Category: News

In response to student upset over a lack of short-term parking, Wesleyan Counsel on Student Affairs and Public Safety will be installing three parking meters in attempt to prevent ticketing.

The parking meters will be located in the parking lots outside of Hamilton Williams, Welch/Thomson Store and Smith Hall. The designated parking spots will be placed close to the entrances of each building, and for a quarter students will be allotted a fifteen-minute time slot.

Freshman Lauren Holler, WCSA representative and chairman of the WCSA Residential Affairs Committee, said the meters are to provide students with a convenient space for quick, in-and-out parking.

“Our committee and Public Safety want to reduce the number of tickets students receive for parking in the wrong permit zone while running into their dorm or a building,” Holler said. “For example, if a freshman with a C permit quickly parks in Welch because he forgot a textbook in his Thomson dorm, he might come back out to his car to find a $25 ticket for parking in the wrong zone.”

Sophomore Tim O’Keefe, a chairman for WCSA’s Residential Affairs Committee, said although parking is a general complaint from students, the extreme student outcry over the high price of parking tickets inspired the project.

“The (parking) meters are really the only solution we saw for the ticketing problem,” O’Keefe said. “Students who need to get in-and-out will park in, say, a fire lane for ten minutes and get a $40 ticket from Public Safety. We need to make it easier for students to get from place to place without getting ticketed.”

Students who park in a lot they are not permitted to park in can receive a $25 ticket while students who park in handicap spots or fire lanes can be fined up to $40.

Officer Bob Wood, Head of Public Safety, said the parking meters were the best way to provide students with convenient parking and enforce short-term parking.

When brainstorming solutions to the parking situation, Wood said he and the Residential Affairs Committee debated between two options to alleviate student ticketing.

One option being the parking meters and another being a “Ten-Minute Parking Only” sign.

Wood said the meters were the preferable option as a sign would allow students to occupy the short-term spaces for longer periods of time, but would be difficult for Public Safety to enforce.

“We are constantly trying to improve parking conditions for students,” Wood said. “The parking meter proposal is the best method of both providing students with convenient parking and allowing us to enforce those spots stay open and fluctuating.”

All money collected from the meters will be directly deposited into the Student Activity Fund.

This fund benefits student organizations and clubs.

The committee is installing three parking meters because the project is currently on a trial basis.
Depending on the success of the meters, more meters will be installed in various lots around campus.

“I personally believe it is a win-win situation,” Holler said.

“I know I would rather pay a quarter than chance a $25 ticket, and it is nice to know that quarter just goes back to benefitting me and the rest of the student body.”

Sam Newman
Sigma Chi

In his own words: “I decided to plan Derby Days this year because as a graduating senior I want to stay involved in my fraternity and on campus. Using the knowledge I have gained from my experience with three Derby Days and multiple sorority events, I want to put on a program that is fun, charitable, and have it be something to remember.”
Derby Days is Sigma Chi’s annual philanthropy event that raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Sigma Chi chapters all across the country have been using Derby Days to raise money for various charities.
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has grown dramatically since its founding in 1983 from a televised fundraiser in a small studio to one of the North America’s leading children’s charities. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals was founded with two simple goals: help as many children as possible by raising funds for children’s hospitals and keep funds in the community in which they were raised to help local children.

On April 3, S.T.R.I.D.E. held its final panel discussion of the year, entitled “Reflections: Hip-Hop’s Evolution and Influence on Society’s Content.” The panelists described what hip-hop means to our society.

The panelists included Sierra Austin, graduate teaching associate at OSU; junior Andrew Wilson, slam poet and SUBA treasurer; Adero Robinson, director of education Services at Columbus Urban League; Speak Williams, Columbus artist, writer and musician; and junior James Huddleston, member of Black Men of the Future.

They quickly jumped into discussion about the hip-hop of today.

“At this point, hip-hop touches every fabric because it can generate so much money,” Williams said. “At this point, hip-hop and pop culture are synonymous.”

Robinson said it is in many parts of society, including sports, classrooms and businesses.

“It has such an appeal because it catches the spirit,” Robinson said.

Wilson emphasized the influence of hip-hop on the fine arts.

“(Hip-hop has) had a huge impact in the realm of fine art,” he said. “Artists today work worldwide though their art.”

The panelists also discussed the common question of what the main differences are between rap and hip-hop.
“Hip-hop is so evolutionary,” Williams said. “Hip-hop is always being used historically as a cultural expression. Rap is more of an element to hip-hop, just like dance and graffiti are elements. Hip-hop is how you do it.”

“Hip-hop focuses more on the rhythm while rap is more of a lyrical expression from the artist,” Huddleston said.

As important as hip-hop has been to our society, the panelists said hip-hop has changed in the past 10 years.

Williams said hip-hop has evolved from something that was considered “rebel music” and something you did not want to get caught listening to.

He said since the early 2000s, hip-hop has become a lifestyle and a “total buy-in.”

“Artists might as well be like a political leader,” Williams said. “If Wiz (Khalifa) says ‘roll a doobie up,’ people roll a doobie up.”

He said that artists now do not live what they are rapping about and that he tells teenagers they cannot live their lives based on lyrics of artists who did not live on the streets.

“I tell kids that if you want to be a musician, don’t go into the music business,” Williams said. “If you want to be an actor, go into the music business.”

“It’s all about a false person and ego now,” Wilson said. “It’s not real.”

Williams also commented on the effects the industry has had on the success of hip-hop.

“Once the objective becomes selling records, everything goes out the window,” Williams said. “People don’t determine who is on the radio, the industry does.”

He said hip-hop will never be what it was, because in the future, it will be a different form of expression.
“Hip-hop has now married themselves to popular music,” Williams said.

“The music industry is here to stay as long as people are buying it. I think hip-hop will dismantle and become ‘electronic-rap-pop.’ At some time in the future, some people will get frustrated and form a new form of expression.”

Junior Sam Irvine, Student Assistantship Program (StAP) intern for the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, said S.T.R.I.D.E. is a dialogue series which has taken place on the first Tuesday of every month.

“Panelists are pulled from the Delaware and Franklin County area and also include members of our OWU community,” Irvine said.

“Not only does it allow our community to engage in open and honest dialogue, but it also connects students with members of the Delaware and Columbus community.”

4/1/12 5:45 p.m. – Public Safety dispatched to Bashford Hall on a student welfare concern.

4/2/12 2:00 p.m. – Damage to a Hertz rental van was reported to Public Safety by University Motor Pool staff.

4/2/12 3:10 p.m. – Public Safety dispatched to Science Center on a student welfare concern. The student did not require medical treatment.

4/3/12 1:43 a.m. – A Delaware juvenile was arrested by Delaware City Police following an incident in the Austin Manor parking lot.

4/6/12 7:25 p.m. – Public Safety dispatched to Hayes Hall after a smoke detector was activated by burnt food.

4/6/12 11:56 p.m. – Public Safety dispatched to Smith Hall on a student welfare concern.

4/7/12 9:30 p.m. – A resident of Smith Hall reported the theft of a baking dish and cheesecake from the fourth floor kitchenette.

4/8/12 2:05 p.m. – Public Safety dispatched to Modern Foreign Language House on a student welfare concern. The injured student was transported to Grady ER and later released.

The Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs is reforming Ohio Wesleyan’s sexual assault policy in response to new directives from the federal Department of Education.

The Student Conduct Committee is working with Michael Esler, judicial affairs coordinator, and Kimberlie Goldsberry, dean of students, in order to better adapt OWU to judicial policies.

The Department of Education oversees Title IX regulations of the High Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibit sexual discrimination, sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct.

Because it receives federal funds from the Department of Education, the university must implement all Title IX regulations and amendments.

According to Esler, the changes made to OWU’s policy will be minimal, as the policy is already synchronized with Department of Education mandates.

“It turns out that our policy was already in compliance with most of the new guidelines, so we had to make relatively minor changes,” he said.

One of those changes is dropping the current mediation policy and replacing it with one that gives OWU more authority to bring about a resolution between the parties involved.

Additionally, parties will no longer be allowed to cross-examine one another during informal prosecution.
Another change is in the policy’s format. Esler said he and the committee hope to make the policy more “user friendly.”

“Because we were already reviewing our policy in light of the new Title IX requirements, we added new language and rearranged some of the sections to bring more clarity to the policy,” he said.

“Much of this involved specifying parts of the policy that were not written as clearly as they could be and to put in writing details of the process that were not in writing already.”

Esler said he and the Student Conduct Committee have already moved a section providing resources for victims of sexual misconduct to the top of the policy to increase accessibility for student use.

Sophomore Matthew Swaim, WCSA representative and member of the Student Conduct Committee, says the committee hopes to “perfect” the policy in relation to the Title IX mandates they need to follow.

“We are using the University of Virginia’s sexual assault policy as a source of reference for our changes,” Swaim said.

“According to Dr. Esler, the University of Virginia’s policy is considered the ‘cream of the crop’ in accordance with the federal mandate from last year. “

Freshman Memme Onwudiwe said the policy is of the upmost importance to the committee.

“We have to protect victims of sexual assault, as well as those falsely accused,” he said. “To do that we need to make the policy as effective as possible.”

Ohio Wesleyan saved a mathematician last Thursday.

OWU survivors of the zombie apocalypse chose Craig Jackson, assistant professor of mathematics, as the faculty member most fitting to help start a new society at the Annual Life Raft debate.

The Student Honors Board has presented the debate since 2002. In the debate, representatives from many disciplines make their case to be saved in light of a zombie apocalypse, based on the usefulness of their chosen field.

The event pitted Jackson against representatives from the music, English, neuroscience and history departments, as well as a “devil’s advocate.”

Jackson put forth mathematics’ propensity for abstract thought as a primary argument for his rescue.

“As much as mathematics teaches you to answer questions, it also teaches you the correct questions to ask,” he said.“Lots of disciplines claim to ‘teach you how to think,’ and lots of them actually do; mathematics just does it best.”

Jackson said math is also a cornerstone of the foundations a new society would be built upon. It would help “monetize a barter economy” and understanding how to keep at bay the initial causes of the hypothetical apocalypse.

“You’ll also need mathematics if you want to know what happened to the climate system when we darken the sky in order to deprive the machines—or the zombies—of their energy source,” he said.

Jackson also cited films like “Jurassic Park,” “Sphere” and “Independence Day” as instances of mathematicians “saving the day.”

“As these examples indicate, when facing a potential apocalypse, you’re going to need a mathematician—our history and cultural mythology virtually demand it,” he said.

Additionally, Jackson said math itself has not been a culprit of “evil.”

“Anything evil that has come out of mathematics has come from physicists,” he said.

In his role as “devil’s advocate,” Lee Fratantuono, associate professor of classics, argued no one should be saved. He also questioned Jackson’s condemnation of physicists.

“There are these dark things mathematics has brought to us—polynomials, L’hopital’s rule, the Unabomber—and then the arrogance to blame a discipline that died,” he said. “The physics people are dead, and math can only mock them, mock their eviscerated corpses.”

In his appeal for rescue, Richard Edwards, professor of music education, said his knowledge of music would provide survivors with “happiness,” “entertainment” and “a unique way to express our emotions and ideas in a way that could rub off and interconnect to all the needs our future society might have.”

According to Edwards, music is a “universal human trait.”

He cited studies that show infants have similar neurological reactions to music as adults.

Toddlers also engage in “spontaneous musical activity,” making up songs about favorite toys.

Edwards also said he would work to cultivate these innate musical abilities in a new society.

“If I had the opportunity to reshape our world in a better way, I would hope to provide a nurturing musical environment for all of our children so that they could become musical and prosperous adults,” he said.

Fratantuono doubted music’s significance to a new civilization.

“I like music,” he said. “The zombies, I don’t know what they think of music. But I have nothing else to say—it’s music.”

Nancy Comorau, assistant professor of English, defended her discipline by first asserting its utility in building communication skills, especially outside the workplace.

“While we might not have the same occupational opportunities after the zombie apocalypse, certainly good communication will be important in rebuilding a society,” she said.

However, according to Comorau, English and literature’s influence on culture, rather than its practicality, was the primary reason it should be saved.

“Broadly writ, literature tells us who we are,” she said. “Good literature, and sometimes even bad literature, describes our world, and in describing it, it makes up our world.”

She also described literature as a “great cannibal” that integrates all other studies—including the others vying for deliverance—into it.

“Allowing English to enter the life raft allows a window into the host of disciplines we learn about, reflect on, research and use to read and write texts, because literature tells us who we are,” she said.

Fratantuono said English is an unstable discipline that “changes its name for nearly every crisis,” and forces itself upon developing minds too early.

“If you put English in this position, you condemn future generations—your children, your grandchildren—to take English 105, where they will be expected to write before they have read before they have read great
literature,” he said.

“They will be expected to be young writers before they have ever tasted what real literature is.”
Jennifer Yates, neuroscience program director, said she would be able to help the survivors understand the behavior of zombies.

Citing a Harvard neuroscientist, Yates said zombies suffer from a condition called “ataxic neurodegenerative satiety deficiency syndrome”—they cannot walk upright, they’re constantly hungry and their brains are deteriorating.

“All that radiation cutting out parts of the brain, that’s no good,” she said.
Yates attributed zombie’s “hyper aggression” to a failing frontal lobe and anterior cingulate cortex, both of which are neurological inhibitors.

“If your anterior cingulated cortex is toast, you’re not holding back all that anger,” she said. “That’s why zombies are cranky.”

Yates also postulated zombies moan because they’re constipated as a result of their narrow diet.
“The reason I would make that argument is that because the brain is very full of fat and protein, and there is
not a lick of fiber in it,” she said.

Fratantuono said it was not neuroscience Yates was representing, but psychology.

“Neuroscience, it’s basically a fancy word for, ‘we’ve come up with crueler and more sadistic ways to torture small animals,’” he said.

Finally, Michael Flamm , professor of history, said his discipline would help survivors form a new society without repeating past mistakes.

“History is to the nation as memory is to the individual,” he said. “As persons become deprived of memory they become disoriented and lost, not knowing where they have been or where they are going.”

Flamm also said history would inherently prevent individuals from becoming too self-centered.

“History is without question the best antidote we have to our delusions of omnipotence and omniscience—self-knowledge,” he said. “From history is the indispensable prelude to self-control, for the nation as well as the individual.”

Fratantuono denied Flamm’s overall assertion that “we are doomed to repeat what we do not understand.”

“They expect us to keep believing this lie, generation after generation, as they tell us nothing that is actually useful to us that wasn’t already taught by the discipline that gave birth to every discipline on this stage—that was classics,” he said.

Fratantuono also said classics students would be better equipped in a post-apocalyptic world.

“I assure you that on the day this apocalypse happens, the things that will be needed on that day—shotguns, quality firearms, quality Scotch—will be in the possession of Classics majors, not in the possession of the denizens of these five disciplines,” he said.

Whether for navigation or astrophysics, mankind has been studying the stars for centuries. On Tuesday, April 3, the Honor Board hosted a stargazing event with Gregory Mack, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, at the Student Observatory.

The Student Observatory is located between Peace and Justice House and Stuyvesant Hall. It houses a 9.5 inch refracting telescope made in 1896, Mack said.

According to Mack, the Honor Board hosted a star gazing event last spring, but the event was cancelled due to rain. This year, the sky was clear and the stars and planets were visible in the sky.
Mack gave students a tour of the observatory and located Venus, Mars and the Orion nebula in the telescope for students to view.

Senior Celeste Taylor took the opportunity to tour the observatory and look at the planets. She said even though she lives right next door to the observatory, she has never been inside.

“The Student Observatory really gives students who don’t have broad knowledge in astronomy unique experience in observing the universe,” Taylor said. “I got to see other planets for the first time so I was really excited about that.”

Taylor said it is important to study the stars because it puts us in a universal context.

“Knowing what is out there is important for a variety of reasons, including the fact that we may one day have to be able to identify why and how our planet fits in to a broader context,” Taylor said. “Astronomy combines many of the other scientific disciplines.”

Sophomore Sam Sonnega said he goes to the Student Observatory any chance he gets.

“Studying space holds an important role in recognizing the larger emergent patterns in our universe,” Sonnega said. “Gaining a more holistic understanding of the movements of the cosmos can allow us to better understand our place in them.”

Sonnega said the Student Observatory needs some renovations for structural stability. He said the telescope should be preserved because of the historical significance to OWU and Delaware.

Senior Brad Turnwald said he attended the event because he was curious to learn more about the stars and universe from Mack. He said it was a good opportunity to explore the Student Observatory.

“Dr. Mack demonstrated the role that the study of the universe has played throughout history ranging from an explanation to the origins of mankind and existence to a navigation tool,” Turnwald said.

“I learned how to use the North Star as a navigating tool, as well as a few of the constellations.”

Mack said he grew up looking at space. He said he used to sit outside with books about stars and try to locate constellations in the night sky.

“I bought my first telescope in eighth grade with paper-boy money,” Mack said. “I saw Jupiter and some nebulae. I came to OWU wanting to study astronomy and physics.”

Sophomore Matthew Jamison and junior Anna Cooper helped organize the event. Jamison said they wanted to host an event that was a good study break. He said Mack was enthusiastic about the event as well.

“The Honors Board hosts events to bring the OWU Honors community together,” Jamison said. “All of our events are free and open to all Honors students and some events, like stargazing or the Life Raft Debate we hosted last week, are open to the entire campus.”

Hungry members of the OWU Greek community gathered in Ham-Will April 2 to eat pasta for a cause.

Delta Delta Delta sorority’s annual fundraiser, Pasta for Life, raised over $1,300 for donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, according to sophomore Philanthropy Chair Marilyn Baer.

She said the food was provided by Chartwell’s, and money was raised by entrance fees and various raffles at the event.

“All raffle items were donated by either sorority members or local businesses,” Baer said.

Junior Mary Shinnick, president of Tri Delt, said all participants needed to do to support the cause was “come hungry,” although there was much more then just pasta available to supporters. She said the event lasted two hours, but people were free to come and go as they pleased.

“There was entertainment by DJ Marsh Madness, as well as raffle prizes up for grabs,” she said. “We also held a St. Jude Fast Facts competition. The organization with the most St. Jude facts won a pizza party.”

Tri Delt members like senior Emily Olmstead and sophomore Alecia Mitchell said it was their job to decorate and help set up before the event, and then to “mingle with guests” and “answer (any) questions people had about St. Jude” once the event started.

Olmstead said she enjoyed the conversations she had about St. Jude.

“I think (Pasta for Life) is a good event for people on campus to come together for a good cause,” she said. “It’s important that people know about the hospital and all it does for its patients.”

Although there was a lower turnout than usual this year, Olmstead said, the amount of money raised was above average.

Olmstead and Mitchell said they thought advertising and promotion of the event was an area that could be improved for next year.

“We could have done a better job in getting the word out to the OWU community about Pasta for Life,” Mitchell said. “None of my professors knew about the event. Next year we will make sure that more people including staff, students, and local alumni will be invited.”

Freshman John Florence was among those students invited, and said he and some Phi Delt brothers skipped dinner that night to go to Pasta for Life.

He said the fundraiser exceeded his expectations, and he said his favorite part was spotting Rock Jones at the table beside him.

“From DJ Marsh Madness to the raffle that was held, every part of the event was really well organized,” Florence said. “The Tri Delts deserve a lot of credit.”

Chemistry Professor Dan Vogt said he and Humanities-Classics Professor Lee Fratantuono attended Pasta for Life to support the Tri Delt women as their academic advisers. He said the pair frequently attends Tri Delt and Pan-Hellenic events.

“(The fundraiser) is for a great cause – raising money to support the kids at St. Jude Hospital,” Vogt said. “As the father of a daughter with a chronic illness, I find that especially rewarding. Having the opportunity to do that as part of Tri Delt’s philanthropy is a bonus.”

Shinnick deemed the event a success, despite “a few bumps in the road,” and credited Baer for the favorable outcome.

“(Pasta for Life) went so smoothly,” she said. “Our philanthropy chair did an excellent job with planning and executing the event.”

Twenty OWU students joined college-aged activists from all over the country to learn about issues spanning from reproductive justice to campus activism to communities of color, at the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference March 31 through April 2 in Washington D.C.

Junior Kamila Goldin and sophomore Kate Johnson led the conference. For Goldin, leading the conference was a house project through the House of Peace and Justice. Johnson took on the leadership role because she is an intern at the Women’s Resource Center.

“I receive email updates from the Feminist Majority Foundation and I heard about the conference through them,” Johnson said. “I thought it would be a good opportunity to branch out because we had never sent students to this conference before.”

The students from Ohio Wesleyan went with different backgrounds while each of them returned to campus with new and different perspectives.

Senior Charley Donnelly was one of the attendees.

“First and foremost, I am a progressive humanist, and feminism is definitely a part of that,” Donnelly said. “The conference definitely cemented a lot of my beliefs.”

One of Johnson’s goals in planning the conference was to teach students how they can be activists in their communities.

“I want students to make a bigger push for activism, rather than just awareness-raising,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of awareness projects on campus, but activism has more of a lasting impact.”

The conference stressed that being an informed voter, and organizing for others to vote, is an important part of campus activism.

Junior Andrea Kraus agreed with the conference’s emphasis on the importance of voting.

“I really am looking at the upcoming presidential election as a form of activism,” said Kraus. “I want OWU to vote this year; I talked with the President of Rock the Vote at the conference, and she gave me some good insights about small liberal arts campuses.”

Donnelly returned with several ideas about campus improvement as well.

“I would like for condoms on campus to be more widely distributed, and for Plan B (emergency birth control) to be better subsidized,” Donnelly said.

Johnson said the conference had been a success and she too has hopes for more political action at OWU.

“I know that coming from a liberal campus it can be harder to be involved, especially now because it’s a republican primary, but it’s important for students to be aware of politicians’ stances on issues that they care about,” Johnson said.