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July 15, 2009
The Student \oice of the tJniversity of Central 01:1. 1/411ioma Since 1Q03
Kern's morality decree incites outcry on issues
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come up with this," Clayton said. "Instead of coming up with some ideas of how to StqffW Writer help our local and state economy, she's more focused on State Representative Sally preaching from her position Kern, R—Oklahoma City, has in the government." once again gained attention UCO Sophomore Whitney with her "Proclamation for Caldwell disagreed. Morality." "I'm not saying [that] I Last month, Kern intro- agree with her but if that's duced the proclamation, a what she wants to do, then petition for Oklahoma voters she can do it," Caldwell said. to sign, as a way to stand up The document is not legand say they want to declare islation, but rather a statetheir opposition to immoral- ment of beliefs. Among ity in America. those statements, the docuShe is getting plenty of ment reads that those who attention for the proclama- sign it are "alarmed that the tion, from both people dis- Government of the United satisfied with her actions and States of America is forsakthose who support them. ing the rich Christian heriKern has become famous tage upon which this nation across America for her vocal was built," and "deeply disopposition to gay marriage turbed that the Office of the and gay lifestyles. president of these United Last year, it was Kern who States disregards the biblical became the face of the oppo- admonitions to live clean and sition to gay marriage in pure lives by proclaiming an Oklahoma as YouTube clips entire month to an immoral of her saying that gays were behavior." The latter statea larger threat to the U.S. ment is a reference to the than terrorism started float- president's proclamation ing around the internet. that June be Lesbian, Gay, In April 2008, after Bisexual, and Transgender audio files of her speeches Month. made their way around the Kern said at a press web, the Associated Press conference last month at quoted Kern saying "you the state capital that after cannot separate your faith receiving enough signatures, from life." she very well may send the UCO senior Matthew proclamation to Gov. Brad Clayton is among those who Henry, D—Oklahoma, and do not support what Kern President Barack Obama. has done. Kern's office was contact"I think it's a tremendous ed for this story but did not waste of time for [Kern] to respond. Ryan Saylor
Photo by Vista photographer Musleh Alkhathami
Movie Night at UCO Housing, July 7. "We want to encourage students to come out of their rooms and enjoy being together watching a movie or any other outdoor activity," said Levi Harrel, a sophomore in organizational communication.
Greek Life to pour Summer Tea to introduce students to sororities Austin Melton StaffITriter
Greek Life and the UCO Panhellenic Council are hosting the annual Summer Tea event for students new to sorority life. The event will be held on July 19 in the Nigh University Center Ballrooms. The event will explain the fundamentals of sorority life and explain the registration process for Rush Week. "[The event is] to help educate the women on sorority membership and help them feel more comfortable with the rush process," Assistant Director of Greek Life and Student Organizations Jessica Schwab said. The event will be open to parents as well as students. There is a special session for the parents to help them feel more informed and comfortable with their children engaging in Greek life. During this session, parents will be able to address any concerns and questions they have with chapter advisors. One feature of the event will be a
"Summer Tea is the perfect opportunity for women who are thinking about going Greek at UCO." --Jessica Schwab
fashion show to help the women learn how to dress during Rush week. Other local schools have similar events, but the annual Summer Tea is unique to UCO. "Summer Tea is the prefect opportunity for women who are thinking about going Greek at UCO," Schwab said. The event is only offered for sororities. Last March, a Greek Discovery Day was planned to educate potential members about all Greek Houses, including fraternities, but was cancelled due to weather. The UCO Inter-Fraternity Council is planning a meet-and-greet this fall to acquaint potential pledges with fraternity life. "Attendance has no bearing on the recruitment process," Schwab said. "It is meant to be purely educational."
The event has hosted approximately 300 people in the past and event organizers expect to see a slight increase this year. Only Panhellenic sororities will be present at the event. Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Zeta, and Sigma Kappa are those that will be represented. While geared mainly at incoming freshman, any enrolled UCO woman wanting to learn about sorority life and the rush process is encouraged to attend. Attendance is free and registration is open up until the day of the event. Students wishing to attend can register online at www.uco.edu/greek or by contacting the Greek Life office at (405) 974-2580.
UCONNECT to disconnect old e-mails Sept. 1 Caleb McWilliams staff (Vim,
Older e-mails in the UCONNECT system have been moved to a temporary folder and will be deleted September as the portal system goes through an upgrade, said Dr. Cynthia Rolfe, vice president for information technology. Emails received before June 19 are now in the "Temporary Email" folder on the left folder in the e-mail center and users will need to be move messages they want to save to the e-mail inbox. Instructions on where the old messages are and how to move them are available from UCONNECT under the Home tab. "The system that UCONNECT sits on had an upgrade," Rolfe said. "Any system that you have is going to have periodic updates for various reasons to add features, to improve on security or to fix security holes."
"For most large systems like in the look and feel of the product, not UCONNECT, if you don't keep up to just behind the scenes," Rolfe said. date, the vendor will not continue to "We were the first university in the support the product for you," she said. state to have a portal that allowed you Planned upgrades to the system next to enroll online and offer a bunch of the year also made it necessary to upgrade other services, so we were kind of ahead UCONNECT in order for it to be able to of the pack," she said. "The downside to read information from the new system, that is that we have a system that's not she said. as modern as some of the others that Brad Stitt, portal administrator, said are out there." this was the easiest way to upgrade the New upgrades or updates usually system, and that this way would let the have a few bugs that the vendor has to students move e-mails at their discre- clear out, Rolfe said, and that is why tion. upgrades are not installed right away. "If we had done it the way we ini"We usually try to keep up with all of tially wanted to, it would have probably the latest versions within six monthstaken about a week of down time to ish of the release of the new version," actually implement," he said. she said. Besides what they have to do with Rolfe said that they are always lookthe e-mail, this October upgrade is ing for student volunteers to test sys"back office"and students "won't even tems that they are updating or upgradknow about it," Mike Wood, IT direc- ing. tor, said. "We actually will give them a test Unlike the October upgrade, the login on the test system and let them next version of UCONNECT due out look around," she said. next year will have "significant changes
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UCO summer enrollment rises with temperature Tiffany Brown StaffiVilter
As the temperature rises in Oklahoma during the summer months, so does the enrollment at the University of Central Oklahoma. Graduate students increased nearly 22 percent since summer 2008. Undergraduate enrollment is up nearly three percent. "When an economy has been deemed bad, enrollment in higher education institutions is likely to increase," Cindy Boling, director of Institutional Research at UCO said. Currently, 5,636 students are taking summer courses at Central Oklahoma, with 886 of those being graduate students and 4,750 undergraduate students. Graduate school at Central Oklahoma has seen an increase in first-time graduate students who have begun their master's program. "A significant increase such as this can be partly contributed to UCO's dedicated staff, adopted streamlined admission procedures, increased communication with prospective students, new partnerships with universities abroad— especially China— and ventures into social networking including Twitter and Facebook," said Dr. Richard Bernard, dean of UCO's Jackson College of Graduate Studies. In addition, there has been a 10.5 percent increase in enrollment for graduate students who are continuing their master's degree programs. "Our graduate school at UCO is receiving applications from individuals who have lost their jobs, and we are seeking to help them prepare to return to the workforce at a higher level," Bernard said. "A graduate degree can be the silver lining in a person's cloudy employment situation. Earning a graduate degree during these rainy days will prepare a person
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"Inside the Lines" with "Liquid Assets" with Caleb Chris Wescott McWilliams