10
NEWS
AUG 22, 2011
Campus Organizations
Opinion
TAKING BOLD CLAIMS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT It just is not a skill we get in school,” he said. At Lack’s previous university, Arkansas Tech, he aided in the establishment of a similar skeptics group. He has struggled with overcoming the perceptions of skeptics. “Often skeptics are confused with cynics. Skeptics do not believe without evidence. Cynics just do not believe,” Lack said. After attending a Center For Inquiry (CFI) meeting over the summer, Dalaya has developed new ideas for the direction and momentum of the group. “We will meet twice a month. I think we will begin each session discussing relevant topics people are interested in, and then the second half of the session will look at the evidence surrounding a problem we are seeing. But we’ll mix plenty of fun things in there, too,” Dalaya said. Members of the organization have participated in a variety of events. Ranging from counter-protesting Westboro Baptist Church outside Bill Maher’s show in April, to holding a “Ring in the Rapture” party on May 20th. The group has attended films for discussion, but the camaraderie and information sharing is not limited to physical meetings. The UCO Skeptics Facebook group is constantly updated with research and findings related to controversial subject matter. Not only are members quick to share ideas, but also have created a library loan aspect. Members list the books they own over a wealth of subjects, so fellow members may request to borrow the literature. UCO students are not the only people the group hopes to include. “We President Arpana Dalaya and Vice President Matt Korstjens, of UCO Skeptics, are committed to bringing community pose for a photo Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011. Photo by Liz Boyer, The Vista members into the group,” Lack said. Ideas for various informational fairs on campus. I said absolutely, and Matt have been discussed within the group. By Josh Hutton / Staff Writer [Korstjens] is coming with me.” Ideas include a Darwin Day, a focus on Matt Korstjens, UCO Skeptics vice educating about common autism false What do power balance bracelets, vision-boosting eye exercises, and che- president and fellow psychology gradu- treatments, and unveiling products that lation therapy have in common? They ate student, alongside Dr. Lack and Da- fall short of their marketing mantras. each sport no conclusive evidence in the laya, kickstarted the organization. After “We really want to do campus demrealm of success. UCO Skeptics, a rising spending a majority of the fall semester onstrations. We want to show the comstudent organization on campus, seeks drawing up a constitution and vision for munity why this is important; show evnot only to challenge the bold claims the potential freethinking club, the lead- eryone in the community that they are of consumer products and health treat- ers presented their idea to UCOSA. welcome. We also want to help kids. “I’ve heard most groups go by with Teaching kids critical thinking is so imments, but also to challenge religious and spiritual ideologies with tangible flying colors, whereas we barely passed. portant,” Dalaya said, concerning her We’re cautious. We pick our battles. vision. evidence. UCO Skeptics became an official stu- We’re not walking on eggshells, but we “I hope our organization can spread dent organization in November 2010. are not antagonizing anyone,” Korstjens critical thinking, giving people a place “Dr. Caleb Lack and I developed a re- said. to talk without ridicule,” Korstjens said. “It’s not the kind of club where people lationship because I was wearing an “We want an active group where peoevolution T-shirt,” Arpana Dalaya, UCO walk by and give us a thumbs up,” Lack ple feel free to express different views Skeptics president and psychology grad- said. “We want to tap into a minority on and beliefs. Where it isn’t ran by doguate student, said. “I began talking to campus: agnostics, atheists, freethink- ma,” Lack said. Dr. Lack about how it’s very easy to feel ers. We hope to make isolated people UCO Skeptics will host an informaisolated in this environment. He asked feel comfortable in our group. Our pri- tional booth during Stampede Week to me if I’d like to start a secular group mary goal is to spread critical thinking. bolster interest in the new organization.
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INTERNATIONAL The most different thing she encountered was the food and the language. She said, “The food, it’s so fat over here, and the language, but I probably will get better at it.” She said she has met some great people already, even though she had just arrived a few days ago. Koopman’s friend, Carolina “Carlijn” Brandjes, also from the Netherlands, arrived one day later and is a Mass Communications major. Brandjes said she was lucky to be selected to study abroad through a drawing in her home university. “I didn’t choose, everybody was already placed except some students. It was a big box and I was drawn for Oklahoma,” she said. “Luckily they took my name, or I wouldn’t have gone anywhere.” Brandjes, on the other hand, did encounter a culture shock because everything was so big. She agrees with the other two about the people. “When I just arrived, treatment was very good, they want to help you,” she said. “If you compare it to my other school, it’s so different. They are very nice, awesome people.” Brandjes always wanted to go abroad to meet new people. “The experience makes you grow as a person, and learn the language; you cannot learn a language better than being here,” she said. The hardest thing for her is to get used to the food and the different culture. “In my country I can drink and smoke whenever and wherever I want since I’m 16, but now I’m 22 and I can’t drink and smoke whenever or wherever I want; it’s gonna be different,” Brandjes said.
She enjoys meeting new people, the weather and the school experience. Brandjes said, “[UCO] is a beautiful school, and a beautiful area.”
By Josh Hutton A Stew in the Stampede I believe a brief introduction is in order. I am the Rebecca Black of columns. Nobody feels I deserve to be heard, and I have a mailbox full of death threats. Included in these death threats tend to be descriptions of why my writing makes UCO students hungry to kill. I’ve been told my writing leaves a “taste” in their mouth, a taste like “hot metal mixed with a dabble of blood” or that my writing is the “cheese-covered fried potatoes of columns.” Meaning it’s a pleasure so guilty, you regret devouring it. With a new school year comes the new and unique opportunity for redemption. So picture me now: face lit by laptop screen, bearing war paint, lips covered with a faint veil of Cheeto remnants, fingers pressing onto the keys as if I were on fire. And of course I’m topless due to the hot, hot determinative fury I’ve entered. To earn your readership, I offer up a pinch of advice. Follow these three easy steps to avoid being the stuttering buffoon in the wake of a roaring Stampede Week: First off, do not attempt to develop a steamy pile of romance the first week of class. Students tend to have an unbridled energy at the start of fall semester that somehow translates into a dangerous level of confidence. So, when you see a luscious lady or dapper man that reigns supreme on the hierarchy of attractive, put on the blinders. Wait for the usual sense of crippling inadequacy to reemerge. Do not try to prove me wrong out of spite. I’ve seen that movie and SPOILER ALERT: it ends with some pitiful soul losing two years of their life to Facebook creeping and shrine building. Secondly, whatever you do, do not bowl pumpkins or any variety of large melon into Broncho Lake. The powers that be put up with a massive amount of tomfoolery on campus, but they will make your life a swirling torrent of misery and woe if you desecrate the sanctity of the campus cesspool. If, however, you find a black generic canvas shoe in the lake for some reason, please scratch off the thin layer of green film coating the inside of the shoe to see if the initials J.H. are written inside and bring the sneaker to our Vista offices. Lastly, and far more importantly, leave your mark on campus. The best way to establish a legacy starts with a good nickname. For example, when I introduce myself, I do not say, “Hey, I’m Josh Hutton.” Nobody could possibly remember a name that plain. So I say, “Why hello, I’m Dr. Beefy, tyrant destroyer.” Couple a good nickname with being active in campus organizations; you will find, as Carl Weathers says, “Baby, you got a stew going.” Be the stew in the mad rush of Stampede Week: slow simmered, spicy, with a taste that leaves a rich memory for all fellow students you encounter. If we can avoid fever dream relationships and bowling large fruits, we shall begin our journey of wondrous legacy on the right foot. Welcome back, Bronchos.