Women’s Resource Center challenges objectification

Senior Skylar Drake, sophomore Kaila Johnson and junior Lauren Rump led the screening and are planning additional events. Photo from Women's Resource Center website
Senior Skylar Drake, sophomore Kaila Johnson and junior Lauren Rump led the screening and are planning additional events.
Photo from Women’s Resource Center website

By Catie Beach
Transcript Correspondent

Cupcakes and criticism brought Ohio Wesleyan student together to watch the Women’s Resource Center’s (WRC) screening of the documentary “Killing Us Softly 4,” which analyzes female objectification in advertising.

Senior Skylar Drake, junior Lauren Rump and sophomore Kaila Johnson – all WRC interns – organized a lunchtime screening of Jean Kilbourne’s film.

This 2010 edition analyzes trends regarding the unachievable beauty standards set for women in advertising over the past 20 years, according to her website.

It is the fourth in Kilbourne’s educational series, which first premiered in 1979.

“The movie focuses on different issues and themes regarding body image issues and eating disorders,” Rump said.

Both topics relate to a previous WRC event, “Written on the Body,” a public body image speak out held in Bishop Cafe this past December.

“(The film) reinforced my ideas that advertisement is detrimental to womanhood and feminism,” said junior Noelle Davis.

Although the material was familiar to Davis, she reaffirmed that many of the film’s 160 images and advertisements were shocking.

“The worst was the man sitting on top of the woman in bed, looking at a car magazine on her face,” Davis said. “I think I actually got goose bumps.”

Rump attributes the event’s success to increased advertising and strategic timing.

“We decided to do Friday lunchtime programming because it’s convenient to attend and different,” she said. “We’re amping up our social media presence on Facebook. We’re trying to be more aware and present.”

The movie screening isn’t the WRC’s only original event this semester. The prospective line up includes a $mart$tart Salary Negotiation Workshop for women, as well as an auto body workshop for women, taught by women.

“It’s an auto body workshop run by an all-women mechanic shop in Columbus,” Rump said. “They teach women how to work on their cars and let them know what questions to ask when they go for car repairs.”

Plans for the $mart$tart Workshop, which teaches women how to negotiate pay with future employers in a market where females earn 77 cents to every dollar earned by a male, are in the works for this spring semester.

However, Rump said that the auto body workshop may have to wait until next school year due to workshop organizer’s pregnancy.

In addition to new workshop programming, the WRC is sponsoring the OWU premiere of the play Butterfly Confessions, a culminating Women’s Week event.

The play, which focuses on the stories of women of color and brings awareness to domestic violence and HIV/AIDS, will premiere at 8 p.m., March 28 in Chappelear Drama Center.

Despite attention to new programming, the WRC maintains its primary function, according to Rump.

“Students can come chat with us about women’s issues and feminism, ask us advice or obtain resource numbers on campus and in the Delaware community,” she said.

“We provide a confidential safe space and a listening ear.”

Letter to the Editor: Women’s basketball oversight was no small matter

By Roger Ingles

On February 22, 2014, two basketball games occurred in Branch Rickey Arena. The first was the greatest win in Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball history as they defeated the DePauw Tigers 65-64.

DePauw is the current defending national champions and was the consensus No. 1 ranked team in the nation who came into Branch Rickey with a 58-game winning streak, and with 47 consecutive NCAC wins.

The win secured the Battling Bishops as the number two seed in the upcoming NCAC tournament, our highest finish in many years. It was a tremendous achievement by head coach Stacey Lobdell and her squad.

The Tigers have been the dominant team in not only the NCAC but nationally in Division III women’s basketball. This win showed the dramatic growth our program has made in the past three years and showcased the hard work and dedication these young women have made to get to this level of performance.

The game received attention from several national media outlets and brought a spotlight to our program that was well deserved. The Transcript chose to ignore it. That is a shame. These young women deserved more.

The second event was the OWU men’s team lost on a last-second shot versus DePauw’s men’s team 64-63. It was a great basketball game and the loss caused our team to finish in a three-way tie for second with DePauw and Wittenberg.

This game was meaningful in that it established the final seeding for the NCAC tournament and in its own right, was deserving of a spot in The Transcript.

The picture was great but in no way should ever have been featured over the incredible story of the women’s game.

Your paper chose to highlight the men’s loss with an above-fold front page photo showing the DePauw men’s celebration and chose to ignore the greatest win in OWU women’s history all together. Not even a score of the game was mentioned in your paper about that game.

I find this highly irresponsible and the type of gender discrimination that should make every female athlete on this campus upset.

I am very proud of this team and their accomplishments. Hopefully The Transcript someday will be too.

Letter to the Editor: A response to last week’s “Catcalls and harassment” column

By Alyssa Long

This particular Opinion piece bothered me. This, before you think it, does not make me less of a feminist. Ms. Youse boldly declares that, “If you believe that sexual harassment isn’t serious, that it’s funny, that it’s flattering — you are dead wrong.” While no reasonable person would disagree with her charge, it is the underlying implication that all women perceive certain situations in the same way, as harassment, which is disagreeable.

The editor describes an unfortunate morning. She took thoughtful steps in her new boots on the ice that coated the throat of our campus, it’s walkways. A man whistled at her, and she fell, spilling her lipstick, vitamins, credit cards, phone, makeup bag, and iPad out of her “brown leather fringe bag.” Her white shirt wetted, two boys “catcalled” her from outside Smith Hall, and she was late to class.

My first issue lies with the blame shifted onto the whistler. Whether or not the whistler’s actions are harassment, I’ll discuss later. However, the editor clearly insinuates that the man’s whistling caused her to fall. She shifts him the blame for her injury, wet clothes, her scuffed “Zara Italian leather boot,” and the slick film over all the precious things that fell out of her purse. This assumption is unfair and unthoughtful, because it implies that it was either his intention, or control over an invisible cosmic force, that caused her to fall. I think it is fair to assume that it was a combination of her more-ornamental-than-purposeful shoes, the ice, being in a hurry, and a sudden distraction that caused her to fall. If anything, the man’s whistle is correlated with her fall; it is not a causation.

Secondly, if the man who whistled didn’t cause the editor to fall down, can he be further shamed for not halfing out his cigarette to help her up? The editor goes on that, “Instead of coming over to help me, he and his friend laughed and catcalled me.” Have you never fallen, and helped yourself up? Have you never seen someone fall, and didn’t help them up? It is my opinion and experience that women do not need men’s help to stand. It is interesting that the editor is holding the man who is a “sexist” for whistling, accountable for her safety, comfort, and closure. Did she really want his help? Interpretively, having read though not experienced, their follow-up quip: “Get yourself wet there, sweetie?” reads more condescending than sexually threatening. Embarrassing, to a certain self-esteem, yes. Threatening, no. This is not to say that the anecdotes provided were by proxy neither gruesome or incorrigible. Sexual violence is an evil fruiting gravity, and at a gross contrast to getting wet and losing a few minutes, to a class in which you run a, “usual ten minutes late.”

Finally, it’s interesting that at the heart of her frustration are all these things, spilled out on the ground. She curses the universe, not only for making dampening the contents of her purse, made them a bit salty, but that it even “threw in a couple of sexist assholes.” The structure of her sentence invalidates her attribution of blame. She carefully names, and by naming gifts importance to, all the things these men caused her to ruin.

As someone who grew up under-class poor and pays OWU tuition, it was easy to identify class-specific and discriminating language, the privilege to be a materialist. The editor has “109” pairs of shoes, operates under the “look-good-do-good principle,” stressing how intimately aware she is of her external identity, what other people see, and how she wants her adornments to actualize it in the minds of others.

Further, the piece is rich with nouns indicating privilege: “Zara,” a name-brand; “Italian leather,” notoriously expensive; “brown leather fringe bag,” its elaborate description indicating importance, or specialness; “all my credit cards,” obvious; and the “iPad,” $399.00-$929.00 new. There are also adjectives, descriptive phrases and nouns that derogate stereotypically poor or underclass behavior. The devastation the editor felt, beholding her scuffed boot, makes all those living the daily reality of scuffs seem inhuman, or savage.

She derides — not the catcall, or whistle, or men who executed however-you-load-it-behavior which she perceived as inappropriate — them for what their cars must look and smell like, if the kind of man that whistles at a woman is also always one who lives in the, “back of (a) beatup Honda that smells like meth.” The statement is a gesture that, like a catcall, could be taken as a charming joke, or worse, a cruel reminder of the structural power the rich have over the poor.

My critique of this piece is that it should have been more thoughtful, and empathetic to women with dissimilar experiences. Many women will admit that, sometimes, someone hollering across the street about how beautiful they are — though they may not respond, or express disinterest — feels good.  When I have to choose between my only meal for the day and a tank of gas, and some guy at the pump tells me he’d like to give me a pump, I’m not going to blame him for my hunger. I’m not going to be made less by a man, because I refuse to. I take the honesty, the courage, and the juvenescence from his compliment because I have more important things to worry about; and, if someone’s that hungry for my reaction, I think I have power over them.

My criticism is not meant to validate the actions of men who will always be boys, but to qualify the experiences and reactions of women who are not middle to upper class whites, and whose issues are much more grave. As a woman, too, and one whose life has not been so safe, I am not so naive as to think I’ll always have power. I, like all women, have known vulnerability, lied helpless at the mercy of an angry creature. Like all women, whom are systemically and physically vulnerable to men, I sense when someone is not someone to ignore. That’s why I carry a blade.

‘New Art/New Mexico’ brings southwest culture to Ross

By Breanne Reilly
Transcript Reporter

A new exhibit in the Ross Art Museum unleashes themes of mortality, religion and nature from the New Mexico areas of Albuquerque, Taos and Santa Fe.

The show, which opened last Thursday, was curated by a group of Ohio Wesleyan students who traveled to New Mexico for a Theory-to-Practice grant organized by Ross Art Museum Director Justin Kronewetter.

Sophomore Catie Beach, senior Amy LeFebvre, senior Ha Le, junior Bill Milanik, senior Linh Nguyen and sophomore Maddie Stuntz chose over 100 pieces to feature in the show after being able to explore the artists’ homes and studios.

Artist Nancy Sutor, whose series “Compose/Decompose” is featured in the gallery, served as the keynote speaker for the exhibit’s opening.

Sutor presented a preliminary talk, “My Work in New Mexico”, which gave students and faculty a glimpse into her many sources of inspiration.

“It makes me think there is some order to the universe,” Sutor said of her central theme of contrasting dark/light colors in her series of photographs that examine the timeline of her compost pile.

“Compost breaks down to become the richest gold in the garden world,” Sutor said. “The pictures are chronicles of the seasons and show different degrees of decay. It’s a life cycle.”

LeFebvre said Sutor’s work impressed her because it shares a message with viewers.

“I was really interested in how she wanted her images to impact the way that people think about food and sustainability,” LeFebvre said.

Beach said Sutor’s work represents the passage of time and the seasons and is unique since the photographs were unplanned.

“She photographs the everyday object,” Beach said. “Whether it’s something she consumes or experiences.”

LeFebvre and Beach said that although they enjoyed Sutor’s work, initially she was not one of the artists they selected as the speaker.

Justin Kronewetter, who said he has known Sutor for years, asked her to be the keynote speaker mainly because she has experience teaching college students at the College of Santa Fe.

“She is the only academician in the group of artists,” he said.

Kronewetter said certain artists couldn’t come to speak because of scheduling conflicts and complications due to cost, weather and other obligations.

In addition to not presenting a speaker chosen by the students, multiple pieces that the art students wanted to feature in the exhibit did not make the final cut.

Kronewetter explained certain art wasn’t displayed since it is “off the market” and will not likely be sold while at the Ross Museum.

However, Beach said artist Nina Marrow’s jewelry, which is made of driftwood and silver, was all hand selected by the students.

“I am doing the best I can do to honor the preferences of the students,” he said.

Sophomore Zoe Morris, who attended the exhibit’s opening said, “They’re colorful, musical and emotional [pieces]. It makes me want to go to New Mexico, especially since I’m from Massachusetts.”

Similar to Morris, Catie Beach said the artworks echo the artists’ homes and cultures through color, subject and choice of medium.

“Everything was connected there, the land, people, spirituality and cultures,” Beach said. “And it’s reflected in the art.”

Kronewetter said several of the artworks have religious themes because Hispanic artists in the area frequently depict religious icons.  He said “La Conquistadora” (Our Lady of Conquest), a statue by Nicholas Herrera and Susan Guevara, exemplifies the value of religion and how saints are frequently idolized.

“Historically and culturally, Christianity is ingrained in the southwest and is a major driving factor in any community,” LeFebvre said.

Kronewetter said various artworks on display have skeletons in them because of the celebration of Dia de los Muertos—The Day of the Dead.

“In Mexican culture, celebrating dead relatives and friends is very common,” he said. “It might seem macabre to those of us that are not familiar with the Roman Catholic tradition or celebration.”

He also said Anita Rodriguez, who painted “Burning of Eden” and “La Santisma Muerte,” which depict skeletons, will be coming to campus on March 27 to discuss the theme of death in Mexican art.

Native American photos, paintings and sculptures are also featured in the exhibit. Kronewetter said he is attempting to arrange for a lecture on Native American art later in the semester from artist Roxanne Swentzel.

Swentzel currently has bronze pieces titled “Held,” “Woman in Stone” and “Special Girl” on display in the museum.

Kronewetter said the goal of the exhibit is to show the local community something they wouldn’t normally expect, something new.

University receives second $8 million donation

Nancy Knop points to the back area of the Natatorium where the Simpson-Querrey Fitness Center will be built. Photo by Breanne Reilly
Nancy Knop points to the back area of the Natatorium where the Simpson-Querrey Fitness Center will be built.
Photo by Breanne Reilly

By Breanne Reilly
Transcript Reporter

The building formerly known as Pfeiffer Natatorium will get an extreme makeover thanks to a donation by Lou Simpson, ‘58, and his wife Kimberly Querrey.

The donation will be used to build the Simpson-Querrey Fitness Center, the new Dance Studio, finish renovations of Edwards Gym and renovate offices, classrooms and the studio used by the Health and Human Kinetics  (HHK) department.

In a press release, Jones said Querrey was motivated by the fact that nearly 80 percent of OWU students participate in organized recreational activities, such as intramurals, club sports and varsity athletics.

Jones said it is important to give students a space to develop disciplines that lead to healthy living.

“A fitness center increasingly is a must for college campuses, as prospective students include this in the things they consider when selecting a college,” Jones said.

Sean Kay, professor in the department of politics and government,  said all donations are to be appreciated, valued and celebrated but do not always pay for necessities.

“In my own personal opinion, gifts like this and the one last summer for Merrick Hall, are very welcome and appropriate on their own merits,” Kay said.

“At the same time they are not oriented towards the major needs and priorities of the institution as have been identified in the strategic planning process that I have been engaged in on and off dating back to 2005.”

Kay said he thinks the new Fitness Center, although appreciated, is not a top priority for the university.

He thinks the YMCA in town could be utilized and perhaps negotiated for a low cost for student use.

“So far as I can tell, there seems to be a heavy focus on funding ancillary priorities, but not really focusing on the core foundations of further building Ohio Wesleyan University as the top level liberal arts institution we all know it is, and can even be more so, with a diverse range of endowment investments focused on the long-established academic program,” Kay said.

Kay said he thinks investment should be placed in the liberal arts curriculum, and  in hiring and retaining the “top notch” faculty, the academic program and in developing the highest quality classroom experience that we can give our students.

He said the focus should also be on lowering costs to students.

Jones said the $8 million donation is being used as its donors intended.

An artist’s rendering of the future fitness center, displayed in the alumni center on a poster. The renovations are expected to take 15 to 20 months to be completed.
An artist’s rendering of the future fitness center, displayed in the alumni center on a poster. The renovations are expected to take 15 to 20 months to be completed.

“This gift was specifically for the fitness center and the renovation of Edwards Gym,” Jones said.

Jones said the renovations and construction of the facilities will not affect and did not cause an increase in tuition.

“The tuition increase reflects the increasing cost of operating the university, including paying salaries of faculty and staff, addressing increasing energy costs and meeting other needs,” Jones said.

 

Part of a Plan

 

Jones said renovations were approved in 2009, when the Strategic Plan of Ohio Wesleyan called for construction of a Fitness Center on the residential campus.

In 2011, the Board began discussing and reviewing concepts for the Fitness Center, and the idea developed to integrate the Fitness Center with the Dance Studio, Health and Human Kinetics and the restoration of Edwards Gym.

The Board also committed the plan would include the purchase of new equipment for the Belt Fitness Center.

Jones said he does not have a breakdown in regards to how much of the $8 million donation each part of the construction will cost.

He said The Collaborative Inc., located in Toledo, came up with the renovation designs as seen on the OWU website.

TCI is developing a final schedule for the construction and will most likely work on each component of the renovations simultaneously.

All construction on the building will be finished within 15 to 20 months.

Jones said the administration and Board have a commitment to the university’s history by preserving the buildings that will be renovated.

“It also allows us to address needs in the academic department which currently is housed in the poorest conditions for offices and classrooms on campus,” he said. “This is very important for HHK.”

Renovating Pfeiffer, the “Tenement 

Building” 

 

“When it would rain, the ceiling tiles would get saturated and tiles would fall down,” Nancy Knop, a professor in the Health and Human Kinetics department said. “It’s the campus tenement building.”

Pfeffeir Natatorium, which is attached physically to Edwards Hall but cannot be entered through Edwards, houses the HHK offices and classes.

Before Meek was built three years ago, it also housed the campus pool. But the pool is now empty, the ceiling and floors are missing tiles, multiple windows are boarded and broken, the roof leaks and the water, which is a musty yellow, is not usable.

Senior Andrew Diehl, co-chair of the HHK student board said the conditions are a distraction.

He said the conditions are little known on campus because students who don’t take the classes have no reason to go there now that the pool is gone.

“HHK is like the fourth or fifth largest department on campus,” Diehl said. “But it has the worst facility. It’s by far the most neglected building on campus,” he said.

Knop said the building has needed repairs for years and the department has spent ten years trying to get funding from the Board of Trustees. She said initially renovations to the classrooms, offices and workout studio were not a part of the Plan.

“We as an academic program have been ignored for years,” Knop said. “If a student has been paying $50,000 to go to school do you want him sitting in a classroom where the ceiling tiles fall down  and there’s no hot water and where you can’t drink the water in the building and that it’s freezing cold and the windows are broken and  when it rains water comes into it?”

The swimming pool, now located at Meek, was the first to be reconstructed.

Knop said the pool was chosen partially for health reasons.

“I don’t know how well it’s documented but I can assume that most of the swimmers had exercise induced asthma because of the chemicals and lack of ventilation,” Knop said.

Knop said when discussion for renovations started ten years ago, the focus for renovations was on the Dance Studio and the Fitness Center.

“The bringing in of those facilities was a little bit hurtful at first because here we are living in these terrible facilities and conditions and they’re worried about dance, which didn’t even have a program at the time,” she said.

Knop said she is thrilled that the renovations are taking place. When she found out the Dance Studio would be built next to the new Fitness Center, Knop said she was glad that the Dance department gets a new facility but she is not thrilled that it will be located inside of the athletic facility.

“It felt bad to have people looking at a space that we thought could’ve been our space in our building,” she said.

Knop said a new building is needed to improve the appeal of the department and so that the building can be used as an attractive entryway to campus.

“That was kind of the image, the vision, to make something that was more regal, versus something that is just linked to athletics,” she said.

As of right now, Pfeiffer Natatorium is not shown to prospective touring students. Diehl said it might discourage prospective students from taking classes there.

“It’s an eyesore, the university doesn’t advertise it,” Diehl said.

Knop said the department could be asked to move as early as May so the renovations can start next fall. She does not know where the classes will be relocated during construction but hopes the location will allow students to move during lessons.

“We run one to two classes almost every hour so will have to find space to accommodate that,” she said.

 

A Dance Studio with Dancers in Mind

 

Jones said the possibility of a new dance studio being built was discussed more than a decade ago. Jones also said faculty in Theater and Dance department and in Health and Human Kinetics have engaged with architects in planning for this facility.

Rashana Smith, who instructs dance classes in a leased facility on 38 S. Sandusky St. said she and the dance students appreciate the studio but the current space was not built with dancers in mind and she has had to adjust her classes because of it.

“I spend more time on conditioning and stretching to counteract joint strain caused from dancing on a hard, unsprung floor,” she said.

“The newly renovated Simpson Querrey facility would accommodate more jumping and leaping, for example, because the construction of the new floor will address the impact of landings and the physical demands of dance.”

She also said the heating system in the downtown studio has not been able to heat the studio.

“ Several times this semester, we’ve had to find alternate places and creative ways to deal with an extremely cold dance studio,” Smith said.

Smith said she hopes the new dance studio would attract more prospective dance students and likely more dance minors and non-majors.

“Historically, we have students from different academic disciplines participating in classes and performances,” she said.

“I see the new studio bolstering that participation.”

Jones said the Dance Studio will accommodate the theatre and dance program and attract prospective students.

Progress begins in Merrick Hall

Merrick Hall before the start of the renovations. Photo by Caleb Dorfman
Merrick Hall before the start of the renovations.
Photo by Caleb Dorfman

By Caleb Dorfman
Transcript Reporter

Ohio Wesleyan Department of Buildings & Grounds (B&G) has begun renovations on Merrick Hall.

Merrick Hall is the defunct academic building located between University and Phillips Halls.

“The architects are completing the construction documents, which will then be given to the general contractor who will solicit bids from sub contractors,” said President Rock Jones.

“We plan to begin construction no later than June 1.”

Jones added that some preliminary work is happening in the building now, but the true construction period does not begin until June.

“So this is a quiet time in the project while the architects complete their work and the contractors prepare for their work,” Jones said.

Merrick Hall, which has been out of use since the late 1980s, according to an announcement email that Jones sent out over the summer, is being restored thanks to an eight million dollar donation from an anonymous donor.

The Merrick Hall renovations are scheduled to be completed by 2015.

Trustees return with renovation plans, funds

The Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, Fla. The Ohio Wesleyan Board of Trustees met in Naples for their first meeting of 2014.
The Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, Fla. The Ohio Wesleyan Board of Trustees met in Naples for their first meeting of 2014.

By Breanne Reilly and Noah Manskar
Transcript Reporter and Online Editor

A $10 million fundraising campaign came to a quick end at the Board of Trustees’ winter retreat in Naples, Fla., last weekend.

According to University President Rock Jones, trustees Lou Simpson 58’ and his wife Kimberly Querrey donated $8 million to complete the renovation of Edwards Gymnasium Pfeiffer Natatorium.

Dubbed the Simpson-Querry Fitness Center, the facility will contain a new dance studio, renovation of classrooms and offices and a laboratory for the health and human kinetics department. The donation also funds new equipment for the Belt Fitness Center.

“Our donors expressed particular interest in the fact that this project reflects the integration of body and mind in a commitment to the whole person, and that it benefits academic programs while also providing space promoting health and wellness that is accessible to the entire campus community,” Jones said in the report from the retreat he sent to all Ohio Wesleyan employees.

Jones said Simpson and Querrey are “private people” and declined an interview about the donation.

Tuition Increase, More Renovations to Come

According to Jones’s report, the Board passed a resolution dictating a 3.5-percent increase in tuition and the average board rate. The middle-tier housing fee is set to increase 6.3 percent.

Jones said the Board focused on endowment for student scholarships and financial aid, endowment for faculty support, endowment for the OWU Connection and support for facilities on campus.

Trustee Tim Sloan, CFO of Wells Fargo, said other campus renovations were also on the Board’s agenda.

“The renovation of Merrick Hall, Edwards Gym and a larger fitness center and improving the dorms, student living units and fraternities should all be priorities,” he said.

Jones said the Board directed OWU administrators to bring recommendations for Phase One of the Housing Master Plan—projected to cost $25 million, according to Jones’s report—to their meeting in May. With this plan, the Board hopes to renovate all residence halls and fraternity houses except Smith Hall over the next decade.

Smith Hall and the “aging” SLUs will hopefully be replaced with new facilities. The Board also wants to add new apartment as campus residencies. Jones said he is unsure which project will begin first.

Jones said the Board also hopes to secure resources to make University Hall accessible and to install air conditioning in Gray Chapel to protect the Klais Organ. The enhancement of classrooms and offices used by the modern foreign language department was also discussed.

Faculty Make the Trip

Jones said this was the Board’s first retreat in five years.

“Most boards occasionally hold a retreat at a setting other than their normal meeting place and use the time to think more strategically about the long term,” he said. “Naples was chosen because a large percentage of our trustees spend the winter in Florida.”

Other administrators were also present: provost Chuck Stinemetz; Dan Hitchell, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer; Craig Ullom, vice president for student affairs; Colleen Garland, vice president for university advancement; Dave Wottle, interim vice president for enrollment; Lisa Jackson, assistant to the president; and Emily Roudebush, associate directory of university advancement.

Dale Brugh, Amy Downing, Shala Hankison, Bart Martin, Paula White and Chris Wolverton, all members of faculty committees, represented the OWU faculty. Their collective report, shared with all faculty, said they were involved in all the Board’s discussions at a level “far above the usual,” and that the meeting was “open, discussion-oriented, and inclusive.”

Student Voices Heard

Chief Officer of Communications William Kopp said he showed videos featuring interviews with OWU students who had participated in the OWU Connection, travel-learning courses and trips funded through theory-to-practice grants. 

According to Kopp, the videos showed students are “great spokespeople for OWU” while Jones said the videos allowed students to talk to the trustees about scholarships, travel-learning and theory-to-practice experiences.

“Several Board members told me the videos helped make the OWU Connection concrete for them,” Jones said.

Sloan said the student interviews were” very powerful” because the students clearly care about OWU and were articulate and passionate about their projects and experiences abroad.

Jones said the videos are on the OWU website and on YouTube.

View Jones’s report and the faculty report on Scribd.

The Transcript changes top editors

By Spenser Hickey
Managing Editor

Sometimes you’re not the best person for the job; sometimes the job isn’t the best fit for you, either.

Both these things played a role in the joint decision made by our advisers, Ellin and myself — that it is in the best interests of The Transcript and both of us if Ellin and I trade positions on the editorial staff.

It is a change I welcome, as the current definitions of each role suit our skill sets much better, and will provide an opportunity to formally define each role for the next generations of editors to come.

As Managing Editor, I’ll be able to work to my strong suit, leading a team to write long-form articles like my Tent City and hate speech reports from the past two semesters.

These reports, combined with the work of students in Advanced Reporting and New Media courses, will provide The Transcript with much-needed investigative and multimedia content, in addition to our weekly news coverage.

This change will benefit both of us, as we work to our strengths, and make The Transcript a greater news source.

 

By Ellin Youse
Editor-in-Chief

This semester began as a whirlwind for the Transcript staff, with news of the flooding in Elliott Hall, and while we worked hard to cover the story and all events of the first month, we hit a roadblock in staffing.

The strengths of the two highest-ranking editors, my good friend Spenser Hickey and myself, were not being utilized.

I was acting as the paper’s managing editor and Spenser was acting as editor-in-chief. Although Spenser was doing a great job, he wasn’t able to do what he loved — writing long-form, investigative stories.

Being editor-in-chief is a tough job, almost like running a business. He was trying to do both — run the day-to-day business of the paper and write, taking on way too much. I was left picking up the pieces slipping through the cracks, and there were a lot of them.

Our solution became to switch places. As managing editor, Spenser will be able to help oversee the day-to-day of the paper and invest a sufficient amount of time to writing in depth investigative stories and help keep the Transcript a home for hard-hitting news. I will be acting as editor-in-chief, running the ins and outs of the paper, tying up loose ends, making ethical decisions and taking on the responsibility of the paper’s mission statement. I’m honored to be trusted with such a large position, and I am lucky to have Spenser by my side to catch me if I fall.

Denison mourns one of their own

Denison University senior David Hallman III died of hypothermia Saturday night. Police found his body after a day-long search.
Photo provided by Denison University

By Ellin Youse and Brian Williams
Editor-in-Chief and Transcript Reporter

Members of the Denison University campus mourned the loss of senior David Hallman III, who was found dead Saturday night.

According to a story released by Denison’s communications department, Hallman, 21, was found at 10:34 p.m. after a day-long police search. Denison students, faculty and staff participated in the extensive search for Hallman.

The Erie, Pa. native was last seen Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 a.m. leaving Brews CafĂ© in Granville. After not hearing any word from their son, Hallman’s parents called Denison to report their son missing.

Suspicions over Hallman’s absence arose when he missed a noon appointment Saturday. After several failed attempts to contact him, Granville police issued a community wide alert.

Additionally, photos of him were distributed to students and Granville residents.  Volunteers were asked to keep an eye out for him, as well as check any warm garages or sheds that someone might take shelter from the cold.

Denison staff members comprised the small search party that found Hallman’s body. Hallman was found in a parking garage of an apartment complex.

Granville police have asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for help investigating the events in full, but have confirmed that Hallman died from hypothermia.

Denison is mourning the loss of Hallman campus wide. Denison’s communication department said Hallman, a member of the swim team, was well known throughout the small campus and the tragedy is weighing heavily on the family-like community.

After initially informing the campus of his death at 11:24 p.m. Saturday night, the university held a memorial service at its Swasey Chapel.

“This is tragic,” Denison University president Adam Weinberg said. “But the strength of our community lies in how we come together in times like these.

“We are strong in moments of joy and celebration, but we are also strong in moments of sorrow and loss. Tonight we all need to be there for each other.”

Denison freshman Elizabeth VanNess said the loss of Hallman is tragic, but the strength and unity of the campus is what evoked her true empathy.

“I never knew him, but couldn’t help (but) be moved and impressed by the evident concern and responsibility shown by the Denison community as a whole,” said Denison freshman Elizabeth VanNess.

Preventing Tragedy at OWU

In recent weeks, Ohio Wesleyan has taken precautions against this kind of tragedy, sending students, faculty and staff frequent emails with information about cold weather safety. Bob Wood, director of Public Safety, said considering the unfortunate loss of Hallman, he is relieved that OWU took the time to reach out to the community when the extreme cold hit.

OWU makes change to staff to improve enrollment

By Breanne Reilly

Transcript Reporter

William Kopp won national awards for his advertising campaigns at Columbus State Community College, and a key part of his new role as Ohio Wesleyan’s chief communication officer will be boosting enrollment.

According to President Rock Jones, Kopp was hired on Jan. 2 after a national search, led by committee chair Professor Glenn Bryan.

Bryan said that the role is critical in presenting the OWU brand and requires many different skills, including aspects of marketing, communication and support of the liberal arts.

In addition to his work at Columbus State, Kopp also worked as a speech writer for Ohio State University, and manager of corporate marketing and executive communications for Columbus-based Battelle Memorial Institute.

He said his goal is to market OWU to prospective students, their parents and alumni.

“Higher education is very competitive right now,” he said, adding that attracting students and donors through marketing is an important aspect. “…Marketing is really getting your story out there. You don’t want to be the best kept secret, you don’t want to be a hidden gem, you want everybody to know the good work going on here.”

Kopp said his main goals are to make the OWU website more “responsive” and easier to use on mobile devices, and increase and improve the use of video.

He spent the past few weeks working with a videographer to interview students about the OWU Connection, experiences in Travel Learning Courses and trips funded by Theory to Practice Grants.

“I want to find out what the real brand of Ohio Wesleyan is so I can tell that story,” Kopp said. “By brand I don’t mean slogan, I don’t mean a trademark or logo, it’s the essence of the place.”

Kopp said he interviewed nine students and created 13 different videos. The videos were shot and edited by a freelance videographer, Mark Van Horn, who previously worked at WCMH-TV.

Kopp said Van Horn’s work has won national awards and OWU will be paying him $960.

The videos will be used to raise funds for student scholarships and shown at the Board of Trustees’ retreat on Feb. 5-7.

According to Jones, the retreat will be held in Naples, Florida.  The purpose of the retreat is to review the Strategic Plan, review the proposed case statement for the upcoming campaign and to review the Student Housing Master Plan.

Jones said this is the first retreat in five years and it has the “best attendance” he has witnessed since he became president.

Kopp said the amount of students applying and enrolled at OWU has not decreased, but they want to increase numbers by sharing stories of successful OWU graduates with prospective students and their families.

“Parents want to know there is a future post-graduation,” Kopp said. “A survey of the class of 2013 showed that 94 percent of OWU graduates were employed, in graduate school or both.”

Dave Wottle, who has worked as interim vice president for enrollment since last fall, said Jones’ goal for the university is to attract 590 prospective students for the 2014 fall semester.

He added that a student’s academic record is the most important factor in determining acceptance.

Students who have a 3.5 or higher grade point average don’t have to submit their ACT or SAT test score.

Wottle said he also wants to improve the academic profile of the enrolled students, maximize the amount of revenue received from student tuition.

He also hopes to enroll a class diverse in socioeconomic class, ethnicity and international residency.