News Story 3

Recent health inspections reveal that two restaurants in OU’s Oklahoma Memorial Union did not meet criteria for a clean bill of health.

                  Both Sbarro and Wendy’s were issued follow-up activities, according to reports by oudaily.com. Wendy’s was issued follow-ups with two health inspections prior to the most recent one.

                  Wendy’s received violations for rodent droppings on the floor and trashcan, excessive black residue in fryer baskets and having more than 10 items held at incorrect temperatures.

                  “Even though I really didn’t eat at Wendy’s too many times before, this definitely gives me a reason not to ever return,” sophomore Anna Prince said.

                  Similar to Wendy’s, Sbarro received violations for black residue in the ice machine, several food items held at wrong temperatures and live roaches found under the front counter.

                  According to an oudaily.com poll, 71 percent of students surveyed said that the restaurant’s health reports would keep them away.

                  “I really can’t see myself coming back to eat at the Union for a while. I’ll go to Starbucks, but besides that I’m going to try and keep the amount of food I eat from here to a bare minimum,” Prince said.

                  Although the restaurants did not formally receive citations, both were issued follow-up activity which is expected to be completed within ten days of receiving the violations, according to rules implemented by the Cleveland County Health Department.

                  Follow-up activities are issued when a problem can easily be resolved. Activity can include anything from a power-wash, to scheduling more frequent pest control visits.

                  “In regards to restaurants owned by the Union, Sbarro is a privately operated company. With respect to food services for the Union, Wendy’s food temperature and preparation works to follow the food temperature guidelines,” Marketing and Public Relations specialist Lauren Royston said.

                  No specific updates on follow-up activity for the two restaurants have been released.

Students wait for their orders at Wendy's in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. 

Sophomore Anna Prince chooses Starbucks' coffee over food items from the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Recent health reports of two Union restaurants have caused negative publicity for the food establishments.

Sbarro is one of two restaurants in the Oklahoma Memorial Union to receive violations from a recent health inspection.

News Story 2

            Freshman Kristen Stanley films a clip for her Film Festival submission about student life.

News Story 2

Campus Activities Council continues its Student Film Series with the third annual Student Film Festival. The festival will be held in the Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union on March 1. 

                CAC created the film series to give students a chance to showcase their creative writing and film directing skills to a small-scale audience. It also gives students the chance to have their scripts critiqued by professionals from OU’s film department.

                “I’m really excited to enter the film festival. It’s always been something I’ve been interested in, but never really had the chance to do before,” said Kristen Stanley, a freshman energy management major.

                According to ou.edu, to enter the Film Series, current OU students must create an original script and film less than 15 minutes long. The films are then reviewed by CAC Film Series Chair Sarah Foust, checked for length and any obscenity and are selected for the Student Film Festival.

                “The number of films to make it to the festival has varied every year. Last year I believe we had seven or eight, but it just depends on the length or if any get disqualified for obscenity,” said Foust.

                New to the Film series this year, the winners of the festival will have their film displayed on the OU website.

                Winners of the festival are chosen by a panel of judges who score each film based on its creativity, technique, equipment use and story line.

                “I think the added incentives to the festival will be encouraging to students to get their work out there, especially for freshman and sophomores. Showing their films to a smaller audience will hopefully give them the courage to eventually enter larger film festivals held nationally and even internationally,” said Foust.

                All contest rules and entry forms are available on ou.edu on the CAC homepage.

News Story 1

In honor of the first day of Black History month, Cate Center hosted a film showing of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, followed by a discussion with Couch Center’s faculty resident Lupe Davidson.

                Students of all age, gender and race attended the event in the Cate Main Social Lounge hosted by the Black Student Association, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, the Couch and Cate Faculty-in-Residence Programs and the Cate Residents Student Association.

                Iota Phi Theta member Augustine Wiah says the even turn-out was better than they anticipated.

                “We had around 86 people come out to watch the film and stay for the discussion with Lupe Davidson, who put forth the idea of showing Traces of the Trade.” Wiah said.

                The film documents decedents of the DeWolf family, one of the most prominent slave-trading families in U.S. history, as they travel to the slave-trading posts where their ancestors once frequented.

                According to tracesofthetrade.org, the Dewolfs were the nation’s leading slave-traders, bringing approximately 10,000 Africans to the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean to be auctioned off.

                Junior Gabby Logan says that she attended the film not only to support fellow members of the Black Student Association, but also to get a better perspective on slavery and how it is viewed in today’s society from a white family’s point-of-view.

                “It was interesting to see people who genuinely feel bad about slavery and its effects, even if they are not directly accountable for it.” Logan said.

                The film captures the emotions experienced by the family members who took the journey through the Triangle Trade and walked the paths taken by slaves their own family had once forced to follow.

                Following the film, Davidson led a discussion amongst those who attended and encouraged students to give their honest feedback of the film and its meanings.

                “I feel as if the film started a spark at the very least. It sparked interest in the topic of racism and slavery for those who had little knowledge on the subject. You don’t really get to learn all of this in-depth information and have these discussions in your high school history classes.” Wiah said.

“The goal of this event wasn’t to necessarily promote Black History month, but rather to get students interested in black history so that we can have more events in the future like this that students would want to attend.”

The Black Student Association and the members of Iota Phi Theta plan to provide students more opportunities to learn about black history. Upcoming events can be found on the homepage of the OU website.

Portrait without a person

Sense of place