FRIDAY APRIL 24, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY SITT Y OF OF OKLAHOMA’S OK KL AHOMA’’S INDEPENDENT INDE STUDENT VOICE Re about Read the former Sooners that So could be cou picked in this pic weekend’s we NFL draft. NF PAGE 5 PA
U See what OU researchers are doing to answer swer questions about bout the origins of tornadoes. PAGE 2
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The Norman Music Festival is Saturday! Check out The Daily’s six-page special section.
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UOSA court calls for new CAC election New CAC election may not take place until next semester CADIE THOMPSON The Oklahoma Daily
The UOSA Student Superior Court released their decision Thursday to invalidate the contested 2009 Campus Activities Council election. According to the court’s statement, the election was invalidated because an e-mail sent to students by an OU administrator endorsing candidate Tyler Nunley qualified as “irregularities in the conduct of the election” that were great enough that they affected the outcome. Now, the UOSA legislature must work to initiate a new election for CAC chair. With only a few weeks left in the semester, some legislators fear the election may not take place until the fall semester.
The court called the confusion surrounding the CAC election, “one of the most convoluted series of events ever to befall a university student election process.” Former CAC candidates, Tyler Nunley and Kely Van Eaton, both had issues in the 2009 election. Eaton filed a complaint against Nunley, who won the election by 181 votes, for unfair campaign practices the day after the election. Eaton’s complaint said Shannon English, the advisor for the International Advisory Committee, sent an e-mail endorsing Nunley to more than 1,500 international students. Six days later, on April 8, the UOSA Election Board disqualified Nunley for overspending on his campaign. But, Nunley chose to appeal the election board’s decision. The court heard arguments for both cases Monday evening. In the court’s decision released Thursday, the court reversed the board’s disqualification of Nunley and stated Nunley is a “qualified
candidate” in the race for CAC chair, but best for the student body,” said Van Eaton. fined Nunley $150 for overspending on his “This will make sure that it’s clear who the winner is.” campaign. Nunley said he is excited Yet, Nunley’s reinstate- “I believe it was the right about the new election and ment as a candidate doesn’t decision. Given all the ciris ready to start campaignmean he will be seated ing again. because the entire election cumstances they did what But, the candidates may was invalidated, said Mike they felt was best for the have to wait to make their Davis, a member of UOSA student body.” pitch again. General Counsel. While the legislative bodThe court granted ies are working to “expeEaton’s request to invali- KELY VAN EATON, CAC CANDIDATE dite an election” before the date the election. It reasemester is over, there is soned that although English’s e-mail was not illegal, it met the stan- no guarantee the election will happen before dard set in the UOSA Code as an “irregularity” school is out, Davis said. According to the UOSA code, dates for that impacted the election to such a degree as special elections must be established three to “render the result doubtful.” Both Van Eaton and Nunley said they stand weeks in advance and must pass through by the court’s decision and plan on running for Student Congress and the Graduate Senate before they can be approved by the UOSA CAC Chairman again. “I believe it was the right decision. Given all the circumstances they did what they felt was ELECTION CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
STUDENT HEALTH
STUDENTS RUN ON FUMES AS SEMESTER RUNS DOWN Expert says students may be sleep deprived without knowing it, should get more sleep JAMIE BIRDWELL The Oklahoma Daily
Most college students who are sleep deprived don’t know it, said Dr. Maroun Tawk, the medical director of the sleep program at the OU Health Sciences Center. Students often neglect to get the seven hours or eight hours of sleep their bodies need to function correctly and then don’t know why they’re having difficulties, Tawk said. Culturally, the American lifestyle doesn’t provide much opportunity for sleep because of early mornings, late nights and family responsibilities, Tawk said. In a sleep-deprivation survey, 74 percent of respondents said they feel they don’t get enough sleep, according to sleepdeprivation.com. “We’re too busy,” Tawk said. There are two different kinds of sleep deprivation, acute and chronic. Acute sleep deprivation happens when you don’t sleep for a long period of time, such as two days to three days, Tawk said. Chronic sleep deprivation happens when you continually miss one hour to two hours of sleep per night. Many people don’t realize they have a sleep deprivation problem when they’re losing only an hour or two of sleep per night, but the health effects are the same as acute sleep deprivation, Tawk said. The immediate effect of sleep deprivation is exhaustion, which can hinder driving abilities and ability to pay attention in class or at work, he said. Long-term effects of sleep deprivation can include weight gain due to an increased appetite, anxiety, depression and increased alcohol consumption, Tawk said. Tawk said sleep deprivation is seen across the board, but college students tend to think of sleep as an elective activity. Many college students don’t realize the effects it can have on their bodies, he said. Architecture students frequently suffer the effects of sleep deprivation, especially right before major projects are due,
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LILLY CHAPA/THE DAILY
Many students try to stay awake for irregular hours in order to study. A study shows that 74 percent of people don’t think they get enough sleep. Beth Pearcy, architecture sophomore said. no real stopping point because you’re constantly trying out “The longest I’ve ever gone without sleep is 50 hours,” she new ideas,” Pearcy said. said. “Sometimes it’s not so much that I’m going a whole week She said she had to sleep on the couch sometimes at the stuwithout sleep, but I’ll only sleep two to three hours a night.” dio because she didn’t have time to drive back to her bed and Many architecture students have sleeping bags next to their come back to class. projects in the architecture building a week or so before it’s due, “My freshman year, I would get really sick when I would stay she said. “Before a project is due, you work on it so much and there’s SLEEP CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
CAMPUS SECURITY
American Airlines State Regents approve withholding records CEO offers words of encouragement After review, State Regents DOCUMENT Read the campus believe withholding campus security records is important
security bill in question online.
CADIE THOMPSON The Oklahoma Daily
OUDAILY.COM
Campus emergency plans may soon be unavailable to the public. Oklahoma Senate Bill 585, introduced by John Ford, R-Bartlesville, would allow “certain public educational institutions to keep campus security plans confidential,” making some records relating to campus emergency response plans relating to acts of “terrorism” completely undisclosed to the public. Information relating to how students and faculty should respond to an emergency will still be available, but some “highly sensitive information” in how the university plans to respond to the threat will be kept confidential, said Ben Hardcastle, communication director for the Oklahoma
State Regents for Higher Education. The bill states records that include details for “deterrence or prevention of or protection from an act or threat of an act of terrorism,” may be kept confidential. Also, “records including details for response or remediation after an act of terrorism,” may be withheld. The Senate passed the bill and the House passed it with amendments. The Senate must approve or deny the amendments by Thursday. If the Senate approves the amendments, the bill will go to Gov. Brad Henry for approval. If the Senate denies the amendments, the bill will go to a conference committee. The Campus Life and Safety and Security Task Force originally made the
recommendation in their 2008 report to Henry, Hardcastle said. After the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, Henry charged the task force to review the security plans in state higher education and career technology institutions. The task force releases and annual report that reviews progress of their recommendations. Ford said he decided to carry the bill that officials from higher education proposed because he thinks it is in the best interest of the students. “I think it’s important for students at our universities and their parents to feel it’s a safe environment,” he said. “Some information shouldn’t be open to general public because some of those people do want to do some harm.” But Joey Senat, a Freedom of Information Oklahoma representative, said withholding the information could cause some harm. If emergency plans are not available for review, there will be no way to determine
SECURITY CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
Current economic crisis triggers a time for perseverance, strength RICKY MARANON The Oklahoma Daily
Business students, some of whom are graduating into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, received encouragement from a prominent business leader Thursday afternoon. Chairman and CEO of American Airlines Gerard Arpey spoke to students in the Oklahoma Memorial Union about persevering in tough economic times and also gave business tips. “Life is difficult,” Arpey said. “I didn’t come here to depress you, but I focus on suffering so we can figure out how to confront this reality.” He highlighted the story of Abraham Lincoln, mentioning him as someone who rose above his CEO CONTINUES ON PAGE 2