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Headed to Austin City Limits? Catch these can’t-miss acts. (page 7) The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

T H U R s DAY, s e P T e M B e R 15 , 2 011

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

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financial aid

ou grads less likely to default on loans University’s loan-default rate 5% lower than nation’s average lAneY ellISoR

assistant managing editor

Student loans may be going unpaid across the country, but OU’s default rate on federal student loans remains low, which one university official attributes to the quality of OU graduates. The two-year student loan default rate in

the United States rose to 8.8 percent last year, up from 7 percent in the 2008 fiscal year, according to figures released Monday by the Department of Education. However, the rate at OU is 3.8 percent, barely up from its 3.6 percent rate in FY 2008 and one of the lowest rates in the nation. That number is even more impressive considering 37 percent of OU undergraduate students receive some kind of federal student loan aid, according to the department’s Institute of Education Sciences.

Brad Burnett, OU associate vice president for enrollment and student financial services, credit the low rate to OU students. “My first impression ... is that the student body here is just excellent,” Burnett said. “Their ability to go out and find work upon graduation ... that’s helping them pay their loans.” Another explanation is the Financial Education and Counseling Center, formed six years ago per the request of University College. Student surveys showed they were

interested in financial education, so Burnett began speaking on the subject during freshman Gateway classes, he said. His lectures cover budgeting, credit cards and the ramifications of defaulting on student loans, on which students cannot file bankruptcy. Burnett also encourages students to look at entry-level salaries of jobs in their fields so they have a reasonable idea of what they can

inTernaTional STudenTS

see BANKS page 3

caMPuS

199 tons of trash recycled this year OU encourages students to get behind efforts lI lIn

campus Reporter

KingsLey Burns/tHe daiLy

Jordane Pisciotto, graduate student from France, eats at Burger King in adams center on monday. Pisciotto said he and his roommate are frequent guests at the fast-food restaurant. “We eat there two to three times per week. We can’t bother to cook. Back home, my mother cooks,” Pisciotto said.

Cuisine choices conflict with cultures Students choose between healthy, greasy diets CoCo CoURToIS

need to worry about the dinner,“ said Aris Phylaktou, an aerospace engineering student Exchange students dread the phrase “Do you from Greece. When asked if they try to focus on healthy want fries with that?,” as greasy fast food confood, Cafferty said it all depends if pasta is concerns those trying to make healthy choices. Spending a year in the heart of the Supersize sidered healthy. Many exchange students eat pasta by default. land exacerbates that struggle to “I couldn’t survive without my choose the right food. “I never eat pasta,” said Luisa Mencacci, an One way students, such as vegetables. I just Italian graduate student in forYannick Cafferty, avoid the drivedon’t like them, eign language. thru is loading up the kitchen inItalian food has been wellstead of the car. and besides, they integrated in American culture, “We try to have all the basics are hard to cook.” but Mencacci said it is far from around all the time — rice, pasta, the original product. salad, bacon, eggs,” said Cafferty, JoRdane Pisciotto, “Macaroni and cheese are not a German industrial engineering gRaduate student FRom FRance pasta; it’s fast food. It’s totally and management student. “Every different from the way we do it,” time we go to Walmart, we try to Mencacci said. think of two or three meals for the week.” For her, healthy food and fresh vegetables But for Cafferty, cooking isn’t a solo affair. “We decided the first day to cook and shop for are the most important part of eating, even if it everyone,” she said. “It’s not harder to cook more means going twice a week to Walmart, Mencacci said. of the same thing, and it’s much more fun.” morgan Bont/tHe daiLy But healthy is not always the priority. His roommates said they also appreciate this “The most important things are fresh products luisa menacci, foreign language graduate student, precooking system. “Last week, I was really busy with my homepares a traditional italian meal in her kitchen tuesday see FOOD page 2 at the Kraetli apartments. work, and I was really pleased to know I didn’t

campus Reporter

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nOw On

Both sides weigh in on smokey issue

Students become cousins during cultural potluck

a proposed ban raises more questions than it gives answers. (Page 4)

Prominent names not slowing pair

MulTiMedia

life & arTS

companies converge on ou career fair

lecture, musical to honor painter

more than 100 potential employers spoke with students. (oudaily.com)

an art innovator will be showcased by museum, theater. (Page 8)

College cuts ribbon for new building JeReMY CHoAT

two ou players say they don’t worry about carrying on family legacy. (Page 5)

staff Reporter

darian Harmon/tHe daiLy

students dance during the ou cousins matching party Wednesday at the Jim thorpe center. ou cousins matches u.s. and international students for a year, but american’s involvement has outpaced their international counterparts, the program adviser said. (oudaily.com)

see RECYCLE page 2

arcHiTecTure

Gould Hall builds students’ learning opportunities

SPorTS

OU Recycling is now the proud caregiver of a blue whale, or at least the equivalent of one. The OU campus has recycled 199 tons of material since January, and the number of recycled products continues to rise, OU Recycling supervisor Greg Brezinski said. And how many employees does it take to pick up recycling equaling the world’s largest mammal? About seven. Brezinski said the crew starts picking up recycling bins, totaling about 350 pounds of material, at 5 a.m. every day. There are more than 900 trashcans or recycling bins throughout the campus, OU Facilities Management Director Brian Ellis said. Paper products are then shredded in the recycling facility south of campus before they are sold to paper manufacturers such as Georgia Pacific, Brezinski said. OU Recycling also is responsible for putting out trashcans and recycling bins on game days. The crew usually starts around 3 or 4 a.m. the next day picking up trash at the stadium and on the roads, Brezinski said. At the recycling facility, the crew hand-sorts the recycled aluminum cans and plastics before they are sold to Green Star Recycling. Other items recycled include compressors, electric motors, cardboard and

OU welcomed its newest high-tech facility to the campus Wednesday morning. The College of Architecture hosted the Gould Hall ribbon-cutting event for donors, faculty and students. Gould Hall will house for

the first time all five disciplines of the college — architecture, construction science, interior design, landscape architecture and regional and city planning — in the same hall. Gould Hall gives students greater opportunities and a more rounded learning experience, college dean Charles Graham said. Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys and President David Boren see GOULD page 3