The Transcript

Students and faculty evacuated the Schimmel-Conrades Science Center on the afternoon of Oct. 27 due to an overheated drying oven in a botany-microbiology department lab.

There were never any flames, just a lot smoke, according to David Johnson, professor of botany-microbiology.

The smoke set off the fire alarms throughout the building which led to the evacuation and the arrival of Public Safety and the Delaware City Fire Department. Faculty and students remained outside for about 45 minutes until the problem was cleared.

“I think we all knew it wasn’t a very big incident but it did cause quite a large commotion,” said junior Brenna Peterson, a student in the Organisms and their Environment class that was using the oven at the time.

The class could not resume after re-entering the building due to the volume of smoke that still remained in the room, but senior Nick Fowler said Johnson led them on an impromptu hike to salvage some of the lessons.

The lab had been using the oven to dry out soybeans when they became aware of a scorch smell and turned off the oven Johnson said.

However, later in the afternoon smoke began to come out of the exhaust hole, filling the classroom with smoke and setting off the alarms.

“I think what seems to have happened was there was a short in the electrical system so the thermostat wasn’t working anymore,” Johnson said.

After the fire department arrived and contained the situation, the drying oven which resembles a giant box, was placed on a cart and wheeled out of the building.

Johnson said the department will most likely replace the oven, as this one was 10 years old and blackened on the inside. He said it cost $1,000 when the department bought it and he expects a new one to be around the same price.

If a new oven is acquired, it will probably not arrive until next semester, which could disrupt several labs this semester.

There had been no issue with the oven in the past, Johnson said.

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“Poetry and the problem of politics seem to have an affinity,” said poet and essayist Adam Kirsch, who spoke to about ninety students and staff about the intersection of poetry and politics on Tuesday, Nov. 3 in the Benes Room.

However, there are important differences. “Poetry can be absolute, while politics is the art of compromise,” Kirsch said to an audience of about 90 in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center Benes rooms on Tuesday.

The timeline of Kirsch’s lecture spanned from Plato to Percy Shelley to the Nazis. In Plato’s time, he said, poetry was highly regulated by the government because it was believed to have the same influence violent video games are believed to have nowadays.

But people do not think of poetry this way anymore, Kirsch said. “Literature is no longer a cutting edge entertainment technology.”

He said the Nazis performed book burnings because they believed books shaped the minds of citizens, so only “the right books” can be allowed into the country.

“Literature becomes freer as it becomes less dangerous, and it becomes less dangerous when it becomes less powerful,” Kirsch said.

Junior Hannah Simpson said she particularly enjoyed Kirsch’s references to well-known literary works and how his presentation was structured.

“I like how he explained various trends in poetry, basically starting in ancient Greece all the way to modernism,” she said.

Junior Joe Pileski said what most stood out to him was Kirsch’s comments about poetry’s role in the world and about the Romantics claiming Milton was “of the devil.”

“The most energetic parts of a poem — what makes a great poem the greatest — is not the moral center of the poem necessarily,” Pileski said. “I think the Romantics kind of missed the point a little bit.”

Kirsch’s latest book, “Rocket and Lightship: Essays on Literature and Ideas,” comes out Nov. 17.

In recent weeks, Ebola has gone from an unknown disease, to an epidemic, to a disease better understood and controlled. Although the only three official Ebola hotspots are halfway across the world, it still has the potential to affect the U.S., including Delaware, Ohio.

Senior MbaMemme Onwudie has a family member in Nigeria. Although not one of the hotspots for Ebola, there have been reported cases in Lagos. However, Onwudiwe does not seem concerned:

“I am honestly more concerned for my family in the U.S.,” he said. “There has only been one case in Nigeria. The virus is known to have travelled across the US, and in Nigeria it was one isolated case.”

The CDC has confirmed three cases of Ebola in the U.S. Most recently there has been one in New York City, where a member of Doctors Without Borders who had just returned from Guinea has already been put into a 21-day quarantine.

One of those cases is of particular interest to Ohio Wesleyan students because the patient is from Akron, and attended Kent State University. Amber Vinson is a nurse in Dallas who treated one of the previous Ebola cases in the U.S. She has since been quarantined, treated, and cleared on Oct. 28.

There were follow-up tests made with people she came in contact with, especially around the Akron-Canton-Cleveland area. So far, no tests have come back positive.

There have been no confirmed cases of Ebola in Ohio. Two weeks ago, however, the State Panel of Ohio voted and approved a motion to spend about $800,000 on Ebola prevention and treatment.

$800,000 might seem like a large sum of money, but that is not the case, once the costs of treating the disease are understood. For example, the insulated suits health care officials use to treat patients with Ebola costs around $7,000 dollars. Expensive, yes, but what makes it even more expensive is the fact that these suits can only be worn once.

After an official wears one of those suits, it is immediately discarded to minimize contamination risks. Considering that nurses, doctors, and officials probably check in on patients more than once a day, it is easy to see how quickly the $800,000 can be spent – especially if there are multiple patients.

While the CDC and the World Health Organization both state that contracting Ebola in the U.S. is a “low possibility,” they still affirm that citizens should stay alert, and wash their hands/use hand sanitizer as often as possible.

Ohio Wesleyan students gathered last week to show their support for those affected by ebola around the world by having a candlelight vigil.

Greek organizations may have a harder time recruiting new members due to the low enrollment of this year’s freshman class.

On average, Ohio Wesleyan University admissions have a goal of 600 new students each year that is usually met or exceeded. This year only 490 freshmen arrived on campus in August.

OWU is 40 percent Greek, which means in a normal recruitment season there would be about 240 new members spread throughout the Greek community. However, if only 40 percent of this year’s freshman class plans on going through spring recruitment there will only be 196 new members.

“I think that the number of new members each fraternity will sign will certainly be down due to the smaller class size, but overall I do not think the quality of men signed by each fraternity will change at all,” Dan Kasian, VP of Recruitment Events for the Inter Fraternity Counsel (IFC), said.

OWU’s Panhellenic Counsel and IFC have been working hard to make sure this year’s recruitment is well advertised and marketed. According to Assistant Director of Student Involvement for Fraternity and Sorority Life, Dana Behum, there aren’t going to be many changes to how the Greek system approaches spring recruitment, however, more upperclassman are expected to go through formal recruitment.

“Over the past three years the average spring new member class for women’s organizations has been 16, while the average new member class for men’s organizations has been 13,” Behum said. “My hope is that this year rather than focusing solely on the number of new members, that our focus may continue to be about finding the right fit for each person who wants to serve as a leader in the Greek community.”

On Nov. 6, at 12 p.m. there will be an informational session in the Benes rooms for women interested in going through with spring recruitment.

“We are really excited to meet new girls and introduce them to Greek life,” said Carly Zalenski, Vice President of Recruitment for Panhellenic Counsel.

WCSA held an academic forum on Wednesday, Oct. 22 to discuss some of the current credit requirements. The forum was held over several tables in the Benes Rooms, each with a faculty representative, at least one current WCSA member, and a number of students from different classes.

Barbara Andereck, a physics and astronomy professor, was one of the faculty members present at the forum. Andereck had never “attended a student/faculty/administrative discussion about academics hosted by any group” before, but said she was attracted by the premise of this forum.

“I was very interested in the topic of general education requirements and wanted to hear what students’ views were on the subject,” she said.

Discussions included, but were not limited to, the current diversity credit requirements, requirements for non-majors, and writing requirements.

The general consensus was that the diversity requirements should be increased. The students and faculty believed that while Ohio Wesleyan promotes a cultured and broad stance to education, a single diversity course requirement was too little.

“Most students complete more than one diversity requirement anyway, so this change wouldn’t affect much,” said sophomore Sam Schurer, WCSA treasurer.

While the changes for the diversity credits would be relatively simple, the group discussed more complex changes to the same discipline requirements. A proposed idea was to change the three classes in two disciplines requirement to three classes and in three different disciplines.

This change would allow non-majors to broaden their horizons without having to go in depth into a subject that might not be of interest.

Finally, the group discussed writing requirements and how more options should be offered within the students’ majors. For example, a chemistry major needing to take an English course about British literature would certainly be out of his element. It was said however,  if a chemistry class with an R credit was offered, the student would most likely be more successful and engaged.

“We heard a very wide range of potential changes,”  Andereck said. “I would think that some of the ideas suggested could be implemented.”

While WCSA representatives were not clear as to which ideas will be proposed to the school, the purpose of discussing the credit requirements was achieved.