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Campus Quotes
Entertainment
Tornado Alley
Baseball
Do you believe in aliens?
The punk band Classy San Diego will be playing their next gig at the Conservatory on May 11.
Thirteen states were pounded by a historic 243 tornadoes this weekend.
The Bronchos swept their weekend series against Tarleton State.
APR. 19, 2011 uco360.com twitter.com/uco360
THE VISTA
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
UCOSA
NEW UCOSA EXECS INAUGURATED PHOTO BY GARETT FISBECK
(Left to right) Josh Gonshor, Matt Blubaugh, Lacie Larschen, Cole Stout and Whitney Anderson are sworn in at the 2011-2012 UCOSA officer inaugurations. Gonshor was the only inauguarted officer elected by a popular ballot of the student body.
By Cody Bromley / Senior Staff Writer Last week, UCOSA held its spring officer elections and the results are in. Josh Gonshor was elected to be the next student body vice president with 65 percent of the 686 votes cast in the vice presidential election. Student body President Matt Blubaugh and UCOSA treasurer Whitney Anderson both won reelection after running unopposed. In addition to the executives elected by a popular vote of the entire campus, the members of UCOSA’s two houses indirectly elected other executives. Cole Stout will be returning in the fall serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lacie Larschan was elected by the UCOSA senate as President Pro Tempore of the Senate and Tim Taylor will return next fall again as UCOSA Chief-of-Staff. The new team of UCOSA
executives was sworn in Monday afternoon. In addition to the officers on the ballot, a ballot measure changing the appropriations process of the UCOSA House of Representatives also passed with 74 percent of the vote. UCOSA President Matt Blubaugh said Friday that he was pleased with the student involvement of the election, even if the turnout was only 30 percent as large as the turnout in the Prop. 1 election. “I think this year, whether people have a positive or a negative view of UCOSA, they definitely know UCOSA exists,” Blubaugh said. With his re-election looking forward to the fall, Blubaugh said he wants to extend student services to students by making UConnect compatible with smart phones, introducing a student bill of rights and also creating a stu-
dent advocate program. As far as making UConnect more mobile, Blubaugh said that a topical committee comprised of all different groups of students has been formed. “The goal that we’ve set, that we think we get, is to have access on your cell phone before the fall,” Blubaugh said, though he added that he would like to have it done as soon as this summer. The other big issue that Blubaugh wants to address next year is the creation of a student bill of rights. “Basically one consolidated document saying, ‘Here is what your rights are, here is what you can and cannot do,’” Blubuagh said. Blubaugh said that before such a document could go into effect, it would need to be approved by the school’s legal department, stu-
dent conduct and student affairs. This would be in conjunction with a new program he wants to create called “student advocates.” The goal of such a program would let students who are having their rights violated have access to a member of UCOSA would could help them arbitrate with professors and school officials. Sharing an office next fall with Blubaugh is Josh Gonshor. Before taking oath Monday, Gonshor was previously the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and had served on both budgetary committees and authored legislation. During his campaign, Gonshor ran on a platform improving food service hours and parking.
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Greek Life
WEATHER TODAY
H 89° L 47°
KAPPA ALPHA PSI RESURRECTS CHAPTER PHOTO BY GARETT FISBECK
By Amy Stinnett Contributing Writer
TOMORROW H 75° L 54°
More weather at www.uco360.com
DID YOU KNOW? The sailfish (the fastest fish, 68 mph) is speedier in the water than the cheetah (the fastest land animal, 62 mph) is on land
The first members of the recently resurrected chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. at the University of Central Oklahoma unmasked themselves Friday night, literally. The event was held at Hamilton Fieldhouse and began at 7:11 p.m.-19:11 military time, a symbol of the fraternity’s founding 100 years ago in 1911. It has taken four semesters, but the nine new members all have their required credit hours and grade point averages to reestablish the fraternity. Kappa Alpha Psi had been inactive on UCO’s campus for nearly seven years because of the undisclosed actions of its members, which fell outside of the rules of the fraternity and the school. But when Ernest “Ghost” Eason, their current adviser, returned to finish his bachelor’s degree, talk of bringing the chapter back to life began. Eason, who returned to UCO in 2010 to finish his degree in philosophy, chose Kappa Alpha Psi in April 1981 because of their work in the community and the strong relationships among members.
Demarco Guillory dances at the Kappa Alpha Psi probate at the Hamilton Fieldhouse Friday. Members of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. have resurrected its UCO chapter, after being inactive for nearly seven years.
“These men, they have a bond as if we were born together,” Eason said. It was this bond and their reputation as a fraternity committed to community, business and personal development that also attracted Kappa
Alpha Psi’s president Andre Starks. “There was no other fraternity for me,” Starks said. “I just want to thank UCO for welcoming us back even though we’ve been gone for seven years.”
Eason and another alumnus, Anthony Calhoun from Oklahoma State University, began a dialogue with the Greek Life office and the university almost two years ago about reestablishing the fraternity.
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