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News
27 August 2018
TU places highly on Record-breaking freshman three college surveys class of 815 enrolls at TU Forbes, The Princeton Review and Times Higher Education gave TU high marks in their annual surveys. Ethan Veenker News Editor The University of Tulsa received good publicity the last few weeks due to its high placement on college surveys from Forbes, The Princeton Review and Times Higher Education. Forbes commended TU as a top university for STEM and international students, while The Princeton Review ranked TU highly on a national scale and Times on a global scale. Specifically, Forbes listed TU as the 20th best university in the nation for STEM and 12th best for international students. The list, released on August 21, also puts TU at number 171 overall in the nation on a survey of 650 schools. According to the TU News Archive, Forbes rated TU “89th in research, 122nd in private colleges and 203rd in ‘America’s Best Value Colleges.’” The Princeton Review’s “Best 384 Colleges,” which, according to TU’s news archive, “is used widely by students and parents during the college decision process and features the survey results of 138,000 students nationwide,” considers TU one of the 384 “outstanding colleges in the nation,” as well as a “Best Regional College” in the west. In addition, the news archive notes TU’s regular appearance on the list, which is published annually and also gives TU “addi-
tional distinctions including top law school, computer gaming program, green campus, university that ‘pays you back’ and outstanding institution of higher learning.” The lists don’t stop there. TU is one of the four American universities recognized by Times Higher Education in a list of the top 20 small universities globally. Times defines “small universities” as those with fewer than 5,000 students. TU takes number 13 on the list. “Contributing factors [include] small class sizes, close relationships with faculty and peers, and a strong sense of community across campus,” said the TU News Archive. Times also ranked TU on a larger international scale among 1,000 universities in its “World University Rankings.” This is the only international university performance survey to “judge research-intensive universities on the core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook,” according to the news archive. The news archive neglects to include TU’s exact ranking in this larger survey, and Times’s website only specifies it to be within the range of 401 – 500th. An additional stat on the website listed TU as 170th in the United States. This list includes over 1,000 American universities and colleges. The news archive also makes note of TU’s inclusion “among the top 100 national universities by U.S. News & World Report for the past 15 consecutive years.” There is not yet a 2019 edition of this list. While somewhat eclectic, TU’s consistently good rankings on surveys like these indicate a university committed to improvement and continued growth.
“Times defines ‘small universities’ as those with fewer than 5,000 students. TU takes number 13...”
The fall of 2018 marks the enrollment period for TU’s largest freshman class ever. Devyn Lyon Student Writer
With the new semester underway, the classes at the University of Tulsa are filling up more than ever before. The Office of Admissions at TU has worked to bring in a slew of new freshmen to campus. From hosting campus visits to creating massive events and new media to advertise the university, the Office of Admissions reached new heights with the class of 2022. After a record-breaking number of student applications received in the spring, TU now hosts the largest domestic freshman class in its history. The fall of 2017 welcomed a class of 662 domestic freshmen, surpassing the previous record and creating a total class of 752 new freshmen on campus. The positive trend did not stop in 2018. This past week, as of a report given on August 17, TU welcomed a new class of 733 domestic freshmen, as well as 82 international freshmen, reaching a total class size of 815 students in the class of 2022. Reeling in 63 more students than the last major jump on the record scale is a big achievement for those in Collins. “All throughout the spring, we heard cowbells ringing from every admission counselor as more and more students enrolled in the University,” Casey Reed, Dean of Admissions, stated. With a “large upward trend over the last three years,” per Reed, TU is growing significantly. Prior to this expansion, Reed stated that TU “lacked brand awareness.” She explained how, globally, students were not aware of TU and how they might “assume they are unable to get into TU or afford the costs.” Reed described how, to solve this, admissions has changed their marketing efforts and how and when they reach out to students about TU. The university has also
The groups and organizations of TU filed onto Dietler Commons last Thursday for the annual Activities Fair, a gathering place of various interests and school spirit.
been reaching out beyond the United States, to places such as China, Africa, Europe and the UK. This spreads the Tulsa brand not only farther, but also earlier. “We now reach out to students starting at the sophomore level, and we really try to preach accessibility and affordability,” Reed said. There is proof of this throughout the year in the number of younger high school students attending campus visits. Although many are just available to high school juniors and seniors, TU has been seeing an influx of high school sophomores and even freshmen attending their own scheduled visits. Reed listed “strategic marketing” as a factor in their success, but also “digital marketing,” an essential tool to the office of admissions. A plethora of emails, packed with info, links to TU’s social media, and photos and videos of everyday life at TU are sent out each week to students interested in attending. The social media and emails lead prospective students to the university website in the hopes they’ll schedule a campus visit, fill out an application to TU or both. This trend enables TU to apply a much more personal touch for the students interested, meaning visits and meetings with UAs, students or the six admission counselors recruiting regionally. To some, the system of Admissions at TU may seem overly complicated, but with the amount of success they have been achieving, we can see it is organized and well run. Starting at the top, Earl Johnson (Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Services), Casey Reed (Dean of Admission), the individual admission counselors, campus directors and coordinators, University Ambassadors and everyone in a desk at Collins has a role in bringing in new students to TU. During high school students’ first campus or online visit, those in admissions are working to reach out and make the university accessible and affordable for them. And best of all, the positive trend of students enrolling here shows no signs of slowing down.
photos by Devyn Lyon
News
27 August 2018
Get to Know Your Student Association Cabinet What exactly is Cabinet? One of the three branches of Student Association on campus, Cabinet’s function is to serve students through programming and operational support. Cabinet is split into departments headed by an executive director and staffed by a team of associate directors. It meets every Tuesday at 5 p.m. Below is a look at our 2018 – 2019 departments and their purposes. Applications for associate directors are now open at orgs.utulsa.edu/sa/apply through Friday, August 31 at 5 p.m. Contact Director of Communications Kyra Manlove at klm385@ utulsa.edu with any questions.
The Collegian: 3
tionally and here at TU by creating positive programming that highlights aspects of campus which may be overlooked and addresses pressing issues faced by students. Faith Nichols, ED of International Student Relations
Andrew Hansen, ED of Tech Services
To support international organizations across campus by representing what TU’s international community needs and providing a safe space for it to thrive. Nevin Subramanian, ED of Diversity & Multiculturalism To connect students to SA, other organizations and each other through simple digital communication. Michaela Conn, ED of PR & Graphics
To encourage, welcome and celebrate an inclusive environment for those of multiple backgrounds and differences. Hannah Scott, ED of Community Service To communicate Student Association initiatives and events to the students. Claire Chapman, ED of Elections & Policy
To foster TU’s engagement in the surrounding Tulsa community by encouraging students to lead through service. To review, advise on and carry out all election procedures for Student Association, making sure elections are efficient and fair and that students are informed and confident on voting matters.
Caroline Rodgers, ED of Innovation & Development
Cassandra Meador, ED of Organizational Outreach
To use creative methods to positively improve the TU student experience by introducing modern innovation into higher education, defining what it means to apply design thinking in aspects of collegiate life and creating a network of open collaboration between each unique area of study. To help student organizations brainstorm, plan and execute event partnerships with SA so our student organizations’ big dreams become reality.
Sarah Marshall, ED of Athletics
Kyra Manlove, Director of Communications
To raise student attendance at games and facilitate opportunities to make athletes to feel an integrated part of student affairs. To increase transparency and communication between SA and students about our internal process and upcoming changes.
Andreana Huynh, ED of Homecoming & Grad Party
Catherine Aaronson, Student Giving Liaison
To keep treasured traditions alive while also advancing our programs to appeal to the current students. To partner with alumni and faculty to provide opportunities to connect with students and open a direct line of communication.
Megan Skocdopole, ED of Festivals
Mary Bergwell, ED of Student Awareness
To provide the opportunity for social engagement and cultural growth for the TU community. To increase awareness for issues that pertain to college students both na-
Images and descriptions provided by Student Association of the University of Tulsa.
News
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27 August 2018
3:00 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to meet with an individual about a note that was left on their car while parked in Mayo Village. The note was placed by an unknown individual and the victim just wanted the incident documented.
Aug. 19 3:00 p.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were flagged down by a student in reference to their motorcycle being missing. Upon investigation and searching of the area the individual decided filed a report with the Tulsa Police Department to document their stolen motorcycle. 7:20 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to Mayo Village Apartments in response to a grease fire. Officers arrived to the apartment where the small fire was extinguished with a fire extinguisher. No damage was done to the apartment. Aug. 20 9:30 a.m. While on routine patrol The University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were flagged down in regards to a dog who had been hit by a vehicle. The owner of the dog was contacted and arrived on scene to take the dog to the veterinarian.
Aug. 21 12:30 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers responded to a medical emergency at the Campus Corner Bookstore. A non TU affiliate had walked into the store complaining of chest pains and being light-headed and disoriented. The Emergency Medical Services Authority transported the individual to St. Johns Medical Center. 3:30 p.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were flagged down by a student who wanted to report stolen property. Upon making contact the officer was informed that the students dorm had been burglarized and a large amount of money was missing. 8:20 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to a fire alarm in John Mabee Hall. There were no signs of smoke or fire. Officers determined the source of the alarm and were able to reset the panel. Aug. 23 5:00 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to investigate a possible hacked computer in Brown Village apartments. Upon arrival Officers met with the stu-
Nate Gibbons Distribution Manager
President Trump faces fallout as Cohen pleads guilty President Trump went on the defensive last Tuesday as Paul Manafort, his former campaign chief, was convicted of tax and bank fraud, and Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations. Manafort was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. Tens of millions of dollars Manafort made advising a pro-Russia political party in the Ukraine were among the focuses of the trial. Meanwhile, Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws, multiple counts of tax evasion and single count of bank fraud. Cohen admitted in court that “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” he arranged payments to two women in order to buy their silence during Trump’s campaign. The two women said they have had affairs with President Trump in the past. The President lamented Manafort’s conviction at a rally Tuesday evening. “Doesn’t involve me, but I still feel, you know, it’s a very sad thing that happened,” he told the crowd. “Had nothing to do with Russian collusion. We continue the witch hunt.” Over 30 people have faced criminal charges as a result of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
US cancels aid to Palestinian leadership The State Department announced last Friday that it would be cutting more than $200 million in aid to Palestinian leadership. Asked where the money would now go, a State Department official said, “We will work with Congress to redirect these funds to other policy priorities.” The announcement comes as tension builds between United States and Palestinian leaders. Palestinian leadership has boycotted peace efforts by the White House since the President moved the embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledged it as Israel’s capital. Jerusalem, which houses sites important to Muslims, Christians and Jews, is at the forefront of peace negotiations. The State Department claims its reallocation of funds is due in large part to the Islamist militant group Hamas’s control of Gaza. However, Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said the Trump administration was using “cheap blackmail as a political tool.” Likewise, Ambassador Husam Zomlot, head of the PLO General Delegation to the United States, said, “Weaponizing humanitarian and developmental aid as political blackmail does not work.”
Federal Reserve to continue steady interest rate hikes Last Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed confidence in the economy and stated there would be more steady increases in interest rates. The annual speech, given at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, affirms a continuing trend since late 2015. “The economy is strong. Inflation is near our 2 percent objective, and most people who want a job are finding one,” Powell said. “My colleagues and I are carefully monitoring incoming data, and we are setting policy … to support continued growth, a strong labor market and inflation near two percent.” He also acknowledged “risk factors abroad and at home that, in time, could demand a different policy response.” Federal officials told reporters they were committed to maintaining independence from political pressure. President Trump has expressed issues with interest rate hikes in the past. “I’m not thrilled,” he told reporters last July. “Because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again … I am not happy about it. But at the same time, I’m letting them do what they feel is best.”
dent. The student was concerned that their computer had been hacked while trying to purchase text books online. 6:50 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to investigate a possible larceny from a vehicle in West Park Apartments. Upon arrival Officers spoke to a a student stating their vehicle was broken into. Officers investigated and found no signs of forced entry. Officers asked the student if they wished to file a report with Tulsa Police and they stated that they wanted to think about it. 11:30 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to investigate a possible noise compliant in Lorton Village Apartments. Upon arrival Officers could hear loud noise coming from an apartment. Officers made contact with individuals in the apartment whom were not listed as residents. Officers advised the individuals that they would have to vacate the apartment and they cooperated. Aug. 24 3:20 a.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to Lorton Village Apartments in regard to an unknown individual knocking on apartment doors. Officers were able to locate the individual near the 4000 building. Officers determined the individual was a student who was intoxicated. Officers escorted the student back the their correct residence without further incident. The Collegian does not produce or edit the Campus Crime Watch except for content and brevity.
Monday, August 27 through Friday, September 21 at 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. McFarlin Library, Special Collections, 5th floor 1918: Pandemic This exhibit focuses on 1918, the final year of World War I. With American troops joining the Allied forces along the Western Front, Germany sees failure and catastrophic losses that lead to the nervous breakdown of its top general and the collapse of an empire. With global travel the new norm, an influenza pandemic breaks out, killing millions with its devastation. Meanwhile, Russia undergoes a radical transformation, the staggering geographic changes resulting from war itself become evident, and at last, armistice and hope for a peaceful future are visible along the horizon.
Monday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Kendall Hall, Theatre 2 Auditions: Man of La Mancha All students are welcome to audition for open roles in TU Theatre’s production of Man of La Mancha. Rehearsals begin Sept. 4. Performances run Oct. 18-27. Contact Director Machele Dill for more information on audition, rehearsals or production. Tuesday, August 28 at 7:00 p.m. Tyrrell Hall, Adelson Auditorium An Evening with Jennifer Croft Internationally acclaimed writer, translator and TU alumna Jennifer Croft comes to Tulsa to celebrate the American publication of Flights, the 2018 Man Booker International Prize-winning novel by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, which Jennifer translated into English. Wednesday, August 29 at 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Student Union, Great Hall
ImpactTU Leadership development lunches for new TU students.
Thursday, August 30 at 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Alexandre Hogue Gallery Art Reception & Lecture: Infinite Drone by Nathan Young at Alexandre Hogue Gallery Infinite Drone is a mixed media exhibition of artwork created by Nathan Young. Young is a multidisciplinary artist and composer working in an expanded practice that incorporates sound, video, documentary, animation, installation, socially engaged art and experimental and improvised music. Nathan’s work often engages the spiritual and the political and re-imagines indigenous sacred imagery in order to complicate and subvert notions of the sublime. Nathan is a founding and former member for the artist collective Postcommodity (2007-2015) and holds an MFA in Music / Sound from Bard College’s Milton-Avery School of the Arts. Nathan was selected to be a participant in the Tulsa Artist Fellowship program in 2016. He has also taught courses for the School of Art, Design, and Art History at The University of Tulsa. Friday, August 31 at 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Gilcrease Museum Gilcrease After Hours: OutWest with OKEQ at Gilcrease Museum Gilcrease Museum and Oklahomans for Equality present Gilcrease After Hours: OutWest with OKEQ in conjunction with our exhibition Blake Little: Photographs from the Gay Rodeo. We invite everyone to join us in celebrating the LBGTQ history of the West with a live DJ, country-western dancing, cash bar, raffle and galleries open late. Admission is FREE. But wait, there’s more! Before Gilcrease After Hours, California-based writer and historian Gregory Hinton will present a dynamic lecture on LGBTQ history and culture in the American West from 6-7 p.m. Using humor and personal stories, you won’t want to miss this great talk. This lecture is free and open to the public. Co-Sponsored by Oklahomans for Equality and the Tulsa Eagle The Collegian does not produce all event descriptions in the Community Calendar. Contact us at news@tucollegian.org with events.
27 August 2018
Commentary
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Montessori school opens doors to new thinking
Educational options should grow to meet the diverse needs of students, and Montessori is a welcome addition to Tulsa public schools. Raven Fawcett Managing Editor The first Montessori school in Tulsa opened this August, generating a fair bit of excitement. Parents and teachers are happy to see a new kind of public school available for children from pre-K to second grade. Montessori is actually a method of teaching, not a physical school. So while Emerson Elementary has been around for decades, its renovations — and renovated attitude — are sparklingly new. Montessori focuses on individualizing education for children, both in terms of pacing and the physicality of learning. Children have more in the room to interact with, and their lessons are hands-on. Let’s be real, I don’t need to talk about what a good move this is. We’re all well aware of how painful, how grating it was to sit through day after day of lessons in the same hard chairs, with too much energy and too little to do when we were little. And sure, there are drawbacks: it’s expensive, it’s too vague at times and too independent. The criticisms seem fair. The materials for these hands-on lessons are expensive. Children break and drop things, and everything in the classroom is sure to take a beating. Because there is an emphasis on children learning at their own pace, the curriculum schedule cannot be as strict as it is in traditional schools. Children learn to go at
their own pace and do their own thing during class when the teacher is helping other students or groups. All these criticisms only serve to point out how necessary this kind of education is. School should be expensive for the state. It is an investment in people, in future citizens, in children. It should be worth pouring money into. School should make room for all its students, including those that understand academic material easily and those that do not. A school isn’t worth its salt if it can’t help students understand the basic material, that’s its basic premise. So what if a kid takes an extra week to figure out their multiplication tables? In a regular school, they’d just be given a failing grade and move on or be held back. And independence is only a drawback if people fear children who are intelligent and can make their own decisions about which adults to trust, and who want to be respected by their instructors just as much as the children must respect the teachers. If this all seems par for the course, then let me go one step further: this educational logic shouldn’t stop in early elementary. We need to adopt the idea that all education is valuable at every level and in every institution. I went to an online high school for my junior and senior year. And I loved it! I tell every parent I meet that mentions that their kids don’t like school about my experiences. I hadn’t ever been given the option of moving at my own pace before. I could breeze
courtesy Flickr Increased kinetic activity and self-pacing are designed to help students in Montessori schools have a more direct say in the direction of their own education.
That’s important — that love of learning, that sense of wonder when students realize that they’re not dumb, they just process information differently than their teachers have presented it. It changes people. And sure, some people are disasters in this environment. They need a schedule, the tangibility of physical homework assignments, the
“That’s important — that love of learning, that sense of wonder when students realize that they’re not dumb...” through my English classes and finally understand math, even if it did take hours of color-coding and practice. But I realized that I actually like math; I’m just not a natural to it. Like a foreign language, I have to grapple with the concepts until I’ve wrangled them into a logic I can understand.
forced socialization of a brick-and-mortar school. And all of that is fair. But we live in a world where people are in space and we talk about artificial intelligence like it will take over the world at any second. We should admit that giving people options isn’t on par with witchcraft anymore.
More than that, we need to accept that not only are these options, but they’re options that are just as good as their traditional counterparts. A Montessori education and a traditional education where children have to sit and learn the same lesson as 30 of their peers at the same pace is probably better for a lot of students. But even if it’s not the best option for all children, it is the best for some. Similarly, an online high school or college education, or vocational school, or literally any other kind of education, is a good way to learn if the student is comfortable. The Montessori opening is a great start to reforming the way we think about education, especially in Oklahoma. Hopefully, parents and educators will continue to push for better and more varied kinds of education for older and more diverse students.
Self-driving shuttles Textbooks an overheavy financial burden part of safer future
Driverless vehicles in downtown Tulsa would improve the safety and efficiency of the city’s public transportation. Nathan Hinkle Student Writer With the opening of the Gathering Place on September 8, city council officials are currently deciding on new forms of transport in Tulsa. These new driverless shuttle services would allow visitors to ride from the Gathering Place to Philbrook Museum. Each vehicle would have no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver’s seat. The electron-
would be to have an attendant on board for the first three-to-six months to greet and explain the vehicles to patrons. After this trial period, the shuttle would drive completely autonomously with no need for human interaction. Some may fear that the vehicles would crash due to the lack of a human driver. In explaining how the vehicles work, Jaynes stated, “There are cameras and sensors all over the outside of this thing, as well as on the inside for the safety of the passengers. It sees everything … They never blink, they never check for texts. They’re a computer. They are always paying attention.” The shuttles also use a tool called LiDAR which uses light rays to determine the distance between objects. Through the use of GPS and cameras, the shuttles should be able to make their trips safely for the riders inside. Autonomous shuttles are already being used across the world and especially in the United States. Cities such as Arlington, Texas and Las Vegas have already accepted and seen success through the use of these new systems. In Arlington, the government created a similar system known as Milo,
“Autonomous shuttles are already being used across the world... especially in the United States.” ic shuttles would drive in existing car lanes, drive around 20 miles per hour and hold a maximum of 15 people. I believe that these vehicles would be a financially viable and safe mode of transport that would help citizens and visitors explore areas across Tulsa. One major positive feature of the buses are their energy efficiency over time. According to Adriane Jaynes, Energy Programs Coordinator with Indian Nations Council of Governments, an electronic selfdriving shuttle costs around $250,000 to $300,000. Since the shuttle runs on an electronic battery, the city would spend less than $2 every day on fuel costs. The current price for a gallon of gas is currently around $2.43. With a one-way trip of 1.4 miles from the Gathering Place to the Philbrook, the use of a small electronic vehicle helps massively lower fuel costs versus a regular bus or other vehicle. Additionally, driverless vehicles lack the need for bus drivers and the resulting necessary salary. The city of Tulsa’s current plan
which drives passengers along specific passageways to sporting events and other activities. Ann Foss, principle planner with the city of Arlington, stated, “I think a circular loop around a series of different destinations is something these vehicles are well-suited for.” Additionally, a ridership survey performed by the Arlington city government found that 99 percent of Milo riders enjoyed riding and felt safe riding the vehicles. Due to their success, the city plans to create a version that rides on the streets, similar to the plans in Tulsa. The use of a similar program in other cities shows off its validity as a vehicle that can help transport people to important destinations at low cost. This program would be safe, financially viable and useful for the citizens of Tulsa. To further promote the Gathering Place and other places, such as the Philbrook Museum, new forms of transportation are critical. The city council should go forward with this plan and see if it would be a viable option for the City of Tulsa.
The educational value of textbooks, especially digital ones, is not often worth their high price point. Emma Palmer Variety Editor Fun fact: College is expensive. From tuition to housing to a meal plan, there are enough charges that loans have become a norm in today’s college culture. Enough of a norm that the total cost of student debt in the US, according to Student Loan Hero, reached $1.5 trillion this year. To put that in perspective, the average student loan for the college graduate is $37,172. Yet of the most surprising costs of attending college at any school is that of textbooks. The College Board estimates that students spend an annual $1,400 on books and supplies. That is, after you’ve spent the $40,000 on tuition, you have to pay $1,400 just to do your homework. If you, like me, are a low-income student and rely on financial aid to cover a substantial part of tuition, then the additional cost of textbooks can be a crushing financial burden. One of the most disturbing trends in the college textbook world is the rise of access
codes replacing paper textbooks. More and more, professors are utilizing these access codes because the systems have the advantage of automatically grading homework, having the textbooks online and lots of interactive tools for the students. However, the ease of use for these codes have some major drawbacks. These access codes cannot be reused or resold, and there is no way to return the book if a student drops or withdraws from a class and has already opened the access code. Another issue with digital textbooks is that in terms of higher retention and comprehension, all signs point to print. Many studies have been performed on this question, and all have found that overall reading comprehension is lower with reading from a screen than from paper. This is due to the fact that we train our brains to skim through text when reading from a screen, rather than read every word as it is written. How else would one ever get through all of one’s Twitter timeline? This is a major problem for online textbooks, since the primary purpose of a textbook is to teach the material in a way that the learner will retain. In other words: what is the point of taking classes at $20,000 a semester just to forget what was learned in a matter of months? Pass. As an English major, I spend a lot of money on books. However, I am lucky in the fact that most of my books are in print. This means, for the past year, I have bought the majority of my texts secondhand through sources like Thriftbooks and the TU textbook exchange Facebook group. Perhaps it is telling in the fact that my English professors, the people who know the most about books, opt for print every time.
graphic by Conner Maggio The extra costs of textbooks can be crushing to university students.
Commentary
The Collegian: 6
27 August 2018
Pre-furnished student Furnishing campus apartapartments a necessity ments teaches responsibility
Furnishing an apartment is often above a college student’s financial means, especially for out-of-state students. Emily Every Commentary Editor The dorms have a fair number of downsides: public bathrooms, smaller quarters and no kitchen. One thing that the dorms did right for me was being pre-furnished. The furniture was nothing special, just some neutral, birch pieces meant to provide the bare levels of functionality, but it was something.
limited resources and who likely don’t plan to live on campus more than three or four years. Requiring students to completely fill and empty an apartment’s furnishings on move-in and move-out days is a tall order, never mind the fact that the students must also self-supply their furniture. I moved into a third story walkup student apartment on campus this semester, and I’m overall pleased with the results. But I’m also incredibly cognizant of the fact that almost all of our apartment’s furniture are thrifted pieces found and stored over the summer by my roommate who lives in Tulsa yearround. Again, because I haul myself from Tulsa to the east coast and back every summer in my li’l ol’ Ford, I just wasn’t at all able to bring my own furniture (aside from a mail-order desk I had sent to a Tulsa address and later put together myself). And while my roommate did a fantastic job furnishing our space on the cheap, I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if no one in our apartment was a Tulsa local or was even from Oklahoma. Would we have had to drag a U-Haul with us to TU? Would we have lived in an empty apartment until
“These apartments are designed for TU students with limited resources...” And that was all I needed or wanted. I’m an out-of-state student, and there was no other way that I was going to be able to furnish my room. I couldn’t drag a bed frame across the country in my Ford Fiesta, and I definitely wasn’t going to be able to afford new furniture or have the time to thrift old pieces in Tulsa. The student apartments on campus don’t meet the same bare levels of functionality that the dorms do, and that continues to baffle me. Nowhere else have I heard of students having to somehow conjure up their own furnishings for student apartments. The “student” in “student apartments,” I feel, is important to emphasize. These apartments are designed for TU students with
cheap, thrifted pieces slowly trickled in? Would someone have to bite the financial bullet and spring for the expensive immediacy of all new digs? I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done in that situation. What I do know is that TU has no plan either. The student apartments not being stocked with even the barest of essentials tells me that TU didn’t think of the difficulties out-of-state students, which make up 38 percent of the student population, would face trying to furnish an apartment. That, or the university expects a student upgrading from a dorm to a larger living space to be able to shell out the extra hundreds or thousands of dollars to afford the necessary furniture.
Moving into a new place requires furnishing it yourself, and students should not expect their apartments to be any different. Emma Palmer Variety Editor If a student wants to live in a fully furnished space at the University of Tulsa, there are available options. Any of the multiple apartment complexes on campus, however, are not one of them, and that’s not a bad thing. When doing a precursory Google search of “furnished apartments near me,” I was surprised by the wealth of options, until I realized that each result was a hotel. In the real world, most people are expected to furnish their own apartments. TU is no different. If you want a fully furnished space, move to Fisher West, or Lottie Jane/John Mabee. It shouldn’t be expected that any TU apartment should come with anything more than a washer, stove, fridge, etc. One of the nice things about the modernday college campus is that it allows its students to dabble in the art of being a grown up without having to take the full plunge. In my apartment, we have one bill: electric. Heat and water are covered by the university. It gives me the chance to learn about
how to pay bills without drowning in a sea of monthly payments. The same is the case for furnishing my apartment. I have never felt more responsible than when I was thrifting, garage saleing and Facebook marketplace-ing for my apartment furniture. Throughout the summer, I gained valuable skills in how to find furniture on the cheap. That would never have happened if I had come to a fully furnished apartment. Another thing to consider when debating furnished apartments at TU is the furniture itself. If the showroom in the Lorton Clubhouse is any example, it would be ugly. Most likely in blue and gold colors. Additionally, either the university would have to constantly replace this furniture, or, the more likely case, you get stuck with furniture that is scratched or stained. In my first year at TU, I lived in Lottie Jane, and nearly every single chair in the dorm rooms had some mysterious, terrifying stain. Consider that level of neglect in a space as big as the apartments. Additionally, when I moved into my apartment this year, nearly every single appliance was broken. I can only imagine how many beer-stained couches would be inherited were the apartments to come fully furnished. One last factor when debating furnished apartments at TU is the fact that this university loves to overcharge me for every single thing. I guarantee that were they to furnish apartments, there would be some sort of premium placed on them, which is something that I do not have the budget for. Maybe other folks are different in this realm, but I was able to thrift everything in my living room for about $75 in total. TU would charge me so much more for what I can only assume would be gross, ugly furniture. Why go for that when I can learn how to furnish an apartment, take all the furniture with me, and, most important, know that it is clean.
“I have never felt more responsible than when thrifting... for my apartment furniture.”
Medical marijuana belongs on campus make their lives more bearable by relieving pain to those who suffer from chronic pain, cancer and even severe migraines. Because many people deal with these conditions, including college students, marijuana should be accessible to students who have a reasonable motive. Two months before classes commenced on Oklahoma college campuses, voters approved State Question 788 to allow controlled use of medical marijuana in the state of Oklahoma. This makes Oklahoma the 30th state to implement a medical marijuana plan.
Despite its history of misuse, marijuana should be legally available to those in need of its medicinal properties on campus.
When interviewed, TU students voiced their opinions this week expressing their concerns and thoughts of the policy saying, that it is unfair to those in dire need of the plant but also skeptical to the outcomes if it was not banned. Freshman Andrew Thorre makes a good point and asks, “How serious does the issue of needing medical marijuana need to become before it can overlap the majority.” He believes that people who require the substance to help manage their circumstances should be able to use it, adding, “If you can use it, then do it.”
“Marijuana should be accessible to college students who have a reasonable motive.”
Brooke-Lyne Holland Student Writer Marijuana possession is legal in most public places, including college campuses located in Oklahoma, and is also the most commonly abused illegal substance in the world. The many attempts to legalize medical marijuana in the United States remain in a deep controversy due to its history of misuse. To some, marijuana is bad and ruins lives, but to others, properties of this plant
However, most college campuses, including our home at TU, banned the use of the drug on campus because the campuses are under the Controlled Substances Act and violates federal law. This ultimately means it is legal under Oklahoma law but not federal law. If the school breaks the rules under the bill, then the school loses essential funding from the federal government.
For : University of Tulsa Student
His statement brings up the question, why are cigarettes allowed on campus, but not marijuana? Cigarettes cause numerous health problems that affect the user and people around them. Why is medical marijuana not allowed on campus while recreational nicotine is? If people want to use the substance to help them cope with chronic pain, then let them.
Before they can even apply to the program to obtain their card to legally purchase cannabis, they have to acquire multiple doctor referrals and background checks. Freshman Emma Dawson voiced her thought on the subject saying that, “It might be good to have the ban because some people tend to abuse the plant, but it is sad that people’s immaturity takes away from those who medically need it.” It is disheartening to know that because of people’s ignorance and selfishness, people who need cannabis to function lose this opportunity. People’s dumb actions should not affect other’s lives, which is happening all around the country when it comes to medical marijuana use in public. Instead of completely banning the use of marijuana on campus, there could be alternative ways to give the opportunity to those who need the plant. Such changes could be as simple as having designated smoking areas for marijuana users like the ones for people who smoke cigarettes. Because of the controversy surrounding this bill, the ban of smoking marijuana on campus will likely be revisited at some point With any luck, maybe this will give more opportunities to those who need it and, more important, will give them hope.
Date : 4/20/18
Address : 800 S. Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104
Medical Marijuana ReÞll : 3 times
Times : Once per day, or as needed
Though medical marijuana has been legalized within the state, Oklahoma campuses haven’t caught up.
graphic by Raven Fawcett.
Sports
27 August 2018
The Collegian: 7
Jose Mourinho’s theatre of nightmares Student Writer Chris Lierly discusses the state of the the Manchester United Football Club with a spotlight on the trouble brewing with its manager Mourinho. The position of manager at Manchester United holds a special place in the world of sports. Like head coach for the Lakers, quarterback for the Cowboys or pitcher for the Yankees, it’s the kind of job that can jumpstart a young career or cement a legacy. A lot of this prestige is due to the man most famous for the role, Sir Alex Ferguson. “Fergie,” as he has been affectionately dubbed by the Red Devil’s faithful, won a total of 49 trophies in his tenure that lasted from 1986 to 2013. In the post-Ferguson world, it was necessary for United to bring in a manager that would create entertaining football, stability in the dressing room and most importantly consistent success both in the Premier League and in Europe. None of these things sound remotely close to the club under Jose Mourinho. Mourinho came to Manchester United in the 2016-17 season and with him came the heavily defensive and low scoring system that he used at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Real Madrid. Not all football has to look pretty to be good. Success alone will make most fanbases fall in love with a manager. However, this is not Porto; this is one of the five biggest clubs in the world, and Mourinho’s style is about as entertaining as an 8 a.m. chemistry lecture from a monotone professor. He often wins, but it seems like he has more final scores of 1-0 at United than Ronaldo and Messi have career goals. If this static strategy produced a stable atmosphere throughout the squad and success at the top levels than it could be ignored, but this summer, one of the biggest headlines in soccer after the World Cup ended was the friction between Mourinho and one of the best players he’s ever managed, Paul Pogba. At the beginning of Pogba’s time at Old Trafford, it seemed like the French midfielder was not going to be worth the world record fee that United payed to get him back from Italian club Juventus. However, that changed with his second, more improved season in Manchester, and the intricate role he played in France’s World Cup victory. It
was not long after the summer tournament in Russia when every headline in soccer was about the strained relationship between Pogba and Mourinho. It remains unclear what issue truly set the manager and the star against one another, but Pogba having to return to Mourinho’s slow pack-the-box strategy after achieving success with Didier Deschamps’ electrifying French National team can’t be far off the
“Currently the board of directors have Mourinho’s back in his feud with Paul Pogba.” mark. What’s followed in the months since has been a back and forth passive aggressive feud that has caused a headache for anyone wearing red in Manchester. After Pogba returned from a World Cup winning run with France, he was snubbed as Antonio Valencia was awarded the captaincy of Manchester United for the 2018-19 season. Following this, Mourinho implied that the World Cup suited Pogba better since it was easier to focus on than a Premier League title race. Then the manager went on to say about his star, “I don’t think it’s about us getting the best out of him, it’s about him giving the best he has to give.”
this battle of egos does damage to the rest of the team, and Juventus, Pogba’s former club, has been rumored to want the superb midfielder back. If one of them does leave, it will be up to the bosses at the head of the organization to make that call, and at the end of the day they will choose the option that promises them a major trophy the soonest. What may ultimately doom Mourinho’s stint at United is time. He has already been there for two seasons. In those two seasons he has won multiple pieces of hardware, but as we saw earlier, when Alex Ferguson was winning major title after major title, your fans won’t get riled up
“...it seems like [Mourinho] has more final scores of 1-0 at United than Ronaldo and Messi have career goals.” It wasn’t long before Pogba had a chance to comment on his future at the club after Mourinho’s string of comments. After the team’s 2-1 win against Leicester City, Pogba told a reporter in the post-match in-
Pogba at odds with manager Mourinho.
over a Europa League trophy. The stadium in which the man coaches has “Theatre of Dreams” plastered above the rafters. That makes success a requisite for keeping your job and Mourinho’s contract will be up at
the end of this season. What Mourinho does have going for him is prior success. He won the Premier League Title with Chelsea three times in two separate runs as manager. This is the reason the directors at Old Trafford hired him in the first place, but that is not the most important relationship for Mourinho as his time as manager of the Red Devils enters its most critical hour. The brass at Manchester United have the final say but an angry fanbase could likely sway any opinion the executives might hold. Currently the board of directors have Mourinho’s back in his feud with Paul Pogba. Still, his frustration at the organization for not helping buy another central defender (after he squandered his money on quality attackers that he refuses to use) show that like Pogba, his relationship with his superiors might not be a rosy affair either. The support that Mourinho’s superiors do have for him could vanish at a moment’s notice if the fan base turns on him. This could happen if it looks like success will have to wait another season or if they think that Pogba could leave. Trying to gauge the reaction of a fanbase is difficult. Even if Mourinho fails to win the Premier League or the Champion’s League, a good campaign in either could save his job. However, United has two major rivalries and they are against the Premier League’s current reigning Champions and the League’s current leaders, Manchester City and Liverpool respectively. In the case of a loss in either rivalry match, Mourinho’s job will depend on if fans see the loss as his loss or the players’ loss. Nonetheless, United fans and executives seem to be at a boiling point. A loss to either rival team or a finish in the Premier League below third and Mourinho could be sacked midseason. This seems like the most likely outcome unless the coach from Portugal can pull of another miracle season like the ones at Chelsea that made his name known across Europe.
photo credit irishtimes.com
Tight laces and faster paces An inside look into the Golden Hurricane Cross Country team and coaching staff for 2018.
terview, “I cannot say what I want or I will be fined.” In the same interview he made a point to thank the managing staff and just happened to leave out Mourinho’s name. This response did not help matters, but putting blame on the midfielder is hard after the way his own manager spoke of him earlier in the summer. It’s beginning to look more and more like one of them will have to leave before
Devyn Lyon Student Writer
The Tulsa Runner leans forward at the starting line. A legacy, a dynasty of championships weighted on his or her shoulders as their forward; anxiously waiting the sound of the gun to signify the race’s start.The starting line for the American Conference Cross Country Championship race is where nearly a decade of championships is made. At the starting line, with tight laces and fast paces, but this is not where the Tulsa Runner starts. Championships are made in the offseason. TU Cross Country has been training since the beginning of the summer (or earlier for a select few). Required times in the offseason and mileage were not only essential, but mandatory. Early mornings on vacation are a normal habit; rising before the sun to up their mileage and continuing to repeat workouts throughout the day in order to conquer the upcoming season in the fall of 2018. For this season, Head Coach Steve Gulley is taking control more primarily on the girl’s cross country team, while Coach Taylor Gulley focuses on the boys' team. With both coaches working together, but also separately, the potential for each team’s success rises. Each receives focused and personal training from one coach. Steve Gulley stated how he believes that “it helps each time in the long run of the season to have a specific voice to go to.” Despite the obvious build up to a strong season, Hurricane XC has been monstrously underrated. NCAA.com has Tulsa ranked nowhere near the top twenty-five in the nation for this season, even though they have been top twenty finishers in eight of the last eleven years. Even so, all eight of those years, TU Cross Country have been consecutive Conference Champs. Many tend to think Hurricane XC will fall off after each time they lose experienced and talented runners, but Coach Taylor Gulley believes that this is when Tulsa Cross Country has always done its best. TU is highly underrated this year, but it gives the team, with all their upcoming freshman, something to prove. The goal for each athlete is to put up as many points as possible for their team with the best possible times and placement. They have their own weekly mileage goals that they must hit as a part of their training. As of late, some are running a mileage as high as 120 miles per week. With this, they have required times to hit everyday. The goal is to score as many points as they can at Conference, to achieve a ninth-straight Championship. Every runner has been smashing their times and personal records in practice after practice. The offseason is over; it’s crunch time and Hurricane XC is ready for the starting line. Sept. 1 is when they start the season and prove all their doubters wrong. On Sept. 1, Tulsa will host the “Hurricane Invitational” at Mohawk Soccer Complex at 9 a.m.
Sports
The Collegian: 8
27 August 2018
Movers, shakers and Lakers Will Kawhi lead a new team to the promised land? Did Boogie break the league? Is LABron legit? The Bleacher Creature reveals all that and more.
News coverage in the NBA offseason typically focuses on superstar free-agent signings, which range anywhere from franchise-altering (think LeBron to the Heat), to league-disrupting (KD to the Warriors) to universe-imploding (Mozgov and Deng to the Lakers). This year, however, the biggest buzz seemed to surround a trade: two-time MVP runner-up Kawhi Leonard (along with Danny Green) shipped from the Spurs to the Raptors in exchange for Toronto legend DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected first-round draft pick in 2019. The deal came after Leonard shocked the basketball world by refusing to play in the latter half of the 2017-18 NBA season, even after team doctors had cleared him for action. Reports of locker room dysfunction surfaced, and Leonard made clear that he intended to sign with his hometown Lakers in 2019, even if it meant declining a “supermax” five-year $221 million extension from San Antonio. Rather than risk letting their superstar walk for nothing, Spurs brass opted to pull the trigger and trade him for something like 60 cents on the dollar. What does this mean for the teams in question? For the Spurs, it could be the start of a soft reboot, the official death knell of the Popovich-Duncan era that’s seen 21 consecutive postseason appearances and five championships. That doesn’t mean that the playoff streak has to end this season (they made it last year with virtually nothing from Kawhi, and adding one of the league’s most gifted scorers in DeRozan certainly won’t hurt), but beyond a possible seven-seed, there’s not much else in the future. LaMarcus Aldridge only has so much left in the tank, Tony Parker is already gone, and Manu Ginobili and Pop will likely both be retired this time next year. As for the Raptors … well, their strategy might not be all that different. Voices around the league have suggested abandoning the team’s DeRozan-Kyle Lowry nucleus for years now, insisting that the team’s consistent regular-season success would never translate into a legitimate
Justin Guglielmetti Editor-in-Chief
championship contender. But while this latter fact is probably true, it was too much to swallow to blow up the most successful team in franchise history, especially playing in a market that has never attracted a big free-agent name. By acquiring Leonard, even if it’s only for a one-year rental, Toronto has given itself a way out: go for broke, then rebuild through the draft. Of course, the Raptors still stand next to no chance at hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy this year. Kawhi is a better player than DeRozan in every aspect of the game, but even assuming he balls out at full capacity, the team will still be heavy underdogs to make it out of the East against a replenished juggernaut in Boston. And that’s to say nothing of the mighty Western Conference. We can’t go any further without touching on the other huge domino to fall this offseason: LeBron James’s Decision 3.0,
again even before making a big splash of their own in signing superstar center DeMarcus Cousins to a one-year, $5.3 million contract. Now, if Cousins is able to return to anything close to full strength and integrate his singular rumble-tumble, outside-in game to the Warriors system, there might be nothing to stop them sweeping through the postseason. Even so, fans shouldn’t be nearly as upset at Boogie as they were at Durant for disrupting competitive balance. An Achilles tendon tear is one of the most difficult injuries for an athlete to bounce back from, and there’s no guarantee that Cousins ever regains his explosiveness or lateral quickness, a lack of which would make him damn near unplayable in the modern NBA. That risk, plus his well-documented attitude issues, scared off most other suitors; how else do you explain an All-Star big man signing for the league minimum? Those stories dominated the headlines, but there was a lot more movement going on behind the scenes. Dwight Howard continued his mission to play for as many teams as he has children, signing with the Wizards after being traded to, then waived by, the Nets. Carmelo Anthony landed with the Rockets after one of the most miserable seasons in recent memory with the Thunder. It’s the most talented roster he’s ever played with, but Melo’s geriatric jabstepping one-onone antics won’t fly on a team built for every single possession to be dominated by James Harden and Chris Paul. DeAndre Jordan probably isn’t the high-flyer he was even two years ago, but he’ll be looking for lobs from rookie Luka Doncic to help the Mavs give Dirk Nowitzki one final taste of the playoffs before retirement. Julius Randle will hope to find success in Nawlins, acting the part of a poor man’s Boogie Cousins. And finally, little Isaiah Thomas, my dear departed son, landed with the Denver Nuggets on a show-me deal worth just one year, $2.2 million. He never will get that Brinks Truck full of cash he was looking for, but here’s hoping The Little Guy puts on as good a show for the mile-high city as he did for Beantown.
“... fans shouldn’t be nearly as upset at Boogie as they were at Durant for disrupting competitive balance.” which brought him to the Los Angeles Lakers. King James continues to build his GOAT resume and is still the NBA’s best player entering his 16th season, but this is the first time his changing teams feels more like a business decision than a basketball one. With his primary wingman set to be either Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram or a washed Rajon Rondo, LeBron’s situation is hardly better than last season’s slog through the East with the Cavaliers. The Warriors and Rockets are almost guaranteed the top two seeds in the playoffs, and given the strength and continuity of teams like Utah, OKC, Portland and New Orleans, I’m not even sure the Lakers can count on home court advantage. Donning the purple and gold will certainly add to James’s brand and legacy, and any championship with this roster should easily vault him over Jordan, but it seems more likely that we are witnessing the beginning of his final chapter. Ultimately, it’s hard to see anyone stopping Golden State. Fresh off their third championship in four years, the Dubs would have been the preseason favorites
graphic by Conner Maggio
Can LeBron or Kawhi stop Boogie, Silver and the rest of the Warriors? 15
We Dropping Tilted? It’s almost impossible to dislike the Little League World Series, unless you’re also a person who likes to spend their time kicking puppies and ripping the Life Alerts out of the varicose veined hands of innocent grandmothers who have fallen and can’t get up. Even if you’re a victim of the short attention span generation and can’t stomach professional baseball anymore, Little League has a lot more going on to make it a more entertaining watch. The faster pace and shorter game. The checkswing-eyes-half-closed home runs. The dynamic of watching a prepubescent pipsqueak take the mound against a 5’11” monster with facial hair. Even the crowd shots of the moms trying desperately to narrate a game they don’t fully understand to their husbands over the phone, saying things like, “Oh, he just had a nice hit!” even as their son just bounced into a double play (no, I’m not speaking from experience, why do you ask?). But with all that unbridled joy, you know what almost made me want to stop watching? Freaking Fortnite, man. I once thought the biggest problem with this game was that it appropriated the objectively best word for a two-week span of time, but now it’s actually started to dominate the discussion on a sports broadcast over the sport they’re actually playing! Hell, you could see in the kids’ faces half the time that they’d rather be in front of their PlayStation than on the diamond. Blergh. I guess I’m more of an old man every day. Anyway, Rhode Island was robbed and Big Al hits dingers. Fantasy Hour I usually throw some Fantasy Football advice in the first issue of the year, but let’s be real, you can get hard-hitting, league-winning analysis just about anywhere nowadays. Instead, I’ll just name off the three most mediocre value players for the coming season, and I swear it’s not because I’m running out of room and ideas. Big Ben Roethlisberger is your best bet to finish as a QB1 that you’ll never feel like benching because of his sterling reputation and stacked position players yet will score 40 percent of his points in three games. Aka the Julio Jones experience. Man am I ambivalent on the value of a guy like that in the late rounds when half your league is drunk and checked out! Nothing feels better than a plug-and-play tight end, am I right, ladies? In other news, Greg Olsen is sure to be like the sixth TE off the bend and will definitely finish ranked ninth. King of this category is Lamar Miller, he of the 80 yards from scrimmage and three catches. A pick as sexy as Gary Busey, Miller will definitely neither make nor break your season. You’re welcome, TU. The Feature Creature Before we go this week, I’ve got some bad news for all my adoring fans. I’m a senior, and, uh, I plan on graduating. That means that this is our final year together for bad jokes, awkward pop culture references and a smattering of honest-to-goodness sports analysis. Now I know you’re all thinking, “Justin, I can’t go on without you,” and you’d be right. Your life will never be the same once you stop hearing my Word on the reg. But never fear, we have a more than capable replacement standing by in the form of new sports editor Brennen “I once played basketball at St. Vincent–St. Mary” Gray. Brennen, who once played basketball at St. Vincent–St. Mary (LeBron’s high school for those out of the loop) possesses both a better sense of humor and a greater athletic pedigree than yours truly, and I trust him to take this column to new heights once I’ve gone. Why am I mentioning this now? Well, so he can gain some practice and to ease the transition, my man will be interjecting his own opinions from time to time as the Feature Creature, and I just didn’t want you guys to be alarmed. J-Gucci out.
Aug. 27 - Sept. 02
Monday 27
Tuesday
Wednesday 28
29
Thursday
Saturday
Friday
30
31 Volleyball @ ETSU 9:30 a.m.
No Events No Events No Events No Events
Volleyball @ Belmont 6 p.m. W Soccer vs. ASU 5:30 p.m. M Soccer vs. UNLV 8 p.m.
1
Sunday 2
Cross Country Hurricane Invite 9 a.m.
Volleyball vs. UMBC 11 a.m. Football vs. Central Arkansas 6 p.m.
W Soccer vs. Sam Houston State 2 p.m.
27 August 2018
Variety
The Collegian: 9
New SOPHIE album goes hard as hell
Combining the scrubbed-clean pop of her previous work and a novel sense of vulnerability, SOPHIE’s debut album creates a stunning soundscape. Emily Every Commentary Editor
Thanks to SOPHIE, we finally know that it’s okay to cry. The Scottish DJ, vocalist, producer and songwriter kicks off her debut album “OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES” with the self-affirming “It’s Okay to Cry.” Dropping in late 2017, the single’s music video marked the first time the previously anonymous artist appeared in the public eye or used her own vocals in a track. These reveals are not the only departures from SOPHIE’s previous work. Beyond using the voices of others, SOPHIE’s 2015 compilation release “Product” features something of a hyperkinetic aesthetic. The compilation couples extremely mechanical instrumentation, often derived from synthesized balloons, plastic or metals, with surreal, bubbly female vocals.
into a uniquely beautiful and smart sonic experience. The sweet vocals, clean production and mechanical instrumentation still remain from her 2015 ventures. The difference lies in SOPHIE’s growing restraint in applying these elements. The previously mentioned “It’s Okay to Cry” is a remarkably softer, more vulnerable song than anything the artist had ever released. The synthesized instrumentation twinkles lightly behind SOPHIE’s own digitally altered voice, building intensity until the song finally swells and recedes in its last 20 seconds. SOPHIE knows how to twist expectations in pop music, and so there’s this fantastic sense of give and take running throughout the project’s entirety. SOPHIE playing with building and releasing tension is clearest when she follows the soft, introspective “It’s Okay to Cry” with the heavily mechanical and distorted “Ponyboy.” The song most similar to her 2015 work, “Ponyboy” indulges in its own instrumental heft. The layering of the metallic instrumentation and pulsating synths looms larger than any other track on the album, perhaps excepting “Faceshopping,”
“The synthesized instrumentation twinkles lightly behind SOPHIE’s own digitally altered voice...” Songs off the 2015 project like “HARD” or “VYZEE” exaggerate the classic structures of pop music to their extreme. The production is clean beyond belief, and the juxtaposition between the harsh instrumentation and sweet, high vocals creates an end product that seems to this day sonically unique to SOPHIE. SOPHIE’s 2018 release does not abandon this hyperkinetic pop sound of previous works but instead expands it further
which immediately follows on the tracklist. “Ponyboy” may not be the peak of the album, but it is undeniably a high point. Its incredibly catchy hook will keep it in your head for hours, and it can also really punch up a workout playlist if you’re in the market for that. “Is It Cold in The Water?” leaves behind the pounding synths of the previous two tracks and returns the album to a place of remarkable restraint and beauty. The track’s
courtesy Motormouth Media
vocals are displaced and haunting while the instrumentation retains a sense of urgency. Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” is called to mind in terms of what sort of sonic space the track creates: at once ethereal and pounding, hazy and immediate. The album takes a turn toward the unknown and formless during “Pretending,” an edgeless experimental track that takes turns through different instrumental distortions and layers of human voices. This track combines organically shifting sound with inorganic synth to create a sort of symphonic fugue state. Serving to juxtapose the last track’s nebulousness, “Immaterial” is a tight pop song that spotlights a catchy beat and fun, light vocals. It’s the most approachable moment on the album for those new to SOPHIE and lets the audience connect with something concrete and familiar.
The album closes out with the epic — and I mean that in the classical sense — “Whole New World/Pretend World.” Clocking in at a length of nine minutes, this track is a compilation of what works fantastically with the rest of the album: the instrumentation is richly layered and flits cleverly between bombasticism and simplicity. “OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES” is an absolute treasure to the experimental pop scene, and it’ll probably end up being my album of the year. I know it’s still August, but this is one of those albums that stays with you months and months after first listen. I just can’t see anything in the near future ousting SOPHIE in terms of pure, visceral listening enjoyment. My highlights include “Ponyboy,” “Is It Cold In The Water?” and “Whole New World.”
Theater Tulsa’s Newsies stops the presses Theater Tulsa begins its new season with the Broadway cult classic. Lizzy Young Student Writer
courtesy Bao Ngo
“Be The Cowboy” a welcome addition to Mitski canon Like all good music, Mitski’s “Be The Cowboy” leaves the listener both devastated and hopeful. Emma Palmer Variety Editor When Mitski sang, “Guess I’m a coward, I just want to feel alright,” I felt that. In her fifth studio album “Be the Cowboy,” Mitski deviates from rock of “Puberty 2,” her last album (and a good one), opting for pop instead. It serves as a new color palette for her music, and the results are triumphant. “Be the Cowboy” has a rather long tracklist with fourteen short songs (only two tracks hit the three-minute mark), but each one is a gem; if anything, I wish there were more. The album begins on a darker note with the mysterious “Geyser” setting the tone of a dissociative sadness, developing into the bubblegum pop of “Me and My Husband.” This crescendos into the mania of “Washing Machine Heart” and ultimately ends on the melancholy resignation of “Two Slow Dancers.” One of the most fascinating things about Mitski is her guarded personal life. She is a highly private individual; in media interviews, she is often extremely reserved and candid about the fact that she feels no need to share her life with the world. This serves as a fascinating juxtaposition to the vulnerability of her lyricism. This effect of art without context greatly enhances the album: rather than being stuck in the narrative of being a “breakup album” or getting slogged in a personal history, “Be the Cowboy” is able to rely entirely on lyrics to give it its own narrative structure. This allows “Be
the Cowboy” to act as a Rorschach test for its listener. Mitski does not tell us what to think, instead, the listener is tasked to find their own meaning in the music itself. There is a wide range of accessibility within “Be the Cowboy,” as the emotions contained within it can be chalked up to being representational of the human experience. While Mitski’s lyrics and vocals are raw in the sense that they are highly personal, they are not unrefined. She has shed some of the angry grunge of her “Puberty 2” days, trading it for a more polished version of Mitski. “Puberty 2” Mitski could beat me up outside a bar, whereas “Be the Cowboy” Mitski wouldn’t care about me enough to feel the need. Mitski once again proves her skill as a wordsmith capable of packing a punch of words into lines that linger. From the haunting imagery of the chorus of “A Pearl,” where Mitski sings “But it’s just that I fell in love with a war / and nobody told me it ended,” to the incredibly flippant, yet heart tugging, “Toss your dirty shoes in my washing heart baby bang it up inside” from “Washing Machine Heart,” every line in “Be the Cowboy” is premeditated. The tactile nature of her lyrics at times even provoke the senses, such as in “Two Slow Dancers,” when Mitski sings “Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here? / It’s funny how they’re all the same.” “Be the Cowboy” is the kind of album that occurs when an artist is so deeply in touch with themselves they are able to present their thoughts simply and succinctly enough for the audience to get it. In the case of Mitski, it’s a profound gift.
Theatre Tulsa opened their 96th season this August with their energetic production of the Broadway hit, “Newsies.” The show had such a high production value, with excellent singing, dancing and acting, that it’s hard to believe it was not a touring Broadway production. This production certainly shows off all of the local Tulsa talent. The high energy singing and dancing numbers kept audience members cheering and laughing. “Newsies” is a Disney musical that centers on a group of newsboys at the turn of the 20th century. These kids, who are just trying to eke out a living, are proud to be hawking the news. However, when their boss, the big, bad Joseph Pulitzer, hikes their prices to improve his circulation, the boys go on strike to improve their working conditions. The musical is focused on how these children fight for their rights, a story that can be appreciated in modern times, as there are still people fighting for their rights. It is a feel-good story where the audiences are rooting for these kids to beat the selfish rich men who run the city. The most fun aspect of this musical is all of the large song and dance numbers. The opening number of the second act, “King of New York,” was particularly fun to watch because it incorporated dance, tap and tumbling, showing off the varied talents of the cast. Another enjoyable aspect of this “Newsies” production is the ensemble cast, which
features quite a number of actors. Many community theaters would not attempt to tackle this musical because of the personnel it requires. However, Theatre Tulsa had plenty of talent to dazzle audiences. The talented ensemble made the musical numbers which included tumbling and tap mesmerizing to watch. “Newsies” incorporated a large ensemble full of stellar singers, dancers and actors. Theatre Tulsa veteran Pete Brennan led the cast as newsie leader Jack Kelly. Brennan portrays a charismatic Kelly with a chip on his shoulder who is clearly the star of the show. Tabitha Littlefield plays his love interest Katherine Plumber and energetically spars with Brennan’s Kelly. Littlefield’s solo number is particularly enjoyable and hilarious. Kolbi Jordan turned in a scene stealing performance as Medda Larkin, the theater owner who takes pity on the newsies. Her soulful voice filled the theater during her entertaining solo. Trace Herrara stole my heart as the adorable little boy who played eight-year-old Les. Herrara was particularly charming and kept the audience in stitches with his mannerisms. The large, moveable set pieces provided the perfect background for the show. The cast skillfully climbed and jumped all over them, making the audience feel like they were truly in the streets of New York with the newsies. Although “Newsies” ended its run on the last weekend of August, Theatre Tulsa has a full season scheduled. They return to the stage November 2 – 10 for their production of “Barnum.”
courtesy Theater Tulsa
The Collegian:10
Variety
27 August 2018
Downtown Tulsa’s new bikeshare a success The new program provides citizens with a relatively easy ride around downtown Tulsa. Sara Serrano Social Media and Web Manager Notice anything different about downtown Tulsa recently? Good, you don’t need glasses yet. This past July, about 150 bikes were stationed in the area by the non-profit Tulsa Bike Share in partnership with Tulsa Tough. The bikes were provided by This Machine, a public bikeshare program that is meant to “connect people to more places where they live, work, and play in the region,” according to the Tulsa Bike Share website. While I’ve certainly seen the bikes around town, I haven’t yet had to chance to go for ride. So I (ironically) drove downtown to test one out. Before I headed out, I downloaded and signed up with the app BCycle, which allows you to locate and reserve bikes and check them out straight from the app. You can also rent them from payment stations around downtown, but those aren’t everywhere. Once I found my ride, I punched the code from the bike’s display into my app and voila: the bike unlocked and was ready to go. For two bucks, I could ride around for 30 minutes. The bike itself was pretty cute and
hipster-ish, covered in Tulsa-themed stickers. It had a basket, an electronic display that showed the time elapsed and miles ridden, a gear shift, handlebar brakes and a solar panel to power it all. The bike also had a motor to assist with hills, but I forgot about it and never tried it out. That would have felt wrong anyway. Biking around the Tulsa Arts District was fun, if a little strange. There aren’t any bike lanes, so I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be riding on the sidewalks or in the street. I tried biking in the middle as well as on the side of a street lane for a while but quit when the cars around me seemed annoyed. But biking on the sidewalk was also stressful, as there wasn’t enough space for both pedestrians and bikes. Despite all my confusion, I had a good time. The bike was light, well-made and could make sharp turns with ease. I also felt like I took in Downtown Tulsa in a different way than I normally do, like taking the scenic route of the highway. I can definitely see how useful these bikes could be, whether you need to get to another part of downtown but don’t want to lose your parking space, or just want to get some exercise. Nonetheless, the program could really benefit from increased educational information so bikers know how they are supposed to use the bikes. I look forward to the program’s expansion to Cherry Street, the Gathering Place, and Midtown Tulsa.
photos by Sara Serrano
Tulsa Ballet’s “On Your Radar” lights up stage The Tulsa Ballet illustrated its wealth of talent with a show performed entirely by students. Lizzy Young Student Writer Tulsa Ballet opened their 2018 – 2019 season with “On Your Radar.” This performance exclusively featured Tulsa Ballet II, their pre-professional company. It included two pieces by different choreographers to showcase their dancers. “Omens,” the opening number, was a modern piece. The message of this piece was about how to find your own way and listen to your heart in spite of all of the noise of the outside world trying to drown it out. Choreographed by Jennifer Archibald, this piece featured cacophonous music full of percussion instruments and fast beats. Dressed in earthy colors of red and brown, the dancers danced across the stage in groups of two or three. With a harsh background of red light
The narrator takes the audience through his journey of when he was a mischievous young boy calling wolf for fun to when he is a grandfather protecting his grandson from the big bad wolf. It is humorous and a fun way to experience ballet. The dancers portraying the animals in this tale perfectly captured the essence of their movements, making each of the animals come to life for the audiences. In addition, the elaborate costumes, including a large wolf headdress, were all crafted with the view in mind of making the dancers appear like their fairytale animals. The costuming and set pieces were all excellently crafted to create a fairytale world. The set included a lighted screen for the dancers’ silhouettes to appear larger, mesmerizing the audience. This is a performance that is delightful for all ages. A little boy I was sitting close to was particularly enthralled by the wolf. He gasped loudly every time the wolf came on and sighed in relief when he was denied his prey. His obvious delight added to the already enchanting experience.
“With a harsh background of red light... the dancers fought and clashed trying to find inner peace.” illuminating their silhouettes, the dancers fought and clashed trying to find inner peace. It was a beautiful piece featuring lots of movements that focused on lengthening the limbs and reaching. Their movements perfectly expressed the message of the piece. The second number was “Peter and the Wolf,” which was choreographed by resident Tulsa Ballet choreographer Ma Cong. He reimagines this popular story, which was created by composer Sergei Prokofiev. This charming piece is humorously narrated by the boy who cried wolf, who is now a grandfather. The narrator, portrayed by Timothy Hunter, in his old age is now telling his side of the story about his experiences with the wolf.
I attended the performance at Zarrow Performance Studio, Tulsa Ballet’s Broken Arrow location. It was the first time I had been to this location and I was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere of the Zarrow Theatre makes the audience feel like they are involved in the action on the stage. The audience is above the stage which makes the dancers feel closer. It is a intimate setting in which I enjoyed seeing the ballet. Tulsa Ballet only had one weekend of performances for “On Your Radar,” but their dancers return to the stage September 14 – 23 for “Creations in Studio K.” In addition, “Peter and the Wolf” will return to the stage October 5 and 12. Make sure to put it on your calendar, as it is a performance that should not be missed.
@TUCollegian
tucollegian@tucollegian.org editor-in-chief
Justin Guglielmetti managing editor
Raven Fawcett news editor
Ethan Veenker sports editor
Brennen Gray variety editor
Emma Palmer commentary editor
Emily Every satire editor
Madison Connell photo & graphics editor
Conner Maggio
business & advertising manager
Brian Kwiecinski
social media & web manager
Sara Serrano
distribution manager
Nathan Gibbons copy editor
Bryant Loney
The Collegian is the student newspaper of the University of Tulsa. It is distributed Mondays during the fall and spring semesters, except during holidays and final exam weeks. The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on the basis of personal status or group characteristics including but not limited to the classes protected under federal and state law. Inquiries regarding implementation of this policy may be addressed to the Office of Human Resources, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-9700, (918)631-2616. Requests for accomodation of disabilities may be addressed to the university’s 504 Coordinator, Dr. Tawny Rigsby, (918)631-3814. To ensure availability of an interpeter, five to seven days notice is needed; 48 hours is recommended for all other accomodations. Advertising Policy: Advertising appearing in this publication does not imply approval or endorsement by the University of Tulsa or the Collegian for the products or services advertised. For advertising information, email the Collegian at advertising@tucollegian.org. The deadline for advertising is noon on the Friday proir to publication. Letter Policy: Letters to the editor must be less than 500 words and can be sent to tucollegian@tucollegian.org. Under no circumstances will anonymous letters be published. The name of the person submitting the letter must be published with the letter. We reserve the right to edit or reject all letters. The deadline for letters is 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication. Editing Policy: The Collegian reserves the right to edit all copy submitted by all writers. This editing may take place in many forms, including grammar corrections, changes in paragraph structure or even the addition or removal of sections of content. Editorial Policy: Columnists are solely responsible for the content of their columns. Opinions expressed in columns may not represent the opions of the Collegian staff, the administrative policies of the University of Tulsa, the views of the student body or our advertisers.
27 August 2018
Roommate treaty broken in three days Minor inconveniences stack up and lead to a fight to the death. Jourdon White Newbie War Correspondent This is a chronicle of the events of room 220. An all-out war was waged; the hall had no survivors. The following is an accurate retelling of the battles that ensued. 1045 hours, Monday: Treaty signed and noted. The roommates have taken their sides of the room. John’s territory lies to the east, and Marcus’s lies to the west. Both parties have taken the time to mark a demarcation line through the center of the room. In doing so, they agree to keep items on their respective sides of the room. 1900 hours, Monday: The first signs of waning on both sides. The roommates have disagreed on the temperature in which the dorm should stay. John likes it chilly at 67 degrees, while Marcus likes it warmer at 77. This has led to marches to adjust the temperature every so often. Despite this, the treaty still stands. 0700 hours, Tuesday: Guerilla forces emerge from Marcus’s side of the room and are making a break for the demarcation line. A rouge sock has made its way to nearly cross the line. John has noticed this and begun stern talks to back off Marcus’s forces. The talks seem to fall on deaf ears as Marcus does not understand how a sock can be such a big deal. In an attempt of passiveaggressive force, John scoops up the sock and drives it back to enemy territory. 2100 hours, Tuesday: Tensions run high in room 220 as Marcus finds his side of the room in disarray. John invites a group of his closest allies and comrades over to have “foreign relations,” leaving Marcus’s side of the room, in his own words, “Messy in the way that I’m not used to.” Patience wears thin on both sides. For any other nation, this foreign invasion would be a declaration of total war, and though it seems not too far off, no official word has been given from either side. Only time will tell. 0100 hours, Wednesday: A surprise attack befalls John as he crosses the line to turn down the air conditioner. He is attacked in the black of night and falls over due to the surprise attack. The lights reveal the perpetrator: a pile of rogue clothes and food trash that had made a nice home on John’s side of the room. John takes note of this heinous offence and plans to address this political issue when Marcus returns from his ambassadorial mission. 1800 hours, Wednesday: It is official: the treatise between these two parties has been broken. An RA tries to console the two parties, but the damage has been done, and an all-out war has been declared. John’s allies had become restless of his complaining and taken matters into their own hands, deciding to ravage Marcus’s side of the room. In retaliation, Marcus pettily dumps his food, trash and dirty clothes over on John’s side of the line. War is in full swing between these two. With trash and dirty garments awry, many fear there will be no survivors in the residence hall.
The State-Run Media
The Collegian: 11
Students feel the brunt of the blunt Harmless plant renders hundreds of students felons. Madison Connell Head Propagandist During the first day of class, President Clancy delivered a stern message regarding TU’s medical marijuana policy in a campus wide email, stating that it is strictly prohibited on campus. The public outcry was immediate. This email united students all over the political spectrum. In front of Collins Hall, students held silent protests, hoping the administration would change their mind. A few eager
Charlotte Blaze, a freshman with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, said that in a couple of hours, her “near-constant pain disappeared,” adding, “The food might still taste like shit, but I can’t get enough of it!” The cafeteria staff could not keep up with the demand. Over the following days, they could not church out food fast enough for the oddly-starved students. Cooks and servers from the Allen Chapman Student Union rushed over to aid the cafeteria given their lack of patrons. Marley’s actions also affected the Alexander Health Clinic. Overnight, their therapy department went from packed to not a single client. “You would think school had
One freshman track star, Jimmy Baker, ratted out the dining center for immunity from any charges. When the cafeteria staff realized what they had done, they immediately threw out the alleged oregano, yet they did not anticipate the sheer amount of hungry campus cats. Scrounging around for food, the cats confused the marijuana for catnip. No cats were harmed, but they did seem more relaxed than their usual skittish selves. As a result, many of the cats began letting students pet them for the first time in their lives. President Clancy was left with no choice. The students egregiously ignored the new campus policy, and the new president had
“Business at the caf grew 420 percent in one day as students got wind of the magical healing properties...” biology students planted some hemp seeds, but the department head nipped it in the bud before anything got so far. One student, Bud Marley, took a different approach. Marley broke into the Pat Case Dining Center and replaced the large tub of oregano with marijuana. The head cook of the caf, Edith Foster, somehow overlooked the exchange of ingredients. Instead, she began putting the supposed oregano in almost every meal. Almost immediately, a change was observed on campus. Business at the caf grew 420 percent in one day as students got wind of the magical healing properties of their food.
been canceled by this turnout,” said therapist Linda Potts. A few teachers noticed an abnormal amount of daydreaming and lack of participation, but the C-Store stopped selling any packages of tissues. The plan started to go up in smoke when the members of the football team went through a routine drug test. Approximately 99 percent of them showed up positive for the marijuana compound THC, up 12 percent from the week before. This immediately alerted the administration to do some digging.
Goldie listening to “Dark Side of the Moon” in reverse.
to show he meant business. Clancy did what any sane person would do: expel any student that ingested the contaminated food. Half the school got one of Clancy’s signature emails, this time announcing that they were no longer welcome at this institution. Included in the carnage were all of the most frequent caf visitors: the presidential scholars, athletes, freshmen and, most notably, Goldie. No longer will her bright bushy tail be representing our school as our canine ambassador. The Weedpocalypse will forever be remembered on TU’s campus.
graphic by Conner Maggio
Study abroad student’s life unchanged TU student only had a good time in France. Sara Serrano Cultured AF As classes begin again and people start to settle back into their lives in Tulsa, there is always one thing to count on: everyone who studied abroad this summer will tell their classmates stories about how the experience changed their entire perspective on the world and gave them new appreciation for culture and the arts. But that is not the case for one TU student. Chemical engineering junior Kathryn Welsh returned to TU from a summer studying abroad in France. Despite spending months there, she says she doesn’t feel any different.
Local student learned more from Duolingo than flirtatious Parisians.
“Yeah, I went to my classes, struggled a bit with the language and hung out with some other students,” Welsh said. “It was a nice time, but I don’t think it changed my life.” Her assertion has already rocked the campus. “Kathryn must have been wearing a blindfold and earplugs the entire time she was in France for her to say that!” said Olive Segura, who has a class with Welsh. “I went there after my freshman year and literally just breathing in that French air enlightened my entire mind.” The fact that Welsh only simply enjoyed her experience abroad is absolutely mind boggling, especially to administration at TU’s Center for Global Education. “We carefully curate our programs so that students return from their trips as true
citizens of the world with such enthusiasm that they constantly spread their message and encourage others to follow in their footsteps,” said a spokesperson for the program. “If they aren’t telling their classmates ‘Travel is the best education you can have’ and ‘The X is so much better in Y than here,’ did they even really study abroad?” Despite all of the criticism launched at her, Welsh continues to stick to her initial statement. “I don’t understand why everyone’s so upset!” she said. “I had a good time, I’m just not an entirely different person now!” Administration is now suggesting that Welsh seek counselling to deal with the obvious mental block she must have developed against the fantastic time she really had in France.
graphic by Conner Maggio
The State-Run Media
27 August 2018
the
State-Run media Crazy Poor? Thank the State.
Trump eliminates term limits, nothing to do with Cohen Despite baseless accusations of ulterior motives, Trump takes democracy to greater heights than ever before. Sara Serrano Hates NPR In shocking news from this week, President Trump has announced that in a bipartisan effort, Congress has passed an amendment to the Constitution. This new twenty-eighth amendment annuls the 22nd Amendment, essentially eliminating the two term presidential term limit set in 1951. “I look around the world and I see democracy in danger,” said Trump in a press conference. “Even in this beautiful country! If a hardworking American wants their president to stay, how undemocratic is it that a lousy amendment says he can only be president twice?” He added, “Look at Roosevelt! Great guy. Got us through an awful awful war. Everyone loved him and got to elect him back to the presidency as much as they wanted! So that’s what we’ve done here. Really making America great again.” Despite this perfectly reasonable explanation, the public outcry was immediate. Trump quickly took to Twitter to respond. “This wonderful amendment has NOTHING to do with the LIES of my terrible exlawyer Cohen. He just made up bad things about me to get a plea deal.” he tweeted shortly after the press conference ended. Trump is referring to his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleading guilty to charges of campaign finance violations and fraud, including illegal campaign contributions made to then-presidential candidate Trump in 2016. As part of his plea deal, Cohen indicated that Trump had ordered him to break the law to influence the election, making payments to individuals to keep them from disclosing damaging information about Trump to the public.
American people say, “Thank you, Trump. VERY COOL.”
How a breakthrough in American democracy and a most likely falsified plea deal are related is unclear, but many conspiracy theorists have been quick to draw connections between the two. Even the fake news media has latched onto the baseless theories. “You see, as it stands in Justice Department policy, a sitting president cannot be indicted,”. NPR reported during a broadcast last week. “He can only face criminal charg-
es against him once he is removed from office, whether that be by impeachment or when he has served out his term.” “This is to avoid distracting the president from his presidential duties.” So, they go on to report, the theory is that Trump has somehow pushed and bullied this amendment through Congress to allow him to remain president indefinitely, as to avoid ever facing charges against him.
graphic by Conner Maggio
These claims are ridiculous. Assuming that the Justice Department will even decide to press charges against Trump, which won’t ever happen with the — at best — shakey evidence against the president, why would Trump ever use his office for personal gain? Just take this news for what it is: lies perpetrated by Leftists who still cannot deal with the fact that they lost in 2016 and only want to smear Trump’s shining legacy.
“Crazy Poor College Students” to hit theaters The most undercasted demographic will show in Hollywood next week. Brennen Gray Proud of His C-
Feature-length film with no features.
graphic by Conner Maggio
Despite being a hardworking and attractive group, college students routinely fail to get roles in major movies. The sequel to recent blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians” will change that. “Crazy Poor College Students” focuses on the glamour of living penniless in dorm rooms. The budget for this film was so low that it looks suspiciously like it was made as a local college sophomore’s midterm for a film class. The drama unfolds as the main character Ashley is invited by her boyfriend Spike for a game night with as many playing cards they could scrounge up. An engineering student uses a paperclip, some D batteries and a squeeze of lemon to power a microwave long enough to make Fotinos, an off brand of pizza rolls. Spike’s friends act distant with Ashley because of her excessive wealth. Rumor has it she once had enough money to afford one of her textbooks without selling her hair or plasma. Spike, at odds with his friends for their disapproval of Ashley, defends her in spite of her socio-economic background. Ashley stubbornly pursues Spike in the name of love, betraying her own background as a sorority sister of Kappa Alpha Sigma Heta, or KA$H. The side characters are full of enough life to keep the film going in the slow parts. Spike’s best friend Jeb spends the film
pursuing fire-starting materials to heat his dorm, which sheds light on the triumph of the human spirit. The sets push the boundaries of cinema. “Crazy Rich Asians” showers its audiences in rare flowers, jewels and expensive real estate. The sequel goes one step further; the crew sold all of their own equipment to pay their actors a legal minimum wage. The cockroach-infested dorm rooms and peanut butter sandwiches were all completely real. The bachelor party scene used actual Natural Lite for the beer. The bachelorette party was filmed in a real basement. I was most touched by the scene where Spike chases after Ashley saying he would renounce his family to be with her. As the two hug in the library surrounded by students studying, crying and conjugating, the smartphone camera gets a panoramic view of the romance. Spike then pulled out a product-placed box of Kleenex to wipe her snot amidst the tears. I will not spoil the ending, but rest assured, it satisfies. The wedding scene is sure to make people talk. Spike takes a test online to become a minister, and the gang uses a study room for the ceremony. At the reception, the Mio-enhanced water flows and the ramen lasts almost an hour before running out. The production, acting and execution of “Crazy Poor College Students” makes Wiseau’s “The Room” look Oscar-worthy, but the important thing is that college students finally get their roles. All in all, the movie celebrates true love despite culture and monetary barriers. The film does not measure up to the beauty and quality of “Crazy Rich Asians,” but its director received a Cfor his efforts.