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HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
OU HSC receives $10 million Money will help lead to further research at new cancer center LINDSEY RUTA Campus Editor
President David Boren announced a major new grant for ongoing cancer research on the Health Sciences Center campus. The Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center has received a $10 million grant from the National Institute of Health, Boren announced Wednesday morning at the center. The grant will help further
the cancer research done by the center — which only been open for 13 months, Boren said. “That’s certainly cause for celebration for all of us,” he said. More than 18,000 Oklahomans are diagnosed with cancer each year, according to the state’s website. Boren said the grant was a tremendous credit to the staff at the center and a
tribute to all Oklahomans. The National Institute of Health gets a lot of grant applications, and they only award funding to a small percentage of applicants, said Jari Askins, the director of marketing and outreach at the center. “So, we feel very fortunate that the application and the work that has been performed by our researchers here seem to draw the attention of the grant from the [National Health Institute] staff,” Askins said. A s k i n s c re d i t s p re v i ous work done by OU
researchers with the new funding the center received. “A nu mb e r o f ou r re searchers on staff here receive NIH funding so clearly our researchers have a good track record-have great credibility,” she said. Although the center only has been open a little over a year, Askins said they are pleased with the marks in the first year in terms of patients who have ben seen and the number of patients who have participated in clinical trials. “Everything has worked
extremely well, and the grant that we received continued to put the center on path to seek [National Cancer Institute] designation as a comprehensive [cancer treatment center],” she said. Research is a key part of achieving that goal, Askins said, and the grant helps them improve upon that. Arianna Pickard contributed to this story. Lindsey Ruta lruta@ou.edu
GLBTQ
MUSEUM
Sam Noble director retires Peter Tirrell now works as an adjunct professor NADIA ENCHASSI Campus Reporter
The Sam Noble Museum of Natural History’s associate director has retired after 36 years of service. The award-winning associate director Peter Tirrell retired from the museum Aug. 31. During his tenure at the museum, Tirrell handled a large array of duties, according to a press release. He oversaw all the programs and exhibits of the museum and even developed a few of his own, said Jen Tregarthen, museum spokeswoman. “His job description was pretty extensive,” Tregarthen said. Tirrell will continue his work at OU by acting as an adjunct professor for OU’s Museum Studies program. The Sam Noble Museum of located at Timberdell Road and C hau t au q u a Av e nu e. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for youth ages 6 to 17. Children ages 5 and under get in free.
Nadia Enchassi nadia.j.enchassi@gmail.com
Sooners get recruits from Texas team KYVEN ZHAO/THE DAILY
Carson Edmonds, University College freshman, walks along the South Oval on Wednesday. Edmonds, who faced hostility from residents in his hometown, Morris, Okla., has been excited to come to college since middle school and said he feels much more open at OU and is slowly growing more comfortable.
Student no longer lives a ‘half-life’ Group welcomes students to help build a larger campus presence PAIGHTEN HARKINS Campus Reporter
He is a musician. He played oboe in his high school marching band. He loves all languages, but his favorite is Chinese. He was a weekly church-goer with a mom, a dad and three brothers. But while he was all of those things, he could never fully be himself. He was only part of himself, walking a thin line between those who truly knew him, and those who only thought they did. This man lived a half-life, a hokey pokey as he described it,
AT A GLANCE GLBTF Meetings GLBTF meets at 7:30 p.m. every Wednesday in Wagner Hall, Room 280. just because he was gay. “[I] stuck my half side out of the closet, stuck my half side back in,” University College freshman Carson Edmonds half-sang as he sat in the shade looking across the South Oval. Edmonds is from the small town of Morris, Okla. where he jokes the cattle outnumber the people and opinions about the LGBT community are thoroughly mixed.
“Back home [being gay] is really taboo, so it gets talked about a lot,” he said. He recalled one time in a chemistry class when a group of students sitting next to him began talking about how much they hated gay people. One student said that he wouldn’t eat at a certain restaurant in their town because it “was owned by fags.” “It just really hurt,” he said. The students weren’t trying to be malicious. They weren’t specifically targeting Edmonds, but their blind, unfounded hate still stings, he said. “They’re so ignorant about [the LGBT community] that they don’t know how to spot a gay person,” he said. “I was right there.”
It was comments like those that made Edmonds feel out of place, like he wasn’t allowed to be himself, he said. But the problems didn’t stop once the school bell rang and he was able to go home. If anything, they just got worse. Edmonds told his parents he was gay last winter. Before then, he said he had distanced himself from his family because he didn’t think it would be something he could talk to them about, Edmonds said. “My parents knew something was up, but I wouldn’t talk to them,” he said. One night after a somber dinner that Edmonds spent in silence, he retired to his room only
SPORTS: The OU hockey team has received several recruits from a Texas minor league team, including seven current Sooners. (Page B1)
Students at risk from predatory credit lending Opinion: Student credit cards may seem safer, but they come with the same risks and requirements. (Page A4)
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ORGANIZATION
Freshman raises awareness about gluten-free food Student uses word-of-mouth to support initiative
start an organization to raise awareness about gluten-free foods and gluten intolerance, a certain type of food allergy. JESSICA BARRERA University College freshCampus Reporter man Breshell Hurley has A n O U f re s h m a n h a s been using word-of-mouth begun taking the steps to recr uitment w ithin her
oud-2012-9-06-a-001,002.indd 1
dor m and soror ity, Chi Omega, to garner support for the organization. OU Student Affairs was receptive to the idea, Hurley said, but it asked her to generate more student interest before moving forward. Hurley said her plan to
raise awareness about food allergies would allow students to seek out appropriate food options through the university. Choosing the right food can become difficult when there are hundreds of options offered to freshmen in
the cafeteria without each ingredient labeled properly, Hurley said. Hurley would like to get the word out in Norman to help other student with food allergies to feel more comfortable and more at SEE DISEASE PAGE A2
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