Student Activists Get Involved On State Level

The OU student group, Oklahoma Justice Mission, is getting involved in an organization in Oklahoma City called All Things New in an attempt to make a difference in the global movement to stop human trafficking.

All Things New is a safe house for girls who have just come out of a human trafficking situation. The organization offers beds and has the girls go through therapy.

I think our students will really enjoy working with All Things New, Blake Jenkins, OJM president said. We will get to help them in many ways, everything from cleaning to running errands.

The Oklahoma Justice Mission hopes to raise its number of members so that they can get more involved in the programs at All Things New.

Click here to learn about the issue of human trafficking.

New Major Added

The College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences began offering a new major, geoinformatics, this fall. It has already signed 12 students to its program.

Geoinformatics offers a bachelor of arts and bachelor of science. The major is an emerging field, which focuses on computer based skills in comparison to people and geospatial data.

One great advantage our majors will have is that we work very closely with the research center for spatial analysis, Melissa Scott Brown, assistant director of research and education said. This gets them the experience they need to be successful in the real world.

Graduate degrees are in the planning stages for the program.

Click here to learn what geocaching is.

Redefining the Coffee Break

OU is getting its own chapter of an international club that strives to make a difference in the lives of Africans.

Mocha Club is run by the idea that seven dollars a month, what you would usually spend on coffee, can have a big impact in Africa. The club has five programs that they take part in: child mothers/women at risk, clean water, education, hiv/aids/health care and orphan care.

Other organizations ask you to give 30 dollars a month and I feel like that is such a big commitment, said Ashlee Adams, OU chapter Mocha Club President. This is a more tangible commitment and easy for just about any one to achieve.

The club will become official next week and hopes to add more members and to raise awareness of its cause.

Click here to listen to Adams describe her personal Mocha Club experience.

An Age Old Argument

A Pro-Life student group’s sidewalk chalking was vandalized by an unknown group.

The Pro-Life group, named Pro-Life Ambassadors, chalked about their cause in multiple places on campus. The first of the vandalism was discovered Tuesday morning; a few words were scratched out. Then, on Wednesday morning, more heavy chalking and writing were done. The vandalism used phrases such as “Save a fetus so it can die in Iraq.”

The biggest frustration is the lack of class and intellectual clarity at OU, said Jared Hanes, pro-life ambassador.

Sarah Udick, the student organizations coordinator, will be looking into the vandalism to try to determine who was behind it.

Click here to listen to Hanes discuss why abortion is a relevant issue to students.

Culture Awareness

Students gathered on Wednesday night to perform a traditional Indian dance called Raas, which was one part of India week. This week students from the OU India Society are putting on multiple events to spread awareness of their culture and of the philanthropy they represent.

CRY America is a non-profit organization that believes in fighting for human rights and justice, especially for children. They also fund smaller organizations who build schools and distribute money to those who need it most. In the past, the society has raffled off a basketball signed by the OU men’s basketball team to benefit their previous philanthropy.

I enjoy our group because we’re all friends with a similar mind set and we’re here to not only promote our culture but to make a difference by providing funds to CRY America, said Roshan Patel, OUIS treasurer and zoology junior.

Throughout the school year OUIS will put on many fundraising events such as restaurant benefit nights, to benefit CRY America.

Click here to watch students perform Raas, a traditional Indian dance.

Youtube Becomes Portal for Vital Information

Enroll tutorial videos are available to OU students to help them navigate the new enroll system.

The videos make students comfortable with the new process and they prefer visual learning over a written document so we've given them what they want, said Nick Key, OU IT spokesman.

The first enroll tutorial video was posted in early September, two weeks before the websites were switched. Similar tutorial videos were made for staff members. Both students and staff were made aware of the videos through mass emails, advertisements in The Oklahoma Daily and information tables set up on campus. In the past, tutorial videos were made to help students and staff understand how to work Microsoft Word's 2007 version, since it was so different from their previous version.

New videos are being made that are more situation specific, for instance stops put on courses, because of student request.

Click here to listen to Nick Key describe how to access the videos.