The Transcript

By Catie Beach
Transcript Correspondent

Cupcakes and criticism brought Ohio Wesleyan student together to watch the Women’s Resource Center’s (WRC) screening of the documentary “Killing Us Softly 4,” which analyzes female objectification in advertising.

Senior Skylar Drake, junior Lauren Rump and sophomore Kaila Johnson – all WRC interns – organized a lunchtime screening of Jean Kilbourne’s film.

This 2010 edition analyzes trends regarding the unachievable beauty standards set for women in advertising over the past 20 years, according to her website.

It is the fourth in Kilbourne’s educational series, which first premiered in 1979.

“The movie focuses on different issues and themes regarding body image issues and eating disorders,” Rump said.

Both topics relate to a previous WRC event, “Written on the Body,” a public body image speak out held in Bishop Cafe this past December.

“(The film) reinforced my ideas that advertisement is detrimental to womanhood and feminism,” said junior Noelle Davis.

Although the material was familiar to Davis, she reaffirmed that many of the film’s 160 images and advertisements were shocking.

“The worst was the man sitting on top of the woman in bed, looking at a car magazine on her face,” Davis said. “I think I actually got goose bumps.”

Rump attributes the event’s success to increased advertising and strategic timing.

“We decided to do Friday lunchtime programming because it’s convenient to attend and different,” she said. “We’re amping up our social media presence on Facebook. We’re trying to be more aware and present.”

The movie screening isn’t the WRC’s only original event this semester. The prospective line up includes a $mart$tart Salary Negotiation Workshop for women, as well as an auto body workshop for women, taught by women.

“It’s an auto body workshop run by an all-women mechanic shop in Columbus,” Rump said. “They teach women how to work on their cars and let them know what questions to ask when they go for car repairs.”

Plans for the $mart$tart Workshop, which teaches women how to negotiate pay with future employers in a market where females earn 77 cents to every dollar earned by a male, are in the works for this spring semester.

However, Rump said that the auto body workshop may have to wait until next school year due to workshop organizer’s pregnancy.

In addition to new workshop programming, the WRC is sponsoring the OWU premiere of the play Butterfly Confessions, a culminating Women’s Week event.

The play, which focuses on the stories of women of color and brings awareness to domestic violence and HIV/AIDS, will premiere at 8 p.m., March 28 in Chappelear Drama Center.

Despite attention to new programming, the WRC maintains its primary function, according to Rump.

“Students can come chat with us about women’s issues and feminism, ask us advice or obtain resource numbers on campus and in the Delaware community,” she said.

“We provide a confidential safe space and a listening ear.”

 

“All my friends back home are so jealous right now,” said freshman Shashank Sharma, about actor Josh Radnor’s March 19 visit to Ohio Wesleyan.

“I’m a die hard fan of How I Met Your Mother, so (Radnor) coming to our campus was just mind blowing news,” Sharma added.

Josh Radnor’s most well-known role is Ted Mosby on the hit television series “How I Met Your Mother,” and he also wrote, directed and starred in the 2012 film “Liberal Arts,” screened on campus March 1 by Campus Programming Board.

Senior Kelsey Brewer, a current member of CPB and former marketing chair, vice-president and president, said Radnor’s agent had contacted their organization about two years ago.

“He wanted to come to our campus, since he is from nearby in the Columbus area and attended Kenyon College,” Brewer said. “Since then, we had been slowly making steps toward bringing him to campus.”

Brewer said they liked the idea of bringing a celebrity to campus, especially since they thought a majority of students already knew Radnor from the television show.

“We thought it would be interesting to hear his message on working in the movie and television industry as an actor, writer, and director and talking about his time working on ‘How I Met Your Mother,’” she said.

CPB has around 300 tickets available for students and its members are hoping to fill all the available seats.

“Since the event will be held in Chappelear Drama Center Main Stage, we have a cap on how many tickets we can extend,” Brewer said.

The first set of tickets was distributed at the “Liberal Arts” screening in Stuyvesant Hall’s Milligan Hub; Brewer said around 120 people were present and 103 tickets were given out.

“We had a great turn out for the event,” she said. “The movie was funny and furthered the excitement to see Josh on campus.”

Freshman Shashank Sharma, a CPB member, said he joined to work behind the scenes and is very excited at being a part of bringing Radnor to campus.

Sharma said he believes Radnor’s event will help make CPB more popular among the students and increase the overall turnout for future events.

Freshman Samantha Sygier, a viewer was at the Liberal Arts screening, said she was elated when she heard the news that Radnor would be on campus.

“I got too excited,” she said. “He is such a great actor, I knew I cannot miss the opportunity.”

Sygier also said she found “Liberal Arts” to be “entertaining and humorous.”

Sharma said he is happy with the general response from the student population.

“A lot of people’s initial reaction was, “Who’s Josh Radnor?” for the simple reason that we all know him as Ted Mosby,” he said. “After being told who he actually was though, almost everyone seemed to be excited for his visit.”

Brewer said this is one of the biggest names they have brought to campus in a while, but it is on the lower end of logistics and campaigning compared to other CPB hosted events such as A Capellooza and Spring fest, that have happened in the past.

Funding for all of CPBs events are requested through WCSA, and Brewer said this was no different.

“Large-name actors and speakers, like Josh, carry a larger price tag than you might think, so we are grateful to WCSA for this opportunity,” she said, but she would not say how much was paid.

Brewer said those who have tickets should not lose them, as they will need the ticket and a student ID to be allowed in.

“Your ticket will be tied directly to you, so you can not give it to someone else or sell it,” she said.

“The doors will open at 8:30 pm and if you have not arrived by 8:50 pm, your seat may be forfeited to people waiting on stand-by for a seat.”

Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity unleashed cuteness last Sunday for its first “Dog Days” philanthropy event.

Dogs and cats were brought to Ohio Wesleyan University’s campus from two different animal rescue organizations in Delaware, Canine Collective and Colony Cats.

Both of the organizations hope that this will be the start to an annual partnership, and according to Phi Psi Vice President and philanthropy chair Nate Goodhart, the house is already thinking of ideas that could make next year’s Dog Days even better.

“We have had many rescues as house dogs over the past few decades, as is our current dog Rich and we felt that it was our time to give back,”  Goodhart said.

“Both canine Collective and Colony Cats are no kill shelters and bring in strays off the streets, keeping them away from being put down or starving to death.  We felt that this was a great cause to support.”

Goodhart thanked the support of both Kappa Alpha Theta and The Modern Foreign Language House for their help in throwing the event.

All Canine Collective dogs are available for adoption, and applications were available for anyone who wished to adopt.

The main objective was to raise both funds and awareness.  Phi Psi requested a $2 donation from each attendee with all proceeds going to benefit the Canine Collective’s efforts.

 The Canine Cause 

Jean Lally, a Canine Collective volunteer, elaborated on some of the Collective’s goals.

“In the short term we aim to save dog’s lives,” she said. “We want to rescue dogs and give them short term housing and care before finding them a good home.  These animals deserve better then what many shelters currently provide and long term we want to collaborate to build a regional adoption rescue center.”

Not only did the event serve to benefit the local organization, it was a chance for students, dog and cat people alike, to get their animal fix in and unwind from the stress of midterms.

“I miss my dog so much while I’m on campus, so playing with these puppies did a great job of reducing my homesickness,” said Junior Sam West. “I couldn’t decide my favorite; each one I met was so cute and easy to fall in love with.”

The dogs ran around downstairs in the Phi Psi basement, while the cats were kept upstairs. The cats were kept in their portable homes, but could be taken out to hold.

“Lazarus was my favorite (cat); he was so friendly and fun to pet,” said junior Makenna Huff. “Normally cats don’t like me, but my time with Lazarus was just as good as playing with the puppies downstairs.”

For those interested in helping out but are unable to adopt, Lally said there are other ways tstudents could assist the animals without adoption.  She encouraged those in attendance to stay in contact with the Canine Collective. Lally said she welcomes fresh perspectives that can help the organization in connecting with a younger demographic.

“It can be something as small as taking a dog out for some time in the park to things like helping us transport the dogs we rescue,” Lally said. “Any amount of time you can give makes a difference.”

While the United States military strives to present itself in a shining manner of respect and loyalty, veteran soldier Dennis Laich says that is not always the case.

Laich, a retired major general, spoke on the military and defense technology at the second event for the annual Great Decisions Discussion Series Friday, Feb. 28 at the William Street Methodist Church.

During his presentation, Laich shared the perspectives he gained throughout his years of service.

He touched on some of the principles standard to the U.S. military, as well as taking time to emphasize the financial impact these actions have had.

Shock and awe is the branding of new military technology in the U.S., according to Laich, and the benefits are obvious.

However, he feels that the negatives which come alongside have been mostly pushed to the side.

“After each new technology advancement, our enemies have the opportunity to replicate it or create their own countermeasure,” Laich said.

“The most prominent example of this is the atomic bomb, which was quickly replicated and played a major part in the build up to the Cold War.”

He continued on to show the recent increase in influence of the military-industrial complex.

Laich said he believes that this complex is one of the major driving forces behind military decisions, a belief he backed up with tangible evidence.

He cited the stock jumps in companies such as Boeing, Lockheed, United Technologies and Halliburton, who have seen rises of 218 percent to a whopping 1000 percent since 2002.

“When we first started sending troops into Iraq, if the government had reinstituted a lottery draft, added a war surtax or did both, how long do you think we would have stayed there?” Laich asked the audience.

In addressing questions from the audience, he pointed out current flaws in military operations.

Citing Thomas Jefferson’s quote that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” Laich said “there are not many senior leaders with my mindset.  They can be stubborn, but must be made aware that such an expensive, all volunteer military force can’t be sustained for much longer.”

Laich said the United States is currently one of the top world powers, with the largest and most capable military in the world.  Because of that, he said, we must be careful in order for the status quo to continue.

“The U.S. defense budget is larger than the next 14 nations combined and our last two wars that cost us $1.5 trillion we paid for with credit,” Laich pointed out. “This pace of growth is something that we can’t sustain in the long term.”

With involvement from the crowd of local Delawareans, Laich went through the country’s history of military combat since World War II.

He invited the audience to “think of our military like a football team, with each conflict as a game that ended with a win, loss, or tie.

“Now take the major wars we have been involved in and think of these as conference games.”

By the end of the activity, Laich’s point rang clear throughout the audience.  The U.S. military ‘football’ team had an overall record of three wins, five loses and three ties, with a conference record of one win, two losses and two ties.

“The record speaks for itself, if you were the owner of this team, would you keep the head coach around?” Laich asked.

While at first it may seem cynical, Laich has made it clear that this skepticism is just what our military needs.

Famed historian and educator Douglas Brinkley, Ph.D., spoke to Ohio Wesleyan students, as well as Delaware city residents last Thursday as this year’s guest speaker for the John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture Series.

Brinkley spoke about his latest book, Cronkite, which details the life of Walter Cronkite,  the broadcast journalist dubbed by many as “the most trusted man in America.”

Brinkley also discussed the rise of Cronkite’s career, which started with radio and moved into television.

Cronkite’s influence also extended to the public’s opinion on controversial topics, such as the inception of NASA and the Vietnam War.

Following the lecture, Brinkley answered questions from the audience, mediated by Politics & Government professor, Sean Kay.

Some of the questions ranged from, “Which news source does [Brinkley] believe to be the most honest and accurate,” to questions on the 24 hour news cycle, which, according to Brinkley, started with CNN in the early 1980s.

Brinkley also said the news source he trusted the most is the Associated Press.

Junior Avery Winston said he thought it was a very good, informative talk.

“I liked how he used Walter Cronkite to talk about decades of American history,” said Winston.

The John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture on World Politics, was founded by OWU student John K. Eddy’s parents after their son was killed in a car crash in 1988.

When he was an infant, Stephen Ollendorff and his parents escaped Berlin on Kristallnacht. Their landlord warned the family that their apartment would be raided and his maternal grandmother got them airplane tickets to England. The rest of his family — his grandparents, aunt and uncle — did not survive the Holocaust.

Ollendorff and his mother sought refuge in Delaware with Dr. Guy Sarvis, OWU professor of sociology and economics, while his father worked in New York as an ophthalmologist.

On May 11, Ollendorff will return to OWU and be the keynote speaker at the 170th Commencement Ceremony.

Today, Ollendorff, an attorney, is president of the Ollendorff Center for Human and Religious Understanding. The Center’s main goal is to increase awareness of the fundamental issues facing the Jewish people today.

Last year, Ollendorff pledged a five-year, $100,000 donation to fund the Dr. Guy Sarvis Endowed Travel/Research Grant which funds research and travel for students exploring different cultures.

Ollendorff said he plans to deliver a speech that is inspiring to students entering the unknown.

“I thought I would discuss my experiences in meeting the many challenges and opportunities that I faced during my lifetime,” Ollendorff said. “Hopefully, my experiences will assist the graduating class in its decision making process in these very exciting and uncertain times.”

Ollendorff said he was compelled to accept the invitation to speak at commencement because of his appreciation for the university.

“ I feel a very special connection to Ohio Wesleyan because, by establishing the Dr. Guy Sarvis travel/research and award programs, Ohio Wesleyan is reaffirming its proud tradition of cross-cultural understanding and tolerance,” he said. “Professor Sarvis, who has been one of the great influences in my life, was a true pioneer in social justice at a critical time in our country’s history.”

According to Julia Hatfield, senior class council advisor, Ollendorff also donated $2 million to the economics department. She said while his contributions have deepened his connection to the university, they are not the only reason he was selected as the keynote speaker.

“It really depends on what the senior class is interested in,” Hatfield said. “One priority was to get someone who is not necessarily well-known but is known for their work with human rights and global issues.”

 

Speaker Selection

“We try to get someone who will connect with the senior class,” Peddle said.

Peddle said he met with President Rock Jones several times over the summer to discuss the commencement speaker.

He said he originally wanted someone famous from Hollywood, like Chris Pine or Ellen DeGeneres, but because of schedules and fees, most candidates were not viable for the role.

“Traditionally, the commencement speaker receives no payment or honorarium,” Peddle said. “The university only pays travel fees.”

Peddle said he was often under pressure because he had to keep it a secret. He said once they had information about Ollendorff, people reacted positively when the keynote speaker was revealed on Feb. 13.

President Rock Jones said he is thrilled that the leadership of the senior class selected him as their Commencement speaker.

“His longstanding personal relationship with a member of the OWU family and his commitments to human and religious understanding give him much to say of interest and importance to our graduating seniors,” Jones said.

 

Looking Forward 

Senior Aara Ramesh, Senior Class Council vice president, said the Council found out the same day as the rest of the students. She said she became excited about it when she learned about his connection to the university, his survival of the Holocaust and the organization he founded.

“This is the history major in me talking,” Ramesh said. “I think he’ll bring an element of resilience and faith in a global society.”

Peddle said several students reacted negatively to last year’s commencement speaker because he did not deliver a positive message to the graduates. He said Ollendorff can share a story of success and connect with the graduates.

“I don’t want to hear I’m not going to find a job,” Peddle said. “He (Ollendorff) sought refuge in Delaware, Ohio of all places and overcame a lot and is successful.”

Ramesh said she hopes for a positive message for the graduates.

“Leaving comfort is scary,” Ramesh said. “I hope he’ll get us excited about what’s on the other side of the ceremony because that day, everyone is both scared and pumped.”

Ollendorff earned his B.A. from Columbia University and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School. Today, he is an attorney with K&L Gates LLP.