10 Things I [Love/Hate] About You...

The Five Things I Appreciated About "The Gay"

1) The modern facilities, and the up-to-date, if not cutting edge equipment that the college provided. After hearing Katie Curcio describe how CBS News in New York still uses Beta tapes, I felt a whole lot better about my education.

2) The quality of most of the professors is second-to-none. While I never got to know all the professors in the College, the Dana Rosengards, the Fred Blevinses, the Peter Gades, and the Robert Kerrs of the college totally made the experience of going to school here worth it. If every professor was as wonderful as these four were, I'd have deliberately flunked courses just to stay in the college.

3) The commitment by the college to continue to think bigger and better, and not be content with the status quo. Only three years removed from an expansion that would keep some schools content for decades, OU is breaking ground tomorrow on new facilities that will arguably out-pimp some of the finest JMC schools in the country.

4) The comfy couches in the lounge. Many a peaceful nap have been had on those over-stuffed earthly delights.

5) The fact that we were allowed to choose an emphasis and focus solely on that, without a lot of other superfluous and nonsensical busy work in order to flesh out a more generalized journalism degree.

All that being said, now my 5 complaints about what the College could've done to accommodate me more.

1) More of an emphasis on curriculum that caters specifically to radio. People may argue that radio is an antiquated medium, but with the innovations in both technology and management structure, radio is anything but. I would've liked to have learned the various automation softwares - Prophet, NexGen, AudioVAULT...as well as other software editing applications, such as Vegas or ProTools. There's far more out there in the radio industry than just Adobe Audition, and the college should reflect that.

2) For three years, I felt like my advisers were absolutely worthless. Every year, without fail, I figured out my schedule on my own, knew exactly what to take and when to take it, and the only reason I even bothered to go into Student Services was because it was required in order for my stops to be removed. With trying to get a dual-degree, it just further complicated the process, and I wish I would've been left to myself, with the option of seeking someone out if I had questions.

3) Why is KGOU not a part of the journalism college? That being said, I'm almost glad it isn't, because the station is able to operate successfully independent of Gaylord and under the jurisdiction of OCCE and the University of Oklahoma Outreach. I've seen and heard how the WiRE is neglected by the college, and am glad the same pitfalls don't exist with KGOU.

4) I wish the college did more to facilitate independent student production. I've had a lot of great ideas for various video and audio projects that I would've loved to pursue for both personal and professional reasons, and feel that as a student who has successfully demonstrated both responsibility and competence with the equipment, I should be allowed to go after these endeavors. I understand that equipment is limited, but with the Gaylord family in our pockets, and the unlimited monetary recruiting potential of President Boren, shouldn't we benefit from that somehow?

5) Adding onto that, the bureaucratic red tape that exists with the cage, which professors outside the broadcast sequence should be made aware of. We were required to make a video presentation for Mass Comm Law, and thank God one of my partners was in ENG, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to rent a camera, because my class schedule did not clear me for it. I'm sure this is a minor fix, but the faculty and staff should work hand-in-hand to ensure that all of the students who may ever need to use the college's equipment have the opportunity to do so.