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The men’s gymnastics team placed second at the NCAA qualifier Thursday night. Recap on page 5.
Read about dozens zens of box office options tions coming this summer. mer. More on page ge 3.
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OUDAILY.COM » LOOK FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE UOSA SPRING 2010 RUN-OFFF ELECTION AND BREAKING NEWS THROUGHOUT THE DAY AT OUDAILY.COM
COURT ORDERS RUN-OFF ELECTION UOSA Superior Court rules voting system used for presidential general elections as unconstitutional; schedules special election April 26 and 27 TROY WEATHERFORD Daily Staff Writer
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Nobuyuki Tsujii plays piano with the OU Symphony Orchestra on Thursday night at the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall in the Catlett Music Centre. Tsujii is blind and began playing the piano at 2 years old. He began his six-stop nationwide tour at OU and will end the tour in New York City.
Renowned pianist plays to full house Nobuyuki Tsujii kicks off nationwide tour with concert at OU with university orchestra RICKY MARANON Assignment Editor
A world-renowned blind pianist from Japan played for a packed crowd Thursday night. Nobuyuki Tsujii began his six-stop nationwide tour in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall and will eventually end his tour at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. “It’s so good to be here and play for you tonight,” Tsujii said through a translator. “I hope you enjoy what we have planned
for you tonight.” Tsujii said he never thought in his life that he would play in the state of Oklahoma. OU President David Boren said he was happy to host Tsujii and was proud of OU’s orchestra students for practicing with Tsujii to prepare for the concert. “We have a real special night planned,” Boren said at a dinner in the Oklahoma Memorial Union before the concert. “It is an honor to host such a talented artist and musician.” Born blind in Tokyo in 1988, Tsujii displayed his musical talents early in life, playing “Jingle Bells” on a toy piano at 2 years old after hearing his mother humming the tune. He PIANIST CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
Yearbook sex survey yields mixed responses Results will be analyzed to reflect students’ interests and activities, yearbook editor says DANIELA MCCORMICK Daily Staff Writer
Sooner Yearbook’s survey on sex received a growing response from students as soon as it was sent Thursday. Yearbook staff adviser Lori Brooks said she sent a mass e-mail to students on behalf of Sooner Yearbook around 2 p.m. Thursday, and students started taking the survey within one minute. “Within five minutes of it being sent, we got 300 responses,” said Brooks, who said she neither approves nor controls the yearbook’s content. Yearbook editor Nicole Hill, journalism junior, said she created the survey because she wanted the yearbook to reflect students’ interests and activities.
Hill said she wants to create a yearbook that students will find relevant, and sex is relevant to students. “Guess what? This year people are having sex,” she said. “I don’t think it’s inappropriate to feature that side of life. This year’s theme is Emblem so we’re trying to be emblematic this year.” Hill said when the survey ends next week, she will compile and analyze the data to see any trends. She said some students who left their contact information will be interviewed about their answers, and there will be an accompanying story in the yearbook along with the data. Hill said she’s excited about the number of people who have responded. She said around 40 people have left their email addresses, and the number of people who have taken the survey is rising. “Seven hundred people thought ‘I’ll answer it!’” Hill said. “ That’s comforting.”
The number of responses had risen to more than 1,000 by 7 p.m. Thursday. Brooks said many students have left negative or positive comments about what they think of the survey. Brooks said some students said the survey was inappropriate and asked why it was sent; other students said they’re glad the survey was created. “The positive comments about the survey far outweigh the negative comments,” Brooks said. University College freshman Kristina Baez said she hasn’t taken the survey yet, but she doesn’t know why Sooner Yearbook has created the survey. “I’m wondering what the point is,” Baez said. “Why are you wanting to know someone else’s dirty details?” University College freshman Tim Pullin said he thought the survey was a good thing and interesting. He said he hasn’t taken the survey but won’t mind SEX CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
The UOSA Superior Court ruled Thursday there will need to be a run-off election to decide who will be UOSA president and vice president from fall 2010 through spring 2011. The voting system asks that voters rank candidates for a particular office in order of preference. The purpose of this ranking is to conduct an automatic run off in the event that no candidate receives a majority of the votes. The court stated voters who did not rank Ally Glavas and Franz Zenteno as either choice No. 1 or 2 were most likely not counted in the final results of the original election March 30 and 31. The Meeks Voting System, which was used in the UOSA presidential general election, was unconstitutional, the court stated. It does not conform to the UOSA Constitution because not only did the winning campaign not receive a majority of the votes, but some voters, who as ruled by the court had their ballots uncounted, were not able to make a final choice between Glavas and Zenteno. “We order that a new run-off election must be held between the two campaigns earning the largest number of votes in the first iteration conducted under the current system — the Glavas campaign and the Zenteno campaign,” the court majority opinion stated. A bill recently passed by UOSA states the run-off election is scheduled April 26 and 27. The candidates also have a $200 spending limit. “We are looking forward to getting out and asking people to vote for us again,” Glavas said. “We’re using some of the old campaign materials that we’ve saved from the last election.” Zenteno said he looks forward to reaching out to students who did not vote for him or Glavas. “We want to use this as a time to reach out to other students and let them know that we want to hear their concerns just as much as we did [during the election],” Zenteno said. The court also ruled that UOSA President Katie Fox violated UOSA Code when she endorsed candidates Ally Glavas and Zac McCullock in her official capacity as UOSA president on a YouTube video. Additionally, the court ruled the GlavasMcCullock campaign violated election rules by setting up their own polling places using personal laptops to get people to vote. Glavas said her campaign received UOSA CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
CEO gives economic-recovery strategies, predictions Sharp focus, prudent investing will get companies through turbulent times, speaker says GREGORY MAUS Daily Staff Writer
Many people in Europe consider the recent financial crisis a sign of the failure of capitalism, but this sentiment is much less common in North America and generally derided in emerging markets, a Fortune 100 CEO said Thursday in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium. James Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst and Young, said leaders in Europe are attempting to implement protectionist and socialistic policies that deny the inevitable effects of globalization. “Whether we all like it or not,
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globalization is here to stay,” he said. Ernst & Young was the 10th largest private company in the U.S. in 2009, according to Forbes magazine. Fortune magazine listed the company, which has approximately 144,000 employees in 140 countries, among the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Turley said he believes a prediction about the recovery from the financial crisis that he described as LUV, wherein the shapes of the letters represent the type of recovery for each area of the world. Europe (L) will not recover, North America (U) will gradually recover and emerging markets (V) will bounce back rapidly. He said this isn’t the only division of perspectives about the financial crisis, citing a study his company carried out at the height of the crisis, in which only 20 percent of multinational corporations surveyed said
they were looking for new opportunities continue to grow because of its willingness rather than focusing entirely upon mini- to learn from others. He said Russia also mizing their losses, and 67 percent of en- would grow, though “[Russia doesn’t] have trepreneurs surveyed said they were look- the same willingness to learn as China.” ing for new opportunities. However, he said China will not be the “These are really, really turbugreatest winner in Asia, casting lent times. They’re game-changing it as the hare to India’s tortoise. times,” Turley said. He bases this upon India’s more He said individuals and groups democratic society and populawith a sharp focus on execution tion, which will remain younger and a prudent yet aggressive inthan China’s during the next few vesting strategy will thrive. decades. He also gave his thoughts on As for the second trend, he said, more long-term trends on busi“Really diverse teams are either ness, stating that the two most JAMES world class or they stink.” important shifts in the next two He ascribed the difference to TURLEY the specific culture, which either decades would be financial shifts from West to East and a demoallows the participants to share a graphic trend toward greater diversity wide variety of understandings and expeamong business people. rience, or simply results in internal conflict On this first trend he said China will and miscommunication.
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