News – Page 62 – The Transcript

Major alumni gifts contribute to campaign

Downeys-donations — Jason R. Downey (’02) and Elizabeth Long Downey (’06) donated $250,000 in November. Photo courtesy of Connect2OWU.

Hudlers-donations — Don and Danielle Hudler (’56) donated property “with a potential value of $10 million.” Photo courtesy of Connect2OWU.

Many donations have been pouring into Ohio Wesleyan the past semester. Recently, an anonymous couple challenged alumni to match their donation of $250,000.

Thursday’s gift, according to an email sent out from President Rock Jones, was from Ginny and Mark Shipps, both of whom graduated in 1971.

Colleen Garland, vice president for university advancement, said the gift marked the tenth of the 12 total commitments in the gift-match plan. These funds are allocated to the Hubbart/Shipps Family Legacy Scholarship Endowment.

Jones said the challenge was designed to secure 12 commitments of $250,000 to total $3 million.

Most recently, two large donations have come in. Evan (’59) and Barbara (’98) Corns donated $505,000, making the total amount the couple has donated to their alma mater $10 million. Neither of the Corns returned phone calls for a comment.

In addition, according to a press release from the university, Don and Danielle Hudler (’56) donated property “with a potential value of $10 million.”

At the end of last semester, another gift of $250,000 was donated to Ohio Wesleyan from anonymous donors. This gift, according to Garland, establishes a new endowment fund to support OWU faculty, as part of the “Connect Today, Create Tomorrow” campaign.

The campaign is aimed at raising $200 million over the next seven years and began July 1, 2014 Garland said, and has been very successful thus far.

“It is important to have a lot of early-on success in these campaigns,” said Garland in a phone interview.

Last year, two donations of $8 million each were designated to repair the defunct Merrick Hall and renovate Simpson-Querrey fitness center.

Jones said the last time we had a gift match challenge of this magnitude was the $5 million gift match challenge, which raised $10 million to rebuild the then-defunct Stuyvesant Hall. That project was completed in 2012.

This past November, Jason R. Downey (’02) Elizabeth Long Downey (’06) donated $250,000, making them the youngest couple to make such a large donation, according to a statement from the university’s communications department.

New goals for familiar faces

Every new Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) administration has grand plans for their tenure, and this administration is no exception. President Jerry Lherrison and Vice President Emma Drongowski, both juniors, have ambitious plans and are willing to tackle them head on.

Their platform centered on three main ideas: the marketing of resources on campus, working with the university to build better relationships with freshmen and increasing sustainability on campus. One of their main goals is to create a welcome packet for every incoming freshman, so that they would be better acquainted with WCSA and everything it provides, Lherrison said.

“Every president has new things they want to do, every vice president has new things they want to do,” Lherrison said. “So what you get are a bunch of things you want to get done…what we want to do is continue [the previous administration’s work] but also include things like the work with the freshmen.”

Both Drongowski and Lherrison want to increase student group involvement within WCSA. Previously, WCSA encouraged ex-officio members of groups to come to WCSA meetings, but both Drongowski and Lherrison said very few groups participated or sent representatives.

“Engaging clubs and having them recognize that WCSA does more than just fund them is important to us, because oftentimes clubs don’t realize we have other resources available to them, like leadership support, organizational support…They basically come to us when they need money, and the relationship can be strained between WCSA and clubs and organizations if the only interaction they have with us is if we reject their funding,” Drongowski said.

The new treasurer, sophomore Graham Littlehale will also take an active role with student groups. He is planning on increasing budget management system (BMS) training, which is required in order to apply for funding. Instead of having only one session, he is increasing it to two sessions a semester, which allows for more training opportunities for the groups.

“We would see students send in budget requests but not attend BMS, and obviously they couldn’t receive funding and would be very angry about it. It’s just how it works, we have to inform them and have a proper session, and they would have to attend it,” Littlehale said.

Before funding requests are due, Littlehale is planning to meet with the executive boards of clubs and groups to answer any financial questions they may have to make the process smoother for everyone involved.

WCSA has regular meetings with the university’s administration, also known as Archway. They meet from once to as much as three times a month, and discuss issues involving the community and “OWU as a macroscopic view to be better,” as Lherrison puts it. Drongowski and Lherrison attend the meetings, and are planning on putting in a rotating chair for other members of WCSA to be a part of this process.

Drongowski and Lherrison also spoke of the possibility of the administration having focused meetings, open to the entire student body to discuss a specific topic. They said the administration brought up the idea and are very open to it.

One new initiative both Drongowski and Lherrison are very excited about is their push to get rid of all plastic water bottles on campus and moving towards reusable water bottles. WCSA recently purchased six new hydration stations and will be installed this semester in residence halls.

“It is in the university’s long-term plans to have them [hydration stations] installed in every building and have upkeep,” Lherrison said. “We wanted to foot the bill at first to show that we really wanted to push this thing forward, but it is well within their budget.”

Both Merrick Hall and the Simpson-Querrey Fitness Center will have the hydration stations.

Drongowski cautions this is still in the very early stages of development, and many of the logistics still need to be figured out.

“I think we would be in the first school in Ohio to do so,” Drongowski said. “As an organization, we are very excited to investigate it.”

Clear paths needed for students

Snow and ice on sidewalks poses challenges for students walking to class. Photo courtesy: Phil Noble/Reuters.

The poor conditions of the sidewalks and pathways are evident across the Ohio Wesleyan campus, but Housekeeping and Buildings and Grounds work to clear these paths.

Ice and snow continue to cover some of the walking paths that students take to class.

“I have fallen twice walking to class; once in the Edwards parking lot and another by Welch. This could be easily fixed by putting a sufficient amount of salt down,” junior Macie Maisel said.

B&G and Housekeeping staff are responsible for the maintenance of the walkways on campus. Peter Schantz, director of physical plant, disagreed that pathway conditions are poor, despite the complaints of students.

OWU President Rock Jones said one of the goals of these departments is “to provide safe walkways for the campus community.”

“When snow and ice are especially heavy and the task is especially challenging, they follow a protocol that includes clearing the most heavily traveled sidewalks first,” Jones said. “Of course there are times when the snow and ice are especially intense and it takes longer to clear the walks than at other times.”

While you were gone

Though Ohio Wesleyan closes campus during winter break, it doesn’t shut down entirely. Some students stayed for the vacation or returned early, while Public Safety continued to patrol campus.

Contrary to popular belief, Resident Advisors are not required to stay on campus during winter break, and most went home for the holidays. According to RA senior Matt McCord, there were only a few people from the RA staff who stayed on campus the whole time, and only one is required to be on duty.

“There is this misconception that doesn’t get dispelled until much later in the application process that I think discourages some people from applying, which I think is too bad,” McCord said.

Besides the RA staff, the majority of students who stay on campus are international students, according to Residential Life. But even among those who stay past closing, most only stay for a few days, McCord said.

Some students traveled to Israel over break on the Birthright trip, sponsored by the Birthright Organization. This trip gives Jewish youth the opportunity to visit Israel and is designed to give an educational peer experience. Birthright is offered to those who identify as Jewish, have graduated high school and are between the ages of 18 and 26.

“The Birthright trip was an amazing experience for me,” senior Alex Lothstein said. “I feel honored not only to have this opportunity, but also to be able to have this experience with my close friends.”

Being able to bring back a new perspective and further understanding of his faith has been renewing and inspirational, Lothstein said.

For others, the extra time on campus helped them prepare for the upcoming semester.

“I always come back a bit earlier than most,” sophomore Alec Wyneth said. “Even though it costs extra, taking that time to get ready for the upcoming semester really helps me get a head start and stay on top of things.”

Cold can’t stop construction

Construction on Merrick Hall continues. Photo courtesy: the OWU website.

Ohio Wesleyan University president Rock Jones says both Merrick Hall and Simpson Querrey are on track to be completed by next fall.

Jones also added that the patio outside Merrick Hall will be finished in time for this May’s Commencement ceremony.

“The construction crews were able to complete the exterior construction while it was still warm out, so they can work on the inside during the colder month,” Jones said.

Brett Starkey, the supervisor for the Merrick construction site, said, “The guys working on the inside can work no matter how cold it is.”

Rob Bartram, assistant to Starkey, added that once the temperature drops below zero, the excavators and other people working outside are forced to take the day off, as the equipment will not work at those temperatures.

Bartram said it’s hard to take the weather into account when you are planning out what is going to be done each day, as the weather in Ohio changes so much.

Starkey said there are always going to be unforeseen delays when you’re working on a 150-year-old building.

In an earlier article published by The Transcript in November 2014, Provost Chuck Stinemetz said there are backup locations in case the construction is not completed on time.

Returning to campus after a life away

After a semester off campus, some of our fellow Bishops are back at Ohio Wesleyan University with a taste of what is soon to come: adult life.

Students from OWU traveled domestically and internationally last semester and agreed that it is “weird” to be back in Delaware. While some of these travelers went to different universities in search of cultural experiences and to take new classes, other students gained work experience through internships.

According to junior Mackenzie Sommers, who was in the District of Columbia interning at the National Archives, the life she was living last semester felt like an adult life, and she enjoyed every second of it.

“Every single day was a joy, I always liked getting out of bed in the morning to go to work, it felt like a full-time, adult job,” said Sommers. “I was an adult in D.C. and now I’m back here being a college student and that means different things, I don’t have to do my own grocery shopping, and I have to be at class but I don’t have to be at class.”

Junior Nicole Nitti went to The Philadelphia Center where she had much different responsibilities than she has at OWU.

“I was working a 9 to 5 job, and after coming back from work I had to think about what I was going to cook for dinner. Here I have to think about my homework and my sorority,” said Nitti.

Besides readjusting to the demands of college, reconnecting with friends has been an important part of some students’ return to campus.

“It feels like I’ve been gone for a lot longer than I actually have, but it’s great to see everyone that I’ve been missing,” said junior Brittany Spicer, who traveled to Florence, Italy.

Campus underwent many changes while the students were away, but among the returners there is a consensus: traveling was a great experience and was worth the time away from OWU.

Eber convicted of three felonies

Nicholas Eber in court on Tuesday. Photo: Glenn Battishill for the Delaware Gazette

By Noah Manskar and Olivia Lease
Online Editor and Copy Editor

A jury of eight women and four men has found Nicholas Eber, 24, guilty on three felony charges in the stabbing of Anthony Peddle ’14.

Eber was convicted of attempted murder, felonious assault and aggravated burglary for stabbing Peddle in his bedroom at the Chi Phi fraternity house in the early hours of May 3.

Peddle, who was Ohio Wesleyan’s senior class president at the time, sustained a wound to his chest three-and-a-half inches deep and a large wound to his wrist that had to be surgically repaired.

In his testimony Thursday, the third day of the four-day trial, he described Eber as “less than an acquaintance” with their communication primarily occurring through Sean Anthony ’14, Eber’s ex-boyfriend and Peddle’s close friend and fraternity brother.

When asked about Anthony and Eber’s relationship, Peddle said he didn’t approve or disapprove of him. He said, however, he had acknowledged that there was wedge between himself and Eber, which caused tension. Peddle said he saw Eber on campus unaccompanied by any students after Anthony and Eber broke up in December of 2013, after dating for 10 months.

On Wednesday, Delaware Police Department detective David McQuigg testified that he and other investigators identified Eber as a person of interest after interviewing some of Peddle’s fraternity brothers. The person who got into the house must have known the security code to the door, McQuigg said, and Anthony testified that Eber had the code.

Eber was arrested May 8 after police found a sweatshirt matching the description of the attacker’s and a pair of shoes with blood on them in his apartment.

The location of the hole in the sweatshirt matched a cut on Eber’s arm, which he said he got when he broke a glass doing dishes. An analysis of the fibers around the hole in the sweatshirt showed one side had been cut and the other had been torn.

Police did not find any of Eber’s blood at the crime scene, and the blood on the shoes from his apartment was not Peddle’s.

On Tuesday, Eber’s defense attorney Joel Spitzer argued Matthew Costello, a Delaware man who matched the description of the attacker and was seen with blood on his nose in a nearby United Dairy Farmers convenience store, could have been a suspect.

But DPD detective sergeant John Radabaugh testified Wednesday that it would have been “a waste of time” to pursure Costello. He was not a person of interest and was cooperative when officer Joseph Kolp confronted him later that morning.

Eber faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, according to Ohio Revised Code statutes.

Defense raises further doubts in Eber trial

By Noah Manskar and Hannah Urano
Online Editor and News Editor

Defense attorney Joel Spitzer continued to raise doubts Wednesday about the state’s case against Nicholas Eber, the Delaware man accused of stabbing Anthony Peddle ’14.

Spitzer showed the jury a series of text messages from May 3 between Sean Anthony ’14, Eber’s ex-boyfriend, in which he told Eber he did not think he attacked Peddle early that morning at the Chi Phi fraternity house.

“… I know it’s not you. Anthony (Peddle) did not target you, but I can’t control it anymore. I don’t know what I can do,” he wrote.

On May 6, Anthony said he would defy the police’s request that he not contact him. “You can text me any time you want, I don’t care what the police say,” he wrote to Eber. “I’ll reach out to you and they can’t stop me from reaching out to you.”

Spitzer also noted Anthony, Peddle’s close friend and roommate, paid Eber a visit in jail after he was arrested May 8.

In response, prosecutor Andy Bigler argued Anthony said those things because he did not want to believe Eber, whom he dated for 10 months, would have stabbed his roommate and best friend. Anthony testified that he still loved Eber at the time of the crime.

On Tuesday, Spitzer argued there were links between the stabbing and Matthew Costello, who was acting erratically in a nearby convenience store three hours after the incident. He had blood on his nose and was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that looked like the assailant’s.

In his cross-examination of Delaware Police Department detective sergeant John Radabaugh on Wednesday, Spitzer argued “media pressure” on the investigation may have caused him to be too hasty in ruling Costello out.

Because police did not get his DNA, search his cell phone or residence or question him, they could not have eliminated him as a suspect completely, Spitzer said.

Police felt certain Costello was not involved in the stabbing, Radabaugh said. He was never a person of interest and it would have been “a waste of time” to pursue him.

Police found an olive green hooded sweatshirt in Eber’s apartment that matched Peddle’s description of the attacker’s clothing. The garment had a hole that matched a cut on Eber’s arm, which he said came from a glass he broke doing dishes.

The fibers around the hole indicated the left side of it had been cut and the right side torn away, according to Suzanne Noffsinger, the state’s trace evidence expert who testified Wednesday on her examination of the sweatshirt.

Peddle was in the courtroom for the first two days of trial and is expected to take the stand before the jury of eight women and four men on Thursday.

Spitzer and Jason Halsey, Eber’s other defense attorney, will present their side of the case following his testimony.

Editor-in-Chief Ellin Youse contributed reporting to this story.

Defense puts forward different attacker in Nicholas Eber trial

By Ellin Youse and Noah Manskar
Editor-in-Chief and Online Editor

On the first day of the trial of Nicholas Eber, the Delaware man charged with attempted murder and three other felonies for allegedly stabbing former Ohio Wesleyan senior class president Anthony Peddle ’14, his defense attorneys argued another man, Matthew Costello, should be the suspect on trial.

In his cross-examination of three Delaware Police Department officers Tuesday in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, defense attorney Joel Spitzer argued there were links between the May 3 stabbing at the Chi Phi fraternity house at 216 N. Franklin St. and another incident at a nearby convenience store.

Three hours after leaving the Chi Phi house that morning, officer Joseph Kolp said he and officer Mark Jackson responded to a call reporting a man in a deep blue hoodie with blood on his face had entered the United Dairy Farmers store at 123 W. William St., went to the bathroom and tried to sell the cashier his cell phone. The cashier told officers she assumed the man had been in a fight.

In reviewing the footage from the store’s security cameras, it was unclear who the man was and whether he had blood on his face. Kolp told Spitzer store employees said there was no indication of any blood in the store.

Later that morning, around 6 a.m., Kolp saw a man who fit the description of the person at the store walking on Sandusky Street. He identified him as Costello, adding he consented to a search and was “very cooperative.”

Kolp said Costello explained the blood on his nose was from a pimple that he had “cut off.” When prosecuting attorney Doug Dumolt asked Kolp if he suspected Costello was involved in the stabbing, he said no.

Eber was arrested May 8 after police found a green sweatshirt with lettering on the arm that matched the description of the one Peddle’s attacker was wearing in his apartment on N. Washington Street on May 5. There were spots on the garment that may have been blood, DPD detective sergeant John Radabugh said in his testimony.

That led to a more thorough search permitted by a warrant, in which police found shoes that were later found to have blood on them and three other sweatshirts that matched the assailant’s.

Additionally, a knife was missing from the knife block in Eber’s kitchen, and the detectives could not find a one that fit the space.

He was eventually indicted on charges of attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.

When Radabaugh and detective David McQuigg first questioned Eber at the Chi Phi house on May 3, McQuigg noticed a “significant cut” on his arm, Radabaugh said on the stand. Eber told them he got it from a glass he broke doing dishes in his apartment, which is about three blocks southwest of the crime scene.

One of the sweatshirts police found in the second search had a hole in the sleeve similar to the location of the cut on Eber’s arm.

On the first visit to the apartment, officers found a broken glass in the sink and shards of glass around the sink, including some that appeared to have brown droplets on them. They also found a trash can in his bathroom filled with bloody bandages.

Eber’s charges require the prosecution to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Eber committed the crime.

Judge Everett Krueger instructed the 12 selected jurors and the appointed alternate that if they are not “firmly convinced” Eber attacked Peddle after considering all the evidence presented in the courtroom, they must acquit him.

A reasonable doubt, Krueger said, is one by which “an ordinary person would be willing to rely and act upon it in the most important of his or her on affairs.”

The jurors visited the Chi Phi house Tuesday morning to view the scene of the crime. The trial is expected to continue through Friday.

Economists discuss the future

By Hayley Walls
Transcript Correspondent

A panel of economists provided insight on the global, national and local economies to the campus and Delaware community at Ohio Wesleyan’s annual Economic Outlook Conference on Nov. 12.

The conference consisted of presentations by Ian Sheldon, Ph. D., of The Ohio State University, Joel Elvery, Ph. D., of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Bill LaFayette, Ph. D., the founder of Regionomics LLC, a local consulting business.

The event was sponsored by the Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship and the OWU Department of Economics. Professor Goran Skosples, Ph. D., of the department moderated the event.

Sheldon began by discussing international expectations, comparing different growth and inflation rates across the globe.

“World output is expected to grow by 3.8 percent in 2015… but the pace of recovery in advanced economies is quite different across the various regions,” Sheldon said.

He said the United States and the Eurozone have large output gaps. To remedy this issue, Sheldon recommended negative real interest rates to boost investment and discourage saving, though this would increase the risk of financial instability.

Elvery presented a national perspective, discussing the current state of the economy as well as predictions for the future.

“In 2014, the labor market and GDP have shown steady improvement, while the housing market remains relatively soft,” he said.

GDP and the unemployment rate are expected to continue improving, according to Elvery. However, he said the interest rate between banks, or the federal funds rate, will likely rise in coming years, prompting banks to lend out less money.

LaFayette discussed the local economy, sharing observations on both Central Ohio and Delaware County.

“The Columbus metro area has added 89,000 jobs since January of 2010, a total growth since then of 10 percent,” LaFayette said.

The population of Delaware County has tripled since 1980, he said. It is expected to continue to grow, but at a slower rate.

High housing values have led homebuyers in the county to spend more of their income, but farming has continued to drive the local economy. However, the biggest strength of Delaware is its quality of life, according to LaFayette.