Phoebe Christine Bush – Page 8

Hamilton-Williams food court to undergo renovations

A sketch of the proposed changes to the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center Food Court.

By Becca Sufrin
Transcript Correspondent

In the fall of 2013, the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center (HWCC) Food Court will appear much different and offer new and improved options. Gene Castelli, Chartwells resident district manager; the Ohio Wesleyan Board of Trustees; and the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) have been spearheading the project for about a year.

Junior Julia Zak, WCSA representative at large, has become involved in this discussion process.

Now that it is finally coming to fruition, she said the new food court will have a significantly larger salad bar, extensive soup options and a Papa John’s pizza station that will serve individual pizzas.

The checkout lanes will also be slanted to avoid crowding during the noon hour, when student traffic is at its heaviest. The seating sections on either side of the retail area will also be renovated—they will be less “blocked off” from one another, according to Zak.

“The hope is that the rooms will be more open so people can feel free to have open dialogue,” she said. “Thus, it will provide a more aesthetically pleasing space to eat.”

Another change to the Food Court will be an increase in vegetarian and gluten-free options.

“The chefs are also now attempting to implement student-suggested recipes into their daily food options,” Zak said. “There is an effort to introduce people to different global tastes on a more regular basis.”

Junior Stephanie Martineau fully supports the renovations.

“I think it’s really smart that they are keeping up with the trend of updating areas around campus, especially as the number of students here increases,” she said. “It’s so important for commonly used spaces to be able to accommodate more people.”

Martineau is also looking forward to the wider variety of healthier food options.

Zak said the renovation will cost less than $750,000, which is an impressive feat for Ohio Wesleyan.

“As we try to encourage intellectual growth on this campus, it is important to match that in other environments that we provide to our students,” she said.

The new Food Court will be open next fall.

Sigma Chi’s Derby Days raises money for children’s network

By Megan Dill
Transcript Correspondent

Last week, Sigma Chi (Sig Chi) put on their annual philanthropy event, Derby Days, to benefit Children’s Miracle Network. Derby Days is a week-long event that consists of various competitions among the Greek community. This year, there were six teams—one for each sorority and team “GDI,” an independent non-Greek team.

This year Sig Chi created the theme “Derby Vines,” a play on the name of the clothing brand Vineyard Vines. On Monday, Sig Chi held a banner-making competition. Each team was instructed to design a banner promoting the philanthropy and Derby Days. On Tuesday, teams participated in “sign a sig”, where they needed to sign any Sig Chi’s shirt that they saw. On Thursday, teams were commissioned to paint a cooler for Sig Chi with a design consistent with the “Derby Vines” theme.

Several competitions were hosted throughout the week, including bake sales and t-shirt sales each day.
On Friday night, a balloon party was hosted at the Sig Chi house.

The party paid tribute to the fraternity’s philanthropy organization, Children’s Miracle Network, and to announce the week’s winner—Delta Gamma. Children’s Miracle Network is a non-profit international organization founded in 1982 that raises funds for children’s medical research and children’s hospitals, according to its website. The foundation has raised over $4.7 billion dollars in its 30 years of existence.

Sig Chi donates all of the Derby Days proceeds to Children’s Miracle Network each year. This year junior Tim O’Keeffe, a member of Sig Chi, said he was thrilled to be a part of raising money for a good cause.

“Being able to support Children’s Miracle Network is one of my favorite parts of being a Sig Chi brother,” he said. “It’s such an amazing organization and I am so proud to be able to help out sick children every year.”

O’Keeffe said he thinks charity work is an important part of the Greek community.

“People don’t usually think about charity work when they think of Greek life,” he said. “Instead, they think of parties and drinking. But I think it is important to show off the causes that each chapter on campus supports. That’s what I love about hosting Derby Days.”

Cultural food workshop serves Latin cuisine to campus

By Jija Dutt
Transcript Correspondent

Three student organizations used food as a way to educate about different cultures with a cultural food workshop on Thursday, April 18. Junior Ashley Madera, moderator of the Citizens of the World (COW) House, and senior Katherine Buckingham, a resident of the Modern Foreign Language (MFL) House, spearheaded the event. A few members of Ohio Wesleyan’s Latin American culture group, VIVA, were also involved in the planning and execution of the event.

The event was a part of Madera and Buckingham’s respective house projects, which are “a way for a member of a SLU (Small Living Unit) to share the values of their house with the OWU community,” according to Buckingham.

Madera said her favorite part of organizing house projects is how they can be used as learning experiences.

“For this project especially, we used food to show how different these countries can be although they are all Spanish-speaking and a part of Latin America,” she said.

Chartwells, OWU’s dining service provider, coordinated with the students to put together the event. The two-hour workshop took place in Smith dining hall. A set number of student participants and three faculty members attended the event, in addition to those who helped plan it.

Jeremy Baskes, associate professor of history; Christopher L. Fink, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Health and Human Kinetics; and Patricio Plazolles, program officer of the Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship were the faculty that assisted.

At the event, the faculty and VIVA members helped run the cooking stations.

The students rotated between the stations to cook tostones and mojo, chiles rellenos, ensalada de choclo, and alfajores. These are dishes from Cuba, Mexico, Peru and Argentina, respectively. Madera, who was the most familiar with the dishes, acted as the lead cooking instructor throughout the event.

“The most important part for me was to know that the students were enjoying themselves and learning new skills,” she said. “I believe that the accessibility of the recipes allowed those students who had never cooked before to realize that with a little practice and instructions, these seemingly difficult dishes are not as complicated.”

Junior John Bieniek, one of the participants in the workshop, said it was a good hands-on experience for people who do not know how to cook.

“It was important to learn about the history of each dish and what goes into making them,” he said. “The final result was the best meal that I can remember.”

Madera said she was already getting a lot of positive feedback from all those who were a part of it.

“I really believe that food is a great way to explore cultures around the world and I hope to bring this event back with other cultural organizations on campus,” she said.

Sexual violence and patriarchy are men’s issues, too

By Spenser Hickey
Assistant Copy Editor

Reading the story on sexual assault reporting on pages 4 and 5 and the above editorial about two young rape victims, I am reminded again of the double atrocities involved with rape—the act itself and the way we as a society treat those who have survived it after they come forward.

This was never clearer than during and after the Steubenville rape trial, as the teenage survivor—named by several media channels—had to suffer again under an onslaught of threats, or insults, of those who said “she was asking for it.”

Some said because she’d gone to the party and gotten as drunk as she did, she hadn’t really been raped.
That’s one of stupidest arguments I’ve ever heard. It’s a statement so idiotically backward it’s almost comedic, if it weren’t so serious.

By legal definition, the fact that she was so intoxicated means that any sexual act would automatically be rape, because she could not consent. It’s the law.

And yet there were still many who said, on various social media sites, that she was “asking for it.”
It makes me sick just to write that. It’s victim-blaming at its darkest and most vile. It’s also something that’s rarely, if at all, applied to any other crime out there.

Say a man walked out of a bar after having a few too many beers and was robbed at knife point.
Would any one, aside from maybe the thief’s lawyer, try to make the serious argument that it wasn’t really theft because the man was drunk, or maybe he just gave the man his wallet and then regretted doing so and called it a theft afterwards?

Of course not.

And yet those are common arguments held against rape survivors who speak out in court—well, some rape survivors, that is.

Look back at the Jerry Sandusky trial—no one in the media was talking about the negative impact his sentence would have on his life as if it were a tragedy, as they did frequently during the Steubenville trial.

There was no public movement accusing those survivors of lying, or of having brought their assault upon themselves.

Often, many who do not overtly blame survivors for their assaults offer suggestions on how not to be raped.

“Women should avoid dressing like sluts,” one Toronto police officer said in 2011 when asked what could be done to prevent rapes.

The statement led to the Canadian and US SlutWalk movement, held here at OWU the past two years. The movement, often a march, attempts to reclaim the derogatory term while demonstrating that rape is caused by perpetrators, not what survivors were wearing at the time.

It’s a common view that the burden to prevent rape lies with the survivors, not those truly responsible for such acts.

This view is at the heart of the documentary “The Invisible War,” shown recently at Ohio Wesleyan.
The U.S. military, working to stem a sexual assault epidemic within their ranks, focused on PSAs urging women not to walk alone at night and other risk reduction tips.

While these may help to prevent rapes, they do little to address the root cause of the problem, instead perpetuating it by telling women they need to avoid being raped rather than telling men not to rape.
While rape can—and does—happen between all genders and sexual orientations, Department of Justice statistics say 99 percent of reported rapists are male.

It is with us men that the responsibility for preventing rape lies, either by not carrying out such atrocious crimes ourselves or by taking action as bystanders to stop them before they occur.

While ending them for survivors’ sake should be enough of a reason to take on societal ills of patriarchy and rape culture, we men are also harmed by such negative concepts, as they portray us as sex- and control-crazed monsters, void of emotion and ready to rape at any moment.

So what can OWU students—male or female—do to address these problems?

As a start, attend programming: house projects and discussion-based events (such as the recent “It Is My Business” workshop); film showings (like “The Invisible War”) or student performances of “The Vagina Monologues.”

Building from that, go to a club meeting, like Sisters United, or be active as a supporter at Take Back the Night or SlutWalk. It’s an emotional experience but a worthy one, and a step to a better future.

Two rape survivors, two tragic stories

By Elizabeth Childers
Managing Editor

Late last year, when the shocking and unbelievable events in Steubenville, Ohio, came to light, I was conflicted, as I assume many people probably were. What those football players did was wrong, but the victim should have been responsible for herself. Both of these clauses are correct. However, the fact that the victim had poor judgment was no excuse for what happened to her. But, I digress.

After 2013 dawned and we all survived the “Mayan Apocalypse,” two young men were arrested for the sexual assault of this young woman. Though they were minors—ages 16 and 17—I had assumed, due to the type of crime they committed, they would be tried as adults. Imagine my surprise when the judge who regretfully sentenced them sat on the bench in juvenile court—as if their crime was befitting a juvenile.

Why am I reminding you of this uncomfortable moment in recent history? Because this isn’t the only one. When the Boston bombing occurred, the media turned a relatively blind eye to many happenings in other corners of the globe. A fertilizer plant exploded in Texas and killed 14 people, for example. And an earthquake in China left 207 dead. There’s also the story of the arrest of three young men who raped a fellow student (unconscious) at a party, drew graffiti on her body and disseminated the photos afterwards. The young Californian, feeling she had no way out, hanged herself. This assault occurred on Labor Day weekend of last year.

There are more than one or two similarities between this young woman’s story and the girl from Steubenville’s. They’d been at a party with “friends,” they had been drinking, their rape was documented by photos and the multiple assailants were underage. The biggest difference is fairly significant. The California girl, Audrie Potts, has a family who’s fighting for her.

That’s not to say the Steubenville girl’s family didn’t. I’m sure they were supportive of their daughter and wanted justice as well. Whether or not they got the justice they deserved, I guess it’s up to them to answer that question. The Potts family, however, is demanding action—that the boys be tried as adults and a certain California law be changed by what Potts’ mother hopes to call “Audrie’s Law.”

There is a bigger picture here, as always. The media continues to cover stories like this, but they seem to avoid two questions. The first: does it really have to come down to someone killing themselves before any action takes place? Steubenville coverage made the young men who committed the crime look like the victims. Even in Potts’s case, the media is showing a large amount of skepticism as to why the family is being so vocal now, months after the fact. These are crimes that should have no expiration date, and skepticism makes it much more difficult for those who have been assaulted on the most personal level to be taken seriously. It shouldn’t take a noose to spur a new way of thinking.

The second question: what the hell are we teaching our kids? These criminals and these victims are young. Too young. In a world where everything is so interconnected, with a media so focused on being edgier, being sexier, we’ve forgotten why there are rating systems on movies, video games and television programs. I’m not blaming the media for how quickly our children are “growing up.” I’m blaming, to some extent, their parents. It shouldn’t occur to a 16-year-old boy, sober or drunk, to rape someone. It shouldn’t be permissible for a 16-year-old girl to get wasted. Truth be told, this behavior shouldn’t be condoned for anyone at any age, but people aren’t perfect. Children don’t make smart decisions. They’re not supposed to. Instead, they’re supposed to be accountable to someone, presumably parental units, until they’re old enough to think things through. And parents should be accountable to their offspring. Teenagers shouldn’t be making adult decisions—and mistakes—in a life that’s barely started.

I don’t want to live in a PG world. In fact, I like it R-rated. But there are issues, like treating rape as a serious crime, its victims as real victims, and its perpetrators like the criminals they are, that need to be resolved. I can’t be the only person out there who still thinks if a teenager wants to act like an adult, they best be ready to deal with adult consequences.

This is my last editorial as an editor for The Transcript. Instead of saying fond farewells and making snide comments about how I will not be missing the food, I am giving my last editorial to these girls, and to anyone who has been a victim of a violent crime, especially at such an age where life should be good.

Looking forward: What you can expect from The Transcript

In February, I wrote about why The Transcript exists and what we stand for as Ohio Wesleyan’s journalistic entity. While we do have financial ties to the university that keep us in print, we are an independent news organization, not a public relations service or promotional machine. This has been true since we printed our first issue in 1867, and it will never change.

Soon, though, a few things will. At the end of the semester, two of our most valuable editors—sports editor Heather Kuch, and managing editor, online editor and business manager Elizabeth Childers—will graduate. They will leave big shoes to fill, and the staff will certainly miss them. But they’ve helped us set The Transcript on a new path.

Over the past twelve weeks, the Transcript staff have done our best to pursue the truth and report it to the OWU and Delaware communities. We’ve published formerly untold stories that deserve to be heard, in-depth investigations of important issues, commentary on relevant events and topics that deserve editorial attention, and coverage of the incredibly active campus we call home.

This, first and foremost, is what you can expect from The Transcript. In the next semester and those following our pages will continue to be filled with the information Ohio Wesleyan deserves to know.
You can also expect to have more opportunities to give us feedback about what we do. Next semester we will have at least two open forums with the entire editorial staff to put faces to the bylines, answer questions and receive comments from the campus community about how The Transcript can serve it better.
Additionally, our online coverage will extend beyond the stories in the paper every Thursday. In the capable hands of incoming online editor Sophie Crispin, The Transcript’s website will become more interactive and feature content exclusive to the internet. You can also expect our social media presence to be bigger—you won’t be able to keep us out of your news feeds.

We also expect a less obvious improvement with the help of incoming business manager Anji Herman—more advertising.

It’s arguable that no one likes ads. They take up space and get in the way of the content that is the heart of our paper. But they have an indirect benefit. Advertising is The Transcript’s only revenue source besides the money the administration allocates to the journalism department, and that revenue is what we rely on to make our coverage as thorough and engaging as possible. Put simply, more money means more tools for us to produce content that further illuminates the stories we print.

You can also expect The Transcript to have a new look in the fall. The inside pages will become more consistent with the front-page flag with which we’ve branded ourselves since 2009 to create a more recognizable, attractive publication.

As independent as The Transcript is, we won’t be able to achieve these goals without you.

We exist for the benefit of Ohio Wesleyan students, faculty and staff, as well as residents of Delaware. We want to know when we’re not serving you as well as we could be. It’s our responsibility to hold ourselves accountable and live up to our journalistic standards in the first place. But we want to be called out and corrected when we need to be. We will do everything in our power not to create such situations, but if we slip up—as humans are wont to do—we want to know.

We’re also always in need of people to join us in these ventures. If you have any interest or experience in journalism, photography, web design, page design, video or proofreading, come to our first meeting in the second week of the fall semester, and consider registering for JOUR 378. We welcome anyone and everyone, and we’re always incredibly grateful for the help.

Journalism at Ohio Wesleyan has a bright future, and we see The Transcript as being an integral part of it. Thank you for your continued support and criticism. We hope you’ll join us for what’s ahead.

Noah Manskar
Editor-in-Chief

Films revisit memories, melodies and the perfect pie

A photo from senior Brittany Vickers documentary, “A Mouthful of Memories.” The film focuses on Vickers’s grandmother, the third adult from the left.

By Ellin Youse
A&E Editor

Audience members listened to sounds of nature, watched University Chaplain Jon Powers deliver his opening prayer before Michelle Obama’s October speech and learned how to make one of grandma’s famous pie crusts at Friday night’s Ninth Annual Documentary Film Festival.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Ohio Wesleyan Media Center sponsored the event held at the Strand Theater on Friday. The films in the festival were the work of students in OWU’s Ethnographic and Documentary Film and Filmmaking class, taught by Professor of Anthropology Mary Howard and Director of Media Services Chuck Della Lana.
The festival showcased five documentaries. The first was by juniors Maggie Medearis, Max Bruch and Ashley Taylor. The film, titled “VDV: Always Remembered,” reflected on former OWU student Jake Von Der Vellen, who lost his life in a car accident last year.
The film focused on Von Der Vellen’s impact on students and his relationships around campus. Medearis, Bruch and Taylor interviewed Von Der Vellen’s Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers, friends and family for the film and showed their journey through grief over the loss of their loved one.
Because the three students were friends with Von Der Vellen, Medearis said the filmmaking process was emotionally charged.
“We had to make sure our judgment of what was best for the film was not being influenced too much by our emotional attachment to the project,” she said.
“Our professors told us they had a group from a previous class with a similar topic as ours, and they were not able to finish the film because emotionally it was too hard. We were definitely cautious of this when taking on this project, but we owed it to Jake to share his story.”
The filmmakers opening the floor to questions from the audience after each film. Bruch said the experience made the group more connected to Von Der Vellen than ever before.
“We got to know him all over again,” he said.
Medearis said the experience was cathartic for the group, and making the film was “rewarding” in two ways.
“The first was I felt like I became better friends with Jake through film and got to know him better,” she said. “The other rewarding part was having everyone see the film. Having Jake’s family, the Sig Ep brothers and other friends telling me they loved it or how much it meant to them made me feel like I did a good thing, and that we did Jake justice. It was so rewarding hearing some people say they didn’t know Jake, but after the film, they felt like they did. It made me feel like we truly honored Jake’s memory.”
The second film, “Mouthful of Memories” by senior Brittany Vickers, investigated the life and personality of her grandmother through food.
Vickers told the audience the story began as a look at how food helps strengthen a family, but upon hearing the testimonies of her family members she realized there was a much larger story to be told.
Each of her family members’ references to food began with a story of Vickers’s grandmother.
“I was really lost when I first started trying to think of a topic,” Vickers said. “I actually almost did my film on Delaware, but ended up thinking of my interest in health and wellness and how my family has had such a huge influence on me in that area.
“I wanted to know about their food history and how they had grown up with nutrition, but when I started asking them questions they all circled back to my grandmother and how she lies at all of their food memories. But because I never met her, I needed to ask them more questions about her to understand how she affected them. It became increasingly obvious that I needed to change the focus of my documentary to be about her and how she shapes my family even today.”
In her film, Vickers interviewed various family members about food and family to piece together a portrait of her grandmother’s love.
She said the love she was able to recreate for her family to enjoy was the most rewarding part of experience. Since she never met her grandmother, Vickers said she felt she now has access to “these wonderful memories and stories about her that I never would have known.”
Vickers said she finished the film before Christmas Eve, when she showed it to her family at their annual holiday gathering.
“Everyone cried and everyone told me they absolutely loved it,” she said. “It was so amazing to become even more connected with my family through this experience—not only my aunts and uncles, but cousins and extended family as well as my mom, dad and brother. And of course to my grandma.”
The third film of the evening focused on the history and everyday proceedings of OWU’s improv troupe, the Babbling Bishops.
A collaboration by junior Natalie Duleba and senior Dave Winnyk, the film “In Search of The Funny: From Babies to Babblers” interviewed alumni “babblers” and current troupe members about the all aspects of Babbling Bishop life, from the troupe’s founding to the intimidating audition process and the group’s annual trip to Chicago to practice with professional actors.
When Howard announced the fourth film of the evening, she explained to the audience she was “worried the students weren’t going to be able to pull together, but I’m told they did and did so quite well.”
In their film “In a Footstep,” junior Karena Briggs and junior Erika Nininger looked at the ways environments shape music. Exploring places like a serene mountainside and a bustling city, the film showed the audience that music is a reflection of its surroundings.
To prove the point, Briggs and Nininger interviewed a New York City saxophonist named Dusty Rhodes who called the streets his stage. In his interview, Rhodes told Nininger his music was inspired by all the movement around him.
“There is always a lot of rhythm around me,” Rhodes said in the film. “People, pigeons, footsteps. Everything is harmony.”
The film complimented sounds of classical and soft rock music with shots of rushing water and breathtaking tree tops. In their question-and answer segment, Nininger and Briggs said the film was shot locally in Delaware, as well as New York City and San Francisco.
The final film of the night was “Oh Chaplain, My Chaplain!” by junior Anthony Lamoureux and senior Macauley O’Connor. Although they said they would have liked to incorporate all of the wonderful personalities in OWU’s Chaplain Office, they focused on one in particular—University Chaplain Jon Powers.
The Chaplain can be found in his office, in the classroom or even in Chappelear Drama Center as an audience member or performer (he played the role of U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in OWU’s production of “8”). With Powers’s whereabouts seemingly changing every day, Lamoureux and O’Connor immersed themselves in interviews to get the full scope of Powers’s personality for the project.
“My one regret is that we couldn’t include all the interviews we conducted in the actual film,” O’Connor said in the question-and-answer session.
The emphasis on Powers’s interfaith journey and his support for the LGBTIQA community during the film revealed the compassionate and empathetic nature of his personality. Powers’s role as a counselor and supporter for OWU’s community is one of the film’s major themes.
Sophomore Kyle Simon said in the film that had it not been for Chaplain Powers, he would not “be here today, or at least be in a much darker place.”
“Chaplain Powers saved my life,” he said.
After the discussion, Lamoureux and O’Connor invited Powers to the front of the room for a comment on the film, but upon reaching them Powers extended his arms and encompassed both men in his embrace.
“I am speechless,” he said. “I only wish the film could have showed the entirety of the Chaplain’s Office, for they are such an amazing and hard working group. But this…this is such an honor.”

Women’s tennis defeats Heidelberg, loses to Wittenberg and Baldwin-Wallace

By Jacob Beach
Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan women’s tennis team recorded their third win of the season on Thursday April 18 against the Student Princes of Heidelberg University.
The victory capped off a week of two home losses—one against conference rival Wittenberg on Tuesday, and the other against the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets on Friday.
Facing Wittenberg in the early part of the last week proved to be a challenge for the Bishops. However, the team showed much improvement against the conference rival compared to last season’s competition.
The Tigers won the match, taking four of the six victories in singles competition and one of three doubles matches, totaling a 5 to 4 victory for the Tigers.
Sophomores Whitney Lonnemann and Ellie Magner partnered up in doubles to defeat their Wittenberg opponents 8-5.

Freshmen Meghan Gutherie partnered with Magner to capture the victory in first doubles 8-1. On the singles side of competition against the Tigers, both Lonnemann and Magner took the only two victories in singles play, both in two sets. At number-3 singles, Lonneman defeated Wittenberg’s Kaitlin Payne 6-1 and 6-0. Magner, playing at 4 singles versus Wittenberg won 7-5 and 6-0. The team’s only victory last week came Thursday against the Student Princes of Heidelberg. The singles competition was fierce—the teams split one through six singles 3-3, with the victories coming from sophomore Alexandra Webb at number-one singles, Lonnemann at number-three and Magner at the four singles slot.

The pair of Guthrie and Webb took number-one doubles alongside their teammates Lonnemann and Magner at the number-two doubles spot, solidifying their victory over the Student Princes.

Last Friday the team capped off their week at home with a match against Baldwin-Wallace.

Lonneman had the only singles victory against the Yellow Jackets and extended her individual win streak to a staggering six wins. The only doubles victory came from Gutherie and Webb, who combined to beat the number-one doubles pair from Baldwin-Wallace 8-6.

The team ended their regular season on April 23 against Central State and will begin North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament play this weekend. With the victory over Wittenberg, the Bishops move to 3-14 in the regular season.

Boston attack leaves 3 dead, more maimed

Photo by Aaron Tang on Flickr Police, runners and first responders at the scene of one of the two bombs detonated Monday during the Boston Marathon. The explosions happened near the Boylston Street finish line. — Photo by Aaron Tang on Flickr
Police, runners and first responders at the scene of one of the two bombs detonated Monday during the Boston Marathon. The explosions happened near the Boylston Street finish line.

By Spenser Hickey
Assistant Copy Editor

Glass and blood stained the sidewalks, buildings shook and runners were knocked to the ground during the two explosions that killed at least three people during the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15.
So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The bombings occurred almost simultaneously at 2:50 p.m. and took place “50 to 100 yards apart” along the route to the finish line on Boylston Street, according to a press statement by Boston police commissioner Ed Davis.

“Each scene resulted in multiple casualties,” he said.

As of the time of publication, no suspects were in police custody and it is not publicly known whether the bombing was the work of domestic or foreign terrorists.

News of the bombing quickly spread among the OWU community, particularly over Facebook. Many students posted messages of love, support and prayer for those in Boston. Several students who posted are from the Boston area.

Sophomore Matthew Hunter, who lives near Boston, said in an email, that hearing of the bombing left him in “absolute disbelief.”

“It was terrifying because I have friends who were working the finish line,” he said. His friends’ shifts ended “about 30” minutes before the bombs detonated nearby.

Hunter said every year he was in high school, he watched the end of the marathon from the Prudential Center, near the finish line.

“It’s a strange situation,” he said. “I never considered that something like this could happen during the marathon. It’s such an iconic event and back home everyone stops what they are doing to watch. In hindsight I can see why it was a target.”

Junior Rachel Vinciguerra, who lives 15 minutes from Boston, said in an email she didn’t hear about the attacks until 6 p.m.

“I was shocked when I heard what had happened,” she said.

“Bostonians love their city and this attack couldn’t have come at a much more vulnerable time. For such a tragedy to take place on a day that should be filled with so much joy is crushing. I hope that the people responsible will be identified—mostly for the future safety of the city. In order for us to protect against another incident like that, I think it’s important to understand what happened.”

Vinciguerra said her mother had run in the marathon before, and one of her high school friends and one mother’s coworkers ran this year. Her mother was with her sister on a visit to Syracuse University and their friends were unharmed, but she said it was “certainly a scary moment.”

She said seeing the replays of the explosion were “really difficult.”

“I know those buildings,” she said. “I’ve walked down those streets before with my family and by myself. It’s really hard for me to even fathom that this has happened in a city that has always felt so safe to me.”

Despite the bombing, she said the first responders’ promptness reminded her how safe the city is.

“They were incredible and I am so proud that they serve where they do,” she said. “As for America, I don’t really have an idea one way or the other of whether this was a domestic attack or an international attack, but I feel like you can’t let these things get to you… I might be a little more alert than usual, but I refuse to be scared…because an attack like this is meant to shake people up and I don’t want to give in to that….I’m just glad to know that my loved ones are safe and am keeping all of those affected in my prayers. If Boston is anything, it is stubborn and resilient. We’ll bounce back.”

On Monday night, the popular Facebook page OWU Compliments posted a message “To other Bostonians at OWU” saying they hoped “all your friends & family are OK and were far away from Boylston when the bombs went off.”

“You are wonderful and resilient people,” said the post, signed by “a broken heart 12 hours from Heartbreak Hill.”

Amid the shock and devastation in Boston, stories of heroism began to emerge.

CNN reported some marathon runners turned and ran back into the blast zone alongside first responders to help their comrades. NBC Sports’ Twitter feed said other runners continued the marathon all the way to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they then donated blood to help victims.

Following news of the bombings, reports said there had been another explosion at Boston’s JFK Library; later reports said it was a fire.

“We’re recommending to people that they stay home, if they’re in hotels in the area that they return to their rooms, and that they don’t go any place and congregate in large crowds,” Davis said.

“We want to make sure we completely stabilize the situation.”

Davis said two hotlines have been set up: one at (617) 635-4500 to help families find loved ones who were at the scene, and another at (1-800) 494-8477 for witnesses to contact law enforcement about what they may have seen.

“We don’t have the whole picture yet, but we have gotten a good deal of information,” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said during the press conference.

Davis said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Massachusetts National Guard, as well as “assets from other agencies,” were assisting the police.

Patrick said he received a phone call from President Obama around 4:15 p.m., assuring him the FBI would fully cooperate with the investigation.

Shortly after 6 p.m., Obama addressed the nation, giving a statement to the press from the White House.
He praised the response of Boston police and firefighters, saying “it’s a reminder that so many Americans serve and sacrifice on our behalf every day.”

“I’ve directed the full resources of the federal government to state and local authorities to help protect our people, increase security around the United States as necessary and investigate what happened,” Obama said.

He urged Americans not to jump to conclusions, but vowed to bring those responsible to justice.
“We still do not know who did this or why,” he said.

“But make no mistake—we will get to the bottom of this, and we will find out who did this. We’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.”

At a later press conference after 9 p.m. Monday, Davis said he offered his sympathies to the victims.
“Those responsible will be brought to justice,” he said.

In a later statement Tuesday morning, Obama announced the FBI was treating the bombing as an “act of terrorism.”

“This was a heinous and cowardly act… (a)ny time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror,” he said.

“The American people refuse to be terrorized, because what the world saw yesterday – the aftermath of the explosions – were stories of heroism and kindness and generosity and love… So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil, that’s it – selflessly, compassionately, unafraid.”

Greeks take a week to celebrate and give back

The Orange Team, comprised of Alpha Sigma Phi (Alpha Sig) and Delta Zeta (DZ), won Greek Week’s Spirit Award and the award for most points. In the foreground are sophomores Rebecca Caserta, Marisa Lucian and Courtney Parker of DZ; sophomore Austin Daniels of Alpha Sig is behind them.

By Spenser Hickey
Assistant Copy Editor

This year’s Greek Week, running from April 8-12, featured seven events designed to increase the bonds between fraternity and sorority members, and encourage Greek students to do acts of service.

The events included a Monday performance by comedian Evan Wecksell, a Tuesday canned food sculpture competition, Greek Olympics on Wednesday, a clothing drive Thursday and an all-Greek barbecue on Fraternity Hill Friday evening.

This year’s theme was “Greeks Give Back,” which incorporated community service into the events. During the week members of the Greek community collectively donated 586 pounds of canned or boxed goods and 2,705 articles of clothing.

“This week has been a really good reminder of the fact that we are service organizations,” sophomore Rebecca Caserta of Delta Zeta (DZ) said.

Levi Harrel, residential life coordinator (RLC) for Smith Hall and Greek Week adviser, said this year’s service theme was new.

“(Greek Week) is service-orientated, but (the theme) changes every year,” he said. “It’s really what our student planning committee comes up with and is a reflection of what that community wants that year.”

Junior Rachel Tallmadge, a member of the planning committee, said in an email the theme was chosen because “(t)he entire OWU Greek Life community is committed to philanthropy and service.

“In order to get people engaged, we wanted to play off of the passions that already exist,” she said.

The planning committee worked with Harrel and “bought supplies, contacted judges, made the advertisements (and) set up the events,” according to Tallmadge. She said the committee was “really proud” of the end result.

At each event, fraternities and sororities competed together as part of five teams, picked primarily by size but also with the goal of bringing together chapters that normally don’t interact.

The teams included the Purple Team of Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delt) and Delta Delta Delta; the Red Team of Delta Gamma (DG), Chi Phi and Phi Kappa Psi; the Orange Team of DZ and Alpha Sigma Phi (Alpha Sig); the Green Team of Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Phi Epsilon; and the Blue Team of Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Beta Sigma and Sigma Chi.

At the end of the all-Greek barbecue—the week’s “culminating event,” according to Harrel—awards were given to the most spirited team, the highest scorer and the week’s Greek “god” and “goddess.”

Harrel selected the spirit award himself. Teams earned points through donations and member attendance at events. Students chose the Greek god and goddess in an online election.

The two team awards both went to the Orange Team, while the laurel crowns for god and goddess went to couple Marshall Morris and Meredith Wholley, both seniors. Morris is a member of Phi Delt and Wholley, a member of DG.

Greek god candidates junior Anthony Lamoreux, senior Andrew Dos Santos, senior Marshall Morris and senior Clerel Djamen wait for Levi Harrel

Harrel said deciding the spirit award came “down to the last minute,” but ultimately he found the Orange Team best showed the “inter-fraternal spirit of what Greek Week was about.”

The Orange Team also earned 1,140 points, 35 more than the second-place Red Team.

Both Morris and Wholley said they didn’t expect to win, but Wholley said she had “a really good campaign team behind (her).”

Wholley’s team consisted of her sisters, who put 500 posters around campus in the days beforehand, according to sophomore Ali Smith of DG.

“We campaigned hard,” she said.

Many students present at the barbecue, including Morris, Wholley, Smith and Reynolds, said they thought the week went well.

“I feel like they’ve brought the community together,” Smith said.

Wholley said she liked being teamed up with other organizations.

“It was a really good bonding experience between some of the teams and I’m really glad,” she said. “Last year we focused on recycling, and this year we focused on donating.”

Senior Catherine Spence-Godin said she thought the teams were “competitive,” but also “respectful and supportive.”

Sophomore Jon Rodriguez of Alpha Sig said he thought the week brought his fraternity and DZ closer.
“We worked together to get where we are,” he said.

Sophomore Grace Thompson of DZ said the week improved as it progressed.

Levi Harrel pictured with the candidates for Greek goddess—senior Molly Curry, senior Rachel Rose, senior Amy Siemon, senior Meredith Wholley and sophomore Grace Thompson to award the laurel crowns to each winner

“I think Greek Olympics were probably the best because all of the sororities and fraternities were actually all together,” she said. “…I feel like the clothing drive was really the most service-oriented thing, and that was really successful.”

Sophomore Christian Gehrke of Alpha Sig said the week was “a good opportunity” for Greek charity.

“I just saw bags and bags and bags (of clothes) and it’s great—it just put a smile on my face,” he said. “(I’m) just glad that something good outside of all of us is happening.”

Spence-Godin said the service aspect was “wonderful.”

“I think the fact that they raised as many more cans than they have in the previous years was great,” she said.

Harrel the canned food donated was the most given to the organization at any one time.

Harrel said this year’s Greek Week was an attempt to “reinvent” the tradition.

“Our whole point this year was … (to) really build from the ground up so that it changes, it’s more substantial, it’s lasting and that we’re building a legacy, and I think that the energy surrounding it is already doing that,” he said.

During a speech at the awards ceremony, Harrel said the participants reinvigorated Greek Week at OWU.
“Regardless of whether you get (an award) or not, you made a difference,” he said.