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OU polls sign language interest American Sign Language may come to OU, pending an upcoming interest poll PAGE JONES News Reporter @pageousm
OU’s Student Government Association will be polling the student body during November general election to gauge interest in having an American Sign Language course at OU. The course would count as a foreign language credit and would be a part of the Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics department, said Connor Bourland, public relations chairperson for the Undergraduate Student Congress and the bill’s author.
the class will be written by next semester, Bourland said. Part of the future legislation will include a petition for faculty to teach the new course and funds to pay faculty salaries, Bourland said. When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays Meetings are free and While Bourland hopes the course will span three semesters open to the public and qualify for a foreign language credit, if survey results are Where: Devon Hall 120 positive and further legislation for the sign language course passes, there will, at minimum, be one semester of the course The course would help students be more marketable for offered through the College of Education. Bourland’s goal is for students to be able to enroll for the jobs, and the course would particularly benefit education course by Fall 2016. majors, said Bethany Smith, co-author of the bill. Because public schools are required to provide interpreters for students who are fully deaf, not having the class at OU prevents students from getting those jobs, Smith said. Page Jones page.c.jones-1@ou.edu If the survey’s results are positive, new legislation to create
Undergraduate Student Congress meetings
KNIT K NIT ON UNIVERSITY OU student uses knitting club to meet the needs of the community and relieve stress DANA BRANHAM NEWS REPORTER @DANABRANHAM
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ith her round glasses and tendency to knit scarves during class, junior Anastasia Malouf said her classmates think her interests align more with those of an elderly woman than a college student. “It’s funny because I wear these glasses, and I’m knitting and people are like, ‘You’re a grandma!’ and I’m like, ‘I know! I’m so happy!’” Malouf said. Malouf, a religious studies major, started OU’s Knit & Purl Club last year to meet people with similar interests after she transferred to OU as a sophomore. “I basically started it to meet new people and to meet people with similar interests, and I just love knitting, and it’s so therapeutic,” Malouf said. “So I started this thing on Facebook, and people came over to my house and we’d knit and hang out and talk.” The group began through Facebook, and then people started coming over to Malouf’s house to hang out and knit. It eventually became an official student group in March. From there, Malouf wanted the group to be more philanthropic with their knitting. After a member suggested knitting scarves and leaving them around campus so peoDEIRDRA KELLY/THE DAILY ple could take it if they were cold, Malouf Religious studies junior Anastasia Malouf begins a new knitting project. She is the founder of OU’s Knit saw other ways the club could serve the and Purl club. The group has philanthropic goals like teaching kids how to knit. community.
STUDENT AFFAIRS
Last year, the club volunteered with the Christian Family Institute in Tulsa to teach kids how to knit. Meteorology junior Rachel Frazier, who has been part of Knit & Purl since its first meeting, said the children were excited to learn to knit. “There was one kid — a guy, actually — who came and he just fell in love with it. He was like, ‘This is so amazing. This is so relaxing,’” Frazier said. “It was so great to see him fall in love with it.” This semester, Knit & Purl plans to make hats and booties for babies in the Oklahoma City’s Children’s Hospital, Malouf said. While Malouf said the group’s Facebook group has over 50 members, relatively few people show up to the meetings. Frazier said she hopes the club will grow and encouraged students of all levels of knitting expertise to give it a try. Even if students don’t know how to knit, Frazier said the group was “more than happy” to teach them. “We just want people to come, people that share the same passion for knitting that we do,” Frazier said. “We want to find those people in the OU community and try to get them to come and hang out with us.” SEE KNIT PAGE 2
CORNELL
SafeRide slips remind riders of rules OU grad made first Student Affairs and SGA continue to consider changes JOEY STIPEK
Special Projects Editor @JoeyStipek
How to get SafeRide vouchers Students can pick up SafeRide vouchers from noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Student Government Association offices in Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Conoco Wing, Room 181.
into potential changes to OU’s SafeRide program, as the SafeRide contracts with Yellow Cab of Norman and Airport Express expire this fiscal year. One temporary change has already taken place. Students will receive a slip of S t u d e n t A f f a i r s a n d paper reminding them how S t u d e n t G o v e r n m e n t to properly use SafeRide. Student Affairs created Association are looking
Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing investigation into SafeRide. If you would like to contribute to the investigation and share your SafeRide experiences with The Daily, email dailynews@ou.edu.
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• Cab drivers cannot request multiple vouchers. • The university pays for every used voucher.
the reminders at the request of SGA, SGA president Matt Epting said in an email. The slips will accompany SafeRide vouchers only for a couple of weeks, Epting said. The slip states: • Only one voucher per drop-off location is required, no matter how many people are riding.
The slip also reminds students to recycle or trash all unused vouchers. With the SafeRide contracts ending this year, Epting said SGA will start considering new options for SafeRide. “We would love to harness the creativity of our student body to find the best way forward for SafeRide,” Epting said. SEE SAFERIDE PAGE 4
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female president of Cornell University Elizabeth Garrett appointed 13th president, begins term July 2015
DANA BRANHAM News Reporter @danabranham
OU graduate Elizabeth Garrett has been appointed the 13th president of Cornell University. Garrett, an Oklahoma City native, will assume the presidency at Cornell starting July 2015, and will be the university’s first female president. During her time at OU, Garrett received the Ewing Fellowship and interned for President David Boren when he was an Oklahoma Senator. SEE CORNELL PAGE 2
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