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WHAT IS HERPETOLOGY?
JE SUIS CHARLIE
Students support Paris from abroad OU French students gather to honor the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack DAISY CREAGER News Reporter @daisycreager
When French exchange student Lucie Duault heard the news of a mass killing at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last week in Paris, she knew she had to act. Devastated by the shooting in her home country, Duault began organizing an event on campus. More than 60 students gathered Monday on the South Oval to show support for the victims of the shooting and to advocate the right to free speech. Students wrote the French phrase “Je suis Charlie,” which translates to “I am Charlie” in English, on signs in various languages. They photographed and filmed the event in a time-lapse video. “Unfortunately, I cannot be in France participating in protests,” Duault said, “But we want to show everybody that even if we are abroad … people from other cultures are concerned.” Twelve people, including Charlie Hebdo’s editor, were killed in the attack, which was carried out by Islamist extremists. The attack was in response to the newspaper publishing cartoons satirizing the Muslim prophet Muhammad, according to the Associated Press. Though students were able to show their support from abroad, it is painful for many French students to be away from home. “I may be from France, but I want to defend this right in the U.S. as well,” Duault said. The videos and pictures will be complied and sent to universities and newspapers in France, said Laura Tamarelle, French exchange student and film and media senior. “[Sunday] in so many French cities there were people gathering to show support, and we are just here,” Tamarelle said with tears in her eyes.
JACQUELINE EBY/THE DAILY
A group of students gathered on South Oval Monday afternoon to protest and show support for Charlie Hebdo.
YA JIN/THE DAILY
Cameron Siler works in his lab in Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Siler is teaching students about Oklahoma’s reptiles and amphibians.
Course includes multi-day trips MIKE BRESTOVANSKY • ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR • @BRESTOVANSKYM
E
ven if ordinary classes featured camping trips and swamp exploration, herpetology would still be an extraordinary course. The course, offered this semester, allows students to explore the reptilian biosphere of Oklahoma and contribute specimens to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History’s herpetology collection. “My goal is to introduce students to basic amphibian and reptile diversity … and expose students to the excitement of being in the field,” said Cameron Siler, assistant curator for the herpetology collection, who teaches the course. The course will emphasize a heavy lab component, including multiple day trips to sites around Oklahoma so students can get their hands dirty, Siler said. Students will participate in wildlife surveys to study infectious diseases and collect environmental DNA samples, among other things, Siler said.
Students may also be able to prepare and submit specimens to the Sam Noble Museum’s herpetology collection, which currently holds approximately 52,000 samples. “… There will be two weekend trips, one where we go to the Ozark Mountains and one where we go to the Red Slough,” Siler said. “That’ll be a multi-day camping trip where we survey the diversity in the area.” Herpetology classes feed zoology senior Rachel Flanagan’s infatuation with animals. “I’m just really glad I get to go to a class that spends time working with animals,” said Flanagan, who is taking Siler’s course this semester. “I want to learn more about different kinds of ‘herps’ … their similarities and dissimilarities.” OU offered a field herpetology course last summer taught by Geoff
Carpenter. The class was similar to this semester’s course, but greatly accelerated and less in-depth, Siler said. Flanagan attended Carpenter’s class last summer and said she had a lot of fun working in the field. Siler added that the course’s hands-on emphasis carries over to the final exam, in which students may be asked to prepare a manuscript for publication that describes a new species of reptile. “What surprises a lot of people is that there’s so little known about amphibians and reptiles in certain parts of our planet that we discover tons of new species on a lot of these expeditions,” Siler said. “In Southeast Asia, where I focus, there’s so many new species that we can’t describe them fast enough, so we have this huge backlog.” The exam will allow students to name the new species. “I’ll have to think about [what name I’ll choose],” Flanagan said. “Maybe I’ll name it after my grandpa, or Geoff Carpenter or Siler. There are just too many cool people to SEE EXPLORE PAGE 2
›››› Sooner Sampler: What did you do over winter break? “...I just went and visited high school friends for a week. I’m getting a puppy in like two and a half weeks. It’s a Golden Retriever. I’m going to name him Duke. My mom went there and my sister wants to go there.”
“I watched a lot of Netflix, caught up on shows … I’m also in the Pride of Oklahoma, so we had our bowl trip and that was pretty cool. The game wasn’t that fun, but it was a cool memory to always have.
COURTNEY SMITH, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE FRESHMAN
JORDAN PIERCE, COMMUNICATIONS SOPHOMORE
“(It was) really relaxing, lots of Netflix. Started studying for the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) a little bit, but much needed off time. That’s the best part about breaks is just being with family...”
“I went to Washington, DC to visit my family, I live there. I had a great Christmas. I went to NYC and saw Rockefeller Center with lots of lights and everything and it was really fun. It was completely different during Christmas time. Lots of people.” CHRISTIANNE CAMPBELL, POLITICAL SCIENCE FRESHMAN
JOHN PHAN, PSYCHOLOGY JUNIOR
WEATHER Partly cloudy with a high of 34, low of 25. Follow @AndrewGortonWX on Twitter for weather updates.
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