THE CAMPUS January 10, 2018 – Volume 111 Issue 12
Students share memories of deceased classmate Students are sharing memories of a classmate after his death during winter break. Vinnie Franco, pre-medical/guitar freshman, died Dec. 31 in Chicago. He was found unresponsive at 8 p.m., according to Chicago police. Franco was pronounced dead an hour later at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Information about funeral services was not available at presstime. Tomi Vetter, piano freshman, said she remembers meeting Franco at the beginning of Fall 2017 and developing a unique way of greeting each other. “We would shout ‘my friend’ and give each other the biggest hugs,” Vetter said. “Vinnie was one of the people that made OCU home for me, and he will always be in my heart. I miss him so dearly.” Originally from Brazil, the 19-year-old lived with a host family in Norman, Oklahoma. Franco discovered his love of travel after visiting his father in Africa, said Austin Keller, guitar freshman. That inspired him to find a program where he could live in a country for a year with a host family. “He wanted to come to America because he thought it was like the greatest country in the world,” Keller said. “Him and his host family connected so much that he ended up staying here and continued to live in their home.”
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Franco worked in the Wanda L. Bass School of Music dean’s suite. He was a member of University Chorale and the OCU Guitar Studio. Keller described Franco as a great musician. “He was very humble about his playing, even though he was a really great guitarist,” he said. “His personality and his music were just the same. It seemed to come through his music.” Simón Gómez, music theater/composition Vinnie Franco freshman, met Franco through choir. Four times a week, they would sit next to each other during rehearsal. “We quickly became friends. He was someone who was always quick to crack a joke and make me laugh, but I could also tell he had a deep love for music,” Gómez said. “Whenever the choir came together to create a beautiful harmony, he would turn to me with the biggest smile on his face, which always made choir rehearsal better.” Gómez said he hopes Franco is at peace. “He was a bright and warm presence in people’s lives... the kind of person that could make your day better if you had a normal conversation with him. It’s going to be painful to go back to school and not see him sitting next to me in choir, and it’s going to take time for me to get used to that,” he said. Vetter said Franco was “beyond brilliant” with unmeasurable talent
and love in his heart. “Vinnie had a light that could brighten any darkened day, and he made sure that the people around him knew he cared. Vinnie was one of the best people I’ve met, and his light will never be forgotten,” she said. The Rev. Dr. Charles Neff, vice president for university-church relations and dean of the chapel, shared news of Franco’s death in a email to the campus community. He asked the campus community to pray for Franco’s friends and family. “Please know that university counseling and pastoral staff are available to assist students, faculty and staff experiencing grief,” he wrote. If students need assistance following Franco’s death, the university offers free counseling services. They will also offer a group therapy session at 4 p.m. Thursday in the University Counseling offices in the northwest wing of Walker Hall. For more information about counseling or to schedule an appointment, call 405-208-7901. Pastoral care also is available by calling 405-208-5060. By Photo Editor Elina Moon and Miguel Rios, editor-in-chief
Campus tech takes steps to improve Wi-Fi in residential areas Miguel Rios
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Students might notice an improved Wi-Fi signal in residential areas. Except for Cokesbury Court Apartments, all residence halls were modified last semester to increase the wireless signal. Improvements in Oklahoma United Methodist Hall were completed last month. Gerr y Hunt, Campus Technology Services chief information officer, said it’s tricky to provide thorough wireless capabilities to dorms for various reasons, such as the construction of the buildings, interference from things like microwaves or personal routers or a high concentration of people connected to Wi-Fi at the same time in the same area. “We’re constantly investing in and researching how we can improve wireless on campus,” he said. “It’s an ongoing effort.” Improving Walker The Walker Hall dormitory renovations have been done since last summer. Before, there were at most three wireless antennas per floor across the seven stories. There are now nine antennas per floor. The project was part of the renovations housing officials made to Walker. “We not only added more antennas, we added new antennas,” Hunt said. “These are stronger. They can handle more capacity. It was not just adding more, it was adding better, so that building is basically glowing with wireless coverage right now.” Troy Freeman, music theater freshman, lives in Walker. He said in January the main issue is consistency. “Most of the time it doesn’t work at all, and, on several occasions, I’ve been forced
The system regularly boots students off when multiple of their systems are connected. The system is broken and makes studying difficult. Troy Freeman music theater freshman
to put off homework till the next morning in hopes that the routers would be active,” Freeman said. “The system regularly boots students off when multiple of their systems are connected. The system is broken and makes studying difficult.” Doing it right In Banning Hall dormitory, improvements to the wireless signal came only after a network cable was accidentally severed during construction. “That wasn’t the worst thing in the world because it really kind of allowed us to stop, say ‘okay let’s go back in there and do it right,’” Hunt said. “While Banning Hall doesn’t have nearly as many students, the students in there have been very positive in their feedback to us regarding the improved wireless in that dorm.” To improve the signal, campus tech employees ran new network lines that can handle higher speeds than before and doubled the number of antennas from five to 10. Connecting Methodist The toughest dorm to make wireless improvements to was Methodist Hall Dormitory, Hunt said. “It’s a massive complex, there’s lots of rooms tucked away in corners and, the way the building is designed, it’s not one that is easy to go into the rooms themselves and drop in antennas,” Hunt said. “The hallways are really the only areas we can
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put antennas where we want to put them because there’s dropped ceilings up there.” A dropped ceiling refers to a ceiling hung below the actual structural ceiling, meaning there is room between the two for mechanical, electrical or plumbing infrastructure. Methodist rooms have hard ceilings. Each floor in Methodist Hall had about 10 antennas before. Now they each have about 20. Even with all the work, Hunt said there could be pockets where the Wi-Fi still isn’t great. Onnika Hanson, acting junior, lives in Methodist and said Sunday that the Wi-Fi hardly worked for her last semester. “When you’re able to actually get it on your device, then it’s slow,” Hanson said. “But, most of the time, according to my computer, it doesn’t even exist. I don’t have unlimited data, so I’m constantly having to pay an overcharge, which is incredibly frustrating.” Cokes unimproved Cokesbury residents won’t see improvement to the Wi-Fi. Since the university doesn’t own the apartments, the responsibility to improve the signal falls on the third party that manages it, Hunt said. “The wireless that is out there is there kind of by our own good graces and just to provide something at all,” Hunt said. “We have taken our old wireless equipment and put it in some of the rooms to provide more
“Wi-Fi in our room is almost non-existent.”
Jordan Kilgore acting sophomore
Jordan Dorsey acting junior
MEDIAOCU.com
Making an investment Hunt said there were two costs for each project: a cabling contract and buying new antennas. “The wireless antennas are around $600 per antenna. The cabling that we had done is about $7,000 or so,” he said. “It definitely was probably pushing $100,000, but that’s spread out across the fiscal year. “It’s an ongoing investment of time and money, but it’s something we understand is important.” Reporting issues To report an issue with Wi-Fi, submit a work order on myschoolbuilding.com or call campus tech at 405-208-5555. “Let us know when there’s an area that maybe is lacking in coverage,” Hunt said. “Even in Cokesbury, where maybe there is nothing we can do about it, at least if we know where the problems are we can pass that information along to the Cokesbury management group.” Reports should be as detailed as possible, including location, type of device and specifics about the connection issue. “We can do all the testing we can to see what the coverage looks like, but sometimes we can’t get to every last inch of this campus. We need the feedback of the students and people that are using wireless on this campus,” Hunt said.
Personal network devices interfere with Wi-Fi signal Students might inadvertently be negatively affecting the wireless signal on campus by trying to improve it. Gerry Hunt, Campus Technology Services chief information officer, said “rogue devices” can compete with the wireless signal. “When a student brings their wireless modem from home, plugs it into our network and starts broadcasting out a signal, it’s directly competing with the wireless signal we’re trying to provide,” he said. Things that can interfere with the wireless signal include: - modems or routers from home, - microwaves, - posters or signs with mirror or metallic backings, and - any device that broadcasts its own wireless signal, like certain printers. Students should turn off wireless capabilities for any device that broadcasts its own signal, Hunt said. “I’m not talking about ones that you can connect to wireless, those are okay. But there are some that have their own built-in antenna, so they’re broadcasting their own wireless network,” he said. Students are restricted from bringing their own network devices, according to the university’s computer usage policy. In situations where students have wall decor with mirror or metallic backs, campus tech workers could move the antenna closest to the dorm room a few feet or recommend that students move their decor to another wall, Hunt said. Students must contact campus tech or submit a work order first, though. Onnika Hanson, acting junior, said she switches from Wi-Fi to data if the wireless signal is not working. “If I don’t have any left, I usually end up just waiting until the Wi-Fi comes back up to do my work, which usually just results in me staying up very late to do my work,” Hanson said. Hanson said she has never submitted a work order or contacted campus tech because she knows people who have and doesn’t think much gets done. “We receive emails about how they’re going to fix it, but then nothing seems to change,” she said. Despite the additional antennas, Hunt said they are never done improving Wi-Fi on campus. “Wireless is not a convenience, it’s an expectation, just like running water and electricity,” he said. “We are going to constantly work to provide the best and safest wireless network that we can with the resources we have available.” By Miguel Rios, editor-in-chief
“What is the Wi-Fi like in your room?”
“Actually, in my room, it’s not that bad.”
M
coverage than they do have.” Hunt said campus tech officials have made recommendations to the owners of Cokesbury about ways they could improve the Wi-Fi. Students who live in Cokesbury should still report issues to campus tech.
“The Wi-Fi is spotty and crashes on the second floor in Meth.”
“It’s really slow. I quite often have to disconnect and use data.”
Jimmy Francis psychology/human performance senior
Jesse Beere music theater freshman
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