afford it will be able to enjoy. It doesn’t matter how common we make space travel; there are still people who can barely afford food, clothing and rent let alone a fancy vacation to space.

The money used to further this project could have been used for groundbreaking technology in an area that will positively affect our planet. With companies like Amazon being the reason climate change is accelerating so rapidly and little time to reverse it, the investments in Orbital Reef could have been used to design a solution to the climate crisis and to heal our environment. There are already numerous solutions planned to begin the healing process of our climate crisis, but they don’t have enough funding, especially by large corporations that are spearheading the issues.

Even if Bezos wanted to stay focused on space, there are countless projects he could have funded to clean up space. There are millions of pieces of space junk orbiting our planet and others, junk that humanity chucked up there, literally polluting our solar system (because apparently polluting our

“... you have to consider all of the training that is required to be in space.”

Brent Sherwood, the senior Vice President of Advanced Development Programs at Blue Origin says, “We will expand access, lower the cost, and provide all the services and amenities needed to normalize space flight. A vibrant business ecosystem will grow in low Earth orbit, generating new discoveries, new products, new entertainments, and global awareness.”

Bezos himself claims that with this project, you can “have your own address in orbit.” It will be like a hotel in space, a playground for the rich and the perfect vacation for those who can afford it, but a curse for those who cannot.

Because in theory, to an engineer, this sounds like a cool project at first. We will get to expand our knowledge of space, improve our architecture, study the effects of space on our materials that will be exposed planet isn’t enough). Some of these space junk pieces are large, so large in fact they are being tracked in case they cause a bigger issue, but the millions of pieces come in being so small that we cannot locate where they are. We need to make further efforts in cleaning up space, because we should not be allowed to put more things up there until we start cleaning up the mess we have already made.

Like with the rocket Bezos rode in a little while ago, what was the point of that? Outside of flaunting his money and power, what did that do to further science? The exhaust and pollution expelled to propel that rocket into space, the fuel wasted for the ride and landing not too long after to simply prove that he could do it was one of Bezos’ largest wastes of resources yet.

Campus Security cannot protect student property

Increasing crime reports illustrate Campus Security’s inability to combat thefts from vehicles.

Shelby Hiens Student Writer

The University of Tulsa continuously preaches safety on campus; however, the assurances ring hollow with the upsurge in catalytic converter thefts. As potential incoming students tour the campus with their guides, marveling at our blue light emergency phones and the security every officer patrol car seems to exude, TU markets itself as safe and secure.

However, according to the Daily Crime Log, Fire Log & Incident Reports there have been 28 thefts from vehicles on campus and 21 reports of stolen bicycles filed since January. There have also been 11 reports of catalytic converter thefts this year. For a school that claims to have proactive security patrols conducted routinely, they don’t have much to show for it.

Catalytic converter thefts have been on the rise as precious metals prices soar. They are located on the undersides of vehicles and break down harmful compounds produced through burning gas. What makes them so valuable is the platinum-group metals they’re made of. The prices of these metals have increased, and people have taken advantage of all the unattended parked cars in our lots.

One student reported seeing a man crawl underneath their vehicle as they were sitting inside. The student started their vehicle and proceeded to watch the man desperately clamber from underneath the car and run away.

In many of these cases, security camera footage is not clear and suspects or other identifying information are indiscernible. There are also parking lots without security cameras installed at all. According to one report, there are no surveillance cameras that are pointed directly at the 8th and Harvard lot. How can the university promise to keep our personal property safe if they do not have the means or will to do so?

The theft and destruction of property on campus is not being deterred by campus security. TU needs to implement other methods to protect our personal property which can double as extra precautions for student safety. There are numerous benefits to installing new security cameras that cover every parking lot and bike rack. Not only do cameras deter illegal activities, but they would increase the number of suspects caught.

Campus security alone is not cutting it, no matter how vigilantly TU reps them. There has been discourse on the matter of replacing them with the Tulsa Police Department. This would cut out the middle man as most of the crime reports are filed with the TPD anyway. Also, with a more authoritative presence on campus, the university’s crime rate would decline.

The university needs to accept that things cannot continue as they are. Students do not have the money nor time to replace their catalytic converter or bicycle when they are stolen. These are preventable crimes. I should not have to worry about someone cutting my bike lock while I’m in class or stealing the precious metals off my car.

Not to mention, if the Orbital Reef was cheap enough that low middle class would be able to venture out, you have to consider all of the training that is required to be in space. Astronauts go through one of the most rigorous programs to be qualified enough for their job, let alone a leisurely vacation up into space. It’s going to require so much training, technology and money to get people to the point that they can stay in the space hotel. This wouldn’t be a decision to make simply overnight.

And once Bezos is done with the space station, what is he going to do with it? Bring it back down to Earth and recycle the materials for other projects? Use the pieces at engineering companies to invent new product strategies? Or will it remain in space, unused and empty, just another piece of space junk?

There is much to consider with a project this large, a number of repercussions and lifelong effects that will touch more than just the lives of CEOs and billionaires. As cool as the engineering would be for Orbital Reef, inspiring ideas such as it need to be put towards projects that will save our planet, not further the harm.