Students test out their skates. Photo courtesy of Alex Gross.
On Friday, Feb. 13, the Campus Planning Board (CPB) installed a makeshift roller rink over the entire Benes room floor.
The event lasted from 7-10 p.m. It addition to the rink (supplied by Neon Entertainment), CPB offered alpha art, food and beverages.
The indoor roller rink is one of several events hosted by CPB of late. Other events include movie screenings, the CPB coffee house, and a live show featuring comedy duo Frangela.
âItâs been a lot of work doing all of the events,â said junior Nathan LaFrombois, president-internal for CPB. âWeâve never had this many events in such a short amount of time.â
As students entered the event they were greeted by the sound of music, disco-style lighting and a waiver form that had to be signed before rollerblading was permitted.
Students keep each other from falling. Photo courtesy of Alex Gross.
âWhen you walk in, it (the roller rink) kind of looks like Legos,â said sophomore and director of entertainment for CPB, Maddie Oslejsek. âIt was easy to set up and will be easy to take down.â
For those in attendance that may not have wanted to rollerblade the entire time, alpha art offered an alternative form of entertainment.
Alpha art gives students the option to spell out their name â or anything they might want to spell â using different colors, shapes, objects and lettering.
âLast time we did the roller rink we had the issue of not enough skates or space for everyone to be active, so we tried to find some small, fun thing for people to do,â LaFrombois said. âWe sort of tacked this (alpha art) on as an addition so people could always be entertained.â
Oslejsek furthered that point by suggesting that any alpha-art creations would be a great gift for Valentineâs Day.
The full senate of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) convened this Monday, Feb. 16, for the first time since the Board of Trustees dinner on Feb. 12.
The dinner, open to members of the board and select WCSA senators, was well attended. âIt went incredibly well,â according to junior Jerry Lherisson, president of WCSA. âEveryone loved it a lot.â
Tables for the dinner were set up in the Benes room and sat three to four board members and at least one WCSA representative. The senators were provided a list of talking points that covered a variety of topics â OWUâs smoking policy, the addition of online classes to the curriculum and the expansion of travel learning course programs â and many senators found that these issues were substantial enough to guide conversation throughout the three hour meal.
Also discussed at the dinner were proposed amendments to the OWU academic calendar. These changes target holiday duration, lengthening and shortening various breaks throughout the semester. Any changes would take effect in the 2016-2017 calendar year. On Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Hamilton-Williams Atrium, WCSA senators will be available to receive feedback about the changes and to answer any questions students might have.
At Mondayâs full senate meeting, the budget committee presented the financial requests of four organizations, Sisters United, Model United Nations, the Ohio Marketing Group and the Student Led Arts Movement. All four organizationâs budgets were unanimously approved.
Sophomore senator Jessica Choate, a sophomore and chair of the residential affairs committee, announced that plans for hydration stations had been finalized. The specialized water fountains are set to be installed in every residence hall over spring break. There are currently five hydration stations on campus.
Dean of Students Kimberlie Goldsberry announced that the sexual assault survey that has been circulating campus is âjust shy of 20% participation, as of last Wednesday (Feb. 11).â She encouraged the senators to promote student involvement in the questionnaire.
Former WCSA senator Matt McCord, a junior, was appointed as a member of the Academic Policy Committee.
Billy George, a junior and candidate in last yearâs election for the class of 2016 representative, was nominated and unanimously appointed as a WCSA member at large.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” movie poster. Photo courtesy of opi.com.
I am by no means above seeing a bad movie. Bad movies are some of the most entertaining movies. The poorly constructed plots, the awkward acting, the supremely cheesy wink-wink-nudge-nudge humor – itâs all great.
At first I thought that perhaps Fifty Shades of Grey could be this movie, and Iâm sure that attracted many viewers to the box office. But Fifty Shades is not a good-natured, comically-terrible, bad movie; it is just a bad movie in every sense of the word.
I have not seen the movie, nor will I ever, and yet I feel perfectly confident pronouncing this judgment on it. Any defense of Fifty Shades in its original form is completely tarnished by the creation of a theatrical version. The guilty pleasure of a steamy romance can be hidden in the backlight of an e-reader, not on a 55-foot theater screen.
From a novel that earned its fan base through explicit sex scenes, an NC-17 rating would seem apt for its theatrical counterpart. And yet the lead male actor, Jamie Dornan, refused to be filmed completely nude (it seems perfectly fine for the female lead, Dakota Johnson, to bare it all though).
Fifty Shades is a story (if it can even be called one) that values and promotes severely unhealthy BDSM – Bondage and Discipline (BD), Dominance and Submission (DS), Sadism and Masochism (SM) – relationships, as well as sexual abuse. The character of Christian Grey is meant to be a strong, manly man who knows exactly what he wants and hates the word âno.â Confidence is sexy, dominating attitudes can be sexy too, but one of the core principles in BDSM relationships is the presence of respect. People who participate in BDSM practices value âsafe words.â This is a word or words that basically mean âstop, immediately.â Safe words ensure safety and enjoyment for everyone involved. Christian Grey introduces the character Anastasia Steele to BDSM, and yet refuses to acknowledge her safe words or maintain her security.
Partially I feel bad for shaming this enterprise, especially when the largest portion of the Fifty Shades fans identify as women. It is so valuable for women to feel comfortable expressing their sexuality and sexual preferences and to be excited about talking about sex without feeling guilt. Too often is the space for sexual discussion reserved for men. But my issues with the film and the message of the story itself strongly outweigh any benefits it may have.
I am remarkably stupid, I am beyond foolish and I will regret absolutely nothing.
Iâm currently running on a treadmill because it is too cold to run outside. I have all this energy with which I want to move to different places, however, I am stuck on a rubber belt as my black Nikes slam and crash against the continuous, repetitive revolutions of this exercise machine. Three and a half miles down, only half a mile left to go.
Many people come to college to learn how to do a profession, or learn a set of skills, and then they leave college, and go to their big girl and big boy jobs right out of college. If theyâre happy doing this, then all the power to them.
But I am not one of these people.
I am not lazy. If I could get an internship (or even a job) doing something I care about, such as working as a journalist for a cause, then Iâll take that, however, my main priority is traveling. I will work my ass off working small jobs to pay for food and living arrangements, be a freelance writer and take portraits in my free time, and go city to city learning about new cultures, meeting new people, and seeing the world. Every 30+ year old who I tell I want to travel, tells me I need to travel while Iâm young. They tell me they wished they had traveled when they were younger, but that it got to be too difficult once they had homes, mortgages, kids, jobs, etcetera. My life will never, ever be mundane. Even if I have to sacrifice security for excitement.
I am beyond thankful for my college education, but I am ready to go out and do something completely different. Nobody ever got anywhere in life without being bold and a little bit foolish.
I have applied to work in different cities, and if I could get a job doing something I care about in a faraway city, that would be nice, however, Iâm moving away whether I have a job or not. Iâll get a job making coffee, waiting tables, helping out on construction sites. I guess I am kind of like that kid from Into the Wild â Christopher McCandless*.  Except I haven’t totally given up on society like he did, so I guess you and I still have something in common.
Perhaps I was born to be a nomad. I crave impermanence. I can’t stay in one place for longer than a few months before I start to lose my mind. Not Delaware, Ohio, and not my beautiful hometown 23 miles north of San Francisco. There are so many places to see that, frankly, thereâs no time to settle down in one place!
It is springtime now, and itâs getting warmer outside. But I am still on the treadmill, exhausting my locomotion on this black machine of rubber, plastic, and capitulation, when I could be running outside. Quarter mile left to go.
Right now, youâre likely thinking: âBut I have student loans to pay off in six months!â
I do, too. I will pay my student loans back with money I earn from being a freelance writer, a freelance photographer and with money I earn working small jobs. I will work my ass off doing everything and anything I am physically able to do. I will not let student loans get in the way of living my dream. We all need to dream big. When we were younger, did you have goals of taking an office job selling insurance policies? If yes, then all the power to yaâ. Go sell insurance policies with all your heart. (Note from the author: I never judge anyoneâs career or anyone for doing something that makes them happy. The only time I will ever judge you is if you do something that does not make you happy. Life is too short to not make the most of your time here. It wonât last forever.) Do something you love.
But if you had dreams bigger than staying in the closest city to your alma-mater and taking the first job that was offered to you because you were nervous about those looming student loans, then step back and realize that you need to do something that would make your ten year old self proud. That was what inspired my father to start his own business at the age of 14, and my mom to go back to school to become a real estate agent â a career she had never received any training for â at the age of 55. Thatâs incredible to me. She followed her dreams. She didnât let anyone or anything stop her or get in her way, despite the market in the San Francisco Bay Area being flooded with real estate agents who have years and years of experience. She wasnât intimidated. My dad wasnât intimidated when he decided to invest some money he earned into owning a golf course at the age of 13.
Anything is possible if you make it so. Only you control your life. You are not a prisoner. You can do whatever you want if you set your mind to it.
It is summertime now, and I have run all four miles. I have gone the distance. I am so glad I did. And while past four miles have been filled with incredible people, beautiful memories, and I have learned so much – in terms of my major, as well as about myself, I am ready to hop off the treadmill and run outside. I am going to run far. And you wonât see me coming back around the bend for a long, long time.
*Christopher McCandless burned all of his possessions immediately upon graduating college, and took to a life of traveling, meeting new people, learning new cultures and experiences working small jobs to pay for his âGreat Alaskan Adventure.â
The latest Great Decisions Community Discussion Series drew a crowd of 60 Delaware residents to the basement of the William Street United Methodist Church Friday, Feb. 13. There, Nationwide Insurance vice president, assistant general counsel and chief privacy officer Kirk Herath spoke about data privacy and security.
Herath opened âPrivacy in the Digital Ageâ by saying, âIn my talk today I really may be somewhat of an alarmist at times, but Iâm trying to be informative.â
He said more security techniques are continuously being developed âto combat the bad guysâ and a lack of privacy can result in a variety of issues, including unfair discrimination.
As an example, Herath said if he were to purchase Jack Danielâs every day with a credit card and insurance companies were able to access that information, they might deny him insurance. He would be âtoast.â
Herath said using technology is a trade-off between protecting our information and accessing data and services.
The cover of the Great Decisions 2015 booklet. Photo courtesy of Connect2OWU.
âWeâre currently building the largest data center in the world in Utah that the National Security Agency is going to use to collect all this data they apparently donât have,â Herath said, causing the audience to chuckle.
âIâm serious,â he said. âItâs like an 18 football field-sized data server farm out there and itâs guarded like Fort Knox.â
Herath also said many companies use encryption to protect privacy, but it is complex.
âEncrypted data is perfectly secure,â Herath said. âItâs also garbage if you canât un-encrypt it, and thatâs the fundamental problem weâre all facing. To encrypt Nationwide [Insurance data] universally, it would cost three-quarters of a billion dollars because it would require us to update dozens and dozens of systems. Weâd basically have to start all over again.â
To better protect privacy and data, Herath suggested using complex passwords, not oversharing on social media, enabling anti-virus software updates on all technology and avoiding public wireless networks for sensitive digital transactions.
Alice Frazier, a Delaware resident, said she attended the event because she was interested in the topic and always tries to come to the Great Decisions lectures.
âIt was a good talk, but I guess it was a little more technical than I was expecting,â said Frazier. âThereâs a lot about it I donât understand, but I thought he did a good job.â
Cory Barringer, another Delaware resident, said the topic was relevant and something she pays attention to.
âItâs pretty clear that youâre not going to be able to totally protect yourself,â Barringer said. âThatâs probably my biggest takeaway. The next step is to learn how to deal with it and really pay attention to passwords and make them strong.â
The next Great Decisions Community Discussion lecture is titled âBrazilâs Metamorphosisâ and will be given by the chair of Ohio Wesleyan Universityâs politics and government department, James Franklin. It is scheduled for Feb. 20 at 12 p.m.
Stanford’s student newspaper’s “Nice” option form for accessing permanent files. Photo courtesy of fountainhopper.com.
Students at Stanford University opened the floodgates when they cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to open access to college admission files. But at Ohio Wesleyan, interest has seen barely a trickle.
Director of Admissions Alisha Couch said only two students requested to see their admissions files, requests via emails directly copy and pasted from the original Stanford request forms.
âI think they just wanted to test us to see if they could get [the files],â Couch said. âWe had to tell them to send the requests to the registrarâs office.â
Though Couch said students should be able to look at their files – without being able to take them from the office or photocopy them – she said the admissions process at OWU is straightforward and relatively transparent.
âMainly weâre using a highlighter, like highlighting comments from letters of recommendation,â Couch said. âFor our admissions files we just write general notes on the students…we use our notes to kind of connect them to the university, such as if a student is involved in LGBQTA issues, we can connect them to someone on campus who is in that community.â
Couch also said admissions counselors are willing to sit down with denied students and discuss why their applications were refused. In addition, Couch said the admissions office usually only keeps files up to two years; permanent files such as high school transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation and personal essays get sent to the Registrar.
Among OWU students, there isnât a consensus on the appeal of looking at the files. Senior Abby Bennett said she would âdefinitely be interestedâ in seeing her admissions files while junior Max Hara said he wouldnât because he has already been accepted into OWU.
âWhy look at something that doesnât matter anymore?â Hara said.
Though sources have been inconsistent on whether FERPA covers schools students were denied admission to, both Hara and Bennett said they wouldnât be interested in seeing those files.
Couch said, at a bigger or more selective school, she could see why students might want access to their files.
âA lot of people want the magic formula,â Couch said, adding she could see the system potentially changing at bigger schools if more students requested admissions files. Both Bennett and Couch said there was value to having transparency in the admissions process.
âI definitely think that we [should] have a right to see the information that the school keeps on us, but I don’t think that the information has much value in general,â Bennett said.
FERPA may not cover some files, such as letters of recommendation. Students interested in accessing permanent files should send their requests to the Registrar.
“The Pinkprint” album cover. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org.
We can all pick out Bruno Mars. But can you name his backup dancers?
For a girl once relegated to the background status, Nicki Minaj has come a long way. And now the queen of Young Money Entertainment has released her third album.
Dropped on Dec. 12, 2014, The Pinkprint sold 244,000 copies in the first week alone, and I personally think that isnât enough. The graphic and revealing work has songs on it for everyone, whether you are looking for Lil Wayneâs subversive raps or a new pop song to nod your head to.
Some tracks are distinctly autobiographical. In the albumâs opening song âAll Things Go,â she talks about her cousin who was murdered and how she had an abortion at a young age.
ââAll Things Goâ is a sober account of a wide range of personal challenges the rapper has faced in her life, from strained relationships with her family,â said Times reporter Eliza Berman.
I would recommend âOnly,â which features the unstoppable crew of Drake, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne, if you are trying to disappoint your grandma. The trio came together to produce one of the more provocative and explicit songs on the album.
Give The Pinkprint a listen (hint, hint OWU radio DJs). It wonât disappoint.
Left to right: Deah, Yusor and Razan. Photo courtesy of abcnews.com.
Iâve been afraid this would happen ever since the Charlie Hebdo attack. But I, and the nation, should have been fearing it since Sept. 11, 2001.
Three Muslim students living near the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill were murdered Tuesday night.
Their names were Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammed Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha. They were the same ages as many of us: 23, 21 and 19.
Deah Shaddy Barakat and his wife Yusor, who graduated from nearby North Carolina State, were planning to become dentists; heâd been raising money to support Syrian refugees.
According to VICE News, their neighbor Craig Hicks turned himself in and has been charged with their murders.
VICE reports that Hicks is believed to have posted anti-religious messages on Facebook; CNN reports he is an atheist.
Facebook was how I heard about this; I saw news posts with a headline like âThree killed in shooting at UNC.â
Another school shooting, I thought. It was sad, of course, but I was hardly surprised – and what does that say about the nation we live in?
Then the details emerged.
Police have said Hicks had a dispute with his three victims over parking in the area; Dr. Mohammed Abu-Salha, Yusor and Razanâs father, says this is a hate crime and that Hicks had animosity toward his daughters and son-in-law because of their religion and culture.
Itâs not certain that this was a hate crime, even in spite of the Facebook posts and Dr. Abu-Salhaâs comments. And I donât know what was in Hicksâ mind, if he is the killer.
I do know that if three devout Christians were murdered, and a Muslim man had been charged after posting anti-Christian messages on Facebook, well, there would be a media field day over that, particularly from conservative-leaning news sites.
I know that every time I checked CNN Wednesday morning, they were devoting their airtime to ISIS and their actions in the Middle East, not these murders of Americans on US soil, in their own home. They do have an online story, but that gets a lot less attention than whatâs presented on screen.
After learning about these murders, my first class met with a former media coordinator with the Columbus office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
She spoke about the need for balanced and humanizing depictions of Muslims in the media; her visit had been planned well in advance, but the previous nightâs killing made it incredibly powerful.
As a Unitarian Universalist (UU), I am reminded of the 2008 murder of two UU members in their Knoxville Church, by a terrorist claiming to act in the name of Christianity and right-wing conservatism.
But that doesnât compare to this; I was not a UU at the time, and it was an isolated incident; we donât have to fear daily aggression in the same way many Muslim or Arab-appearing people do in the United States.
I am reminded of the terrorist attack against Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, which left six dead in 2012; this attack was also carried out by a white supremacist.
I am reminded that as the news media focuses on self-proclaimed Islamic groups like ISIS and their murders of Western hostages, the overwhelming majority of their victims are Syrians and Iraqis, many of them Muslims.
I am also reminded, as Al Jazeera America has pointed out, that Mexican drug cartels have also used Christianity as a tool in the same way that ISIS uses Islam, and that they are carrying out televised, gruesome executions and general mass murder with far less media scrutiny in the United States.
On Wednesday, the Chaplainâs Office devoted their mid-week prayer service to remembering these three lives, and informed us that the community service learning office is working with Tauheed to raise funds for their charity. Itâs called Project Refugee Smile, and itâll help Syrian refugees in Turkey receive proper dental care.
And that reminds me of one last thing. Two years ago, I wrote a story about OWU students standing in solidarity with fellow students at UNC-Chapel Hill.
That time it was about sexual assault, but itâs time we stand in solidarity with UNC students again – with UNCâs Muslim community, their friends and the entire nationâs Muslim community.
Senior Caitlen Sellers. Photo courtesy of Facebook.
In May 2015, senior Caitlen Sellers will join a team of runners on a 300 kilometer journey across the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The seven-day trek is meant to raise support for gender equality and coffee-farming communities.
Run Across Congo, organized by the nonprofit On the Ground, will take the team through unpaved trails in the Congo and bring them into contact with communities destabilized by unfair labor practices. Sellers said the goal for each runner is to raise $15,000. This money will go to programs empowering women, including self-esteem workshops, business initiatives and efforts toward increasing the visibility of women in agriculture.
âItâs investing to create these programs to really educate the people and empower the women,â Sellers said of the project. âWe want to help them stay together by talking about fair trade.â
Sellers said she was interested in participating because she sees a separation between coffee-farming communities and the people who consume the product of their labor. According to the CIA World Factbook, 71 percent of the population of the Congo was below the poverty line in 2006, while agriculture made up almost half of the gross domestic product composition (by 2013 estimate).
âI see myself as more of an advocate than a runner just because it’s so important to me that people see how their purchases affect the lives of people halfway around the world,” Sellers said. “Responsible consumerism helps to de-fetishize commodities, humanize the farmers who live and work in harsh, unfair conditions  and create positive impacts.”
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org.
The total distance covered divides roughly to one marathon a day, and Sellers said the team canât be sure of accommodations at their destinations.
âWe might be camping out a few nights,â she said, though she added vans will ensure the team doesnât go without food or supplies.
âRunning inspires people because itâs a really difficult thing to do,â Sellers said. âI think people will get excited because they see what weâre willing to do to get on the ground and really see whatâs going on.â
Sellers said because the team was only established a week ago, she hasnât had the chance to research the culture of the Congo, meet many of her teammates or begin fundraising efforts. However, Sellers said each member of the team has a Razoo account, and Sellers has a PayPal for larger donations. Sellers also said she will be going to local businesses to request sponsorship, passing out flyers and potentially putting on interactive educational events.
On the Ground funds runs in other depleted regions, such as Ethiopia and Palestine. More information on On the Ground and Run Across Congo can be found at http://onthegroundglobal.org/.
