Yes, this is the same Bookout from the MTV show, which documents the glorified life of teenage moms.

It’s ironic that 200 years ago, someone would be given a scarlet letter for having premarital sex, but now they’re getting television shows and money for it.

At least it was a relevant topic to the average OU student. Or not.

For the fall 2012 semester, 10,366 students, aged 17-22, attended the university, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. The average age of a student is 23, however.

Unless it is abnormal for 23-year-olds to have children, then the statement about this speaking engagement being a relevant topic was sarcastic.

Bookout also cost $8,000 to come over and speak to a bunch of college kids who know what condoms and abstinence are by now.

SPB  also bought mugs and mints decorated with her face to pass out to students. Were not sure how are mugs and mints are advocating against pregnancies though.

All of these facts lie amidst the fact that teen pregnancy is lower than it has been in decades.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reports teen pregnancy has declined by 44 percent from 1991 to 2010.

So why did we bring over the philosophies of MTV to speak to us the dangers of teen pregnancy to an audience of adults?

We’re trying to figure that out, too.

Recently, Sheryl WuDunn spoke on campus at the 2012 Women’s Symposium.

WuDunn was the first Asian-American to be hired by The New York Times and win the Pulitzer prize (for her reporting on the Tiananmen Square protests).

Even with that kind of résumé, she only cost $10,000 to speak at Oakland.

Besides the fact she has a more prestigious résumé than Bookout, she is a much more relevant speaker.

WuDunn spoke on the modern state of human sex trafficking and how women can turn “oppression into opportunity.”

Human trafficking is a grave but lesser known topic worldwide. It is currently the fastest growing criminal industry, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For only $2,000 more than Bookout.

Bookout isn’t the only person to get famous by getting pregnant at a young age, however.

Bristol Palin, the daughter of Sarah Palin, former GOP vice presidential candidate, was another example of becoming famous from her teen pregnancy.

Although she has be actively campaigning for abstinence, the whole concept is ludicrous, as the Associated Press reported Palin charged anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 per appearance.

Unfortunately, today a lack of morals can make you rich, and your face can be placed on mint containers and coffee mugs.

And your school will pay for it.

The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

Though there are a select few paid internships, there are a lot of unpaid ones.

According to a 2008 National Association of Colleges and Employees survey, 50 percent of graduating students had participated in internships during their undergraduate studies.

The Fair Labor Standards Act states there are six criteria that must be applied when determining whether or not for-profit companies can hire interns without paying them, including “receiving training that is similar to what they would learn in an educational environment” and “the employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.”

But we’re curious as to how many internships actually fulfill those expectations.

On Feb. 1, an unpaid intern for Harper Bazaar did something bazaar for most interns. She filed a lawsuit against the Hearst Corp. — their parent company — for failing to pay minimum and overtime wages during her internship and for failing to adhere to the FLSA criteria.

That intern wasn’t the first one to sue her internship program, though. There are currently two other high-profile lawsuits under attack — one for a group of intern’s work on “The Black Swan” movie and the other for an intern’s responsibilities for the “Charlie Rose” show.

Having gone through unfortunate internships ourselves, we completely support these intern’s decisions to sue and we hope they start a larger movement with it — maybe even making unpaid internships extinct.

Internships aren’t cheap — especially if they’re unpaid — and employers are infamous for expecting you to devote more than 40 hours a week to the job.

While we don’t have a problem with working and we appreciate the experiences we have, we do have a problem with all of the other factors that go into it.

For example, journalism students are required to complete an internship before graduation. The internships usually require you to not only transport yourself to the location, but will sometimes send you out on the field to report — all while paying $1,449 for four credits of tuition and receiving no payment in return.

Let’s face it, most college students are poor or rely heavily on other jobs to cover their living expenses. How are we supposed to balance working and school while doing an internship that demands more than 40 hours of our time without any compensation?

Fortunately for us, some companies have recently started offering paid internships as opposed to the unpaid ones, but at a smaller amount. They’re scared of facing lawsuits regarding compensation, as they should be.

Internships are one of the pivotal points of a résumé, but at this point, we’re not sure employers realize how much we’re actually losing from them.
The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

A 1971 OU master plan doesn’t even have Auburn Hills on the map, but that’s because the city of Auburn Hills wasn’t even established until 1983, according to the Auburn Hills Historical Society.

The mailing address is in Rochester and the City of Rochester was settled in 1817 — long before Auburn Hills even existed.

There has been recent debate through editorials and stories about the exact location of the university in The Oakland Press and The Detroit News.

The fact of the matter is, the real issue isn’t where we are located, but that we actually exist.

On Monday, a shooting at Oikos University, a small Christian school in Oakland, Calif. left seven people dead and three injured, according to The Associated Press.

While the story was developing, Huffington Post College tweeted “A shooting at Oakland University allegedly leaves 5 hurt.”

Many news organizations across the country used headlines such as “Sources: 5 dead in Oakland University shooting” — many actually capitalizing the word “university.”

Clearly none of them realized those headlines implied that a shooting had occurred at the OU located in Rochester, Mich.

Local media such as The Detroit News tweeted “Police confirm deaths in Oakland university attack.”

Over a week ago, The Detroit News was concerned over where our university is located. But on Monday, they should’ve known by putting the words “Oakland University,” “deaths” and “attack” together in a tweet would create panic among their target and local audiences.

After getting negative feedback, The Detroit News tweeted “our apologies on the Oakland tweet.”

For such a critical error, this was an unacceptable apology.

Though local media doesn’t have much of an excuse, if OU had a solid brand, the national media may not have been so quick to tweet and write that there was a shooting here. They would have known there was a school with the name “Oakland University.”

OU has been attempting to brand themselves since 1997 with the first “Creating the Future” event, but 15 years later,  the university still isn’t really known for anything academically and the university itself is still relatively unknown.

Aside from the William Beaumont School of Medicine and the now occasional wins of the basketball teams, OU still has no real brand.

The Oakland Post sat down with University President Gary Russi several weeks ago to discuss many different topics, including branding.

Russi said his goal is to make OU stand out so much, the logo is as recognizable as Harvard’s “H” or Stanford’s “S.”

However, no branding decisions have been made yet, according to Russi.
The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

Today, students are encouraged to attend the Board of Trustees meeting — located in the Elliot Hall Auditorium at 2 p.m. — to help push to approve plans for a new housing facility.

Housing Director Jim Zentmeyer, who will speak at the meeting along with other OU students, is armed with a plan that will add 440 beds to campus housing next year.

Since the start of the fall semester, housing contracts have increased 16 percent, according to Zentmeyer.

In addition to that, OU has experienced its 13th straight year of enrollment growth, reaching an all-time high of 19,379 students this year, a two percent increase and record high.

We believe the demand for housing will increase, along with the number of students, and a new building needs to be created.

Currently, OU is trying to create a solid brand for itself and some believe the “commuter school” image is perceived as a negative.

If the university is serious about shedding the commuter image, they should start by increasing housing options.

It seems that some of the concerns relate to money too, but money shouldn’t be an issue.

The various housing facilities on campus all receive their own funding from room and board fees — which range anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 a semester.

Instead of duplicating facilities, like the new $75 million engineering building, university administrators should move their focus to housing and creating a better, more campus-friendly living environment.

According to Henry Baskin, BOT president, housing is a priority, but not number one, as we think it should be.

He also added that the board received around 72 responses about housing proposals and they’re looking for a builder that will work at a set, student-discounted price.

Yet, the proposal will not be on the main agenda at today’s meeting.

The Oakland Post surveyed students in two polls throughout the fall semester and the results agree with us.

In regards to the engineering building, 58 percent of people polled thought the university was already spending too much money.

Another 57 percent of people thought a new housing facility was necessary.

OU has sent recruiters to out-of-state cities like Chicago, but we can’t even provide housing for the students we already have.

At this point, OU can’t support students from other areas of Michigan, so how can they expect to bring in more students from other states?

An increase in housing will also improve retention rates, which currently suck, to put it bluntly.

From 1994 to 2010, freshman retention rates have decreased 14.9 percent, according to information obtained from the Office of Institutional Research.

More housing and a better campus environment would add to that retention rate, since freshmen will see the benefits of living on campus and going to OU.

We’re expecting to make an impact at today’s meeting your help would be appreciated.
The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

Oakland University Student Congress elections are in progress and on March 26, you will be voting to elect your next student government.

But, why should you care?

Because whomever you decide to elect will represent you for the next year and will be in charge of making decisions and working towards the betterment of the university as you know it. Choose wisely.

You wouldn’t vote for the president of the U.S. without knowing at least a little bit about each candidate, so why wouldn’t you take the time to learn about each of the candidates for student body president?

OUSC represents the student body through various events like Grizz Madnezz and tailgates, through campus initiatives like the Bike Share program, the 24-hour library, hammocks and the readership program, receiving about $80,000 to do so.

They also have a lot of power.

The president and VP meet regularly with university officials to determine how to address student concerns.

This year, there are only two presidential candidates.

With elections taking place March 26-28, we’ve tried to learn as much as we can about each ticket.

Though you’ll find more information in this week’s center spread, we’ve decided to give you a little rundown:

Wolf/Williford ticket

Samantha Wolf and Robbie Williford are both current OUSC members.

Wolf, a sophomore dual-majoring in international relations and communication, currently serves as the legislative affairs director for OUSC. She has helped plan many events, including this week’s Woman’s Symposium.

Williford, a junior majoring in English, is the residence hall association president and a member of OUSC legislature.

Their initiatives include plans to lobby the administration to reduce tuition, building a better Bike Share program, alternatives for parking, installing a Scantron machine in the library, pushing to get more professors to utilize Moodle and converting the university into a 24-hour campus.

Skylar/Chen ticket

While James Skylar and Thomas Chen don’t have as much OUSC experience as Wolf/Williford, they still have many plans.

Skylar, a sophomore majoring in political science, currently serves as an OUSC legislator and as treasurer for Sigma Pi and Oakland’s Interfraternity Council.

Chen, a sophomore majoring in biomedical diagnostic and therapeutic science, is a student in the Honor’s College and founded the Anatomical Society of OU. He’s also a member of the Pre-Med Society, Neurology Club and Biomedical Science Society.

Their platform includes providing support to campus athletic programs, improving Greek life, bringing back the free Scantron program, renovating the residence hall basketball and volleyball courts, bringing in the support of local businesses and putting a Grizz Express in Vandenberg Hall.

While The Oakland Post has decided not to endorse any specific candidate, we do encourage you to ask them any questions you may have.

Now’s your chance to make your voice heard, so make sure to speak loudly.
The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

They are the Bike Share bikes and they are about to become extinct.

Started three years ago by members of the Oakland University Student Congress, a division of Student Affairs, University Housing and Campus Recreation in 2009, the Bike Share program has had problems with bike mortality rates.

Of the 260 bikes purchased at the beginning of the year,  a mere 23 percent, or 60 bikes, are left.

While we can’t put the blame on one specific group, we are just disappointed in the entire situation.

Oakland’s Bike Share policy states online that it “serves to promote physical fitness and eco-friendliness,” and the program has been based on an honor system of sharing designated bicycles since it first started.

According to the program’s rules, the bikes are limited to OU’s main campus.

However, bikes have been spotted mangled all around campus and off campus, too.

There have been reports and sightings of Bike Share bikes at Beacon Hill Apartments, the Busch’s shopping plaza, all along Walton Boulevard and as far away as Pontiac.

And students aren’t the only ones that are using them incorrectly.

Last week’s Mouthing Off column featured a picture of a Bike Share bike being mistreated. The photo was of someone who doesn’t even attend OU submerging one of the bikes into Beer Lake.

The Bike Share program is a privilege on our campus and it deserves more respect. Abusing the bikes and the program is ruining it for everyone.

That is where the problem lies.

OUSC is currently working with campus recreation to develop a plan to keep the program going. Present ideas include a universal lock system that would require students to place a deposit on the bikes in order to be able to receive the universal key.

The hope is that students, by becoming invested in the bikes, will begin to take better care of the devices they’re using. It will also help decrease the amount of theft from the people who couldn’t care less.

Other universities around the country have similar Bike Share programs, but they have implemented a system where students use their student IDs to check out a bike, lock and helmet.

Such a program with oversight would help to keep bikes on campus at all times and will ensure they are returned in good condition.

Though we understand that a program like that could cost upwards of $100,000, a set policy to check out bikes is necessary.

Brett McIsaac, student services director, said OUSC is not planning on increasing the number of bikes for the rest of the semester. So unless everyone starts to handle them correctly, we fear they will soon be extinct.

If you see a bike that is broken, or find one off campus, you can text the bike’s location to bike@oakland.edu. Include the bike’s number located on handlebar and the rack location.

And please, be more careful with them. Don’t ruin it for others.
The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

Yeah, we know. It’s not the most original topic. It’s tired, overdone and we complain about it a lot.

As much as we hate to bring it up again, it is one of the more pertinent issues on campus right now.

Though it has been recently acknowledged by Oakland University Police Department Chief Samuel Lucido as a walking problem instead of a parking problem, we beg to differ.

Sure, there may be enough parking spots around campus, but it’s the faulty placement of them that troubles us. And then there’s the recent removal of 10 parking meters in P2, replaced by unused permit-only signs.

OU is a commuter school. One would think parking would be a primary concern of the university’s administration.

Apparently, it’s not.

John Beaghan, vice president of finance and administration, said the Human Health Building, which will be open for fall classes in 2012, won’t pose any problems to the parking situation because it will only cater to students from the School of Nursing and the School of Health Science. Students from the William Beaumont School of Medicine will reside in O’Dowd Hall.

Alright, cool.

Except, there are only 50 OUWB students. There are, in comparison, 3,691 students in nursing and health science.

Considering people are constantly parking on the hill in P1, leaving their cars at metered spots for longer than 45 minutes, illegally parking in handicapped spots and double parking, we’re curious to see what will happen when classes start next semester. You know, when 3,691 extra students are looking for spots there.

We’re also curious to see what will happen when a portion of the P5 lot in front of Vandenberg Hall is removed for a new housing facility that is expected to be built in 2013.

The week before Spring Break, a number of metered parking spaces were converted into permit-only spaces that are used every now and then by the Career Services office.

While we agree that sometimes Career Services may need spaces, we don’t think those spaces should be permanent.

The P2 lot is adjacent to the OC, which is home to many different organizations including CSA, Chartwells, the ID card offices, most of the direct funded organizations and the Barnes & Noble bookstore. It also borders Wilson Hall, which houses the university’s presidential council offices, the OU Art Gallery and Meadow Brook Theatre. It’s also the main building for art students.

Why not make those permit-only areas temporary? Give them removable black OU bags that can be added and removed when they’re needed — which doesn’t appear to be that often.

The shift in department infrastructure means a shift in parking habits and we fear it’s not going to turn out well.

We’re not parking experts, but the university should have people on hand who are.

The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

However, it is hard to remain objective when we see so many professional journalists butchering a story about our university.

A 56-year-old non-traditional student at Oakland University is currently fighting a three-semester suspension for violating ordinance 6.02, unlawful individual activities, of the University Ordinances and Regulations handbook.

Instead of reporting accurately and getting a balanced account of the situation, most of the reporters got many of the facts wrong.

The student made his rounds to various media outlets — both local and some national — telling his one-sided account.

Unfortunately, OU cannot speak on the matter because if they do, the student is threatening to sue over Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violations.

However, there are many professors and students involved in the situation who have made it clear they would have been more than willing to share their side of the story. They comment in forums and on our website — anywhere they could make their voice heard.

As subscribers to Google Alerts, we saw almost every story pertaining to this instance and were baffled at the faulty news coverage.

Many organizations reported that the student was suspended for sexual harassment, which isn’t true. It was for violating the ordinance listed above.

Mary Beth Snyder, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, wrote the student a letter dated Dec. 7, 2011 regarding numerous listed instances of inappropriate behavior.

The letter, which asks the student to withdrawal from winter 2012 classes, said “the university began receiving complaints that your behavior was perceived by female members of the campus community as intimidating and/or threatening.”

Behaviors listed include a late night phone call to a female student who never gave out her phone number, unsolicited stories of a sexual nature sent to a female faculty member who the student invited to meet with off campus and an incident involving The Oakland Post and a past editor-in-chief.

The student was not suspended for voicing that he found his professor attractive. He was suspended for his “threatening” behavior around campus.

While we are all for freedom of speech and student rights, those rights were not violated.

It is unfortunate when OU is put under the spotlight under such negative circumstances.

If anything, journalists can use this as a life lesson: Do not wait for things to happen. Pay more attention to what you are doing. Do not push your limits. Be more careful. Spend more time researching and ask questions.

And always, always make sure you’re covering both sides of the story.

The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

We’ll break it down for you.

Last semester, OUSC spent $10,800 of their $86,301 fall budget on giveaways and $32,950 on events. A grand total of $43,750 on programming alone, according to the “draft” budget they gave to The Oakland Post.

Programming that could have come out of the Student Program Board’s $155,550 budget.

In their running expenses budget , which was obtained from their adviser after difficulties obtaining it from OUSC, $1,270 was spent on bracelets — including three bracelets from Tiffany & Co. — that were given away to students at the Arabian Nights event they co-sponsored with SPB.

They also spent $2,000 on office renovations — including $1,000 on office chairs — and $1,000 on jackets for themselves.

Further, the money they are spending comes from you, the students.

Every year, $27.50 of each student’s tuition goes towards the Student Activities Fee, which is then split among the direct funded organizations.

Of that amount, OUSC gets 16 percent.

OUSC has not only spent more than half of their budget on giveaways and events, but they have also gone into the negatives this year in their main account, which, according to their own bylaws, must maintain a balance of $5,000.

The organization is currently $1,696 in debt even with the extra student money they received from a $2.50 increase in the Student Activities Fee last year.

Even with that extra $7,697 of your money, they still overspent.

While we understand that some programming is required to have a successful organization, we think OUSC could have spent their money doing what they promised — representing the voice of students.

If you ask any student their biggest complaint against the university, most would say parking. A topic that has been avoided by the current OUSC administration until this point.

However, parking still remains a huge issue on campus.

Though the current administration has addressed the issues with university officials, there have been no solutions. Their current plan consists of using signs to address the problem.

Nothing has been done to repair the Bear Buses, a transportation device last year’s administration started, recently either.

In fact, OUSC didn’t realize there were any problems with the buses. Though, according to a Bear Bus driver, they have many issues, including nearly bald tires and brake problems.

OUSC’s mission statement states that OUSC “aims to meet the needs and address the concerns of our fellow students and encourage students to voice their ideas to help us create the best possible ‘Oakland experience.’”

There are plenty of needs and concerns at OU currently, but the present OUSC administration has failed to formally address them.

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The staff editorial is written weekly by members of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.