OWU Mission program renamed

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

The University Chaplain’s Office will send Ohio Wesleyan students around and outside the country with Interfaith Service Trips this year.

Student-lead teams will visit cities such as New Orleans, San Diego, Washington D.C, Pittsburgh and Columbus.

One team will also visit the Lakota Nation, a Native American tribe in South Dakota, and another team will do service in Bucerias, Mexico.

In past years, Interfaith Service trips have been known as mission trips. Chad Johns, associate chaplain and director of spring break mission week, said the change in title stems from the sometimes bad connotation associated with the word “mission.”

“For some, especially those who are not a part of the Christian tradition, the term ‘mission’ carries connotations of colonialism and forced conversion, which is, of course, the opposite of what our program seeks to do,” Johns said. “We decided to seek out other language that would be less problematic to our community while still retaining the sense that these service teams are being organized out of the Chaplain’s Office.”

The purpose of the teams is to provide service to a variety of people and organizations while also educating students on different cultures and cities around the globe.

Junior Shashank Sharma is serving as a leader of the team heading to Mexico this year. He said he visited Mexico last year for a winter internship and it inspired him to design a service trip that would return there.

“I had an amazing experience in Mexico last year and I hope to help my team have the same in the spring,” Sharma said.

“This program opens a doorway to diverse perspectives that you can’t find anywhere else.”

OWU has also been recognized nationally for its work in the Interfaith community.

The OWU “mission trips” that have been serving the globe for more than 2 decades have been a huge part of the interfiath community on campus, as students of all faith backgrounds serve together for a week.

There is a new local team this year serving at a local mosque, Noor Mosque, in which the team members come from multiple different faith and non-faith back- grounds.

“Service is where different faiths collide, several have the mission of serving others. I’m a leader for the Noor Islamic Cultural Center team working in Columbus because I want to learn more about the service the Muslim community is already involved in, engage in their projects, and promote the mission of the Interfaith movement,” said Olivia Lease, one of two student leaders of the Noor interfaith service team.

WCSA Today: New furniture added to dorms

By Transcript Staff

New furniture will be added to Smith, Hayes and Welch Halls through the funding of the Wesleyan Council of Student Affairs (WCSA).

The Furniture Resolution, proposed by Dwayne Todd, the vice president of student engagement and success, will introduce study tables, chairs and soft seating to the residential halls at the cost of $164,000.

“This is not our job, but I think that we are all in agreement that we are making a step beyond that … we have this opportunity to step in where someone else has fallen short … it could have a really immediate impact on the student experience,” said Sam Schurer, the vice president of WCSA.

A Gaming Resolution was also passed, al- locating $4,000 to the Bishop Gamers Project. Two Xboxes, Playstations and Wiis, along with an assortment of popular games will be avail- able for students to rent from the library.

WCSA also funded a visitation from Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries, a program that focuses on gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry.

The musical “Fun Home” was approved and the date will be announced in the coming months.

Anna Flagg humanizes data

By Alanna Henderson, Transcript Correspondent

On Oct. 5, Anna Flagg was a guest speaker at Ohio Wesleyan’s Sagan National Colloquium lecture series called “Data In Our Lives” and spoke about the importance of humanizing data.

‘Changing region, changing lives’ by the Washington Post is an example to humanize data, according to Flagg.

Flagg studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Toronto and received her master’s degree from the University of British Columbia in human and computer interaction. She began working with these skills in industries such as Silicon Valley, but soon came to the realization that was not where she wanted to work.

Flagg spent four months freelancing and became a data journalist. Flagg said, “I’ve always wanted to use what I love to do, math and art to help myself and hopefully others better understand things that are important for us to understand.”

Flagg is a data journalist and interactive reporter for the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization about those affected by the criminal justice system.

She has covered NSA surveillance, campaign finance, military spending,and the environment for other news organizations including Al Jazeera, ProPublica and the Center for Responsive Politics.

Senior Matt Maier attended Flagg’s presentation. Maier said, “I thought how she did her presentation was very interesting. I was confused at times, but I thought it was interesting as to how she corresponded the data with journalism.”

Her presentation covered what steps it takes to humanize data in journalism and how that can create larger emotional impacts on readers. In an article published by the New York Times titled ‘Creativity vs. Quants,’ it explains that data is ‘antithetical to creativity’ and that data is actually lacking in humanity and is dehumanizing.

Data journalism is heavy on visual aspects and journalists like Flagg feel it is important to make numbers more than just a number. Instead, data journalists want readers torealize the statistic is not just a number, but a person.

Flagggave the example of a dot – a dot in data represents a person, but in reality, that person is so much more than a dot.

The steps to humanizing data include data collection, analyzing the data, the delivery of the data and lastly, the presentation of the data.

Examples of humanizing data in journalism ranged from looking inside a virtual torture prison in Syria to the songs a girl listened to through important stages in her life.

“Data is just a tool, like any other tool. It can be used however you want,” Flagg said.

Delta Tau Delta honors BranchRickey

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

Delta Tau Delta (Delt) Fraternity celebrated their 150th anniversary as a chapter at Ohio Wesleyan over the weekend of October 8.

Alumni and Delt national leaders came from around the country to take part in the festivities starting with the rededication of the house on Saturday morning.

The house, known to Delts as the Shelter, was rededicated in honor of Branch Rickey. Rickey was an OWU and Mu Delt alumni who signed the first African-American player to Major League Baseball.

Blake Andrews, president of Mu Chapter, said the decision to rededicate the Shelter to Rickey was an easy one.

“Branch Rickey represents the values and ideas that all Delts are committed to,” Andrews said. “The impact he had on racial equality in the United States made him the obvious choice when deciding who to honor in our Shelter’s rededication.”

Following the event the chapter had an open house where visitors could view the new renovations done in the house’s living room and library. The house improvements were carried out through a generous donation from an alumni.

That evening a formal dinner was held in the Benes room of the Hamilton Williams Campus Center.

Many Delts and alumni were honored at the dinner and a number of people spoke including OWU president, Rock Jones.

A special Delt ritual known as “Rite of Eyris” was performed by active members of the chapter. The ritual involved teaching the principles that the fraternity was founded on in a formal ceremony.

The Mu Chapter is one of the oldest fraternities at OWU along with being one of the oldest chapters of Delta Tau Delta nationally.

Dittrick House dedication

By Leah Miza, Photo Editor

On Oct. 6, people gathered around the Inter- faith and Sage house, in dedication of the new establishment to donor and board of trustees member, Douglas Dittrick.

Dittrick said he was happy and ready to contribute to the SLUs. “Being on the board, you’re aware of the needs for our residential housings. We want to upgrade and make it a better place,” he said.

President Rock Jones added, “His gift to fund Dittrick House reflects that passion and his interest in supporting the improvement of student housing on campus.”

The new structures, however, are not only providing tangible worth, but are also enhanc- ing the goals associated with SLUs.

“SLUs are not defined by their physi- cal spaces; they’re defined by the people in

them and their missions, but having a physical space that is nicer makes our mission so much easier,” said Emma Drongowski, trustee.

As SLUs were sort of “tucked” into campus, Drogowski said she believes the new location will attract the community in understanding SLUs but also encourage joining them. “Every- time you walk to and from class, you can see … this is a new building, it’s a cool place to live and it piques interest,” she said.

Jones said, “The Dittrick House is a fabu- lous addition to our campus that will serve students for generations to come. The SLU community is an important element of campus life. Students in Dittrick House will share their passions with one another and with the campus in ways that contribute greatly to our educa- tional mission.”

“The enthusiasm of the students who are here is very warming to the heart and certainly makes it all worthwhile,” Dittrick said.

Homecoming hosts trustee meeting

By Leah Miza, Photo Editor and Olivia Lease, Transcript Reporter

In his opening comments, President Rock Jones urged the Board of Trustees to think “strategically about the long-term for Ohio Wesleyan.”

On Oct. 7, the Board of Trustees sat down to discuss a variety of issues that would impact the campus. Gathered for lunch on the third floor of Merrick Hall, it was a snug fit but almost all the members were all there.

Chairperson Thomas Tritton ’69, led the meeting during which everything from new classes to the the cost of tuition were discussed.

Liberal arts schools only make up 200 of the 3,036 four- year colleges in the U.S. That means only about 15 percent of four-year institutions are liberal arts in the United States.

“That represents a really, really tiny sliver of the number of students who are college students,” Tritton said.

“Even those at the very top are having problems because they become increasingly expensive and generally inaccessible to large segments of the population. So we’re really all in this together,” said Tritton in regards to increasing enrollment and making a liberal arts education more affordable.

Enrollment is up by about 50 students this year, which means the preliminary school budget had be adjusted to account for the extra $2.2 million. The funds were distributed across a few areas, one being the food budget, which increased by 2 percent.

Despite this higher enrollment, the board voted to increase tuition, room and board by 1.5 percent for the 2017-18 school year. This is roughly $833 per residential and international student (off-campus and commuter students will see a lower amount).

In an email, Jones noted that this increase is lower than in many past years in an effort to hold down costs for students and for the school to continue providing an outstanding liberal arts education.

The board also addressed the importance of improving OWU’s retention rate and the effectiveness of academic ad- visers. An online catalogue and a new app will be introduced to help students track their classes and the progress of their major(s) and/or minor(s).

With this technology, advisers could focus on helping students pursue their interests and different opportunities without being bogged down by prerequisite courses neces- sary for graduation.

New housing opportunities were also explored during the meeting. A motion was made for the construction of a new Honors House to be located on Oak Hill Avenue, next to the House of Peace and Justice.

An anonymous $2 million donation was made for the space that may be able house 30 students in comparison to the 11 students the Honors House currently holds.

The motion passed with no objections. “We have the money; let’s go for it,” said Tritton. Plans to start construc- tion are being laid out and students should be able to move into the house in the fall of 2017.

One of the Small Living Units (SLUs) in an older house on campus will be eligible to move into the current Honors House which is located at 123 Oak Hill Ave., a few doors down from the president’s house. Plans for housing that is specifically for first-year students is also in the works.

The process of finding a broker for the New York Arts building started over the summer and the school-owned property is expected to be listed as for sale soon. Funds from the possible sale would go to other departments such as maintenance, which, on average, the school spends $1 million on annually and it is usually, “cobbled together funds,” as Trustee C. Paul Palmer IV ’96 said.

Trustee Colleen Nissl ’72, gave marketing and enrollment report to the board. She started by congratulating the Communications Office, which launched the new website in November 2015. In the past six months, the website has had over a million hits, Nissl said.

In terms of enrollment, Nissl said the school is now 52 percent male and 48 percent female, the exact opposite of surrounding schools and might partially be due to the recruitment for sports.

With this incoming class, the percentage of multicultural and transfer students are down while Ohio and Chicago-based students are up.

 

Both Jones and separate members of the board addressed that while the 2020 plan is on course, it’s important to keep in mind long-term goals.

The next time the Board of Trustees will meet is during their retreat in Naples, Florida in February 2017.

Bread & Puppet Theater feeds Gray Chapel

By Courtney Dunne, Editor-in-Chief

The Bread and Puppet Theatre made a stop at Ohio Wesleyan Oct. 17 to do its most recent performance of Underneath the Above Show #1 (inspired by the forthcoming elections in the greatest country in the history of the universe).

The theatre group, started by Peter Schumann in the 1960s to protest the Vietnam War, has been coming to OWU about every other year for the past eight years to perform their shows that make large statements on current events in the U.S.

When asked what people should take away from the political commentary they make, actor Josh Krugman responded that he couldn’t say because like the bread shared after the show, it should be chewed on in order to release the nutrients.

After the show, the company shares the ‘bread’ part of the Bread and Puppet Theatre. Schumann makes bread everyday for the company and he believes that is what should fill people up.  At the end of every show, the cast offers the audience some bread to share within the community.

“The show is skeptical of this kind of state power and its capitalist and superficially democratic manifestation and that suspicion of the  illusion that everything will change with the next election, it highlights the life in the understory, the life of the people,” Krugman said.

The founder Schumann makes the puppets out of cardboard and according to Krugman, expired latex paint.  The company puts on shows with recycled cardboard, wood and uses noisemakers from the dollar store to produce the score for the show.

The Bread and Puppet company is ending the show soon because  the king character that represents the current presidential candidates cannot be removed from the story.

The company offers apprenticeships for students of all trades interested in changing the world through a theatrical setting at their sustainable compound in Vermont. Many of the performers who performed at OWU started in the apprenticeship program and were invited to join the fall tour.

Marcus Fioravante, a new member to the company, said, “I had never heard of the Bread and Puppet Theatre and a friend told me about it and I had always had an interest in puppetry and a love [for] social activism and this seemed like the perfect fit, so I applied to the apprenticeship, which is where I started with the Bread and Puppet Theatre.”

Through the combined efforts of the House of Peace and Justice, the English department, Wesleyan Council for Student Affairs, PRIDE and the Chaplain’s Office, the Bread and Puppet Theatre was able to come and showcase their latest show.

Student poetry series hosted at bakery

By Gopika Nair, Chief Copy Editor

Several Ohio Wesleyan writers took a break from studying for midterm exams by sharing poetry and prose at an open mic event.

Speak/Easy, the open mic reading series affiliated with OWU’s English department, was introduced at Fresh Start Cafe and Bakery Oct. 10 and will be a monthly event.

Seniors Alyssa Clark, Curtis Taylor and junior Nicole White organized the event with the help of Amy Butcher, assistant professor of English. Butcher had the idea of arranging a student-run readers’ series on campus, White said.

Fresh Start is normally closed Mondays, but Butcher convinced the bakery’s owners to open that Monday evening to house Speak/Easy’s first open mic event.

Photo by Leah Miza
Photo by Leah Miza

“We chose Fresh Start because we wanted a venue that didn’t feel academic and instead felt cozy and welcoming to writers,” Clark said. “Fresh Start was open to working with us, had the room … and was eager to bring in more people to their new bakery.”

Nearly 40 OWU students attended the event, while around 15 shared their work. Some of the students who participated in the event included senior Chase Smith, junior Daniel Haygood, sophomores Em Sutliff, Emily Shpiece and Nash Bonnema. At one point, the manager of Fresh Start also hopped on stage to share a piece he had written.

Speak/Easy contributes to students’ growth as writers by giving them a platform to share their work, Clark said.

“One of the hardest aspects about being a writer is that you essentially need another set of eyes—or ears in the case of poetry and slam poetry—to read or hear your work,” Clark said. “An open mic night specifically for writers gives students a great opportunity to see how their pieces come across to an audience and to feel how their pieces sound out loud.”

White also said the open mic night gave students a chance to support the writers on campus, adding that the event provides something for everyone.

“Sometimes sharing something personal can be daunting, especially with a microphone, but I think we had a pretty open and inviting space for the first event,” White said.

The next Speak/Easy event will be held from 7-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11 on Veteran’s Day. The theme of the event is ‘War’ and specific topics can range from war of the heart or mind, war around the globe or war at home, White said.

Professor talks film adaptation

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

Robert Olmstead, director of OWU’s creative writing program, has attracted the attention of directors and writers for his book “Far Bright Star.”

Damien Ober, a writer who has worked in television and film, adapted the novel into a screenplay.

On Sept. 2, Ober joined Olmstead for a panel discussion in the Bayley Room of Beeghly Library to talk
about the book and the film adaptation currently in the works. The authors covered subjects like Olmstead’s inspi- ration for the book and the process of turning a novel into a screenplay.

The book takes place in 1916 and tells the story of Napoleon Childs, a U.S. cavalryman in the military who leads an expedition into Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary.

Olmstead published the book in 2009 and it caught Ober’s attention when his agent referred it to him. Ober said he was impressed by the book and felt he could easily make it into an exciting screenplay.

The movie will be directed by Casey Affleck, an actor and director known for his roles in movies such as “Good Will Hunting” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

Joaquin Phoenix, known for his performance in “Gladiator,” will be starring in the film. The movie is still in the preproduction stage, but the movie could be released as early as 2017.

Sports icons lost in 2016

By Ross Hickenbottom, Sports Editor

On Sunday, the 25th of September, I received two ESPN notifications on my phone of deaths
in the sports world; Miami Marlins ace pitcher Jose Fernandez and legendary golf icon, Arnold Palmer. Two in one day is bad enough, but in 2016 alone there have been over 30 “notable” deaths to accompany these tragic losses. Icons lost in 2016 such as Muhammad Ali, Dave Mirra, Gordie Howe, Pearl Washington, Pat Summitt, Buddy Ryan, Dennis Green, John Saunders and Kimbo Slice impacted their respective sports in ways someone like me could only dream to do.

I’d call myself a lover of anything and everything sports, and I have been for as long as I can remember. My very first sports loss I experienced as a fan was on February 18, 2001. The death of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. My family, especially my father and late grandfather loved to watch the “Intimidator” race, and succeed while doing so. This love rubbed off on me and developed me into a die-hard “#3” fan, and at the age of 7, his death devastated me. I couldn’t believe it. How could someone so untouchable and godly on the track be so vulnerable?

The fact that these men and women served as such iconic and influential individuals towards the evolution of not only their sports, but social issues like racial barriers, gender equality and religious freedom makes their deaths that much harder to cope, but also makes their legacies left behind that much greater to remember.

Elite human beings, including the names I previously listed, took it upon themselves to improve the culture and competitiveness of their game. Every single day of their professional lives, and the days it took them to become profession- als, were dedicated to “the cause.” Whether it was to become an 8-time NCAA Champion like Pat Summitt, or to become a Gold Medalist boxer like Muhammad Ali, they laid it all on the line for one broad and everlasting asset in their lives; sports. Sports have contributed so many life lessons and opportunities to my life alone, and I’m sure any athlete can say the same.

The last thing I want to do is undermine or overshadow the tragic losses of anyone else lost in the year 2016, or any year at that. Instead, I wish to shine a light on the toll the world takes when someone belonging to simple as a sports franchise is lost. It goes far beyond athletics. They could’ve stopped at becoming famous for their success in sports, yet these fallen titans took it several steps beyond that by using their success on the field of play to further their influence into aspects of life they cared so dearly for. We’ve all seen or possibly even reaped from the actions and commitments of these worldly figures, and I feel that part of my responsibility as a journalist and sports fan is to help revive their legacies and reflect on their impacts.

2016 has been a year to remember in sports, from celebration to lamentation.