A bulletin board near the Housing and Food Services offices shows ways to consume waste and the changes OU is making in the Crimson and Green program.

OU Making Changes to Go Green
Anyone with an OU account can make a commitment to Crimson and Green and the OU Physical Plant will donate $2 per person to campus recycling.

Crimson and Green is trying to promote campus sustainability and have a semester campaign to encourage students, faculty and staff to make a commitment to change wasteful behavior.

“Our goals through Crimson and Green are to raise campus awareness and of course funds for recycling through the commitments,” Stacy Hawthorne said, a Crimson and Green representative.

Housing and Food Services is making changes for the Crimson and Green program in continuing efforts to support the wishes of customers and their commitment to social responsibility. Housing and Food Services is in the process of replacing ‘styrofoam’ to-go packaging with made-from-recycled and can-be-recycled paper products.

Listen below to a student's opinion of Crimson and Green:

Students working on their float for the Homecoming parade at 3 p.m. CT before kickoff of the Kansas State football game.

Homecoming Parade: A Timely Effort
In an attempt to boost school spirit, Saturday’s homecoming game against Kansas State will feature the annual float parade.

But much work is put forth into each float to ensure a high rating by the panel of judges. Each participating organization assigns members hours each week that they are required to attend. Ten floats created by campus organizations will be used in the “There’s Only One” themed parade.

“Putting a float in the parade shows school spirit,” sophomore Robert Sidwell said. “The work that goes into the float is endless, so it seems. Pomping ribbon and making a frame takes longer than most would think. I spend hours a day working on the float”.

The float parade will take place on the north end of campus at 3 p.m. CT.

Students walk by a closed Couch Cafeteria on Saturday. The cafeteria is closed to save around $250,000 per year.

Food Services’ Weekend Closings Change Students Eating Options
In an effort to save over $250,000 per year, 16 campus dining options close during weekends, including Couch Cafeteria. Therefore students with a university meal plan have fewer options to eat which force them to venture off campus or use their meals at other campus operations.

Couch Cafeteria is closed from 2 p.m. Friday until the dinner meal at 5 p.m. Sunday. The decision to operate with these hours is a reflection of the customer traffic on campus during that time, according to Food Service Director Chuck Weaver.

There is an exodus that occurs around 3 p.m. every Friday afternoon and there are simply not enough people on campus to justify or efficiently operate a facility the size of Couch.

On April 10, 2009, Kitchen Comments Issue 633 informed students why Couch is closed on weekends. Former Food Services Director and current Housing and Food Services Director Dave Annis explained when Couch was open all weekend there weren’t many customers from Friday night until Sunday afternoon.

Other operations – Burger King, Cate Center and Crossroads – could handle the volume, except Sunday night, when students returned to campus.

Couch is labor intensive and by shutting it down for six meals, food services saved 14 FTE’s, which is around $250,000. However, to even out the eating options, food services agreed to extend Cate’s closing time from 10 p.m. to midnight.

Food services also broadened meal card use around campus. Currently, any operation south of Lindsey St. has meal exchange compatibilities. Crossroads is also in the process of becoming a 24-7 meal exchange service.

But customer service is food services' top priority, according to Weaver. They are always in planning stages of new commodities.

Introduced last year, room service from Cate ala Carte was added as a convenience for students living in residence halls or OU Traditions Square. The room service is available everyday of the week, and is considered another weekend eating option for students.

Weaver still believes there are plenty of eating options on the weekends.

“The customers that are available to us on the weekends do go to our other operations on campus but even those days are slower than weekday traffic,” Weaver said.

And there’s a reason for slower weekend traffic.

There are currently 22 dining locations on campus, according to the universities housing and food website. However, only six of these dining options are full open on the weekends: Burger King, Crossroads, O’Henry’s, Oliver’s, Taco Mayo, and Xcetera.

So if students aren’t eating campus operations, they are commuting to off campus restaurants.

And with Lindsey St. running east and west through campus, many restaurants understand that locating on Lindsey St. will boost sales.

Lucky Star is a popular off campus food destination on Lindsey St. and they see a higher volume of business on weekends, compared to weekdays, according to employee Sanny Lee. Lee believes the jump in weekend sales has something to do with campus operations being closed for the weekend.

Lee also said that around 30 percent of their weekend business is students, compared to about 10 percent students during weekdays.

Lucky Star wants students to feel comfortable, so they recently added a big screen television so students can watch weekend football.

But Lucky Star isn’t the only restaurant feeling the wave of weekend business; Ray’s Smokehouse BBQ has become a big addition to Lindsey St. dining.

Darrol Ray, co-owner of Ray’s Smokehouse BBQ, says that while both weekends and weekdays are strong, Friday through Sunday seem to bring in the most business. Ray also said that game day’s bring forth many customers with all the Lindsey St. traffic.

Ray added that around 30 percent of weekend business is students, while weekdays are around the 20 percent range.

“I would think that some of the closed campus eating options are a reason for students eating [at Ray’s Smokehouse BBQ] on the weekends,” Ray said. “Right now we’re trying to get a spot in the food court next year. That’s just wishful thinking though”.

Ray said his restaurant is targeting the student demographic; one way was adding two big screen televisions for weekend football viewing use.

In another attempt to higher student sales, Ray’s Smokehouse BBQ added two student coupons in the “Campus Special” discount book.

Money is the main factor for both food services and students in weekend eating options. For food services, the 16 closings level out meal plan prices so there’s not a steep climb in prices.

“With the resources we have I think that to keep Couch open for those 6 additional meals would be a very expensive service and very few would benefit from the service,” Weaver said.

However some students say they don’t have the income or parental monetary support to eat off campus on the weekends.

“Working is not an option for me as a full-time student,” freshman Will McWhirter said. “So it’s Cate or [Burger King] for me”.

McWhirter also said he understands that some people leave for home or work on the weekends, but it’s an inconvenience for him that the cafeteria is closed.

“The [cafeteria] is where I spend most of my meals,” McWhirter said. “On the weekends, without class, students are more likely to leave Norman. Personally I stay here all weekend, every weekend; so the closed cafeteria is like a nightmare. I don’t even like Burger King”.

Student groups can and do use Couch for programming during those shut down hours for specific purposes so Couch is somewhat open on the weekends for those groups.

There aren’t plans to fully reopen Couch Cafeteria, or the other operations, on the weekends in the near future.

Check out the slideshow of campus operations:

Check out the video of a student's opinion concerning the closed cafeteria:

Check out the audio of Food Services Marketing and Public Relations Specialist Lauren Royston:

Fill the Trolley is an philanthropy to help less fortunate families. CART hopes to fill four trolley's full of gifts this year.

CART to Pursue Gifts for Less Fortunate

To ensure a great holiday season for Norman’s less fortunate families, Cleveland Area Rapid Transit is supporting their annual Fill the Trolley initiative.

CART will be collecting donations and attempt to fill trolleys full with toys, household items and teen gifts. Organizations and departments interested will receive a large decorated box during the first week of November to fill with gifts. Then on December 2 the boxes will be collected for distribution.

“The is a wonderful opportunity to do something great for the community,” Kris Glenn said, the CART Marketing and Public Relations Specialist. “The donations are growing every year”.

In 2009 CART will attempt to fill four trolleys full of donations, which is one more than last year.

Check out the video of CART Marketing and Public Relations Specialist Kris Glenn below:

Editor-in-Chief Jamie Hughes posts a new internship opportunity on the bulletin board inside the OU Daily newsroom Tuesday. Hughes says that internship experience is important when interviewing.

Internship Opportunities Available in OU Daily Newsroom

The OU Daily posts internship opportunities on the bulletin board located inside the OU daily newsroom so students can further their chances of gaining experience and ultimately finding careers, according to Editor-in-Chief Jamie Hughes.

Since the start of the semester, Hughes and editorial advisor Judy Gibbs Robinson have posted flyers and information regarding summer internships for those students who are having trouble finding internship opportunities on their own. Currently, around 20 internship opportunities are posted on the bulletin board.

"Internship experience is important in getting hired after graduation," Hughes said. "We understand that, so when we see something worthy of being posted, we'll post it".

Hughes and Robinson will continue to post information as the semester continues.

Check out the internship soundslide:

Students wait to receive their Red River Rivalry ticket Tuesday. The game will be held at 11:00 a.m. CT Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.

Selling Red River Rivalry Tickets Popular
Students have been selling tickets for the Red River Rivalry game on Saturday in an effort to completely fund their weekend trip to Dallas, TX.

Craigslist.com, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay.com, and Stubhub.com are only a few websites that list hundreds of potential sellers trying to make profit from the original $95 ticket. Money isn’t the only reason to sell; with the two OU early losses, many fans have also lost interest.

“We’re out of the national championship hunt,” sophomore Matt Zarse said. “So, honestly, I don’t care much anymore. Also, it doesn’t hurt that selling my ticket brings in a large profit margin, even with OU’s record”.

Ticket sales are expected to last until kickoff at 11:00 a.m. CT.

Listen to a student's perspective on selling Red River Rivalry tickets:

Gould Hall is currently being renovated by the College of Architecture. It's reportedly cost $9 million in hard costs.

Construction of Gould Hall for COA Betterment

With the renovation to Gould Hall, Dean of the College of Architecture Bob Fillpot hopes the finished facility will be more reflective of the professor's mission and responsibility and that the only thing the college loses is being regarded as one of the ugliest buildings on campus, according to a COA newsletter.

A new library, outdoor gathering place, lobby space, classrooms, archival space, and faculty center are only a few of the new additions the building. The renovation is presently $9 million in hard costs, according to Dean Bob Fillpot.

"Defined by concept design I did for President Boren five years ago," Dean Bob Fillpot said. "[The] program was determined by previous studies that had been [done] regarding different aspects of the college operations, together with thoughts on programmatic issues noted through one-on-one discussions with faculty and staff during my first two years with the college," according to the COA newsletter.

The facility is scheduled to be complete January 10, 2011, according to Nick Harm, Director Division of Architecture.

Check out the still image slideshow of Gould Hall below.

AFTERdark visited the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman on Tuesday. The doors opened at 6 p.m. CT.

AFTERdark Visits OU
In an effort to minister to universities across the nation, AFTERdark made their most recent visit to the University of Oklahoma and provided students with uplifting speakers and a free concert.

Musician Jon McLaughlin performed and AFTERdark speaker Joe White and OU football standout Gerald McCoy spoke at the Lloyd Noble Center Tuesday; and it was all free to the public. With many students searching for answers and wanting to be put in the right direction, AFTERdark tours campuses and sets goals for students. There have been 120 AFTERdark events and nearly 200,000 students in attendance, according to whatsafterdark.com.

“AFTERdark was better than I anticipated,” sophomore Tim Beedle said after attending. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was worth attending. I’d be willing to travel to one of the next universities they go to.”

AFTERdark chooses their campuses stops based on student recognition and requests. Their next stop will be at Texas Christian University Wednesday, followed by Missouri State Thursday.

Listen to the audio of a student who attended AFTERdark below.