Orange is the New Black author Piper Kerman. Photo courtesy of the Huffington Post website.
Piper Kerman, author of âOrange is the New Black,â is set to speak about her new book and her campaigns for prison and criminal justice reform in Ohio Wesleyanâs Gray Chapel on Jan. 20.
âOrange is the New Black: My Year in a Womenâs Prison,â published in 2010, is a memoir chronicling Kermanâs time spent in Federal prison.
According to Kermanâs website, she spent â13 months in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut,â due to âa brief dalliance with drug trafficking while she was in her early twenties.â
Kermanâs memoir was created into an award-Âwinning Netflix series in 2013. The fourth season is under production.
The talk is being sponsored by the Delaware County District Library (DCDL). DCDL is âa non-profit, all-Âvolunteer group that supports the mission, services and needs of the Delaware library system,â said Amy Chapman, a library employee.
Chapman also said, âPiper Kerman is currently living in Central Ohio and gave a well-Âreceived talk at Westerville Library, so we contacted her about her speaking rates and availability.â
Piper will speak for approximately 45 minutes followed by a 15 minute Q&A. Starting Oct. 1, tickets can be purchased for students and staff at www.piperkermanÂauthorvisit.eventbrite.com.
A limited amount of discount tickets will be available before the tickets become available for the public.
âWhen prompted to enter a promotional code, enter âOWUâ to access these tickets,â said Chapman. âThe discounted student tickets are $20. The faculty and staff tickets are $25. As of Nov. 1, tickets will go on sale to the public at www.eventbrite.com.â
âFundamentals Bookstore [next to Bunâs Restaurant] will have the book âOrange is the New Blackâ on sale the evening of the event,â said Chapman.
Books purchased at Fundamentals will be the only books that can be signed at the event with proof of purchase.
Professor Christopher Fink. Photo courtesy of the OWU website.
Assistant professor and chair of health and human kinetics Christopher Fink was selected as a US delegate to travel to Italy for a food and health conference taking place Oct. 3-Â6.
According to the We Feed the Planet website, âthe fourÂ-day program, based on the model of the Slow Food Youth Network Food Academy, will allow the group to connect, be inspired, create solutions and finally share their ideas about feeding the planet in the future on a world stage at Expo.â
The We Feed the Planet conference includes young food producers and activists from around the world. The event was organized by Slow Food and Slow Food Youth Network.
Fink said, âSlow Food is an international organization with over 100,000 members that advocates for food that is good, healthy, delicious, clean, sustainable and pays a fair wage.â
âI feel that I will gain even more insight into the issues Iâve discussed here, that I can embed in the numerous food-Ârelated activities that I do in classes and other programs that directly involve our students,â said Fink. âI also hope to be able to forge new connections that may allow our students to have access to new experiences in internships, study abroad programs, and more.â
Finkâs focus of study and experience in the food and health field spans from teaching classes to holding events of his own regarding the issue. He directed the 2012 Sagan National Colloquium series which, according to event documentation, âfocused on the mutually transformative relationship between people and food.â He is also active in the Association for the Study of Food and Society.
Sophomore human and health kinetics major Hallie Sinko said, âDiet is a huge part of having healthy lifestyle so I think it’s really good to benefit OWU by having one of our facility with a more universally rounded view on food and health that can then pass onto students which they will be able to use daily in their future careers and lives.â
The conference took place in Milan, Italy, âin conjunction with Milan Expo 2015, which is the international exposition that was historically known as the Worldâs Fair,â said Fink. Milan is also where Slow Food was founded.
There were about 500 delegates from all over the world in attendance.
âThis cause is important to me because I believe that our food system needs these kinds of gatherings and discussions to improve some of the problems we face with feeding an ever-expanding population in a way that supports environmental sustainability and ethical food production,â said Fink.
Public Safety Officer Jay McCann. Photo courtesy of the owu website.
A juvenile escapee labeled as dangerous was apprehended Tuesday, Oct. 6, by an Ohio Wesleyan Public Safety officer.
Michael Wilson Jr., an inmate at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, escaped Monday, Oct. 5 around 7 p.m. He was captured around 10:45 a.m. at the Delaware County fairgrounds.
Officer Jay McCann wasnât supposed to be working Tuesday; he was off-duty when he saw the email from his office. He called Public Safety Director Bob Wood and with fellow officer Sgt. Christopher Mickens began patrolling around the university. McCann said they werenât actively involved in the search; they were âmonitoring the situation in case the event came closer to campus.â
After half an hour of patrolling, Wood called McCann and Mickens, telling one of them to go the command post near the Delaware Sheriffâs department. McCann was heading north to the command post when he saw the suspect standing on the side of the road.
He tried to find a place to turn around and asked himself, âDid I see what I just saw?â
Michael Wilson Jr. Photo from PDF message sent out by Cole Hatcher.
The Delaware County EMS, which had a vehicle in the area, confirmed McCannâs sighting. McCann intended to monitor the situation and wait for a Delaware police officer or other law enforcement to apprehend Wilson. However, Wilson continued into the fairgrounds out of McCannâs sight. McCann and a Delaware County deputy sheriff drove toward Wilson, who started running.
Attempts to reach the Delaware Sheriffâs Department went unanswered at press time.
âHe acts abruptly,â McCann said. âHe takes off his shirt, makes an obscene gesture toward us and turns around and takes off running.â
The deputy yelled at Wilson to stop and then deployed his Taser. McCann was unarmed except for a can of pepper spray. He assisted the deputy in cuffing Wilson, and thatâs when backup arrived.
âI just happened to be at the right place at the right time,â McCann said.
Despite his key role, McCann doesnât want to be called a hero.
âI personally donât like to take credit for stuff. I do my job because I love what I do. If it had been anyone else, they would have done the same thing to help out a deputy.â
Want to give Kurt Holmes, the interim Dean of Students, an âearfulâ about student life over orange juice and omelets? Well, Holmes wants that too.
In the first profile of a new series focusing on administrators who have a major impact on the OWU community, Holmes gets real about why his position is only an interim one, why he left his fullÂ-time job at the College of Wooster after 14 years and what has surprised him most about OWU.
Q: So youâre the interim Dean of Students here while our previous dean, Kimberly Goldsberry, fills another role. How did you hear about this position at OWU?
A: The connection was Iâve known Kimberly [Goldsberry] and Craig Ullom through professional circles, and I put out on ListServ that I was taking time out to do some other things, and Kimberly said, âBefore you make any commitments, I have a challenge.â She had just gotten word that Craig was going to be stepping down to halfÂ-time and she was going to be taking the interim role, so we spent about several weeks haggling because she would like to have me down here fullÂtime, but with so many other projects I was working on I said I canât really commit to fullÂtime. Iâm here about three days a week. I come here Wednesdays, I stay overnight Thursday, so Iâm around just some extra time, that sort of thing. I guess technically itâs a threeÂ-day-Âa-Âweek gig.
Q: What do you do the other days of the week?
A: Well, some of it is I have a son whoâs looking at colleges and doing his senior year, and Iâve been a chief student affairs officerâthatâs what I was doing at Woosterâand you donât have a whole lot of time to give to family in that respect. We all joke in the profession that someday weâre going to do some writing about all the crazy things that happen, so Iâm actually trying at the very least to start some chapters and get some work done. I donât know if Iâll pull off publishable work yet, but before my memory fades itâs probably time to make some of that into actual text.
Q: So youâre thinking of writing a book then?
A: Itâs part of what Iâm working on. I donât want to commit to any publication dates or anything but I say you can make it through college on the student affairs side if you follow three rules really, and theyâre not very hard: donât drink so much, keep your hands to yourself, and your pants on. Most of the really bad problems, aside from the fact that you got to go to class and to work, avoid themselves. And I know too many cases where students didnât do one or more of those rules.
Q: So the main reason you left your position at the College of Wooster after 14 years for a part-Â time, interim position here is because of family?
A: Well, there are a lot of factors. Theyâre in transition up there as well. They have an interim president and are going to get a new president, so the timing was right in that respect, along with some other things. You donât get to have sabbaticals very often on the administrative side, and so if youâre going to have time to do other things youâre going to have to find ways to carve that out. I could have chosen the faculty route, but I like what I do. I like working with students, but it doesnât come with any chance to go study or do something.
Q: Do you know when youâll be leaving your position at OWU?
A: The agreement is Iâm here through the year, and I assume thatâs the plan for when theyâre going to do the hiring as well. The plan is more of a presidential question.
Q: Do you know what will happen to the Dean of Students position after your term concludes?
A: No, and I think President Jones has the whole division of leadership kind of on the table with that itâs the time to make those kind of big picture assessments. You know, itâs not very often you get a senior leadership transition, so I know heâs spending a lot of time working with the presidentâs officersâthe other VPsâfiguring out what to post and what the structure should look like. My guess is it would be a huge change for them not to hire someone in a pretty traditional chief student affairs officer [position], but I think some of the questions include what the jobs look like and what the structure of working with that person is going to look like.
Q: What are your plans or goals for after you leave OWU?
A: I donât know yet. Thatâs the fun part too. Honestly, in the back of my mind was that this is the time we tell students youâre going to go through four or five careers, not just jobs, in your lifetime, and Iâve been in student life my whole career. And I thought, well, itâs time to look at some other things. And, to be honest, I was doing an awful lot of administrative work and less student contact, and this role, the way itâs configured, is to do a lot of student contact. It reminds me why I like student affairs, so it might be talking me back into the same sort of work.
Q: Is it difficult to be away from your family while youâre here?
A: I have a daughter whoâs at college at Allegheny [College] and I have a son whoâs a senior [in high school]. Theyâre not around all that much anyway. But thatâs part of the reason Iâm home on the weekends when [my son] is doing things, so weâre able to connect there. And the commute is not too bad.
Q: What has surprised you most about OWU and its students?
A: Itâs been good to see just how engaged they are in things that go on. Meaning, looking at the campus from the outside and being a student life person, Iâve always kind of said, âReally? This little narrow, pinchÂpoint campus seems to be divided in the middle, between academic and residence life. And the surprising way that the JayWalk becomes the living room for the campus has been great to see. I have a birds-eye view [from my office] and I can see whatâs going on and then duck out. In fact, I just caught lunch sitting at a table [near the JayWalk], just to watch and listen.
Q: How does student life at OWU differ from student life at Wooster?
A: Where it happens. As I said, Iâm here two nights a week and so I cruise around campus trying to see what social life is like and where the energy spots are, and I was very surprised that [the HamiltonÂ-Williams Campus Center] gets so quiet in the evening. But again, itâs not the thoroughfare in the evening that it is during the day. Thatâs been an interesting observation about the rhythm of the campus and how it flows. Itâs a great indication of the way all of you operate. I walked the library one night on the outside, and thereâs got to be several hundred carrels, and there were probably twelve students using them. But every chair in an open space around a common seating area was packed with people. I also noticed people were actually respecting the quiet third floor rule the evening I was there. It shows how a generation of students interacts in different ways. They donât want to hunker down in their carrel, they want to be out and about.
Q: Have you been able to see much of Delaware? What are your thoughts on the town?
A: Thatâs been a pleasant surprise. I havenât been able to do much in Delaware yet, but Iâve also gotten to see the town. You think of it often as a suburb of Columbus, but it has an awful lot to offer itself.
Q: Is there anything youâd like to add? Anything you want students, faculty, and staff to know?
A: I donât know. I tend to be more of an open book, so Iâve made the pitch every time I talk with students. Find me. Iâm around if someone wants to give me an earful. One of the things President Jones has asked me to do is give feedback on the institution as I go, so while not officially in an outside viewer or consultant role, every couple of weeks I feed him a memo of observations. So, I have to find those by talking to people. I made the offer at student government, and one student took me up on meeting me for breakfast. If you want to catch breakfast, give a holler.
Q: What kinds of things have you put in the memos?
A: The first one really focused on the differences I saw in how opening and move in and orientation, those kinds of things, operated. But some of it is going to be about, well, the college has done some reductions in staffing and what are the implications of that? Every college is worried about retention and keeping students, and coming in with an outside eye and having been at other similar schools, [I notice] what works and what doesnât work in making the student experience positive, which is why I want to catch up with as many students as possible this year.
A new election schedule for class representatives and executive positions, including the student body president, is being discussed by the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA).
At the Oct. 5 meeting of the full senate, senator Elizabeth Raphael, a senior, said that her campus relations committee is revising the dates and process for student elections.
“We have created a proposed timeline for elections in which elections for both executive committee and student senators will be in November, before Thanksgiving break,” Raphael said.
Raphael added that under the proposed changes, the “intent to run form will be online, eliminating paper forms. And those running for executive committee will be automatically given the option to also run for student senator elections.”
Emma Drongowski, a senior and vice president of WCSA, reminded senators that, because student elections are governed by the WCSA constitution, any changes to the process would require full senate approval.
The revised election guidelines will be presented and voted on by the senate within the month.
Chair of the academic affairs committee Areena Arora, a sophomore, announced the final date for the upcoming academic forum: Nov. 3, in the Benes rooms during the noon hour.
Before finishing the short meeting a full twenty minutes ahead of time, senators passed a resolution to approve the appointments of sophomores Ebosehon Imeokparia and Charlie Kottler to the campus technology council. The resolution was passed unanimously.
The Ohio Wesleyan community came together Oct. 1 to celebrate the dedication of the new Simpson Querrey Fitness Center and re-dedication of the Edwards Gymnasium. Photo by Paul Vernon.
The leaves were falling as the Bishop Band played to a gathering crowd of students, alumni, faculty and Board of Trustees members.
The whole spectrum of OWU’s community was assembled on Oct. 1 to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated Edward’s Gym and recently completed Simpson Querrey Fitness Center.
The dedication was held in front of the buildingsâ fresh facades, alongside Sandusky Street. President Rock Jones took the podium early in the ceremony to explain that the school had been in talks “for more than a decade about the need for a fitness center.”
“Students need the ability to maintain good physical health,” Jones said.
But Jones also stressed how important modern athletic facilities are for OWU’s recruitment efforts. “The new Edward’s Gym and Simpson Querrey Center are a tremendous boost to the Battling Bishopsâ athletics and to our ability to attract and retain the best of the best student athletes.”
Rock went on to introduce Louis A. Simpson, class of 1958, and Kimberly K. Querrey, the husband and wife team who financed the $8 million building projects.
According to an event pamphlet, Simpson majored in economics and accounting at OWU, and received a Master’s degree in economics from Princeton University, “where he has served on the faculty.”
Querrey holds a degree in mathematics, physical education and safety from West Virginia Institute of Technology and “is a member of The Woltemade Center advisory board,” according to the same document.
In his speech, Jones mentioned the campaign developed by OWU to revitalize their sports facilities and said that it was “Lou and Kim who stepped forward with their incredible commitment to allow us to move forward immediately.”
Wrapping up his speech, Jones said that Simpson and Querrey were “inspired by the opportunity to help students to live longer, more productive lives.”
When Simpson and Querrey took the stage, they reiterated much of what Jones had said. Querrey told the crowd that the modern student needs a healthy outlet now more than ever.
“We live in a society where stress is a part of life,â Querrey said. âI was told at another school that 35 percent of kids were dealing with disorders of some sort, mostly stress related. This center was built to help you learn to cope with life and issues. Hopefully you will develop some habits that help you be a productive member of society.”
The event pamphlet reports that the Simpson Querrey Fitness Center “features a 4,350 Âsquare-foot fitness center…with cardiovascular equipment and free weights”; “a 2,425 square-Âfoot dance studio with spectator seating”; and a new department of health and human kinetics studio for “students learning how to teach health and fitnessÂrelated activities.”
The renovated Edward’s Gym hosts “six faculty and 35 coaches’ offices with reception areas”; “a restored secondÂfloor basketball court, red tile roof, and skylight”; and “new locker rooms, restrooms, fireÂprotection systems, and elevator,” according to the same pamphlet.
Jerry Lherisson and Emma Drongowski, both seniors and the president and vice president of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs, respectively, took the stage at the end of the ceremony to thank all those who had made the facilities possible.
Quoting an article from The Transcript, written on Feb. 28, 1906, about the original opening of Edwardâs Gym, Lherisson exclaimed, “A great day, the gym at last.”
Drongowski used a more recent memory to frame her speech. She said, “Never did I think, when I was moving into my freshman residence hall, that we would have a fabulous new gym and fitness center by my senior year.”
When Jones retook the podium, he had scissors in hand. Smiling at the crowd, he said, “We have in front of me the largest ribbon I have ever seen.”
Flanked by Simpson and Querrey, Thomas Tritton, class of 1969 and chair of the board, and others, Rock helped to cut the banner reading âMind. Body. Spirit.â
And as the ribbon fell, the alma mater rang out from the Bishop Bandâs instruments.
For a number of health and human kinetics (HHK) students, Welch Gym is no longer a fitness center. Itâs a classroom.
A new twist in this yearâs schedule was the latest attempt to encourage students to be aware of fitness as HHK majors gather realÂ-life experience.
The FitOWU program has been pairing students up with faculty and staff for fitness assessments for 11 years now, but student-Âto-Âstudent interaction is new. All HHK majors who are a part of the Welch Gym program had to complete the FitOWU program first. Nancy Knop, a HHK professor, knew the program would eventually head in this direction.
âWe have always wanted to reach out to the students more and have been experimenting with ways to create and deliver programming for students,â she said. âThe students are now engaged in either a less mentored apprenticeship or a work study position helping to manage, maintain, deliver programming, provide fitness education, and perform fitness assessments of students.â
Figuring out how to get students to attend the classes has been one challenge with the new program. Dance and spinning classes will be the main use of the new open space in Welch.
However, the biggest challenge Knop has noticed is that by the time students have completed the course needed to start training, their time to graduate is quickly approaching.
âBy the time they are ready to program well and deliver, they are nearing the end of their OWUÂ career, so we are constantly losing trainers and recruiting new people to step in,â Knop said.
In addition to the new fitness classes during the week, which are Monday to Thursday from 7Â p.m. to 8 p.m., there are weekend classes on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.
âThe student trainer positions are intended to support the HHK major by providing our students with an applied experience that is also proving a needed service to the university,â Knop said.
Senior Ricardo Balmaceda, who has attended a handful of classes, likes the studentÂ-toÂ-student interaction.
âItâs cool because the instructors are students as well,â he said. âThey get everything youâre going through and dealing with as a student. They can really relate to you.â
Get your mops ready. The Ohio Wesleyan housekeeping department and their partners, Aramark, are doing things a little different this year.
On the residential side of campus, suite restrooms will only be cleaned once every three weeks. In years past, they were cleaned weekly.
Dorms affected will include Thomson Hall, Bashford Hall and 4 Williams Drive.
Aramark Services Manager Darryl Phelps described how Aramark will change their cleaning agenda for the rest of the school year.
“The restrooms are stocked to last a threeÂweek period, but if something comes up, if toilet paper gets stolen or anything like that, we have a system worked out with the Residential Life staff in place where they can sign a sheet posted on the custodial closet,” Phelps said.
Darryl went on to explain that “Weâre told by our Aramark partner that we are the only place that cleans the suite restrooms at all. Everywhere else they work, the students are responsible for cleaning up after themselves in their restrooms. Weâre not taking that step, weâre still participating in the cleaning of suite restrooms, but we have reduced the frequency.”
Though no schools in the surrounding area partner with Aramark, Wittenberg University does. There, “every Sunday they clean and replace everything. Midweek a couple days they clean but don’t replace items,” Wittenberg junior Landon Hormann said.
As far as cost effectiveness goes, Dan Hitchell, vice president of finances, said the changes are going to have a positive impact on the budget.
“There were cost savings by doing this. Weâre bringing Merrick Hall back online, weâre bringing part of Edwards Gym as well as Simpson Querry Fitness Center,â said Hitchell. âSo we are adding square footage to campus by making these changes; therefore by changing the cleaning schedule we are able to save some money and bring the facilities back online without an increase in budget.â
Freshman Jake Riddell, who lives in Thomson Hall, is glad the campus is being cost effective.
But he doesn’t agree with how theyâre doing it.
“Itâs great that OWU is saving money, I get that,â Riddell said. âBut the restrooms get out of hand, so if anything, I think they should be maintained more often.â
Ana Arjona speaks in the Benes Rooms. Photo by Ela Mazumdar ’16.
With Ohioâs upcoming ballot initiative to legalize the sale of marijuana, it is fitting that Ana Arjona, a political scientist and professor at Northwestern University, recently opened a dialogue on the drug war both at home and in Latin America.
Her lecture took place on Thursday, Sept. 24, in the Benes Rooms at Ohio Wesleyan, where students, faculty and Delaware residents filled the room.
Arjonaâs primary goal for her presentation was to shed light on an issue that society has a tendency to avoid: drug laws.
âI think we need to have both a political and moral debate about the war on drugs in order for any real progress to be made,â said Arjona.
She explained the allure of drugs and the fact that decriminalization leads to higher rates of both consumption and production. The more government policies that are enacted against drugs, she argued, the higher the likelihood that drug abuse and crime will increase. Arjona called this âThe Balloon Effect.â
She showed the audience data documenting high rates of death from drugÂrelated gang wars.
âMost of the deaths happen to innocent people who are caught in the crossfire,â said Arjona.
She went on to talk about her support for decriminalization of marijuana in Ohio and in all USÂ states.
âThere are countries like Portugal who have refocused their drug policies in a way that targets health and that has been much more effective,â said Arjona. âDecriminalization doesnât mean no regulation, it just means we change how we look at drug charges.â
âThe âwar on drugsâ is a humanitarian, political and economic issue,â said Arjona. âIt is one with a widespread impact.â
After Arjonaâs lecture, freshman Nicholas Melvin felt that he knew much more about the topic than he had before. âI attended this talk so that I could learn more about a subject I knew very little about,â he said. âI thought this presentation was very informative and did give me a deeper awareness on the subject.â
The program was hosted by the International Studies Program and introduced by the department chair professor Sean Kay.
âThis was exciting for Ohio Wesleyan students because it is the kind of expertise that is presented in the corridors of strategic thinking and policy in the United States and Latin America,â said Kay.
Career Services department is now offering a series of workshops to students which include narrowing down a career path to helping freshmen begin to think about postÂgrad employment.
These workshops were set to take place Sept. 9, Sept. 16 and Sept. 24. The final workshop takes place Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Assistant director of the department of career services Nancy Westfield said, âWhile the actual program, First Year to Career, is new, the information detailed in the workshop combines the years of experience we have in working with freshmen to help them begin their career journey.â
Westfield said, âResearch has demonstrated that students engaged in the career development process earlier in their collegiate careers are better prepared for employment opportunities upon graduation.â
Both Westfield and career services director Leslie Melton worked to bring the workshop to campus.
âWe realized the need for students to engage in the career planning process earlier in their academic careers. Aligning with recent data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers and institutional assessment, we have worked with the Assistant Dean for Academic Advising to provide first year students with a targeted program to provide them with the necessary tools and resources to be successful in their future careers,â said Melton.
Following the workshop, Westfield encourages students to meet with one of the coaches individually in the career services department.
Westfield said, âThe actual process of making career decisions varies with each student, but our goal is to inform first year students of the important aspects of self-Âassessment, career research and experience in beginning to focus on their career goals.â
Senior Macie Maisel said, âI have attended some of the career services departmentâs events and have found them helpful and insightful.â
Westfield said they âalso seek to introduce students to potential career options.â
The program being sponsored by the Office of Career Services and the assistant dean of academic advising.
