SPORTS • PAGE 5
Where are the champions now? Ten seasons ago, the Sooner football team won the BCS National Championship by defeating Florida State 13-2 in the FedEx Orange Bowl. The Daily’s Aaron Colen tracks down notable members from the 2000 championship team to detail their OU careers and what they are doing now.
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Students can now earn Arabic degree at OU Approval marks first time language will be offered as major in Oklahoma
“Arabic is important for many obvious, important reasons,” said Zach Messitte, vice provost of international programs. “Not only is there national security, but also a major percentage of the world speaks this language.” Messitte speaks some Arabic, and though he’s not an Arabic professor, he and a colleague helped establish the Arabic Language Flagship Program at OU. This program offers funding to students who want to understand
KATHLEEN EVANS The Oklahoma Daily
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved a new OU Arabic degree Thursday morning in Oklahoma City. This is the first time a bachelor’s degree in Arabic will be offered in the state of Oklahoma.
the language. OU currently offers an Arabic minor, according to the OU course catalog. Messitte said many students choose to study Arabic, so he expects many will take the opportunity to graduate with the degree. “When they go out to apply and say that not only can they speak the language but also understand the culture, what department won’t be taking a second look at that resume?” he said.
According to the Regents’ agenda, Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. More than 300 million people in the 20 Arab states speak it today. Also, about 1.3 million Muslims speak it every day in religious ceremonies. The degree will require 120 hours, according to the agenda. At least 12 people must enroll in the program, and five must graduate by 2014-2015 for final approval by the State Regents.
Electrical fire temporarily closes Union Flames in ConocoPhillips wing extinguished by sprinklers; no damage
[The sprinkler] was pouring water on the light, but the fire was still burning. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
KATHLEEN EVANS The Oklahoma Daily
The Oklahoma Memorial Union was closed Thursday afternoon due to an electrical fire started by a lamp in the ConocoPhillips Student Leadership Wing. No one was injured in the fire and nothing is reported as damaged, university spokesman Chris Shilling said. In the building’s foyer, a flame burst on a light’s electrical ballast and activated the nearby sprinkler, which extinguished the fire, said Grant Deason, Norman Fire Department assistant chief. The Norman Fire Department arrived around 4:25 p.m. but did not know when the fire started, he said. Students reported evacuating the union at about 4:15 p.m. Cory Lloyd, UOSA vice president and advertising senior, was in the wing when the fire started. A light shorted, the alarms went off and the sprinklers started going. There were only about six people in the area, he said. University College freshman Clint Shepherd was studying in the Will Rogers Food Court when the fire started and students were evacuated. “[The sprinkler] was pouring water on the light, but the fire was still burning,” Shepherd said. “It was the coolest thing I’ve
DHARA SHETH The Oklahoma Daily
NEIL MCGLOHON/THE DAILY
Firemen carry a ladder Thursday afternoon into the Oklahoma Memorial Union’s ConocoPhillips Student Leadership Wing. A light fixture in the entrance caught fire and triggered water sprinklers, which ran for about an hour.
Obama campaign logo designer shares methods More than 110 attended designer’s explanation of impact on 2008 campaign TREVOR SHOFNER The Oklahoma Daily
A logo, simple but deliberate in composition, has the potential to accomplish huge promotional feats, explained the designer of the popular “O” symbol that branded Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Sol Sender, founder and principal designer at Sender LLC, recounted the steps he took to brand
A LOOK AT WHAT’S NEW AT Log on to watch The Daily’s Luke Atkinson and Clark Foy discuss Saturday’s football game against the Florida State Seminoles.
TECHNOLOGY
Health information to be kept in disc made by Invisible Bracelet; sewn into jerseys
ever seen.” University College freshman Hannah Nicholas also was sitting in the Will Rogers Room when the alarms started going off. “All these people were still just sitting there, and no one was moving,” Nicholas said. “Finally, a guy came in and told us we had to leave. We came outside and could see the fire.” Everything but the ConocoPhillips w ing was opened again at 4:45 p.m., but the sprinklers were not shut off until 5:01 p.m. At 5:34 p.m., water still puddled on the ground, but firefighters were working on siphoning it out, Shilling said. Less than half an inch of water was on the ground, and it should be cleaned by Friday morning. Everything looks good, but the wing’s a little soggy, he said.
Sol Sender
Also approved at the meeting was a graduate certificate in management information systems, in area studies, in global studies and in communication, culture and pedagogy for Hispanic populations in educational settings.
ICEDOT to debut Saturday
— CLINT SHEPHERD, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE FRESHMAN
—Daily staff writers Emily Hopkins and Meredith Moriak contributed to this report
Other agenda items approved
Obama’s campaign to more than 110 people who attended his presentation Thursday at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. “While there’s nothing formally remarkable about the identity, what was very remarkable about it was the way in which it was used,” Sender said. A winner of numerous design awards, Sender and his company were commissioned in December 2006 to design a visual identity for a then relatively unknown junior senator from Chicago. “We had this notion of a new
THE OKLAHOMA DAILY VOL. 96, NO. 17 © 2010 OU Publications Board www.facebook.com/OUDaily www.twitter.com/OUDaily
day, something that fundamentally symbolized hopefulness, and we wanted to create something that conveyed this and was compatible on a variety of platforms,” Sender said. Sender outlined the story of his logo’s secret conception, the deliberation of its symbolism and its ride to becoming a memorable icon for a historic campaign. “We saw what was happening and sort of let go. I do think that one of the strengths of it was that SEE LOGO PAGE 2
INDEX Campus .............. 2 Classifieds .......... 6 Life & Arts ........... 5 Opinion .............. 4 Sports ................ 7
Injured OU athletes will now receive more effective and immediate medical care with ICEDOT. A new product will be unveiled at Saturday’s football game against Florida State. I C E D O T, o r “ I n C a s e o f Emergency” dot, is a form of personal identification technology that will provide emergency care providers immediate access to critical health information about injured athletes. OU is the first university to use this technology. ICEDOT uses coded discs to hold important h e a l t h i n f o rmation. These ONLINE AT discs can be at- OUDAILY.COM tached to athletic equipment » Story: Read the a n d a p p a r e l . complete article The eight-digit code each ICEDOT user is assigned can be stitched into apparel as well. Kenneth Mossman, Athletic Department associate director, said football players will have fabric panels with their ICEDOT identification number stitched onto the insides of their game jerseys, in compliance with NCAA regulation. Practice jerseys will use washable snaps attached to the jerseys. While football is the first sport to implement ICEDOT, all sports will utilize the safety device as the year continues. “It worked out well to start with football since their practices [started] in August, but as seasons continue we’ll bring it in to use with our other sports teams,” Mossman said. Funding for ICEDOT comes from Invisible Bracelet, also known as Docvia.
TODAY’S WEATHER 96°| 75° Saturday: Partly cloudy, high of 91 degrees Visit the Oklahoma Weather Lab at owl.ou.edu