House of Black Culture construction approved

By Alameina White, Transcript Reporter

On Friday, Feb. 9, the Ohio Wesleyan Board of Trustees approved a $1.25 million budget for the construction of the new House of Black Culture.

Last year, Dwayne Todd, vice president for student engagement and success, announced that the House of Black Culture was no longer suitable for students to live in due to its unstable foundation and maintenance issues. The plan was to move its residents to the former Honors House at 123 Oak Hill Ave., but after numerous objections from students, the decision was to raise money to build a new House of Black Culture.

According to Todd, the fundraising for construction began in late spring 2017 when the Haddock Family Foundation provided a lead gift. Additional funding came from fundraising efforts  and the sale of existing OWU properties.

“As with this property, we’ve been fortunate to have had generous donors step forward to make these recent housing projects happen,” Todd said. “This particular project is so important because the House of Black Culture holds a very special place in the history of our university and in the current life of campus.”

For over a year now, students, faculty and alumni have been raising money for the house’s construction and their efforts have paid off.

“We’ve had to try a lot harder than other SLUs to get money for our house,” said Ornella Bisamaza, House of Black Culture resident. “I like that they put forth the effort; minorities should be an important factor on campus.”

Raising the money for the house’s construction was an important goal for the Board of Trustees due to its role on campus.

“The House of Black Culture is an important space on campus, both for the students who live in the house and for the larger number of students who visit the house and participate in programs hosted by the house. It is important to secure funding to replace the building and continue the vital presence of the House of Black Culture,” said President Rock Jones. 

According to Todd, the new home will feature a large front porch, large common rooms including a kitchen and a dinette, as well as a residential area to house 12 students.

“I truly cannot wait until the doors open on the new house and we see students turning it into their new home,” Todd said. “This will become an even better gathering space for students and I’m excited to see it used to bring students together.”

The house will be rebuilt in the same location, 65 Oak Hill Ave., which was one of the students’ primary requests.

“Our biggest request was for the house to not be moved. They fought for that land and that house, so we have to keep it,” said Bisamaza.

The location of the house is considered to be in the heart of campus, allowing better accessibility to students in other residential halls.

“It looks across to The Cave in Stuyvesant Hall which also is an important gathering place for multi-cultural student organizations and, in particular, organizations related to black culture,” Jones said.

According to Bisamaza, they also plan to keep some of the same aspects of the old house, such as the doors, to preserve the house’s memories.

The House of Black Culture has been an important landmark on campus and the new house will not change its meaning. However, its residents hope the new house will be more inviting to students and more people will want to live there.

“The House of Black Culture will continue to be an important place on campus, providing important programming space as well as a gathering place. It is important to our campus in many ways,” Jones said.

Although the Board of Trustees is still working to secure the funds, they hope to start construction this May and have the house ready for students by Jan. 2019. Once funds have been secured and designs finalized, a formal announcement will be made for the house’s construction in the coming weeks.

“This has been an engaging and exciting process and we have worked together to identify the needs for the House of Black Culture, the right location for a new house, and the resources necessary to fulfill this vision,” Jones said. 

Swim & dive win boosts morale before conference

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

Ohio Wesleyan men and women’s swim & dive came out on top at their final triangle meet before conference starts.

OWU men’s swim & dive ended the meet with a total of 796 1/2 points compared to Oberlin College’s 432 and Notre Dame College’s 293 1/2. With the women finishing with 740 points over Obelin’s 277 and Notre Dame’s 195.

Junior Ben Whitbourn and sophomore Colin Hawes led men’s swim & dive with three event wins each and key performances in two relays.

Whitbourn won the 100 backstroke in :56.10, the 50 freestyle in :22.14 and the 100 IM in :56.71. He also finished second in the 50 backstroke.

“We had come off of lots of tough training the previous weeks but despite this the team performed well,” Whitbourn said.

Hawes won the 1000 freestyle in 10:32.00, the 500 freestyle in 5:03.38 and the 400 IM in 4:35.49

Both Hawes and Whitbourn along with junior Chris Ruiyantoro and sophomore Aman Ngqakayi won the 200 medley relay in 1:39.01 and the 800 freestyle relay in 7:23.96.

Multiple wins for OWU also came from Ruiyantoro in his :24.15 50 butterfly and :25.63 50 backstroke as well as a second place 50 breaststroke.

Ngqakayi won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.21and won the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.01. He also finished third in the 100 butterfly.

Freshman Trey Serbin gave a diving performance that accumulated him a total of 220.58 points off the one-meter board and 237.75 off the three-meter board.

“It was good to bring the regular season to a close on a high note entering a critical point in the season prior to conference,” Whitbourn said.

Sophmore Ty Mansfield and junior Alicia Margello each won two events and helped the relay team towards a first place finish of 1:54.04.with fellow swimmers sophmore Liz Mayio and freshman Emily Fulmer.

Margello won the 50 breaststroke in :32.21 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.55 while Mansfield took first in the 50 backstroke with a time of :28.44 and first in the 100 IM with a time of 1:03.43

“Everyone produced really good times and had some really close races, we performed really well for the end of the season,” junior Alicia Margello said.

Multiple wins came from freshman Abby Culbertson who won 100 and 200 backstroke with times of 1:04.76 and 2:19.50. She also finished third in the 50 backstroke.

Other standout performances came from junior Shannon Bermingham who won the 200 breaststroke in 2:38.47, junior Allie Niemeyer who won the 1000 freestyle in 11:51.48 and sophmore Qiukui Moutvic who won the one-meter diving competition with a score of 191.40 points

Train crashes continue to increase at rapid pace

By Kienan O’Doherty, Editor-In-Chief

Believe it or not, some modes of transportation need to slow down.

Earlier this week, Sunday at 2:35 a.m., an Amtrak operated train transporting passengers from New York City to Miami crashed into a unmanned freight train, killing two people and injuring over 100. This has been the latest in a series of crashes on the tracks.

The crash was caused by a CSX Transportation freight railroad crew failed to flip a switch back to the mainline setting after pulling its freight train onto the side track. They then reported that they had in fact switched it, which didn’t turn out to be the case.

From 1996-2018, there have been seventeen train related crashes. Nine of those have been by an Amtrak-operated train. The most recent crash before this was in Tacoma, Washington, where a train careened of the track on Amtrak’s inaugural run on a new route for its Cascades service. The crash killed three people and injured 70 others.

The worst part is, according to an article written by Teddy Kulmala and Sammy Fetwell at The State, the crash could have been avoided.

“[Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board] said the accident could have been avoided if a federal safety system, under consideration for years, had been in place. The system is supposed to slow down trains when a problem lies ahead on a track. He called the damage to the trains “catastrophic.”

This incident however, doesn’t call for a federal safety system. Instead it calls for Amtrak to reconsider their safety culture. According to a National Public Radio article: Last November, at an NTSB meeting to announce the results of the investigation into a fatal Amtrak crash outside Philadelphia in April 2016, Sumwalt blasted the railroad for its “lax” attitude, saying “Amtrak’s safety culture is failing, and is primed to fail again.”

As the culture of transportation is becoming more and more important and widely viewed, both companies and crews alike must work together to examine every aspect of safety they can. If they don’t, these terrible and fatal crashes will continue, and they will have no one to blame but themselves.

Bishops victorious in duel against Lords

By Kienan O’Doherty, Editor-In-Chief

The Ohio Wesleyan men’s basketball team is back on track after a victory over Kenyon College last Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

The game started tight, with only one instance where a team lead by more than 4 points during the first 10 minutes of play, Sophomore guard Jared Gerber broke that stretch, connecting on one of his five 3-pointers, giving the Battling Bishops a seven-point lead around the halfway mark of the first half.

The Lords clawed back and cut the lead down to three before senior guard Seth Clark sank in a 3-pointer, followed by a pair of free throws by senior post Adam O’Brien. Clark would also connect on free throws and scored a lay-in, and senior guard Nate Axelrod layed one in to extend the margin to eleven.

The Bishops was as many as 15, but the Lords wouldn’t go away. A Ben Stern 3-pointer cut the lead to 46-37 late in the first half, but the Bishops again countered on 3-pointers by senior guard Will Orr and Clark, stretching the lead to 58-39.

The lead would remain no less than 17 points throughout the rest of the contest, with the final score 108-82. Axelrod led all scorers with 28 points while collecting 9 assists, tying the school record for most assists with 616. Clark finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds.

Senior guard Law Jones saw a lot of positives the Bishops could expand on during the victory.

“Our energy and effort showed a lot of improvement, [and] we are realizing that we are going to have to play a lot harder to reach our common goals,” Jones said.

Orr believes that there is still a lot of work to be done based on team expectations.

“Our expectations for the rest of the season is to take care of our own business, don’t worry about anyone else and just focus on ourselves,” Orr said. “We are still in decent enough shape to accomplish our preseason goals if we buckle down and do the dirty work.”

The Bishops travel to Wooster on Saturday, Feb. 10 in a rematch of last-year’s conference tournament final. The game is slated to start at 4 p.m.

Ohio Wesleyan professor returns with history

By Jesse Sailer, Sport Editor

One of Ohio Wesleyans hidden gems, Robert Olmstead, was welcomed back after a semester’s leave on a book tour to do a live reading of his newest novel Savage Country.

The live reading in the Benes Room was the kickoff event of the spring semester orchestrated by faculty of the English department. He was introduced by English department chair Zach Long and OWU literary magazine member Laura Heaney.

Before holding the current position of director of creative writing at OWU, Olmstead served as senior writing in residence at Dickinson College and as director of creative writing at Boise State.

Olmstead is the author of nine published works including Coal Black Horse, Far Bright Star, and The Coldest Night.

While most of his books are works of fiction, Stay Here With Me is his sole autobiography and takes a look back on his early life living on his grandfather’s New Hampshire dairy farm.

Savage Country follows the lives of Elizabeth and her brother in law Michael in Kansas of 1873. Elizabeth is forced to deal with her husband’s accumulation of debt after his passing and embarks on a buffalo hunt that could be her last chance to save what she has left.

KIRKUS’ review remarks Savage Country as “Another gorgeous, brutal masterpiece from a great American writer.”

“Two things compel me, one has to do with my own curiosity, wanting to know and the other is the child in me is always up for a great adventure,” Olmstead said in response to what inspired him to write this novel.

“He has such a way with words and the images he’s able to paint in your mind are absolutely breathtaking,” junior Mona Lynch said.

When it comes to his research process into the content of his next book, he likes to look at late nineteenth century yellow backs. Yellow backs were cheap novels with yellow cloth binding that included “sensational fiction” and adventure stories.

Olmstead has always been intrigued to see what captures the reader’s attention in those books and he tries to bring that into his work as much as he can.

Writing historically accurate fiction novels and westerns has also opened his eyes to many of the truths of American history. A large part of Savage Country focuses on wild buffalo and the hunt of wild buffalo.

Olmstead spent some time educating the audience on the reason behind the massive extinction of buffalo during the 1980’s and it was because the industrial revolution and the demand for buffalo hide.

“There is such amnesia about that, we’re made to think they disappeared due to gluttony and sinfulness but it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Olmstead said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Career Services advances community engagement

By Reilly Wright, Managing Editor

Ohio Wesleyan University’s Office of Career Services, once part of the Division of Student Affairs, shifted to the Division of University Advancement on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.

The Division of University Advancement primarily handles engaging OWU alumni, families and friends through significant networking, volunteer involvement and financial support. This move means Career Services will be more closely intertwined with alumni, allowing OWU students to have greater access to alumni and any opportunities they offer.

“The shift occurred to provide greater access, career-related programming and experiential opportunities for students,” Director of Career Services Leslie Melton said.

Colleen Garland, the Vice President for University Advancement, says alumni are one of the greatest assets Ohio Wesleyan students have for internships, career mentoring and eventual job placement.

“Housing Career Services within Advancement strengthens opportunities for students by connecting them with successful alumni willing and eager to assist with student career development,” Garland said.

By restructuring this department association toward alumni relations, Ohio Wesleyan is joining a common trend that other institutions like Amherst College (MA) and Colgate University (NY) have done.

“It is increasingly common for Career Services to align with Alumni Relations and University Advancement at institutions like Ohio Wesleyan,” said President Rock Jones. “This allows for greater partnerships with alumni in providing externships and internships, in mentoring students in preparation for work after college and even in leading to employment opportunities.”

Originally, Career Services was part of Student Affairs, which handles supporting students in engagement, resources, opportunities and involvement. Student Affairs currently holds a variety of departments including Counseling Services, Student Conduct, Residential Life and Public Safety.

The Office of Career Services provides individual counseling for students regarding career plans and development, job searches, and networking. The department is comprised of four employees and multiple OWU student interns on the second floor of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center.

“We are still working to determine [changes] however, in the meantime, neither students nor staff will notice any major changes until the office has fully integrated into the [new] division and determined opportunities for advancement,” Melton said.

 

New campus bookstore struggling to satisfy community needs

By Alameina White, Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan bookstore has faced a few challenges since becoming independently owned back in Sept. of 2017 but is working to improve things for next semester.

Earlier in the semester, instructors/professors started having issues with the bookstore not processing their orders and students weren’t able to get their books. This caused frustration as some instructors/professors had to delay their syllabuses.

According to Melanie Kalb, Director of Purchasing, when some instructors/professors had submitted their book adoptions (orders), the bookstore was still being sourced by Follett. Some professors/instructors had then submitted their adoptions to Follett causing some of them to be misplaced.

The transition to an independently owned bookstore hasn’t been smooth but Lisa Tackett, an employee of the bookstore, has been working hard to improve the process.

“We’re working to expand our supplier base, Lisa’s adding new suppliers and new wholesalers every day as we grow,” said Kalb.

Since becoming independently owned Tackett, who oversees the book adoptions, has set up accounts with numerous publishers from scratch.

“Some are quick, some are one phone call and you order at the same time and there are some that’ve taken four weeks just to set up an account to place an order,” said Tackett.

In the process of trying to find new publishers to source the books, Tackett has also had to work with international publishers that can take up to six months to process an order. Instructors/Professors had also adopted books that were out-of-print or print-on-demand. Orders for books that are print-on-demand can sometimes be held until a certain number of copies are requested and take anywhere from a month to six months, according to Tackett.

The process of submitting book adoptions was also new for professors.

“They normally turned them in to me in the past and now they go in and enter it themselves,” said Tackett.

Given the issues and changes at hand, the bookstore employees found different ways to get students their books.

“We’ve gone as far as to order books on Amazon and resell them in the bookstore,” said Tackett. “We want to make sure students can get the books they need.”

Tackett and Kalb encourage students to visit the bookstore’s website, https://owucampusstore.secureweblogin.com, where they can order their books from the bookstore or from six other vendors. This also allows students to compare the bookstore’s prices to those of other vendors.

“One of our main goals is textbook affordability and trying to get the best price for the students in comparison with all the other websites out there,” said Kalb.

Kalb believes that next semester will go a lot smoother and many of these issues will be worked out by then.

“That’s not going to happen next semester, we’ll have owned the bookstore for a longer period of time so those textbooks that may be older or print-on-demand can be available here for students,” said Kalb.

 

 

 

OWU’s Got Talent celebrates young and diverse performers

By Maddie Matos, A&E Editor

Students across Ohio Wesleyan campus celebrated diversity and talent in the annual OWU’s Got Talent show.

The show was on February 2 at the Mulligan Hub. OWU’s Black Student Union created and hosted the event.

The performance was an hour long, with seven acts in total.

The acts included local band The Oaks and Acapella group The JAYwalkers. Solo performances by Brandon Solomon, Jaliyah Atkinson, Courtney Owens and Will Fairbanks.

Each act had a different tone, with some students performing acapella, some performing their own music and a majority performing well known songs.

The event allows OWU students to showcase their talents and gain exposure on or off campus. The performers also want to support the event itself.

“These people potentially would not have any outlet outside of this kind of event, so I hope that this event grows,” performer Alex McPherson said.

The Black Student Union sponsored the event, being just one of the many events planned for February. The union received praise and respect for hosting the event.

“This is an event that most would expect CPB to put on, and the fact that they don’t do it is incredibly surprising,” McPherson said. “BSU taking the reins on this event and making it so successful is just another of many examples of how BSU represents Black Excellence.”

The union is celebrating Black History month with different events, including cookouts and films that explore the role of African Americans throughout history. The talent show brought forth this history in some acts.

Four of the performers performed songs by African Americans or spoke about the life of African Americans. Owens spoken word performance received praise from the audience, and was declared the winner of the contest.

“Courtney’s was my favorite act and this is because it was not only different but it was real,” sophomore Jaliyah Atkinson said. “And it hit the heart.”

With over thirty people in attendance, the audience was small but supportive, cheering on each act and providing positive feedback after the show to each performer. The proceeds from the show will fund the events this month.

“We need to show that we can be leaders and we have talent while also acknowledging that other races have talent and can join and have fun with us as one to celebrate all of our different talents,” Atkinson said.

OWU’s Got Talent allowed students of all races to enjoy performing and celebrating together.

 

Faculty members showcase their love of performing at OWU recital

By Maddie Matos, A&E Editor

Ohio Wesleyan praises itself on having the best faculty possible, and celebrating the accolades that each of them accomplish. The Faculty Recital-Tour d’Anches Woodwind Trio on January 30 celebrated some of the music departments staff.

Professors Nancy Gamso, Karen Pfeifer and Emily Patronik all performed at the show, which lasted an hour.

The professors are in a trio, and have been performing for seven years. They have performed together in the past for the school.

Each professor plays a different instrument and memorize pieces involving all the instruments to play together. Each instrument presents its own challenges.

“We are a reed trio which means we each have a reed on our instrument.  I, as an oboist, make my own reeds and so does the bassoonist,” Professor Karen Pfeifer said. “Dr. Gamso performs on both the flute and clarinet which means she has to switch instruments halfway through… The music is very difficult and tricky, and we try to bring all three of our parts into one ensemble idea.”

The pieces chosen for the performance come from the Ohio Solo and Ensemble Contest list, with practices starting in early January.

The pieces chosen for the recital vary, with the professors hoping to add variety to each show.

“Some of these pieces are not in the standard repertoire, so we will be introducing people to some wonderful gems,” Professor Emily Patronik said.

The professors hope to perform at high schools, to teach young students how the piece sounds in real time and teach the piece.

The recital was something fun for the trio to do and allowed them to present their lives outside the classroom.

“We love performing together,” Pfeifer said. “Making music is so much fun.”

The recital was open to OWU students and the Delaware community. The event was free to students and had refreshments afterwards. The professors felt that the show went well.

“The performance was a lot of fun,” Pfeifer said. “It went well.”

The audience was receptive of the show as well, despite the small audience. Hopes for more students in attendance were shared by the professors and fellow audience goers.

The show gave the musicians and audience a chance to experience a different musical style and attitude. The pieces were more casual and upbeat compared to traditional woodwind trio pieces.

The performers felt success after their show, and were glad to share that with the OWU audience.

 

 

New entrepreneurial center to give students taste of “real world”

By Maddie Matos, A&E Editor

The city of Delaware and Ohio Wesleyan University have collaborated on a new project, that benefits both the campus and community.

Inside the center will host both businesses and educational resources. It is designed for students to gain access to the corporate world and prepare them for jobs.

“The entrepreneurial center will enhance and transcend a traditional liberal arts education and be a model for creating an interdisciplinary culture that brings together students, work centers, and community to improve local economic, cultural and social enterprises,” Woltemade Center Administrative Director, Megan Ellis said.

The center was announced to students in an email sent on January 22 from President Rock Jones. The email outlined the idea for having the center and what it will do for campus.

The center was approved by the Delaware City Council on January 22. The council will invest $250,000 in the next five years. OWU is also talking with Delaware County staff members as well to see if they are interested in the project.

The idea for the center came from a group of faculty, who wanted to further enhance the connection between campus and OWU. People involved in the project include Ellis, Sean Hughs, Economic Development for the City, Bob Lamb, Economic Development for the County and Assistant Professor of Economics Dan Charna.

The committee was inspired by other campuses connecting with their cities but have made the center their own.

“There are other innovation labs and entrepreneurial spaces on other campus and we did a lot of homework to learn best practices and examples we could learn from,” Ellis said. “This is unique in that we’re the first partnership including a small liberal arts institution and the surrounding city and county.”

The center will be at 70 S. Sandusky Street, where the current Stewart Annex is. The location allows easy access for both students and business to collaborate, a goal for this center.

“The center will add important educational opportunity for students at OWU, and it will add important economic benefit for Delaware as new companies are formed and ultimate as new jobs are brought to our community,” Jones said.

What businesses will be housed in the center are undetermined but will provide opportunity for OWU students to connect with the community of Delaware.