Sept. 19 by MediaOCU

THE CAMPUS

“

September 19, 2018 – Volume 112 Issue 4

Never forget Peyton Wagner, religion senior, and Ellie Roth, business administration senior, lead a group in prayer at the 9/11 Service Project at 8 a.m. Sept. 11 on the quad. The Student Civic Engagement Commitee hosted the event. Far left: Delanie Ayers, acting sophomore, plants a flag on the quad in remembrance of 9/11. Students also delivered doughnuts to police and fire stations in the metro area.

Hannah Rogers Student Publications

SGA amends budget bylaws, debates salaries Chandler White

COPY EDITOR

Student Government Association has a new budget, but it came later than expected. The SGA president and his/ her cabinet drafts the budget. It then goes through the executive committee, then the steering committee and is then brought for approval by Student Senate. Senate adopted the approximately $153,000 budget Thursday after suspending their original deadline. The budget went through the executive committee and then the steering committee, but it failed on the Senate floor Thursday. An earlier version of the budget that went from the executive committee to the steering committee will be used instead and is the budget SGA will operate on this year. Jordan Tarter, English junior and SGA president, said senators resorted to this without a vote because the budget cannot

be amended on the Senate floor, and SGA couldn’t wait another two weeks for a budget. The budget allocates about $23,000 to Senate allocations, about $10,000 to allotments, about $72,000 to Student Activities Council, and about $31,000 to the law school’s Student Bar Association. “Every little bit of that money should help us create a more efficient and student-focused campus,” Tarter said. SGA’s bylaws require that a budget must be presented within the first two weeks of school. SGA members had to suspend the bylaw for the second consecutive year because of a section of the bylaws that sets a formula for how much money SGA must give to SBA. The formula is based on the total number of credit hours for the law school and the total number of undergrads. The law school does not release those numbers until 12 days after classes start, which is after the budget deadline.

It’s time that we actually start working again for the students rather than trying to advance our own agendas. Trae Trousdale

mass communications sophomore

The bylaw can be changed, but no senator has requested the change. Until that happens, the bylaw will need to be suspended each year. Austin Gipson-Black, religion/political science senior and SGA vice president, said he thinks an amendment to change the bylaw will be submitted at some point. “At that point when it’s submitted, I’m sure it will be amended,” he said. “They’ll either extend the time period to three weeks or say something vague like, ‘the earliest date after the law school submits numbers.’” The approved budget pro-

vides Tarter with an annual salary of $1,500; Gipson-Black with $1,830; Ellie Roth, finance junior and chief justice, with $500, and Tyler Patton, mass communications senior and chief of staff, with $500. No other senators accepted a salary. Madelynn Buckman, entertainment business senior and vice president of SAC, forfeited hers so her commissioners could divide it between them. Tarter said some senators were uncomfortable with her receiving a lower salary than Gipson-Black, even though she was fine with it. But, because the budget cannot be amended on the Senate floor,

the salaries remained the same. “Several senators wanted to raise mine to equal to his,” she said. “Though the salaries did not change, I don’t think that should have been the main concern.’” Trae Trousdale, mass communications sophomore, was unable to attend the Senate meeting Thursday, but he sent a letter to the senators encouraging them to pass the budget as it was instead of squabbling over their own issues. “Pettiness, malice, and greed have no place within the Student Government Association,” the letter reads. “I ask that each of you stand with me in opposition to these leeches on leadership, and pass this budget.” Trousdale said he didn’t mean to offend anyone with the letter but wanted to ensure SGA members were doing their jobs. “I was not by any means attempting to call anyone out, it was just saying, ‘the crap has got to stop,’” he said. “It’s time that we actually start working

again for the students rather than trying to advance our own agendas.” Buckman said Senate voted against the budget out of spite toward Gipson-Black, even though the salary numbers didn’t change in the final budget. “President Tarter said she was okay with taking less of a salary, so I don’t understand why that was an issue that was being discussed when she stated in our exec meeting that she was fine,” she said. Trousdale said some of the senators who voted against passing the budget are not working toward SGA’s greater purpose. “They see how they would like it to go and aren’t willing to truly compromise and serve all students,” he said. Contributing: Staff Writer Callie Dewees

Cokesbury gates not locking, students concerned about safety Paul Dower

STAFF WRITER

Cokesbury Court Apartments officials installed new pedestrian gate locks, but some of them don’t work correctly. Campus Living Villages, the company contracted by OCU to maintain the apartments, purchased the new locks for an undisclosed amount and installed them during the summer. Students said the gates close before the locking timers reset, so the gates sometimes stay unlocked. When the gates do lock, some don’t unlock whenever the key code is entered. Onnika Hanson, acting senior and Cokesbury resident, said the main gate she uses doesn’t work properly. “Basically, if the gate closed, it didn’t open,” Hanson said. “And so you would press in the key code, and nothing would happen. If you were on the other side, you couldn’t get out.” Most residents leave the gate open for this reason, Hanson said. “No one closed it, on purpose, because they knew it wouldn’t open,” she said. “So it’s been open for weeks.”

Emily Wollenberg Student Publications The pedestrian gate facing the Panhellenic Quadrangle does not lock. The keypad locks were installed during the summer.

Hanson said she worries about the safety of Cokesbury with the gate always being open. She is concerned about people who do not live in Cokesbury being able to get in, she said. “I was walking to a sorority meeting, and I literally saw a homeless

lady walk right by me and go, ‘excuse me’ and walk in Cokesbury,” she said. “This homeless lady walks straight into Cokesbury because, A, she saw students walking in and out, but B, she knew she could go in because it was unlocked.” Even one gate not functioning properly compromises the safety of the whole system, Hanson said. “It’s a great system, except it doesn’t work if one gate doesn’t work,” she said. “As soon as one gate’s wide open, there’s just no point.” Becca Young, business administration sophomore and Cokesbury resident, said she has had similar experiences with the gates. “It is a little bit worrisome, especially for safety reasons, because anyone can just kind of walk through,” Young said. Young said the gates don’t close on rainy or windy days and have to be physically pushed. Liz Richardson, associate director of student housing and apartments, said she has companies working to fix the gates. She has not given specific dates on when the gates will work properly and refused to comment further.

Campus community comments on Hurricane Florence, takes donations Nicole Waltman

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

University church-relations officials are collecting donations to help those affected by hurricanes. Hurricane “Florence” was a Category 1 hurricane that hit the Carolinas on Friday. Heavy rain and winds put the Carolinas and Virginia at high risk. The hurricane was downgraded Sunday to a tropical depression. The Rev. Charles Neff, vice president for university-church relations, sent an email to the campus community Friday that read, “Religious Life and University-Church Relations are coordinating efforts related to our campus-wide response to the unfolding disaster along the Atlantic Coast.” Blue bins were placed Monday in various locations around campus. “The stories from our neighbors in the Carolinas are just beginning to come in, but they are heart-breaking,” the email read. “The rain continues to fall and the flooding is catastrophic in many areas. As we watch our Sisters and Brothers in this time of disaster, many of us want to ‘do something to help.’” Some students who are originally from the areas affected by “Florence” expressed concerns. “Our home was fine to stay in,” said Anna Caison Boyd, dance

M MEDIAOCU.com

junior from Kingstree, South Carolina. “But the Myrtle Beach area all had to leave and they blocked traffic coming in. We had to secure our home there before it got blocked off.” Boyd said it’s positive that OCU is providing donation opportunities. “Some people weren’t as fortunate as us and have lost everything or have thousands of dollars in damages,” she said. “It’s so great that our campus community wants to support those people because it will definitely be appreciated.” Adrianna DelPercio, acting junior from Myrtle Beach, said her mother, stepfather and little brother evacuated to Nashville. But her father’s side of the family stayed in Myrtle Beach. DelPercio’s father, a police officer on duty during the hurricane, was in a car accident from the flooding in the area. “I was a nervous wreck,” she said. “We deal with hurricanes all the time, but this was supposed to be this huge hurricane.” Some students recall hurricane damage from last year in their own home states. Matt Tuley, acting senior and Houston native, said he remembers his feelings during Hurricane Harvey a year ago. “The first week was the toughest, not knowing,” he said. “I felt guilt for being thankful for not being there.” Tuley formed a Facebook group for OCU students from Texas to talk about how the hurricane was affecting them. He also sent one of the donation bins from OCU home with his family to be distributed

Donation Items Needed · Toiletries (TP, deodorant, toothpaste,

· Insect repellent

toothbrush, pads, brush/comb)

· Scrub brush

· Diapers

· Hand wipes (resealable)

· Baby food

· Sponges

· Five-gallon buckets with resealable lid

· Plastic scouring pads

· Liquid laundry detergent (25 or 50 oz)

(not stainless or Brillo)

· Liquid household cleaner (12-16 oz)

· Clothespins

· Dish soap (16-28 oz bottles)

· Clothesline (50 ft or 100 ft)

· Air freshener (aerosol or pump)

· Heavy duty trash bags

· Dishwashing gloves · Work gloves

(33-45 gallon) · Dust masks

in the Houston area. The email reads that “donations of food, clothes, and pet supplies are not needed.” It also said that cash donations will be accepted and passed on with the supplies, but Neff encouraged giving directly to organizations such as redcross.org, umcor.org and spca.org. Contributing: Staff Writer Amanda Miller

Crazy Kazoo Lady

24 hours of play

Like us on Facebook at MediaOCU

Get advice by emailing chawthorne@okcu.edu See photos from the Tokach 24-hour play festival

Sing, sing, sing

Read about new and traditional choir performances