Sports
Men’s track and field wins C-USA indoor crown p. 4
Variety
Oscar short film reviews p. 7
a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
Opinion
TU wealth contrasts with surrounding poverty p. 9
february 28, 2012 issue 19 ~ volume 97
Volunteers from the RUF tore down a wall and ripped out carpet for the Baptist Children’s Home in Owasso.
Members of three fraternities and the Baptist Collegiate Ministries hauled junk out of a church garage.
The accounting, finance, MIS honors organization weeded a flowerbed at Kendall-Whittier elementary school.
TU students painted siding at Habitat for Humanity.
TU amasses volunteer hours With its yearly Service Day, TU logs a massive number of volunteer hours. However, the system for recording hours allows internships to count as service. Emily Callen Staff Writer
“There’s a verse in the Bible that says ‘many hands make the work light,’” said Andy Middleton from Owasso First Assembly church, beaming at the frenzy of activity surrounding him. Middleton gave directions as University of Tulsa students carried pieces of detritus, from plywood sheets to an old toilet, to a dumpster outside the church. With counts of “One, two, three,
throw,” students lifted their loads over the rim of the dumpster, then returned to the bus garage they were clearing. Many hands, indeed. In under an hour, the garage was emptied and swept. “It would have taken use three, four, five days if we had done this by ourselves,” said Middleton. This was just one of many tasks completed by TU volunteers on Service Day last Saturday, which sent students to 32 locations across the city. TU students spent 24,607 hours volunteering last year. Of the 3,289 students who participated in service, 1,100 of them volunteered in the Kendall Whittier neighborhood as part of the True Blue Neighbors Initiative.
Most of this work takes place at Kendall Whittier elementary school, just steps from campus. Despite this spirit of giving, some students express concern about the way service is counted and conducted on campus.
Getting Greek The Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and social Greek are examples of groups that provide opportunities for team service. Junior Natalie Stompoly is a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. She said that the sorority usually performed service as a group, often working with local Girl Scout troops. Greek organizations track their own volunteer hours and submit
them to the Student Volunteer Center. The total hours are calculated using the honor system. According to Stompoly, the fundraising work Greek organizations perform “counts as service, since it’s going to charity and those organizations need funds.” Asked what she thought about this method of counting, Maddie Laizure, who is a member of APO, said, “I think it’s kosher as long as it’s a reasonable amount of time.” Caitlin Dryke, also a member of APO, disagreed. Philanthropy events “allow (social Greek organizations) to be divorced from the issue at hand,” Dryke said. “I get where they’re coming from,” Dryke said, “but they could do so much more. Maybe philanthropy events could count for half
time, since they aren’t purely service.” “Don’t call these philanthropy events service,” Smith said. “It dilutes the meaning of service. You have to have both, both are important, but they aren’t the same thing.” Fraternity leadership refered to a TU policy which excludes the use of philanthropy events toward required service hours, but declined to offer specific comment. Philanthropy events hosted by sororities and fraternities are funded by the student association. At a Kappa Alpha dinner held during the 2010-2011 academic year, SA allocated more money to the event than the event raised.
See Service page 2