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EVENTS
Black History month celebrated on campus Groups holding events to remember heritage ALEX NIBLETT
Assistant Campus Editor
The Black Student Association will be holding events throughout February to celebrate Black History month. “Not many people notice the impact that we make as a small African American group, so whenever we get a whole month to show everyone how much we love our heritage, it’s truly amazing,” said Marla Bailey, Alpha Kappa Alpha member and this year’s Miss Black OU. Events throughout the month include a Black History Month edition of Jeopardy, a Hip Hop Extravaganza, movie screening of “School Daze” and a Black & White Affair heritage dinner to close out the month. For Ernest Ezeugo, Student Government Association president, Black History Month is a time for everyone to honor the legacies of black leaders, both big and small,
“... it asks us to look back and realize how much the leaders of the past have paved the way for the leaders of the future.”
a 6-year-old African American girl, integrated into a New Orleans public school called William Frantz Elementary. To many, Bridges is known as the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. However, she wasn’t the only one to break barriers that day. That’s where Tate comes in. Just down the street, three other 6-year-old African American girls, known as the McDonogh Three, also became the first black students to integrate into an all-white elementary school in New Orleans called McDonogh No. 19. Tate remembers seeing people lining the streets as she was driven to school. Then she thought it was a parade since Mardi Gras parades took place on that street. But Nov. 16 wasn’t Fat Tuesday, and soon enough she found out why those people were there. The rest of the day — indeed, the rest of the school year — was tense. For the first part of the day, she and the other girls sat in a foyer waiting to be placed in a classroom. Once they were assigned a room, the
ERNEST EZEUGO, SGA PRESIDENT
who have changed society for the better, he said. “In a sense, it is significant because it asks us to look back and realize how much the leaders of the past have paved the way for the leaders of the future,” Ezeugo said. African American Studies professor Sharri Coleman met Leona Tate, one of those leaders and one of the first black students to integrate into an all-white school, last year. Coleman admires what Tate did for society, but some people still don’t know her story and how she’s changed history. When Tate was changing history, she didn’t know either. On Nov. 16, 1960, Ruby Bridges,
GO AND DO
Black History Month events on OU’s campus Feb. 3: Jeopardy!: Black History Month Edition, 6 p.m. in Jim Thorpe Multicultural Center Feb. 11: Hip Hop Extravaganza, 8 p.m. in Houston Huffman Center Feb. 13: “School Daze” screening, 7 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium Feb. 28: Heritage Dinner: Black and White Affair, 6 p.m. in Jim Thorpe Multicultural Center Source: Maci Johnson, Black Student Association Black History Month Event chairwoman
white parents and students flooded out of the building. By the end of the day, only the McDonogh Three were left inside, Tate said. The hostility continued for the next year and half, they were the only students in the building and they weren’t allowed to go outside for their safety. Eventually, the three were sent to another school — this time without the aid of police escort and U.S. Marshals.
“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, how I was treated during that year,” Tate said. “That’s a year I hardly ever try to think about. If you attempted to go eat lunch, someone would try to knock it out of your hand.” Coleman said Tate’s contribution to history has impacted the world today, just as civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. did.
SAY IT AIN’T SNOW
MODERNIZATION
AWARENESS
Say goodbye to paper tickets
Campaign to address dating violence Write messages on flags Feb. 17
Paperless tickets may be future
CAITLIN SCHACHTER Campus Reporter
SAMUEL KOCH Campus Reporter
Paper tickets may become a thing of the past, as OU is moving toward a paperless ticketing option for athletics events. The OU Board of Regents approved a $415,000 contract with Paciolan, Inc. that will expand OU’s paperless ticketing options for ticket sales, merchandise sales, marketing initiatives and donations, according to the regents’ agenda. The technology would capture and store customer’s information per transaction to use in metrics, analytics or data for administrative purposes, according to the agenda. Athletic director Joe Castiglione said the university made the switch because paperless ticketing is getting more popular. However, OU won’t switch to purely paperless ticketing until customers are comfortable with the transition, he said. “There is something still traditional about having the ticket, the souvenir element of it as well,” Castiglione said. “But in time, like everything else, it’s going to change.”
TAYLOR BOLTON/THE DAILY
Two students wrestle over the football while playing flag football Sunday on the South Oval outside George Lynn Cross Hall. These students played in 28 degree weather with about 2 inches of snow.
Facilities Management works to clear snow Snow storm not unusual for this time of year AMBER FRIEND AND KATE BERGUM Campus Reporters
About 30 Facilities Management workers braved the snowy sidewalks Sunday to make campus safe for student traffic Monday. The landscape crew arrived around 8 a.m. and the custodial crew came two hours later to de-ice and plow sidewalks and building entrances as well as plow snow-covered streets, Facilities Management director Brian Ellis said.
The crew began work on the main streets early in the day, and then moved to clear secondary streets and parking lots. Since the main streets got slushy throughout the day, the crew came back later Sunday to finish those, Ellis said. To c l e a r t h e s n o w , Fa c i l i t i e s Management employees used snow trucks and bags of de-icer, Ellis said. “At least as far as we’re concerned, campus will be ready [Monday] morning,” he said. Employees primarily focused on clearing places students were likely to be on Sunday, such as the residence halls, the library and the Huston
Opinion: Gov. Fallin should use existing taxes to fund school shelters instead of raising property taxes. (Page 3)
Huffman Center, Ellis said. Custodial workers began clearing regular campus buildings when they got to work at 4 a.m. on Monday, he said. While the sidewalks should be clear Monday, students should still be careful and watch their footing, he said. “I encourage people (Monday) to be vigilant and take their time,” he said. Overall, the entire process of removing the snow and ice from campus walkways and building entrances should took around 10 hours in total, Ellis said. Sunday’s snow was typical for this time of the year, said Kevin Brown, SEE WEATHER PAGE 2
L&A: Take a look into the life of former Sooner and now DC comic writer Sterling Gates. (Page 2)
In mid-February red flags will blanket the South Oval as part of the Red Flag Campaign to raise awareness for dating violence, so that more people will speak up when they notice its effects. On Feb. 17, the Women’s Outreach Center will provide flags for students to write encouraging messages on and then place them on the South Oval for the rest of the week, Melanie Adams, Women’s Outreach Center programming coordinator said. “This engages our students about the topic, which in turn, creates better awareness as well as understanding,” Adams said. The Red Flag Campaign is designed to address dating violence and prevent it on college campuses. The red flags are supposed to remind students to say something when they see red flags, or indicators of dating violence, in their friends’ relationships, according to the campaign’s website. In 21 percent of college dating relationships, one of the partners is being abused. That’s one in five SEE AWARENESS PAGE 2
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