The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
T u E s DaY, auG u s T 2 8 , 2 012
W W W.O U DA I LY.C O M
2 011 S I LV E R C R O W N W I N N E R
TiPsY fOR a CaUse
Sports: Five basketball games to keep an eye on this season (Page 5)
L&a: Othello’s helps family after fire (Page 7)
OUDaily.com: Listen to a podcast about weekend sporting events
iNTeRNaTiONaL sTUdeNTs
Noncitizens must open accounts off campus Credit Union does not permit membership without proper IDs ARIANNA PICKARD Campus Reporter
OU international students must look off campus to open checking or savings accounts and face higher deposit fees because OU’s credit union lacks the resources to provide the services to noncitizens. The OU Federal Credit Union, the only banking option on campus, does not allow students to become members without a social security number and a
state-issued identification, said Jenny Parrish, branch manager of the OU Federal Credit Union’s Oklahoma Memorial Union branch. The credit union created this requirement because of effects of the Patriot Act, said Christy Robertson, branch manager of the of the OU Federal Credit Union’s Lindsey Branch. If those forms of identification were not required, t h e u n i o n w o u l d hav e to track I-9 forms for tax
purposes — something the credit union’s staff is too small to handle, Robertson said. The I-9 form is a document required by the federal government for all citizen and noncitizen employees in the U.S., according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ website. “It really has a lot to do with size,” Robertson said. “We’re so small that we really don’t have the resources to waive that requirement. We’ve revisited it a few times because there are international students, and
we like to service as much of the OU community as we can. It’s just something that our size doesn’t allow for.” Mike Smith, vice president of the OU Federal Credit Union, agreed the staff size inhibits the university from not requiring those extra forms of identification. “It’s just that it is more risky,” Smith said. “You have to be trained to try and spot fake IDs and fake passports and we’re just not set up to do that at this time.” This means the only option for international
students to open checking or savings accounts is to go to a private bank, such as MidFirst, Arvest or Chase, where the first deposit to start an account is almost always more expensive. Private banks such as MidFirst, Arvest and Chase open checking and savings accounts for international students, but their deposit fees can be up to $95 more expensive than OU’s credit union’s. “Typically most of the exchange [students] open bank accounts at Arvest
BY THE NUMBERS deposit Comparison
$5 $25 $25 $100
Ou Federal Credit union MidFirst Bank student price Chase student price arvest
Source: Bank representatives, websites
see FINANCE Page 2
safeRide
VOTeR dRiVe
Service credits class, surveys More than 35,000 rode SafeRide in ’11-’12 school year LINDSEY RUTA Campus Editor
heaTher BrOWn/The Daily
Members of the OU volleyball team work at the Women’s Outreach table on the south Oval on Monday. elections will be held in November, 2012.
Students register to vote on campus Volleyball team helps Women’s Outreach Center with voter drive MELODIE LETTKEMAN Campus Reporter
More Sooners will be joining the ranks of voters in Cleveland County as student organizations set up voter registration drives in preparation for the Nov. 6 general election. T h e Wo m e n ’s O u t r e a c h Center’s voter registration drive continues today, in celebration of Women’s Equality Day, which was Sunday. Emma NewberryDavis, an intern at the center and women’s and gender studies
BY THE NUMBERS Norman Voters
27,284
registered republicans
28,029
registered Democrats
9,174
registered independents
63,915
Total registered voters Source: Cleveland County Election Board
senior, sweated out the first day of the drive, where she said the turnout was high. “It’s been really good out here, considering the heat,” she said. “People are excited. They know it’s important to vote.” Helping the center with the drive, where students could fill out registration cards for the center to mail for them, was the OU volleyball team. The players shouted out into crowds of students, urging them to register and congratulating those who already had. One of the students the y lured in was Suzanne Varughese, petroleum engineering and Spanish junior. Varughese missed out on voting
when she’d first been eligible. “I turned 18 the day before I moved to OU,” she said. “I was too late for an absentee ballot, but this time I’m thinking ‘why not.’” Varughese credits her Indian background for her eagerness to vote. “It may sound cliché, but now women and people of color can vote, so they should,” she said. “[People] think racism was limited to just African Americans, but my grandfather had to drink from a colored fountain.” This weekend, the executive committee of Young Democrats see VOTe Page 2
The student voice behind the changes made to the SafeRide program may have been overstated by the university. T h i s s u m m e r, t h e SafeRide program was changed to a voucher system — where students are allotted three vouchers a week to use the taxi service, The Daily reported on July 18. The changes came after complaints from students about the wait time for cabs, said Brynn Daves, OU student programs director. The switch to the voucher system was the result of surveys conducted since 2009 as well as a meeting see SAFERIDE Page 3
Poll ranks OU Law as a top 20 bestvalue college Campus: Ou law jumps 14 places in national Jurist best-value law schools rankings. (Page 3)
Transportation bond will make Norman safer Opinion: students should go out and vote “yes” on today’s bond proposal to improve the city’s streets and drainage. (Page 4)
TOBaCCO BaN
Sooners successfully conform to policy, OUPD says Adherence leads to cleaner campus, OU official says CHASE COOK
Assistant Campus Editor
A majority of OU employees and students seem to be observing the tobacco ban policy, as OU police have had limited interactions with policy breakers, and
oud-2012-8-28-a-001,002.indd 1
landscaping workers are spending less time picking up cigarette butts, OU officials said. Since the tobacco ban policy was implemented July 1, OU police have responded to about 12 instances of tobacco use on campus, OU police department spokesman Lt. Bruce Chan said. Citizens either flag down officers on patrol
or call the non-emergency hotline to report the incident, Chan said. Every officer response to tobacco use has been a verbal warning as of now, he said. OU police have not issued any citations. Landscaping and Grounds director Allen King said he has seen an improvement on campus since the policy was put
into effect. The common clean up areas are noticeably cleaner, King said. There is more time to work on the gardens and other ground maintenance since workers aren’t having to pick up butts and drive around to empty ashtrays, King said. “It gives us more time,” King said. “It’s an hour to an hour and a half a week that
we could be doing something more productive.” King also said some of his 65 full-time employees are making efforts to quit, such as attending clinics set up by facilities management or using electronic cigarettes. King himself smoked but quit cold turkey more than 20 years ago, he said. see TOBACCO Page 2
VOL. 98, NO. 10 © 2012 OU Publications Board FREE — Additional copies 25¢
INSIDE TODAY Campus......................2 Clas si f ie ds................6 l i f e & a r t s ..................7 O p inio n.....................4 spor ts........................5 Visit OUDaily.com for more
facebook.com/OuDaily
twitter.com/OuDaily
8/27/12 10:30:09 PM