Tuesday, April 16, 2013

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The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

T U E S DA Y, A P R I L 16 , 2 013

W W W.O U DA I LY.C O M

Opinion: Big Event is chance for year-round inspiration. (Page 3)

2 012 S I LV E R C R O W N W I N N E R

HOME SWEET HOME Sports: Sooners return to Norman (Page 6)

ADMINISTRATION

OUDaily.com: Redefining feminism with Ke$ha through “Fight Club.”

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Office cleared out, locked up Student aims to Union officials respond to alcohol, living in union ARIANNA PICKARD Campus Editor

OU administration has cleared out and locked up the Students for a Democratic Society’s office in Oklahoma Memorial Union after discovering a person had been drinking alcohol and living in the office. The administration removed items from the office that were “a nuisance and causing bulk” after they evicted the society last week, said Clarke Stroud, OU vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students. The door to the office has since been locked. The owners of any of the removed items will have to contact Laura Tontz, director of Oklahoma Memorial Union, to get their things back. “We boxed [the items] up, and we

took pictures. Everybody’s going to “The SDS office should never have get everything back — nobody’s losing been utilized in that manner,” Stroud anything,” Stroud said. said. A notice currently is taped to the Since The Daily ran a story about door of the office saying to contact the the situation on April 9, OU adminisunion’s Administrative Office to get tration has been checking the society’s into the office. office to reach the person who was livWhen The Daily ing there, Stroud said. “The SDS office called the number on The day after the the notice to get access should never have story ran, Tontz told into the office and see The Daily in an email what items had been been utilized in that she had not had any manner.” removed, the call was reports of people transferred to Stroud’s drinking in student orCLARKE STROUD, office phone, but he ganization offices. VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT was not in his office OU administration AFFAIRS to take the call at that also has been trying time. to reach out to the soOn April 4, The Daily received a tip ciety’s leadership to find the person that someone had been drinking alco- who was living in the office, but so far hol and possibly living in the Students they have been unsuccessful, Stroud for a Democratic Society office, and said. after further investigation, that inforSEE OFFICE PAGE 2 mation was confirmed.

WALKING THE LINE

Students slackline in the sunshine

educate youth on trafficking

Sooner promotes awareness among middle-school, high-school students PAIGHTEN HARKINS

Assistant Campus Editor

Middle and high school-aged children will receive an education on human trafficking this semester and next year after an OU student won a $10,000 grant to promote a sustainable, peaceful future. University College freshman Lucy Mahaffey was one out of about 100 people who received a Davis Projects for Peace grant about two weeks ago. Since hearing she’d received the grant, she’s been working with the state superintendent of education and state coalition director to develop a curriculum to teach teenage children about human trafficking, Mahaffey said. Human trafficking cases have been prosecuted in all 50 states in the U.S., according to the Oklahomans Against Trafficking Humans website. So far, 83 percent of the prosecuted cases involved sex trafficking, and 17 percent involved labor trafficking. While Mahaffey is planning to present at youth groups and high schools, her primary focus is on middle schoolaged children because that age group is the most common to be sold into sex trafficking, she said. “I felt like this could really empower the kids. I think that they’re really overlooked — they’re the most vulnerable, but they’re also the most powerful,” Mahaffey said. After visiting one school, Santa Fe South High School in Oklahoma City, Mahaffey said the reception has been positive, although it takes some time to explain to students what human trafficking is and why it’s an issue, she said. Some children know about trafficking, but many have no idea it still exists, Mahaffey said. She tries to relate to kids by focusing on trafficking through the lens of the Internet and smart Internet practices, considering many instances of trafficking in the U.S. happen as a result of children being online, Mahaffey said. About one-third of the estimated 30 million children online will go and meet a person they met online, she said. However, once they go and meet them, that person isn’t really considered a stranger anymore. “It’s the fact that these kids have known someone online for a year and then they say, ‘we’re friends so I’ll go meet them,’” Mahaffey said. In her presentations, Mahaffey will stress the importance of only adding people you are familiar with, as well as not meeting in person people you only know online, she said. If SEE TRAFFICKING PAGE 2

CEREMONY

OU NROTC student to receive award of $1,000 based leadership ability TONY RAGLE/THE DAILY

Above: Adam Horton, electrical engineering sophomore, and Alexandra Security, biomedical engineering sophomore, slackline together on the South Oval Monday afternoon.

LECTURE

Professor seeks to reveal true Sparta Event volunteers joined in phalanx MATT RAVIS

Campus Reporter

The Spartans portrayed in popular culture are a far cry from the original protectors of Greece, said an OU professor in a lecture about Greek Liberty and Spartans on Monday. Eric Robinson, professor and candidate for OU’s G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, gave the lecture to dismiss popular misrepresentations of the Spartans, spurred on by recent Hollywood movies like “300.” To get his point across, Robinson made volunteers from the crowd assume the role of Spartans and formed into the phalanx — an ancient Greek combat formation — and then coached them on how to better defeat the Persian enemy. The formation was made popular by “300,” which depicted the Battle of

oud-2013-4-16-a-001,002.indd 1

Thermopylae, Robinson said. The movie was realistic in the way it depicted Spartans, but the similarities stop there, Robinson said. The Persians, who opposed the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae, were unfairly depicted as slavish and oppressed. Most people are familiar with the Hollywood depiction of Spartans as strong, heroic men, but it can also be argued they served as “cruel masters,” Robinson said. The slave population of Sparta, called Helots, outnumbered Sparta’s population by 7:1. Because of this, the Greek government declared war on the Helots, effectively allowing the Spartans to murder them with no social or legal repercussions, Robinson said. The Spartans, who were raised to be tough and resourceful from a young age, toed the line between the heroes Hollywood has made them into and the cruel, vengeful people some

The first recipient of an award recognizing an outstanding OU Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps midshipman is to be honored during a ceremony today. Alan Tompkins, OU NROTC midshipman 2nd class, is to receive the first Captain Robert J. Kelsey Leadership Award during a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. at the university’s ROTC center. Tompkins is a junior at OU and plans to commission into the nuclear power program, according to a press release. Kelsey, who died in 1992 after a battle with cancer, was a Navy fighter pilot during the war in Vietnam. The award includes a $1,000 scholarship, said Kelsey’s brother-in-law, Ron Frost. The scholarship endowment was established by the Kelsey family and will be administered by the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. “The award is based on leadership ability,” Frost said. “And, Tompkins is very deserving to have it in honor of Robert.” Frost said Kelsey’s parents, wife and six of seven siblings will travel from around the country to attend the ceremony. Nadia Enchassi, Assistant Campus Editor

Five reasons you should become a vegetarian MATT RAVIS/THE DAILY

Volunteers from the crowd are taught how to form into the phalanx, an ancient Greek battle formation that used shields to form a barricade.

scholars argue them to be, Robinson said. Robinson is a candidate for the chair position that Rufus Fears held before his death in October of 2012, vice provost Kyle Harper said. Fears classes on Greece

and Rome were among some of the most popular courses offered at the OU, according to Daily archives. Matt Ravis matt.ravis@ou.edu

Opinion: A vegetarian diet is the best way to live a happier, healthier and more humanitarian life. (Page 3)

Iron & Wine’s new album is out today L&A: “Ghost On Ghost,” Sam Beam’s fifth album, features soothing sounds of older records but adds a new, prominent jazz flair. (Page 5)

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013 by OU Daily - Issuu