Students gathered in solidarity to talk about mental illness and the effects it has on students’ lives Oct. 3 in Bishop Cafe.
The Mental Health Speak Out was meant to provide a safe space for students to talk about their personal experiences with mental illness, whether it has af- fected them personally or people close to them.
The event was organized by Active Minds, a national organization dedicated to changing the conversation about men- tal illness. The Active Minds club at OWU holds this event every fall semester.
President Larynn Cutshaw said,“Our goal is finding ways to get people talking about mental illness and to eliminate the stigma that exists around it.”
According research done by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “One in four [college] students have a diagnosable illness, 40 percent do not seek help, 80 percent feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and 50 percent have been so anxious they struggled in school.”
Many students came to the event to support their fellow students, such as sophomore Sydney Nadler.
“It’s really important for us to have things like this so that people know they are not alone and that they have support here at school,” Nadler said.
The Active Minds club meets every other Tuesday in Welch. More informa- tion regarding the club can be found on its Facebook page.
The Campus Programming Board has planned a concert for students during homecoming weekend featuring Cardiknox, an indie-pop band from Seattle, Washington.
The group consists of vocalist Lonnie Angle and instrumentalist Thomas Dutton, who formed the band in 2013.
Cardiknox performed at Ohio Wesleyan on Oct. 8.
The Transcript: How did you come up with the name?
Angle: Cardinaux is Dutton’s mother’s maiden name. It’s a French name and Americans have a tough time pronouncing it, but we thought it sounded cool, so we poached it and made it Cardiknox.
The Transcript: How did the band come together?
Dutton: I was in a band before called Forgive Durden and we had made a kind of rock opera album. We were working to make it into a musical in Seattle and that’s where I met Angle. She was helping us with the musical and we started writing pop songs together. After working together for a while, we decided we wanted to form a band and that’s how Cardiknox started.
The Transcript: You released your first album in March. How did it feel to release your first studio album? Angle: It was wonderful! We spent a very dedicated six months writing and recording music and in the process of doing that we signed a deal with Warner Bros. When you sign with a major label like that, the timeline can be delayed so we weren’t able to release the album for an entire year after writing it. We were so ready to get the songs out into the world and now that it is, it’s been amazing touring and having people know our songs.
The Transcript: How do you describe your music to people, especially in regard to your album? Dutton: I usually tell people it is like electropop, but it incorporates a lot of indie sounds as well as pop from the 80s.
The Transcript: What artists/music has inspired your sound?
Dutton: We’ve been inspired by a lot of music, especially what we grew up listening to. We draw influence from artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper. As far as production, I also draw a lot of intuition from hip-hop artists like Drake and Kanye [West]. So it’s pretty much anything we are into or that has moved us.
The Transcript: What is your music about and is there a theme to your album? Angle: When we were writing it, we didn’t go into the studio saying to ourselves, “We have to write an album that sounds like xyz,” but in looking back now, we can see that it really is a reflection of where we were at in that moment of our lives both personally and professionally. I had issues with a big family trauma as my parents split up after 39 years and heartache really wove its way into a lot of the songs. Also, Thomas and I have been fighting for this dream of making this band into a reality and that’s not an easy task, as much as it may seem from the outside. So we see these themes of perseverance and believing in yourself unintentionally because it’s what we were thinking about when we made the music.
The Transcript: Are you working on any new projects now? Dutton: We actually were just able to start writing again about a month ago, but now that we are on tour, it might be difficult to start making music. Some people like making music on the road, but to me, touring and making music are two very different things and I find it hard to be in both of those head spaces at once.
The Transcript: How is life on tour? Angle: It’s been great. We’ve only been on the road for a couple days now and this is a shorter tour than we have done before, but it is a lot of fun. This year we’ve done three national tours already with different artists and we’ve seen a lot of different venues and audiences. This tour is different because it is all colleges, which is rad.
The Transcript: Is there a difference between playing regular shows and college shows? Dutton: Yeah, totally. Often times when you’re playing a normal tour and hitting big cities you’re usually in dingier parts of town and there isn’t much to go and do. But playing at colleges means you get to go to these beautiful campuses with amazing buildings and landscapes. The students also make a huge difference and are really energizing, especially since we are at the beginning of the school year and there is some of that fall college magic in the air. It’s a really refreshing change.
The Transcript: What are you both into outside of music? Angle: I love food and wine and I love cooking with friends and having dinner parties. In general, I just love spending time with family, friends and dog.
Dutton: When I’m not on tour, I play in a soccer league, which is really fun. I’m also really into football and I’m a huge Seahawks fan.
Summer means the sun, beaches, barbecues and research.
Students representing various fields in the sciences gathered in the Schimmel- Conrades Science Center’s atrium at noon, Sept. 26 to present the results of their summer-long research.
The room was filled with both student and faculty spectators, looking around the 27 poster boards. Rock Jones, the president of Ohio Wesleyan University, gave a speech commending the research students before joining the others in roaming around curiously listening to all the presentations. There were researches from multiple fields being presented by students who had a lot to share.
“Certain bacteria have feather degrading abilities,” said senior Jemil Seid. “I’m analyzing the biochemical differences between the slow degrading bacteria and the fast degrading bacteria.”
Seid, a biology major with a minor in chemistry, has been working with the Summer Science Research Program (SSRP) for the last two years. Earlier this summer, he won an award from the Ohio Branch of the American Society for Microbiology for his research about the antiviral properties of turmeric.
When speaking, he repeated multiple out for,” said senior Khayyam Zubair, who made an artificial intelligence game under Sean McCulloch’s guidance of the computer science department with his SSRP grant.
SSRP is a 10-week long program held over the summer, where selected students can work with a faculty adviser to work on their own research project. Students usually have to apply by the beginning of spring semester to be working the following summer, and receive a $3,200 stipend and free housing to carry out their research. This can be often combined with Theory-to-Practice Grants or Small Grant Program in certain cases.
This also ties in with the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for neuroscience that is available for students from other universities (Earlham College, Wooster College and Kenyon College) as well, and the program allows all selected students to access seven collaborative labs.
“REU was interesting because it allowed us to see different people doing different things using methods that I had never heard of before,” Semmedi said.
The SSRP prioritizes sophomores and juniors who have not participated previously, and recommends a GPA of 3.0 or above.
The deadline to apply for next year’s SSRP is January 2017.
Senior Austin Minnick explains his research to a group faculty and students times the importance of conducting research during undergraduate years.
“I did my research this time with a SIP grant,” Seid said. “Money was a little tight but I had absolute great mentorship, and my professors did everything to help and guide me through my research.”
Senior Cemaliye Semmedi, another SSRP grant recipient, said, “The funding was adequate but there is always room for more. The REU students received much bigger grants than the SSRP students and had a lot more flexibility.”
The sentiment echoed across the floor, but everyone agreed that despite the occasional financial constraints it was an essential experience for them to grow as researchers and apply their majors in resourceful ways.
“SSRP is such a great way to explore research opportunities, and if anyone is planning to go to graduate school it is always something that they are looking
Hurricane Matthew recently hit Haiti, causing destruction and devastation that has not yet been fully assessed. This is a category 4 storm, with winds over 125 mph and 25 inches of rain. Pwoje Espwa Sud, an orphanage in southern Haiti with strong ties to Ohio Wesleyan, has been severely impacted by this storm.
Espwa is home to approximately 350 children, provides education to over 1,000 students, employs over 200 Haitians, and provides free medical care to the community. Fortunately, all of the children and staff are safe in the aftermath of the hurricane. Unfortunately, Espwa has faced substantial damage and the local community will be susceptible to illnesses such as cholera in the coming weeks.
Over 200 boys have been moved to the primary school and the kids are eating emergency food supplies in shifts. The homes in the boys’ village and the secondary school have been destroyed, in addition to the majority of trees and crops. Electricity is out for southern Haiti and the roads are impassible, making the delivery of supplies extremely difficult. Luckily, the girls’ homes are sturdier, and they have stayed safe there. However, it is likely that more children will need to seek refuge at Espwa in the near future due destruction within the local community.
Ohio Wesleyan has many ties to Espwa, with dozens of students, faculty, and staff visiting since 2010. So far there have been six OWU alumnae who have worked as guest house managers at Espwa: Kelsey Ullom ’14, Rachel Vinciguerra ’14, Brenda Gable ’15, and Kate Raulin ’12. Currently, Lizzy Wynne ’16 and Emma Sparks ’16 are on-the-ground at Espwa. We believe that Emma and Lizzy are safe. We all love the children at Espwa from the bottom of our hearts and are fearful of what this hurricane could mean for them. However, we know there are Bishops who are willing to help.
If you would like to donate, please make a contribution to Free the Kids, which is a U.S. based nonprofit organization whose sole mission is to support the work at Pwoje Espwa. You may visit their website atwww.freethekids.org. A donation can also be made to:
Free the Kids
5704 W. Market Street #8947
Greensboro, NC 27419
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Brenda Gable ‘15, Kate Raulin ‘12, Rachel Vinciguerra ‘14, and Kelsey Ullom ‘14
Jenny Holland, a professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan, was recently quoted in a New York Times article about the impact Delaware County voting demographics and local economic growth will have on who voters choose to support.
Her analysis was included in Binyamin Appelbaum’s article “Reliably Red Ohio County Finds Both Trump and Clinton Hard to Stomach,” which was published Sept. 9.
Ohio, considered a “purple” state because neither Democrats nor Republicans control a majority of the electorate, is home to 18 sought after electoral votes.
The same does not apply to Ohio’s Delaware County which, historically, has been a Republican county.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is looking to capitalize on the decades long economic disillusionment of voters from the “rust belt.”
Due to economic improvement, residents of the county are second-guessing their choice for president. Many do not identify with Trump’s message.
Holland, who received a doctorate for her research on campaigns and elections, spoke about the importance of this change in priorities.
“What do you do if the Republican candidate is unpalatable to you … do you just show up and not vote for president at all? Or, could there be a possibility that a Republican woman would show up and vote for Hillary Clinton? We just don’t know.”
Despite her insight, Holland would not make any predictions about who will call themselves the 45th president of the U.S. come Nov. 8.
But she said she expects this election will be won by “the candidate with the most organized, best ground game.”
This is not the first time Holland has been included in a major news agency’s story. Last July, she was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in a similar story about Delaware County voting patterns.
“I was really impressed by what she had to say and think she is a great voice for our school,” junior Xander Pacilio said.
Holland currently oversees OWU’s voter registration drive and said she is optimistic this initiative will get more students participating.
“This drive provides students with an exciting opportunity to get involved by exercising a very important right—the right to vote,” Holland said.
Some of those who watched the first presidential debate may have been asking themselves: how did we get Donald Trump (R) and Hillary Clinton (D) as our presidential nominees?
Michael Cohen, a columnist for the Boston Globeand World Review, addressed the concerns ordinary Americans have about the candidates before students and faculty Wednesday, Sept. 21 in Merrick Hall.
Cohen, who has covered both Clinton and Trump’s respective campaigns for the last 15 months, began with a quote from William Faulkner about history repeating itself: “The past is not dead, it’s not even past.”
He then elaborated on those similarities this year’s election shares with another famous, though controversial, election year: 1968.
According to Cohen, Trump, the GOP’s nominee for president is not unlike Alabama’s George Wallace, a Dixiecrat, who divided the Democratic party prior to the General Election of 1968.
Both Trump and Wallace, considered outsiders to Washington’s establishment politics, have a history of using “strong but hateful rhetoric” to appeal to the interests of their constituents.
Citing his most recent publication, “American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division,” Cohen criticized the explicitly racist and misogynistic overtures coming from Trump and his supporters.
“When it comes to Trump, it’s not a matter of issues or ideology; it’s about fear … existential fears,” Cohen said.
Brian Goldaber, a politics and government major, said he enjoyed Cohen’s analysis and felt Cohen’s comparisons between Wallace and Trump were appropriate.
“They both capture a sense of frustration with the established political order and they overtly say a lot of things that conventional politicians would never say,” Goldaber said.
Jenny Holland, assistant professor of politics and government, moderated the event and led a Q&A once Cohen concluded his speech.
One audience member, soliciting Cohen’s opinion on gender’s impact on the race, wanted to know how “Trump supporters [those he’s met while covering the campaign] have responded when they were asked about the possibility of the first ever female presidency.”
Tyler Iffland, who remains unsure of which candidate he prefers, said he does not think that gender matters as much as each candidate’s lack of transparency.
“How can I confidently vote for Clinton when she can’t release her emails, and how can I confidently vote for Trump if he’s hiding his tax returns?” Iffland said.
Members of the Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs organized the lecture.
Jenny Holland, a professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan, was recently quoted in a New York Times article about the impact Delaware County voting demographics and local economic growth will have on who voters choose to support.
Her analysis was included in Binyamin Appelbaum’s article “Reliably Red Ohio County Finds Both Trump and Clinton Hard to Stomach,” which was published Sept. 9.
Ohio, considered a “purple” state because neither Democrats nor Republicans control a majority of the electorate, is home to 18 sought after electoral votes.
The same does not apply to Ohio’s Delaware County which, historically, has been a Republican county.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is looking to capitalize on the decades long economic disillusionment of voters from the “rust belt.”
Due to economic improvement, residents of the county are second-guessing their choice for president. Many do not identify with Trump’s message.
Holland, who received a doctorate for her research on campaigns and elections, spoke about the importance of this change in priorities.
“What do you do if the Republican candidate is unpalatable to you … do you just show up and not vote for president at all? Or, could there be a possibility that a Republican woman would show up and vote for Hillary Clinton? We just don’t know.”
Despite her insight, Holland would not make any predictions about who will call themselves the 45th president of the U.S. come Nov. 8.
But she said she expects this election will be won by “the candidate with the most organized, best ground game.”
This is not the first time Holland has been included in a major news agency’s story. Last July, she was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in a similar story about Delaware County voting patterns.
“I was really impressed by what she had to say and think she is a great voice for our school,” junior Xander Pacilio said.
Holland currently oversees OWU’s voter registration drive and said she is optimistic this initiative will get more students participating.
“This drive provides students with an exciting opportunity to get involved by exercising a very important right—the right to vote,” Holland said.
By Courtney Dunne, Editor-in-Chief and Areena Arora, Managing Editor
Wednesday, Sept. 28 was not a typical day at OWU. Edward Snowden joined the OWU community for a video conversation.
Snowden, former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, appeared before an audience of OWU students, faculty, staff and Delaware residents from an unconfirmed location in Moscow, Russia via Google Hangouts in University Hall’s Gray Chapel.
Photo courtesy of freedom.press
In 2013, Snowden came under light for leaking classified NSA documents to journalists that brought forth the NSA’s detailed plans of citizen surveillance and metadata collection. The U.S. government indicted Snowden on charges of theft and under the Espionage Act of 1917. He is currently in asylum in Russia.
He talked about the process of gaining special privilege security access and problems with mass citizen surveillance. He said the process heightened post 9/11 as part of NSA’s efforts to locate sleeper cells in the country.
Snowden was invited to speak at OWU as part of this year’s Sagan National Colloquium Series “Data in our Lives.” Craig Jackson and Sean McCulloch, associate professors of math and computer science, contacted Snowden through an anonymous agency. The idea to get Snowden was Jackson’s.
McCulloch said, “The fact that we invited him should not [be] construed as we’re agreeing with him or endorsing him.”
Jackson said, “[The agency doesn’t] advertise that they represent Edward Snowden, so I cannot share their information.”
The agents, according to Jackson, are a U.S. based speakers bureau. He said, “I don’t know that I want to be too specific … there is not a well documented way to [contact Snowden] … It’s kind of an open secret. If you read about [Snowden], the legal process, who is representing him both in the U.S. and abroad, it becomes pretty clear who you should talk to … Even if you don’t talk to the right people in the beginning, you can get there.”
Just like other speakers in the series, Snowden was paid. The amount was undisclosed, as part of the contract with the agency. However, according to Jackson, the total budget for the entire Sagan series is $30,000.
McCulloch said, “It’s legal to pay him … We’re also not writing a check to him directly.”
Jackson added, “You work through the agent and agent pays the speaker, of course they take a bit off the top … And we are paying Snowden’s agents.”
Jackson said they learned on Sept. 23 that the administration had decided not to do any publicity for this event. He said, “They had done publicity for our other events … they had decided not to do press releases for this event.”
Jackson said, “Sean [McCulloch] and I had a conversation with University Communications about this and we compromised a little bit … because of that conversation, they did end up sending out a press release.” He added, “Word did get out, it just didn’t get out as soon as I would’ve liked it to.”
A press release, was sent out by Cole Hatcher, director of media and public relations on Sept. 26. The press release was shared with about 40 contacts, including, but not limited to, The Associated Press, Delaware Gazette and The Columbus Dispatch, according to Hatcher.
McCulloch said, “It’s not prominent on the website as we think it ought to be … This could’ve been a much bigger deal.”
Jackson said they appreciate the help they got from the Communications Office. “It’s just on this one event we didn’t get as much help as we wanted,” he said.
He said, “This is a controversial speaker. Many people believe he is a villain, a traitor … there’s nothing illegal about what we are doing … but [they] disagree with our choice to invite him and because of that they were vocal about it … The word that came to us, was that it included at least some of the trustees of the university.”
Snowden was the best source of information about data and national security because people currently employed by NSA are not at liberty to discuss their work in detail, while Snowden is very open about how metadata is used for private citizen surveillance, according to Jackson.
President Rock Jones said, “I have heard from individuals who are quite pleased that Edward Snowden is participating in the Sagan National Colloquium and from individuals who are concerned about his participation. As always, I believe it is important for the campus to engage in thoughtful conversation on topics of importance and with individuals who represent a variety of perspectives.”
Board of Trustees member Gregory Moore ‘76 said, “I’m not aware of any trustee being aware or unhappy with it. I’d be surprised if that’s the case … I have not received any communication about it nor did I expect to … [Trustees are] not generally notified of such events on a vibrant college campus.”
He also said he believes in bringing in a variety of viewpoints to OWU and said with Snowden being in the news lately, timing could not have been better.
While the two-hour talk was streamed live on OWU’s website, it was not archived, per the conditions of the contract with the agency.
A Q&A session followed the talk. Several audience members asked questions about private companies’ data collection, the first amendment and actions private citizens can take, among others.
Snowden remains engaged in conversations around government and mass surveillance, where he currently serves on the board of directors for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
If you’ve seen some fresh bowties around campus this semester chances are you have seen Brad Pulcini, one of OWU’s newest addition to faculty.
The Transcript stopped by Pulcini’s office to get an idea of who he is and what he plans to achieve.
Q: Where are you from?
A: Originally from Pittsburgh but I have lived in Columbus the last 8 years.
Q: What made you want to work in education?
A: My initial degree was in social studies for secondary education. However in grad school I got a position working in the freshman development office and it was there I realized I liked working with college students. It’s a unique age where a lot of transitional stuff is happening. I was someone who transferred twice as an undergrad and needed help with going through the process so I knew that I wanted to do that for other people.
Q: What is your position at OWU?
A: Assistant Dean for Student Engagement and Director 0f the First Year Experience.
Q: Can you give a brief overview of your position and what it requires?
A: My main focus is working with first year students during their transition from high school to college and helping them to successfully navigate their way through freshman year. We want to bring all the great things already happening at OWU into a cohesive process and expand on that. So I’ll be looking at making programs, services, support and other educational things to help students in their first year. And in my Assistant Dean role I see over the student involvement office.
Q: Why did you decide the job was a good fit for your skills?
A: OWU was always attractive to me because of the type of institution it is being a liberal arts school that is fully residential but also is focused on globalization and looking at developing the whole student. When I saw the position was open I had to apply. I’m happy I was selected for the position because I really believe in the work being done here in regards to student success and I’m very excited to be at a place that puts such value on making sure students are successful in and out of the classroom
Q: What does OWU need to improve on in terms of your job?
A: I’ve only been here a month so I’m still figuring that out. I’ve been meeting with a lot of different people on campus to get to know how things work. I think OWU does a lot of great things for it’s students but it needs to come under a cohesive effort and then we can build off that.
Q: What motivates you the most?
A: Definitely the students. It’s getting to know them and their success that motivates me to do what I do. In my previous job I did a lot of behind the scenes work and now I’m happy to be working day to day with students. To me if you’re not in higher education to work directly with students for their success then you’re not in it for the right reasons. Students are a huge investment in not only the future of Wesleyan but in our society and as faculty in higher education we have a great opportunity to shape that and help students realize their potential.
Q: What are your goals here at OWU?
A: Long term we really want to create a comprehensive first year program that from admissions all the way to sophomore year supports and challenges students while helping to ingrain them into OWU. It’s going to take some time and work to do that but it is exciting work to begin.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I am in a Ph.D program and I am the father of a four- year-old and a two-year-old so there isn’t too much free time between work, school and my family. However, when I do have free time, I love running and reading. I’ve completed several full and half marathons. My job requires a lot of extrovertism so when I do have time to myself, I love to relax and read.
Q: What motivates you the most?
A: Definitely the students. It’s getting to know them and their success that motivates me to do what I do.
The OWU Connection welcomed students to Merrick Hall on Sept. 16 to explore the travel-learning courses that will be offered next spring.
Travel-Learning courses are designed to help students connect their classroom experiences to the real world.
The courses being offered this year vary across a wide spectrum of subjects. Students can go anywhere from England and France to study castles and cathedrals, to the Galapagos Islands to study island biology.
One of the new courses being offered next semester is Introduction to Electronic Music. Students in the class will learn about the history of electronic and computer music and then travel to Paris where electronic music is rooted.
One student who has taken advantage of travel-learning courses is senior Jessica Sanford, who has already visited Mexico and France. This year, she said she is taking a Chamber Choir Travel-Learning and will visit Italy in the winter.
“It adds meaning to a subject and it teaches students to question their worldview, which is what a liberal arts education aims to achieve,” said Sanford.
Applications for all travel-learning courses were uploaded online at the end of the fair. The application deadline is Oct. 2 and students will receive a decision before mid-semester break.
