The Oklahoma Daily

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THURSDAY RSDAY SEPTEMBER SEPTEM MBER 224, 4, 2009

THE UNIVERSITY OFF OKLAHOMA’S OKLAHOMA’S INDEPENDENT INDEP STUDENT VOICE

news n Fin out about Find the ceremony that accompanied Old acc Science Hall’s Sci name change. nam PAGE P PA G 3

The OU U softball team m posts its first win of the fall all season. PAGE PA GE 6

ANYTIME AT OUDaily

com

Check out what’s happening around Norman this weekend in The Daily’s Weekend Update. PAGE 9

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Friday’s Weather

ACTIVIST DISCUSSES HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES Cultural and societal conflict partly responsible for abuse

78°/52° owl.ou.edu

TROY WEATHERFORD The Oklahoma Daily

CAMPUS BRIEFS NBC’S BOB DOTSON TO SPEAK AT GAYLORD COLLEGE CHARLES WARD The Oklahoma Daily

Bob Dotson, a correspondent for “NBC News” and NBC’s “The Today Show,” will be at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication Thursday to give a pair of speeches about storytelling and the field of journalism. His first talk will be to a class of journalism students at 10:30 a.m., and will be followed by an address at 3:15 p.m. in Gaylord College’s Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Auditorium. The public is invited to the afternoon address, said Julie Jones, associate professor of journalism. BOB Dotson will DOTSON also address the crew of OU Nightly after its Thursday broadcast, and will remain in Norman to give the keynote address Friday to the Mid-America Press Institute’s NewsTrain seminar, Jones said. “Myself, personally, I’m looking forward to hearing what he says to the students about how the changes in the industry, he thinks is going to be trickling down to them, and how it’s changed his life at ‘The Today Show,’” Jones said. Dotson created “American Story with Bob Dotson,” a feature that appears periodically on not only “The Today Show,” but also other NBC News programs, according to “The Today Show’s” Web site. “Stories only happen to people who are allowed to tell them,” Dotson said on “The Today Show’s” Web site. “I look for the kind of guy who may never run for mayor, or go to the moon, or transplant a heart, but whose story may touch a viewer’s heart.” He has earned four national Emmy Awards and eight nominations during his career as a broadcast journalist, along with four Edward R. Murrow Awards for Writing, according to “The Today Show’s” Web site. Dotson has also authored two books and hosted a series of programs, “Bob Dotson’s America,” on the Travel Channel. “We’re calling him ‘America’s Story Teller,’ because we feel like … he has this phrase, he says ‘the stories of us,’” Jones said. “He tells the stories of us. And those are heartland stories, and it just fits with Oklahoma and what we’re trying to do here at the Gaylord school.” The visit to Oklahoma is a homecoming of sorts for Dotson. He began his career at WKY-TV in Oklahoma City, which is now KFOR, according to “The Today Show’s” Web site. He also makes a yearly visit to the National Press Photographer’s Association’s workshop, held during spring break at OU’s College of Continuing Education, Jones said. Dotson also donated his collection of story tapes to the Oklahoma Historical Society, said Larry O’Dell, director of collections from the Oklahoma Historical Society. The collection contains about 6,000 video tapes, along with manuscripts and photos Dotson collected from his career in journalism. “We’re in the process of trying to bring his archives to a state where scholars can use it, journalists can use it, educators can use it,” Jones said. “We’re in the early stages of that, and him coming here helps with that a lot.” FREE — ADDITIONAL COPIES 25¢

DUKE LAMBERT/THE DAILY

Franciska Issaka addresses OU students. Issaka is a women’s rights activist from Ghana who has dedicated most of her adult life to improving her hometown and advancing women’s rights.

The majority of African women face discriminatory, dehumanizing derogatory and harmful traditional and cultural practices on a daily basis, women’s rights activist Franciska Issaka said at the opening lecture of the “Women’s Rights Activists Voices from Around the World” Tuesday in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Issaka’s lecture, titled “Realizing Women’s Rights in Africa: The Interface Between Cultural and Universal Rights,” touched on human rights abuses and inequality for women in Africa, but focused primarily on Ghana. The Women’s Rights Activists Voices From Around the World series continues at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Kerr Auditorium of the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. Africa’s history led to a confusing system of laws where cultural rules, which are inherently detrimental to women’s rights, sometimes conflict with government laws, she said. “Culture contributes to the continued discrimination of women as second-class citizens,” Issaka said. According to Issaka, in Africa, marriage is about a man acquiring a wife, not about a union between the couple. Women are excluded from the marriage discussion. Men must provide gifts and an expensive dowry to the bride’s family, which makes

the women commodities. Thinking of women as property often results in the husband thinking that he has the right to beat his wife, Issaka said. Because of the treatment of women in marriage as property, women have had trouble obtaining rights to property. There are many UN declarations requiring that women be allowed to own property, but they aren’t enforced because cultural laws override them, Issaka said. Women are often forced into marriage when they are as young as six years old. These early marriages also result in many women being forced to drop out of school, Issaka said. Another inequality in African culture involves widowhood rites, she said. Women often must bear dehumanizing rites if their husband dies. In some cases this involves shaving the widow’s head, stripping her naked, tying a rope around her neck and then confining her in a room without food or water. Afterwards, she is brought out naked and subjected to a ritual bath by the villagers. If she complains, she is beaten, Issaka said. Elderly women are also victims of abuse, sometimes being banished to witch camps if someone believes that they may be a witch, Issaka said. Despite the horrors that are allowed to go on, not everything is bad about African culture, she said. According to Issaka, African culture has strong communal values and a respect for elders. Some places have women chiefs and allow women to own land. Issaka asked a question near the end of ABUSES CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

OU Cousins continues mission Bill criticized as of building new relationships hurting minorities Events let students interact with international students NATASHA GOODELL The Oklahoma Daily

In a culture that is vastly different from their own, international students are taking advantage of the OU Cousins program, which facilitates relationships between international students and American students. Students from various countries met together Wednesday evening at the OU Cousins Annual Kick-Off Party and Matching Event at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. “When I first came here [the U.S.], someone introduced me to OU Cousins, which was an opportunity to meet people from other countries,” said Nayoun Kim,

second semester exchange student from South Korea. Kim said this is her last semester at OU and she came to the Kick-Off Party this year as a way to get to know more students, help out if she could and see her OU Cousin. “I really like my OU Cousin a lot,” Kim said. “We met through OU Cousins last year and now we are the best of friends, I’ll miss her a lot.” Kaitlin West, history sophomore, said she didn’t get an OU Cousin at the start of last year, but met Kim second semester. “OU Cousins is flexible because it’s based on how much you and your cousin want to hang out,” West said. “Nayoun and I would do our own thing and attend OU Cousin events together.” West said they have attended a baseball

State Question 751 would require English-only state actions in November

MISSION CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

BILL CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

LARA SAAVEDRA AND CHARLOTTE LUNDAY The Oklahoma Daily

Oklahomans will only benefit from a multilingual society, James Crawford, president of the Institute for Language and Education Policy said to a crowd of students, faculty and advocates Wednesday night. Crawford, a guest speaker in the Presidential Dream Course series, promotes an English-plus philosophy, which he said uses multilingualism as a resource that promotes unity and creates an equal playing field. Mary Linn, anthropology professor and Dream Course participant, sought Crawford’s expertise in response to State Question 751, a provision on the ballot next November which would require all official state actions to be conducted in English. More commonly known as the “English-Only Bill”

Brothers take hassle out of football, away-game planning Graduate students launch Web site to assist sports fans in scheduling plans MATTHEW MOZEK The Oklahoma Daily

In early August, OU graduate students and brothers Matthew and David Price launched SportPac. com, a Web site that provides students with an all-in-one package including transportation and lodging for out-of-town football games. SportPac president and owner Matthew Price said it is the “hasslefree way for college students to attend away games.” Growing up Sooner fans, Matthew and David were able to travel to many OU football games, both home and away, where they began to notice that many students experienced difficulty traveling to away games, Matthew Price said. “We devised this plan to be able to get students to the away games,” Matthew Price said. “We have a good following, but we wanted to make it even better.” In February, Matthew and David took steps to help make their idea become a reality by starting a

business. This included acquiring licensing, a tax ID number, trademark, logo, Web site and bank accounts, Matthew Price said. Although starting one’s own business can be rewarding in many ways, one encounters many unforeseen issues as well, David Price said. “It gives me first-hand experience on the trials and tribulations of starting a business,” David Price said. “I can utilize these experiences later on in life.” “Because we’re handling the transportation of students to all of these away game destinations, and signing hotel contracts, we had to get insurance, which is something, in all of our talking, I never really planned on,” he said. In addition, Matthew Price said starting their business required a lot of persistence. “It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be,” Price said. “There were a lot of people who did not want to put faith and money into a start-up company run by college students.” OU college students who choose to purchase a SportPac package will be provided with two nights in BROTHERS CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

© 2009 OU PUBLICATIONS BOARD

LINDSAY HEMINGWAY/THE DAILY

Brothers Matt and David Price, both graduate students, are the owners of SportPac, a business that sells football ticket packages for OU away games. VOL. 95, NO. 26


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