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Toxic greed infects water in “An Enemy of the People”

By Gopika Nair, Chief Copy Editor

Tensions run high as one man stands alone in a town filled with toxic greed in Ohio Wesleyan’s first theatre production of the academic year.

OWU’s theatre and dance department is presenting four performances of “An Enemy of the People” by Henrik Ibsen at Chappelear Drama Center. The Norwegian play revolves around the struggles of one man’s fight for truth against those who stifle it for personal and political gain.

Though the play was written in 1882, its themes remain relevant as it parallels current water disasters in Flint, Michigan and throughout the country and world, said Elane Denny, professor of theatre and director of the play at OWU.

“I have wanted to direct this Ibsen play for a long time and felt that now was the right time,” Denny said in her director’s note. “It has been interesting and informative to hear our students comment about how relevant this play is to world in which they now live.”

More than 50 OWU students are involved with the production and rehearsals began in late August.

Environmental programs and clubs at OWU will also have displays in Chappelear’s lobby in conjunction with the show, said freshman Josh Martin who portrays Dr. Stockmann, the protagonist.

Martin said he was first introduced to Ibsen’s work and “An Enemy of the People” in 8th grade.

“I was always fascinated by the shift of character that Stockmann has and his hope in the face of political turmoil,” he said. “He’s justified in doing what is right and he’s very passionate in standing by his morals.”

The play also stars junior Daniel Haygood as Peter Stockmann, Dr. Stockman’s elder brother; and freshman Sarah Gielink as Petra, Dr. Stockmann’s daughter.

Haygood said he hadn’t intended to perform in any plays this year until he read the script and realized he couldn’t turn down the role given the timing of the production with the upcoming election and the Flint disaster.

“The places that the characters go can be very dark,” Haygood, who plays the antagonist, said. “It’s important, I think, to see what my character and other characters are capable of and I think that’s going to surprise people going in because it’s also very relevant today.”

Ibsen’s pieces are generally regarded as serious, but during rehearsals, the actors experimented with the script, approaching it in different, sometimes comedic ways, Martin said.

Gielink said that was one of her favorite moments during rehearsals. “There are definitely funny moments that you might not get reading it the first time, but how some of the characters interact with each other physically is very funny,” she said.

The three actors said they are looking forward to having an audience on opening night because they contribute to the actors’ energy on stage.

“I hope the audience will take away the message of hope that [the play] leaves with and how the struggle for fighting for truth isn’t an easy one, but it’s necessary,” Gielink said.

“An Enemy of the People” was held on the Main Stage at Chappelear Oct. 6 through Oct. 9.

Perkins Observatory: expanding the view since 1931

By Julia Snyder, Transcript Reporter

Since the groundbreaking ceremony in 1923, Perkins Observatory has been a significant landmark on Ohio Wesleyan’s campus.

Perkins Observatory was founded by Hiram Perkins, a mathematics and astronomy professor at OWU from the late 1800s into the early 1900s. After Perkins retired, he dedicated himself to the planning of the observatory.

It wasn’t completed unitl after Perkins died. In 1931, the telescope was finished and named the third largest telescope in the world, measuring 69 inches in diameter. Since then, it has been moved to Arizona. The observatory now has has a telescope that is 32 inches in diameter. Today, Perkins Observatory offers public programs, day and night for those interested in astronomy.

Tom Burns, director of Perkins, has been an English professor at OWU since 1993. He usually leads the programs.

“On a clear night, we’ll pack the place, our fire code limit is 90 people, 10 of whom are usually going to be volunteers, … so we’ll bring 80 members of the public or students from OWU or whatever together on a clear night,” Burns said. “Even on cloudy nights, we’ll even get near capacity because we have some school group come in or something like that.”

On a clear night, the program will begin with a talk lead by Burns titled, “Everything you’re going to be seeing in the telescope and what it all means.” He said he does this so that when people look through the telescope, they know more about what they’re seeing.

“Then we’ll release people to the telescopes, not just the big one in the dome, but a bunch of telescopes from the Columbus Astronomical Society that we have out on the front lawn,” Burns said.

“We’ll just keep rotating people through those telescopes until everybody falls over or goes home. You stay as late as you want.”

On a cloudy night, he will give an educational tour, show the telescope and open up the dome if the weather permits.

“It really is kind of an introduction to practical stargazing and how fulfilling it can be and in a very practical way,” Burns said. “If people are willing to stick around for the late night portion, then we’ll do the ghost story. I always like doing it when we have OWU students there.”

Students also use Perkins Observatory for research projects, led by Robert Harmon, a physics and astronomy professor at OWU.

“I have a smaller 14-inch diameter telescope that sits inside of the dome that is on the observing deck. I use that telescope with students for research projects, like those in the Summer Science Research Program,” Harmon said. “I have students gather data with that telescope on a star that has star spots on it and we study those star spots. We’ve been gathering data on this since 2006.”

Burns said when he first started teaching at OWU, one of his goals was to get every student, regardless of major, into the observatory at least once before they graduated.

“I think a look at the nighttime sky informs any way that you look at the world around you,” he said.

Active Minds speak out

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

Students gathered in solidarity to talk about mental illness and the effects it has on students’ lives Oct. 3 in Bishop Cafe.

The Mental Health Speak Out was meant to provide a safe space for students to talk about their personal experiences with mental illness, whether it has af- fected them personally or people close to them.

The event was organized by Active Minds, a national organization dedicated to changing the conversation about men- tal illness. The Active Minds club at OWU holds this event every fall semester.

President Larynn Cutshaw said,“Our goal is finding ways to get people talking about mental illness and to eliminate the stigma that exists around it.”

According research done by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “One in four [college] students have a diagnosable illness, 40 percent do not seek help, 80 percent feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and 50 percent have been so anxious they struggled in school.”

Many students came to the event to support their fellow students, such as sophomore Sydney Nadler.

“It’s really important for us to have things like this so that people know they are not alone and that they have support here at school,” Nadler said.

The Active Minds club meets every other Tuesday in Welch. More informa- tion regarding the club can be found on its Facebook page.

The Beat: A chat with Cardiknox before homecoming weekend

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

The Campus Programming Board has planned a concert for students during homecoming weekend featuring Cardiknox, an indie-pop band from Seattle, Washington.

The group consists of vocalist Lonnie Angle and instrumentalist Thomas Dutton, who formed the band in 2013.

Cardiknox performed at Ohio Wesleyan on Oct. 8.

The Transcript: How did you come up with the name?

Angle: Cardinaux is Dutton’s mother’s maiden name. It’s a French name and Americans have a tough time pronouncing it, but we thought it sounded cool, so we poached it and made it Cardiknox.

The Transcript: How did the band come together?

Dutton: I was in a band before called Forgive Durden and we had made a kind of rock opera album. We were working to make it into a musical in Seattle and that’s where I met Angle. She was helping us with the musical and we started writing pop songs together. After working together for a while, we decided we wanted to form a band and that’s how Cardiknox started.

The Transcript: You released your first album in March. How did it feel to release your first studio album? Angle: It was wonderful! We spent a very dedicated six months writing and recording music and in the process of doing that we signed a deal with Warner Bros. When you sign with a major label like that, the timeline can be delayed so we weren’t able to release the album for an entire year after writing it. We were so ready to get the songs out into the world and now that it is, it’s been amazing touring and having people know our songs.

The Transcript: How do you describe your music to people, especially in regard to your album? Dutton: I usually tell people it is like electropop, but it incorporates a lot of indie sounds as well as pop from the 80s.

The Transcript: What artists/music has inspired your sound?

Dutton: We’ve been inspired by a lot of music, especially what we grew up listening to. We draw influence from artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper. As far as production, I also draw a lot of intuition from hip-hop artists like Drake and Kanye [West]. So it’s pretty much anything we are into or that has moved us.

The Transcript: What is your music about and is there a theme to your album? Angle: When we were writing it, we didn’t go into the studio saying to ourselves, “We have to write an album that sounds like xyz,” but in looking back now, we can see that it really is a reflection of where we were at in that moment of our lives both personally and professionally. I had issues with a big family trauma as my parents split up after 39 years and heartache really wove its way into a lot of the songs. Also, Thomas and I have been fighting for this dream of making this band into a reality and that’s not an easy task, as much as it may seem from the outside. So we see these themes of perseverance and believing in yourself unintentionally because it’s what we were thinking about when we made the music.

The Transcript: Are you working on any new projects now? Dutton: We actually were just able to start writing again about a month ago, but now that we are on tour, it might be difficult to start making music. Some people like making music on the road, but to me, touring and making music are two very different things and I find it hard to be in both of those head spaces at once.

The Transcript: How is life on tour? Angle: It’s been great. We’ve only been on the road for a couple days now and this is a shorter tour than we have done before, but it is a lot of fun. This year we’ve done three national tours already with different artists and we’ve seen a lot of different venues and audiences. This tour is different because it is all colleges, which is rad.

The Transcript: Is there a difference between playing regular shows and college shows? Dutton: Yeah, totally. Often times when you’re playing a normal tour and hitting big cities you’re usually in dingier parts of town and there isn’t much to go and do. But playing at colleges means you get to go to these beautiful campuses with amazing buildings and landscapes. The students also make a huge difference and are really energizing, especially since we are at the beginning of the school year and there is some of that fall college magic in the air. It’s a really refreshing change.

The Transcript: What are you both into outside of music? Angle: I love food and wine and I love cooking with friends and having dinner parties. In general, I just love spending time with family, friends and dog.

Dutton: When I’m not on tour, I play in a soccer league, which is really fun. I’m also really into football and I’m a huge Seahawks fan.

Chelsea Clinton, pushing politics since Trump paid taxes

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Growing up in the White House has a lot of perks, including train- ing Chelsea Clinton to be a political mule.

September 27, National Voter Registration Day, Courtney Dunne, editor-and-chief, and I were con- tacted by Wyatt Ronan, the regional press secretary of Hillary for Ohio, to participate in a press call with Chelsea Clinton. This being a great opportunity, we jumped at the idea.

Little did we know what scarce information this would provide.

Of course, this is politics. Before callers could ask questions to the daughter of presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Chelsea boasted how proud of her mother she is. The main points she brought up were debt-free college, criminal justice reform and climate change.

Yet, their biggest push right now is in voter registration. Hillary is promoting a robust campaign on college campuses in swing-states.

When talking about debt-free college, Chelsea informed the students on the press call that her mother would enable people who engage in public services, like teachers and firefighters, a three-year grace period before paying back loans, and Hillary is working toward making community colleges completely tuition-free.

“Anyone should be able to go to community college tuition free… anyone should be able to go to public university or college…and graduate debt free,” said Chelsea Clinton.

When students from various colleges started asking questions, Chelsea would relate their names to a family member, or talk about how she had visited their home states, an unnecessary waste of time.

Only five soft-ball questions were answered by the daughter, such as how to get students motivated to vote, policy differences between Obama and her mother (which she only touched on one issue) and how climate change is, spoiler alert, real.

Chelsea even included that every home will be powered by renewable energy by the time her mom hits her second term. I commend her for wishful thinking, but let’s get past this first election.

Though the call ended before I could ask how Hillary planned to pay for debt-free college, Hillary did articulate this plan at a North Carolina rally on September 27.

“We’re going to go where the money is and the money’s at the top”,” said Clinton.

The estimated cost for this initiative is $500 billion over ten years, according to the “New College Compact Breifing” on Clin- ton’s homepage. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found this is possible through closing loopholes for high-income earners and businesses.

Let’s hope so, Secretary Clinton.

Team OWU wins big at fundraising

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Team OWU has raised $167,000 more than last year.

The total amount of donations received for Team OWU for the 2014-15 school year was $348,682. This raised the 2015-16 goal to $320,000, compared to the $200,000 goal set five years ago, according to Colleen Garland, the vice president for university advancement.

This was exceeded by a surplus of donations and the fund received $516,000 total in donations, according to the 2015-16 Annual Giving Summary.

“The University is funding about 65 percent of our operating costs in athletics, and the rest is coming from fundraising,” said Roger Ingles, the director of athletics.

Team OWU is the largest source for fundraising for athletics, along with restricted gifts, which is a one-time gift, such as the new tarp given to women’s softball or the new baseball outfield fence. Many coaches run summer camps to raise money and team members participate as well.

“We feel like we’re staffed at the level we need to be staffed … When I first took over, I asked [the coaches] if we want to invest in staffing or the budget … we can fundraise the budget, you can’t hire a coach that easy,” Ingles said.

Team OWU also has two different types of gifts: designated and undesignated. The designated funds go to whichever team or project the donor desires. Undesignated funds are just as important, raising money that may not have access to the alumni connections that longer established teams have, said Ingles.

Athletes work to raise funds as well, such as holding a raffle each year. Each player was required to sell roughly 15 tickets for $10 each to help pay for the football gear, and in turn, that ticket would enter the buyer in a chance to win a prize for each home game of the season, said Evan Guein, a former wide receiver and Jermaine Frazer-Phillips, a current defensive end.

“There’s a high chance you could win,” Guein said.

There is also a 48-hour city challenge held in the spring, an online giving challenge that had alumni from different cities competing to see which city could raise the most money for the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, the overall donation funds for operating the university, said Garland.

Research takes center stage at science center

By Shamayeta Rahman, Transcript Reporter

Summer means the sun, beaches, barbecues and research.

Students representing various fields in the sciences gathered in the Schimmel- Conrades Science Center’s atrium at noon, Sept. 26 to present the results of their summer-long research.

The room was filled with both student and faculty spectators, looking around the 27 poster boards. Rock Jones, the president of Ohio Wesleyan University, gave a speech commending the research students before joining the others in roaming around curiously listening to all the presentations. There were researches from multiple fields being presented by students who had a lot to share.

“Certain bacteria have feather degrading abilities,” said senior Jemil Seid. “I’m analyzing the biochemical differences between the slow degrading bacteria and the fast degrading bacteria.”

Seid, a biology major with a minor in chemistry, has been working with the Summer Science Research Program (SSRP) for the last two years. Earlier this summer, he won an award from the Ohio Branch of the American Society for Microbiology for his research about the antiviral properties of turmeric.

When speaking, he repeated multiple out for,” said senior Khayyam Zubair, who made an artificial intelligence game under Sean McCulloch’s guidance of the computer science department with his SSRP grant.

SSRP is a 10-week long program held over the summer, where selected students can work with a faculty adviser to work on their own research project. Students usually have to apply by the beginning of spring semester to be working the following summer, and receive a $3,200 stipend and free housing to carry out their research. This can be often combined with Theory-to-Practice Grants or Small Grant Program in certain cases.

This also ties in with the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for neuroscience that is available for students from other universities (Earlham College, Wooster College and Kenyon College) as well, and the program allows all selected students to access seven collaborative labs.

“REU was interesting because it allowed us to see different people doing different things using methods that I had never heard of before,” Semmedi said.

The SSRP prioritizes sophomores and juniors who have not participated previously, and recommends a GPA of 3.0 or above.

The deadline to apply for next year’s SSRP is January 2017.

Senior Austin Minnick explains his research to a group faculty and students times the importance of conducting research during undergraduate years.

“I did my research this time with a SIP grant,” Seid said. “Money was a little tight but I had absolute great mentorship, and my professors did everything to help and guide me through my research.”

Senior Cemaliye Semmedi, another SSRP grant recipient, said, “The funding was adequate but there is always room for more. The REU students received much bigger grants than the SSRP students and had a lot more flexibility.”

The sentiment echoed across the floor, but everyone agreed that despite the occasional financial constraints it was an essential experience for them to grow as researchers and apply their majors in resourceful ways.

“SSRP is such a great way to explore research opportunities, and if anyone is planning to go to graduate school it is always something that they are looking

Letter from alumnae requesting aid for Haiti

Dear Ohio Wesleyan students, staff, and faculty,

Hurricane Matthew recently hit Haiti, causing destruction and devastation that has not yet been fully assessed. This is a category 4 storm, with winds over 125 mph and 25 inches of rain. Pwoje Espwa Sud, an orphanage in southern Haiti with strong ties to Ohio Wesleyan, has been severely impacted by this storm.

Espwa is home to approximately 350 children, provides education to over 1,000 students, employs over 200 Haitians, and provides free medical care to the community. Fortunately, all of the children and staff are safe in the aftermath of the hurricane. Unfortunately, Espwa has faced substantial damage and the local community will be susceptible to illnesses such as cholera in the coming weeks.

Over 200 boys have been moved to the primary school and the kids are eating emergency food supplies in shifts. The homes in the boys’ village and the secondary school have been destroyed, in addition to the majority of trees and crops. Electricity is out for southern Haiti and the roads are impassible, making the delivery of supplies extremely difficult. Luckily, the girls’ homes are sturdier, and they have stayed safe there. However, it is likely that more children will need to seek refuge at Espwa in the near future due destruction within the local community.

Ohio Wesleyan has many ties to Espwa, with dozens of students, faculty, and staff visiting since 2010. So far there have been six OWU alumnae who have worked as guest house managers at Espwa: Kelsey Ullom ’14, Rachel Vinciguerra ’14, Brenda Gable ’15, and Kate Raulin ’12. Currently, Lizzy Wynne ’16 and Emma Sparks ’16 are on-the-ground at Espwa. We believe that Emma and Lizzy are safe. We all love the children at Espwa from the bottom of our hearts and are fearful of what this hurricane could mean for them. However, we know there are Bishops who are willing to help.

If you would like to donate, please make a contribution to Free the Kids, which is a U.S. based nonprofit organization whose sole mission is to support the work at Pwoje Espwa. You may visit their website at www.freethekids.org. A donation can also be made to:

Free the Kids

5704 W. Market Street #8947

Greensboro, NC 27419

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Brenda Gable ‘15, Kate Raulin ‘12, Rachel Vinciguerra ‘14, and Kelsey Ullom ‘14

OWU professor quoted in New York Times article

By Evan Walsh, Transcript Reporter

Jenny Holland, a professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan, was recently quoted in a New York Times article about the impact Delaware County voting demographics and local economic growth will have on who voters choose to support.

Her analysis was included in Binyamin Appelbaum’s article “Reliably Red Ohio County Finds Both Trump and Clinton Hard to Stomach,” which was published Sept. 9.

Ohio, considered a “purple” state because neither Democrats nor Republicans control a majority of the electorate, is home to 18 sought after electoral votes.

The same does not apply to Ohio’s Delaware County which, historically, has been a Republican county.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is looking to capitalize on the decades long economic disillusionment of voters from the “rust belt.”

Due to economic improvement, residents of the county are second-guessing their choice for president. Many do not identify with Trump’s message.

Holland, who received a doctorate for her research on campaigns and elections, spoke about the importance of this change in priorities.

“What do you do if the Republican candidate is unpalatable to you … do you just show up and not vote for president at all? Or, could there be a possibility that a Republican woman would show up and vote for Hillary Clinton? We just don’t know.”

Despite her insight, Holland would not make any predictions about who will call themselves the 45th president of the U.S. come Nov. 8.

But she said she expects this election will be won by “the candidate with the most organized, best ground game.”

This is not the first time Holland has been included in a major news agency’s story. Last July, she was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in a similar story about Delaware County voting patterns.

“I was really impressed by what she had to say and think she is a great voice for our school,” junior Xander Pacilio said.

Holland currently oversees OWU’s voter registration drive and said she is optimistic this initiative will get more students participating.

“This drive provides students with an exciting opportunity to get involved by exercising a very important right—the right to vote,” Holland said.

Boston Globe columnist talks presidential candidate concerns

By Evan Walsh, Transcript Reporter

Some of those who watched the first presidential debate may have been asking themselves: how did we get Donald Trump (R) and Hillary Clinton (D) as our presidential nominees?

Michael Cohen, a columnist for the Boston Globe and World Review, addressed the concerns ordinary Americans have about the candidates before students and faculty Wednesday, Sept. 21 in Merrick Hall.

Cohen, who has covered both Clinton and Trump’s respective campaigns for the last 15 months, began with a quote from William Faulkner about history repeating itself: “The past is not dead, it’s not even past.”

He then elaborated on those similarities this year’s election shares with another famous, though controversial, election year: 1968.

According to Cohen, Trump, the GOP’s nominee for president is not unlike Alabama’s George Wallace, a Dixiecrat, who divided the Democratic party prior to the General Election of 1968.

Both Trump and Wallace, considered outsiders to Washington’s establishment politics, have a history of using “strong but hateful rhetoric” to appeal to the interests of their constituents.

Citing his most recent publication, “American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division,” Cohen criticized the explicitly racist and misogynistic overtures coming from Trump and his supporters.

“When it comes to Trump, it’s not a matter of issues or ideology; it’s about fear … existential fears,” Cohen said.

Brian Goldaber, a politics and government major, said he enjoyed Cohen’s analysis and felt Cohen’s comparisons between Wallace and Trump were appropriate.

“They both capture a sense of frustration with the established political order and they overtly say a lot of things that conventional politicians would never say,” Goldaber said.

Jenny Holland, assistant professor of politics and government, moderated the event and led a Q&A once Cohen concluded his speech.

One audience member, soliciting Cohen’s opinion on gender’s impact on the race, wanted to know how “Trump supporters [those he’s met while covering the campaign] have responded when they were asked about the possibility of the first ever female presidency.”

Tyler Iffland, who remains unsure of which candidate he prefers, said he does not think that gender matters as much as each candidate’s lack of transparency.

“How can I confidently vote for Clinton when she can’t release her emails, and how can I confidently vote for Trump if he’s hiding his tax returns?” Iffland said.

Members of the Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs organized the lecture.