ON CAMPUS / OFF CAMPUS

Fred Creek Flooding?
It's About to Become Water Under the Bridge.
By Elissa K. Harvill

click to enlarge "Helped save ORU from future flooding" will look good on the résumés of students Calandra Vargas, Valerie Jimenez, and Danielle Appledorn. Photo by Elissa K. Harvill

click to enlarge Caleb Buck makes some calls.

click to enlarge Michael O'Connell and College Republicans president Jacob Dawson work their way through the phone list.

click to enlarge Jessica Clark (L) and Alyssa Saputo discuss phone surveys.

Thanks to 181 ORU student volunteers, the university is no longer up Fred Creek without a paddle.

Earlier this year, Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune announced a new $250 million general obligation bond package that, along with funds for transportation, sewer improvements, police and fire department upgrades, and public facilities improvements, included $32.8 million for flood control improvements, with $15.25 million of that amount earmarked to fix the infamous Fred Creek problem. (See Excellence article online, Summer 2000.)

As voting day drew near, ORU assistant professor of government Dr. Tim Brooker recruited a fearless team of students from his classes who proceeded to flood south Tulsa with their efforts to get the vote out - not just for Proposition 3 (flood control), but for the entire package.

The bond was approved by voters on April 5.

Dr. Brooker's operation involved long evenings of "phone-banking," as students went through a list of roughly 38,000 names to zero in on the yes-vote base. Then, he had about 20 teams of student volunteers canvassing two precincts each, so that on any given Saturday students were making an impact on up to 40 precincts at a time.

"Ordinarily, we don't campaign in local politics because they tend to be partisan races," Brooker said. "This was not partisan, and it gave us a chance to demonstrate the campaign skills that have been developed throughout the country." (See This Is Our Country.) The true mark of this worthy cause-driven operation was that Brooker had the College Republicans and the College Democrats working side by side to accomplish a single goal.

According to David Ellsworth, executive vice president for Finance and Operations, the ball is now in the city's court. "We are in constant contact with the mayor," Ellsworth guaranteed.

The city's department of Public Works is responsible for hiring a consultant and a hydrologist to make sure the job is done correctly.