By Nicholas Foster
In the last 20 years, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about jazz—specifically what it is, is not and whether anyone still cares enough to draw the line. During the last 20 years, there has been a nearly equal amount of indifference, if not disdain for the whole conversation—not least from the members of the Tulsa-based Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (JFJO), who this year embark on their third decade of challenging (when not outright ignoring) the stereotypes and rules of “jazz.”
In their current incarnation, JFJO is somewhat of a study in economy, having been pared down to just three members after the critically-acclaimed “Race Riot Suite,” which boasted a nine-person lineup featuring no less than five horns.
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J. Christopher Proctor
There are no rules that cannot be broken. I’ve learned a lot of things from my three years at the Collegian, but no lesson has been as impactful, or as persistent, as the idea that the rules we thought were so critical, so basic to what we do each week, could be easily shattered.
In the spring of 2012 we at the Collegian had a groundbreaking realization that covers of the Collegian did not all have to look the same. The hard and fast rules we had held ourselves to—no photos over three columns long, at least three articles and two photos on the cover, the list goes on and on—were swept away, and the result was an exciting semester and a much more interesting paper.
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By Sara Douglas
Staff Writer
The University of Tulsa is chock-full of winners, both of awards and life—that means you, awesome person! Our student body accomplishes a lot academically, athletically, artistically, and otherwise, especially for being a small school.
Recently, achievements have been highlighted by the 17th Annual Research Colloquium, awarding of nationally competitive scholarships, and conferences to which student organizations have been invited.
The Research Colloquium was a weeklong event during which 205 TU students gave 20-minute oral presentations over their research projects, or created a poster for their work to be displayed in a poster session. 
Photo courtesy Caitlin Pegg. Caitlin Pegg was an NSF winner.
Photo courtesy James Johnston. James Johnston won a Fulbright grant.
Photo courtesy Jo Bunselmeyer. Weston Kightlinger, NSF and Tau Beta Pi scholarship winner, holds a shark he found on the TU Treks spring break trek to Texas last year. 
Photo courtesy Michael Nguyen. Goldwater winner and biology and chemical engineering major Devin Stranford (right) sits alongside fellow chemical engineering major Alex Chong.
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One forty letters
It’s new age pornography
Twitter ends our thoughts
Glamour shots and pics
Monotonous glory so
Fills my haunted soul
By Patrick Creedon
Commentary Editor
The philosophers of old were driven by their desire to know empirically what made up not only the world but man. This desire oft went unfulfilled due to the mercurial nature of people’s consciousness and the inherent biases of the individual philosophers.
The nature of the mind has always fascinated those philosophers, but it was not until the late 1800s that anyone resembling a scientist began to tackle the problem of ascertaining individual variations in thought. That was when Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig.
Therein lies the goal of the psychological sciences: to measure, model and predict the way people behave, think and perceive in our world. That desire for clarity in regards to understanding humanity remains very popular, as psychology is one of the most, if not the most, popular major in the United States.
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By Helen Patterson
Staff Writer
Jade Moon Dittus, a senior Fine Arts Major at TU, will debut her paintings and prints in a show entitled “Pieces” throughout the month of May at The Phoenix, located at 1302 E. 6th Street. The Phoenix regularly displays the work of an Artist of the Month without cost to the artist. Jade will be the first TU student to have a show there. She is very enthusiastic about working with The Phoenix. She says that “it’s always about the artist there.” There is an opening reception at The Phoenix on Thursday, May 1 from 6–9 p.m.
As part of her graduation requirements as a fine arts major, Jade was required to put together her own show. She had to find the venue herself and do all of the advertising, which was a daunting and time-consuming process. However, it all came together in “Pieces.” 
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In celebration of Dan Patten’s recently announced candidacy for city council, we at the Collegian are taking a look back at some of the best articles written by or about Patten while he was at TU.
Below: Taken from the April 7, 2009, issue, this letter by James Santucci advocates Patten in the upcoming presidential election and professes the belief that Patten is capable of being in multiple places at once.
Above right: In this Oct. 27, 2009, letter, Patten announces his first use of the presidential veto, killing a bill to make the Caf trayless.
Below right: By April 6, 2010, Patten’s term was drawing to a close. In this letter, he describes the up-and-coming SA executive candidates with some truly groan-worthy rhymes.
All articles courtesy Collegian archives.
By Conor Fellin
Managing Editor
Dan Patten, a University of Tulsa alumnus and Student Association’s president during the 2009–2010 school year, entered the race for the District 4 seat of Tulsa City Council on April 15. Patten will be running against incumbent and Blue Ox Dining Group owner Blake Ewing.
The Collegian talked to Patten about the race, his time at TU and his plans for Tulsa.
Patten recalls being an underdog in his race for SA president, when he ran against SA’a former vice president and its chief of staff. Despite this, Patten “ran a good campaign” and won the presidency.
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By Jesse Keipp
Staff Writer
On April 15, the St. Louis Rams offered $100,000 to anyone who could correctly guess the team’s entire regular season schedule. Of course, my first thought was, “Hey, I’d like to move on and forget my terrible March Madness bracket. Just maybe I’ll get lucky this time!”
But then the reality hit me harder than sobriety hits a gambling addict, because the promotion stipulates that you must guess the correct opponents for each week AND the bye week AND the day of the week for each game. And, boy, does the NFL love its Thursday night games.
Photo courtesy NHL/Fox Sports. Coach Q just cost you, the American tax payer, $25k. Yep, the IRS considers these fines tax deductible.
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By Sara Douglass
Staff Writer
The Tulsa women’s softball team has been performing exceptionally well all season, consistently pulling in wins that have vaulted them to the No. 1 position in our conference and landed them the No. 20 spot in the NCAA. Our softball team currently holds a 41–5 record overall, having only lost one home game and two within C-USA.
The team started the season off explosively in early February, dominating the Florida Atlantic University Kick-Off Classic with four wins, losing only one game to the home team with a score of 1–0 after eight innings. The Aggie Classic tournament the following week at Texas A&M witnessed our players controlling the field yet again.
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By Jesse Keipp
Staff Writer
With the help of a search firm, University of Tulsa Athletic Director Derrick Gragg and President Steadman Upham labored for two weeks to find a new coach after previous men’s basketball coach Danny Manning departed for Wake Forest on April 4.
After a laundry list of candidates, including Mercer’s Bob Hoffman and Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew, Gragg and Upham swiftly decided on the University of Missouri’s Frank Haith, penning him to a seven-year contract, worth roughly $1.3 million per year. After initial contact on Thursday, TU officially announced Frank Haith as its 30th men’s basketball head coach.
On the surface, it appears that a lowly mid-major program robbed the powerful SEC of one of its coaches. However, many Missouri fans and pundits have rejoiced over Haith’s departure.
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By Will Bramlett
Staff Writer
This is the last issue of the Collegian until September, but sporting events in Tulsa do not take a break while we are gone. Here are a few things to do for those of you staying in Tulsa this summer.
The Tulsa Drillers began play at the beginning of April and currenly are one game back from the first place Springfield Cardinals in the Texas League North division. The team has 60 regular season games remaining in the home stadium, ONEOK Field, in downtown Tulsa.
Their next home series is against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Friday and Saturday. The two teams just split a series two-games apiece at ONEOK Field last week. Tickets start at $5.
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Staff Report
Spring collegiate seasons are winding down. The Conference USA men’s and women’s tennis tournaments were played over the weekend. The conference’s women’s teams traveled to Norfolk, Va., and the men’s teams came to the University of Tulsa.
Tulsa entered both tournaments as the top seed, earning a free pass to the quarterfinals.
In the women’s team’s first match of the tournament on Friday, the Golden Hurricane held off the ninth seed Blue Raiders from Middle Tennessee 4–3 in a lengthy battle that would last nearly six hours.
Photo by Sara Douglas. The TU men’s tennis team finished their stay in Conference USA on home court by winning the end-of-season C-USA tournament for the seventh time in nine years.
Photo by Sara Douglas. James Flanders had two rushing touchdowns over 40 yards in the half-field scrimmage in the football team’s spring game and true freshman Jabe Burgess was five-of-eight passing for 64 yards and two touchdowns.
Photo by Will Bramlett. The TU men’s soccer team played their cross-town rivals, the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, to a nil-nil draw in an exhibition match Friday night at Hurricane Stadium. The team plays Creighton at home on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Photo by Will Bramlett. The TU women’s rowing team put on a show for Golden Hurricane fans who made the trip to Catoosa, Okla. early Saturday morning. A Tulsa boat finished first, beating SMU and Creighton, in all seven races of the eighth Lawless Cup. The Lawless Cup is named for former TU President, Dr. Robert Lawless, and his wife, Marcy.
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Conor Fellin: We’re looking at the end of the second year since your return to TU. What have those last two years looked like for you?
Steadman Upham: My gosh, they have gone so fast. It is remarkable. I was 74 days into retirement when I got the phone call and to be honest with you the first few weeks of retirement I was pretty restless. I didn’t have the routine that I normally had, but after 74 days, I was settling in.
But coming back has been terrific. I realized, in coming back, how much I loved this place and how special the University is. You know, sometimes God just opens up opportunities for you, and you just have to go with the flow. What it said to me was my work’s not done here.
So I’m back, and I’ll tell you I’m fully engaged. We have been super busy in all kinds of projects: new building projects and new initiatives. So it’s been very exciting.
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