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September 3, 2009
Rough financial times likely ahead for UCO
The Vista
Comm. Building, Rm. 131 100 N. University Dr. Edmond, OK 73034-5209 405-974-5549 editorial@thevistaonlirte.com The Vista is published as a newspaper and public forum by UCO students, semi-weekly during the academic year except exam and holiday periods, and only on Wednesdays during the summer, at the University of Central Oklahoma. The issue price is free for the first copy and $1 for each additional copy obtained.
The Bottom Line
EDITORIALS Opinion columns, editorial cartoons, reviews and commentaries represent the views of the writer or artist and not necessarily the views of The Vista Editorial Board, the Department of Mass Communication, UCO or the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. The Vista is not an official medium of expression for the Regents or UCO.
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Address letters to: Editor, The Vista, 100 N. University Dr., Edmond, OK 73034-5209, or deliver in person to the editor in the Communications Building, Room 131. Letters can be e-mailed to vistauco@gmaiLcom.
EDITORIAL
MANAGEMENT Laura Hoffert, Co-Editor Nelson Solomon, Co-Editor Kory Oswald, Managing Editor Caleb McWilliams, Copy Editor Ryan Croft, Web Editor Chris Wescott, Sports Editor
Kaylea Brooks, Tiffany Brown, Steve Vidal, Jenefar De Leon, Bryoney McCaslin.
Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff
Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer
PHOTOGRAPHY Byron Koontz Allison Rathgeber Amanda Siegfried
DESIGN Kayleigh Adamek
Already, he said, some students are struggling to get As the fall semester rolls on and summer cools down, one phrase is likely being avoided by university leaders the courses they need — an expensive problem if it forces students to delay graduation and denies them potential across the state: "budget cuts." Finding money anywhere is a daunting task for any job opportunities. If schools reach the more drastic point organization in today's economic state, and higher edu- of faculty layoffs, the challenge of overflowing classes and scheduling problems will only get worse. cation will likely feel the blow in the next year. It's hard to see exactly Though things are holding what the money doldrums on steadily now, the situation will mean for higher educaa year from today could very tion in the coming months, well be different, according to as stated by an Oklahoman past discussions with univereditorial. Lawmakers could sity leaders. eventually decide to proEnrollment is increasing at tect some areas like educauniversities across the state, tion at the expense of other including UCO, which means agencies and services or by more Oklahomans are choosdigging into the Rainy Day ing to seek a higher educaFund. And painful tuition tion. While it's great that people are choosing to pursue increases may be the norm a year from now. It's bad enough for graduating seniors who are entermore education and advance their careers, the higher enrollment levels point to the budget storm that is ing a dismal job market and recession environment, but times could also be bad for the institution the students approaching for colleges and universities. Oklahoma City Community College President Paul are leaving. Schools and universities across the state can hold their Sechrist recently told The Oklahoman his school has already cut the budget in some areas to absorb the addi- breath for this year, but must prepare in the meantime tional enrollment and add more classes. But cuts can for a potentially scary situation when the legislature releases their budget next year. only go so far before academic quality is at risk.
THE VISTA WILL NOT PRINT ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 BECAUSE OF THE LABOR DAY HOLIDAY.
CIRCULATION
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Laura Hoffert Stephen Hughes
ENJOY YOUR THREE DAY WEEKEND!
Stacey Sprague
ADMINISTRATIVE
ADVISER
ASSISTANT
Mr. Teddy Burch
Tresa Berlemann
Cam pus
What are your Labor Day plans? "I will be spending my Labor Day weekend building bikes for my students."
"Going home to Bartlesville and hanging out with my friends."
"Going on a 50 mile bike ride."
Sara Thornton
Haylee Otto
Stephen Hughes
Freshman Undecided
Senior Organizational Communication
Photo Coordinator
"Catch up on some current movies and watch some John Wayne classics."
"Going scuba diving in Australia."
Ryan Ogden Senior Business Management
"Planting my fall flowers."
Alex Bogaski Freshman History
otes
Terra Cotta Campus Visitor
Compiled by Allison Rathgeber and Byron Koontz
For students, Facebook can ruin a semester, kill grades Alicia Williams D„,/,•
Or Quo/lick
The Bible states that there is a time for everything. A time to dance, a time to die, a time to weep, a time to love, but a time for homework is never mentioned. Frankly, time can be a student's worst enemy. The clock is always ticking, an ever-present reminder that we don't have enough time. We're left in a constant battle trying to determine what we are going to fit into our preciously small amount of time. Students have lives, after all—family and friends, work, pets, exercise and entertainment. We all do daily things that cannot be eliminated: commuting, getting cleaned up, eating and sleeping. If you want to eat or sleep, you have to work to financially support those times. But, you want to make more than $10 an hour, so you have to get an education. With education comes studying and homework. Heaven forbid you might meet someone you want to spend some quality time with. The million dollar question is: "How do we fit it all in?" According to an April 2009 pilot study, "A Description of Facebook Use and Academic Performance among •
Undergraduate and Graduate Students," by Aryn Karpinski and Adam Duberstein, doctoral students at Ohio State University, one activity students shouldn't be wasting time on is the social networking site Facebook. The study found a relationship between students' use of Facebook and lower grades. Out of the 219 Ohio State graduate and undergraduate students, 148 had a Facebook account and GPAs that fell between 3.0 and 3.5, and reported studying on average one to five hours per week. In general, students without Facebook had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0, and studied ti to 15 hours a week. "In a nutshell, the main purpose of my study was to explore the demographic composition of a Facebook user at the college level," said Karpinski in an April 24, 2009 e-mail in response to a pulse2.com article by Amit Chowdhry. "I also wanted to investigate academic achievement in relation to Facebook use. I am fully aware of the limitations of my study, and merely want people, personnel at universities, researchers, parents, students, and tech-savvy people like yourselves to think about this intricate relationship." Although we can't blame Facebook as the ultimate culprit causing college students to get bad grades, it is a means by which many of us waste vast amounts of time. A June 2 Nielsen Online news release reported a 700
percent increase of minutes spent on Facebook during the last year, going from 1.7 billion minutes spent in April 2008 to 13.9 billion minutes in April 2009. On July 14, Nielsen reported that the average Facebook user spends four hours and 39 minutes a month-9.5 minutes a day—on Facebook alone. Add in other social sites such as MySpace, Twitter, our ever-growing e-mail accounts and news source sites, and we are definitely wasting valuable time that could be better spent studying. The University of Utah offers a three-credit course in the educational psychology department called Strategies for College Success, designed to help students develop learning skills, time management, and note-taking and test-taking skills. If you have no time in your class schedule, you can attend a two-hour free workshop. The amazingly accessible Internet now goes with us everywhere. Our phones and laptops are ready at the flick of a button. No wonder we are obsessively checking to see if anyone sends us a message. It could happen anytime and we want to know, we want to respond. But time dictates the need to exercise self-control. If we want to be successful students, we must exert the will to recognize and change worthless time-consuming habits. You only have this time of your life once. Choose to take control of how you spend your time and make each moment count. 4