Daniel Sweet – Page 2 – The Transcript

Academic forum will consider online science classes

WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.

On Sept. 28, when senator Mackenzie Sommers told the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) that the 2015 academic forum’s agenda will include online classes, one WCSA advisor was especially interested.

Broadly, the academic forum will be about “Course Offerings,” but one of the specific issues faculty and students will address is the possibility of online science classes for non-majors.

“Did that idea come from you or the provost?” professor Mark Mitton-Fry of the chemistry department wondered.

Sommers, a senior and member of the academic affairs committee, told MittonFry and all assembled that the idea had come from the students themselves. Many nonscience majors were concerned about taking classes with labs, Sommers reported, and they thought online classes might be an easier way of fulfilling their distribution requirements.

“As a science person, that’s the number one reason that I would be against that,” Mitton-Fry responded. “Purposely designing a class for relaxed rigor doesn’t do it for me.”

The back and forth ended on this last point, but the debate concerning online classes is sure to continue at the academic forum. Though a date has not been set, the meeting typically takes place in October. This semester’s forum will be OWU’s second.

Bob Wood, director of Public Safety (PS), had less contentious news for WCSA’s senators. He told the group that PS had made some changes to various parking lots on campus. Near the fraternities and Williams drive houses, B lots were converted to C lots. The same change has been made to a lot outside of the Honors House.

Jerry Lherisson, president of WCSA, also announced that after the next Archway meeting, he and Emma Drongowski, WCSA’s vice president, would have more information about the vacant dean of students position and the termination of Martin Eisenberg, OWU’s former dean of academic affairs.

Faculty approve new major, debate OWU’s future

When the call to adjourn the faculty meeting echoed across Merrick’s third floor, faculty and administrators breathed a collective sigh of relief.

This Sept. 21, faculty met to discuss issues ranging from ways to increase revenue streams without compromising educational quality to the merits of a new major.

President Rock Jones initiated the discussion on ways to improve OWU’s incoming revenue by offering final statistics on the class of 2019. He reported that there are 464 freshmen, 14 more than were projected and thus budgeted for.

Professor Karen Poremski of the English department asked “what kinds of implications does that [number] have for budget, specifically in regards to the very painful cuts to personnel and classes right before the school year started?”

Jones replied that, unfortunately, in order to net those students, OWU had to leverage financial aid options. As a result, “there is no extra revenue from those extra 14.”

Jones also outlined his analysis of the areas where improvement could bolster the university’s current financial situation. Three in particular need attention, he said: “Admission, retention and new programs.”

Due to targeted recruitment on the part of the Admissions Office, school visits are up slightly, and a small pool of interested students have been contacted by OWU (as opposed to the broad, 40,000 student search typical in past years). “New promotional materials, and a new website, that will be released next month, will also enhance [OWU’s] appeal,” said Jones.

In terms of the retention rate—a low 79.3 percent—the administration is focusing on a number of strategies to provide assistance to students who are in danger of dropping out. Jones noted the importance of programs like StART, FreshX, and the UC 160 courses. Beyond that, he and senior leadership are looking at “all aspects of life on campus through the lens of how it affects students.”

Finally, Jones argued that “with demographics changing as dramatically as they have, if we offer only the programs we have in the past, the numbers will stay down.”

When it was time to ask the president questions, many faculty countered Jones’ three categories for improvement with categories of their own. On the top of the list was the state of residential facilities. Professors noted that students often complain about the outdated and even neglected buildings that they call home.

One professor even said that this was the number one complaint of students when she was on the Faculty Planning Committee ten years ago.

When Chris Wolverton, professor of biology, took the podium to present the Governance Committee’s recommendations for increasing revenue, he emphasized student happiness.

“Retention looks to us like a mountain to climb,” said Wolverton. “It seems like a jog around the track to keep students we already have. We need a thorough review of student happiness; that is a valid question.”

Wolverton went on to compare investing in new programs to playing the lottery. “When you put keeping students up against the potential investment required for new programs, coupled with the uncertain revenue from a new program, keeping students that we have is a much better payout.”

Professor Mark Allison of the English department commented that “The portion of the student body we have the most problem retaining are those students whose academic performance is poor. The problem is also one of admission; we have to have a more educated base.”

Anne Sokolsky, a professor in the comparative literature department, supported Allison’s comment, adding that some of the “big cuts made to the library and to academics as a whole are counterintuitive to recruiting smart and talented students.”

Despite these and many other complications that feed into an analysis of OWU’s revenue stream, Wolverton wanted to make it clear that there was no area that should be left unexamined.

“There’s a lot of room to grow, I just think the broader we can make the conversation the better,” he said.

N. Kyle Smith, associate professor of psychology and chairman of the Academic Policy Committee (APC), turned the conversation from revenue streams to academic majors when he introduced a motion to approve a new area of study.

The department of economics submitted a proposal to APC to create a business administration major. Business administration majors would deal primarily with the management/accounting side of the department’s offerings, rather than on traditional economics courses.

Many faculty members were concerned that the integrity of OWU’s liberal arts philosophy would be threatened if the already large economics department grew larger still.

Smith and Barbara MacLeod, a professor of economics, assured their worried colleagues that the major would not take away students from other departments; the change would only affect students already within the department.

Still, the debate was contentious enough to warrant a motion for a “secret ballot,” a procedure that allows faculty to vote anonymously on measures before them. After the ballots were distributed, collected and counted, the motion to create a business administration major passed 59 to 19.

Smith introduced the second economics-related motion to the assembled faculty. The department of economics had also submitted a proposal to APC to petition a name change for one of their minors: they wanted the “Management” minor to be renamed “Business.”

The seemingly uncontroversial motion provoked almost as much discussion as the first, and again a secret vote was called for. The motion passed 65 to 8.

WCSA welcomes seven new senators

WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.

President Jerry Lherisson, a senior, could not mask his surprise this morning. As he began the Sept. 21 full senate meeting, he exclaimed, “Wow, there are lots of new faces that I haven’t seen before!”

Lherisson was alluding to seven new students in the back of the room. After an atypical application-based election process, these students were nominated to serve as senators for the fall 2015 term.

A unanimous vote by the full senate made it official: senior Shelli Reeves; juniors Jo Meyer and Mallory Griffith; and freshmen Caroline Hamlin, Michael Wadsworth, Nicholas Melvin and Will Ashburn are WCSA’s newest senators.

Lherisson also announced that the new library vending machines, which replaced the late night Library Cafe, could be outfitted with swipe card readers.

“We asked them if the machines could not just take credit cards and cash,” said Lherisson. “The administration said, ‘let’s see what we can do.'”

Senator Jessica Choate, a junior and chair of the residential affairs committee, informed the senate about her plans to increase the amount of lights on campus.

“On Thursday, at 6:15 a.m., I will be walking through campus with administrators, pointing out where it’s too dark and where we can get more lights to fix the problem,” Choate said.

The meeting adjourned with handshakes with and many “congratulations ” to the new senators.

Breaking News: Martin Eisenberg placed on administrative leave

Martin J. Eisenberg, Ohio Wesleyan University’s dean of academic affairs, was placed on administrative leave today, Sept. 21. The announcement came at 12:40 p.m., in the form of an email sent only to OWU faculty and staff. In it, Provost Chuck Stinemetz said that Associate Provost Dale Swartzentruber “will assume responsibility for the Dean on the Academic Policy Committee. All other reports (including Academic Department Chairs) will report directly to the Provost.”

Eisenberg was appointed as the dean of academic affairs on July 18, 2013. Before OWU, he worked at Truman State University in Missouri. According to Connect2OWU, “Eisenberg joined Truman State University in 2001 as associate provost and associate professor of economics. He became interim dean in 2012.”

Editor’s note: President Rock Jones, Eisenberg and Provost Chuck Stinemetz have been asked to comment. No response was given at the publication of the article.

Attacks plague OWU’s email system

It’s pronounced “fishing.”

Over the past few months, a number of phishing attacks have been carried out through Ohio Wesleyan’s email system. The attack gets its unusual name from the combination of “phreaking” and “fishing.” Phreaking describes the study and exploration of telecommunication systems.

Fishing plays off the fact that attackers use an enticement, or bait, to get victims to turn over sensitive information.

Phishers will use a fraudulent message to lure victims to a website they control. The site will typically ask users to enter sensitive information, like usernames and passwords, which are then collected by the intruder. After the attacker records the victims’ information, they often employ the recently stolen accounts to send more malicious messages.

Luckily, the OWU attacks have not involved solicitations for financial information.

Senior Sarah Richmond knew something was wrong when she realized she “was locked out of [her] account from any computer or phone.”

“It was very frustrating to not have access to my email account,” Richmond said. “But Information Services (Infosys) was very helpful in getting me back into my account and helping protect it. They were very nice and straightforward.”

When InfoSys becomes aware of an attack, the first step is to determine who was impacted and “what information they provided to the attackers,” said Brian Rellinger, chief information officer for OWU. “Then we have students change their passwords to prevent further attacks originating from their account.”

Unfortunately, there is no statistic for how many students and faculty have been affected. “It is difficult to establish an exact number,” said Rellinger.

There are also no real leads into who is behind the attacks. “Rarely do we spend time trying to find the origin of the attack,” said Rellinger. “If we did suspect the attack came from an OWU account holder, we would investigate further. But most attacks originate outside of OWU.”

Richmond pointed out that the messages sent to her account “came from India and the Philippines, likely after bouncing off servers. You can find out where your email account is being accessed by looking at the details section at the bottom of the Gmail account.”

Rellinger explained that attacks “occur in waves generally, and happen at all universities. In fact, a large number of universities are using the exact same system we are Google Apps for Education.”

That system has a number of security features in place. According to Google’s support documentation, their fraud detection and antispam filters comply with industry standards.

“Border firewalls, system firewalls, and the antispam and antiphishing technologies included in Google Mail help mitigate risk as much as possible,” said Rellinger.

In addition to Google’s builtin security, OWU is protected by the Sophos security suite.

Despite these measures, phishing attacks can and do occur. Ultimately, prevention comes down to the user. “Never provide birthday, SSN, or other sensitive data to a third party unless you are absolutely certain the information will be going to the appropriate entity,” said Rellinger.

“Information Services staff will never ask you for your password or SSN.”

Editor’s Note: After the submission of this story, a series of phishing messages were sent by the email accounts of, among others, the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs; the Honors Board; Meredith Dixon, Assistant Director of Residential Life (ResLife); and Director of ResLife Wendy Piper.

Unleash the beast

Last week I was stopped on the Jay by two young men sitting in the bed of a pickup truck. They weren’t townies or lost parents looking for directions. They were representatives from Monster Energy. They handed me a free can of Monster Rehab and sent me on my way.

Monster has become a part of our campus life. It was added to the dining locations and Thomson Store last year (made possible by Coca-Cola’s acquisition of the distribution rights).

Since then, you see at least one student per day with a Monster energy drink in hand, or cans piled in the resident hall trashcans after a Saturday night.

Now, Monster is clearly not good for you, at least not in large quantities. This might explain why Chartwells managers decided to place their encouragement to buy Monster underneath a shelf in front of the Hamilton-Williams Food Court cash registers; hidden from immediate notice, but still in sight. Though there is a “Balanced Living” sign outside the Food Court and numerous claims about healthy living on the Chartwells website, the company is marketing a blatantly unhealthy option; they tell us to gulp Monster while simultaneously contending that their main interest is in positive health choices.

According to the World Health Organization, there are numerous risks associated with the consumption of energy drinks like Monster. These include type 2 diabetes, caffeine overdoses and high blood pressure. These risks are compounded by the fact that the college students who drink Monster are typically under high stress and running on less sleep. Here, Chartwells’s ad becomes especially sinister: “keep yourself going.”

Even worse, when Monster is mixed with alcohol, something young adults do often, the chance for things like heart palpitations increases. Here’s where Monster Energy’s ad people come in. In New York state, Monster was accused of planting student “ambassadors” on campuses. They were told to throw parties encouraging their fellow classmates (including underage freshmen and sophomores) to use Monster as their exclusive alcohol mixer. According to ABC News, Monster paid these students some $100 per party.

But the issue at hand, for me, is not exclusively a health one. Consumers have been adequately informed about energy drinks, and I believe in a certain level of personal accountability in the marketplace. I don’t think that I am being unduly influenced or even taken advantage of by Monster. I know the risks associated, and I still, on occasion, chose to drink their product. What bothers me is the stand Monster and Chartwells seem to take on our generation.

The majority owners of Monster, both pushing 60, and the Chartwells public relations staff see our generation as shallow and easy to manipulate. Bring a shiny truck, whose jacked up wheels mirror their jacked up customers, and hand out free samples. The students will see how fun and young the Monster Energy company is (not necessarily healthy, but something close: youthful), and look for their flashy cans in refrigerators. Chartwells can promote green, ethical living, healthy options and globally conscious products, even when the company perpetuates the same issues they claim to be combating.

Advertisers see us as loud and vocal about our stances but not especially interested in practicing what we preach. It’s all about the tagline, the poster, the empty words that highlight and at the same time mask their hypocrisy. I am not condemning those who drink Monster, or even the company that prepares our food. But I wish they would stop pretending to be something they’re not.

WCSA vote on changes to budget guidelines passes

At the Sept. 14 Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) meeting, senators put new budget submission policies to vote.

The rules in effect for budget submission last semester directly affected clubs and other student organizations; most organizations depend on WCSA as their main source of funding. But some of the rules were outdated.

“Changes have not been made for two years,” said junior John Littlehale, WCSA’s treasurer. He went on to present the revised guidelines.

According to the budget committees’ documentation, one of the new rules is that the treasurer “shall request monthly statements of appropriate accounts from the advisor or Student Involvement Office liaison to the budget committee.”

Also added to the budget committee documentation is the provision that, “Any remaining WCSA funds in club accounts at the end of an academic year shall be taken out.”

Littlehale emphasized the point that WCSA does not double fund; but previous guidelines did not allow for unforeseen consequences that could hurt an organization’s financial planning.

For example, in the past, if a group submitted a budget proposal to WCSA that covered the cost of an equipment rental, and the renter had to increase their rates after the budget was approved, WCSA would not fund the difference.

Now, the budget guidelines include—under their policy not to double fund—the language: “With exception of circumstances in which the organization is not in control.”

The proposed guidelines, which were voted on and approved by the budget committee last week, were unanimously accepted by the full senate.

To see WCSA’s budgetary guidelines, click here.

It was also announced that Matthew Schultz, a sophomore, was selected to serve on the Academic Policy Committee, and that Carson Shaw, a sophomore, was selected for the Women and Gender Committee.

To speak to your representative, press enter

Even if you do not know where the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) meets every Monday, your voice can be heard with the click of a button. At the Sept. 7 full senate, a new comment feature made its debut.

Class of 2017 representative Jessica Choate, a junior, developed and presented the online system. Students can find the interface on the WCSA website. After selecting a specific committee to contact (or the general senate) and inputting their comment or suggestion, students’ ideas are sent directly to their student government leaders’ emails.

“The online comment cards mean that WCSA is accessible to students, now more than ever before,” said Choate. “And that’s really exciting.”

Sophomore Areena Arora, chair of the academic affairs committee, informed senators about an upcoming academic forum. The forum brings “students, faculty, and administrators together to discuss a topic of general interest,” said Arora. “Last year it was about general education requirements. This year, we want as much student input as possible.”

Senior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, mentioned that the new comment feature would be an efficient way to receive feedback about the forum’s subject of discussion.

Several senators who brought lunch from the Ham-Will Food Court announced that reusable containers, an ongoing project on WCSA’s books, had finally been implemented. Students can opt for the eco-friendly carry out boxes in lieu of the standard white paper cartons.

“When a student picks a reusable container, they are charged five dollars and can bring it back to reuse,” said Drongowski. “It’s an awesome step to reduce the amount of cardboard and paper students use.”

Once a student returns the reusable container, the initial charge is refunded.

Before the end of the meeting, Public Safety (PS) officer Bob Wood also addressed the full senate. He wanted to explain the recent switch to a digital application for parking permits. He said that “because the PS staff was reduced by half,” due to budget cuts, they are “trying to think of ways to move inefficient office tasks online.”

He also mentioned that due to a lack of use, PS is considering changing the “B” parking lots behind the fraternities to “C” lots.

“It’s all about making it more convenient for students,” Wood said.

Senate seeks fresh faces

Food and freshmen made their way onto the Wesleyan Council of Student Affairs’ (WCSA) full senate meeting agenda this Aug. 31.

Senior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, began discussing the changes to Ohio Wesleyan’s dining services after a brief greeting.

First on one senator’s mind was Trattoria, the late night dining service previously run out of Smith Dining Hall. Drongowski confirmed that it was not renewed for operation.

Dean of Students Kimberly Goldsberry explained the principle guiding that and many other dining-related decisions; “the president is asking us to each take a look at all the different times our food options are open and ask ‘are we using them effectively?’”

Responding to another senator, Drongowski also informed the assembly that the Library cafe has been removed as an evening food option.

One senator commented that the cafe was the only dining option for students working late in Beeghly Library.

“While we have heard that anecdote,” said Drongowski, “people in reality just don’t use it. It has the lowest numbers by far.”

Executive committee members are continuing talks with the administration in regards to the dining situation. Part of their long-term plan includes redirecting resources to improve the most frequently visited food stops and adding a hot meal option after 8 p.m.

With empty seats in the room, WCSA also voted to amend their election bylaws at the Monday meeting.

Typically, WCSA senators are elected by general election. “But the current process will take three or four weeks to fill the [vacant] positions,” said Drongowski.

In an attempt to fill these vacancies, Drongowski moved to waive the rules in favor of appointment by application. “We have an application made up which would be submitted to the executive board,” she said. “We will make approvals and then the full senate will vote on them.”

These applications will be aimed specifically at the class of 2019. Currently, no members of the freshman class are represented in the senate.

The motion was passed with only one senator abstaining. It is a one-time measure, meaning future appointments will follow the usual process.

Applications for the position will be distributed at the Sept. 2 club fair, through the OWU Daily, and over social media. They are due Wednesday, Sept. 9.

Last full senate ends with eyes to the future

Quoting Ohio Wesleyan alumnus Branch Rickey, sophomore Lee LeBoeuf began her secretary’s report to the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) by saying, “It is not the honor you take with you but the heritage you leave behind.”

Despite these words on legacy, the final full senate meeting of the semester focused on things to come.

Junior Jerry Lherisson, president of WCSA, did thank the senators and representatives for their dedication to the council and for “the hard work that resulted in change.” And junior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, echoed Lherisson’s sentiment.

But Drongowski also mentioned that top members of WCSA are looking to fill a vacancy on the executive committee left by Jess Sanford, a sophomore who will be traveling abroad in the fall. They will begin their search within Sanford’s administrative policy committee but will look elsewhere if necessary.

The academic affairs committee informed senators of plans to host another academic forum next semester. This forum would bring administrators, faculty and students together to discuss OWU’s general education requirements.

Sophomore Jess Choate announced that her residential affairs committee was able to purchase sports equipment for Edwards Gym. Soccer balls, footballs, volleyballs and more will be available to rent in the fall.

Finally, the meeting closed after the allocation of the fall budget was unanimously adopted.