News – Page 44 – The Transcript

Marriage is in the air

If love hit you in the face, would you notice?

Allison Deidre Anders Singer, of Sunbury, fought back. She attended a class at Title Boxing Club in Westerville and met the one she married.

“I went in for a class one day and he was the instructor. I think we both knew instantly,” she said.

“Sounds cheesy, but we have literally spent everyday together since that first class I took.”

For the other 73 Delaware county couples who married between the months of August and September, it wasn’t quite as punchy.

Did they meet in a park as the leaves fell, a library as the pages flipped or a restaurant as the candles were lit?

Perhaps an exciting, adrenalinepumping situation like a roller coaster can help the process.

Ivonna Dunnavant met her husband at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. She and her husband both were working at the park.

“I am from Serbia and last year I got a chance to come to Cedar Point in Sandusky to work there for four months. That is where I met my husband,” Dunnavant said. “I decided to go back to Serbia and finish my studies. I came back to Ohio in July and got married in August.”

For Dunnavant and her husband Ben, things moved quickly after spending time together at Cedar Point.

Of course, these are two specific examples. Places vary from the Delaware career center to Indiana Wesleyan University to restaurants.

Out of recently married couples in Delaware, no two met in the same exact spot. Although, colleges, job fairs and friends’ houses were amongst the top of the list.

Luke Gabbert, of Delaware and a student at Ohio Wesleyan University, was surprised there was not a common spot to meet the right person.

“I’d be surprised if you told me there wasn’t at least two couples that met up in the same spot,” Gabbert said. “The county isn’t that big and I feel like downtown Delaware, along with some other spots, are good places to meet people.”

Shanon Cain, of Sunbury, combined both a job hunt and a friend’s house to start dating her husband Willy.

“We met at the Delaware area career center but never really talked,” Cain said. “About two years after we were at a friend’s house and started talking and eventually started dating about a week later.”

Kyle Smith, associate professor of psychology at Ohio Wesleyan University, said it’s not always a coincidence where you meet the person you marry.

“Similarity is one of the best predictors of attraction,” Smith said. “So going on the first date and finding out you’re attracted to someone is a lot of finding out you have the same views, you’re both from a small town, things like that. That’s the building blocks of initial attraction and building a long-term relationship.”

Smith explained making someone like you may be as simple as liking them first.

“Finding out somebody likes you is a very attractive trait for them to have. Especially finding out that somebody likes you more than you thought. We like being liked, but we like being liked more, even more than that.”

Lastly, Smith said having a first date at a coffee shop could be a good idea, but he also said not to rely on the espresso to increase someone’s heart rate and help them fall in love with you.

“There is data that suggest physiological arousal has impact on emotional experience,” Smith said. “The size boost you get from the caffeine is probably going to be small relative to the excitement you get from the interaction or psychical attraction you’ll get from somebody. Those will be much more impactful than if the person is just having a shot of espresso.”

Admissions office seeks benefits, changes deadlines

By: Ross Hickenbottom, Transcript Reporter

No more rolling deadlines, you say?

Ohio Wesleyan prospects, beginning with the class of 2020, will now have a new periodic deadline system to guide them with their college decisions.

Prior to the change, according to the OWU Admissions “Important Deadlines” section on the website, November 15 and 30, January 15 and 30, February 15, March 1, April 1 and May 1 were all listed as deadlines or notification dates, but a few are going to see changes.

The Ohio Wesleyan Admissions department has changed the admissions deadlines from having four deadlines, which were Early Decision in November; two Early Action deadlines, one in November and another in January; and a Regular Decision deadline in March. The Early Action deadline in November has been eliminated and the Early Action II in January has been kept. The Early Decision and Regular deadlines were not changed at all.

Susan Dileno, OWU Vice President for Enrollment Management, who replaced Interim VP for Enrollment Dave Wottle in August of last year, and the Admissions Department representatives said that while reviewing other private schools’ deadlines, particularly those in the Great Lakes College Association, they were “hardpressed to find a school with two early deadlines.”

Dileno said more typical is one of the two following scenarios: two Early Decisions and a Regular Decision deadline, or Early Decision, Early Action and Regular Decisions implemented.

She said OWU’s deadlines were out of norm, and she “felt it could be confusing to prospects and guidance counselors” of those prospects.

The benefit of the Admissions department eliminating the November Early Action date is that it provided an extra incentive for students to apply Early Decision if they wanted to get their decisions in November. In previous years, they could apply Early Decision or Early Action and learn of the decision in November under either plan.

“We did see a bump in our ED applications this year, so that is an added plus to OWU, since ED students are committing to attend if admitted,” Dileno said.

“I also think the later EA (Early Action) date serves our applicants well in that many students don’t find out about OWU until their senior year, and the later date gives them additional time to apply, while still giving them an option to learn of their decision before March,” she added.

Six students abroad in Paris during Nov. attacks

By: Brian Goldaber, Transcript Correspondent

Natalie Wynne. Photo courtesy of Facebook.

For a group of half a dozen Ohio Wesleyan students, the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 were all too real. Six students spending a semester abroad in Salamanca were spending the week in Paris when the attacks occurred.

The students were stuck in Paris for two days after the attacks when France declared a state of emergency. During those two days the students would be put through something unlike anything they had ever experienced before.

“After the attacks I was in a serious state of shock. I couldn’t sleep because I kept having nightmares about my family and friends being there and dying. I couldn’t listen to music while I was walking down the street, I was paranoid,” junior Natalie Wynne said.

The itinerary for the study group was immediately canceled as the students spent most of their time in their hostel during their two days in the state of emergency. All of the students were able to contact their relatives and loved ones, but that did little to help with their anxiety.

“All of the news was in French so I couldn’t understand a single thing they were saying. It’s tough to explain what that does to a person. I’ve really never felt farther away from home,” Wynne said.

Jackie Everetts. Photo courtesy of Facebook.

One junior, Jackie Everetts, was separated from the group on the night of the attack. She was able to safely find her way back to another hostel with a friend from her high school.

“Despite being separated from the group, I didn’t really feel scared. I guess it hadn’t hit me yet, everything that was going on. I just prayed for my safety and for all of those who were hurt,” Everetts said.

The attacks themselves included a series of coordinated suicide bombings and mass shootings that took place at cafes, restaurants and a music venue. The attackers killed 130 people and injured far more. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was retaliation for French airstrikes in ISIS-controlled territory.

France responded on Nov. 15 by launching its biggest aerial offensive in the country’s history. On Nov. 18, the suspected lead operative in the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid.

These attacks will linger in the minds of the Ohio Wesleyan students that were in France for the rest of their lives.

“Basically I don’t even have words to describe what happened and how I felt because it all felt like a dream to me until I left and got back to Salamanca safely,” said Wynne. “That’s when it really hit me what happened. I’ll never forget this. I guess you could call it life-changing.”

Students allowed into December faculty meeting

After much deliberation, faculty voted to allow student representatives from the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) and The Transcript into their December meeting.

When the student guests arrived in Merrick Hall this Dec. 7, they were greeted by signs at the stairwells and elevators asking them to remain on the first floor.

A group of three faculty members waited downstairs with the students to relay messages about their admittance. After five minutes, the president and vice president of WCSA were allowed upstairs.

It took a half hour after this announcement before the reporter for The Transcript was permitted to join them.

The controversy over student presence at faculty meetings came to a head last month when faculty voted by a narrow margin to turn away student representatives from the Nov. 16 meeting out of concerns for privacy.

In the wake of that decision, articles about the meeting, first reported on by The Transcript, appeared in the Delaware Gazette and the Columbus Dispatch.

The publication of Transcript reports on faculty meetings in the Delaware Gazette, made possible by a sharing agreement between the two papers, initiated the three-month conflict. According to a campus-wide email signed by the Governance Committee, faculty were concerned that story sharing “could inhibit the frank and open discussion necessary in order to work through contentious issues.”

Other professors, namely professor Paul Kostyu of the journalism department, disagreed. And at the Dec. 7 meeting, while the motion to admit The Transcript reporter was still on the floor, Kostyu read a statement expressing his concerns.

Kostyu argued that “meetings shouldn’t be closed just because you think something might be said that you don’t like.”

After the faculty agreed to allow all students into the meeting, Provost Chuck Stinemetz announced that President Rock Jones was delayed in San Francisco and that there would be no administrative reports.

Professor Chris Wolverton, chair of the Governance Committee and a member of the department of botany and microbiology department, made remarks about the February board of trustees meeting. He said that it would be a “critical meeting” and that some faculty members might be asked to present information on their committee to members of the board.

Professor Dale Brugh of the chemistry department went on to present a proposed change to the wording of the faculty handbook. The amendment, which extends the deadline for those faculty applying for promotion, was approved.

Next at the podium was professor N. Kyle Smith, chair of the Academic Policy Committee and a member of the psychology department. Smith announced that his committee had approved a new math class, changes to politics and government course titles and numbers, and updates to the language of the existing academic catalog.

After a short reminder about the due date for final grades by professor Karen Poremski of the English department, the last meeting of the semester was adjourned.

WCSA discusses budget requests, approves most

WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.

“This is it! Retirement is coming,” said President Jerry Lherisson, a senior.

The final full senate meeting of the semester for the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) was Dec. 7, and most discussion focused on the requested budget of one club.

Vice President Emma Drongowski, a senior, began by thanking the senators for their hard work this semester, adding that they don’t get paid and often don’t get credit.

“It’s pretty crazy to think about all that we’ve accomplished this year,” said Drongowski.

She asked senators to make a list of what they accomplished this semester and include two tasks they hope to accomplish next semester.

Secretary Lee LeBoeuf, a junior, updated the full senate on the state of composting.

“The reason we stopped composting is because the place in Delaware that took our composting is no longer doing so,” LeBoeuf said.

She added that there is now wireless printing in the Welch and Hayes computer labs.

Kimberlie Goldsberry, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs and WCSA adviser, reported that revisions to OWU’s pet policy are still being considered. Feedback about the policy has been gathered from members of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Small Living Unit (SLUs) moderators.

The feedback included a request for the pet policy to remain the same until the end of the semester or the school year.

Goldsberry noted that some change is expected for the spring semester. Changes that could eventually be made are requiring dog owners to cage their dogs whenever the dogs will be home without them and not allowing cats to roam houses when their owners aren’t home.

Goldsberry also reported the news of two babies recently born to faculty and staff members. Dr. Brandt, Associate Professor of Psychology, had a daughter born Dec. 1 and Leslie Melton, Director of Career Services, had her daughter Dec. 4.

Recently, the Administrative Policy Committee (APC) proposed revisions to WCSA’s constitution, and senators voted unanimously at the meeting to accept the revisions.

Conversation shifted to financial matters, and Treasurer Graham Littlehale, a junior, said 53 budgets for next semester have been reviewed.

Campus Programming Board (CPB ) and Faith and Justice Club requested the most money.

Littlehale explained that CPB’s funding request was for the spring’s annual Bishop Bash, which would feature a non-musical performer this year.

“Last year it was really well-attended,” Littlehale said. “A lot of the surrounding community came.”

He said the budget committee knows the performer CPB plans on bringing in and it is someone widely known, but they cannot yet say who the performer is.

Six clubs were not awarded any money they requested, though they can apply for supplemental funding in the spring. Five of the groups did not receive funds because they did not send representatives to mandatory budget training.

The budget committee denied the requested funding for the Pre-Law Club for a different reason.

Sam Schurer, a junior, said there have been issues with the group in the past because they are so closely affiliated with the Pre-Law department. He said the club’s budget was turned down last year and the problem was explained to club members.

“Here we are a year later and nothing has changed,” Schurer said.

He added that this year’s budget request was also a lot of money per student.

Lherisson, a member of Pre-Law Club, made an argument for the group and for the Moot Court trip the budget request was for, stating that some of the close affiliation with the Pre-Law department was due to the group’s adviser and that the Moot Court team performed very well when they competed last year.

A motion passed to separate out the Pre-Law Club’s budget request in order to vote on the other requests. All the other budget requests were approved.

Goldsberry suggested the Pre-Law Club receive written advice and instruction, and she urged the senators “to strike a balance” between supporting the group and its endeavors while also judiciously approving budget requests.

The budget committee will re-convene this week to further discuss the issue, taking into consideration the points made during the meeting.

Backpacking, self-discovery in Wyoming

By: Nik Schiff, Transcript Correspondent

William Hayes. Photo courtesy of the OWU website.

This summer, a group of Ohio Wesleyan students will find their spiritual testing ground in the Wyoming wilderness.

Members of the Leadership and Discipleship in the Wilderness (LDW) trip will spend six weeks in the Wind River Mountains beginning June 4.

Since 1995 the trip has been taken ten times; on average about every other summer. It is run by the Coalition for Christian Outreach, a campus ministry at OWU and other schools in the region.

Some activities offered include backpacking, rock climbing and mountaineering. The purpose of the excursion is to learn lifelong lessons through experiences rarely available to the average person, to provide opportunities for personal growth and maturation, and to develop personal faith.

“The potential for these things is huge if students can find the right places and contexts for this learning,” said William Hayes, associate chaplain and director of Wilderness Ministry at OWU.

“The experience of LDW makes it possible for students to learn in ways that are just not possible through campus.”

During the journey, students will receive personal Christian discipleship in the context of a close community, giving them the opportunity to grow in their faith and to make lifelong friends.

“I still keep in touch with some of the people I met whenever I went,” said Haley Barber, class of 2013. Barber attended the trip in 2012. “Having the opportunity to meet new people from different backgrounds was a great experience,” she said.

“My favorite part of the trip was all the nature and wilderness, it was gorgeous,” Barber continued.

The group will be able to rock climb and mountaineer. Mountaineering occurs over snow, ice and glaciers to heights up to 13,000 feet.

“These activities provide physical challenges with potential for failure but with high rewards,” Hayes said.

To date, only two students have applied to participate in this summer’s adventure to Wyoming.

Commission seeks to solve difficult problems

In recent weeks, many colleges and universities across the country have struggled with their administrations over racial and cultural inequalities. Many students have protested that their administrators do not listen to their concerns. Ohio Wesleyan’s President’s Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity (PCORCD) tries to avoid just that complaint.

PCORCD was formed in 2007 and has three main goals: “to report annually to the president on the state of racial and cultural diversity at Ohio Wesleyan; to make recommendations aimed at improving the climate of racial and cultural diversity at Ohio Wesleyan; and to recommend the annual recipient of the President’s Award for Racial and Cultural Diversity,” said Rock Jones, president of OWU.

The award recognizes an individual or organization “that has done the most to improve the state of racial and cultural diversity” on campus, said Jones.

Chuck Della Lana, the director of media services, serves as a co-chair of the commission. He said the commission is currently “working with the president’s office and the human resources department to offer a diversity/bias training program to all staff and faculty which we expect to roll out this winter.”

The module, which was created by WeComply, seeks to explain federal, state and local workplace diversity laws, and also “emphasize the importance of treating everyone with respect and dignity and…demonstrates how embracing diversity can be a sound business strategy,” according to the company’s website.

Jones said PCORCD is “particularly focused today on the need for bias and sensitivity training, and the need for a clear method available to report incidences reflecting bias, insensitivity, discrimination and other forms of mistreatment.”

A goal of the commission is to expand similar types of workshops to the entire campus. John Sanders, interim director of human resources at OWU, said in an effort to hire more diverse faculty and staff, job postings have been going to HBCU Connect. HBCU Connect is a web service where current and former students of HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) can look for jobs and connect with potential employers.

Currently, PCORCD is working with OWU’s Spectrum Resource Center. Della Lana said they are creating a “Campus Pride Index, which should clearly indicate how we rank with other colleges when it comes to providing service and support to our GLBTQ students.”

Della Lana said once the index is completed, the commission “will receive a report with specific suggestions on how we can work together to provide a safer and more inclusive campus community.”

Two students are on the commission, and as of publication, they have not responded to requests for comment.

Even with these precautionary measures being taken, PCORCD is still trying to find its niche on campus.

“We believe the best way to prevent conflict on campus is for all of us to speak openly and honestly about the issues we face,” Della Lana said. “OWU is not a perfect community. There is much work to be done and we don’t have all the answers.”

UC 160 to be offered in the spring, now mandatory

By: Hannah Wargo, Transcript Correspondent

For the first time ever, Ohio Wesleyan will be offering sections of UC 160 courses in the spring semester; and for the class of 2020, it will be mandatory.

For about five years, these quarter-credit courses have provided incoming freshmen and other students new to OWU with information about the liberal arts, the programs and resources available to them on campus.

“For the last few years, we’ve been talking about offering spring sessions,” said Zachary Long, director of UC 160 programs and associate professor of English. “In general, our preference is for students to take them in the fall, but it seems worthwhile to have a backup option.”

Long had spring UC 160 course offerings approved by administration last spring and has been planning it since.

“Some who are interested in taking UC 160 cannot take it in the fall due to athletics, labs that eat up a lot of time or because they want to proceed with caution with their course load,” Long said.

Transfer students that come in the second semester will have the opportunity to take UC 160 as well, Long said.

“This is a big year for experimentation,” Long said.

Only three sections will be offered this spring so that faculty can monitor student interest.

These three sections are titled “Travel as a Political Act,” “Serial” and “Sustainability,” according to the OWU website.

There is some universal subject matter, but the professors and the text or themes of each course differentiate them, Long said.

Because this is the first time these first-year introductory courses will be offered in the spring, the course timeline will have to change, Long said.

“I’m as interested as other professors about where is the best place to start this,” Long said. “Students will have already learned some of (the curriculum) such as how to register for classes.”

The addition of spring sections isn’t the only change on the UC 160 front.

On Monday Nov. 16, the faculty voted and approved making UC 160 courses mandatory for all first-year students starting next fall, Long said.

Many schools have required first-year courses, Long said, but those courses tend to be full-unit academic topics or something like an extended orientation.

“Our course is unique in that it’s a hybrid model,” Long said. “We’re trying to tag some academic or philosophical heft to it, but don’t want to make it a full-unit course because we want it to be accessible to students.”

As Long went on to explain, the hybrid model isn’t the only thing that makes OWU’s first-year courses unique.

Each course partakes in a community service project, which introduces students to the local community and not just the campus community.

Rather than having campus-wide required readings, faculty are encouraged to teach texts and themes that resonate with them.

For example, “Brain Rules,” a section of UC 160 offered in the fall, is taught by professor Jennifer Yates, director of the neuroscience program, according to the UC 160 fall brochure.

“This isn’t an accident,” Long said. “We want to get students connected with a professor whom they have a common interest with.”

In the fall or spring, UC 160 gives students the opportunity to get to know professors in a more informal setting and get something like a mentorship experience, Long said.

Parking remains an issue

By: Alanna Henderson, Transcript Correspondent

It’s survival of the fittest for Ohio Wesleyan students when it comes to finding a parking spot on campus.

OWU students are frustrated that they have to pay for a parking permit and put additional money in parking meters on the street and then walk back to the dorms late at night because they can’t find a spot near their residence hall.

Currently, the B parking passes are priced at $175 for a full year and C passes are at $15. Permit prices drop 50 percent on March 1.

B lots include the residency side whereas C lots include the Jay Martin Soccer Complex, Selby Stadium and a few spaces on the far west side of Williams Drive.

Including faculty and staff, there are 1,500 parking spots available on OWU’s campus. However, for student parking, there are a total of 1,040 spots. Only 443 B permits and 215 C permits are issued.

As of Nov. 17, 957 parking citations were issued.

Public Safety (PS) has approached the distribution of parking permits in several different ways and this year has been the least problematic.

In previous years, there has been a lotterystyle drawing for the freshmen and sophomore classes to get a parking pass. There were 70 spots offered between the two class levels. In this case, it was the luck of the draw for those students.

This technique, led to more students parking on the street, which caused problems for Delaware residents and police. This resulted in parking permits opening up for everyone on campus.

However, students still park on the street.

Junior Doug Dodridge has had a B permit all three years, but finds better spots on the street. “I hate parking here. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that I paid $175 for a parking pass,” Dodridge said. “I’m feeding a meter every time I go to class because I can’t find a place to park my car.”

Senior Nate Goodhart has seen the price of parking passes increase dramatically over his four years and feels the parking situation hasn’t gotten any better.

“If PS can get a parking spot for their golf cart, I should get one by my classes,” Goodhart said.

This year, PS lowered the price of C permits to $15 making it more affordable. PS thought this might increase the availability in B lots since C is more reasonably priced. PS does not plan on lowering the price of B permits anytime soon.

Freshman Lyndsay McMullen purchased the C permit but intends on upgrading next year. For now, she doesn’t mind walking, but feels a B pass would be more convenient.

To help resolve some of the parking spot battles, manager of PS Ramon Walls advises more students to partake in the carsharing program with Enterprise. There are approximately 120 students registered for the carshare program.

To apply for the carshare program, a credit card and license is required. From there, drivers can book reservations for the day and time. Gas and damages are all covered in the membership fees.

For more detailed information, contact PS.

“With the addition of the new Simpson Querrey Fitness Center, we have changed the A parking hours in the science center from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. to a more flexible time, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” Walls Junior Jillian Bell has had a B permit all three years and still struggles with parking problems.

“All the parking lots have huge potholes which I thought would be fixed after being here for three years,” Bell said.

PS along with many student drivers would love to see parking lots paved again and spots added, but it is simply not in the budget.

Walls likes the idea of building a parking garage by HamWill. Denison University has a parking garage on campus that offers a large sum of student spots.

Parking has been an issue for students at OWU for years now.

For the time being, when it comes to finding a parking spot, may the odds be ever in your favor.

WCSA constitution may be revised

WCSA crest. Photo courtesy of the owu website.

As the semester winds down, senators continue to work on projects outlined at their last full senate meeting that were designed to effectively spend leftover funds.

At the Nov. 30 full senate meeting of the Wesleyan Council of Student Affairs (WCSA), vice president Emma Drongowski, a senior, said work on the projects will continue next semester.

She also briefly explained to the senate what happened at the last faculty meeting when faculty voted to not allow several students into the meeting.

Drongowski said the decision only applied to that specific meeting. At the next meeting there will be a new vote to decide if guests should be allowed in.

She said if closing the meeting off to students “becomes a trend,” there will be a discussion about other ways students can access information regarding what decisions were made.

The main topic of new business was introduced by junior Caroline Anderson, chair of the Administrative Policy Committee (APC).

APC has revised the WCSA constitution, and a bill to accept the revisions will be voted on next week by the full senate.

“We put in new sections that we felt were more appropriate for WCSA in terms of our function,” Anderson said.

Parts of the constitution were clarified and reorganized, and there was a section added about committees.

Drongowski added that “some cool charts” were also put in.

“It has changed nothing we do in practice currently,” Drongowski said.