Professor honored for work about health law

Professor Randolph Quaye, the director of the Black World Studies department. He was recently recognized for his work in research on the Affordable Care Act. Photo from Connect2OWU
Professor Randolph Quaye, the director of the Black World Studies department. He was recently recognized for his work in research on the Affordable Care Act. Photo from Connect2OWU

Randolph Quaye, the director of Black World Studies department at Ohio Wesleyan, was recently recognized for his research with the Affordable Care Act and his work as a reviewer for academic journals.

“We see a gap when we look at our health care system,” Quaye said.

“We do have 15 percent of our population that are under insured, and based upon my own research I do feel like something has to be done to fill the gap.”

Quaye began his research last year. When the proposal for the Affordable Care Act was initially made, Quaye said he thought it was something that would “not necessarily solve the problem” but open up new roads in expanding health care for those who are currently uninsured.

Quaye’s research had two main goals. First, he wanted to gather information from physicians.

“In order for the system to work, you need to know where physicians stand in relation to the Affordable Care Act,” he said.

He developed a survey and reached out to approximately 90 different physicians across Ohio, including the Columbus, Akron, Wooster and Cleveland areas.

Quaye said he had published a research on manage care involving Ohio physicians almost four years ago and wanted to see “what has changed” since then.

Additionally, he said he wanted to get a broader sense from physicians about whether in fact they have any view point on the Affordable Care Act.

He said one of his first questions to the physicians was to tell him something about the act.

“More often than not people use the word ‘Obama care’ and there seems to be some misunderstanding on whether Obama care is something different from the Affordable Care Act,” Quaye said.

He wanted to see how knowledgeable people are about the specific provisions under the Affordable Care Act.

He also wanted to know what the physicians thought would be the impact of the act on their medical practice.

Results of the Research

“What I got from my analysis is that for primary physicians, they were really in favor of the Affordable Care Act because it allows them to increase their fees and because they will be in a position to put a lot of emphasis on preventative medicine, that seemed to go well for their profession,” Quaye said.

“Specialists were not so enthusiastic,” he said.

“Some of them felt it would erode their income, it would erode their professional autonomy because they would have to deal with a whole series of bureaucratic structures, so most of them were not really enthusiastic about it.”

Quaye also said some of the physicians mentioned that this is a “very massive under taking that the government is engaged in,” and the government has to ensure that there are enough doctors.

“If we expand in medicaid, which is really what the program is doing for those who are uninsured, the problem is, have we trained enough doctors to handle the volume that the Affordable Care Act is designed to provide,” he said.

Quaye said he would have liked to have a larger sample size for his research.

Further, because he conducted his research during the summer, a large number of doctors were on vacation, and he didn’t get as many responses as he might have in January or February.

“I also wanted to do something before the second elections so I was trying to get a sense of what people were saying about the Affordable Care Act,” he said.

Quaye has been awarded the Outstanding Reviewer for Leadership in Health Services as a part of the Emerald Literati Network award for excellence. He won the same award two years ago.

He said his work as a reviewer involves reviewing articles for several journals—mostly in the health field—and for the past 2 years he has reviewed more than 20.

“Currently have I have two articles and what I do is read, make comments on research objectives, look at literature review, the methods that have been employed and the analysis and conclusion,” he said.

Quaye then makes recommendations about whether each article should be published or needs some kind of revision.

He sends his comments to the editor and they get in touch with authors and then they revise it.

Some of the articles are then sent back to him and he then determines if the articles are ready for publication.

“I tend to be very thorough in my review and I think they liked that,” he said.

Future Plans

Quaye said he has received a grant from OWU for another research in the upcoming summer.

He will be traveling to Sweden, Denmark and Norway to look at the changing status of medical profession in those three countries.

“I have a passion for addressing the broader issue of health whether in this country, Africa or Europe I’ve always been interested in knowing about what is happing in the health arena, lets say, global health in general,” he said.

Quaye said he is also interested in having a Sagan National Colloquium “devoted on global health challenges so it’s an opportunity to bring in experts from different disciplines to look at health from a global perspective.”

“I like doing research and also I do teach an honors course on medical profession here,” he said.

“So it’s always good to update myself and see what is new in the area of health.”

VIVA lasers in to mentor youths

According to the 2012 US Census, Delaware County has a Hispanic and Latino population of 4,167, and OWU’s VIVA organization is working to engage them.

Latino and Latin American Space for Enrichment and Research (LASER) was started in 2009 by Dr. Frederick Aldama, professor of English and Director of Latin American studies at Ohio State University.

This program matches high school students from the Columbus area with OSU students in the hopes of helping Latino and Latina students transition from high school and into college.

LASER has officially founded a chapter at Ohio Wesleyan this spring, with the help of VIVA, the Latin American club on campus.

During Aldama’s visit to OWU last year, VIVA decided to bring LASER closer to home and they have been working since the fall to get the program up and running.

Freshman Joycelyn Munoz is the only current mentor with a mentee in the program.

Seniors Hazel Barrera and Peter Reveles have been serving as ambassadors for the program this semester by reaching out to high school students, as well as keeping in touch with mentors.

“For a while now, I had been thinking about how to get ¡VIVA! Latinoamerica more involved in community service besides translating at Parent/Teacher Conferences at Woodward Elementary School and Willis Intermediate School,” Barrera said.

“When we heard about LASER at OSU from a speaker we brought in to present on Latinos in the media, we decided to take the opportunity to start a mentoring program for Latino students.”

Barrera said the students meet twice a week at OWU, “in order to get a sense of the college life.”

They work together for two hours during which the mentor helps the student with homework, FAFSA, college applications “and many other different needs that the student may have.”

According to Barrera, some of the challenges for this new program include trying to find transportation and a suitable time to meet with the administration at Hayes High School.

Additionally, she said finding mentees for the current mentors in the program has also turned out to be a challenge.

Freshman Micheal Mora Brenes will be the ambassador for the LASER/VIVA program next year and should be contacted if anyone is interested in being a part of the program.

“We (VIVA) hope to have more high school students interested, and have a bigger program by next fall,” Barrera said.

“While we look forward to a professional life after graduation in May, we wish to leave this as part of our legacy.”

Theta teams up to raise alcohol awareness

Sophomore Brittany Spicer attempts to limbo wearing drunk goggles while juniors Jessica Scherry (left) and Lauren Rump hold the stick. Photo by jane Suttmeier
Sophomore Brittany Spicer attempts to limbo wearing drunk goggles while juniors Jessica Scherry (left) and Lauren Rump hold the stick. Photo by jane Suttmeier

By Megan Dill and Marta Del Cid
Transcript Reporter and Transcript Correspondent

1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, a statistic recorded by The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

“More than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem,” according to statistics provided by the National Institute of Health.

“…Between 1.2 and 1.5 percent of students indicate that they tried to commit suicide within the past year due to drinking or drug use,”

April is recognized as Alcohol Awareness Month, and this year Ohio Wesleyan University’s Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta) devoted a week to bringing awareness to the prevalent misuse of alcohol on college campuses.

“We know by being a Greek organization there are a lot of negative stereotypes about drinking,” said junior Jordan Bernstein, president of Theta.

“We wanted to show that alcohol is not needed to have fun, which is why we kicked off the week with a ‘dry’ formal.”

Theta partnered with three different organizations on campus: Kappa Kappa Gamma, the women’s rugby team, and Delta Zeta.

All of the events took place during the noon hour.

Junior Jennifer Lloyd, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma (Kappa), said she believes alcohol awareness week was a great idea and felt it was an issue that needed to be addressed on campus.

“Alcohol misuse is prevalent on this campus, as on most campuses, so it is important to be aware,” she said.

“Also, I really liked that Theta partnered with many other campus organizations to put on events this week.”

Activities involved giving cookies with alcohol-related facts, education on Kappa’s Kidney camp, drunk goggles, Jeopardy with the women’s rugby team and a banner pledging to make good choices, co-sponsored by Delta Zeta.

Kappa’s annual philanthropy event supports Kappa Kidney camp and, since kidney failure can be caused by alcohol abuse, they considered it appropriate to partner with Theta.

The Rugby team intended to show that the members of the team want their peers to be safe around alcohol.

Delta Zeta collaborated with Theta because their sorority takes a stance against alcohol misuse nationally.

Bernstein said the pledge signing was her favorite activity.

“It was really great to see so many different people come up and take the pledge,” she said.

“We had a lot of fun putting on the events each day and they all went smoothly,” Bernstein added.

“I believe that sometimes people forget the risks and if our event can make one person pause before they make that not so safe decision, then we were successful.”

Lloyd said she believes this event should be continued, as long as alcohol misuse persists as an issue on campus.

Global Grab: A Sunken Ferry and intensified Ukrainian conflict

The Issue: South Korean Ferry

What was supposed to be a fun trip for high school students in South Korea turned tragic when the ferry they were on sank.

There were 476 people on board, including 339 children and teachers from the school, according to BBC.

The current death toll is 64, with 238 people still missing, most of them students. According to Al Jazeera, two United States underwater drones have been deployed to search for the bodies.

The captain of the ferry is being accused of abandoning the ferry while the passengers were trapped onboard. According to Al Jazeera, the captain and two other crewmembers were arrested on negligence charges.

This is considered one of South Korea’s worst maritime disasters.

The Issue: Ukraine

Ukraine has been getting worse. One issue that grabbed major headlines was the leaflet supposedly released in eastern Ukraine that told Jews to register with the pro-Russian militants.

In an address to reporters in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke out against these fliers.

“In the year 2014, after al of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it’s grotesque,” he said.

“It’s beyond unacceptable.”

However, Time Magazine said “the flier was more likely part of an ill-conceived extortion plot or a propaganda ploy against the separatists.”

Also in the Ukraine, a mystery has been solved.

For a few weeks, well-armed, professional gunmen have seized Ukrainian government sites in several towns, according to the New York Times.

Ukrainian officials have put the blame on the Russians, but the Russians have repeatedly denied these accusations.

However, it’s been found that the “green men,” as they are called, are in fact Russian military and intelligence forces.

The Kremlin still maintains that there is no Russian involvement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters Thursday that, “it’s all nonsense.

“There are no Russian units, special services or instructors in the east of Ukraine.”

‘Trans-ition’ workshop continues work

By Olivia Lease and Kallie Winston

Transcript Correspondents

On April 14, the faculty dining room in Hamilton-Williams Campus Center was filled with people, including a large number of freshmen, eager to discuss and learn more about transgender issues.

Seniors Skylar Drake and Nora Anderson held another Trans-ition Your Outlook event, as the previously first one conflicted with other campus events.

At the start of the meeting, Drake and Anderson addressed three terms: cis, trans and non-binary. The word “trans” commonly means across from one another, while “cis” is the opposite of trans. A “non-binary” individual is someone who does not identify as male or female. Commonly, transgender and non-binary are used interchangeably.

Drake explained that she and Anderson were “cis” women who wished to shed light on the issue of non-binary individuals on the OWU campus.

“I am a cis woman who does not know enough about transgender issues,” Drake said. “I have seen how my friends who are transgender are affected when people do not know their preferred pronoun usage.

Anderson explained the correct pronoun usage is he, she, or they for any person. One must refer to another individual with the pronoun he, she, or they choose.

Ashley Biser, politics and government professor and chair of the Committee on Women and Gender, attended the event. Biser said Ohio Wesleyan’s current integration of the issue is “sporadic.”

“There are many people who are very supportive, there are many people who don’t know a lot, there are many people who would like to learn and there are some people who are sort of oblivious to this issue,” she said.

Junior Liz Dickson said they attended the event because “it is personally really relevant to me.”

“I identify as genderqueer and I am constantly misgendered in and outside of the classroom on this campus,” Dickson said.

Dickson transferred to OWU from another institution partially because their previous university had no gender-inclusive housing.

The issue of OWU’s lack of all-gender housing and gender-neutral bathrooms was brought up in the discussion.

Regarding OWU’s first steps toward more gender inclusivity, Dickson said, “For me, preferred gender pronouns are a serious issue.” Something they plan on working on next semester is starting the conversation with faculty on the importance of preferred pronouns.

Dickson said they are misgendered often.

“Because I present as more feminine but my identity is genderqueer and I have gender neutral pronouns, people don’t ask me and that is actually really frustrating,” Dickson said.

Dickson brought up in the discussion that a person’s gender presentation may not match up with their gender identity because of the discrimination they experience.

“I am a transgender individual and I would prefer to go by they, their and theirs,” Dickson said. “If you do not know what someone prefers to be called, or if you cannot tell what gender someone is, just ask them.”

Dickson said the issue applies to OWU for multiple reasons.

“Every black issue is a transgender issue, every class issue is a transgender issue, every issue (regarding) disabled students is a transgender issue because…all of the different ways our identities intersect, there are actually so many issues on this campus it becomes,” they said.

The event had only a few faculty members in attendance, which raised the question: are these issues the faculty are discussing?

Biser said it is a part of the Committee on Women and Gender’s discussion but it is not necessarily something that faculty in general talking about, although she thinks there is an interest in being more inclusive.

“We talk about women, we talk about gender, but we are still learning how best to talk about transgender issues and how best to make sure that all students feel welcome on this campus,” Biser said.

Drake said she was pleased with the turnout, but she and Anderson hoped more faculty members would have attended.

“(We) hoped that more faculty would come, but were we to plan this event again I think we would individually invite more faculty to insure that professors knew the event was going on.”

Dickson was displeased with the faculty turnout.

“I was actually kind of angry that there were no women’s and gender studies, sociology or psychology professors there because it was sponsored by the sociology department,” they said.

Drake said she has no plans to personally organize similar events, as she is graduating this spring.

“I hope someone else will,” she said. “I think our student community is excited and willing to pursue these issues further.”

In regards to the non-binary turnout, Anderson said the pair was happy the discussion included trans and non-binary perspectives.

“One of the problems that Skylar and I discussed was us, as cis women, leading a discussion about an issue we have the privilege to not be affected by,” Anderson said.

“This is rightly led by trans and non-binary individuals, and I’m glad they were there to lend their voices.”

Dickson agreed, but emphasized the importance to persist with the issue.

“It was a good discussion” Dickson said, “I think we have a long way to go.”

Trash room policy misses root problems

By Nam Tran Hoang
Letter to the Editor

“All trash rooms will be LOCKED May 5,” said a recent email from a resident assistant.

The news was received with quite a grudging feeling. Life at Ohio Wesleyan has increasingly become harder. To paint a picture: imagine a place where fire alarm is set off at midnight, at 4 a.m. and at noon; a place where food stored in community fridges and clothes in laundry rooms are stolen; a place where being loud, getting drunk, smoking, selling weed and other activities can be observed.

Then there comes this rule — trash rooms will be locked on the Monday of finals week.

Up to now, the benefits, if any, of living on campus are overwhelmed by these disadvantages. Call them annoyances. Consider yourself a customer who is required to pay much more, and then receive these annoyances. Now a strong feeling of injustice creeps in.

Let us get back to the recently announced rule. The content itself is not much a problem; rather, the way it is implemented is quite unsettling. On what basis was it proposed? Would it be better for the whole community, or would it just cause more burdens? Would it be practical – consider when the trash rooms are closed, and trash starts accumulating in front of their doors, or in the hallways, or in other public places?

Unless there is a very clear basis for the rule, recommending it, instead of immediately implementing it, will make it much better received.

On the overall, many things need to change. Otherwise, years from now, OWU may expect little donation from some of its alumni.

SLUs bring mental health awareness to campus

Junior Kristen Krak and sophomores Margot Reed and Zoe Morris put on “Anthology of Survival” for their SLU house projects.

Reed describes the event as “a production produced and written by students, for the students.”

“It focuses on breaking the stigma of mental health in a way to get the word out about how it affects people in this community,” said Reed, a member of the House of Peace and Justice.

“The monologues written were submitted anonymously and randomly assigned to those who auditioned to perform.”

Morris, a member of the Women’s House, said recent graduates Megan Cook and Jordan Ahmed, who were members of the Active Minds group, first started “Anthology of Survival.”

Krak, a member of the Citizens of the World house, added that this is the third year of the project.

This year’s performance ran for about an hour and featured a variety of monologues.

Booklets from the performance could be purchased with a donation to Helpline.

As for planning the project, Krak said it was nice to have the work split up between three people. Krak said planning for the event started at the beginning of the semester, and she has been thrilled with the amount of participation from students.

“It’s been really encouraging to see people come out of seemingly nowhere to help with this project,” Krak said.

“A lot of the people in it are friends of ours, or housemates, but there are a few who just heard about it and were interested in helping, which is really awesome.”

Morris said she hopes this project will start a discussion about mental health.

“I also hope that the people who submitted stories and the students reading the stories feel that they gain something for the experience, be that, relief, understanding, or catharsis,” she said.

Both Krak and Reed said they want to raise awareness of mental health issues in the OWU community.

“Just being mindful of your own mental illness and others’ is helpful in creating a more welcoming environment for those struggling with it,” Reed said.

“No one should ever feel bad or wrong for something they can’t control.”

Facebook fast may satisfy different kind of personal hunger

If someone asked you to give up a habit or start a new one for 40 days, what would it be?

This question came to me in the context of Lent, a period in the Christian calendar during which practitioners of the faith do just that. Giving up delicious but unhealthy beverages like soda or coffee is common, as is committing to a daily ritual of prayer, or some sort of fasting.

This year, I decided to give up Facebook.

On its face, the task is either straightforward and easy or immensely difficult, depending on one’s relationship with technology. For me, the difficulties were largely logistical. I have a job that requires me to use social media, and my duties for The Transcript mandate interaction with Facebook.

To resolve this I created a friendless alter ego on the site, one with administrative access to The Transcript’s page and other events I needed to advertise. In this way I gave up the “real” experience of Facebook — the endless notifications, the plethora of events, the links to trend pieces and BuzzFeed quizzes — without having to compromise my various obligations.

There are a few different reflections I’ve had since logging back on this past (Easter) Sunday — for instance, the relative ease with which any person can create a second self online, and the scary potential for deception that creates. Or what the fact that people get paid to use social media says about our culture.

But the main thing that’s been on my mind is the fact that I didn’t really miss Facebook one bit.

Sure, there were some messages I felt bad for delaying replies to, and some events I wish I had heard about sooner. But being back in the thick of the meaningless quizzes, the flurry of event announcements and the shameless promotion of selves and things has in three days created the same anxiety and tension in my Facebook use that it took me months to notice before.

This was the whole reason I chose to step away. I noticed that when I got on Facebook, my chest got heavy and my muscles tightened. I scrolled endlessly despite the fact that nothing was really interesting. The resulting procrastination only increased my anxiety about all the work I had to do. Facebook was having a rather prominent negative effect on me, both in the mental and physical realms. I got a lot angrier a lot faster. Something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel connected to my social world in the ways Facebook used to make me feel. I felt disconnected.

For me, this disconnection was also spiritual. In putting so much energy into a virtual realm full of performed Internet personas, I was becoming less rooted in the present and more detached from the weight of the air around me. It was harder to pay attention to and appreciate how incredible life itself is. Facebook was straining my connection with the rest of humanity and with God, or anything else out there that we can’t understand as humans.

Facebook is certainly an incredible thing. It helps us communicate in ways that would never have been dreamed of just a few decades ago. It’s a place to spread ideas and engage in dialogue. And, superficially, it connects us — it is a social network, after all.

But in my experience, there is a point at which the costs of a certain type of relationship with Facebook, and the Internet in general, outweigh the benefits. The tension, anger and anxiety I felt, the disconnection with myself, the world and everything in and around it, made me realize the chats, links and likes were not worth it.

I know not everyone’s relationship with Facebook is like mine. Checking it might not produce these same negative feelings. I am happy for and envious of these people, those who have been able to harness Facebook for its fullest good.

But to the rest of us, take a second and examine how obsessively checking to see how many notifications you have makes you feel. Is it good? Or is there some anxiety, some anger, some tension? If so, stepping away is not just acceptable — it’s healthy.

Park Avenue Jazz Ensemble displays range of talents

Hal Melia, an assistant performing arts professor at Central State University, knows a thing or two about jazz music.

He plays eleven different instruments, including four distinct varieties of saxophone and four different kinds of clarinets, as well the flute, piccolo and an electronic wind instrument.

Melia performed with an Ohio Wesleyan student ensemble last year, but this was his first appearance at Gray Chapel.

Student members of the Park Avenue Jazz Ensemble, along with Melia, performed several jazz selections under the direction of OWU professor of music, Larry Griffin. The band “enjoyed him so much that I promised them I would bring him back,” Griffin said.

The Park Avenue Jazz ensemble is named for a church in Minneapolis that Griffin was affiliated with before he began teaching at the college level twenty-eight years ago.

“(The church) was a very special place for me and whenever I have a jazz ensemble I like to name it Park Avenue,” Griffin said.

The jazz ensemble consisted of Ohio Wesleyan students with the exceptions of Dave McMahon on piano, Luke Berger as percussionistand featured guest Melia on Alto Saxophone.

The first half of the program consisted of instrumental pieces including “Uptown Downbeat,” “Chinoiserie,” “Dissonance in Blues,” “Teri” and “Everlasting.” The latter showcased Melia’s saxophone skills.

Following intermission, junior Hannah Snapp took the stage. She added vocals to the song “At Last,” which was originally written for the musical film, “Orchestra Wives” but was made famous by late jazz singer Etta James. Snapp also performed vocals for “Cry Me a River,” a song popularized by blues singer Ella Fitzgerald.

In addition, she lent her voice to “Corcovado,” and “Take the A Train.” Griffin described Snapp’s vocal range as between an alto and mezzo-soprano. In response, Snapp joked, “It depends on the day.”

Audience member, sophomore Daniel Ortega said, “I thought it was really good with Hannah Snapp how she was singing.”

Ortega said his favorite piece of the performance was “Corcovado,” sung by Snapp in both Portuguese and English.

“I thought it was interesting,” he said.