The Transcript

College students deal with large amounts of stress and anxiety throughout their time in school.

However, with techniques of being mindful, that stress can be lifted.

On the weekend of March 7 through 9, the Spring Break Mindfulness Retreat will be held with facilitator Daron Larson. The retreat is being sponsored by the Chaplain’s Office.

“Mindfulness refers to a variety of techniques that use ordinary sensory experiences, thoughts, and feelings to develop specific skills of attention,” Larson said.

Tammie Edwards, chemistry lab manager, helped organize the retreat with Larson and the Chaplain’s Office; she has been practicing yoga for years and has studied with Larson.

“Mindfulness to me means constantly bringing myself back to the present moment,” Edwards said.

She also stated that she wanted to have this retreat because she “believes mindfulness is a good tool for college students to have and use.”

“The ultimate goal is to be able to be mindful in everyday activities,” Edwards said.

Edwards also said the main point of mindfulness is “practicing focus.”

Chaplain Jon Powers said that he hopes this retreat will teach students how to be “more focused and less stressed.”

“I want them to pick up a few practical strategies for cultivating attention that fit their unique needs, interests, and frustrations,” Larson said.

“It would be cool for them to leave with a better idea of the relationship between discomfort and suffering.”

Edwards expressed how she hopes to do more retreats in the future.

Additionally, she said Counseling Services is looking to start a mindfulness group.

The full retreat will cost $20 for students, but the Friday night session will be free.

During the rest of the weekend, there will be chances to practice the skills Larson will teach.

The Hamilton-Williams Campus Center was home to another kind of V-Day this February 14.

As part of an international movement, Ohio Wesleyan students joined forces with countless others around the world who are members of One Billion Rising, a campaign of the V-Day movement against sexual and domestic violence against women.

This year’s One Billion Rising was a worldwide event where women and men stood up for justice.

Its name comes from V-Day statistics that one in three women will experience violence in their lives, and that there are around three billion women alive today.

The event is connected to “The Vagina Monologues” and “Butterfly Confessions” which will be performed at Ohio Wesleyan University on March 28 and 29.

 

Eve Ensler, the author of “The Vagina Monologues,” started V-Day in 1998 and One Billion Rising in 2012.

Every year on Valentine’s Day, this event works to end the violence and raise support for local projects and programs that aim to help those abused.

One Billion Rising at Ohio Wesleyan consisted of a description of the core values of V-Day, readings of selected monologues and ones written by students, and the opportunity for students to hold signs explaining why they rose for justice.

Junior Annie Pappenhagen read a monologue based on interviews with Oglala Lakota women from Pine Ridge Reservation.

“I have been interested in indigenous issues since I was 16 and have spent a fair amount of time on Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations (located in South Dakota,)” she said.

“It is important when dealing with women’s issues that we don’t forget about the intersectionality between race and gender.”

Sophomore Margot Reed read a monologue “They beat the boy out of my girl…or they tried,” about transgender issues and violence community members and allies experience.

As an expansion on V-Day, Ohio Wesleyan will perform Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” and Yetta Young’s “Butterfly Confessions” on March 28 and 29.

The performances were advertised by fliers thrown down from the second floor of the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center; they also contained statistics on rape.

“A lot of people argue that “The Vagina Monologues” and V-Day itself aren’t as inclusive as they could be, and I totally agree with that,” Reed said.

“So I’m happy that the ‘Butterfly Confessions’ are now a part of the show this year at OWU.”

“We now have so many more women involved and it reaches a whole new, bigger audience and it’s just fantastic,” she said.

By Breanne Reilly
Transcript Reporter

The building formerly known as Pfeiffer Natatorium will get an extreme makeover thanks to a donation by Lou Simpson, ‘58, and his wife Kimberly Querrey.

The donation will be used to build the Simpson-Querrey Fitness Center, the new Dance Studio, finish renovations of Edwards Gym and renovate offices, classrooms and the studio used by the Health and Human Kinetics  (HHK) department.

In a press release, Jones said Querrey was motivated by the fact that nearly 80 percent of OWU students participate in organized recreational activities, such as intramurals, club sports and varsity athletics.

Jones said it is important to give students a space to develop disciplines that lead to healthy living.

“A fitness center increasingly is a must for college campuses, as prospective students include this in the things they consider when selecting a college,” Jones said.

Sean Kay, professor in the department of politics and government,  said all donations are to be appreciated, valued and celebrated but do not always pay for necessities.

“In my own personal opinion, gifts like this and the one last summer for Merrick Hall, are very welcome and appropriate on their own merits,” Kay said.

“At the same time they are not oriented towards the major needs and priorities of the institution as have been identified in the strategic planning process that I have been engaged in on and off dating back to 2005.”

Kay said he thinks the new Fitness Center, although appreciated, is not a top priority for the university.

He thinks the YMCA in town could be utilized and perhaps negotiated for a low cost for student use.

“So far as I can tell, there seems to be a heavy focus on funding ancillary priorities, but not really focusing on the core foundations of further building Ohio Wesleyan University as the top level liberal arts institution we all know it is, and can even be more so, with a diverse range of endowment investments focused on the long-established academic program,” Kay said.

Kay said he thinks investment should be placed in the liberal arts curriculum, and  in hiring and retaining the “top notch” faculty, the academic program and in developing the highest quality classroom experience that we can give our students.

He said the focus should also be on lowering costs to students.

Jones said the $8 million donation is being used as its donors intended.

“This gift was specifically for the fitness center and the renovation of Edwards Gym,” Jones said.

Jones said the renovations and construction of the facilities will not affect and did not cause an increase in tuition.

“The tuition increase reflects the increasing cost of operating the university, including paying salaries of faculty and staff, addressing increasing energy costs and meeting other needs,” Jones said.

 

Part of a Plan

 

Jones said renovations were approved in 2009, when the Strategic Plan of Ohio Wesleyan called for construction of a Fitness Center on the residential campus.

In 2011, the Board began discussing and reviewing concepts for the Fitness Center, and the idea developed to integrate the Fitness Center with the Dance Studio, Health and Human Kinetics and the restoration of Edwards Gym.

The Board also committed the plan would include the purchase of new equipment for the Belt Fitness Center.

Jones said he does not have a breakdown in regards to how much of the $8 million donation each part of the construction will cost.

He said The Collaborative Inc., located in Toledo, came up with the renovation designs as seen on the OWU website.

TCI is developing a final schedule for the construction and will most likely work on each component of the renovations simultaneously.

All construction on the building will be finished within 15 to 20 months.

Jones said the administration and Board have a commitment to the university’s history by preserving the buildings that will be renovated.

“It also allows us to address needs in the academic department which currently is housed in the poorest conditions for offices and classrooms on campus,” he said. “This is very important for HHK.”

Renovating Pfeiffer, the “Tenement 

Building” 

 

“When it would rain, the ceiling tiles would get saturated and tiles would fall down,” Nancy Knop, a professor in the Health and Human Kinetics department said. “It’s the campus tenement building.”

Pfeffeir Natatorium, which is attached physically to Edwards Hall but cannot be entered through Edwards, houses the HHK offices and classes.

Before Meek was built three years ago, it also housed the campus pool. But the pool is now empty, the ceiling and floors are missing tiles, multiple windows are boarded and broken, the roof leaks and the water, which is a musty yellow, is not usable.

Senior Andrew Diehl, co-chair of the HHK student board said the conditions are a distraction.

He said the conditions are little known on campus because students who don’t take the classes have no reason to go there now that the pool is gone.

“HHK is like the fourth or fifth largest department on campus,” Diehl said. “But it has the worst facility. It’s by far the most neglected building on campus,” he said.

Knop said the building has needed repairs for years and the department has spent ten years trying to get funding from the Board of Trustees. She said initially renovations to the classrooms, offices and workout studio were not a part of the Plan.

“We as an academic program have been ignored for years,” Knop said. “If a student has been paying $50,000 to go to school do you want him sitting in a classroom where the ceiling tiles fall down  and there’s no hot water and where you can’t drink the water in the building and that it’s freezing cold and the windows are broken and  when it rains water comes into it?”

The swimming pool, now located at Meek, was the first to be reconstructed.

Knop said the pool was chosen partially for health reasons.

“I don’t know how well it’s documented but I can assume that most of the swimmers had exercise induced asthma because of the chemicals and lack of ventilation,” Knop said.

Knop said when discussion for renovations started ten years ago, the focus for renovations was on the Dance Studio and the Fitness Center.

“The bringing in of those facilities was a little bit hurtful at first because here we are living in these terrible facilities and conditions and they’re worried about dance, which didn’t even have a program at the time,” she said.

Knop said she is thrilled that the renovations are taking place. When she found out the Dance Studio would be built next to the new Fitness Center, Knop said she was glad that the Dance department gets a new facility but she is not thrilled that it will be located inside of the athletic facility.

“It felt bad to have people looking at a space that we thought could’ve been our space in our building,” she said.

Knop said a new building is needed to improve the appeal of the department and so that the building can be used as an attractive entryway to campus.

“That was kind of the image, the vision, to make something that was more regal, versus something that is just linked to athletics,” she said.

As of right now, Pfeiffer Natatorium is not shown to prospective touring students. Diehl said it might discourage prospective students from taking classes there.

“It’s an eyesore, the university doesn’t advertise it,” Diehl said.

Knop said the department could be asked to move as early as May so the renovations can start next fall. She does not know where the classes will be relocated during construction but hopes the location will allow students to move during lessons.

“We run one to two classes almost every hour so will have to find space to accommodate that,” she said.

 

A Dance Studio with Dancers in Mind

 

Jones said the possibility of a new dance studio being built was discussed more than a decade ago. Jones also said faculty in Theater and Dance department and in Health and Human Kinetics have engaged with architects in planning for this facility.

Rashana Smith, who instructs dance classes in a leased facility on 38 S. Sandusky St. said she and the dance students appreciate the studio but the current space was not built with dancers in mind and she has had to adjust her classes because of it.

“I spend more time on conditioning and stretching to counteract joint strain caused from dancing on a hard, unsprung floor,” she said.

“The newly renovated Simpson Querrey facility would accommodate more jumping and leaping, for example, because the construction of the new floor will address the impact of landings and the physical demands of dance.”

She also said the heating system in the downtown studio has not been able to heat the studio.

“ Several times this semester, we’ve had to find alternate places and creative ways to deal with an extremely cold dance studio,” Smith said.

Smith said she hopes the new dance studio would attract more prospective dance students and likely more dance minors and non-majors.

“Historically, we have students from different academic disciplines participating in classes and performances,” she said.

“I see the new studio bolstering that participation.”

Jones said the Dance Studio will accommodate the theatre and dance program and attract prospective students.

By Caleb Dorfman
Transcript Reporter

Ohio Wesleyan Department of Buildings & Grounds (B&G) has begun renovations on Merrick Hall.

Merrick Hall is the defunct academic building located between University and Phillips Halls.

“The architects are completing the construction documents, which will then be given to the general contractor who will solicit bids from sub contractors,” said President Rock Jones.

“We plan to begin construction no later than June 1.”

Jones added that some preliminary work is happening in the building now, but the true construction period does not begin until June.

“So this is a quiet time in the project while the architects complete their work and the contractors prepare for their work,” Jones said.

Merrick Hall, which has been out of use since the late 1980s, according to an announcement email that Jones sent out over the summer, is being restored thanks to an eight million dollar donation from an anonymous donor.

The Merrick Hall renovations are scheduled to be completed by 2015.

By Breanne Reilly and Noah Manskar
Transcript Reporter and Online Editor

A $10 million fundraising campaign came to a quick end at the Board of Trustees’ winter retreat in Naples, Fla., last weekend.

According to University President Rock Jones, trustees Lou Simpson 58’ and his wife Kimberly Querrey donated $8 million to complete the renovation of Edwards Gymnasium Pfeiffer Natatorium.

Dubbed the Simpson-Querry Fitness Center, the facility will contain a new dance studio, renovation of classrooms and offices and a laboratory for the health and human kinetics department. The donation also funds new equipment for the Belt Fitness Center.

“Our donors expressed particular interest in the fact that this project reflects the integration of body and mind in a commitment to the whole person, and that it benefits academic programs while also providing space promoting health and wellness that is accessible to the entire campus community,” Jones said in the report from the retreat he sent to all Ohio Wesleyan employees.

Jones said Simpson and Querrey are “private people” and declined an interview about the donation.

Tuition Increase, More Renovations to Come

According to Jones’s report, the Board passed a resolution dictating a 3.5-percent increase in tuition and the average board rate. The middle-tier housing fee is set to increase 6.3 percent.

Jones said the Board focused on endowment for student scholarships and financial aid, endowment for faculty support, endowment for the OWU Connection and support for facilities on campus.

Trustee Tim Sloan, CFO of Wells Fargo, said other campus renovations were also on the Board’s agenda.

“The renovation of Merrick Hall, Edwards Gym and a larger fitness center and improving the dorms, student living units and fraternities should all be priorities,” he said.

Jones said the Board directed OWU administrators to bring recommendations for Phase One of the Housing Master Plan—projected to cost $25 million, according to Jones’s report—to their meeting in May. With this plan, the Board hopes to renovate all residence halls and fraternity houses except Smith Hall over the next decade.

Smith Hall and the “aging” SLUs will hopefully be replaced with new facilities. The Board also wants to add new apartment as campus residencies. Jones said he is unsure which project will begin first.

Jones said the Board also hopes to secure resources to make University Hall accessible and to install air conditioning in Gray Chapel to protect the Klais Organ. The enhancement of classrooms and offices used by the modern foreign language department was also discussed.

Faculty Make the Trip

Jones said this was the Board’s first retreat in five years.

“Most boards occasionally hold a retreat at a setting other than their normal meeting place and use the time to think more strategically about the long term,” he said. “Naples was chosen because a large percentage of our trustees spend the winter in Florida.”

Other administrators were also present: provost Chuck Stinemetz; Dan Hitchell, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer; Craig Ullom, vice president for student affairs; Colleen Garland, vice president for university advancement; Dave Wottle, interim vice president for enrollment; Lisa Jackson, assistant to the president; and Emily Roudebush, associate directory of university advancement.

Dale Brugh, Amy Downing, Shala Hankison, Bart Martin, Paula White and Chris Wolverton, all members of faculty committees, represented the OWU faculty. Their collective report, shared with all faculty, said they were involved in all the Board’s discussions at a level “far above the usual,” and that the meeting was “open, discussion-oriented, and inclusive.”

Student Voices Heard

Chief Officer of Communications William Kopp said he showed videos featuring interviews with OWU students who had participated in the OWU Connection, travel-learning courses and trips funded through theory-to-practice grants. 

According to Kopp, the videos showed students are “great spokespeople for OWU” while Jones said the videos allowed students to talk to the trustees about scholarships, travel-learning and theory-to-practice experiences.

“Several Board members told me the videos helped make the OWU Connection concrete for them,” Jones said.

Sloan said the student interviews were” very powerful” because the students clearly care about OWU and were articulate and passionate about their projects and experiences abroad.

Jones said the videos are on the OWU website and on YouTube.

View Jones’s report and the faculty report on Scribd.