Black Thursday

With premature holiday promotions and retailers opening their doors earlier and earlier each year, Black Friday is a name that is inevitably going to be outdated.

Shoppers all over the country were eager Thanksgiving Day to put down their turkeys and pick up their shopping carts as Black Friday got off to its earliest start to date. Store doors typically open in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday, but this year many retailers and shoppers were looking to get a head start at the chaos. 

More than 35 million Americans visited retailers’ stores and websites Thursday, according to the National Retail Federation. That figure is up from 29 million last year, with shoppers looking to score deals on everything from electronics to Elmo.

Among the many stores that decided to open up shop extra early this year were Toys R Us, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target and Sears — all opening their doors as early as 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, according to examiner.com. So why the rush? The answer is not necessarily because these big corporations are trying to outdo one another and capture their competitors’ sales, according to Bill Dockum, general manager of a Target store in Tulsa, Okla.

“Target has had a lot of response from our guests, asking us to open earlier so they could get a jump start on their seasonal purchases even earlier than in the past,” Dockum said. 

And that, they did. Dockum’s Target store got far more business than he had anticipated, with the line of eager shoppers stretching outside from down the length of the building, through the parking lot, and all the way into the main street.

“In the past couple of years we averaged close to 1,000 people in line when we opened our doors. This year we had over 1,400 people in line when we opened ,” Dockum said. 

The crowds anxiously awaiting the opening of the doors at Dockum’s Target, some many hours in advance, did not seem to mind the wait compared to previous years. 

“The guests this year in line were much more subdued and more families were present. We also saw a more jovial atmosphere with the guests this year both outside and inside the store. There were no incidents of disruptive guests compared to years prior,” Dockum said. 

The warmer-than-usual Oklahoma weather had a lot to do with this overall good mood. Typically, customers are bundled up, shivering, and cannot wait to barge in and get items checked off their lists in a Black Friday frenzy. 

“If it were freezing out here like it normally is, I probably would have been less likely to leave my house early and stand out here,” said Lauren Truett, a Target Black Friday customer. 

Although there have been mixed opinions about stores opening up earlier for Black Friday madness to ensue, the numbers for these retail giants do not lie. Total spending for Black Friday weekend reached an estimated $59.1 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation. 

“Sales for the first two hours that we were open far out ran the previous years’ first two hours of sales, and the overall combined Thursday night and Black Friday sales were quite a bit over last year’s,” Dockum said. 

There are many people who would not dream of waking up at the crack of dawn to get their Black Friday shopping on. However, these Thursday evening starting times have brought out even the most avid haters of Black Friday.

“This is the first year I’ve come out to do Black Friday shopping. I would never have imagined myself doing this, but waiting in line at 8 p.m. isn’t so bad,” said Sally Nichols-Sharpe, a Target Black Friday customer.

On the very opposite end of the spectrum of Black Friday haters are the shoppers that cannot seem to get out of the house early enough to be the first in line. Retail giant Best Buy is notorious for having customers camp outside of stores, sometimes as early as a week in advance. A 40-inch Toshiba LCD television selling for $179 is worth taking vacation time and missing Thanksgiving at home for these Black Friday enthusiasts.

“Most Best Buys around the country do get camped outside of. All of the stores in Tulsa do. The first tent here went up Sunday evening,” said John Thompson, an employee at a Best Buy in Tulsa, Okla. 

However, there are also customers who, ironically enough as they themselves stand in these early-bird lines, are not too fond of the Thursday night start to the holiday shopping season.

“Black Friday should start on Friday. Starting it earlier and earlier every year takes away from Thanksgiving and the meaning of the holidays in general,” said Kim Mattlage, a Target Thanksgiving night shopper. 

Employees who had to work Black Friday were especially peeved with their employers when they found out how early they would have to clock in this year. Many retailers’ employees protested Black Friday store hours, and there were also cases where workers for Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, walked out on their shifts due to the Thursday night opening, according to cbsnews.com.

“I feel bad for the people that have to work on Thursday. It takes them away from their families on Thanksgiving, and I’m sure they really hate it,” Mattlage said. 

There may be differences of opinion on when the appropriate time for retailers to begin their Black Friday deals should start. Many people love it, while many hate it. Given that sales continue to grow as stores continue to open earlier, there is probably a good chance that Black Friday will eventually need to be renamed Black Thursday. 

International Winter Ball

Students who enjoy getting dolled-up will have the opportunity to step out in their Sunday’s best this week.

            

The University of Oklahoma’s International Advisory Committee is hosting the International Winter Ball this Tuesday, Nov. 27, from 8-11 p.m. in the Molly Shi Ballroom in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. An admission fee of $5 will allow each attendee a night full of food, dancing, live international music, and a photo booth session.

            

The ball’s purpose is to sell tickets in order to assist the International Advisory Committee with financial preparations for the committee’s big event next spring, according to Janice Levi, international programs coordinator for the College of International Studies at OU.

            

“All proceeds help us fund the 43^rd annual Eve of Nations, which is the largest cultural event in Oklahoma, coming next April,” Levi said.

           

For more information on the International Winter Ball, visit the International Advisory Committee’s Facebook page at facebook.com/IAC.Oklahoma.

OU Celebrates International Education Week

Students interested in exploring foreign cultures had the opportunity this week to take part in numerous internationally focused events.

The College of International Studies hosted the 2012 International Education Week for the University of Oklahoma, Nov. 12-16. This is a week during which the U.S. and many other nations take part in celebrating and stressing the importance of global education.

First held in 2000, International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide, according to the U.S. Department of State’s website. This joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education is part of an effort to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences in the United States.

The week is filled with many different internationally-focused events, and it is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education, according to Alice Kloker, director of education abroad for the College of International Studies at OU.

“International Education Week builds support for programs that attract international students to come to the U.S. as well as programs that prepare U.S. students to fully engage with today’s global environment by living and studying in other countries,” Kloker said.

Among the many events that were available for all students and faculty to attend throughout the week were lectures, film screenings, training sessions, cultural nights and study abroad fairs. All of the week’s activities were designed to bring more cultural awareness to the OU community.

The study abroad fair held on Wednesday was one of the highest attended and most successful events of the week. Each year, the number of students interested in studying abroad increases, according to Kloker.

Sarah Crain, a Classics major at the OU, attended the study abroad fair in order to learn more about potentially studying overseas.

“The study abroad fair was the perfect place to take it upon myself to really look at my options for studying abroad. I’m minoring in German and international enterprise studies, so what better way to develop my skills than to study overseas? The study abroad fair provided me with a ton of information for that,” Crain said.

In this day and age’s ever-increasing global environment, the College of International Studies at OU is becoming more and more determined to broaden the horizons of students. Preparing students for the potential cultural diversity that their future careers may entail has always been a goal for the college, and International Education Week is the perfect platform to encourage students to become more culturally aware, according to Janice Levi, international programs coordinator for the College of International Studies.

“International Education Week doesn’t just encourage and celebrate studying abroad, but also just to really increase cultural competency, which is something that is a goal of OU and President Boren,” Levi said.

International student organizations had the opportunity to showcase their cultures all throughout the week to the OU community. Giving these organizations a chance to spotlight their heritage in order to bring cultural appreciation to students and faculty is something that the College of International Studies prides itself in, according to Levi.

“Understanding how other cultures operate and to not have kind of an ethnocentric bias of thinking that your culture is better, or treating other people less than you because you think their culture is somehow backwards is something that the college is concerned with. All the events we put on throughout the year is to expand people’s ideas and understanding of other cultures,” Levi said.

International Education Week was the largest and last event organized by the College of International Studies for the fall 2012 semester. The next event that the college is looking forward to hosting is international orientation, which will take place Jan. 10-11, 2013. For more information and upcoming events, visit the College of International Studies’ website at cis.ou.edu.

An Insider's Report

Students interested in foreign elections will have the opportunity to hear an insider’s perspective on Latin American politics in Venezuela.

            

The University of Oklahoma’s Department of Political Science and the College of International Studies are co-sponsoring a luncheon next week, focusing on Venezuela’s 2012 presidential elections. Pablo Kenney, a public opinion analyst who traveled to Venezuela to oversee electoral polls during the Venezuelan presidential election in October, will be speaking at the luncheon.

            

This event will appeal to many people at OU who are interested in elections and competitive authoritarianism in Venezuela, according to Charles Kenney, Pablo Kenney’s father and associate professor of comparative and Latin American politics at OU.

           

“The politics of Venezuela are like no other country in Latin America today, and the elections of October 2012 were like none in Venezuela’s history,” Kenney said.

            

The luncheon will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at noon in Ellison Hall, room 132. 

South Oval Gets Cultured

International students had the opportunity last week to showcase their cultures to the community from 22 different international student organizations.

           
The University of Oklahoma’s International Advisory Committee hosted the 14^th annual International Bazaar last Friday on the Van Vleet Oval.

Each organization that participated in the International Bazaar had a booth set up on the South Oval to sell handmade toys, clothing, jewelry and accessories from their countries and to serve cultural snacks, according to Janice Levi, international programs coordinator for the College of International Studies at OU.

“They also put on cultural performances, music and activities for children, including a cultural scavenger hunt,” Levi said.

Throughout the school year, the International Advisory Committee works with various student organizations at OU to host a number of different cultural events, according to Cassandra Toney, president of the International Advisory Committee.

“The International Advisory Committee is the umbrella organization for 22 international student organizations, and the International Bazaar is just one of the events we put on,” Toney said.

The International Bazaar is also a way to show the OU student body the cultural diversity of the 2,000 international students at the university, according to Toney.

The International Advisory Committee’s goal is to offer students and the community unique ways to learn about and experience other countries throughout the world and their cultures. OU’s International Advisory Committee hosts the Eve of Nations in the spring, which is the largest cultural event in the state of Oklahoma, according to Toney.

The International Advisory Committee has one more event scheduled for this semester, the winter ball. The winter ball will be held Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union ballroom. For more information on this and other upcoming events, visit the organization’s website at iac.ou.edu.

Party With A Purpose

Students and faculty partied together this week to raise awareness and money for children in need throughout the world.

UNICEF at OU, the official campus initiative chapter at the University of Oklahoma, along with the College of International Studies hosted a Halloween party on Wednesday, Oct. 31, in order to raise funds for the charity aimed at helping children all over the globe.

Party goers were encouraged to come in costume to participate in Halloween-themed games and bid on valuable items in a silent auction. Items included an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey signed by Serge Ibaka and OU footballs signed by Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops.

For the past three years, the college has decided to participate in a program called Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, according to Holly Berrigan, head of the Trick-or-Treat committee set up by the College of International Studies.

“The first year we put this event on, we raised $6,000. Every year since then, the money raised has gone down because there wasn’t an organization set up to run the campaign. This year we set a goal of $5,000, but we’re hoping to exceed that goal,” Berrigan said.

The Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign started over 60 years ago to help children abroad during World War II with the organization’s “kids helping kids” slogan, according to UNICEF’s website. The charity has raised more than $167 million dollars since Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF began, in order to provide children in need with clean water, clothes, supplies and health care.

The College of International Studies decided to support UNICEF because the charity focuses on children on a global level.

In past years, the college itself has been in charge of the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, but this year, they decided to create a separate UNICEF student organization to take over all of the events related to UNICEF.

Marrett Hild, president of the UNICEF at OU student organization, along with a friend started the organization last June.

“I wanted to be involved with UNICEF because I felt like it was a really noble organization. Ninety-four percent of the funds raised by UNICEF go directly into the field, which says a lot about the charity. Other organizations that help children don’t give back nearly as much money that they collect as UNICEF,” Hild said.

The Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign is the charity’s biggest and best-known fundraiser throughout the year. The College of International studies has a Halloween party every year, and they started to incorporate the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign into their annual Halloween party.

“Myself and other students involved in UNICEF at OU thought about other things we could include in the Halloween party to raise even more money for UNICEF. That’s how we came up with the idea of the silent auction,” Hild said.

It is especially important for Hild and the other members that the organization raises as much money as they can this year in particular.

“We are partnering with the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF this year. Everything we raise is going to be matched dollar for dollar, so whatever we are able to collect, it’s going to be doubled by the George Harrison Fund!” Hild said.

The Halloween party is just one of many events put on by UNICEF at OU throughout the year to collect money for the charity.

“December is AIDS awareness month, so we’re having a fundraiser in December and collecting donations to help children in other countries who have AIDS and for AIDS prevention,” Hild said.

UNICEF at OU is always taking donations throughout the year for children in need. For more information on the organization and for upcoming events, visit UNICEF at OU’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OUUnicef.