We also discussed the massive amount of money that has been spent in Afghanistan alone: it could finance the educations of all the students in the United States, among other things. We closed by reading a partial list of the fatalities in Afghanistan from 2011 and then spent a moment in silence. One member closed the event with a call to taking a stance – and to taking action.

Stephanie’s Letter

I am an American Soldier.

I am a warrior and a member of a team.

I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.

I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.

I am an expert and I am a professional.

I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

+  The Soldier’s Creed +

My name is SGT Stephanie Wynn.  Currently, I am with the Oklahoma Army National Guard, preparing for deployment to Afghanistan.  I have previously been deployed to Balad, Iraq, but with another unit.  My husband is also military:  he is with 279 Infantry, part of the 45^th Infantry, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan and has lost 12 soldiers.  My husband is not deployed right now, for which I am supremely grateful.  He is currently being medically discharged for injuries he sustained during the Infantry’s deployment during 2008.

The Army’s training for deployment is intense, and it has only gotten tougher as these conflicts have continued.  As my current unit’s training progresses, I can only compare it to the training I received in 2004.  Some things have changed, as is to be expected.  We have improved our tactics, our weapons, and the safety of our equipment.  If we want to survive, we must adapt to change and overcome adversity.

Each person’s experience with deployment is unique.  It is that soldier’s mindset and their experiences that determine how the war will affect him or her psychologically.  The war’s physical effects are another story.  While on a MEDEVAC flight from Iraq to Germany, I saw a soldier who had been severely wounded.  Most of his body was covered in gauze; he was bleeding through in places.  Maybe half of his face was showing.  He was young, in his early twenties at the latest.  I do not know whether he survived his injuries, but I have thought of him often over the years.  Did he even know why he was fighting?  Was he ever curious about the underlying causality of this war?  Was he like so many others who enlisted only for college money or health care benefits?  If he survived, what is his life like now?

I love my country.  I am proud to serve her, and I know that doing so presents its risks, both physical and mental.  While I disagree with the conflict itself, I will set my personal political views aside so that I may go and do my job to the best of my ability.  I will see to it that the soldiers who serve under me are well trained, understand their mission, and most importantly, come home to their loved ones as whole and safe as possible.  I cannot pretend to understand fully the political machinations that brought us to war.  At this point, it is an exercise in futility.  All I can do now is hope that our government ends this war and brings us home.

The rally was organized in response to several recent events at OU and in the city of Norman. It was a direct response to the [as yet unidentified] person(s) who stole GLBTF’s pride flag during Shack-a-Thon. The date for the rally was chosen to coincide with Norman Human Rights’ Commission’s (HRC) current discussion around amending the Norman non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Seventy to seventy five students and townies  marched from the South Oval up to Gray St.  and the Municipal Complex, chanting the whole way. We stopped on the lawn right outside the HRC meeting. Then about 10 or 15 marchers were invited to sit in on the meeting and contribute to the discussion – the HRC will go on to recommend that gender identity and sexual orientation be added to the non-discrimination policy that governs Norman employees.  The next step will be to amend that ordinance to apply to all Norman businesses: if that happens, Norman will be the first state in Oklahoma to adhere to such a policy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Grant Delozier, SDS Organizer, Grant.H.De.Lozier-1@ou.edu, (580)467-8351

Contact: Michael Howard, SDS Organizer, michael.r.howard-1@ou.edu, 918-406-2924

When: Monday, October 18, 2010

SDS to Launch Living Wage Campaign for OU Staff

Members of Students for a Democratic Society have been reaching out to staff and asking them about their wages and working conditions at the University of Oklahoma.

Having found that there are employees, such as custodial staff and food service workers, that make less than a living wage, we will be launching a campaign on October 18 to remedy this problem.

According to the Penn State Living Wage Calculator, individuals living in Cleveland County must earn $13 per hour to meet their basic living needs for a family of four.

In our conversations with staff members, some shared with us stories of making $8 per hour, and making so little that they could not afford insurance for their children. Others have complained about OU’s at-will employment policy which permits the University administration to fire staff for any reason or for no reason at all. (This policy is found in the OU Staff Handbook in the Preface here).

SDS believes that such treatment is inhumane and unjust. It is wrong for any employer, especially a public institution, to pay their workers so little that they cannot properly support their families and take care of all their basic needs. It is also wrong to provide basically no job security, keeping workers in a state of constant anxiety about their next paycheck.

Because there is no law that would require the University to recognize even a unanimously supported staff union, SDS will launch a website where we intend to centrally organize a campaign to encourage sympathetic students, faculty, staff, and others to pressure the University to finally meet its obligations to its low-wage employees.

The site, which will be provided in Spanish and English, will begin to highlight stories from workers on campus, explain what the University needs to do, and help staff and others get involved in the project.

In addition to launching the website, a push will begin on October 18 to reach out to more University employees to collect their stories and work with them to achieve this goal. Because the University will be inclined to fire any staff attempting to help, we have committed ourselves to keeping communications and stories from staff members entirely anonymous.

We have already spoken to dozens of staff and collected a few of their stories, but starting October 18, we will launch the website, launch our campaign, and make a concerted push to bring light to the injustice of poverty wages at OU.

Website: http://livingwage4ou.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Matthew Bruenig, SDS organizer, matthewbruenig@ou.edu, 817-437-1223

WHO: Students for a Democratic Society, Women’s and Gender Studies Student Association, and other students

WHEN: October 7, 2010, 12-2PM

WHERE: East Lawn of the Oklahoma Memorial Union (Student Union), 900 Asp Avenue, Norman, OK

SDS, WGSSA to Demonstrate on the National Day of Action for Education

SDS and WGSSA will demonstrate on the East Lawn of the Student Union on Thursday, October 7, from 12PM to 2PM. This demonstration will be part of a series of demonstrations carried out through the country in support of Education Rights. A similar day of action was held last spring on March 4, and received national media attention, as dozens of students were arrested across the country, campuses were shut down by students in California, and school buildings were occupied.

The October 7th Day of Action for Education is a continuation of this previous Day and has the same levels of participation pledged across the country.

SDS and WGSSA is carrying the torch for the movement on the OU campus. During our demonstration, student and non-student speakers will point out the absurdity of our state’s budget priorities, especially when it comes to prisons.

Oklahoma has the fourth highest incarceration rate in the country, but only the nineteenth highest crime rate, and Oklahoma has the highest rate of incarceration of women in the world. Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson and members of her staff have estimated that we spend upwards of 300 million dollars per year imprisoning non-violent drug offenders alone.

At the demonstration, speakers will call on the state legislature to adopt more sane budget policies and cut prisons instead of cutting education. A more sane budget would allow the state to continue funding education even with overall budget shortfalls at the current levels, and avoid more of the budget cuts and subsequent tuition hikes that we experienced this last year.

This kind of reform is not only possible, but essential for the flourishing of our state. Education provides the bedrock for opportunities, advancement, and the productiveness of a state. If we spend more on education, speakers will point out at the event, we could ensure that people have more skills, more opportunities, and that they have a chance to move out of poverty — this will decrease the prison population far faster than the tough on crime sentencing that has helped put the state in the budget crisis it  is currently in.

Our first meeting of the semester, which will serve as an introduction to the organization, will be Monday the 23rd (the first day of classes), at 8pm in front of the south entrance of the library. Please contact OklahomaSDS@gmail.com with any questions.

Enjoy your years in Norman!

Small Victory in the Campaign for Gender Neutral Housing

SDS and GLBTF Sponsor a Forum on Gender Neutral Housing

SDS Organizes an Eat-In to Encourage Students to Share Meal Exchanges with Members of the Norman Community

SDS Cooperates with GLBTF to Begin the Campaign for Gender Neutral Housing

SDS Presents “Make ____, Not War” at Human Rights Week

SDS Wins a UOSA Superior Court Ruling in its Favor

OU Daily Opinion Page Runs an ‘Our View’ Supporting SDS

SDS Uses the Ballot Initiative Process to Attempt Reform of Student Government

SDS Criticizes Student Government at OU

While the city of Norman fails to offer vegans the warm dietary embrace that might be found in a larger city, it certainly features enough options to stave off both food anxiety and boredom. This post attempts to present new (vegan) OU students and newly vegan OU students an introduction to vegan eating on an around campus, because figuring it out the hard way is, of course, hard.

Housing and Food at OU does a fair job of accommodating its vegan residents. Beginning with the cafeteria, which tends to be the locus of most freshman dining, one can find the cornily dubbed “Vegatation Station,” which offers  a few vegan entree and side dishes (intermingled with a more impressive lacto-ovo vegetarian spread) each day except Sunday. The variety and quality of these dishes can be disappointing, especially since the Vegetation Station features the only clearly identified vegan foods in the cafeteria.

Other options within the cafeteria include the breakfast bar, which offers soy milk and a ridiculous array of cereals that usually contains a few vegan cereals. Many other locations in the cafeteria offer made to order dishes, which, as long as one is discerning, can be ordered vegan. Casa Del Sol and Shanghai Stir Fry offer Tex-Mex and eastern stir fry respectively (all the sauce options at Shanghai Stir Fry are vegan).

Cate Food Court, which contains the other non-chain dining options south of Lindsey, features another handful of vegan-friendly choices. O’Henry’s sells made-to-order wraps with a solid variety of vegetables (I used to order them all). Roscoe’s, the coffee bar, offers, if I recall correctly, fair trade coffee and the option of soy milk as a dairy substitute in fancier drinks. They also sell good but fairly expensive vegan cookies.

The union offers the final handful of vegan-friendly restaurants on campus. On the south side, Crossroad’s offers veggie sushi. The wheat and rye breads used for the sandwiches are vegan, according to correspondence with a Housing and Food employee. Frëshens’ next door to Crossroads offers filling but expensive fruit smoothies (though the “protein boost” contains dairy). The union food court contains the Laughing Tomato, which offers somewhat pricy vegan fare. This is the only establishment in the union that clearly identifies vegan meals. Like the Vegetation Station, the options are a little disappointing.

Moving on to the exciting world of off-campus dining, the first place a vegan ought to turn is The Earth on Campus Corner. The Earth serves a variety of vegan foods, including several sandwiches (with vegan bread available daily), breakfast dishes and bakery. My personal favorites are the hummus sandwich, the vegan biscuits and gravy and the lavender cake. Do not pass up the opportunity to enjoy the latter. Meals at The Earth can be expensive in relation to some other restaurants on Campus Corner—a sandwich served with a side of chips or carrots and with a cup of coffee usually approaches ten dollars. That said, The Earth is to my knowledge, the only restaurant in Norman where a vegan might feel as welcome as an omnivore.

One building north of The Earth is Freebird’s, a quick, fairly cheap Mexican-inspired restaurant. Their specialty is made-to-order burritos. An in-the-know (married to a vegan for several years) employee assured me that every vegetarian ingredient is also vegan, and there are a lot of vegetarian ingredients.  The size and heartiness of the portions at Freebird’s also make for a very solid cost-to-fullness ratio. Additionally, hearsay tends to maintain that Pepe Delgado’s down the street offers  vegan friendly Mexican food, though the authors have never been.

Pita Pit, as its name suggests, serves pitas, which are made to order and can feature hummus and falafel, along with a bunch of veggies (again, I usually get them all). Pita Pit, like Freebird’s, is another good option to maximize bang for your buck.

A variety of Asian restaurants round out the selection on campus corner. There are two Thai restaurants, Pad Thai, which is more delicious and more expensive, and Thai Raja, which is cheaper, and offers a great lunch buffet during the school year. Both have several tofu dishes, and the wait staff are fairly good about answering ingredient questions. Tea Cafe is a little more limited, but features a few decent tofu dishes (and some really good teas).

Finally, I would like to suggest a few good sources for hard to find vegan groceries in Norman. Native Roots on Main and Santa Fe offers a great selection of vegan ingredients and snacks, as well miscellaneous items like vegan soaps and supplements. The Earth Natural Foods and Deli, which is affiliated with the restaurant on Campus Corner, is an additional option located on Flood. Finally, there is Forward Foods, also on Main, which can be pricey but offers some good bulk foods.

Additional information about ingredients in dishes served on campus can be obtained by emailing dflowers@ou.edu.  Additional information about off-campus dining can be obtained by old-fashioned shoe-leather.

Yet the university does this, claiming that they have consent from students who agree to allow the school to answer queries about their enrollment to potential employers. This needs to stop. When students agree to allow the university to share their enrollment information and other information to potential employers or various honor societies, they do not ever intend that to be consent to have their information sold to banks and credit card companies without their knowledge.
The pdf linked in this cover picture is an exhaustive report concerning this problem and what ought to be done about it. (Warning 12MB pdf).