Students have until 5 p.m. today to drop fall classes and receive a full refund, said Alan Stringfellow, registrar.

Stringfellow said most students can withdraw using MineOnline, which can be accessed at mineonline.occc.edu.

However, he said, some students may have to withdraw in person by filling out an add/drop form at the Registration office if they are concurrently enrolled, owe money, or have had an academic hold placed on their account.

By next July, OCCC should have a police department in place, working in tandem with campus security officers, said John Boyd, Business and Finance vice president.

The college will take a year to transition from a campus security force to a police force, Boyd said.

However, he said, the campus will retain a security force.

“It is the intent of the college to operate what we call a blended operation, consisting of both police officers, and safety and security officers,” Boyd said.

The Pioneer student newspaper staff settled into new offices Aug. 16 near the west entrance to the Arts and Humanities building. The new facility is completely remodeled.

The area once housed the pottery lab before it moved into its new quarters in the Visual and Performing Arts Center.

It’s not too late to add another class for the fall semester.

Students have until 6 p.m. tonight to enroll in fall classes, said Mia Diaz, Registration assistant.

To enroll late, Diaz said, students must acquire instructor permission by filling out a short form and obtaining signatures of both the course instructor and division dean.

Tom Ashby has been named permanent dean of the Division of Information Technology after serving 20 months as acting dean in the same position.

Ashby said he welcomes the challenge of his job.

“The IT field is constantly changing and that’s one of the reasons I got into it,” he said.

“Almost everything has changed since I got into this field.”

The college has made a commitment to stay current with technology, Ashby said.

In a unanimous vote Aug. 16, the OCCC Board of Regents approved the design plans for the construction of the new John Massey Center.

This included an estimated budget of between $2.1 and $2.3 million to construct a building of about 18,000 square feet.

President Paul Sechrist said the budget for building the new center was directly correlated to the final sale price of the original building, located near the intersection of SW 119 Street and Portland Avenue.

A controversial part-time biology professor will not return to OCCC this fall semester.

Michael Talkington has announced his decision not to continue teaching biology at the college, Media Relations Coordinator Cordell Jordan said.

Talkington had been an adjunct professor at the college for 17 years.

More than 2,000 students have been invited to attend Opening Day from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday on campus, said Katie Treadwell, Service Learning and Student Life programs coordinator.

Opening Day is an event held twice a year on the Saturday before the beginning of fall and spring semesters, Treadwell said.

During Opening Day, she said, students will be able to participate in activities such as scavenger hunts and prize drawings, and receive campus tours from faculty and staff members, including OCCC President Paul Sechrist.

A Chickasha man with an outstanding arrest warrant was recently detained in the Keith Leftwich Memorial Library for allegedly viewing child pornography on the computers, according to a report filed by Safety and Security Officer Tim Densmore.

Densmore reported that he and Officer Tanya Vroenen made contact with the individual and directed him to the south side of the lobby, where he identified himself as David Ray Stingley, 34.

According to an e-mail sent out to faculty and staff by President Paul Sechrist, the OCCC Board of Regents approved two bonds Monday, both totaling a sum of $16 million.

Sechrist said both bonds are essential to the construction of OCCC’s new Performing Arts Theater.

“With the $8 million Student Revenue Bond and $4 million Real Property Master Lease Bond combined with the $4 million we already have from private donations and other college resources, such as the Auxiliary Budget and Section 13 Offset Funds,” he said, “we now have the required $16 million package fully in place to begin construction of the new theater.”