NPR Reporter John Burnett Speaks at TU

John Burnett, a national correspondent for National Public Radio, spoke at The University of Tulsa in October. Based in Austin, Texas, Burnett covers the Southwest for NPR, but has also covered stories from Iraq and Afghanistan to Guatemala and Mexico. After his public lecture, Burnett signed copies of his book, Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions, published in Rodale in 2006. A link to the book on Amazon is here. 

Burnett spoke to TU journalism students about his life as a reporter in Iraq and other dangerous places. Burnett was an embedded reporter with the First Marine Division in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

TU Campus Works to Reduce Crime Rate

By Ty Page

While college institutions located in Tulsa are safer than other college institutions in the state of Oklahoma, the University of Tulsa totals a significantly higher number of criminal offenses in comparison with its neighboring institutions.

In the past three years, the University of Tulsa has recorded 89 on-campus criminal offenses, according to the Office of Postsecondary Education. This totals 75 more criminal offenses than Rogers State University and 51 more than Oral Roberts University.

A similar enrollment size of between 3,000 and 4,000 students is shared among the three college institutions, but TU proves to be a more risky environment.

The majority of the criminal offenses on TU’s campus included burglary and motor vehicle theft.

Specifically 40.4 percent of the criminal offenses were related to burglary and 44.9 percent were related to motor vehicle theft.

In contrast, none of the criminal offenses that took place at Rogers State were related to motor vehicle theft, along with only 2 occurrences at Oral Roberts.

TU officials have made additional efforts to reduce the rate of motor vehicle theft. There is now only one entrance to most parking lots on campus and an iron fence borders the perimeter of the school.

More information on crime rates for the University of Tulsa and other campuses can be found here.

Crime: How the University of Tulsa matches up to its city.

By Kelli Kickham

The University of Tulsa population is known for personalized challenges, achievements, and routinely winning prestigious awards.

The University of Tulsa stands out in more than just student ranking; crime statistics show major differences between trends at the University of Tulsa and the city itself.

Statistics show that the University of Tulsa likes to stand out from the rest of the Tulsan population in regards to crime, as well.

In regard to forcible sex offenses, when the city of Tulsa’s rate increased 3.5 percent from 2006 to 2007, the University of Tulsa’s went down from three offenses to zero.

The University of Tulsa also had a massive decrease in burglaries of 41.2 percent, from 17 to 10 offenses. The city of Tulsa fell behind in this category as well, increasing 8.4 percent.

The city did outshine the University in one area specifically: motor vehicle theft. While the city’s rate increased 15.9 percent, the University fared much worse, as the occurrences more than doubled from six offenses to 15.

From 2006 to 2007, the Tulsa population stayed around 385,00 and the University of Tulsa population stayed around 4,000.

Oklahoma Economy Stable Despite National Troubles

By John Cope

While the U.S. economy continues to struggle with stock prices plummeting and a weak housing market, the Oklahoma economy is not experiencing the same difficulty in the short-term.

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce's October 2008 Employment Briefing reports that the Oklahoma economy has actually gained more than 12,000 jobs over the past year, despite the national economy losing over half a million jobs in the same time span.

The briefing can be found here. (For best results in viewing the link, use Firefox.)

The numbers presented by this briefing suggest that the Oklahoma job market is not being adversely affected by the problems experienced by the national economy. Whether this holds true in the coming months is uncertain, but for now the Oklahoma job market appears relatively solid despite the turmoil in the national economy.

Oklahoma has the sixth-lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the nation at 3.8 percent, according to the briefing. The unemployment rate has actually decreased since September 2007 despite troubles in the national economy. The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 6.1 percent.

Other states surrounding Oklahoma have also not been as affected by the downturn in the national economy. The region as a whole has experienced an increase in jobs over the past year.

College graduates a minority in the U.S.

By Ashlee Lubniewski

College students often do not realize what an accomplishment they have achieved when they walk down the aisle to receive their diploma.

But graduating college with a bachelor's degree is something that isn't very common in the United States. It is something that students should be proud to say that they have accomplished.

So when sending your child off to college, remind them that when they walk down that aisle four years later to receive their diploma, they are receiving something that holds a lot of value.

After all, they are becoming part of a group that consists of barely a quarter of our nation.

While 84.4 percent of Tulsans and 80.6 percent of Oklahomans are high school graduates, the numbers drop drastically when looking at statistics for college graduates.

In Tulsa, only 28.3 percent of the population have a bachelor's degree or higher. In Oklahoma, it is only 20.3 percent of the population.

Tulsa has a population of 382,872. This means that only 108,352 people have their bachelor's degree.

With Oklahoma's population of 3,579,212, only 726,580 adults have a bachelor's degree.

In the coming years, we can only hope that this is a statistic where the numbers will be on the rise.

More information on Tulsa statistics can be found by clicking here. 

Tulsa job market lures college grads

By Kevin Genske 

College graduates from Oklahoma may need to look no further than Tulsa when it comes to finding a job.

According Forbes magazine, Tulsa is becoming a great place for recent college graduates to find work.

Tulsa’s recent growth in jobs and low unemployment rate make it a good choice for graduates entering the job market for the first time.

 In 2006 Tulsa was ranked the 48^th best city to find a job due to its poor potential job growth rate and income growth rate. Tulsa’s growth rate improved over the last two years moving Tulsa to 22^nd on the Forbes 2008 list.

Twenty-eight percent of Tulsa’s workforce has a bachelors degree or higher and that number has been rising with Tulsa’s recent economic growth.

Young adults are moving to Tulsa in increasing numbers according to U.S Census information with the hopes of landing good jobs.

Tulsa had a population of 393,049 in the 2000 U.S. Census, with 31,286 people being between the ages of 20-24 as listed here by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

During the recent economic turmoil in the U.S., Tulsa’s growth in jobs and low unemployment rates makes it an appealing choice for college graduates.

TU campus hopeful that alcohol violations will decrease with new rule

By Liza Mata 

A report by the Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education shows a substantial decrease in liquor law violations at the University of Tulsa campus since 2005.

One of the most common disciplinary actions issued by the Security Department at TU in recent years has been related to liquor law violations.

In 2005, 83 people were referred to disciplinary action on campus as a result of such violations. None of these people were arrested.

Under the alcohol policy at TU only students over 21 were allowed to consume liquor on campus. They could only have a six-pack of 3.2 percent beer.

TU's alcohol policy changed earlier this year. Students over 21 are now allowed to keep any amount of alcoholic beverages of their choice in their dorm rooms and apartments. 

The number of liquor law violations diminished around 5 percent in 2006 with only 79 reports and it dropped to 51 reports in 2007.

Conversely, drug law violations have increased significantly over the past three years. In 2005 only two drug law violations were reported, going up to seven in 2006 and to 15 in 2007.

Three of the drug law violations in 2007 took place in residence halls, and three people were arrested.

Further information on these cases and other campus security data can be found by clicking here. 

Coming Soon: Numbers that Tell Oklahoma Stories

By John Coward

New Street Story reports are in the works. 

This week, I asked the TU News Gathering students to find statistics that describe various aspects of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma. I gave them free reign—they could look at numbers on topics ranging from entertainment and recreation to crime and business statistics.

The assignments are due later today, when the class will be uploading and editing their reports. If all goes according to plan, we'll have useful and interesting Oklahoma numbers on this site soon. 

UPDATE: Several student stories are posted above. Check 'em out.