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The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

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Sooner Sense options shrink Off-campus program discontinued due to lack of use by university students MEREDITH EVERITT AND ALYSSA GRIMLEY The Oklahoma Daily

Students using Sooner Sense to purchase off-campus goods will have fewer options starting today as Housing and Food Services plans to discontinue its merchant program with off-campus restaurants. Off-campus restaurants will no longer accept Sooner Sense as a form of payment because fewer students are using Sooner One Cards off

campus, said Lauren Royston, Housing and Food spokeswoman. As more students get access to debit cards, they stop using Sooner Sense as much, Royston said. Sooner Sense lets students and faculty use the identification card they already have to carry as a debit card, according to OU’s Sooner One Card website. Students will still be able to use Sooner Sense at all on-campus restaurants, parking at the Oklahoma Memorial Union, copy machines in the library and many on-campus vending machines, Royston said. However, unlike many debit cards, usage

is limited to certain places, and users cannot withdraw cash from the account, according to OU’s website. OU decided to drop the off-campus option at this point in the summer rather than at the end or beginning of a term because it coincides with the end of the fiscal year, Royston said. Some businesses and retailers have to pay small fees on each transaction to whichever card provider a customer uses. Sooner Sense has a fee as well, Royston said. READ THE FULL STORY ON OUDAILY.COM

MARC BREIDY/THE DAILY

A Confucius Institute instructor guides Chinese camp students around OU’s campus Monday. The institute teaches Chinese to children on the Norman and Tulsa campuses. Chinese has been identified as a critical-need language for young Americans by the U.S. government.

Camp teaches Chinese language University hosts summer language camp costs, but parents still pay a $200 fee for the for children K-6th at Confucius Institute two-week camp, Gou said. Some of these ONLINE AT OUDAILY.COM ENJOLI DI PATRI

The Oklahoma Daily

An OU institute is hosting a Chinese summer camp in affiliation with a federal program aimed at increasing the number of Americans learning critical-need languages such as Chinese and Arabic. OU’s Confucius Institute received a $100,000 grant from the federal government’s STARTALK program to hold a camp that teaches Chinese to children, said Sharon Gou, Confucius Institute director. The grant covers the majority of camp

costs are offset by 15 scholarships, she said. Chinese is one of 10 critical-need languages offered through the STARTALK program. The Chinese language camp is held on the Norman and Tulsa campuses. The Norman campus has 34 students enrolled, and the Tulsa campus has 26. Teachers and students begin the morning with either Tai Chi or Kung Fu at 9 a.m. before beginning their language classes at 9:30 a.m. One of the camp’s instructors, Luping Wang, teaches the beginner-level students. Wang has been teaching for six years, beginning with Chinese children at a local Chinese school.

» Links: More information and resources about the Confucius summer camp She now teaches at Norman Public Schools when the camp isn’t in session. The beginner level focuses on getting students confident that they understand what the instructor is saying, Wang said. After lunch, students study one of five culture classes on a rotating basis that are taught by culture experts at a professor level.

RESEARCH

Cancer research center to be dedicated today Oklahoma will cut the ribbon on a cancer care and research facility today that is the biggest publicprivate partnership initiative in state history, a university spokesman said. The Peggy and Charles Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center ribboncutting ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. today and will feature a speech by Siddhartha Mukherjee, university spokesman Chris Shilling said. Mukherjee won the Pulitzer Prize for his non-fiction book “The Emperor of all Maladies: The Biography of Cancer.” The book recounts a history of cancer and its relationship with people and science. This research center, located on the Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City, will offer treatments that can’t be found within a 550-mile radius, Shilling said. “It offers some of the best technology available to treat patients,” Shilling said. “It offers a warm, inviting place to be and world-class treatment.” The state government appropriated over $60 million for the center; it was a huge collaborative effort, Shilling said. The major private contributors to the cancer research center were donors Peggy and Charles Stephenson, after whom the cancer center will be named. Among other contributors were President David Boren, Molly Shi Boren and several Indian tribes, Shilling said. “They put a lot of their time, energy and effort into raising funds,” Shilling said. The center will host a breakfast at 8 a.m. Thursday, and the ribbon-cutting will follow in the Healing Garden, Shilling said. The research center will host an open house from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Shilling said. — Alyssa Grimley/The Daily

READ THE FULL STORY ON OUDAILY.COM

CAMPUS CORNER

BALLET

Lights out for Norman Othello’s Dance the summer away Campus staple closes doors after nearly 40 years in Norman

Ballet instructor has found home for teaching OU students the art of dance; prepares for school year by teaching summer classes

CARMEN FORMAN

BRENDAN COUGHLIN

A battle with legal fees led to the closing Monday of a Norman business that offered entertainment and drinks for 38 years. Charlie Rayl, the person in charge of booking shows at the restaurant, and a press release from owner Jennifer Burgell confirmed Othello’s closure Tuesday. “The rumors are true — the owners made the decision yesterday,” Rayl said Tuesday. In 2008, the Morgan family was named in a lawsuit against the owners of the property and the former owners of the restaurant due to an unpaid lien on the property, according to a press release. Because of the legal fees the

OU’s new ballet instructor is proud to be working for what she calls the “best dance program in the country.” Clara Cravey, who has had her name on posters in front of the Theatre Champs-Elysees in Paris and the Volksoper Theatre in Vienna, has made a home in Norman to contribute her instructing talents to the OU School of Dance. On Tuesday afternoon, Cravey was found in a studio at the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center surrounded by girls attending the SummerWind Youth Ballet Camp, a dance camp that draws dancers from across the country. Cravey critiqued the young dancers in everything from arm movements to head positions. Cravey’s office walls are decorated with framed posters showcasing performances at famous theClara Cravey aters, and each poster has her name in bold letters. Clara humbly waved them off as “just some posters I’ve collected throughout the years.” READ THE FULL STORY ON OUDAILY.COM

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CARMEN FORMAN/THE DAILY

The lights were out at Othello’s on Tuesday. The restaurant and bar closed in part because of a battle with legal fees.

owners of Othello’s had to pay, it to a press release. was hard to maintain quality service and make a profit, according SEE CLOSED PAGE 4

A LOOK AT WHAT’S ON SoonerStock opened its final show of the summer, “The Secret Garden,” this week.

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