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Senate
endorses multi-purpose complex
By TANIA PREPOLEC
Assistant News Editor
The University Senate voted on and approved the building
of a Multi-Purpose Complex Thursday, waving the motion’s second reading.
If approved by the Board of Trustees at its April 1 meeting,
the complex would consist of a performing arts center, a conference center/hotel
and an ice arena.
During the meeting, Lynne Schaefer, vice president for
finance and administration and Multi-Purpose Complex Review Committee (MPCRC)
chair presented the Committee’s report, which was compiled as a result
of consultation meetings with 22 campus groups and the Committee’s own
deliberations, Schaefer said.
In the report, special attention was paid to eight guiding
principles and three recommendations (one for each structure) describing
why the Committee was in favor of building the complex.
“The Committee recommended that the university move forward
with the multi-purpose complex and to continue to evaluate the development
and its components in the context of the guiding principles,” Schaefer
said.
For example, two of the guiding principles state "the
university should not expect to use its own resources, other than land
or personnel, to construct or operate a multi-purpose complex on campus,
and the university should have a meaningful oversight role in the management
and operation of such a complex."
“I really appreciate the Senate’s consideration and support
for the Committee’s report,” Schaefer said.
“The campus community was very positive and candid in
their feedback on this concept,” she said.
In other actions, the Senate also approved a joint report
by the Senate Planning Review Committee (SPRC) and the Senate Budget Review
Committee (SBRC) addressing the Creating the Future Strategic Initiative.
The SPRC and SBRC report evolved after the two committees
met over a month-and-a-half’s time, examining the original Creating the
Future document, looking for issues pertaining to its nine task forces
that the committees felt should be prioritized, said Sean Moran, associate
history professor and SBRC chair.
“We tried to come up with common themes(in the Creating
the Future document) which we (the two committees) called mega strategies,”
Moran said.
According to Moran, the committees found the original
Creating the Future document to be deficient in two respects.
“There was concern that research/scholarship and creative
activities, which we believe should be of the highest priority, were not
mentioned in the Creating the Future document,” he said.
In addition to these discrepancies, there were individuals
who expressed concern about the committees’ report, and items they felt
were missing from it.
The committees did a good job of “distilling the overall
report into big strategies,” English Professor Jane Eberwein said.
“But smaller strategies are conceptually very different
from larger ones,” she said.
According to Eberwein, there were also issues which the
committees discussed that weren’t in the final report.
However, making campus-wide recommendations “necessitated
reducing the number of (recommended) strategies,” Moran said.
“It was impossible to include everything,” he added.
An open forum for the discussion of changes in the Senate’s constitution
will be this Thursday, March 25, from 3-6 p.m. in Room 200, Dodge Hall.
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Professor teaches
love of nature, life
By KRISTI TWORK
Staff Writer
Students who are fulfilling a general education requirement
in BIO110 are getting a lesson in “Life on Earth,” with the emphasis on
“Life.”
Phil Clampitt, special lecturer in biological sciences,
shares his passion for nature with his students by relating biology to
art and literature.
The class is based on a David Attenborough television
series “Life on Earth,” produced by PBS. The 13 segments cover all
forms of life from microbiology including plant life, invertebrate animals,
mammals, and finally humans.
Clampitt supplements the videos and lectures on evolution
with cartoons, poems and essays. He has even been known to sing,
to show his students the humorous and light side of biology and evolution.
Poet Amy Clampitt is his favorite source of inspiration.
Clampitt’s sister, who passed away four years ago, authored “The Collected
Poems of Amy Clampitt,” a poetry collection (published by Knopf) that explores,
among other things, a spiritual nature of plant and animal life.
Her poetry expresses a family reverence for nature’s wonders,
according to Clampitt who proudly shares hers and work of other poets with
his students. Plus, he asks his students for feedback.
“The novel thing I’ve done this year is to circulate a
couple of these poems and invite the students to respond with reflections
of their own,” Clampitt said.
Another unique approach in BIO110 is the encouragement
of students to become “biophiliacs.”
In a “project” designed by Clampitt, anyone can become
a biophiliac by submitting an essay or another work of art which relates
how an animal, plant or a person helped them to bond or feel close to nature.
According to Clampitt, student response to the program
was very favorable. More than half of his class turned in papers,
of which Clampitt was very pleased with the quality and variety of the
material.
“Biophilia” is a term used by some in the scientific community
to refer to the inborn affinity that humans have for all living things.
Clampitt coined the term as a part of his course.
Considering the topic, some of Clampitt’s students are
more enthusiastic than others.
“He is very enthusiastic about his work... if no
one else is,” said Evan Smale, English freshman.
LaKeya Mitchell, communications senior, was appreciative
of the supplemental poems and essays which help keep her attention.
“He does try to make it as interesting as possible,” she
said.
Clampitt is exploring the possibility of an Honors College
course titled “Biophilia.” According to Clampitt, the course would
be “a collaborative thing with different disciplines (art and drama), and
would look at (the biophilia) phenomenon from different angles.”
Students would explore their connection to nature through
writing and other media, and would study how humans have evolved with a
strong affinity for other living things.
Brian Murphy, director of the Honors College, has purchased
a copy of Amy Clampitt’s book and finds the sibling affiliation appealing.
“There are three big worlds,” Murphy said. “Art,
Religion, and Science. (Clampitt) is trying to build a connection
between two of those worlds, art and science. It sounds exactly like
what the HC does, which is make connections. It‘s very intriguing,
and the connection with Amy Clampitt is very interesting.”
Murphy added that the proposal is only in the very beginning,
and would take at least a year or two to develop and realize.
In step with his loyalty to nature, Clampitt showed fierce
opposition to the construction of the new golf course. He wrote several
letters, including letters to OU President Gary Russi, board members, and
administrative personnel, and he also addressed the board at a meeting.
“If President Russi and the Board of Trustees were in
touch with the biophiliac in themselves, there would never be a second
golf course,” Clampitt said.
Instead of a new golf course that squanders acres of wildlife,
Clampitt would prefer a new biology course that teaches about living beings
and being in harmony with natural surroundings.
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OU Press launched with Matilda Wilson’s
guidebooks
By HILLARY CRAWFORD
Staff Writer
This year something new is happening on campus. OU
is now starting to publish books. Though they have only published
one book so far, many more are on the way.
Geoff Upward, press executive director and director of University Communications
and Marketing, and Bradley Driscoll Jr., OU alumnus, teamed up to publish
the first book out of OU Press called “A Place in the Country: Matilda
Wilson’s Personal Guidebook to Meadow Brook Hall.”
“It’s a manuscript that Matilda Wilson prepared,” Upward
said. “It’s a walking tour of the Hall with her comments.”
“A Place in the Country: Matilda Wilson’s
Personal Guidebook to Meadow Brook Hall” is a 64-page tour showing some
of the well known facts about the mansion and some of the less known secrets,
like the secret passage in the mansion.
Throughout the book are Matilda Wilson’s comments on the
art, furniture and rooms of the beautiful Meadow Brook Mansion, including
stories about her life in the mansion.
The OU Press is a self-supporting press that only publishes
books of special interest. They do not publish books from students
or staff, but the books are interesting, Upward said.
Some of the upcoming books include a cookbook, a coffee
table book and a social history, all in the time period of Matilda Wilson.
The upcoming books will be old manuscripts written by
Matilda Wilson, or books written by experts in certain fields that apply
to the context of the book being published, some of which could be professors
at OU.
Many people donated the money for the publication of the
first OU Press book.
Of the $30,000 contributed, the Strategic Plan Fund gave
$10,000, Meadow Brook Hall gave $15,000 and $5,000 was contributed for
production of the 10,000 copies of the book.
The money made from the sale of the book will be split
between OU and Meadow Brook Hall.
“We are starting slow. We are trying to pay as we
go,” Upward said, explaining why there were not more books that were published
this year.
The book, which was printed in Midland, is on sale in
OU Bookstore and at the Meadow Brook Hall gift shop for $8.95.
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CRIME WATCH
Spandex Man
Students, faculty and staff should be on the look out for
a 5’9” white man in his late twenties , with ear-length dark hair, dark,
thick eyebrows, who may be the individual involved in four indecent
exposure incidents in the past week and two others earlier in the month.
Four of the incidents occurred in the Kresge Library, one in Dodge
Hall and one in Hannah Hall.
Witnesses to the four separate incidents all told police the man was
wearing shiny blue spandex pants with a large hole in the groin area,
a gray crewneck ‘Polo’ sweatshirt, white running shoes, and
carrying a small black planner. In colder weather the suspect was wearing
a dark windbreaker jacket, on warmer days a yellow jacket.
A witness in one of the incidents told police he watched
him leave in a red 1992-94 BMW.
Anyone with information or who sees someone who matches
the description of the suspect should phone OU police at 248/370-3331 or
911.
Stolen Hubcaps
Upon returning to lot 26 (near Kresge Library)Thursday
afternoon, March 18, a faculty member noticed two hubcaps missing from
his 1999 Volkswagen Jetta.
The value of the hubcaps is unknown at this time.
Cash Found
A staff member found $32 on the sidewalk of the OC loading
dock Tuesday morning, March 16.
The cash was in a brown leather money clip, and was locked
in OUPD’s property room.
Harassing Phone Calls
Last Thursday evening, a Hill House resident reported having
received harassing phone calls from an unknown person throughout the month
of March.
The harasser called approximately four times a night,
the caller opts not speak into the receiver.
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