Global Grab: Ebola goes rural and U.S. counters ISIL

The Issue: Ebola

Ebola is one of the most fatal diseases known to humankind, and it is the cause of one of the deadliest outbreaks in history in Africa. According to the World Health Organization, Ebola has a death rate of up to 90 percent, and is caused by human-to-human interaction, such as bodily fluids.

Currently, the death toll is 2,100 in several West African countries: Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Yahoo News. By some estimates, there are about 3,500 confirmed cases of the disease, with no cure. Approximately 240 health workers in the affected areas have been infected with the disease and several have died, the Washington Post reports. However, several Americans who were infected were flown back to the U.S. and given an experimental treatment.

The Washington Post reports there are now fears that Ebola will be spreading from “remote provinces” to the bigger cities in Africa. The Post also said, “Last week, the World Health Organization warned that the number of cases could hit 20,000 in West Africa.”

The Issue: Countering ISIL

After the recent videos of American journalists being beheaded by suspected members of ISIL, the United States has ramped up their strategy against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Vice President Joe Biden said in a speech, “We take care of those who are grieving, and when that’s finished, they should know, we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside.”

And on Sunday, the United States launched a new series of airstrikes against Sunni fighters, which were aimed at ISIL militants. These recent attacks were made to stop militants from seizing and important dam on the Euphrates River and “prevent the possibility of floodwaters being unleashed toward the capital, Baghdad,” the New York Times reported.

President Barack Obama will be making a speech to the nation on Wednesday, which will be used to “make his case for launching a United States-led offensive against Sunni militants gaining ground in the Middle East,” the New York Times reported. President Obama has said this speech is “…not going to be an announcement about U.S. ground troops…this is not the equivalent of the Iraq war.”

The Associated Press said the head of the Arab League “urged its members…to confront Islamic State extremists ‘militarily and politically,’ issuing an apparent call to arms as President Barack Obama prepares to go to lawmakers and the American public with his own plan to stop the militants.”

Student’s murals color new J. Gumbo’s location

Junior Abi Care Horvat adds to "Sunset on the Bayou," one of three murals she'll paint at the new J. Gumbo's location, on Aug. 30. Photo: Abi Care Horvat on Facebook — Junior Abi Care Horvat adds to “Sunset on the Bayou,” one of three murals she’ll paint at the new J. Gumbo’s location, on Aug. 30. Photo: Abi Care Horvat on Facebook

By Nicole Barhorst
Transcript Reporter

After Richard Upton’s J. Gumbo’s completes its move to 9 N. Sandusky St., a trio of murals by junior Abi Care Horvat will be the “centerpiece of the conversation,” he said.

Horvat, a fine arts major, put in 25 to 30 hours during her first week and a half working on the first mural in the front dining area titled “Sunset on the Bayou.” She said she has done canvas murals before, but never on such a large scale or on a wall.

Horvat got connected with Upton, the restaurant’s owner, after painting a fraternity paddle for a friend whose fraternity brother knew Upton. They worked together to determine the murals’ subject, and Horvat said it was important to both of them that visitors be able to find something new in the works with each visit.

The other two murals, both expected to be larger than “Sunset on the Bayou,” are titled “Parade on Bourbon Street” and “Under the Sea.” Horvat said she expects to be working on them for a few more weeks in addition to her classes.

Upton said he thinks Horvat’s work so far is “awesome.” He said the move from 12 S. Sandusky Street to the new location, previously 3^rd Degree Tanning Salon, was to provide more opportunities for expansion.

“Ninety-five percent of special events that happen in downtown Delaware happen north of William Street,” he said. “This location is better-suited for growth.”

Field Sleeper records intimate set at Chi Phi house

Alex Paquet talks with a fellow student at an intimate show in the Chi Phi fraternity house's formal room. The OWU junior, who released an EP titled "Stay Quiet, Stay Ahead" last year, recorded his set onto a cassette tape. Photo by Nicole Barhorst — Alex Paquet talks with freshman Gwyn Andrews after his intimate show in the Chi Phi fraternity house’s formal room. The OWU junior, who released an EP titled “Stay Quiet, Stay Ahead” last year, recorded his set onto a cassette tape. Photo by Nicole Barhorst

By Nicole Barhorst
Transcript Reporter

Nearly two dozen students were snapping their fingers after each song junior Alex Paquet, known on stage as Field Sleeper, played in Chi Phi’s formal room last Wednesday at 8 p.m.

The show’s original location was Paquet’s Chi Phi bedroom, but due to the amount of people who expressed their interest in the event on Facebook, the performance was moved to the formal room on the first floor of the fraternity.

According to the event’s Facebook page, the show was taped to a cassette, which will be converted into a digital file and shared with anyone.

Paquet sang and played guitar for forty-five minutes with a colored light illuminating his face in an otherwise dark room.

“I’ve been to concerts, but nothing like this,” said freshman Annie Spink, adding that she liked the “chill” atmosphere.

Freshman Gwyn Andrews said she enjoyed how interactive the show was and that her favorite song performed a Paquet original titled “Skeletons.”

Paquet said the song is one of his own favorites because it is fun to play and “more stripped down.” It was the only song Paquet played acoustically.

Many of the other songs in his set were covers, including a song by The Antlers.

Paquet said he liked how there is less separation between himself and the audience when he performs at smaller, more intimate places, and that playing for friends is “the ultimate experience.”

New semester holds a bright future for The Transcript

New technology, live coverage, radio station to bring in a new era of journalism at OWU

Have you noticed anything different about The Transcript you’re holding?

I certainly hope so.

I would say that my first semester as the paper’s editor began as a whirlwind, but really it would be more appropriate to call it a hurricane.

There was a major change between the top editors on our staff, serious issues with the technology we depend on to produce the paper and, of course, stories that challenged me ethically.

From Elliott Hall’s pipes exploding, to the horrific attack against one of our own students last spring, I found myself in our office in Phillips until 4 a.m. on several occasions.

Because of internal staffing issues and external factors we couldn’t control, I used to have anxiety every time I checked my email.

I would be so convinced someone else would be angrily informing me about a mistake, a quote or some larger issue that I had let slip through my fingers.

But I think I’m starting to get my groove back.

Thanks to my team here and a summer to prepare myself properly, I’m feeling pretty optimistic about this semester (knock on wood). We got a little bit of a makeover, and a lot of help from our department head, Paul Kostyu, to finally bring our department into the 21st century.

We plan to provide our student body with more live coverage of events by live-tweeting and keeping consistent with our social media.

Our radio station is on its way, and we will be broadcasting news and public affairs programming during the day and music and talk shows into the evening.

We plan to increase the number of columns and we want to work towards reporting on more diverse coverage than we have in the past. Also on our radar are a lot of promising reporters who we are confident have a lot of potential.

I’ve worked on this paper for all seven of my semesters here; first as a reporter, then as A&E editor and now as the Editor-in-Chief. I don’t know what I am going to do without it, but I do know I want to leave it better than ever.

Cheers to a great semester, everyone.

Survey brings over-involvement out of the shadows

We now have numbers to concretely describe Ohio Wesleyan’s often ephemeral over-involvement problem.

Sixty-six percent of OWU’s students are involved in at least five clubs or organizations, a Student Involvement Office survey found. This means it’s most likely that an OWU student — at least one of the 490 who responded — has more extracurricular than academic commitments.

They’re also tired. Seventy-seven percent said their involvement “detracts from academic work” by adding mental or emotional fatigue; 66 percent said it made them more physically fatigued; and 77 percent said it “overextended (their) responsibilities.

This doesn’t surprise me. It’s only the second week of the academic year, so few of us are yet traversing campus with glazed faces, exhausted bodies and overworked minds. But in a few weeks, the truth these numbers tell will start to manifest itself.

On one hand, it’s easy to view these numbers with frightened awe and pessimism. But they come at an advantageous time.

Now that we have a better sense of how many all-nighters students pull in a given week, we can work proactively to create a healthier, happier campus.

To do that, I first want to ask some questions the survey didn’t. Do the students in that 66 percent feel their involvement in five or more clubs is healthy? What does it give them? What does it take away?

Instead of asking what limited students’ participation in extracurricular activities, as the survey did, why not ask what obstacles it creates in other parts of our lives. The most common response was academic workload (86 percent). Is it really that school inhibits involvement, or is it the reverse?

Answering these important questions would, I think, help inform how OWU’s administrators and we students will work to assuage this problem. But I think there are things to do before those answers come.

One would be to use next Saturday’s GO!OWU workshop as an opportunity for highly involved students to talk meaningfully with university decision-makers and each other about over-involvement.

Whether in a formal breakout session or informal breakfast chats, this would at least publicly acknowledge that there is a cultural expectation that OWU students do everything all the time. Hopefully, it would lead to some idea-sharing about how to care for ourselves and each other in our extracurricular lives.

Second, as students, we can evaluate our lists of commitments and ask ourselves whether each one helps or hurts us.

I am one of the 66 percent, and it’s a goal of mine to only make commitments I know I can keep, and to say no without fear or shame. Regret that I can’t help someone or that I’ll miss out on a great opportunity, sure; but no fear or shame. Not for any of us.

Ultimately, though, this isn’t solely our responsibiity. I maintain what I wrote in March about over-involvement — that I want Student Affairs administrators to acknowledge the problem and that taking care of oneself is as important as the sum of one’s extracurricular activities, which they have yet to do.

As upperclassmen looked at their schedules and saw trouble ahead, the Student Involvement Office put on a club fair, offering first-year students sign-up lists with no word of caution about taking on too much too fast. For every club fair, I want see a workshop or flyer about self-care rather than nothing.

Perhaps response bias plays a role — it’s possible that only the most overextended students took the survey. But experience tells me these are broader trends, and I want to see administrators take that into account.

I got more positive feedback and thanks from my fellow students on my March column than anything else I’ve written. It seemed to resonate with my peers’ experience. I heard nothing — not even a refutation — from any administrator.

Meanwhile, Dean of Students Kimberlie Goldsberry presented the 66 percent statistic as something exciting in my RA training last month. I want to see these key administrators take this problem head on, not ignore it or talk about it as if it is not a problem.

On a positive note, 86 percent of the engagement survey’s respondents said they think involvement has post-grad benefits. I want to see a concerted campus-wide effort to ensure those benefits don’t cost us our mental and emotional health.

Field hockey coaches’ role swap a ‘win-win situation’

By Philippe Chauveau
Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan field hockey team is under new management, so to speak.

Former head coach Marge Redmond stepped down, allowing for Hannah Allison, her assistant coach last season, to take over the position.

As Interim Head Coach, Allison will have former head coach Marge Redmond as her assistant coach.

“I want to be known as the team that never gives up,” Allison said. “If the girls give me 100 percent effort during practice, it will carry into the game.”

Allison said could not hide her surprise at receiving such a special chance.

“I got called into the athletic director’s office and I was really nervous, I didn’t know what it was about,” she said. “I couldn’t say no when they offered me the position, it is such an amazing opportunity.”

Sophomore defender Lee LeBoeuf said she was not at all surprised to see Allison placed in the head coach position.

“She is more than qualified to be our head coach and has already done an excellent job this preseason,” LeBouef said.

“Hannah was able to recruit hard and bring an incredible incoming freshman class.”

While most people might find a switch between coaching positions strange, LeBoeuf said the players believe it was a great decision.

“It was good that we were able to have Hannah as an assistant for a season, it made the change less radical,” LeBoeuf said.

“Plus, Marge will be working on a new position that she is very passionate about, yet we still get to see her everyday. It’s a win-win situation.”

Redmond will now serve as OWU’s senior woman administrator, alongside her new position as assistant coach for the Bishops’ Field Hockey team.

Theatre department grows with new faces

By Nicole Barhorst
Transcript Reporter

With more freshmen intending to major or minor in theater than in past years at Ohio Wesleyan University, the October production of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” will feature a host of new faces.

One of these new faces will be Zoë Rosenthal, a freshman intending to minor in theater, who said she most enjoys the technical side of theater.

“I did props and set design in high school and loved it,” Rosenthal said. “I get stage fright so I like to be backstage and out of the limelight.”

Rosenthal said her favorite play is Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but she likes modern musicals as well.

Freshman Matthew Pheneger said he intends to major in theater, and prefers acting over all other aspects of theater because “it’s the most fun.”

Among his favorite plays are Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan and “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. He said he does not have a preference between older plays and more modern productions.

Pheneger said he likes that OWU’s theatre and dance department is small compared to other schools because “having like sixty kids per class is counterproductive.”

OWU’s production of “The Merchant of Venice”—directed by Elane Denny-Todd—will be performed Oct. 8, 9, 10, and 11 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. Admission will be $5 for faculty and staff, $10 for the general public and free for OWU students with a valid ID.

According to the department’s website, “The Merchant of Venice” is a “classic comedy of loyalty, love, greed, disguise and justice” that takes place in a “money-mad world where no one is truly innocent.”

People of Delaware – The English degree

“I’m just trying to make ends meet. It’s hard when you have a degree in English.”

Columbus gives students great options for weekend fun

There’s a magical point sometime between 4 and 6 p.m. when, all of a sudden, downtown Columbus just goes dead. It’s a commuter city. People go downtown to work, not play. Sure, there’s the Ohio theatre and COSI, but not much else except for a creepy YMCA and a lot of closed-for-the-weekend buildings.

Here’s the thing though: there’s plenty to do and see in Columbus, but you have to know where to go. Now, I can go on and on about great places around the Greater Columbus area, but most natives would agree with me in recommending these two districts to visit: The Short North neighborhood and the Ohio State University campus (“campus” for short).

If you want to know where the locals go (and they usually know the best spots to have fun), this is it.

So, what’s in these areas? Basically the very life-blood of central Ohio’s arts & entertainment scene as well as the home of the state’s favorite college sports teams.

We’ve got the Newport Music Hall, Skully’s Music-Diner, the Bluestone, the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion (the LC) and other lounges for the music lovers. For those who like larger venues, there’s the Schottenstein Center (the Schott), Nationwide Arena, and Ohio Stadium.

On campus, there’s a plethora of bars, clubs, and hookah lounges (my personal favorite being Mangos Café), but at the end of the night make sure to check out Mikey’s Late Night Slice to satisfy any hunger pangs.

The Short North, “Flytown,” is the best of the three districts in my opinion. It’s got everything for everybody. If you want the best food in Columbus, then try the North Market but make sure to get there before dinner as it normally closes at 5 p.m.

If you want the best in art, then go there for the Gallery Hop that’s held the first Saturday of each month.

Shops and other places are opened up to display the latest work of mostly Columbus area artists, artisans, and designers. If you want to walk and go out, it’s also right for you as the area is always alive with sights and people.

There are the multiple clubs towards the south of the Short North such as Park Street Cantina, Long Street District for the party.

Then there are also coffee lounges and cafes for those who would prefer a more relaxed setting like Kafe Kerouac.

OWU’s donations by the numbers

Highlights of OWU’s largest donations from the 2013-2014 fiscal year contributing near $27.9 million of the total amount of $30.2 million. Graphic by Ellin Youse

55 percent of donations from 2013-2014 given to university in cash

Ohio Wesleyan collected $30.2 million in the last fiscal year of fundraising.

Alumni, parents and friends of the university made that amount in new gifts and commitments between July 1 of last year and June 30, 2014.

According to Vice President for University Advancement Colleen C. Garland, the amount includes a $5 million donation from alumni John F. and Kathryn Bradford Milligan for the OWU Connection curricular initiative, which aims to track and improve the effectiveness of various academic programs on campus by tracking new metrics related to them.

$3.8 million was donated separately for the Ohio Wesleyan Fund and $465,754 for the Team OWU initiative, which support campus operations and varsity sports respectively.

A boost of about $19 million in philanthropic support went toward various building projects in progress on campus. An $8 million donation from 1958 graduate Louis A. Simpson and his wife, Kimberly K. Querrey helped the university meet the $10 million funding goal to complete renovations on Edwards Gymnasium and the former Pfeiffer Natatorium, which will become the Simpson Querrey Fitness Center when it is completed in the fall of 2015.

The final highlight includes a $1.1 million estate gift, which will be added to the insurance-funded effort to repair and upgrade Elliot Hall’s infrastructure after a frozen pipe ruptured during last year’s “polar vortex,” causing the building to close for a semester.

Another notable donation comes from an anonymous donor, giving $8 million for the renovation of Merrick Hall.

Of the total amount, $22.2 million of the donations were made in cash, making for a 55 percent increase over a three-year average of $14.2 million.

“While we celebrate every gift commitment, we are especially gratified to have been able to deliver such a substantial amount of cash to put to work right away to address some of the university’s highest priorities,” Garland said.

President Rock Jones said the generosity and vision of Ohio Wesleyan’s many donors indicate their strong commitment to the university’s educational mission, students, and faculty.