Are OU’s receivers best in the nation? (page B1)
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Program success could provide aid to more students
Bison bones reveal history
Alumni to give back with funding KEDRIC KITCHENS Staff Reporter
Former OU National Merit Scholars have launched a scholarship program to aid current and future students with financial needs.
Staff leadership for the newly formed steering committee will be provided by Craig Hayes, former director of the National Scholars Programs. Hayes said in a press release that he was approached by a group of alumni requesting his support. The committee includes former National Merit scholars Megan Schaunaman ,
Bishop Kelley High School teacher, and David Kendrick, former OU student body president and current CEO of MyHealth Access Network of Tulsa. “[The program] benefits the entire university and not just those who receive scholarships,” President David Boren said in the press release. More than 700 National
Merit scholars are enrolled at OU, according to its website. When they formed, the steering committee members of the program noted the impact these scholarships have. “As word spread about OU’s top ranking among public universities in National Merit Scholars, it reminded many of us of the pride we have in OU and of how special this
program was to us during our years at the university,” Kendrick said in the press release. Giving back the university is what Schaunaman said she had in mind. “OU helped me as a student, and I want to carry on that tradition and help future students,” she said in the press release.
KATHLEEN EVANS
oKlAHoMA bones DUsTeD FoR DisPlAY
Senior Campus Reporter
darian Harmon/tHe daiLy
Jarrett Stowe paints the part of the apatosaurus fossil that was scratched at the Sam noble Museum of natural History on thursday. the apatosaurus is a permanent display of “the Clash of the titans” exhibit, which is free and open to the public this Saturday.
Baby dinosaur arrives in rare exhibit Sam Noble Museum now one of two in the world with baby Apatosaurus fossils showcased BLAYKLEE BUCHANAN Campus Reporter
Bigger isn’t always better at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. The museum is welcoming the smallest Apatosaurus in the world to the exhibit “The Clash of the Titans,” which also already features the largest Apatosaurus in the world, according to a press release. Museum director Michael Mares said in a press release that the exhibit is one-of-a-kind because the museum will be one of two museums in the world with a baby Apatosaurus on display.
Students help trace state’s past at former kill site
The fossils of the young Apatosaurus, for- Apatosaurus on display.” merly known as a Brontosaurus, were found in And Tregarthen said the addition does more Oklahoma, Mares said. than just provide further history. The fossils were collected by a Works Progress “I think it adds a whole new emotional eleAdministration team, led in 1930s ment to the exhibit,” Tregarthen by J. Willis Stovall, the Sam Noble said. Museum’s first director. The bones Members and invited guests at a gLanCe remained untouched in museum may attend the unveiling at 5:30 Dinosaur size drawers for nearly 50 years, musep.m. Friday by Richard Cifelli, um spokeswoman Jen Tregarthen associate curator of vertebrate the exhibit’s new said. paleontology. apatosaurus is 11 feet A donation from the WhittenThe free exhibit will be open long and 2.25 feet tall. Newman Foundation allowed the to the public with free admismuseum to finally piece together sion from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Source: www.snomnh.ou.edu the baby dinosaur, according to Saturday. the press release. “The Clash of the Titans” is a “It’s going to bring a whole new dynam- permanent exhibit in the museum, so visitors ic to ‘The Clash of the Titans,’” Tregarthen can expect to see the dinosaur duo for many said. “Director Mares always wanted a baby years to come.
Lee Bement’s lab has an interesting choice of decor — bison skulls — adorning the walls and lining the long lab benches, where more skulls and bones rest for analysis. Bement, an Oklahoma Archaeological Survey employee, ran an archaeological field school during the summer for OU students and others interested in archaeology to excavate a bison kill site. “I have been doing this for 20 years, but my research tends to be attracted to buffalo kill sites,” Bement said. “That’s why there’s all this bison bone out there.” A bison kill site was a spot where ancient people corralled American bis on, als o know n as buffalo, to hunt and kill them. Students will hopefully return in the summer to look for more artifacts, Bement said. The particular site Bement is now analyzing in his lab is called Badger Hole in northwestern Oklahoma and contains remains of Folsom people from more than 10,300 years ago. Some of the earliest Oklahomans were of the Paleo-Indian Clovis Culture around 11,000 years ago, followed by the Folsom people he is now researching, Bement said. This lab is not the oldest site he has excavated but still from one of the early periods of Oklahoma’s history. “What we are looking at is how early peoples in Oklahoma were hunting animals, how they designed kill sites or hunts, what time of year they were making these kills,” he said. Anthropology senior Brandon Bleakley, one of the students who helped with the excavation during the summer, experienced camping under the stars, rain, rattlesnakes, scorpions and handson work to help dig up see BONES paGe a2
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NOW ON
norman City Council needs to shape up focus on more important matters, not religious symbols. (Page A3)
sexes shouldn’t be segregated
Award-winner in bloom this weekend
Music festival a ‘must-stay’ for oU uPB and CaC come together to host weekend music event. (Page A4)
Campus faith groups foreign to newcomers COCO COURTOIS and ANAÏS FURTADE
gender-neutral housing raises more concerns. (Page A3)
liFe & ARTs
inTeRnATionAl sTUDenTs
Students adjust to OU’s religious college culture
oPinion
MUlTiMeDiA ou Lab theatre presents “Spring’s awakening.” (oUDaily.com)
Sooner volleyball to host Kansas Jayhawks
Campus Reporters
KinGsLey Burns/tHe daiLy
Morgan Reynolds, outside hitter junior, Sallie McLaurin, middle blocker sophomore, and the ou volleyball will tip off against Kansas at 5 p.m. Saturday. (Page b1)
Going to church and going to class are two vastly different activities, but at OU, the campus is big enough for both. Religion is largely intertwined with OU student life, but at many international universities students would
not even think about practicing their faith on campus. Jia Zhou, a Chinese student in mathematics, was first introduced to religion by her OU cousin. “She invited me to some of the Bible learning to share the experience with her friends from the church,” Zhou said. Zhou said she knew nothing about religion before attending OU, but now she’s glad to know more about it so she can make her own see RELIGION paGe a2