Click the play button to hear Lauren Royston, Chuck Weaver, Holli Bruce and Kayla Bowden talk about room and board and meal plan rate increase at OU.

Room and Board Rate Increase Burdens OU Students

The Board of Regents has recently finalized the approval of the increase of the OU room and board and meal plan rates for the upcoming academic year 2009-2010.

According to the final agenda from the Board of Regents, the OU students living on Norman campus residence halls, OU Traditions Square Apartments, and for furnished Kraettli Apartments will pay 3% of increased rate compared to last years’ cost.

“I just think that there could be maybe other ways to budget the money at the university so that cost doesn’t have to be raised, because it is such a huge financial burden for the families who cannot afford a cost increase or the students who struggle to get by through college,” said Holli Bruce, OU junior, who plans to live in Adams Center from August 2009.

According to the Housing and Food Services Web site, the most common option for students living in resident halls is double at towers with a meal plan, and the new rate of this option will be $3,799 per semester, which is $111 higher compared to last years’ rate.

There is no increase proposed for unfurnished Kraettli Apartments or OU Traditions Square Apartments, according to the final agenda from the Board of Regents.

Lauren Royston, the marketing and public relations specialist at Housing and Food Services, said with the national increase in food cost and taking the consideration of the rise of the utilities for the university, the Housing and Food Services had to make some minimum adjustments to some of the charges to the students in order to compensate the increase.

“I am not the big fan of the increase of the housing and food rates, but if they have decided to, then I guess I just have to deal with paying the new rate,” said Kayla Bowden, OU sophomore, who plans to live in Walker Center from August 2009.

Bruce said, the OU students were really excited that there wasn’t going to be increase in tuition cost this year, and now the students find out it is the housing and food rate that is increasing, which is not so much pleasant news to hear.

Chuck Weaver, director of Food Services, said the good part about the Housing and Food Services being able to slightly increase the rate is that there will be additional services, and there won’t be any reduction to the services so the students are really getting all the benefits as far as the services that we provide.

Royston said, with the increase in rate, there will be extended hours of services of the restaurants on campus, and the quality of the services will keep developing for the students to enjoy living on campus.

“I am proud to say that even though the economy is a little tight, and things are getting a little rough, we are not looking at pull back in services,” said Weaver.

Bowden said, she understands the increase in housing and food rate, at the same time, she does not really expect much to be different, because since everything is pricey these days, it is just something the students or the families has to deal with.

According to the Housing and Food Services Web site, the Housing and Food Services provides safe, high quality and affordable housing and food services for students and is consistently ranked competitively with the Big XII in terms of cost.

According the final agenda from the Board of Regents, the percentage of the room and board rate increase of the Big XII institutions all varied, and the highest amount of rate increased institution was Missouri with 6.50% and there were no increase in Oklahoma State.

Compared with Big XII institutions, OU ranked bottom five in the room and board rate increase, which explains that the increase is not drastically different when compared to other Big XII institutions, according to the final agenda of the Board of Regents.

Bruce said, OU is famous for beautiful campus and nice facilities, but if it going to cost much just to come, than some of the students cannot be a part the students at OU just because they cannot afford to pay the costs.

According to the Housing and Food Services Web site, they use high efficiency and energy saved fluorescent lighting with the use of locally grown produce and they are working on getting greener all the time.

To minimize the chances of increasing the room and board rate, the Housing and Food Services work hard on some of the ideas that students could participate in order to save the utility fees, said Royston.

“Last year, we put up some posters in each hall so that students can know how they can contribute to be part of the university becoming greener,” said Weaver.

According to the Housing and Food Services Web site, the recycling competition between housing centers occurred in early September as part of H&F Green Week 2008. In this competition, the Adams Center won for recycling more paper, plastic and aluminum than the other housing centers.

Bruce said, the university probably has gone through this process, but they should consider the budget more thoughtfully and see what else they can cut instead of just raising the rates.

Bowden said, to budget the increase rate, maybe the landscaping or some of the remodeling can be cut, because sometimes she feels that the landscaping or remodeling are done too often, which is unnecessary in her point of view.

“I guess budgeting more in the first place in the cost of food or utility would be good, because obviously it is going to increase as time goes, so then every time the food or utility increases, the university do not have to keep increasing the cost,” said Bruce.

Royston said, she expects that the students will be pleased with the fact that they are getting to come in to refreshed facilities and the developed quality in service they are about to receive.

Bruce said, she is happy with the services on campus besides not just costing as much.

According to the final agenda from the Board of Regents, with the renovations completed in the residence halls, newly renovated rooms will be ready for move in at all of Adams, Couch, and Walker Center in August 2009.



Click the play button to hear Holli Bruce, OU junior, who plans to live in Adams Center from August 2009, talk about the increase of the room and board rate at OU and see the pictures of the resident halls at OU.

OU Student Employees get Minimum Wage Increase


Click the play button to watch Michelle Boydstun, an assistant director of payroll and personnel records, talk about the OU student employees getting their minimum wage increase.

OU Payroll and Personnel Records sent out e-mails saying that there plans to be an increase of the minimum wages of the OU student employees.

According to www.laborlawcenter.com, the last time the minimum wage got increased was in July 24, 2008.

“I was planning on switching jobs because the pay wasn’t high enough for me, but now since the hourly pay has gone up, I don’t have to look for a new job,” said Scott Sherrill, a student employee at Bizzell Memorial Library.

The minimum wage will increase to $7.25 per hour, and this will begin to be effective from July 24, according to the United States Department of Labor Web site.

Book Shifting in Process at Bizzell Memorial Library

The Bizzell Memorial Library is working on book shift this summer to reduce the time for OU students searching for books they need.

The student workers at the library who are processing the book shift said, the whole floor at the library is on process. They are filling up the empty shelves with new books, and reorganizing the books that are out of order.

“Moving books floor to floor is hard work, but people will be able to access resources more efficiently when the book shifting ends,” said A. J. Stafford, OU junior, a student worker at the Bizzell Memorial Library.

Stafford said he has been working on this project all summer long and hopes to get it done in the middle of August before the school starts.

Click the play button to hear A. J. Stafford, a student employee at Bizzell Memorial Library, talk about the book shifting process and see the pictures of the student workers working on this project.

Student Post Office Plans to Move

The student post office located in basement of Adams Center at Muldrow Hall plans to move to one of the Cate Center that is being renovated.

Karen Crane, a supervisor at Student Post Office, said she doesn’t know the exact date the post office will move, but she hopes it will be sometime in the first week of August.

“Right now at this location (the basement of Adams Center), we are kind of hidden, but when we move to Cate, it will be easier for students to find us,” said Crane.

Crane said, when the post office moves, they will try to start delivering the mails in the early afternoon so they can mail out to the students as early as possible for them to receive fast and accurately.

Click the play button to hear Karen Crane, a supervisor at Student Post Office talk about their move and see the Cate Center that is being renovated.

TRiO Program Students at OU

Group of high school students from 5 different schools are at OU taking some classes with a federal scholarship program to get help with their entrance to college.

TRiO program offer support to high school students from a variety of different backgrounds by federal grants from the federal government, according to TRiO Web site. At OU this summer, there are 37 high school students who are with this program to get their education help, said Warren Queton, academic coordinator of sooner upward bound.

“We can choose to go to any college we want, but OU is definitely on my top 5 list,” said Destiny Sierra, a junior at Northwest Classen High School.

These students are taking Math, English, Science, Journalism, Technology and Spanish this summer and experiencing the college life at OU. Their classes began in June 8 and will end July 17, said Queton.

Click here to see the TRiO program students in Technology class and hear Erich Hayes, a teaching assistant for this class, talk about the students he is teaching this summer.

Clich here to see the TRiO students at English class working on their individual projects.

Click play button to see the Modern Languages Learning Center and their hours.


Modern Languages Learning Center Change Hours for Summer

The Modern Languages Learning Center located in Kaufman Hall Room 228 has different hours for the summer compared to regular semester.

Modern Languages Learning Center is provided for students where they can utilize audio and video resources, as well as interactive computer tutorials for Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, according to their Web site.

“I come to this lab once a week, and I think it is effective, I can get help to ask questions and get my assignments done here,” said Piper Reynolds, OU junior, currently enrolled in a Spanish online class.

The hours will be changed again for the fall from the first day of semester in August 24, according to Modern Languages Learning Center Web site.

Click here to hear Diana Tono, a student employee at Modern Languages Learning Center, talk about what they offer in the lab.

For fall 2009, the staffs at Education Abroad expect exchange students from 26 different countries those who will extend their study at OU like the past students did. The students will be able to enroll in 12 hours of undergraduate level credit, 9 hours of graduate level credit, or 10 hours of credit for law students, according to Education Abroad Web site.


Exchange Students Extend their Stay at OU

The exchange students tend to extend their stay at OU to widen their experience of the United States culture and continue with their studies.

This summer, there are 29 students from 6 different countries who have decided to extend their study at OU, according to the record from Tina Henderson, a staff assistant of Education Abroad.

“I plan to transfer to OU when my exchange program finishes, because it is better for me if I finish my degree here (in the United States), I can find better job when I go back to my country,” said Daniel Ferrufino, an exchange student from Bolivia.

Henderson said, in fall 2009, the estimation of 260 students from 26 different countries are expected to come to experience the university life at OU.

According to the Education Abroad Web site, the requests for the exchange program extensions can only be approved under exceptional occasions, and the students are required to know the exact number of the semesters they are extending for with the explanation for their extension of the program.

Zehra Tosun, OU graduate research assistant from Turkey, said she first came to OU in summer 2006 as an exchange student to do research on her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering.

Tosun said, within one month, in fall 2006, she was determined to come to OU to broaden her area of study and work on her Ph. D. in chemical, biological and materials engineering.

“What attracted me the most to come back was the environment of study of my major at OU, and the professor’s offer of a position as graduate research assistant,” said Tosun.

According to the University of Oklahoma Web site, OU ranks as first in the Big 12 and at the top in the nation in international reciprocal exchange agreements with 174 universities in 66 countries around the world.

Tosun said, she has seen so many of her friends from Columbia, especially majoring in petroleum engineering, who came as exchange students and decide to carry on with their study at OU as transfer students or start working on another degree.

Accepting the exchange students is beneficial to the university, because they are getting the students who they are already familiar with, not a stranger from scratch, said Tosun.

Jack Hobson, the director of Education Abroad, said that in general, for exchange students, the way in which the United States classroom is run would be different, so the Education Abroad staffs help them to let them know about the classroom expectations in the United States.

Magali Pagnon, an exchange student from France, came to OU in fall 2008 to work on her master’s degree in biological engineering.

Pagnon said, studying at OU is impressive, because compared to the universities in France, for her, there seems to be more individual work rather than going to class to listen to the lectures.

When exchange students come to OU, they expect to only experience the United States college life, however, many of them have opportunity to meet other exchange students from many countries, said Hobson.

“One thing that surprised me was that at OU, there are so many students and professors from all over the world, so I can experience different culture not just the United States,” said Ferrufino.

The exchange students are suggested to be fluent with their English language skills in order to integrate themselves into the campus community during their stay at OU, according to Education Abroad Web site.

The common problem the exchange students deal with would be being away from home for the first time, and the communication problems, said Henderson.

One of the problems Ferrufino faced when he first arrived in the United States was the language. To catch up with his language skills, he studied hard so that he doesn't fall behind with his class work.

Ferrufino said, since he has been in the United States for six months, he is now flexible with communicating with people. So now, he has decided to transfer, and is also thinking of continuing his master’s degree in civil engineering at OU.

According to the Education Abroad Web site, the exchange students for the fall 2009 are recommended to arrive no later than August 17. There will be two orientations that they are required to attend on August 20 and 21.


Click here to listen to Tina Henderson, a staff assistant at Education Abroad, talk about how the Education Abroad office help with the exchange students.

Caroline Page is a resident in Cate Center for the summer. She is packing her belongings to get ready for her room change next Monday.

Summer Residents Face Inconvenience

A letter from the Housing and Food Services was slipped under the summer residents’ doors on June 15, notifying that there will be room changes next Monday.

The summer residents have been living in Cate Center since June 7, and in just few weeks, the Housing and Food Services is asking them to move to other rooms for maintenance issues, said Caroline Page, who prepares to pack her belongings for room change next week.

“I understand that they (the Housing and Food Services) are making us move for reasonable issues, but it is huge inconvenience for us (the residents),” said Page.

According to the letter from the Housing and Food Services, the keys for new rooms are available from Monday at noon. The residents will move into their new rooms and check out from their old rooms by 8 p.m. on that same day.


Click here to hear about the inconvenience that Caroline Page, one of the summer residents at Cate Center, faces about the room changes next Monday.

Summer Residents Enjoy Water Balloon Fight

The residents for the summer gathered to enjoy water balloon fighting and pretzels yesterday at the back side of the Cate Center lawn.

The residents who were at the event are the summer residents living in Cate Center. There were 7 resident advisers and 5 residents who participated.

“It got a little competitive at the end, but I am glad that the residents enjoyed water balloon fighting,” said Eric Dumas, a resident adviser at Cate Center.

The resident advisers will come up with more activities similar to water balloon fight in July, for the summer residents to enjoy, said Dumas.


Click here to hear Eric Dumas, a resident adviser at Cate Center, talk about how the resident advisers came up with water balloon fight activity.


Click here to see the summer residents and resident advisers enjoy water balloon fighting and pretzels afterward.

soundslides test

Kelly Thompson, a copy cataloger and receiving clerk, is importing the data of the new books to the library system. Most of the new books are purchased by OU and this summer, there were 30 donated books, said Kelly Thompson.


New Books at Bizzell Memorial Library

Bizzell Memorial Library plans to get more books during the summer compared to fall and spring that will be provided to current and future OU students.

In May, the library has received 3655 books and usually the number of incoming books record high in June than gradually drop off from July, said Kelly Thompson, the copy cataloger and receiving clerk, working at the Cataloging Department of Bizzell Memorial Library.

“There is more work for me because we get more books in June, but it will be helpful to the students who need these books,” said Justin Asberry, a student worker at the Cataloging Department of Bizzell Memorial Library who has worked for 2 years.

During Fall 2009, the library expects to receive approximately 3000 books monthly, said Thompson.

Group of students and non-students are practicing the dance the instructor has just shown them. Through ballroom dance class offered in the summer, they are able to socially interact with people and enjoy learning ballroom dance, said Kelsey Martyn-Farewell, a volunteer instructor.


OU Students Learn to Ballroom Dance in Summer

The Sooner Ballroom Dance Club offering ballroom dance classes to OU students and non-students presented their first class of summer session on June 16.

Sooner Ballroom Dance Club is a student organization registered to OU. Their goal is to teach, promote and enjoy social partner dancing through ballroom dance according to the website of Sooner Ballroom Dance Club.

“I think the huge crowd of students participating for this ballroom dance class shows their great interest towards this dance,” said Amin Mehrabian, the vice president of the Sooner Ballroom Dance Club and OU graduate research assistant.

According to their website, the summer session of this class is offered every Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Union Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union building located on OU campus. This class lasts for 7 weeks which ends on July 28. The cost for this class is $15 for OU students and $20 for non-students.

Carilyn Giuliano, OU graduated student, gets her thesis advised from Lynn Lewis, a consultant at ConocoPhillips Writing Center.

ConocoPhillips Writing Center Opens for Students

The ConocoPhillips Writing Center located in Wagner Hall opened Monday last week, to provide the OU students with their writing advisements for the summer 2009.

“On our first day June 8, we had 16 students who were here to get their papers advised,”said Dusty Bailey, a consultant.

“The Writing Center is definitely helpful, but every time I come here, I get different consultants and for big projects or thesis, I want to stick with one consultant,” said Carilyn Giuliano, OU graduate student.

The ConocoPhillips Writing Center will hold a Camp Completion Workshop in August 19 to 21, for students who need mentoring and feedback from the consultants with their final thesis or dissertations, according to the homepage of the ConocoPhillips Writing Center.

Rose Reida, a resident of Cate Center, OU fresheman and pedagogy major, tie-dyeing her shirt.

OU Dormitory Residents Enjoys Tie-dyeing

OU dormitory residents participated in the tie-dyeing event held by resident advisers last night at the lawn next to David L. Boren Hall.

The residents who participated in this event are the OU students who are currently enrolled for the summer 2009. All of the resident advisers and 4 residents from Cate Center participated and enjoyed the ice cream from Rusty’s Frozen Custard provided by resident advisers.

“I haven’t done tie-dyeing since when I was 7 years old, this is fun,” said Rose Reida, a dormitory resident, OU freshman and ballet pedagogy major.

“I think we (resident advisers) will come up with some more events at the end of June and let the residents know about it,” said Cheng Yuet, a resident adviser, OU junior and pharmacy major.

Boren Expects No Increase in Tuition

OU President David L. Boren has recently sent out e-mails to the continuing OU students on May 28, notifying that he hopes there will be no increase in the tuition and mandatory fees for the next academic year.

According to Blayne Kerley, a student worker at the OU bursar’s office, last year there has been an increase of tuition by 8 to 9 percent, which still was costly to afford for many OU students.

“It is really good that no increase in tuition is being considered, because we already have to pay a lot,” said Katie Collins, an OU senior and chemical engineering major, who had just paid tuition for the summer 2009, on Tuesday.

According to the e-mail, on June 24, Boren will recommend to OU Board of Regents on no tuition and mandatory fee increase for the next academic year and hopes for the approval.