Monday, March 23, 2015

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OPINION: Unheard’s push for mandatory diversity training course would make OU better PAGE 6 The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

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Construction to eliminate 100 spots New parking garage will be accessible by 2017 KATE BERGUM

Assistant News Editor @kateclaire_b

A new parking garage will allow more cars on campus by 2017, but students who park on campus can expect additional challenges

finding a spot starting next m o nt h w h e n c o n st r u ction eliminates 100 parking spaces. Utility work on new residence halls will eliminate a faculty, staff and commuter parking lot on Lindsey and Asp starting April 6, said Vicky Holland, public relations specialist for OU Parking Services. Additionally, 600 additional parking spots will be

eliminated next fall as construction on the residence halls picks up, Holland said. A new 1,221 car parking garage on Asp Street is projected to be finished by Jan. 2017, which will give campus the 600 spots back and add about 700 more, Holland said. In the meantime, students will have to be patient, Holland said. “We’d like for them to

slap it up in a month so we wouldn’t lose all that parking,” Holland said. Members of the Student Government Association will speak to students about upcoming changes at Turn Up for Transit March 25, said Kendall Burchard, chairperson of SGA’s Department of the Interior. “I think it’s just a matter of having to come together to combat this challenge,”

Burchard said. In order to help improve the parking situation, SGA will encourage students to carpool or to bike to campus if possible, Burchard said. SGA members will also encourage students to forgo buying annual parking passes and buy daily parking passes on days where weather doesn’t allow them to bike or walk to campus, said Sean Christiansen, a member

of the Department of the Interior. Perhaps the best solution Parking Services can offer to students is the use of shuttles from the free parking lots at the Lloyd Noble Center, Holland said. Parking Services is working to let students know that using shuttles is easy and quick. The trip from the SEE PARKING PAGE 2

Using Twitter to find a spot

NO FLY ZONE

@OUParking helps Sooners find places to park on campus KATE BERGUM

Assistant News Editor @kateclaire_b

Sooners dash Dayton and book their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2009 (Page 6)

Oklahoma's Isaiah Cousins shoots a 3-point shot against Dayton in the first half of an NCAA tournament college basketball game in the Round of 32 in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, March 22, 2015. Photo by Paul Vernon/ The Associated Press

Zachary Barrett spends hours nearly every morning circling campus parking lots so other students don’t have to. Barrett, a linguistics and Chinese senior, is one of two marketing interns who tweet from the OU Parking Twitter account, updating students about available parking from 8-10 a.m. each morning. The Twitter account, created in 2011 at a student’s suggestion, has more than 3,100 followers, said Vicky Holland, public relations specialist for OU Parking Services. To count the spots, Barrett and one other student drive around the lots each morning — typically starting with the parking garages because they fill up quickly — in an OU Parking Services sedan, Holland said. Barrett winds around parking lots at an even pace, his eyes barely moving back and forth to count the spots. When he has driven to the top of a garage or the end of a lot, he pulls over in one of the empty spots and tweets how many spots are open. The Asp garage fills up the quickest, Barrett said. However, when he sends the first tweet, usually at about 8:15 a.m., the garage usually has about 250 spaces, he said. SEE TWITTER PAGE 2

Knights and squires dust off medieval garb Norman welcomes all ages to medieval fair this weekend ANDIE BEENE

Life and Arts Reporter @andie_beene

Kings, queens, knights, minstrels and peasants will arrive in Norman March 27 to 29. The 39th Annual Medieval Fair of Norman returns to Reaves Park for three days from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

WEATHER Partly cloudy. High of 76, low of 56. Updates: @AndrewGortonWX

The fair is free, and parking at Lloyd Noble Center costs $5. Ann Marie Eckart, fair coordinator, said over 350,000 people are expected to visit the fair. Among these visitors are those who Eckart called “playtrons,” people who dress in costumes resembling medieval clothes. Amanda Stinson, a computer science student at No r t h e r n O k l a h o ma College, is one of these visitors. Stinson, along with h e r hu s b a n d a n d t h e i r

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7-year-old daughter, has been attending medieval fairs since 2007 and dresses up every time. Stinson said she and her daughter wear what is considered “countr y wear,” which is less ornate than royalty clothing and has a loose fit, although Stinson said she occasionally wears a corset. She said her husband typically wears kilts but also has an outfit resembling those of the French Renaissance. However, Stinson said dressing up is “absolutely

not” necessary. “You don’t have to feel obligated at all,” Stinson said. In addition to the Norman fair, Stinson has gone to fairs in Las Vegas, Washington, California and Muskogee, Oklahoma and said there is a community in medieval fairs. “It’s almost like you don’t feel like people are judging you there because we’re all just a little bit crazy,” she said.

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Guards escort the king and queen across the square at the medieval fair in 2014. The fair will return to Norman on March 27 and will run SEE KNIGHTS PAGE 3 through March 29.

OU YAK OF THE DAY

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“One of my professors went to Michigan State, I hope he doesn’t do anything drastic to our class after the Sooners stomp his school.”

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