September 8, 2014

U T s e s u c c a t n e d u t Former s X I e l t i T g n i t a l o i of v

For more information about the lawsuit, see page 6.

graphic by Sarah Power

Editor’s note: During the course of our investigation for the story appearing on page 6 of this issue, the senior editorial staff of the Collegian encountered situations, allegations and facts which we found disturbing. In light of this experience, we felt that a noneditorial treatment of the topic would have been irresponsible. Sexual violence is a serious and pervasive threat to the well-being of college students nationwide. The above graphic is a catalogue of our thoughts about sexual violence within the American university.

The ‘testimonials’ are all either invented and fictional, or derived from the facts of our story. The statistics displayed on the American flag are not fictional. They are documented. They are real. This is why we have chosen to proceed in this manner.

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8 September 2014

Holding on strong: #11 Derek Patterson endures brutal tackle

Above photos courtesy David Kennedy

Clockwise from top: Hurricane junior wideout Derek Patterson (#11) holds onto a catch despite a vicious hit from Sooners defensive back Julian Wilson, Tulsa students eagerly wave their new hurricane flags as they cheer on the football team against Tulane, and sophomore running back Tavarreon Dickerson points to the camera as he strolls into the end zone in TU’s victory over Tulane.

University of Tulsa Men’s Soccer defeats No. 3 University of Virginia in double overtime shocker

Photo courtesy Greg Diskin

Senior defender Byron Knowles-Ramirez (# 21) throws the ball in to senior forward Akeil Barrett (# 4) during Tulsa’s upset victory over No. 3 Virginia during the 2014 Holiday Inn Hurricane Classic on Friday, Sept. 5.

Barrett later lifted the Hurricane to victory with the contest’s only goal in the 101st minute. On Sunday, TU fell to California State University, Northridge 2–1. After the tournament, the Hurricane stood at 2–2 on the season. Barrett, junior defender Bradley Bourgeois and sophomore midfielder Cameron Drackett were named to the All-Tournament Team.

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Pro football returns after exciting offseason Local NFL junkie Adil Hirani provides his commentary on what has happened in the seven months since we could enjoy“real football.”

On Sept. 4, the NFL finally ended its sevenmonth offseason and began the regular season: not that joke known as the “preseason.”

The regular season is what we’ve been waiting for.

First and foremost, an openly gay player, Michael Sam, was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the May draft. However, the Rams cut him a week before the regular season’s start. Thankfully, the Dallas Cowboys were brave enough to sign Sam to their 10-man practice squad, so Sam can still pursue his dream of being the first openly gay footballer to play a snap in a regular season game.

Another offseaspn controversy was the reaction to the Washington D.C. NFL team’s name and logo. The owner, Dan Snyder, claims that the name is used to celebrate Native American culture, but the rest of America doesn’t exactly know what he’s talking about.

More importantly, many prominant media sources, have refused to use the team’s name when writing pieces covering the organization.

When your own city’s newspaper refuses to write the team’s name in any sports article, that should be a sign of trouble.

Next came the arrival of Johnny Football.

Now I love Johnny and his antics as much as the next person, but Johnny seriously owned ESPN this entire offseason. From his late-night partying to his new Snickers ad, Johnny has been everywhere. However, it’s important to note that Johnny Football is

not even starting the first week of the regular season. In fact, he played so poorly in the preseason that the Cleveland Brown’s were forced to hand the job to journeyman Brian Hoyer, who played in only three games last year and is more known for being a backup to Tom Brady in the past.

Finally comes the travesty that is NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his handling of domestic violence and marijuana suspensions. According to the Denver Post, in 2014 alone, a total of 17 NFL players have been suspended for violating the substance abuse policy for a total number of 91 games.

Only one player has been suspended for domestic violence, and that honor goes to the two game suspension of Ray Rice for his elevator incident, the news of which has spread like wildfire.

However, the NFL has now implemented

a new domestic violence policy that suspends a player for six games for his first domestic abuse offense and an indefinite suspension for his second.

Now, after looking through this new policy, it’s definitely clear that there are several loopholes in this case.

For example, players do not necessarily receive a six game suspension for their first offense.

If “mitigating factors” are taken in, that suspension can be reduced. So in simpler terms, all the power remains in the hands of Roger Goodell.

The NFL offseason was crazy, but here’s to hoping the regular season’s even crazier.

So get out those foam fingers and start cheering for your favorite team, unless that team is the Dallas Cowboys. In that case, just give up now.

Tulsa topples Tulane, succumbs to Sooners In its home opener, the Hurricane thrilled fans with an exciting victory over Tulane, but failed to match the visiting Sooners, writes Jordan Hoyt.

After the first two games of the season, the Golden Hurricane football team sits at 1–1,with a new and improving gameday culture and talented young players.

Celebrating the move to the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Hurricane athletics gave away 10,000 hurricane flags at the home opener in order to improve the atmosphere at Chapman Stadium.

“It got me more involved in the game.

They were pretty cool actually,” said junior Sebastian Pineda as he spectated.

In addition to free flags, TU rewarded fans with a 38–31 double overtime victory over Tulane.

Even more remarkable is how the Hurricane offense garnered 592 total yards against Tulane with only one senior, kicker Carl Salazar, ever touching the ball on the offensive side.

With 438 passing yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions, sophomore quarterback Dane “Dane Train” Evans led the Tulsa offense.

Earning AAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, sophomore receiver Keevan

Lucas exploded for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns, while junior Keyarris Garrett hauled in 87 yards.

Tavarreon Dickerson, a junior college transfer, dominated the Hurricane rushing attack, with 15 carries and 84 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry.

On a more reverent note, the University recognized Devon Walker, a former Tulane player, who was paralyzed by a disastrous hit at Chapman Stadium two years ago.

In an emotional halftime ceremony, Devon Walker personally thanked the city of Tulsa for its support and the medical staff who treated him, to a standing ovation.

“I actually received more support from Tulsa sometimes than I received from Louisiana as a state,” said Walker during a pregame press conference. “(Tulsans) say they’re praying for me and that I inspire them,” stated Walker, as he attempts to serve now as an inspiration for others.

In August, Tulsa’s mayor, Dewey Bartlett, granted a key to the city to Walker, who’s currently studying for his master’s degree in biology from Tulane.

After the thrilling victory over Tulane, TU failed to carry any momentum against a highly anticipated matchup against the 4thranked Oklahoma Sooners. Through a consistent rain, OU thrashed the Golden Hurricane by a score of 52–7.

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Bob Stoops’s Oklahoma squad overwhelmed Bill Blankenship’s counterpart in all facets of the game. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Sooners effortlessly marched 81 yards down the field for a touchdown in only three plays.

The star-studded Oklahoma defense derailed the Dane Train, as Dane Evans and the rest of the Hurricane attack failed to translate their success from the Tulane win.

Undoubtedly, the wet conditions hindered TU’s potentially formidable passing offense.

Consequently, Blankenship relied on the ground game, which mustered only 94 yards. OU’s massive bodies on the defensive front simply overpowered Tulsa’s smaller offensive line.

While TU’s offense sputtered, Oklahoma took advantage of nearly every possession, finding the end zone on three of their first four drives and racing out to a 21–0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Tulsa’s only score came at the beginning of the second half, when Evans connected on a four yard pass to Keevan Lucas for a... touchdown!

Jesse Keipp is…

USC AD argues with refs mid-game In an unprecedented move, USC’s athletic director, Pat Haden, left the press box to argue with the referees on behalf of his coach, Steve Sarkisian, during a game against Stanford on Saturday.

The refs penalized Sarkisian himself for his incessant protestations, after which Sarkisian tattled to his boss via text message.

Jesse Keipp contributed to this report

Photo courtesy David Kennedy

upon the Tulsa sky fell short of the terror thrust upon the Big 10 Conference that same day. Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State lost on the same day for the first time in over 25 years. Elsewhere in the conference, Nebraska squeaked

by McNeese State, an FCS school, on a miraculous play.

A pair of MAC foes, Central Michigan and Northern Illinois, toppled listless Purdue and Northwestern, respectively.

During the preseason, pundits, fans and coaches wondered which of the Power Five conferences would be left out of the first College Football Playoff.

The Big 10, your grandpa’s conference, prides itself on its tradition of being good a really, really long time ago.

While Michigan State won the Rose Bowl last year, the Big 10 enjoyed an annual auto-berth to the game.

“But what about Ohio State’s national championship in 2002?” you ask.

To which I quote the late Robin Williams in his magnum opus, “Jumani,” “WHAT YEAR IS IT?” (It’s 2014.)

Ultimately, the conference appears as exposed as a streaker at the BCS National Championship Game.

Photo courtesy cbssports.com

Beckoned (via text) by his coach, USC AD Pat Haden voiced his concerns with the referees’ HR team

Presumably, the text read: “Mr. Hadennnnnnn, these refs are big meanies :’( Plz come help.” To which, Papa Bear Haden, flouncing to the field at the end of the third quarter, confronted the referees himself.

In theory, athletic directors objectively supervise their athletic programs, instead of fervidly throwing themselves into the mid-game spotlights.

College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit commented, “(I’ve) never seen an athletic director come down out of the press box, jog across the field, and want to talk to an official.”

As a member of the newly formed College Football Playoff selection committee, Haden’s red flag presents a challenge to his fellow committee members.

The committee, which consists of several ADs, claims impartiality, which Haden may jeopardize. Maybe former Secretary of State and committee member, Condoleeza Rice, can rein him in.

Bad Weekend for Big 10 Conference

Please email your resume to: amanda@williams-crawford.com

Toward the end of the contest, both teams relegated play to their backups, while OU cruised to a final score of 52–7.

Glenn Dobbs shed tears from heaven, in what we humans perceive as rain, as the OU Sooners beat down the Golden Hurricane in Chapman Stadium.

However, the gloom that descended

Photo courtesy Los That Sports

While James Richard Dennis is not exacty the face of evil, he will definelty become the face of climbing-NASCAR-fences-while-drunk.

NASCAR fan climbs atop fence In a 2011 Republican presidential debate, when prompted about constructing a fence at the Mexican border, Ron Paul pointed out that a fence could not only keep illegal immigrants out, but also could be “used against us, keeping us in.”

The main takeaway is that fences work both ways, as NASCAR spectators discovered when a fan scaled the fence designed to protect fans from track debris.

Apparently unsatisfied with his view, James Richard Dennis made himself comfortable on the top of the fence while cars sped underneath him at 200 mph.

And, yes, I can confirm your suspicions that he was shirtless. The man eventually fell into the arms of security personnel unharmed, though his over/under on remaining lifespan sits around 7 months.

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Laugh now, but we’ll all be dead soon

Budding Existentialist and Copy Editor Will Boogert comes to the cheerful conclusion that nothing would ever be funny if we didn’t die.

Unexpected truth from Talking Heads

Managing Editor Conor Fellin listens to some weird music and concludes that David Byrne possesses real existential truth.

To illustrate Will’s point, I shall analyze the Talking Heads song “Heaven,” since finding truth in a pop song is no less likely than finding truth anywhere else.

David Byrne, the band’s chief songwriter, begins the song by reminding us of the banality of our deepest dreams of immortality, comparing heaven to a bar where the band is ceaselessly playing your favorite song.

As I’m sure anyone who has ever listened to the radio is aware, even the catchiest of songs gets old after about the first five-thousand plays, which is why I got sick of “Demons” a week after it came out.

Just as Byrne’s bar sounds interesting at first but would clearly become tedious before long, so life without death would soon become devoid of all excitement and therefore lifeless.

The second verse continues the theme of pleasure turned fruitless because it has no end. Byrne this time compares heaven to a party

8 September 2014

where no one can ever leave, because as soon as they do the exact same party starts all over again.

By the third verse, Byrne starts to get serious. “When this kiss is over, it will start again, and not be any different—it’ll be exactly the same,” he says. Byrne at once portrays both the sting and the necessity of death; you never want the kiss to end, but an eternity of the exact same kiss would surely grow tedious.

“It’s hard to imagine that nothing at all could be so exciting, could be this much fun,” Byrne says, finishing the song with delightfully nihilistic wordplay. On one hand, it is hard to imagine that there is not anything in the universe more enjoyable than a featureless life without death.

But that’s not what Byrne’s saying. He’s saying it’s absurd that one could find joy in life without death, which is completely indistinguishable from nothing at all. Since nothing changes, nothing has meaning; and since nothing has meaning, nothing truly is.

Without the laughter that comes from experiencing a unique, unrepeatable pleasure, all that is left of the universe is one giant joke on humanity that has no punchline.

Spirit of India second to naan

Everyone has heard the old saying that “laughter is the best medicine,” but have you ever wondered what illness laughter is supposed to cure?

Hint: it’s the most contagious disease ever known to man, and it can remain dormant inside your body for an entire lifetime.

I’m talking about death. To die, kick the bucket, give up the ghost, fall off the perch, buy the farm, pop your clogs—everyone has their way of talking around it. But let’s talk about it.

Of all the animals on Earth, we’re probably the most cognizant of our own impending makermeeting, and that’s awfully terrifying. What does it even mean to not

live anymore? Will it hurt? How do I prepare for it? No one has ever told me what to expect.

I imagine it feels a lot like I do now, on the brink of graduating college with no idea of what the future is going to be like, baselessly assuming that the future is going to exist at all.

We make jokes about death because it’s so confusing and mysterious. But the only reason we can make jokes at all is because we know at one point in the future, hopefully far off, there will come a time when everything will change for good.

So we feel like we’re being prodded along a conveyor belt, searching for the “OFF” switch, so we can at least see who owns this factory before we’re dumped into the incinerator. It’s on this conveyor belt of life that we meet all of our closest friends, our worst enemies, and all of the bucketfuls of people that populate the spaces in between.

These people, and the cultures and groups they form when they come together, create the contexts in which we live. Different contexts generate unique senses of humor, but the one context that binds us all together is our common mortality. It imbues our lives with meaning.

Beginning to shuffle off our mortal coil from the day we are born, we tacitly agree that we ought to laugh whenever we can, because it makes us feel happy, and most of this happiness stems from the fact that humor binds us together in a group. It reassures us that we’re not alone on our ride to the Great Gig in the Sky. Death is frightening; that fact cannot be overcome easily. But when you think of the gift that life becomes when you know it will be cut short eventually, laughing seems like a natural way to celebrate what you have right now.

and engineers to artists, performers and crafters, and everyone is welcome.

Fortunately, unlike the World Maker Faire held in Queens, NY, Tulsa’s Mini Maker Faire was free to the public. After a few minutes of walking and driving around Expo Square to locate Central Park Hall, I was happy to discover that the Maker Faire was held indoors, and not outside in the 100 degree heat.

In addition to the air conditioning, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of attendees and vendors around the area. Last year, when the Tulsa Mini Maker Faire was first held, the event was held outdoors amidst pouring rain and an unsuprising lack of attendees.

I spent quite a bit of time exploring the diversity of vendors and was especially impressed with an OKC booth that taught me how to pick a lock and showed a steam engine demonstration, a series of booths for 3D printing, a FabLab demonstration of 3D scanning and a display of fuzzy wool creatures

by Good Natured.

All the makers were enthusiastic in their activities. Asking a question would in some cases trigger a lengthy explanation and subsequent conversation between the maker and attendee.

While jumping from one booth to another, a large stout object caught my interest. Mesmerized by its randomness I approached the object with caution and curiosity. The oddity was a beautifully crafted large cupcake scooter with dinosaur sprinkles shining in various colors. When I approached the maker and asked why she decided to make such an object she laughed and said ‘Why not?’ Why not indeed! The next time I saw her near the entrance she was inside the cupcake scooting around the venue with hordes of children chasing her.

In all honesty, my writing does not do the Tulsa Mini Maker Faire justice. Therefore I strongly recommend virtually exploring the vendors through the links on makerfairetulsa.com and participating in the next Faire.

Tulsa hosts Mini Maker Faire

Student Writier Se Yeon Kim attends the Tulsa Mini Maker Faire and recounts the highlights.

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014, artists, engineers, scientist, hobbyist, crafters, students and educators descended on Tulsa for the 2014 Tulsa Mini Maker Faire. For the unfortunate who were unable to experience the glory of ‘The greatest show and tell on Earth,’ I will happily recount the highlights of the affair.

Before I start rambling on about the ginormous dinosaur sprinkled scooter cupcake or the awesome retro LED sign anyone can make, it is important to note that Maker Faire is an internationally renowned event.

First started in the Bay Area in 2006, Maker Faire has become a massive hub of ‘makers’ with 98 independently-produced Mini and Featured Maker Faires occurring around the world in 2013. The event is a home to a diverse group of makers ranging from sciencists

Art addresses racial tensions

Sara Douglas / Collegian

A woman from Odisha showcases her wares at Spirit of India, a celebration of Indian food, clothing, dance and culture.

Sara Douglas / Collegian

This art Installation, seen by our staff photographer in the Brady District during the First Friday Art Crawl, emphasizes the realities of institutional racism in the United States.

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Tossed surprisingly good

Salads may be unpoular as a meal unto themselves, but Tossed offers delicious, high-quality salads and wraps with almost no wait.

Sam Chott Student Writer

Salads are an aberration. I don’t have anything against them personally, it’s just that mostly they’re nothing more than an afterthought. Salads exist to let people feel good about themselves by getting a side salad with their steak and to give vegetarians something to actually eat on menus that focus on meat dishes.

I have always been acutely aware of this since I grew up in a family with two vegetarians.

All too often, I would look over and see my sisters eating wilted, oily lettuce while I ate, you know, actual food. I’ve had really good salads occasionally at a wedding

or a dinner party, but it always seems to be followed by something better, as if the cook is saying, “Now that we got that out of the way, you can actually start eating.”

Given that viewpoint, I was confused when I first saw Tossed.

I leaned over to a friend and asked if it was actually just a salad place. He responded, “Wait, what’s Ginger Star? I thought we were going to get a Panda Express!” It seemed that salad was, once again, an afterthought.

Every other place in Allen Chapman had a line of at least fifteen people. Even Pizza Hut, which is just one step above Little Caesar’s in the pizza chain hierarchy, had a gathering of students willing to wait for a dish they could probably get for free somewhere else on campus. Tossed, though, was looking lonely.

The setup for ordering at Tossed was new to me. You check off what

you want in your salad on a piece of paper, and it’s prepared for you behind the counter. It’s like a salad bar where others do the work of actually putting the salad together for you. You can also get wraps or salads with pre-chosen ingredients, but what are wraps but salads stuffed inside tortillas,

When I got my salad, I learned more about myself than I learned about Tossed. Namely, I learned that I’m horrible at choosing things to put in my salads. For example, grapefruit and feta cheese, while delicious on their own, didn’t mix as well as I had imagined. My own poor choices

“There were enough greens to make the salad seem healthy, but not so much that it felt unfilling” and choosing ingredients is half the fun. Despite my unfamiliarity, the system actually seemed to work, and the turnaround from ordering to getting your salad is surprisingly quick.

aside, the salad was good. It was awn appropriate amount of food, the greens weren’t noticeably wilted and the salad wasn’t overor under-dressed. Most notably, there were enough

greens to make the salad seem healthy, but not so much that it felt unfilling. The price did seem a little high, especially compared to other choices in the Student Union; and the tofu, the only vegetarian protein option, was soggy and tasteless, apparently having been left to soak up water in its little box.

If you’re in the Union and you’re looking for a quick and potentially healthy lunch, you could do much worse than Tossed. If you’re a vegetarian or watching your carbs, your other options are severely limited, and the line is almost nonexistent before and after noon. Honestly, I didn’t think that an all-salad restaurant could work, especially not a fast-food one. In this case, I’m glad to have been proven wrong.

Baja Jacks adequate

Baja Jacks provides passable Tex-Mex, but doesn’t live up to it’s Chipotlean pretentions.

Ryan Starkweather Student Writer

When you think of the name “Baja Jacks” what kind of food do you associate with it?

Baja refers to the region of Southern California and Northern Mexico by the same name, and the restaurant takes advantage of its dual citizenship. The imagery and theme reflect its Californian side, while the food is located south of the border.

The idea is essentially the same as Qdoba or Chipotle: burritos to your liking with side items like chips and guacamole. I ordered what I was told was the most commonly served thing on the menu, the build-yourown-burrito option. The fish tacos are another popular option, as they capitalize on the restaurant’s claim to freshness.

If you like Chipotle or Qdoba and their genre of food, you’ll like Baja Jacks. It is heavily influenced in both price and menu by the franchise. The quality of ingredients is more on the Taco Bell side, though.

The food probably comes pre-packaged or frozen, similar to other fast food. The chicken was kind of stringy, and everything had a hefty amount of salt, but it was alright given the circumstances. It is campus food after all. It’s nothing to be really excited about, but it fills the role of Tex-Mex if you’ve got the craving.

I thought the prices were a little high for the amount of food I received, but if you play it smart and load up the build your own burrito option, it might come out to a more reasonable price.

More than food court sushi Sushi Blue may be atmospherically dull, but what it lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in unexpectedly good food.

Steven Buchele Student Writer Unfortunately positioned by one of the building’s support columns, Sushi Blue has all the ambiance of an operating room. With no reference to Japan, its culture or the history of sushi, Sushi Blue has taken the art of “mall sushi” to its logical extreme—boredom.

Most will experience Sushi Blue as a self-service restaurant. You just grab the plastic box filled with sushi, a pair of chopsticks and a packet of soy sauce and be on your way. For the most part the lines are short and fast, and the staff is efficient. Sushi Blue is definitely one of the quicker ways to get a bite in the new Union.

The sushi itself is not bad. The plastic tubs are mildly refrigerated

Sara Douglas / Collegian

Students line up outside Baja Jacks in the newly renovated Allen Chapman Student Union so the sushi is chilled. While this is not the best way to have sushi, it is fairly common in America. Eating at the counter and having your sushi made to order is something to check out if you have a little more time.

Though expectations were low, the fish was surprisingly good. The tuna was better than your average “mall sushi,” although the salmon left something to be desired, and the rolls had a tendency to stick to the tub and fall apart.

The wasabi was an unexpected delight. It turned out to be real wasabi, not the colored horse radish sauce that is often served beside sushi, and it is definitely worth applying to your order.

On the other hand, the ginger was below average, and there wasn’t enough to eat between every piece in the sampler platter.

Overall, I was happy with my order and will be eating there again.

While visually bland, Sushi Blue is fast, and the food exceeds expectations.

Einstein Bros. a hit With its assortment of bagels and specialty drinks, Einstein Brother’s Bagels has quickly become one of the most popular eateries in the new Student Union.

Lizzie Connor Student Writer Bagels: the new quintessential breakfast and brunch delight. Slice a bagel in half, toast it and smear upon it your favorite of an assortment of unique cream cheeses. For those who desire more out of their bagel-centric meals, egg, cheese, sausage, turkey, bacon and avocado combinations can be placed between your two slices of carbohydrate-loaded goodness.

With the addition of Einstein Bros. Bagels, the Allen Chapman Student Union at TU now provides

its students all of these tasty offerings and more. In addition to bagels, students can enjoy a menu of various smoothies, blended drinks, teas and coffees.

With its variety of options, this breakfast and lunch eatery has be-

port beam in the line between ordering and receiving food.

Even with these disadvantages, the service at Einstein’s continues to improve.

As the new staff gains more experience working in its TU lo-

“Students can enjoy a menu of various smoothies, blended drinks, teas and coffees.“ come a huge success, and it has lengthy lines of people throughout its hours of operation.

Despite its popularity, there are a few negatives to Einstein’s. Its bagels are a bit on the small side, the coffee isn’t always quickly replenished to meet the needs of the many caffeine-seekers on campus, and there is a large awkward sup-

cation, lines are moving faster, coffee is being refilled more often and bagels are offered with more efficiency.

All in all, with its many bagel and beverage options, Einstein’s is a great addition to the Student Union and is already much-loved by the TU community.

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“(TU’s) ruling is rife with rapesupportive and victim blaming language” Marina Rosenthal Graduate student, University of Oregon

If someone comes to you and says they’ve been sexually assaulted, “believe what they’re telling you. Be supportive and non-judgmental. It doesn’t matter what she was wearing. It doesn’t matter what neighborhood she was walking in” Donna Mathews Associate Director, DVIS/CallRape

Former student sues the University of Tulsa, alleges negligence of Title IX responsibilities

On August 18, the Tulsa World reported that the University of Tulsa was being sued in federal court by a former student. The lawsuit claims that TU failed to uphold its responsibilities under Title IX while investigating the student’s report of sexual assault. Kyle Walker, Conor Fellin and Nikki Hager report. Editor’s note: The following story contains descriptions of sexual assault.

T

he University of Tulsa is being sued in federal court for allegedly failing to comply with the requirements of Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972.

The lawsuit was filed on August 18 on behalf of a former TU student who says she was raped by former TU basketball player Patrick Swilling, Jr. early in 2014.

No criminal charges were ever filed against Swilling. As a matter of policy, the Collegian does not release the names of plaintiffs in sexual assault cases.

In her complaint, the plaintiff says that the university’s investigation of her report was coordinated to make her look sexually promiscuous, that the school failed to take adequate steps to provide her with a safe and equitable education environment, and that TU had actual knowledge of prior sexual assaults committed by Swilling.

The lawsuit further alleges that TU initially failed to conduct any investigation at all, saying that “only after counsel advised TU that proceeding to a hearing without a proper investigation violated Title IX” did the school actually conduct an investigation.

In a press release sent out the same day the lawsuit was filed, TU contradicted this claim saying, “as soon as the incident was reported, university administrators immediately began the investigation process.” At the time of this release, the lawsuit had not yet been served on TU. Text messages and pinky promises According to the plaintiff and her lawyers, TU’s investigation was coordinated “to suggest that Plaintiff was a promiscuous woman and therefore likely consented to the sexual penetration.”

The complaint also alleges that TU’s Department of Campus Security questioned the plaintiff’s friends “about Plaintiff’s prior sexual history” and not “about Swilling, the incident, or the relevant facts.”

The Collegian attempted to contact personal acquaintances of the plaintiff, but all

declined to be interviewed. The plaintiff initially declined to be directly interviewed.

TU has so far refused to comment on what happened during the investigation or the disciplinary hearing. However, ESPN obtained a copy of the disciplinary ruling signed by Dean of Students Yolanda Taylor and sent to the plaintiff after the hearing.

Marina Rosenthal is a graduate student working under Dr. Jennifer Freyd at the University of Oregon Department of Psychology. Dr. Freyd was unavailable for comment when the Collegian contacted her office, and we were directed to Rosenthal.

Rosenthal says TU’s ruling is “rife with rape supportive and victim-blaming language.”

In a section titled “Key Observations” the ruling reads: “During the hearing, you noted that as you lay on Mr. Swilling’s bed, he ‘rolled over, grabbed your rear end and said you have a big butt for a white girl.’ You stated this made you feel uncomfortable …

However, in a text message dated Jan. 20, 2014, Mr. Swilling made a similar statement … and you responded with ‘Haha thanks.’ ” “The verdict implies that because (the plaintiff) said ‘haha thanks’ in response to the first of these comments, she had no right to feel uncomfortable about either,” Rosenthal said. Even though “(the plaintiff’s) response is by no means inconsistent with discomfort.”

The ruling also quotes a lengthy text conversation between the plaintiff and Swilling, noting that “it does not appear clear” from the text messages that the plaintiff clearly stated she was not interested in sex.

The ruling “highlights (the plaintiff’s) willingness to go to Mr. Swilling’s apartment as evidence that the subsequent events of the evening were also willing and consensual,” according to Rosenthal. “The implication that saying yes to one activity implies consent to sex is dangerous and deeply victim blaming.”

Finally, the ruling includes testimony that the plaintiff and Swilling made a pinky

TU responds to August-Sept. sexual assault reports

In a Sept. 4 e-mail, President Upham announced he would meet with student leaders this Tuesday.

The University of Tulsa has received two complaints of sexual assault since the beginning of the semester, one on August 27 and another on Sept. 1.

President Upham sent out an e-mail on Sept. 4 “affirming today to the entire campus community that TU has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual violence” and calling for a meeting with student leaders to further discuss assault on campus.

The Collegian receives daily e-mails reporting Campus Security activities, and this is how we learned of the reports. However, neither incident appeared on the “Daily Crime Reports” section of TU’s website as of the writing of this article (Sept. 7, 11:00 p.m.). The website contained reports for crimes from August 26 and August 28–31, but its August 27 heading had no text under it.

When asked about this discrepancy, a representative from Campus Security attributed it to “problems with ‘Sitecore’ which is used to update our website.” He also said that campus security was working to resolve the problem.

Upham’s e-mail, entitled “Our Campus Culture,” said that “each of these reports is in the process of being thoroughly investigated.” It went on to call for greater peer

intervention in sexual assaults and affirmed that “‘no’ means ‘no.’”

Upham then announced a meeting with student leaders on Tuesday afternoon “to discuss our shared commitment to maintaining a safe environment for all members of the TU family.” The results of this meeting would be communicated to the rest of campus at a later date, the email said.

In an email to the Collegian last Friday, Mona Chamberlin of University Relations confirmed that the list of attendees included representatives from student government as well as from Greek organizations. She emphasized that the invitation process was not complete at that time.

Student response to the president’s e-mail has been mixed.

Senior Gabriella Pierce told the Collegian, “I think that (the president’s e-mail) is certainly a step in the right direction. I am glad that the president of the university is taking time to draw attention to an issue that is extremely concerning and relevant to this campus.”

Recent alumna Carly Putnam thinks that the email did not go far enough.

“While the email represents a good signal on the part of TU’s administration,” Putnam said, “‘no means no’ does not reflect expectations of a culture of positive consent; a lack of a ‘no’ is not indicative of a ‘yes.’“ Putnam also wanted to see TU follow through on its promises of zero tolerance.

“The administration still needs to prove that it is taking rape seriously,” she said.

promise not to talk about the incident. “The ‘pinky promise’ anecdote is irrelevant,” said Rosenthal. “Making a promise to tell or not tell about sex is not connected in any way to consenting or not consenting to sexual activity.”

TU’s knowledge of prior allegations According to the lawsuit, TU knew about “at least one, and as many as three prior allegations of sexual assault and misconduct perpetrated by Swilling” and failed to investigate any of these claims.

The first of these sexual assault complaints occurred while Swilling was at the College of Southern Idaho, around the time that then-head coach Danny Manning began recruiting Swilling for TU’s basketball team.

When asked for comment on whether he was aware of this allegation while he was re-

sibilities under Title IX. Schools under investigation range from large public institutions like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to Ivy League schools like Harvard.

Title IX is intended to combat gender inequality in education, including inequalities resultant from widespread sexual violence.

“Universities have legal obligations under Title IX to respond to acts of sexual violence,” said Dana Bolger, founder and co-director of Know Your IX, a national student campaign to combat gender-based violence.

“Law enforcement has a completely different set of responsibilities from schools,” Bolger said. “The criminal justice system is entirely focused on holding the perpetrator accountable, rather than protecting the victim’s civil right to education.”

Since these two investigations serve different purposes, criminal and school inves-

“‘The implication that saying yes to one activity implies consent to sex is dangerous and deeply victim blaming,’ Rosenthal said”

cruiting Swilling, Manning did not respond.

The other two complaints occurred while Swilling was at TU. Of these, one was reported to Campus Security, and the other was reported to the Tulsa Police Department. The lawsuit claims that TU took no disciplinary action in either of these instances.

To determine if in fact TU did have such knowledge, the Collegian filed an Open Records request with TPD. In it we asked for communications between university officials and TPD on the subject of the university’s knowledge of Swilling’s history of allegations, the university’s internal investigation, or the police department’s investigation. This request was denied.

An official at police headquarters told us that “the Chief has declined to release that information.” When pressed to give a reason, this official told us we would “have to take that up with city legal.” The city legal department has yet to respond to our queries.

“The fact that TU is being sued provides a public interest to know what communications TU had with the Tulsa Police Department,” said Dr. Joey Senat, Associate Professor at the School of Media and Strategic Communication at Oklahoma State University. “If TPD was providing investigative material to TU then that same material should be available to the rest of the public.”

Dr. Senat also noted that communications between TU and any other government office would be public record under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. A national problem Allegations criticizing TU’s handling of Title IX come at a time when universities around the country are coming under fire for covering up or mishandling reports of sexual assault.

At least 64 schools are currently under investigation for mishandling their respon-

tigations are not mutually exclusive and can occur simultaneously, according to Bolger.

“Survivors at campuses across the country have reported that their institutions have attempted to silence them, push them off campus, even expel them,” Bolger said.

“This institutional silencing and sweeping aside of victims is a symptom of universities treating rape as a PR problem.”

Marina Rosenthal concurs. When schools put other priorities “over the overall safety of the campus … that’s what we call an institutional betrayal, a case of an institution not protecting its members and encouraging an environment where violence is likely to occur.”

She also states that institutional betrayal can lead to the exacerbation of PTSD symptoms of victims.

Other major regional universities are facing similar allegations. Oklahoma State University is one of the schools currently under Title IX investigation. The Daily O’Collegian, OSU’s student newspaper, reported that the University failed to notify local police and its students when it investigated sexual assault allegations against a former OSU fraternity member in 2012.

Even more recently, the University of Kansas came under scrutiny for deeming community service “too punitive of a punishment” for sexual assault, citing past sexual history as a mitigating factor. The accused had admitted that he continued to penetrate the victim despite her repeated requests that he stop.

Students are responding negatively through editorials in the student newspaper, The Kansan, and via twitter, using the hashtag #AGreatPlaceToBeUnsafe.

KU’s student body president Emma Halling told the Collegian that KU students are “incredibly upset.” The student response is “not just about this case,” Halling said, but about how “this case is emblematic of a larger pattern of mishandling sexual assault and harassment cases.”

Services for victims of sexual assault Domestic Violence Intervention Services (DVIS/CallRape) is a sexual assault and domestic violence advocacy group providing services to the Tulsa area. If you or someone you know is sexually assaulted, DVIS can help.

DVIS has a number of available services, Associate Director Donna Mathews told the Collegian. “We send advocates to the hospital” to accompany victims to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exams, Mathews said.

“We’re there to be a calming influence for the client.”

DVIS also has an emergency shelter and can help with finding a place to stay if you feel unsafe at home. “We do safety planning with everyone we come in contact with,” Mathews said.

“We let (clients) know that we can plan where they go that night, and pro-

vide something they might need.”

“We have counselors here who specialize in sexual assault and understand how to help someone through the trauma, to understand not to blame themselves,” Mathews said.

If someone comes to you and tells you they’ve been sexually assaulted it’s very important to “believe what they’re telling you” and to “be supportive and nonjudgmental,” according to Mathews. “It doesn’t matter what she was wearing, it doesn’t matter what neighborhood she was walking in.”

DVIS operates a 24-hour crisis line.

The number is 918-7HELPME (7435763).

You can also visit DVIS at 4300 S. Harvard. Mathews said, “You can walk in and see somebody any day you need to, or you can make an appointment.”

DVIS/CallRape 24-hour crisis line: 918-7HELPME

News

8 September 2014

the Collegian: 7

Oklahoma repeals Common Core In June Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation repealing the Common Core educational standards.

by Caitlin Woods Student Writer

Teachers statewide had already undergone training, studied lesson plans, and attended seminars and conferences this past year in preparation for the implementation of the Common Core standards in Oklahoma schools this fall, only to have those standards repealed just months before the start of the school year. On June 5 of this year, Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation repealing the standards in favor of returning to Oklahoma’s own state objectives.

The Common Core standards came out of an effort by teachers and state legislators nationwide to create a more rigorous educational standard which would stretch across state boundaries. This is similar to the No Child Left Behind Act from which the Common Core evolved, the main difference being that the standards are agreed upon by all the states, rather than leaving the standards up to each individual state.

The website for Common Core asserts that, “The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to suc-

ceed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.”

Introduced in 2009, the Common Core standards were quickly adopted by over forty states. Stacia Bowden, a 7th grade science teacher at Bixby Middle School said, “It was a way to increase rigor for students through their ability of communicating through writing, increased critical thinking skills, and to get away from just standardized tests. Real world applications versus paper, pencil, worksheet type stuff.”

Gov. Fallin herself gave a speech backing the implementation of the nation-wide standards in January, announcing her support for what she said was crucial to “arm the next generation of American men and women with the tools they need to enter and to remain in the middle class, or even to achieve better.”

Nevertheless, facing pressure from parents who felt the Common Core would result in more difficult tests for their children, this summer Gov. Fallin ultimately signed a bill repealing Common Core in favor of reforming the existing Oklahoma state standards. Fallin justified her decision citing “the president’s plan to establish federal control of curricula, testing and teaching strategies.”

However, this statement contradicted what Governor Fallin herself had stated in

a speech earlier this year, “I want to be really clear: Common Core is not a federal program … It is also not a federal curriculum; in fact, it’s not a curriculum at all. Local educators and school districts will still design the best lesson plans, will choose appropriate textbooks, and will drive classroom learning.”

Bowden said that most complaints came from parents, and not from teachers or administrators. She explained, “The feeling I got from our administration was that it’s a new way to help kids learn, let’s try it out.

There was never a real negative, ‘We don’t like this, it’s not gonna work.’ It was, ‘Let’s try it out, we’re gonna be on board, let’s go to this training.’ Test scores are always an issue with parents and with the public to make sure our kids are learning, but we know testing them every six weeks obviously isn’t working either.”

Another issue that concerned some teachers and parents was that the new standards would be too difficult for students if they hadn’t been taught that way from grade school up. However, Jean Bundy, an 8thgrade on-level and pre-AP English teacher, said that when reviewing the new standards, “We took the Common Core standards and compared them to PASS (the Oklahoma state objectives)— and there were only a few changes. We were to incorporate an

argument paper, which had always been a high school-level assignment, as well as some higher level reading. But basically they were the same as PASS objectives.

There were fewer standards, but each standard had lots of stuff in it. Basically, when we matched them side by side, we were still doing all PASS objectives and then adding a few more.”

Despite the time and effort put into implementing a set of standards that were never put into effect, teachers in Bixby feel it has done some good.

“Even though we’ve done away with Common Core, our standards are still the same,” said Bundy. “Because our PASS objectives were exactly like the national standards, and Common Core was the national standard, so ours are staying the same. Like a combination of PASS and Common Core.”

However, teachers still wish that Common Core had at least been given a trial run.

As Stacia Bowden said, “We went to a lot of training, and we did a lot of PLC, which is when our departments get together and really talk about how to restructure the way we teach, we spent a lot of time prepping for that and some of us even went to conferences. It would have been nice to at least test the waters out. I don’t think it was a perfect system, but until we tried it out there’s no way to tell if it would have worked or not.”

TU welcomes smart, social class of 2018 High test scores and an eagerness to make new friends defines new freshman class.

by Michaela Flonard Student Writer

It’s a new year, and new freshmen have arrived, from thirty-two states, thirty countries, and, of course, from Oklahoma.

Three weeks ago most freshmen unpacked their new life at TU. While around 41 percent of the class of 2018 are from Oklahoma, 39 percent are from out-of-state and another 20 percent are from a foreign country, adding to an already diverse campus. These new freshmen number less than the class of 2017, at 770 bodies and 856 respectively,

which may reduce fears of overcrowding.

However, the new class is overflowing with science and engineering majors.

Around 60 percent of the class is enrolled in the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences, mostly for one of the engineering programs.

In any discipline, the freshmen should perform well. Admissions counselor Solange O’Brien thinks the class of 2018 is a “very special class because they’re so academically strong.” The ACT and SAT reading and science scores of this class are the highest in TU history, at 29 and 1270, respectively. These high test scores, combined with the fact that 75 percent of freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their class, has

Eye on the world: Lizzie Connor Staff Writer Asia CHina The Chinese technology company, Baidu, revealed its newest product: “smart” chopsticks, electronic chopsticks that have the ability to detect health hazards in food. The need for such a monitoring device in China came from an increasing lack of sanitation in food, cooking oils in particular. Reports were being filed of frying oils containing carcinogens which claimed to lengthen the amount of days a batch of oil could be used in kitchens.

The smart chopsticks will be able to detect such harsh substances in foods as well as measure heat, nutrition information, and will even be able to detect a sell-by date of the food or liquid it comes into contact with.

A Baidu executive sums up the big picture of their techno utensils saying that “chopsticks are the embodiment of Chinese wisdom and we have combined it with our advanced technology.”

Middle East Iraq Two separate bombs in Baghdad killed more than twenty people on Thursday, Sept.

4. The first, a car bomb, killed at least eleven in the primarily Shiite area of Kadhamiya, which has been under recent attack. In the second bombing, a suicide bomber drove an explosive-filled vehicle into a police area.

These attacks on Shiite communities are said to be linked to the murder of sixty-eight people shot dead at a Sunni mosque in August. This massive shooting was blamed on the Shiite militia, leading to further tension and speculation between the two groups.

North America USa Columbia University visual arts senior Emma Sulkowicz is carrying her dorm mattress everywhere she goes as an endurance art piece entitled, “Carry that Weight.” “Rape can happen anywhere,” she said in a video describing her piece. “For me, I was raped in my own dorm bed. Since then, it has basically become fraught for me, and I feel like I’ve carried the weight

of what happened there with me everywhere since then.” She says she will continue to carry the mattress as long as she still attends the same school as the man she says raped her.

admissions staff excited for the class’s future achievements.

While the freshman class is academically strong, they are also concerned about their social lives as well. Salina Haville believes that never having to be alone is one of the best aspects of college. RA Julia Morgan believes that the new class is particularly “eager to get involved...not just aloof and not doing anything.” She said the new class is “super outgoing and not just scared like normal freshmen,” helping with the adjustment period.

The lobbies of Fisher South are beacons of activity. That climate has led some from other dorms, like Fisher West resident Ryan Ogilvie, to loiter in the freshmen dorm, occasionally being confused for a resident of Fisher South.

International student Renan Kuntz thinks that living on campus is one of the best aspects of college, lending itself to a greater availability of clubs and sports to enjoy. He notes that in Brazil most students do not live on campus, limiting the extracurricular options. Others, like commuter Molly Hughes, think that on campus “it is easier to blow off responsibilities…due to the fact that there’s less of a definite deadline.”

Kiersten Springer summarizes the freshmen attitude towards college as feeling like an overlong stay at a friend’s house.

While the Freshman class is still getting used to college life, prospective students are already touring the campus. This quick turnaround bodes well for the class of 2019.

For now, however, the class of 2018 still has time to integrate themselves into TU.

Deals are in session For Back to school

Europe Ireland A public transportation bus in Limerick was spotted driving through the city streets carrying a most unique load—hundreds of thousands of potatoes. Piling towards the top of the bus, the mounds of potatoes were not determined to have a specific destination other than the side-of-the-road parking spot their carrier already assumed.

Locals suspect this bizarre sighting was related to the Limerick City of Culture 2014 Celebration. Additionally, a 25 ft. tall mechanical grandma statue operated by 70 individuals assisted with the event. The connection between a bus of spuds, a gargantuan granny, and a city’s cultural celebration? That may very well be left for one’s own interpretation...or you can ask a nearby friendly Irishman.

Africa West Africa The World Health Organization announced that the blood of Ebola survivors should be used to treat those who currently suffer from the immensely fatal disease.

More than 2,000 people have died from Ebola in West Africa in the largest outbreak of this foreign disease in history.

The theory concludes that Ebola victims produce antibodies in their blood that act to fight off the infection. Antibodies can be taken from a survivor of Ebola and placed into a sick individual to enhance the immune system’s response. However, some are hesitant to use this technique officially because of the lack of large scale experimentation and data on its effectiveness. Ebola vaccine trials have started in the United States this week and research around the world continues in hopes of coming closer to a cure for Ebola.

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News

the Collegian : 8

8 September 2014

TU gets a facelift

Construction on the new dorms near the Allen Chapman Student Union is in full swing.

Photo courtesy Fraser Kastner

Another significant change is the overhaul of the building formally known as the Allen Chapman Activities Center (ACAC).

With the building’s upgrade, it received a name change as well.

ACAC is now the Allen Chapman Student Union.

While not all of the construction is finished, the renovated building opened the first Monday of classes. New dining options include a Pizza Hut featuring a personal pan pizza express line; Baja Jack’s, a personalized burrito joint; and Einstein Bros. Bagels, open for breakfast and lunch. Also fresh to the dining scene are two TU exclusives: Tossed, a made-to-order salad and wrap bar, and Sushi Blue, which serves to-go and made-toorder sushi.

Walker Miracle, a sophomore, believes the newly renovated Student Union is overall “a big improvement from last year” as it provides a more “varied selection.” However he went on to say he was disappointed to lose the “dedicated coffee stand as well as a traditional breakfast option.”

In addition to these new dining options, the John Mabee residence hall has been completely

revamped. Some new features include the high-tech toilets, colloquially referred to as “space toilets”. A space toilet is a high-tech bodily secretion disposal system fully equipped with warmed seats and a little spout that shoots water at your bum. In the basement lies the booming Club Mabee, a newly renovated and designed room with party lights and large flat screen televisions. Each floor also has a study room with comfortable desks and a white board for discussions.

“I think the new John Mabee is really nice in comparison to the horror stories I’ve heard.” says Robert Rodriguez, a freshman.

“The lobby area has become a hangout for a lot of us because of the pool table. Which I think is really cool.”

Furthermore the recent enhancements of the University come with a completely new sidewalk along sorority row. Also included are the widenings of several other sidewalks surrounding the new residence hall. When contacted, housing had nothing to say about any further renovations of on-campus walkways nor the progress on the residence halls.

Construction on a new dorm, a restaurant renovation and an updated John Mabee bring big changes to campus.

Katy Nichols Student Writer

A new school year brings about a lot of change in the lives of college students: new classes, new friends and, for the freshmen, a whole new lifestyle. This school year, 39 million dollars of new construction projects at the University of Tulsa are bringing about even more change than usual.

The largest project is the construction of a new dormitory. Located at Fifth Place and Florence Avenue, the building will aid in accommodating for the university’s increasing enrollment size, housing 300 students and providing 70,000 square feet of living space.

An additional 36,000 square feet will be devoted to business offices.

“I’m hoping that the new residential hall will be co-ed,” one freshman commented. “It would be nice to have more residence halls like Fisher where you can meet more people.”

Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor to speak at TU

America’s first Hispanic female Supreme Court Justice will participate in a “fireside chat with students and faculty” this Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Whitney Cipolla Student Writer

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, the University of Tulsa College of Law is hosting a fireside chat with the country’s first Hispanic female Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The event will take place at 2 p.m. in the Lorton Performance Center (LPC). Doors open at 12:30 p.m.

Undergraduates interested in hearing the Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court speak are encouraged to get to the LPC early with a current student ID in order to get a ticket. Tickets will be given on a first-come, first-served basis since seating is limited.

“This is a great opportunity to meet somebody who has the kind of potential impact on the law that she does, as one of nine people deciding in many ways, the ultimate questions of federal and constitutional law,” said Professor Robert Spoo of the law school.

Spoo is particularly excited to see her since he clerked for her in 2001–2002 when she was on the federal circuit court. He said that she was an incredibly warm and interactive employer.

When asked what topics would be up for discussion during the event, Professor Spoo said, “One area of questioning that could be very interesting is what brought her to the law in the first place and her experiences in coming up into the position she now has.”

Sotomayor’s parents were immigrants from Puerto Rico, and

neither one could speak English very well. She was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 7, and her father died when she was only 9.

Despite her difficult upbringing, Justice Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her Catholic high school, went to Princeton University, and received her law degree from Yale University. She began as an assistant district attorney, and then went into a private practice, later receiving nominations from George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for federal judgeships.

Sotomayor is one of the most versatile figures to be a Supreme Court Justice, and she is also one of the few who have crossed over into popular culture as a sort of celebrity. Her memoir, “My Beloved World,” released in 2013, debuted at the top of The New York Times’

Photo courtesy of Constitution Center

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sontomayor is the first Hispanic female Supreme Court Justice and will speak at TU Sept. 10

Best Seller’s List, granting the general public a wealth of knowledge about her personal life very early into her career as a Supreme Court Judge.

As TU awaits her arrival, Spoo said he expects Justice Sotomayor is equally excited to be visiting Tulsa and Oklahoma City, since Oklahoma is in the 10th circuit, and she was the 10th circuit justice. She also has a personal interest in Native American issues and culture.

August 20 3:58 p.m.

Officers responded to a report of a suspicious person following a student near Harwell Hall. Upon arrival the student reported while walking to McFarlin Library, an unknown male made her uncomfortable as he stared at her when she passed him near Harwell Hall.

The man turned around and began following her to McFarlin Library where she contacted Security.

Officers were unable to locate anybody matching the description on campus. The suspect was described as a 35-40 year old white male, approximately 5’10, 180 pounds with short brown hair and wearing an untucked white long-sleeve buttondown shirt with long pants.

August 21 1:20 a.m.

Officers on patrol conducted a pedestrian check at the US South Lot. Officers identified a non-TU affiliated male as a person warned to stay off campus property earlier.

Officers detained he man, when he became agitated and non-compliant. Tulsa Police arrested the man for Public Intoxication.

August 24 8:39 p.m.

A former student approached Officers in the Mabee East Lot about being followed by her exboyfriend, a current student. The ex-boyfriend explained they had just broken up and he was trying to reconcile with her. Officers recommended they separate for the night to which they both agreed.

11:10 p.m.

Officers and EMSA responded to LaFortune Hall regarding two extremely intoxicated students who are not legal to consume alcohol.

Both students were treated and released by paramedics and left in the care of Housing officials.

August 25 12:05 a.m.

Officers responded to Fisher South Hall regarding an intoxicated student who was not legal to consume alcohol. The student admitted to consuming alcohol and was left in the care of Housing officia 6:50 p.m.

Officers responded to a Mayo Village apartment after receiving a complaint of marijuana smoking.

Officers discovered 5 students in smoking marijuana in the apartment. The marijuana and paraphernalia were destroyed. The students will be referred for student misconduct.

August 23 3:30 p.m.

An Officer on patrol observed broken windows and unlocked

doors at a vacant TU-owned apartment building at 6th St. & S. Birmingham Ave. Officers made sure the apartments were cleared and contacted the Physical Plant to change the locks and board up the windows. It is unclear at this time if anything was taken.

August 26 11:40 pm Officers on patrol observed an unconscious student near Tyrrell Hall and contacted EMSA. Paramedics responded were able to revive the student. The student admitted to consuming 11 shots of alcohol and was transported to a local hospital for further treatment.

August 27 9:45 p.m.

On 27 August 2014, a student reported being sexually assaulted by a non-TU student on 15 November 2013. The student has decided not to file a report with Tulsa Police at this time and the investigation is pending.

August 31 1:25 a.m.

Officers and EMSA responded to a student who became ill in the Mabee East Lot after consuming large amounts of alcohol. The student was conscious and declined to be transported. The student was left in the care of a friend.

September 1 9:45 p.m.

A student reported being the victim of a sexual assault by an unnamed suspect. The student did not wish to file a report with Tulsa Police at this time.

September 2 8:1 5a.m.

A student reported being assaulted by an unknown white female while walking at 7th St. & S. Lewis Ave. The student reported the suspect tried to rip their head covering off before a jogger came over to assist and pulled the suspect off the student. Tulsa Police were contacted and took a report.

Approximately 3 hours later, an Officer on patrol observed a woman matching the description of the suspect walking on 4th St. & S. Florence Ave. Tulsa Police were contacted and issued a citation for Simple Assault & Battery after the suspect was positively identified.

The suspect was issued a Trespass Warning before being escorted off the campus.

3:00 p.m.

A student reported being confronted in the LaFortune Hall Lobby by their girlfriend’s parent regarding the student’s relationship with her. There was no physical confrontation and the parent left after making threats to have the student kicked out of school.

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

8 September 2014

commentary

the Collegian: 9

Improving campus culture requires an honest discussion about consent There’s much more to consent than not saying no: there is no substitute for enthusiastic participation.

When it comes to talking about consent, we tend to miss the mark more often than not.

Sometimes we oversimplify the matter, like a parent embarrassed about talking to their child about sex for the first time, eager to move on to other topics and hoping a few words will suffice. Sometimes we sound like a stuffy Human Resources representative droning on about the outdated company sexual harassment policy at the required monthly meeting. Sometimes our discussions about consent, as wellintentioned as they may be, can make anyone within earshot feel like they’ve been personally accused of a heinous crime.

It’s not easy. None of us were born knowing how to address these touchy subjects in a sensitive manner. To make matters worse, our media tends to present pretty skewed perspectives on what “good sex” looks like.

On what sexual assault looks like, too. Few of us are lucky enough to learn about these matters in the classroom.

But if we want to see any improvement in the safety and well-being of our community, we have to start some honest, nuanced, and empathetic conversations about consent. I’d like to give it a shot.

The familiar adages “no means no” and “yes means yes” are great places to start, but there’s still much more to say.

You are absolutely allowed to say “no” at any time. Even when you’ve been flirting all night, even when you’ve agreed to do something in the past, even when you and your partner have done it a million times before, even when you’re in the middle of something and it doesn’t feel as good as you thought it would.

Saying “no” doesn’t make you a prude, or a bad partner, or a tease, or “broken,” or unattractive, or any other terrible thing we can think to call ourselves or each other.

Conversely, saying “yes” doesn’t make you a slut, or a whore, or easy, or any of the other terrible words we’ve made up to make people feel ashamed of their sex lives.

(And as a reminder, things like short skirts, intoxication, prior flirtation, previous sexual activity or a birth control prescription

do not count as consent.

If you aren’t absolutely, 100 percent sure your partner’s actions or words constitute an enthusiastic “yes,” please ask for clarification!)

Furthermore, being too scared or incapacitated to say anything at all doesn’t put you at fault if you’ve been sexually assaulted.

“Yes” and “no” are some of the most important words here, but the conversation shouldn’t end there.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of communication. Talk! Talk unabashedly about what you like, about what you don’t like, talk about your kinks, fetishes, desires, but also your boundaries, limitations and fears. Ask! Ask your partner if what you’re doing is okay, if it feels good, if they’d like to try something different.

This kind of communication not only makes you a good person, but, at the risk of sounding crude, I’m also willing to bet that it’ll make you a better lover as well.

Unfortunately, I can’t offer you hard and fast rules for every conceivable situation, but I’d like to leave you with a few thoughts that I hope you’ll keep in mind.

by Haley Stritzel

An enthusiastic, un-coerced, sober “yes!” is the gold standard of consent. Assuming anything else to be consent is a slippery slope. You have the right to say “no” to someone regardless of your history with them or anyone else.

Anyone who makes you feel guilty for saying “no” is in the wrong. Honest, frank communication (even when it’s uncomfortable!) is your best bet for ensuring a safe, pleasurable experience for everyone.

Lastly, if you have been sexually assaulted, please don’t blame yourself. Please don’t think that sexual assaults can only be committed by evil strangers jumping out of bushes. Please know that you are entitled to help regardless of whether your experience fits this narrow conception of sexual assault.

As a student, you have access to free counseling services from the Alexander Health Center. DVIS/Call Rape also offers trauma-focused counseling for sexual assault survivors at no cost. You deserve support and the hope of a brighter tomorrow.

We all owe one another the commitment to talk about and practice consent a whole lot better than we have.

graphic by Elias Brinkman

Obama’s Syria strategy

by Brennen needs work VanderVeen Obama’s failure to strategically respond to Islamic State activity in Syria reflects poorly on the competence of his administration and on the international position of the U.S.

On the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, President Obama held a press conference to address the issues of the economy, ISIS and Ukraine. He gave a brief explantion of his strategy to combat the organization known as the Islamic State. It includes a continuation of targeted air strikes and the need to build coalition partners.

President Obama also said that he’s instructed Secretary of Defense Hagel and the Joint Chiefs of Staff “to prepare a range of options” for dealing with ISIS. However, his strategy is drastically incomplete.

His initial remarks focused only on how to deal with the terror group in Iraq. Though ISIS now often goes by ISIL or simply “the Islamic State,” its original name of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria still holds geographic validity.

The border between the two countries is a legal fiction. Its existence is only apparent when looking at a map since ISIS has de facto control over the area and ignores it.

The omission of Syria became clearer when the president was questioned by NBC’s Chuck Todd about that country.

Obama stressed protecting American personnel and strengthening an inclusive Iraqi government. Both of these ought to be top American concerns, but they leave out Syria.

Even in regard to the options being developed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Obama clarified that, “the options that I’m asking for … focuses (sic) primarily on making sure that ISIL is not overrunning Iraq.”

Considering that ISIS first came into Iraq from Syria, that Obama recognizes that Syria gives ISIS “a safe haven” and that both James Foley and Steven Sotloff were kidnapped in Syria, ignoring that country is certainly a glaring omission for any strategy that seeks to confront the crisis.

Indeed, Obama’s critics have been ac-

cusing him of having a lack of strategic vision for some time.

What’s astonishing is that in the press conference, Obama agreed with them. His declaration that “We don’t have a strategy yet” was exceeded in coverage only by his attire that day. The statement reveals gross irresponsibility.

On the rhetorical level, it sends a bad signal. There is already a perception that America will not deal with international crises appropriately; this statement only strengthens that perception. However, negative perception is dwarfed by the negligence apparent in such a comment.

It’s possible that the president isn’t revealing something, but he does appear to have a plan concerning Iraq.

The Syrian crisis is indeed a particularly difficult one that deserves foresight and careful consideration, as the alternatives to ISIS are either an Iran-sponsored brutal dictator who violates international law by committing human rights violations or other groups of uncertain effectiveness.

The crisis in Syria did not appear out of nowhere, though. Its civil war started in 2011.

Obama himself called for strikes against Syria for its use of chemical weapons a year ago. There’s still no strategy? While the threat from ISIS is more recent, it took Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, three months ago.

For those with particularly strong noninterventionist inclinations who might still maintain that we should not intervene in Syria in any way, Obama disagrees.

He admitted in his press conference that a long-term strategy would “require us to stabilize Syria in some fashion” and that “we will continue to support a moderate opposition inside of Syria.”

Unless the president is being disingenuous, he believes that the crisis warrants intervention. Unfortunately, he’s been negligent in forming a strategy to achieve desired ends.

Fraser’s Sassy Fashion Corner While President Obama was talking about some stuff, he wore an outfit that sparked discussions and critiques by uninformed voters who have nothing else to do with their time. It also reminded this reporter of his grandpa.

It is with some trepidation that I sit down to write this piece. I’ve heard of the terrible suit President Obama recently wore to a press conference but have not so far seen it with my own eyes. However, since I have unaccountably been tasked with critiquing it, I guess I have to sacrifice my ignorance and indifference about fashion in the name of taking up sweet print space.

Okay, here it goes.

First Impression It kinda looks like what an elderly Southern Baptist man would wear to church. In fact, I’ve just found a picture of Ronald Reagan wearing the exact same suit, and he was the elderly Southern Baptist man.

Wait, hold on…

Huh, would you look at that. Can you guess what Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes have in common?

That’s right, friends, they all wore tan suits while in office. But that doesn’t make sense. Why is it a big deal now? What could have changed?

Upon Further Reflection It is whispered among certain groups that, when George Washington was to give his Presidential acceptance speech, he chose to wear a plain, unadorned suit of American make.

To these groups, for whom every action and statement made by the Founders is full of secret and significant meaning, Washington didn’t

by Fraser Kastner

wear an expensive suit because he didn’t want to flaunt his wealth to the poor farmers who made up his constituency. He did it because he wanted to set a precedent. A precedent of humility, frugality and simple honesty. This is probably partially true, and I respect the notion.

On the other hand, America is no longer just a bunch of semi-literate country folk.

Now we are a proud, capable society made mostly of semi-literate urbanites. And what matters to the uneducated masses now is style, flash, class. Nowadays we would elect Idi Amin based solely on the fact that he was a pretty snappy dresser. Also because we don’t know who that is.

I guess what I’m trying to do here is make you, the reader, feel bad. It’s not that I don’t like you, it just seems like you should worry about other stuff besides what the President is wearing. Did anyone actually listen to the stuff President Obama said? I know I didn’t. I was too excited to see if his pocket square was perfectly horizontal (it was).

The President is a busy man.

He has to think about Russia invading Kiev and Americans getting beheaded and the iffy moral implications of drone strikes.

He probably doesn’t have time to think about the longreaching consequences about a tan suit. In fact, he probably has a guy whose entire job it is to pick out decent clothes for him, so that he doesn’t have to waste his time doing it himself.

I haven’t gone shopping for clothes in three years. How is it my job to write this?

In Conclusion If you have read this far into an article meant to critique the President’s clothes, I earnestly entreat you not to vote.

the Collegian : 10

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Portraits of Ferguson:

8 September 2014

Three stories of a city divided

Managing Editor Conor Fellin visited the protest sites in Ferguson, Missouri, 10 miles from his home. Below are a few of the things he learned from Ferguson’s citizens.

I

I

“ came here because I had to sup-

port Mike Brown’s mother … I had the opportunity to be there for my son … she did not,” said Angela, a middle-aged protester holding a “No Justice, No Peace” sign in a QuikTrip parking lot near the site where unarmed black teenager Michael Brown had been shot nearly a week earlier.

Angela, who elected to not disclose her last name, went on to explain how earlier this year she had witnessed her fourteen-yearold son in a confrontation with the police just outside her front door.

Fearing for her son’s life, she began shouting at the police officer.

“He was ordering me to go into the house, and I refused to go into the house. I was telling him, ‘My son … don’t know police procedure … Don’t shoot my son,’” she said.

“I started to record (the confrontation), because I didn’t want the police to kill my son,” Angela continued. Angela’s son is alive today, and she believes it is because of her decision to film the confrontation.

I interviewed Angela on Thursday, Aug. 14, five days after Michael Brown’s shooting and mere hours after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon had relieved of its duties a Ferguson police force that had fired rubber bullets at unarmed protesters and tear-gassed international news crews, replacing them with a Missouri Highway Patrol lead by black former Ferguson resident Ron Johnson.

The relief was palpable among the roughly twenty protesters outside the QuikTrip near where Mike Brown had been shot.

“Whoever is responsible for making (the Ferguson Police Department) leave, I am so thankful,” Angela said. “Now we can peace-

All photos courtesy Etefia Umana Top: In what has become one of the most iconic symbols of the conflict in Ferguson, a police officer wielding a rifle sits atop an armored vehicle. Bottom: The Ferguson Police Department carries a middle-aged man in handcuffs to the back of a police van. Opposite top left: A SWAT team watches the protests from their armored vehicle. Opposite top right: A young man is approached by a police line while texting. Opposite bottom left: A Ferguson resident is stopped by a police line on his way home. All photos were taken on August 13.

fully protest. We can grieve. We can actually grieve.”

Angela went on to describe how police had hemmed in protesters the night before, surrounding them with armored vehicles and assaulting the crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Though the protesters’ ranks would later swell to include all races as Ferguson received continued international attention, the protesters were almost entirely black when I arrived. In contrast, the ring of local news crews that had formed around the site was almost entirely white. I found myself hanging around the perimeter of the site for a moment, wondering how the crowd of protesters saw me.

II The protest sites are roughly ten miles from my house. The neighborhood I live in is predominantly but not entirely white. Economically, its citizens are almost evenly split between white-collar and blue-collar workers. The houses are modest, but not tiny. My backyard opens onto a half-mile park frequented by (usually white) families with young children.

My mother grew up in Ferguson. The Sunday after I interviewed Angela, she took me to

the Cork, a wine bar in downtown Ferguson.

My mother wanted to make a point of patronizing Ferguson businesses, she explained, in light of all the negative press the city was receiving.

“Ferguson is a wonderful city,” she said. “It’s not a war zone.”

When we arrived at Cork, a few blocks from the center of protest, the streets were empty, as was the parking lot for the restaurant. My mother made small talk with the waitress, who was white. They argued over which of the local Catholic grade schools was best, with my mother touting her alma mater, St. John and James.

By the time we were finished with our meal, the restaurant had half a dozen more customers, all of whom were white.

III As the protests began to show signs of simmering down, I decided to discuss the situation with a high school friend of mine who had grown up in Ferguson and been in the red-hot core of the protests from day one, Etefia Umana.

We were classmates at St. Louis University High School (SLUH), an all boys Jesuit high school near downtown St. Louis where the student body was almost entirely

white. Etefia and I both used St. Louis’s light rail system to get to school every day, and we occasionally kept each other company on the half-mile walk from the station across graffitied sidewalks and past abandoned housing to the well-kept lawn and Georgian facades of our prep school.

Now Etefia is a journalism major at Loyola University New Orleans. He gave us permission to reuse some of the fantastic photos he took at the protest site. His father, also named Etefia Umana, leads Better Family Life, a city-wide program whose self-stated mission is “to establish social, cultural, artistic, youth, economic, housing and educational programs.”

The night after protesters had looted a QT near the site of Brown’s shooting, Etefia found a police blockade blocking his family from getting to their house in the heart of Ferguson. “We were greeted by sirens, assault rifles, riot shields, and police lines,” Etefia said. “After driving around and negotiating for nearly two hours in about a three mile perimeter we were able to be escorted home … to the smell of tear gas.”

A week later, on Aug. 18, Gov. Nixon responded to violence from the protesters the night before by calling upon the Missouri National Guard.

Etefia described being pursued by police armed with tear gas after he and other protesters attempted to march on the police command center that night. “They just kept advancing,” he said. “It felt like war.”

“Eventually it did degenerate to where people were throwing small rocks (at the police vehicles),” he said.

Newsweek reported that two people had been shot, four journalists had been arrested and fires had broken out throughout the city by the end of the night.

Despite the violence on both sides, Etefia hoped that the protests would set the tone for real change. “This is the sexy part that makes news,” Etefia said. “The real change happens at the polls, in city council meetings and with community activism.”

Etefia’s attitude of vigilance and activism is appropriate. The political and socioeconomic forces that created Ferguson, a suburb that is two-thirds black but has only three black police officers in a force of fifty-three officers, are at work all around us, forming racial divides that are so common as to become invisible. It is not obvious how to overcome these issues, but silence is a sure-enough way to perpetuate them.

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8 September 2014

the Collegian: 11

Police militarization breaks communities’ trust

Police forces in the United States have been unjustifiably and by Taylor Chukwu disproportionately armed. The recent conflict in Ferguson, under federal law to do just this.

Missouri, is simply a recent example of well-documented Originally the program was to aland ongoing trend. low police departments’ access to Racial tensions continue to escalate following the execution-like murder of black, unarmed teen Michael Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, sparking a clash between local enforcement and citizens.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported that hundreds of citizens have taken to the streets where Brown was slain to peacefully voice their outrage at policemen not being held accountable for the brutality and murders they commit, setting precedents that are proving increasingly difficult to break.

Demonstrations have been met with militarized officers, responsible for facilitating and dispersing protesters. The New York Times reports that officers have been suited in Kevlar vests, camouflage and helmets and armed with automatic rifles, shotguns, pistols and tear gas, also making use of ar-

mored vehicles to scare and scatter the protesters. Concerns about militarized police departments in the United States have turned into a national discussion and have rightfully raised eyebrows around the world.

As America winds down from multiple prolonged wars in the Middle East, there has been an enormous surplus of military equipment no longer needed by the Department of Defense and readily available for use.

According to the Missouri Department of Public Safety, for over two decades U.S Congress assumed the most efficient way to make use of the abundance of military equipment, initially used to fight dangerous foreign insurgencies, was to allow our local police departments to access them.

The Department of Defense Excess Property Program, dubbed the 1033 Program, was authorized

the resources to counter narcotics and terrorism and to further protect officers. The Washington Post reports that this program has allowed over $4 billion worth of equipment to be purchased from the Department of Defense and trickle down to local police departments.

It is not coincidental that the number of police departments that have access to this equipment is particularly high in communities with large populations of African Americans and Hispanics, which was first recorded in an extensive report by the American Civil Liberties Union.

This belittling fact only conveys to these communities that their own government is ultimately not here to serve and protect them but rather to bully, intimidate and, dare we say, terrorize them.

Many citizens have been forced to seek refuge from these officers

who initially swore to protect and serve them. It’s as if American citizens have become people who need to be occupied and controlled, rather than protected. Furthermore the equipment allows policemen to adopt the mindset that they are “soldiers,” leading them to believe that Americans, specifically minorities, are ultimately the enemy.

Officers dressed in what could be categorized as “riot gear” send an extremely dangerous message to American citizens. Many begin to wonder how the United States, a nation which prides itself on protecting the civil liberties of its citizens, differs from other countries around the world that seem to be constantly embroiled in political conflict with their citizens.

In these places it is common for citizens to be viciously attacked by their law enforcement, which now mirrors events in the streets of Ferguson. Images of policemen clashing with citizens in the streets of Missouri draw comparisons to present-day Ukraine and Israel.

What would warrant the use of such extreme artillery by Ameri-

can police officers? Certainly the peaceful assemblies of outraged American citizens, people who were invoking their First Amendment rights, would not merit the use of armored vehicles or tear gas, a weapon not even justified in actual war zones since the Geneva Convention in 1925. The Department of State declares that world leaders agreed it was in the best interest of all citizens globally to prohibit the use of this chemical weapon.

The events of Ferguson have finally begun to raise questions amongst the American public on the necessity and purpose of police militarization. A press release from Missouri U.S. senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) says that she plans to lead senate hearings on militarization of local police departments that will hopefully lead to more practical policies.

It only takes enough outraged voices for things to begin to change, and we are indebted to the protesters and reporters in Ferguson for shining a brighter light on this alarming practice.

The shooting and the aftermath: A Timeline August 10

August 9

August 17

In reaction to looting the previous night, Gov. Nixon instated a curfew. An autopsy requested by Michael Brown’s family revealed that he was shot six times, four times in the right arm and twice in the head.

August 19

Police erected a fence around the parking lot of the burnt-out QuikTrip.

FPD Era

Gov. Nixon relieved the Ferguson Police Department and replaced them with the Missouri Highway Patrol (MHP), led by black Ferguson native Ron Johnson. The QuikTrip that caught fire on Aug. 10 had become a central point for protesters.

August 13

MHP Era

August 14

Protesters congregated near the site of Michael Brown’s shooting. Looting broke out, and a fire destroyed a QuikTrip near the site of the shooting.

August 15

National Guard Era

Black 18-year-old Michael Brown and a friend were stopped by a police officer while walking down the middle of the street. A struggle ensued, gunshots were fired, and Michael Brown was shot six times roughly 35 feet from the police car.

August 30 Sept. 4

Aftermath

Ferguson Police wore body cameras to a protest of Michael Brown’s death.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would conduct a formal civil rights investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.

by Conor Fellin

Ferguson Police Department (FPD) sprayed protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets, arrested two journalists and tear gassed an Al Jazeera crew.

The officer that shot Brown was publicly named.

August 18 Citing “premeditated” acts of violence the night before, Nixon called in the Missouri National Guard.

August 20 For the first time since Michael Brown’s death, Ferguson was relatively calm. Gov. Nixon ordered the withdrawal of the national guard the next day.

Institutional racism remains prevalent in Oklahoma

by Giselle Willis Last Thursday, Daniel Ken Holtzclaw, an Oklahoma City police officer who was charged with sexually assaulting at least eight African American women while on duty, was arrested.

Holtzclaw’s crimes are yet another instance of police violence against black people, indicating how the events in Ferguson did not occur in a cultural vacuum.

Indeed, injustice against minorities is a subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) problem that pervades the country.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, black people in Oklahoma are killed at a higher rate per capita by law enforcement than anywhere else in the United States. The report, with data spanning 1999 to 2011, also noted that law enforcement officials kill black people nationwide

at a rate that is three times higher than that for white people.

Black people make up only fifteen percent of Oklahoma City’s residents, but represent about 35 percent of all arrests in the city, according to NewsOK. Prison Policy Initiative reports that statewide, seven percent of the population is black, but 26 percent of those incarcerated are black. The Atlantic states 40 percent of Oklahoma’s death row inmate are black.

Historically speaking, Oklahoma was also home to the worst large-scale race-based violence to take place in the United States: the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. Remembering this event and acknowledging current discriminations against black people in an effort to do away with them is the only way to avoid more racially motivated violence in the future.

8 September 2014

the

The State-Run Media

State-Run media Under New Management

propagandist Fraser Kastner

Knows What’s Best For You Dearest Consumers: The sun rises promisingly over the TU campus. Shadows of uncertainty are banished to oblivion, replaced with hope. Hope for freedom, hope for love and all that other stuff you people seem to believe in.

By reading this, you have proven yourself to be special. To be reading this letter, you must be possessed of a keen intellect, one so keen that it seeks out the greatest minds in media to rely upon for

Courtesy funnyjunk.com

I found this picture on the internet. I feel that it depicts my innermost self.

opinions and facts. No more shall you grasp about in the dark, feebly piecing together an informed opinion about a complex subject, all the while knowing that someone with a different worldview may bring yours crashing down

around your ears. We here at the State Run Media don’t believe in differing worldviews. We believe in the Truth, and so you, dear consumer, can believe in us.

In the spirit of the Truth, please allow me to clear up some of the nasty rumors that have sprung up in the few months we have been away.

For one I, the new Chief Propagandist, did not in any way use my connections to secure my current position after the former Chief Propagandist mysteriously vanished.

Furthermore there was absolutely no foul play involved in Propagandist Bennett’s disappearance. Many who knew her well will agree that she was quite fond of disappearing for months at a time without contacting loved ones, or taking any of her possessions or feeding her fish.

In no way do I report to the radicals who run the the Collegian. It pains me even to be mentioned in the same sentence as the potsmoking degenerates that run that circus.

Now, dear Consumers, I must leave you for the time being. For lo, the sun has risen and I, like all good workers, must resign myself to one more day of grueling service in the name of The Man. Signed Fraser Kastner Chief Propagandist

Pizza guy knows more about campus life than students Papa John’s delivery man reveals shocking depth of knowledge of TU happenings.

Thomas Cox Fearless Intern

After delivering his fifth order today to the University of Tulsa campus, this time to STUMO in ACAC, Papa John’s delivery man Timothy Wilson realized that he knows more about the inner workings of TU than the average student or any faculty member.

“Apparently it’s not actually called the ACAC anymore,” Wilson began. “All the students are bitching about it. I’ve been delivering pizzas here for five times as long as the seniors have been taking classes, and I don’t give a shit about the change.”

The deliveryman also learned some dark secrets of TU while delivering salads to the professors in the petroleum engineering department.

“First off, who knew engineers were so health conscious? Anyways, it turns out that the Goldie Mobile is powered by neither gas nor electricity, but Goldie’s, um … you know.”

The Papa John’s veteran noted how pleasantly surprised he was that the TU canine ambassador is operating at zero cost.

“The money the university is saving is money that I *cough* should be getting in tips.”

We were able to reach Dr. Bill Rickles, the main researcher who helped develop the new fecesbased fuel technology. “Basically,” Dr. Rickles said, “What we’ve

done is invent a device that processes and consumes canine fecal matter as a viable fuel source.”

He later added, “Of course, we can’t make it widely available.

For God’s sake, petroleum is TU’s bread and butter.”

After being told a joke by the engineering professors, which consisted of a ten minute setup and no punchline, Wilson was given a 3-D printed miniature model of an oil rig as gratuity.

Wilson’s last delivery of the day was made to the bookkeeper’s office, where he happened to gather his most valuable information.

“Evidently TU’s greatest single expenditure is groundskeeping,” Wilson said while lying on the Old U and describing it as “much more comfortable than any of those mattresses in campus housing.”

The State-Run Media did not inquire further about how Mr. Wilson knows this.

“How about the school spends a little more money on its internet connection? Whenever I come to campus I like to check Yik Yak to see where all the happening parties are that night. You know, it’s hard getting out as a 36-year-old.”

“Maybe if Goldie could power the wi-fi as well as her car, TU would be a bit more willing to invest in some new communications infrastructure.”

“I’m just saying if you can buy the animal a car to ride around in, you might as well invest in some decent wi-fi. You know, an investment on behalf of the students,” Wilson wondered aloud. “Anyway, I gotta go. But I’ll be back.

Real soon.”

Fraser Kastner / Collegian

TU’s glorious Potemkin village nears completion Press release from the University Glorification and Administrative Admiration Committee.

Ryan Starkweather Most Capable and Objective Correspondent

Construction is abundantly ahead of schedule on the new deluxe administration approved student housing. Our top mathematicians have calculated that the construction will be finished by the end of the month, but the workers are so far ahead of schedule that the city is not able to transport materials to them fast enough.

In addition, the generous administration has decided to include many extra luxuries to occupy the surplus of work. In their free time, the workers reflect on the beauty of the plans and schematics, often being allowed long lunch breaks to sit and ponder how such a wondrous construction could be imagined and built for such humble students. They frequently collapse

after fervently working, motivated by the majesty of the project and the great minds that allow them to be a part of what will become history.

The new suites, built by the generous administration, will exemplify TU’s standard quality of life and give glory to the genius of the university. Like all other housing facilities, these will be built to the top standard of best safety and include such features as high quality doors and completely transparent windows. The plans are rumored to include abundant housing and ingenious architectural and engineering feats accomplished by the administration.

The students lucky enough to live in these year-round housing units will be hand picked by highly trained housing officers. It is predicted that the housing will be so wonderful that the students will be unwilling to return home for extended periods of time, so accommodations are being made to support the self-sustaining environment. After graduating, they

will be offered exclusive respectable government jobs taking them to faraway places to become great successes and proud TU alumni.

In addition, the housing will be used as an example of the regular TU student life, particularly emphasizing the harmony of the community in the building. Campus tours will be given through the new housing exclusively as to not interrupt the hard work of the scholars on campus and to allow outsiders to marvel at their discoveries.

A large wall will be built around the housing for both security and privacy, on which a mural of the administration’s generosity will be painted. A large statue of Goldie will be placed in the middle of the central plaza to diligently watch over the students, along with university personnel to ensure quality, safety and security stationed at the road into the housing unit.

The tours will be given by highly qualified university personnel that present only the best aspects of TU to outsiders.

Courtesy of foodwallpaper.info

Delivery man Timothy Wilson. Thanks to his crack investigative skills (and the frighteningly high frequency at which TU students and staff order pizza) the State-Run Media was able to gain unprecedented access to university affairs.

Ignore this box, citizen

the Collegian:13

8 September 2014

We’ve missed you Tulsa Isn’t Tulsa pretty at night? Collegian photographer Sara Douglas snagged this lovely shot of downtown Tulsa while she was at the Brady Arts District’s First Friday Art Crawl. In the foreground is the Guthrie Green, the Brady District’s resident urban park and entertainment area. Stop by the Guthrie Green for food trucks, fitness events, concerts and its weekly farmer’s market.

Lend a hand. Do the Sudoku.

Puzzle 1 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.48)

7 4

8

9

1

2

5 7

2

8 3

9

8

5

6

6

4 4

4

3

9 4

7

check it out…

2

7

6

1

4 8

5

7

Looking at the world and not happy with what you’re seeing? Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore?

Well, thanks to the Sudoku challenge you have a chance to change the world for the better by raising Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/~jdhildeb/software/sudokugen/ on Mon Sep 8 05:57:21 2014 GMT. Enjoy! awareness for your pet cause is, whatever it is! Whether you want to see Kony forcibly removed from power or hope to eradicate Lou Gehrig’s disease, you can bring the world tangibly closer to solutions by solving this Sudoku and posting it on Facebook. When your friends see this box of semi-random numbers on their news feeds they will be inspired with a deep passion for your unspecified cause. So go out there, do Sudokus, and make a difference!

the new school-wide calendar

president Hello newspaper readers!

My friends at the Collegian have frequently tried to get me to write for their paper over the past three years, but I have always declined, claiming that I’m too busy with Student Association. But this year as SA President, in addition to my duties of representing the student body to administration and keeping things running smoothly around here, I’ll be taking advantage of this space to keep you apprised of SA, student life, and my thoughts on why TU is awesome.

If you haven’t heard about SA, frankly I’m disappointed that I’ve missed you. Please come find me so that I can talk your ear off about SA. In short, SA puts on events around campus, allocates funds for clubs to host their own events, and investigates issues on your behalf. Speaking of events, there should be an ad somewhere in the paper this week

for a new campus event calendar called Ventfull. It’s awesome and you should use it. I attended an event last week where a Tulsa alumnus named Frank Cooper spoke. He emphasized that the most special parts of TU aren’t just the classes we attend or the buildings we live in. The people we meet and the memories we make with them are the real treasures of a TU education. No matter what you call the Allen Chapman Student Union, the most important thing will always be the friends that you’re meeting there for lunch.

If you ever have a cool idea for an event you want to happen on campus or see something that you think can be improved, come find me in room 204 of the Student Union or talk to another one of your SA officers. I’ll see y’all again soon!

Stay golden, Michael Mancini SA President

DOWNLOAD THE APP! https://utulsa.ventfull.com

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