april 19, 2013 print edition

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Oral Roberts University • Tulsa, Okla. • April 19, 2013 • Vol. 47, No. 15 • www.oruoracle.com

Rutlands’ LEGACY

2 • Friday, April 19, 2013 • THE ORACLE

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PAGES 10-11Farewell to the Rutlands

FEATuRE

SPORTSPAGE 15Seniors look to future

THE ORACLE • Friday, April 19, 2013 • 3

By Madison McDaniel On May 4, graduating seniors will spend their last moments as college stu-dents not only listening to Dr. Rutland, but also to Student Response Speaker, Sierra Koelling. The selection process for the Stu-dent Response Speaker started with submissions from multiple speaker,s and then narrowed it down to a group of six finalists. “After that we had to memorize our speeches, and the following week we presented them in front of a board,” Koelling said. The board consisted of faculty mem-bers and one student representative. Koelling said the opportunity to speak on behalf of the class of 2013 is a

final way for her to thank ORU for the past four years. “Honestly, when you think of a se-nior response speaker they’re supposed to thank everyone, and I am so thank-ful,” Koelling said. Koelling attended ORU as a full Whole Person scholar, and said that she couldn’t have been here any other way. A communication major, Koelling debuted her public speaking career at seven years old in her first speaking competition. “Through high school I did enter-tainment speaking, went to state in that and all different speaking events,” Koelling said. Koelling’s credibility in public speaking extends from her involve-

Sierra Koelling named ORu Student Response Speaker

Campus security works to improve safetyBy McKensie Garber Faculty and staff haven’t received training on how to handle the event of an intruder in the past three or four years, a recent study by the Oracle showed. There have been at least 13 college shootings so far in 2013, according to the Huffington Post, with lock downs occurring every week. Tragic events such as the massacres at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, remind schools across the country to reevaluate their safety procedures. According to Director of Public Safety and Secu-rity Jerry Isaacs, there are plans in the fall to update safety procedures in the case of an intruder. “It has been several years since we trained our faculty on how to handle an intruder, but it’s on the agenda for next year,” Isaacs said. “We do have a plan and all of the faculty have been briefed on that plan.” Residence advisors and desk workers aren’t re-quired any training on how to handle an intruder. “They’ve never given us instructions on how to handle a hostile intruder ourselves,” Sarah Bearden, senior RA and desk worker, said. “We are supposed to contact security immediately and let them know the situation.” Director of Housing Brandon Almeida said full-time housing staff is required more training through

the housing department than RA desk workers, be-cause they are alerted along with security in the event of an intruder. Section seven of the employee handbook states that employees must notify security in the event of threat-ening behavior, but gives no detailed information on how to physically handle the situation themselves. Professor of Management Dr. David Dyson, who has been teaching for 33 years, said that the faculty has been trained for such circumstances in the past. “After some of the shootings that took place at Virginia Tech and others, we were all instructed on how to secure the rooms,” Dyson said. “There are locks that now have been placed on the inside of rooms to help lock down the campus.” According to Jerry Isaacs, who is also a former Tulsa police department sergeant and detective, the main concern for campus security is being prepared in the event of a natural disaster. “The likelihood of an intruder is relatively low,” Isaacs said. “Historically, intruders are entering major office buildings, not dormitories,” Isaacs said. “They want to do it early in the daytime so that they can have a major media event associated with it.” Recent measures have been taken to further secure the campus. Emergency telephone posts were placed

around campus over the last few years. Last summer, an information booth was installed by the Mabee Center that allows security to close down campus if needed. The gate is closed at 1:30 a.m. to force traffic to the upper lot. Cars were broken into around the Mabee Center in past years, but after the installation of this booth, only one car has been broken into according to Isaacs. Almeida said that elevator card-readers will be add-ed to all of the residence buildings in the near future. “It’s something I’ve seen at other universities and it’s something we’ve been working on for three or four years now,” Almeida said. “All students will be able to access the lobbies, but as far as going up to their friend’s room, their friend will have to sign them in and swipe to access the elevators.” Housing hopes to also add these card-readers on the outside of the dormitory stairwells in the future. In the event of a serious emergency, ORU E-Alerts notify subscribers via cellphone. Campus Security is in communication with the Tulsa Police Department and Tulsa Emergency Man-agement 24 hours a day. “We’re just a smaller module within this larger spectrum of things,” Isaacs said of campus security. “We immediately respond to security issues, but are supported by outside agencies locally and federally.”

Koelling will speak at ORu’s 2013 commencement on May 4.conference, “Beautiful You,” that was held in February. Although Koelling’s speaking targets women, she hopes to touch many lives. “I want to encourage our class to not just stay here at ORU and leave feeling accomplished,” Koelling said. “But to help [graduating students] realize that no, our time is just begin-ning. So when you come for Harbor you prepare here, but your real calling is outside.”

ment in Family Career and Commu-nity Leaders of America (FCCLA), in which she served as an officer for Nebraska. As an officer, Koelling visited high schools throughout Nebraska to en-courage students to get involved in their community through FCCLA. “I spoke in front of small groups of people, but I also spoke at the state con-vention, which was over five thousand people,” Koelling said. Her experience in public speak-ing only grew more as she began her college journey, which helped narrow down the career path she will take this May. “I just love motivating people, that’s what I want to do in life, to be a mo-tivational speaker for women’s confer-ences,” Koelling said. Around campus, Koelling is active as a chaplain, but can recently be identi-fied with her launch of the women’s

LIFE


ORu students compete in American Bible Challenge

By Chandler Branzell The tractors and dump trucks spreading around large amounts of mulch near the bridge between ORU’s Graduate Center and Aerobics Center are part of a cleanup project organized by the city of Tulsa. The vegetation in Fred Creek has built up over the past six years, and is causing problems such as pooling, stagnant water and backflow. The City of Tulsa has contracted with the company Earth Smart to complete the project. “Anything blocking the water flow must come out,” said Travis Gibson, an Earth Smart employee. The mulch was brought in to create a temporary road at the bottom of the creek for the tractors to use during the vegetation removal. The mulch makes it possible for heavy equipment to move along the bed without stalling, and then is removed once the saplings are gone. Tim Philley, executive vice president and chief operations officer, explained

it is ORU’s responsibility to maintain vegetation from the surrounding areas of the creek down to the water. However, the responsibility of keeping the creek bottom clean rests with the City of Tulsa’s core of engineers. Philley said that the current cleanup project is the first to happen since the initial reconstruction. The project was broken down into phases, and most of the cleanup has been completed off campus. Only a small stretch by the AC remains. Gibson said the project will likely be completed within a month.When asked how often this clean up will occur, Philley said, “It probably will be every few years, just depending on the silt movement and the growth of the plants.” The reconstruction process started in 2007, according to the ORU website. Crews cleaned out debris, widened the banks of the creek, put new bridges in place and built a new embankment. Fred Creek was originally

reconstructed in response to a flood that occurred in 2000. The narrow channel along with debris under the bridge between the AC and GC blocked the flow of high storm waters, causing the areas above and around the bridge to flood. The waters entered the first two floors of the GC and LRC through the garages. The water levels were as high as four feet and caused over $5 million in facililty damage. The current cleanup project will reduce the risk of flooding on campus. Philley explained that the creek bottom

must be clear in order for the water to flow properly. “You have all of this growth on the bottom of the creek that all of a sudden could get clogged again and then defeat the purpose of trying to have flood control,” Philley said. Any current puddles on the first floor of the GC located near shipping and receiving are not related to Fred Creek, according to Philley. The hot water pipes have worn down since the university was first built. Repairs are expected to be completed this summer.

Earth Smart construction contractor Travis Gibson builds a temporary mulch road for silt and vegetation removal in Fred Creek on April 9.

Photo by Chandler Branzell

An Interview by Alejandro SegoviaORU student brothers Joshua Kevin Wagner and Jesse David Wagner recently competed on a popular TV Bible game show and talked about the event. The American Bible Challenge is highly regarded as the highest rated show on the Game Show Net-work, and it is just hitting its second season. Is this your first time involved in anything of this sort?Josh: This is our first time on the American Bible Challenge. But in the past we’ve been involved in another ministry for teenagers in high school called “Bible Quiz.” In this ministry we got to memorize large portions of Scripture--entire books from the Bible in fact. I’ve personally memorized nine books myself, Jesse has memorized 10, and Daniel has memorized 14. We would compete in Bible Quiz nationally, and our family’s team has won four out of the last five championships. How is the American Bible Challenge played com-pared to other trivia shows?Jesse: In the American Bible Challenge you have very different segments where you are asked differ-

ent trivia questions about the Bible as well as some physical activities like those shown in the previews that also include Biblical knowledge in them. Three teams compete against each other in those activities before moving onto the next round. It definitely works like a typical reality game show.If you win, how will the prize money be used?Jesse: Well the great thing about the show is that you don’t play for yourself. You play for a charity or a non-profit organization. So we are playing for our family’s ministry, which is called “Wagner Ministries Interna-tional” and what our ministry does is that we go into the most unreached places in the world like in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We are playing for a grand total prize of $140,000. The team that wins obviously takes the full prize, but every team that competes gets at least some money. So no matter how well we do, we are still getting some money for our family’s

Joshua, Jesse and Daniel Wagner talk with Jeff Foxworthy (far right), host of the American Bible Challenge.

Courtesy American Bible Challenge

ministry.The Wagoner brothers’ episode will air at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 2 and be shown at ORU’s Ar-mand Hammer Center.

Fred Creek cleanup to reduce risk of flooding


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Outstanding Service for each College (Faculty)College of Arts & Cultural Studies J. Randall Guthrie, D.M.A.College of Business James Russell, Ph.D.College of Education Gerald Landers, M.A.College of Science & Engineering R. Chené Tucker, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.College of Theology & Ministry James Barber, D.Min.

Scholar of the Year (Faculty) Paul Vickery, Ph.D.

Winner of the Harold & Edna Paul Outstanding Faculty Award(Most Outstanding Faculty Member) Christiane Hill, M.A.T.

Outstanding Awards for each CollegeCollege of Arts & Cultural Studies Kai GoodCollege of Business (Undergraduate) Puja GhelaniCollege of Business (Graduate) Monica HostetlerCollege of Education (Undergraduate) Allison Schaeff erCollege of Nursing Janice BurkybileCollege of Science & Engineering Ashley SweeneyCollege of Theology & Ministry (Undergraduate) Alyssa OyenCollege of Theology & Ministry (Graduate) Jonathan Thoennes

Department awards announced The winners of faculty and student awards per college were announced April 11 on the 60th fl oor of the Citiplex Towers. The winners of Outstanding Service for each college are as follows:

Veterans club presented awards Members of the ORU Iannelli Veterans Club present Dr. Rutland with a com-memorative award for his continued support of ORU veterans. Th e award was made during the April 17 reception in the lobby of Christ’s Chapel. Pictured left to right: Veterans Club President Joseph DelValle, M.Div., Dr. Mark Rutland, Alison Rutland, sophomore Brandi Jackson and freshman Lee Mahan.

Immigration reform gets personal for evangelicals

Photo by Stephen Salmon

The Tulsa Dream Center and the South Tulsa Community Center were the chosen sites for ORu’s April 13 spring outreach. Hundreds of students participat-ed, including Outreach leaders, summer mission team members, nurses, Enactus members and students. The South Tulsa Community House is led by Dr. Lanny En-dicott, a social work instructor here at ORu. Their mission is to provide a place for individuals to fi nd needed assistance in the 61st and Peoria area. The Tulsa Dream Center was founded by Victory Christian Church and has its own on-site pastor and director, Wendell Hope. Their mission is to see thousands of people restored and empowered.

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Religion News Service For Southern Baptist Pastor David Uth, immigra-tion reform became a priority after a family in his Orlando, Fla., megachurch faced deportation. Bishop Ricardo McClin says it was time to speak up when members of a Church of God congregation he oversaw stopped worshipping in Jacksonville, Fla., because they feared detention. As Congress appears close to hammering out new immigration policy, religious leaders — and especially evangelicals — say personal encounters with the current system have prompted them to advocate for reform. “We’ve sensed in our church this growing un-derstanding that immigration has a face,” said Uth, pastor of First Baptist Orlando. “It has a name. It has a story.” A recent poll from Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution shows white evangelicals are less supportive (at 56 percent) than other religious groups of allowing immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to become citizens. But leaders say there’s been a sea change in the last couple of years as they hear about church members being detained or deported and the eff ects of those measures on their families. Now the Evangelical Immigration Table has mounted a six-fi gure campaign that includes Chris-tian radio ads, distribution of more than 100,000 bookmarks urging congregants and members of

Congress to read Bible passages about welcoming the stranger (pictured here) and plans for an April 17 worship service and lobbying day in Washington. Th e Evangelical Immigration Table has mounted a six-fi gure campaign that includes Christian radio ads, distribution of more than 100,000 bookmarks urging congregants and members of Congress to read Bible passages about “welcoming the stranger” and plans for an April 17 lobbying day in Washington. McClin, a former district supervisor for the Tennessee-based Church of God, said a predominant-ly immigrant church in Jacksonville shut down after going through ups and downs in attendance by fearful worshippers. “One Sunday there’s a service, we had 80, 100 people,’’ he recalled. “And the following Sunday there would be nobody.” “I can’t pretend that everything is going to be OK because of faith,” said McClin, now a pastor in Kis-simmee, Fla. “Faith has to be put to work.”In January a broad network of churches —includ-ing mainline Protestant, historically black, Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical and Pentecostal leaders — issued a statement calling on Congress and the president to improve the laws. Last week, Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., met with evangelical leaders at an Aurora, Ill., church. His spokesman, Josh Wessell, said Huntgren, who attends an evangelical church, committed to personally read the several weeks of Scripture and took extra book-

marks to share with members of his congressional Bible study group in Washington. While some predominantly white evangelical con-gregations may not have any immigrants in their pews, denominational leaders are aware that immigrants are contributing to the growth of their churches, said Matthew Soerens, U.S. church train-ing specialist for World Relief, a founding member of the Evangeli-cal Immigration Table. “If you’re in a denominational offi ce, you know that,” he said, “and you don’t want to see the part of your church that is growing deport-ed.”



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Birthday Fun Runhonors Coach DukeBy Kristy McCreary As students gathered in Upper Lot to start the annual 2-mile Fun Run, gray clouds dripped a chilled drizzle on a mass of powder blue shirts that read: “Coach Duke’s Birthday Run, April 13, 2013.” Not even the mist and 8 a.m. start time could rain on Coach Duke’s pa-rade as he mingled with students before the run. One would hardly be able to tell he stayed out until 1 a.m. celebrat-ing his birthday the night before. But this isn’t his fi rst Fun Run, not even by a long shot. Now in his 38th year at ORU, Duke has become as much of a staple at the university as the health and physical education (HPE) requirements. “I have taught long enough for Chuck Taylor Converse to go out of style and back in again,” Duke said. In 1965, Bernis Duke fi rst came to ORU to teach physical education and serve as assistant basketball coach. As the men’s head tennis coach from 1967 to 1999, Duke racked up 563 wins and coached more than 125 athletes from 25 foreign countries. His legacy in college sports boasts of him being one of the fi rst coaches to recruit overseas players. In 2002, Duke was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame. And now Duke can add being fea-tured on the biannual Fun Run shirts to his sprawling list of accomplishments. Duke’s legacy as an athlete and coach began long before he stepped foot onto the university. A talented boxer, Duke won the Oklahoma’s Golden Gloves title in 1949. He went on to win the Arkansas State Championship from 1951-53. In 1957, he formed the fi rst inte-grated track team in Arkansas. Most schools welcomed Duke’s integrated team, but there were oth-

ers who withdrew from the meets. Th e team competed together at every meet but the state competition. When Duke came to ORU, he continued this tradition of progressive thinking and athletic excellence. In 1968-69, ORU’s tennis team was the third best team in the U.S. because of the revolutionary recruitment tech-niques Duke used to fi nd tennis players. Th e young university had no hopes of recruiting any American tennis play-ers, so Duke created a postcard and sent it all over the world. “For good or bad, in 1968 I started recruiting foreign tennis players in or-der to compete with large schools, such as Texas or Oklahoma,” Duke said. Some of these foreign student athletes were recruited from war zones. When the Soviet Union seized Czechoslovakia, the Czech government ordered all overseas students to return home. Several Czech students attended ORU at the time. Duke wrote a note to the offi cials asking them to grant the students a longer stay. He also mentioned a Czech fl ag fl ew in the “Avenue of Flags,” the collection of fl ags situated around the university’s Praying Hands sculpture. Duke received a response that opened, “Comrade Duke,” continuing, “Th at while puzzled, they were pleased” that a Czech outpost existed in Tulsa, Okla. As a result of Duke’s eff orts, the students were granted six more months of stay. When Duke retired as a tennis coach, ORU was regularly ranked among the NCAA’s top 10 tennis programs. In 1994, Duke was named ORU’s “Teacher of the Year.” Coach Duke still works at the university, teaching beginners and advanced badminton on Tuesdays and Th ursdays in the Aerobics Center.

Courtesy PhotoCoach Bernis Duke shows off the 2013 Fun Run shirt. This year’s design paid homage to Coach Duke’s birthday, who started teaching at ORu in 1965.


By Chelsey Butler Th ere are many applications available for iPhone and Android to help you get a little more shut eye when your sleep schedule is thrown off .

Naturespace Lapse into a world of your choosing with

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Many apps off ered to help with ailing sleep schedules

From A to Zzzz: Students shouldn’t skip on sleep

feel as if they are within the space, and the sound is infi nite. Th e Naturespace sound experience includes the ocean, mountain valleys, rivers and more to help you relax. Th is app is available for free.

Relax MelodiesBinaural beats are known to help the listener achieve a state of relaxation based

on their frequencies, and paired with relaxing music can work wonders on insomnia. Relax Melodies is a free app that has a variety of content all designed to alleviate the cluttered mind. Th e free version has 46 sounds from a rushing river to monks chanting.

By Hannah Covington After 40 hours without sleep, Mi-chael Cole stopped eating. He instead traded food for cups full of coff ee and cans of Mountain Dew, Red Bull and Monster. As he approached the 80-hour mark, Cole started to see fl ashes of light in his peripheral vision. He remembers mak-ing the conscious decision to open his dorm room door. “If I collapsed on my fl oor, no one would see me with the door shut,” the junior business major said. “So I re-member going to open my door just so someone could fi nd me if I collapse.” On an average day, Cole drinks two cups of coff ee in the morning, three or four glasses of soda and one to two energy drinks. On an average school night, he sleeps three to four hours. Th ough his case is extreme, Cole is not alone in his fl agrant failure to meet the nightly recommended amount of sleep and his affi nity for caff eine. Most of his college-aged peers do, too. According to a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, only 30 percent of students sleep at least eight hours a night, the average requirement for young adults. Freshman biology major Josh Riech-ers said academics are his main reason for staying awake so late at night. In his chemistry and biology study group, he estimated that one in three students

even resort to taking caff eine pills to stay awake to study. “It’s like coff ee without the calories,” Riechers said. A fellow in the Honors Program, Riechers added maintaining a good GPA is important to him. “If things pile up, what I cut is sleep,” Riechers said. Cole does much the same. “I stay up all night to make the good grade,” Cole said. But research shows sleep is the worst thing academically concerned students like Cole and Riechers could cut. Th e U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that lack of sleep can reduce learning ability by up to 40 percent. Additionally, the report found that getting a full night of sleep within 24 hours after learning strengthens new memories and builds connections between diff erent pieces of information. Memories won’t be strengthened with four hours or less of REM sleep. After a semester of sleeping less to work on assignments, Cole said he notices a notable drop in productivity. “When I come back at the beginning of the semester, I’ll get my work done much quicker,” Cole said. “But I know I am less and less productive as the semes-ter goes on, and I’m not sleeping.” He said this is especially true around fi nals week, which occurs from April 29 to May 4 this semester.

“Last three weeks of the semester are always hell,” Cole said. “Th e fact I haven’t been to the ER is a miracle.” Finals week during his sophomore year marked his infamous 80-hour fl ir-tation with dangerous sleep deprivation. “It’s a very dark place,” Cole said. Amnesty International even lists sleep deprivation as a form of torture. Barbara Law, ORU associate profes-sor of English, knows this to be all too true. During the 80s, Law worked in Washington, D.C., lobbying to free imprisoned Christians in the Soviet Union. Keeping these prisoners up for

weeks on end was one of the Soviet’s favored torture tactics. Law is also the director of the cam-pus Tutoring Center. In advising stu-dents about study habits, Law stressed the importance to avoid all-nighters, and drink plenty of water near the end of the semester. “Studying begins to be counterpro-ductive when you are so tired,” Law said. With three jobs, Cole thinks part of the problem is his busy schedule. “I know it will catch up to me one day,” Cole said. “I want the ability to set a routine after college.”

Courtesy photo

Michael Cole often relies on Red Bull to stay awake. The National Institutes of Health reports that sleep deprivation decreases learning by 40 percent.

Sleep If u CanSleep If U Can will help drag your sleep deprived backside out of bed and force you to practice your photography skills

before you even brush your teeth. Th is may be the most diabolical yet hilarious alarm clock app of all time. Why? It requires the user to re-take a series of pre-set pictures of things in the home before it will stop going off . Th is app may not bring joy in the mornings, but it can help you get out of bed and get moving sooner.


By McKensie Garber It’s almost the time of year every senior college student anxiously awaits—that victorious moment when he or she receives his or her diploma and cross the stage into the next phase of life. As the fi nal event as an ORU student, style is key, right? With the required cap and gown, there’s only one way to do this: the shoes. It seems that the lady students take the responsibility to have the perfect footwear more heavily than the guys. While many guys will probably just wear their usual dress shoes, girls hit up department stores with the determination of a climber about to summit Kilimanjaro. Graduating English education major Chelsea Dillon is one of the many who had to fi nd “the perfect shoes” to represent her. “Th e they had to have that cheetah swag,” Dillon said. “I spent entirely too much and considered taking them back, but then I decided it was worth it. YOGO: you only graduate once.” On this special day many girls want to take the opportunity to make a personality statement. Native Texan Becca Valdez, who is a senior drama television and fi lm, plans on wearing cowboy boots. “Instead of going all glam, I’m actually going to wear bronze, sequin cowboy boots to match the bronze hood on my gown,” Valdez said. “I’m also wearing the gown my mom wore when she graduated here in 1982.” As trivial as shoes may seem, most of the future alumnae are taking this pretty seriously. “I think girls should be more into making sure they have the perfect shoes for graduation,” Debra Nicklas, senior

For senior girls, if the shoe fi ts, graduate in itGraduating girls seek the perfect pair of shoes for the big day.

nursing major said. “But I don’t think that’s the overall attitude.” She may be right. While many girls seem to be hunting down the perfect pair, others haven’t given it a thought, and plan on grabbing a pair out of their closet. “I just think obsessing over fi nding a perfect pair of shoes is silly,” Holly Yaw, a senior communications major, said. “Graduation is a huge day about so many other things.” Senior communications and pastoral care major Natalie Morton hasn’t chosen the shoes or dress she will wear for the commencement, and doesn’t seem concerned. “I want to look nice for graduation, but I think it’s more about celebrating with my family and friends,” Morton said. “I think it’s more about the pictures than what I’m wearing.” It goes without saying that there will be a wide variety of footwear beneath the gowns on this day of grandeur. Who knows, there might be Converse or better yet, roller skates, for those who are in a hurry.

Four seniors break in their new shoes before they cross the stage on May 4 at 1 p.m. in the Mabee Center. Photo by Chandler Branzell

“One time when we had a guest speaker, I was sitting behind Dr. Rutland in chapel. While the man was talking, Dr. Rutland said nothing but leaned over and kissed Mrs. Rutland on the cheek and then turned back to the speaker as if nothing had happened.”-Hannah Koehler, junior elementary education major

“Dr. Rutland coming up and talking with my girlfriend Cordelia and I at a music concert, and he asked us what instruments we played. Cordelia told him piano and I said bass, and he said it was a good combination. We couldn’t tell him we were biology and engineering majors after that.”-Michael Whitlatch, senior engineering major

“When he imitated Smeagol in chapel: ‘I want you all to know that I think you’re all very precious.My precioussss.’” -Candice Byrd, class of 2013 alumna

“The 20 times he called me ‘sport’ with a nice firm pat on the back. It always boosted my confidence.”-Caleb Jones, senior English literature major

What is your favorite memory of Dr. Rutland or Mrs. Rutland?

WHAT’S NEXT? GEORGIA’S ON HIS MINDRUTLANDS JOIN CLASS OF 2013

RUTLANDISMS: THE BEST QUOTES IN THIS OR ANY PARALLEL UNIVERSE“I urge you to cling to your es-

chatology like a bulldog. Just know that you’re almost in-variably wrong.”

“The book of Revelation is like Wagner on amphetamines!”

“I think I might have been one of the only people to tell Oral Robert’s ‘no,’ temporarily.”

By Hannah Covington After stepping down as uni-versity president at the end of next month, Mark Rutland, his wife Alison, his daughter Emily, his son-in-law James Leath-erbarrow, the grandkids and the family Yorkie, Chewbaka, will leave Tulsa and travel back across the Mississippi River. Sights set on Georgia, they jokingly refer to the move as the great “eastward migration.” Rutland and his family plan to live north of Atlanta, near Jentezen Franklin’s Free Chapel church. He is joining Franklin’s staff and will preach twice a month on Sundays and once a month on Wednesdays. He will also host quarterly leadership seminars for Franklin’s staff. Rutland said all the money from Franklin will go to Global Servants, a non-profit mis-sions organization he founded in 1977 and currently serves as president. Global Servants holds crusades, camps, local evange-lism projects and leadership training in addition to operating girls’ homes in Ghana and Thai-land. The ministry headquarters will also be moving to Georgia. “Jentezen has been very generous, and that’s one op-portunity to bless Global that I couldn’t afford to pass up, and it was a great opportunity for me to speak,” Rutland said. “I love that church, and I’ve preached there many times.” Rutland said he and Franklin have been good friends for 25 years and expects the fit at Free Chapel to be a good one. The Atlanta-based pastor readily agrees.

“We are thrilled and honored to have such a legendary leader as part of our preaching team,” said Franklin. Rutland will also continue to direct the National Institute of Christian Leadership, a year-long leadership program for churches and ministries. He said he is already working with three struggling churches to consult them on a turnaround. Turnarounds are nothing new to Rutland. Before taking over the debt-strapped campus in Tulsa, Rutland revitalized a dying megachurch and prompt-ed notable growth in enrollment during his tenure as president at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla. Since his 2009 inaugura-tion, a university once riddled with debt has seen $50 million poured into renovations and enrollment increases for three straight terms. This year also welcomed the largest ORU freshman class in over a decade. Rutland said he has no intentions of slowing down in Georgia. “I’m not retiring. I’m chang-ing jobs,” he said. Not that this sustained voca-tional verve comes as a surprise to his co-workers.“He is just a machine with his drive and stamina,” said Cody Miller, the family ministries pastor at The Assembly church in Broken Arrow, Okla. Miller served as executive assistant to President Rutland from Sep-tember 2006 until January 2012. “I don’t think retirement will ever be in his vocabulary,” Miller said.

In the world of college campuses, time passes in one- and four-year cycles, transitioning each spring on the coat-tails of graduation robes and flitting colored tassels. On Saturday, May 4, President Mark Rutland’s four-year cycle at ORU will end. The 65-year-old academic CEO will join the class of 2013 on the Mabee Center stage and exit ORU with the group of students he started with four years ago. “It is like we’re graduating at the same time,” Rutland said. “That’s kind of rewarding.” This year’s diplomas will still bear his signature. After another four-year cycle spins out, however, Rutland said he doesn’t expect future students to remember him. With generally short terms in office and even shorter legacies, col-lege administrators are as transient as the Oklahoma wind from Rut-land’s point of view.

“Kids are concerned about their pa-pers and their dates and their basketball games, and you know, you’re gone,” he said. “That’s not sad. It’s real.” Rutland reflected on his tenure during an April 3 interview in Oral Roberts’s old office on the seventh floor of the Graduate Center. He sat near the gold-framed windows showcasing the downtown skyline of Tulsa, the city he has called home since 2009 and will soon leave behind. Rutland said that as he heads back east, he wants to fish more and get back to writing consistently. “I can’t use company time to write a book, so I end up writing books on airplanes and in hotel rooms,” Rutland said. “I’d like to try to write on a more disciplined basis.”

His wife, Alison, first lady of ORU and director of special projects to the president’s office, said in a separate interview that she would also like to write a book. Married to a man who has already authored 14 texts of his own, she finds her husband’s complaints of limited creative output amusing. “For my husband, [writing] comes easily. I go and do three loads of laun-dry, and when I come back, he goes, ‘I’ve written a play,’” she said. “I do have some things I’d like to do, but I’m slow.” During her time at ORU, Mrs. Rut-land worked in her slow, meticulous way to redecorate the entire seventh floor, craft a timeline of ORU’s history on display on the sixth floor of the Gradu-ate Center and renovate the observation deck of the Prayer Tower. Mrs. Rutland said she always tried

to teach and contribute meaningful work wherever she and her husband

landed over the years. Forty years ago, at a time when pastors’ wives

were supposed to fit a demure mold, Mrs. Rutland said she was always at odds with the norm. “I didn’t play the piano, and I can’t keep my mouth shut,” she said, adding that teach-ing at the university level has always been a priority. At ORU, she co-taught Spirit-Empowered Living

for three years with her husband.

She said that before stepping on campus, Dr.

Rutland made a list of things to accom-plish at the university in the next 5-7 years. Both are surprised most of these things only took four to do. In college years, that means they’re graduating right on schedule. During a chapel service April 17, members of the ORU community were quick to recognize these accomplish-ments. Among them was David Green, CEO and founder of Hobby Lobby. The Green family made a crucial $70 million gift in 2007 to save the uni-versity from closure. Green’s son Mart currently serves as chairman of ORU’s Board of Trustees. “[Rutland] took ORU at a very challenging time and accomplished an incredible turnaround,” David Green said in a video message. But amid a legacy of balanced bud-gets, a new student center, $50 million in campus renovations and increased enrollment, Rutland said the people of ORU color his memories of Tulsa more than the numbers. He said he was surprised how quickly he bonded with a student body and faculty that once intimidated him. Rutland remembers reading about the faculty lawsuit that forced former Presi-dent Richard Roberts to resign in 2007 for fiscal irresponsibility and thinking that working with that faculty wouldn’t be easy. “But I got here and found out that wasn’t who they were,” he said. He found the student body equally endearing.

Continued on page 12


Continued from page 10 “I do believe that God gave me a unique and special love for the students at ORU,” he said. Th is love for young people isn’t new. Before breaking into university admin-istrative positions, Rutland once worked as a youth pastor in Decatur, Ga. Ronny Brannen was part of this youth group in the early 1970s and be-came a Christian while under Rutland’s leadership. Brannen’s daughter Alison Nicole is named after Alison Rutland. Brannen, now a Methodist pastor in Georgia who serves on the Board of Directors at Rutland’s nonprofi t missions organization Global Servants, remembers his days playing football at Saturday night youth group with Rut-land. He also remembers being horri-fi ed when he preached his fi rst sermon in front of his mentor. But most of all, he remembers the Rutlands’ compassion. “Th e fact of the matter is that they…really love God, really love each other and really love people,” Brannen said. Th is love for people has sent the Rutlands around the world in foreign missions. Th ey plan to continue their international missions work. In the coming months, Kiev awaits in June. August promises Southeast Asia. Africa will come in the fall. But while at home in Georgia, Dr. Rutland plans to fi sh. “I enjoy fi shing. It’s very restful,” Rut-land said. “Th e fi sh never talk back to me.” Mrs. Rutland has changed her email

tag to “23moves” to remind her hus-band that this move will be their last. Since he’s staying put for a while, Dr. Rutland fi gures now is as good a time as ever to begin sculpting again. It’s a hobby he picked up decades ago. Mrs. Rutland kept his sculpting tools stored away in case he ever returned to it. Before coming to ORU, he made a dignifi ed splash in church circles’ missions fundraisers with a ceramic, cowboy fi gurine that he crafted in bulk. “His sculpting was a surprise to us all,” Brannen said. When he’s not drifting around in a fi shing boat on a lake somewhere in Georgia, pretending not to hear the voices from shore, Rutland said he wants to try sculpting something a little more serious than the “cartoonish” cowboys. As the couple prepares for gradu-ation in fi fteen days, Mrs. Rutland spent most of last week packing up the couple’s belongings into boxes on the seventh fl oor, including several ceramic cowboys that Dr. Rutland had kept stashed in a closet next to his desk. Once the property sales and mort-gage dust clears, the Rutland family plans to leave Tulsa May 31. As he adjusted a blue paisley tie underneath his signature pinstripe suit, Rutland refl ected on his legacy as a college administrator, and the cowboy imagery again emerged. “Being a college president is hum-bling,” Rutland said. “You come in, shoot your best shot and then ride off into the sunset.”

Photo by Jennifer Jost

Dr. Rutland and First Lady Allison Rutland are excited to receive gifts from the student body at a farewell service April 17 in Christ’s Chapel.


By Meghan Drake Senior mechanical engineer stu-dents Luke Chinworth, Bethany Dickie and Andrew Walter are wrapping up their senior project entitled “Design and Construction of a Process Heater Simulator.” In simple English, a process heater heats up fluids. Imagine the Bunsen burners that you used in high school science class on steroids. The problem that this engineering group tackled is that the industrial ma-chine is too big to be used in a class-room setting. The senior mechanical engineer trio took Applied Thermodynamics the fall of their junior year under the teach-ing of Dr. Chuck Baukal, director of the John Zink Institute. An internship position opened up at John Zink Ham-worthy Combustion, and Dr. Baukal offered the spot to Andrew Walter. The internship was the launching

Engineering senior project to be used in the classroompad for the group’s senior proj-ect. Dr. Baukal served as their senior project advisor through-out the 11 month period. “We are extremely grate-ful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Baukal and John Zink,” Dickie said. “We could not have asked for a better senior project advisor and corporate sponsor.” After many hours of work and thousands of dollars spent, the team saw their hard work pay off by anticipating the pro-cess heater simulator’s classroom action. “It is exciting to know that our process heater will be used in a meaningful way by them,” Dickie said. The down-sized process heater will be used beginning May 6 in the Process Burner Fundamentals course at John Zink Institute. It will show stu-dents how to safely use and understand the large industrial process heaters when they start their careers. “We feel very accomplished,” Walter said. “It is the best senior project of all

of the projects completed this year.” After graduation in May, Luke Chinworth plans on working at McEl-roy Manufacturing as a design engineer. Bethany Dickie plans on pursuing a MBA from the University of Tulsa Col-

By Chelsey Butler After studying abroad in Washington, D.C. for a semester, senior communications major Rachel Curylo took her experiences and turned them into a thrilling script. At 8 p.m. April 28, a staged reading of “Evasion Persuasion,” an original play by Rachel Curylo, will be performed in Howard Auditorium. Imagine if some of the most important cities in the world were personified and all gathered together in one room. This is the premise of “Evasion Persuasion.” “Everything has been running smoothly until War-saw, (an up-and-coming city) is invited to the meeting by a well-meaning assistant,” said Curylo. “Comedy, chaos and drama ensue.” Curylo’s life experiences played an important role in the development of this play. “I wrote this based off of my experienced in D.C.,” said Curylo. “I really thought I could just go in and change everything, or at least bring in a new perspec-tive. “

Student Rachel Curylo writes script during internship Curylo quickly learned that her expectations and aspirations for the semester-long study abroad trip may have been too high. “I got put in my place as an intern and sat at a desk fixing typos,” Curylo said. “It was really just frustrat-ing.” But Curylo chose to channel that anger through writing her play. “I guess that’s what it’s really about— making a choice to stay positive and make a difference even in sight of the most unworkable group of people,” Curylo said. The experiences of Warsaw resonated closely with Curylo’s own life. “In this play, she grows up and realizes that these big cities don’t listen, and she has to choose whether to let her heart get hardened about politics or to re-main open and fighting to truth,” Curylo said. The actors in this stage reading are no strangers to the Howard stage. Curylo speaks fondly of them, and holds high expectations for their final reading.

“My actors each bring something really imagina-tive and unique to the script,” said Curylo. Curylo and the actors still finds new characteris-tics about her play. Several of the Theatre Arts and Drama Television Arts majors will be reading in this show. “They are such a strong bunch: Koreen McLain as Warsaw, Shekinah Bauman as Paris, Will Acker as Washington, D.C.,” said Curylo. “These are people who I gave the final script two to three weeks ago, and were doing two shows on top of this one.” Curylo said that in spite of the short notice, the actors “still come in completely prepared.” For those wary of a political rant, Curylo said the play is not geared toward politics, but that it is mostly satire. “It’s funny, it’s kind of dramatic,” Curylo said. “Sure it’s not memorized, but it’s energetic with never a dull moment.”

lins College Of Business, as a graduate assistant. Andrew Walter plans on pur-suing a J.D. from George Washington University School of Law in Washing-ton, D.C.

Luke Chinworth displays the process heater simulator.Courtesy Photo

John Zink Institute of Tulsa funded the senior trio’s mechanical engineering project.


SPORTSBoston bombing leaves three dead, others woundedBy Billy Burke Marathons are meant to be run for a cause, a goal, a tradition. The Boston marathon, a race that exem-plifies these values potentially better then any other in America, will now be scarred for acting as a chilling reminder to evil that exists in the world. Five hours after the race started on April 15, two bombs were set off near the finish line, killing three and wounding 170 people. According to Boston police, the bombs in Boston consisted of explosives put in two pressure cook-ers, filled with shards of metal, ball bearings and nails. Dr. David Mooney, director of the trauma center at Boston Chil-dren’s Hospital was sickened at what he saw. “We’ve removed BBs and we’ve removed nails from kids,” Mooney said. “One of the sickest things for me was just to see nails sticking out of a little girl’s body.” President Barack Obama branded the attack an “act of terrorism,” but said officials don’t know “whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a ma-levolent individual.” Obama went

on to add that “the American people refuse to be terrorized.” When an event like this hap-pens, its ripples can be felt across the nation. ORU senior Alex Hart was breathless Monday afternoon when he received text messages asking if his best friend, Taylor Thibodeau, a runner in the marathon, was OK. “My friend was half a mile from the explosion and heard the bombs go off,” Thibodeau said. “I really am speechless right now just thinking about the whole thing.” Boston native and junior Joy Stark also had friends at the race, and a cousin who participated. “My cousin came out from Ohio to run the marathon today...my parents were there to cheer my cousin on this afternoon,” Stark said. “Thankfully, everyone is OK and none of them were there when the explosions went off.” Sophomore and Boston native Jorden Bonnano thinks that this will bring the nation together. “People from this area seem rough around the edges, but are as strong of a community as you’ll find,” Bon-nano said. “I fully believe that this will bring Boston closer as a city and people closer as a nation.”

By David Sauer The morning of April 15 was just another morning for the sports world of Boston. Fans of the New England Patri-ots were panicking after missing out on getting a new receiver. The Boston Celtics and Boston Red Sox were both celebrating wins during the past week-end and preparing for their next games. The Boston Bruins were getting ready for a game later in the afternoon. Suddenly, none of that mattered. The explosions that rocked the Boston Marathon also rocked the sports world. As sports fans, we place so much emphasis into whether our team wins

or not. We dive into whom we want our team to draft or sign in free agency. Yet, when something like this hap-pens, we are reminded how little of an impact on life it actually has. Trag-edy brings our focus to one thing, the people who have been impacted. Sports are naturally separated. Teams are all against each other in a race to win the championship. Fans of rival teams sometimes don’t get along— an under-statement depending on the teams. But when tragedy strikes, people ignore where you’re from and what team you root for; players ignore the city and team you play for; the jerseys and logos come off; we become mem-

bers of one nation. Chris Johnson, a member of the Bal-timore Ravens, one of New England’s rivals, tweeted his support to the people impacted as did many other NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB players. People are showing their support from across all sports, all allegiances and all walks of life. Marathon runners fin-ished the race, then ran to the hospital to give blood. Former Patriots offensive lineman, Joe Andruzzi, was shown on Twitter carrying an injured woman. This reaction shouldn’t just hap-pen after something bad occurs. This response should be our everyday at-titude. No matter what sports team we

love, we are all part of the same country. We should show the same unification throughout everything that we do. I think the Chicago Times summed it up perfectly in their sports section in Tuesday’s paper. They ran a graphic saying “We are Chicago Red Sox – We are Chicago Celtics – We are Chicago Bruins – We are Chicago Patriots.” When something like this knocks us out of our comfort zone, we unite.We are no longer fans of one sports team. We are no longer members of a city or a state. We become united. We become The United States of America. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another tragedy for us to see it.

Boston tragedy unites sports worldEmergency workers aid wounded after the Boston bombing.

Internet Photo


Why Knicks fans have reason for hope in playoff s

Over much of his NBA career, Car-melo Anthony has taken a lot of criti-cism (some warranted, much of it not) for being a selfi sh player. Lately howev-er, Anthony has done a lot to dispel that notion, especially after having his knee drained during a recent road trip. Back at full strength, Anthony has taken his game to another level over his past six games (through April 11) — a stretch that began with a career high-tying 50 points during a win in Miami. Anthony has scored at least 36 points in each of those games, while taking over the league scoring lead. Yet, despite what his detractors may say, Anthony has been on a mission to compete for an NBA championship over trying to secure the scoring title (which may come as a by-product of the former goal, anyway). Notably, his effi ciency and eff ort in other ways than scoring have come to the forefront over his past six games. Anthony has shot over 50 percent from the fi eld fi ve times, and better than 60 percent four times, while committing only 1.3 turnovers per game in that span. During that same time, Anthony has also turned his recent scoring spree into a double double, with averages of 10 rebounds and 3.7 boards on the off ensive glass. Four games ago, Anthony pulled down a season high 14 rebounds before surpassing that total with 19 boards in his last contest on April 11, and in addition to scoring 36 points in Okla-homa City, on April 7, his nine off ensive rebounds in that game led the Knicks to one of their biggest road wins of the year.

By Ryan Woods Th rough the course of an 18-5 start, followed by an inconsistent 20-21 stretch, and then a 13-game winning streak that clinched their fi rst division title in 19 years, the New York Knicks have taken their fans on a bumpy ride this season. Yet, through it all, the Knicks appear to be playing some of their

best basketball at just the right time. Poised to lock up the two seed in the Eastern Conference, they’re start-ing to give their fans ample reasons to believe that they can legitimately challenge for an NBA title this year, even with the imposing defending champion Miami Heat standing in the way. Here are four reasons for optimism:

For the Knicks’ off ense to be its most productive, it has to start with point guard Raymond Felton. He looks like a diff erent player, mentally and physically, than the one that spent a miserable year in Portland. Th e formerly shot-happy Felton has gone from taking double-digit fi eld goal attempts to more of a “pure point guard” role. His distribution and deci-sion making leads a historical attack from the three-point line. With his altered mindset, Felton has made it a point to set others up more often.

Th e number one reason why the Knicks might have a fi ghting chance against Miami in the postseason is their three-point game. In their division title-clinching win on April 9, New York tied a franchise record with 20 made three-pointers, and even as their season high 13-game winning streak fi nally came to an end in Chicago, on April 11, the Knicks drained 10 more threes to set an NBA single season record with 847 made threes (and counting). New York beat Miami in three of four games between the teams this season, with the three pointer playing a major factor in the Knicks’ three wins. While beating the Heat by 20 points in each the teams’ fi rst two meetings, New York shot 19 of 36, and then 18 of 44 (without Anthony), respectively, from

behind the arc. In the most recent game of the four, Anthony made a sizzling 7 of 10 threes to account for half of the Knicks’ 14 (in 27 attempts). In contrast, during Miami’s lone win against New York this year, the Knicks blew a 16-point late fi rst-half lead and shot just 8 of 29 from three, with Smith missing 11 of 14 three-point attempts. So, if the threes don’t fall, New York could get bounced in the fi rst round of the playoff s just as easy as they could go far when their threes drop. When the Knicks are on their game and these factors are present the Knicks have a serious shot at not only winning the Eastern Conference, but also win-ning it all. Th e playoff s start tomorrow folks, enjoy!

2. CARMELO ANTHONY IMPROVED HEALTH AND ELEVATED PLAY

3. J.R. SMITH: THE NBA’S BEST SIXTH MAN

4. THE PLAY OF RAYMOND FELTON

1. THE KNICKS’ TREMENDOuS THREE-POINT SHOOTING

Smith has shot at least 50 percent 10 times over his last 16 games, some-thing he did only 16 times over the fi rst 62 games. Smith is not only a great scorer, but he does it when it matters the most. Smith is averaging 5.8 points per 4th quarter, just 3.0 points behind league leader Kevin Durant (8.8 per 4th quarter). He continues to be the NBA’s leading bench scorer and arguably, the league’s best player coming off the pine. He can provide a spark off the bench that could be the diff erence between winning or losing for the Knicks.


By David Sauer Th e season may have ended for the ORU women’s basketball senior trio, but their story isn’t over. However, the next step diff ers de-pending on which senior you ask. Kevi Luper, Jaci Bigham and Savanna Buck are all graduating in May. Luper will be the only one of the three to pursue a basketball career. “My plans are to play professional basketball at least for a year to see if I like it or not,” Luper said. “If I like it, I’ll play a few more years, if I don’t, then I’ll settle down and get a job.” Luper will most likely play bas-ketball overseas. She said that playing overseas sounds much more appealing than playing in the WNBA. Bigham is going to stay at ORU and get her master’s degree in busi-ness management. While completing her degree, Bigham will be a graduate assistant coach for the Lady Golden Eagles basketball team. Bigham said there would be a smooth transition from the court to the sideline because head coach Misti Cus-sen allowed her to have a coaching role while playing. “She trusted me and really gave me a lot of freedom to do that,” Bigham said. “It will defi nitely have its diff erences, but I’ll be familiar with what it’s like just from the experience she let me have this year.” Bigham said she has been contacted by diff erent agents about playing bas-ketball but isn’t sure if she wants to go in that direction. However, Buck won’t continue in some form of basketball. After graduating, she will begin a job with Step 7 Promotions as part of their

Senior trio looks ahead to their lives after ORumanagement training program. Step 7 is a company that creates exposure for high-end clients. While with Step 7, Buck will be working on her pharma-ceutical sales certifi cation. Buck has also signed with FSE Agency as a fi tness and athlete model. When asked why she wasn’t con-tinuing in basketball, Buck mentioned her fi ve knee surgeries and said “it’s just time for me to move on.” Just as their future plans are all dif-ferent, each player will have a diff erent memory of ORU. For Buck, that memory will be the impact ORU and basketball has had on her life. “What ORU represents is an amaz-ing thing, Buck said. “[It] has given me an amazing platform to share my faith.” Buck said she grew “not only as a basketball player, but as a woman.” “Playing at ORU has molded me into the woman I am today,” Buck said. Luper said she would remember the atmosphere of ORU most and that “people [were] just so nice and caring.” Bigham said it was experiences with teammates that she would remember the most. “I will always remember the memo-ries and fun times I have had with my teammates every year,” Bigham said. “Th e best moment has to be winning the championship and getting to go to the NCAA tournament.” When asked about a game that stood out, both Buck and Luper pointed to the Southland Conference Cham-pionship game against Sam Houston State. “It wasn’t because of the actual game itself,” Buck said. “It’s because of the emotion and the feeling after we won. “I will always have the memory of running to Kevi and Jaci, embracing them and crying our eyes out because we fi nally did it. All that we had been working for, for four years, we fi nally made it.”

Kevi Luper, Jaci Bigham and Savanna Buck are all headed in diff erent direction.

• Finished career with 2,867 points – 14th most in D1 history and most in ORU history)

• Finished career with 463 steals – 6th in D1 history and most in ORU history

• ORU Career leader in fi eld goals, free throws, points, and steals

• One of 48 NCAA division 1 play-ers to score over 2,500 points

• Finished career with 668 assists – most in ORU history

• Finished career with 1,505 points – 8th most in school his-tory

• Recorded the second 200 assist season in ORU history in 2012-13

• Ranks in ORU top-10 in free throw percentage, steals and three-point fi eld goals

• Finished career with 761 points• Finished career with 544 re-

bounds• 2010-11 Summit League 6th

woman of the year• Shot almost 39% throughout

her career

Savanna Buck

Jaci Bigham

Kevi Luper

Photos by Chandler Branzell

• Finished career with 2,867 points – 14th most in D1 history and most in ORU history)

• Finished career with 463 steals – 6th in D1 history and most in ORU history

• ORU Career leader in fi eld goals, free throws, points, and steals

• One of 48 NCAA division 1 play-ers to score over 2,500 points

Kevi Luper


By Greg Brown On April 19 at 7 p.m., Oral Roberts University’s Student Association will be holding the second annual ORU 168 Film Festival. Th is year the festival is the product of a competition between three teams of ORU students who will create a three to six minute fi lm within a mere 168 hours. In that short amount of time the teams work to write, fi lm and produce a fi lm with a shared theme, prop and line chosen by SA. Th e theme this year was “battle,” and teams must use the prop of a toothbrush and the line “somebody that I used to know.”

Th e top-performing teams will be honored in an offi cial awards ceremony at the close of the festival, and the creators of the best picture walk away with $200 and an engraved trophy from SA. Other recognitions of “People’s Choice” and “Best Actor” award will also be given. Music technology major Sarah Fry, who helped head up this year’s event with fellow sophomore Jeff Barker, has high hopes for the festival. “Th is is a fun, creative event,” Fry said. “We get to see how students create, and plus, there are going to be free tumblers fi lled with McAlister’s iced tea...”

Last year’s fi lm festival debut was fairly well-attended, bringing out almost 300 students to the EMR and Claudius lawn. “It drew a big crowd outside,” Fry said. “Th ere was live music which attracted a lot of people, and the location was great.” With the addition of the Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center, the fi lm festival has found a new home near the fi re pit on the backside of the building. A glow stick party will take place there afterward. Senior theology and historical studies major Drew Forbes is the sound manager for one of the teams

participating in the festival. Like Fry, he has high expectations for the event. “I’m really excited to see the fi lms,” Forbes said. “I know there’s one other team in particular that I can’t wait to see what they come up with.” Th ough Forbes’ team last year placed third and took home the “Best Actor” award, he indicated that this year’s team of about eight students worked to create a fi lm to top their previous work. He said they’ve “taken everything into account.” “Th ere’s going to be a lot of improvement on my part, as well as in cinematography,” Forbes said. “We’ve stepped it up, and it’s going to be a lot more artistic.”

Campus fi lm festival to showcase student talent

Locked and Reloaded tour continues at BOK CenterBy Amy Lecza “I SKIPPED PROM FOR THIS,” declared a neon yel-low sign decorated with black Sharpie. Held up by two teen-age girls clad in denim and plaid, the sign expressed the ex-citement of the younger sector of the audience to see Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert. It was multicolored cow-boy boots, big blonde curls and asymmetric, fl oral skirts as far as the eye could see. Th e anticipation was palpable as thousands of fans crowded the entryway of the BOK Center at dusk on April 13. Although I was high up in the nosebleed section (seri-ously, the performers were tiny, Indian-in-the-Cupboard-size blips in my vision), I had a clear view of two big screens that projected the three-hour show for even the most el-evated eyes to see. Corb Lund, a down-home Canadian country rocker

(those exist?), opened the Launched and Reloaded Tour. After several ballads that were a tad too old school for my taste, Lund fi nally introduced Dierks Bentley, a tall, hand-some drink of water that mo-mentarily made me reconsider leaving the Midwest in May. Bentley seduced – yeah, I said it- the mostly-female crowd with hits like “5-1-5-0” and “Home.” His sweet love song, “Come A Little Closer,” defi nitely had Bentley fans on the edge of the seats wishing it would never end. After a 14-song set, Bentley exited the stage, and the real show began. I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a big country music fan. I don’t have an American fl ag tattoo. My closet is completely devoid of ten-gallon hats, and may God strike me down if He ever hears the word “Yeehaw!” pass from my lips, but I love me some Miranda Lambert. Th ere’s something about

her – maybe her empowered lyrics or her casually adorable cusswords tinged with a coun-try drawl – but I just adore her music. She just seems like the kind of girl who doesn’t take anyone’s crap. Or maybe that’s her repertoire of songs replete with lyrics about shooting her cheating exes. She kicked off her set with “Fastest Girl In Town,” which had the audience clapping and screaming. Lambert followed with the girl-power favorite “Only Prettier.” With lyrics like “So let’s shake hands and reach across those party lines/You got your friends just like I got mine/We might think a little diff erently/But we got a lot in common you will see/We’re just like you, only prettier,” it was easy to hear a slightly sassier side to Lambert. She slowed things down a bit with “Over You” for which she won a CMA Award in 2012. She ended her set with

an encore performance cover of AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To Th e Top.” All in all, Bentley and Lambert together made an unstoppable performing team. Th ey built incredible rapport with the audience and thanked everyone several times for coming to see them and “let-ting them live their dreams.”

My one minor complaint is that Lambert neglected to sing “Oklahoma Sky,” a personal favorite song of mine, and fi t-ting as well. Lambert and Bentley both noticed the “missed my prom” sign and called the girls out on it. Th ey all agreed it was a con-cert worthy of missing prom.

Internet Photos

Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert rock the BOK.

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Is this the century of women? Tom Brokaw says yesBy McKensie Garber Each generation in American history has experienced revolutionary changes and monumental events that have shaped our society and country as a whole. I’ve often wondered: What will be the revolutionary change of my generation? As sci-fi predicted, the modern world is fast-paced and technologically based. The “traditional” family makes up less than 25 percent of the country due to an increasingly career-focused generation. Since the repercussions of 9/11, our nation seems to be facing what will one day be known as “The Great Recession.” Perhaps it is this economic decline that has so effectively motivated the children of the 21st century to find success in the workforce.

However, our country may be facing social issues much greater than those of a fiscal nature. Despite the revolutionary path paved in the 60s for women’s rights, women of our generation are still facing the challenge to break down equality barriers - particularly in the workforce. Women today make up only 14.3 percent of the executive officers in Fortune 500 companies. The U.S. Department of Education data shows that despite having earned higher college GPAs, young women will make just 80 percent of the average salary of their male counterparts. According to a new Catalyst study, women with MBA’s make $4,600 less per year than men during their first job out of business school. Full-time working women

make 77 cents to the male dollar. I believe the unequal pay between men and women accounts for the financial struggle in nearly every American household, especially those led by single mothers. Throughout the history of woman’s suffrage, women have broken down social and political barriers of inequality. But now, women continue to battle feminist discrepancies, and it’s shown on their paystubs. Who will be the Susan B. Anthony of my generation? Who will take the place of the hundreds of female factory workers who were beaten by officers while picketing for their rights during the Industrial Revolution? One of the biggest challenges we face today is recognizing the many subtle

Subjectively Objective: A Final MetaphorBy Nathan Porter

I think one of the great iro-nies of gradu-ation season is that the unique possibilities of our futures are

often described using clichéd meta-phors. We’ve all heard these overused expressions countless times.

We’re told that as we “close one chapter of our lives,” and stare at the “vast ocean of our future,” we must remember that “the world is our oyster” and “the journey is the destination.” Poetic, right?

While these phrases may have a lasting effect on some listeners, usually the triteness of these metaphors ring louder than their truth.

Still, although it’s easy to throw these clichéd analogies into our pro-verbial sea of forgetfulness, I do think it’s imperative that we realize the vital purpose that metaphors can serve.

In the opening scene of the movie “Gladiator,” General Maximus hints at this purpose. In a brief yet inspiring speech the Roman general says to his troops “What we do in this lifetime echoes throughout eternity.”

I’m usually not one to turn parts of fiction into doctrine, but I feel com-pelled to make an exception.

Maximus’ words seem to imply that what we do during our short time on earth transcends the value that any company, community, or even govern-ment could ever place on us.

These nine simple words suggest that our actions are a resounding echo, a hint of something greater…a metaphor.

With this in mind, it’s easy to look ahead and view events like graduations, weddings, job promotions and other fa-vorable experiences as everlasting sym-bols. However, I’ve lived long enough to know that life isn’t only made up of these favorable experiences.

What about awkward elevator rides, bumper-to-bumper traffic, missed con-nections or a person that dies before their time? These things don’t seem to echo throughout eternity, but rather quietly whisper in the present.

We’re unable to deduce the meta-phoric meaning of these experiences, and thus, their value becomes purely subjective.

Without any objective view, it ap-pears as though our conduct merely clamors against the walls of life and falls to the ground.

It is for this reason that I believe in

Christianity. It asserts that our actions and

experiences have value when they are directed at an objective source.

Ironically enough, this objec-tive source chose to represent himself through clichéd metaphors.

He’s been said to be a lion yet a lamb, a spring of water yet a blazing fire, a rushing wind yet a still voice. And of all these metaphors, he is most notably a man.

It is in this man that I trust. So whether I’m running wildly in a play-ground, walking confidently across a graduation stage, sitting idly in traffic, or lying sickly in my deathbed, I will strive to live a life that echoes melo-dies of praise to my savior throughout all of eternity.

signs of sexism in our society. Deeply-rooted cultural issues do not simply disappear in a single century. On April 2, I had the privilege of hearing half a century’s worth of American history through the eyes and ears of Tom Brokaw. The distinguished television journalist took the Mabee Center stage put on by the Tulsa Business Forum and Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business. With a woman recently named head of the secret service and a woman named head of IBM, Brokaw believes “this will be the century of women.” In Washington, D.C., women hold eight of the Obama administration’s 22 Cabinet positions. Four of the eight Supreme Court justices

are women. Women today are the presidents of many Ivy League schools including Harvard, Princeton, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania. “I believe at the end of the 21st century, we will look back and say that was the time that gender bias faded, ” Brokaw said. “Maybe not completely, but it’s going to take all of us, whatever our gender, to get through the difficult challenges before us that began so long ago.” In 1848, around 300 women with visionary hope for the nation’s future met for the Seneca Falls Convention in New York. The National Archives commissioned their script entitled “Failure is Impossible.” It is my hope that we look toward the future of our nation with this same courage.


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Let’s Tell a Story Together

By Amy LeczaTo some, the Oracle is the way you

get your news. To others, it’s a means of measuring popularity. Some use the Oracle for last-minute birthday gift-wrapping or as a hasty coaster for a dripping cup of coffee. And still others (the majority, I suspect) politely receive the Oracle from my staff every other Friday following chapel, browse through for interesting pictures and promptly discard it in the Deli or Hava Java.

To me, the Oracle is much more than an ongoing school project or a means to attain skills that make me

a marketable hire. It’s more than the temporary thrill of seeing my name at the top of the masthead.

It’s cliché, but it’s true: the Oracle is my family. I’ve made inimitable rela-tionships with my coworkers. It’s the thing I’ll miss most about ORU when I graduate in a few weeks.

Despite what you might think, we actually spend hours and hours down in the deepest bowels of the LRC with-out cell reception working on captions, headlines and editing.

We’ve had a lot of memorably hilarious times. Our production week music has been especially excellent – we’d start listening to Of Monsters and Men or Deathcab for Cutie, but as the night wore on, we’d listen to the entire Tarzan soundtrack from start to fin-ish and conclude the evening with the N*SYNC Pandora station.

We’d sustain ourselves on coffee

and store-brand chocolate-filled Oreo cookies. We talked about everything – literally, everything – from roommate squabbles to relationship advice to family drama.

We’ve also had some serious bond-ing times. The night Carissa Horton and her boyfriend were murdered, we were halfway through production of the paper. We followed the event as it un-folded and pulled an all-nighter in the office remaking the cover, centerspread and half of the content.

I’ll never forget that night – all of the production staff gathered in the office, held hands and prayed for the families of the victims.

This year, Ash Wednesday fell on a production week. Right before mid-night, we turned off all the lights in the office, wrote down something separat-ing us from God and burned it in a tiny candleholder. We all gave each other

ashes; it was a mark of our closeness. Of course, the staff members were

an irreplaceable part of this experience. However, there’s always been one con-stant: Kevin Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong stayed up with us all night in the office. He bought us Dr Pepper and sweet tea to sustain us. He counseled us on our story choices and coached us on our writing. He advised us on our intern-ships and jobs.

Even after his resignation, Mr. Arm-strong answered every phone call, eager to help with stories and respond to any questions we had.

Now after several months and pub-lishing our last spring edition, we have just received notice from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists that Kevin Armstrong was voted Teacher of the Year.

No one in the world is more deserv-ing of this honor than Mr. Armstrong. Congratulations on behalf of our entire Student Media family. We’ll always remember to speak the truth in love, a lesson you exhibited over and over and one that continues to guide our staff.

Letter from the editor:An Oracle Farewell

april 19, 2013 print edition

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