featured – Page 14 – The Transcript

Campus for the cure

Students watch from afar as two volleyball teams compete. Photo by Susan Ugalde.

On Saturday, Sept. 5, at the Delta Tau Delta sand pit, the Ohio Wesleyan Greek community came together for charity and a little competition.

Beach Bash is an annual volleyball tournament held by OWU’s Mu chapter of Delta Tau Delta.

The philanthropic event raises money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The Mu chapter of Ohio Wesleyan originally established the event four years ago, prior to the national fraternity’s partnership with the organization.

Since the partnership in 2012, the national fraternity has donated approximately $250,000 to the research foundation. Over the years, Beach Bash has typically raised between $300 and $500, depending on the year.

Many fraternities and sororities on campus entered teams in the tournament. The Delts even extended a special invitation to the Small Living Units (SLUs).

Students mingle by the sand volleyball court. Photo by Susan Ugalde.

Typically each team pays $30 to enter, but SLUs were asked to give as much as they felt comfortable giving. While the Greek associations have funds devoted to events like Beach Bash, SLUs have a limited budget.

Besides reaching out to the SLUs, the Delts hoped to attract other non-affiliated teams to increase campus involvement. The Delts offered to complete teams with their own members so more individuals could participate.

Sophomore Alex Niswonger, a Delt, noted that “the most important thing about an event is to get the whole entire school involved.” He added that the fraternity had a great platform to spread awareness.

Sophomore Zac Worley, a member of Chi Phi, also stated that increased awareness among new students could potentially help long-term involvement with such events.

Class of 2019 settling in

Members of the Class of 2019 move in. Photo by Lisa DiGiacomo.

After much anticipation and preparation, the class of 2019 has finally arrived.

Continuing the tradition of welcoming freshmen to campus, Ohio Wesleyan students called on the Greek community to organize and assist with move-in day.

“I love move-in day,” said senior associate director of admission Patricia “Pat” Kelly. “It’s such an exciting time, and it’s my favorite time of the year because it’s when I get to see freshmen settle into their home away from home.”

Since then, organizations like the Campus Programming Board and the office of Residential Life have been staging orientation activities, free events and socials exclusively for freshmen.

Although statistical information about the class of 2019 was not available when this article was written, convocation data suggests an actively involved freshman class.

Specifically, the class of 2019 comprises 267 varsity athletes, 117 varsity sport captains, 92 high school musicians and 224 students who participated in community service and volunteer work.

Christopher Bonner, a freshman from Parma, Ohio, falls into one of those categories. “I chose OWU because my football coach at Valley Forge High said great things about it, and I visited and loved it, too,” he said.

In an attempt to combat low enrollment, this summer, OWU expanded its publications, developed its website and hired a new marketing firm to design banners that currently line campus walkways.

“The reason we are developing all of this is to develop a better way to share the OWU connection,” said Director of Admissions Alisha Couch.

No matter how the numbers turn out, or what the banners look like, the freshmen are here to stay.

If not now, never

Alison Parker and Adam Ward, the reporter and videographer killed in the shooting. Photo courtesy of thewrap.com.

When I first sat down to write this piece, it was going to be a welcome-back-to-the-year type of op-ed; you know, the standard “let’s have a great year, everyone!” rhetoric. Then the WDBJ shooting happened.

For those of you who don’t know, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, a reporter and a cameraman were killed, and an interviewee was injured, during an on-air interview by a former employee of the Virginia television station.

There are many issues with this latest shooting. One of the issues is that I had to say “latest shooting.” It feels like every time you blink, there’s a report of another gun shot, another killed.

Another major issue was that the killer, Vester Lee Flanagan (also known by his on-air name Bryce Williams), put his homemade video of the shooting on social media. His social media accounts have been taken down since the shooting, but the live, on-air report that was being filmed during the shooting still circulates.

A few years ago, I wrote my first-ever op-ed on gun control, spurred by the 2013 Navy Yard attack. How many more opinion pieces do concerned citizens need to write about gun violence?

How many more times will I hear about shootings at places that are supposed to be safe? Must we live in constant alert in every public space, holding our breath whenever we see a man by himself shift in his seat?

This latest act of violence will stir up another gun control debate again. And I’ll listen to the politicians and talking heads talk themselves in circles. The fact is, if gun control wasn’t reformed after the slaughter of 20 first graders, it never will be.

Editor’s note: After the writing of this story, Texas sheriff’s Deputy Darren H. Goforth was killed in an execution-style attack at a gas station in Cypress, Texas.

Edwards renovations come to a close

The Edwards Fitness Center is, in a sense, a new building. This semester is the first that many sophomores are seeing it. Its remodeled interior, though incomplete, is now modern and sleek.

Built in 1906, it is now over 100 years old. After a large donation from Louis A. Simpson, class of 1958, and his wife Kimberly K. Querrey, the Edwards Fitness Center became the focus of a large scale construction project, much like Merrick Hall.

Though students are now free to roam Merrick, Edwards remains closed. Meant to be done by the end of August, construction was recently delayed, and the building is not set to open until early or mid-September.

Athletics Director Roger Ingles commented that the delay was due to back-ordered flooring, which is set to come in on August 31. Installation should take a few days. After the flooring is placed, equipment still needs to be moved in and staff must be trained. However, that does not mean certain facilities are still unavailable to students.

The Edwards Gymnasium basketball court shortly after being re-done during the 2013-14 school year. Photo by Roger Ingles and Larry Hamill.

Ingles explained that several classes and module courses will be moved into the fitness center after fall break, if not sooner. As of the first day of classes, the weight room in the basement of Edwards is open. Certain classes, like jazzercise, are already being held in the finished basketball court. Contrary to rumors, the fitness center in its current state is open to all students.

While many students are excited about the new facilities, many are concerned about the loss of the Belt Fitness Center in Welch Hall. Though hot and musty year round, “Welch Gym” is a convenient resource on the residential side of campus. According to President Rock Jones, Welch Gym will remain open, but not to the same extent as before. A few cardio machines will remain but the space will also be used for “fitness classes and other group exercise experiences.”

With such a lengthy renovation, one would expect massive improvements; however, one student noted her disappointment. Senior Alex Cook mentioned that the now open weight room looks exactly the same as it did before. However, she did state that other parts of the building were in desperate need of improvement prior to the beginning of construction and is pleased with their progress.

Though currently limited, once construction is complete, Edwards will have new cardiovascular equipment and circuit machines. Each machine will have internet access for convenience.

The approximate times the facilities will be open are from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays. Edwards will close earlier on Fridays and open later on the weekends.

Food points: deal or no deal?

The Marketplace is one of the on-campus dining options for students, where the food points markup doesn't exist. Photo by Alex Gross '18. — The Marketplace is one of the on-campus dining options available to students. There, they can use their food points with no additional markup. Photo by Alex Gross ’18.

Using Ohio Wesleyan food points to get an off-campus meal isn’t a bargain.

According to WCSA President Jerry Lherrison, students can be charged up to 44 percent extra by the establishment they visit. Furthermore, OWU takes 30 percent of all off-campus purchases, regardless of a mark-up, which encourages participating businesses to increase prices just to break even on those purchases.

In other words, the university and local business benefit when points are used off-campus, but it’s no deal for students. The 100 points students purchase through their meal plans each semester don’t go as far a students might think. And many students don’t use them, even though they’ve paid for them.

Students are given a degree of control over the program through a voting system that decides which restaurants will be included each year, but even that process has its flaws.

The largest problem with the voting system seems to be that many, if not most, students don’t know when or how to vote. In the fall of 2014, WCSA announced the process through a news release which also included a notice about the school’s activity fee increasing.

Last year, 426 of 1,830 students signed into a WCSA survey to vote. Out of those, 398 voted.

Hamilton Williams card office secretary Nancy Tumeo said most students seem to know very little, if anything, about the program and many students – particularly freshmen – don’t take advantage of their off-campus points at all.

The number of eateries that can participate is limited by the university, based on the number of card-scanning machines it has to distribute to the businesses.

Confusion exists on the other side of the program as well.

Richard Upton, owner of Delaware's J.Gumbo's, in his restaurant. Photo courtesy of youtube.com. — Richard Upton, owner of Delaware’s J.Gumbo’s, in his restaurant. Photo courtesy of youtube.com.

Richard Upton, owner of JGumbo’s, said, “I’m very happy to be in the program. I think it’s done well for business, but it’s hard to connect with the students about the restaurant and get them to vote.”

Upton said students who work for him suggested the best method for advertising would be flyers because other methods, such as including releases in the OWU Daily, are ignored by most students. Upton resorted to hanging signs in his establishment, encouraging students to vote in the election, which, he said, students don’t seem to know is occurring at all.

Once a restaurant makes it into the off-campus program, the restaurant’s part in profiting from the partnership is not done there. Restaurant owners who preferred not to be named voice similar struggles to quantify their benefit from the program as did Upton.

“My wife looks at the numbers sometimes and says, ‘I don’t see [the benefit].’ But I do,” Upton said. “I think about 20 percent of the business is OWU students and probably about 50 percent of those use off-campus points. This is the third year we’ve been able to take [food points]. The real bump comes from students getting used to coming, sitting down, having a good time even when they don’t have the extra cash.

“We do the max mark-up 42 percent, and that’s just to cover our costs and give the school its take. I’m not making 42 percent more money on each sale to students, not by a long shot.”

Overall, representatives of all the restaurants who commented for this story were positive about the program despite any difficulties they found with promotion, the election process or contracts they signed as part of their affiliation with the school.

Another point of frustration, however, was the perception that some long-standing restaurants seem to always be on the list at the detriment of newer establishments.

Also, two years ago students made an effort to help the Delaware Community Market, a non-profit, by voting it into the program. They succeed, but few students visited the establishment, according to Tumeo, who said she believes the Market – a 22-minute walk from campus – was just too far for students when many other options line Sandusky Street near campus.

Upton said the slot used by Community Market could have been given to an establishment that may have better benefited from the program.

Vaquero’s is another lightning rod for criticism from restaurateurs and students alike. Most troubling, according to multiple sources who didn’t want to be named for fear of getting in trouble with OWU administrators, is the practice of letting students purchase alcohol using their food points. The off-campus program does not allow the purchase of alcohol with food points, but Vaquero’s apparently has garnered a reputation for getting around the rule.

Multiple students recounted the process of making a joint food-drink purchase at Vaquero’s – including alcohol – and splitting the cost on their meal cards so the cashier submits the alcohol purchase as “miscellaneous.” Using that terminology makes it easier to get through the school’s validation system. The practice was cited as a reason students were more likely to vote for the restaurant despite those same students noting occasions where the food supposedly made them sick. More issues with Vaquero’s are borne out through their health inspection records.

The interior of Vaqueros. Photo courtesy of pacerinnandsuitesmotel.com.

The owner of Vaquero’s refused repeated requests for comment.

The restaurant consistently racks up health violations, according to an analysis of public records. During an investigation into five years of health records for all restaurants in the off-campus points program, Vaquero’s had the largest file – 60 pages. Opa’s Bar and Grill was next with 12 pages of health inspection reports during the same period.

For example, an inspection in February found three critical violations as defined by the Delaware General Health District. All involved keeping ready-made food improperly, such as leaving it near raw food. Hot and cold foods were not kept at proper temperatures. And refrigerated items were not marked to show when they were opened. An issue with cleanliness of food preparation surfaces has been a problem on and off since 2012.

In 2012, the restaurant was investigated for complaints of possible foodborne illness and cited for 11 violations. Over the past five years, the health district also noted employees have a history of failing to demonstrate knowledge about food safety.

The health district inspects restaurants at least twice a year for food safety issues, according to Karey Sanders, food safety sanitarian for the district.

Kim F. Eckart, administrative assistant to Dan Hitchel, OWU’s vice president for finance and administration, said the university weighs input from students about the off-campus points program when making decisions about it.

Brown-Smith is a 2015 graduate of OWU and wrote this story as part of course assignment in May.

2015 fall season preview: here come the Bishops

The 32 NFL franchises are not the only teams going through preseason right now. Don’t let the lack of television coverage fool you.

The Battling Bishop’s 2015 fall seasons have begun like any season should: two-a-days, sprints, sweat, optimism and a clean slate.

With the meat of schedules approaching, fall sports are set to battle, but not after going through preseason.

Volleyball and football are picked to contend for North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) titles, while men’s soccer is seeking to defend its NCAC crown.

“Preseason is always tough to get through, but it’s supposed to be,” men’s soccer senior captain Evan Lee said. “It was a good one. One of the best since I’ve been here. We’re all excited to start playing against people other than us and this team is capable of winning the conference again.”

Ohio Wesleyan is quiet over the summer. To have teams and student-athletes back on campus makes Athletic Director Roger Ingles delighted.

“It’s a fun time when everyone starts coming on campus,” Ingles said. “First, you have football and then all the other teams come in. To watch campus come alive is fun.”

For the Battling Bishops, this season will begin with freshmen stand-outs and senior leaders.

“We have a great coaching staff and they do a great job of getting everyone ready,” Ingles said. “Seeing everyone compete and the improvement that happens is the best part.”

Upperclassmen, young alumni share stories, advice for freshmen

Upperclassmen and young alumni were asked about their freshmen year through online interviews. This is what they had to say:

What do you wish you had known as an incoming freshman at OWU?

Julia Stone ‘16

That I shouldn’t try to take on too many things. Balancing a social life with homework and still having enough alone time to recharge was a huge challenge for me, and for a lot of my fellow introverted friends. I wish I had known that it’s impossible to do everything, and that I am only human.

Ibrahim Saeed ’15

You have to submit add/drop forms yourself to the registrar; no department will do it for you. Sounds basic, I know, but I ended up needing to petition to change courses after two weeks and was also fined $40.00.

Lauren (Lo) Rump ‘15

I wish I knew how homesick I was going to be, but how important it would be to stick it out. I was incredibly homesick my first semester of OWU; I almost transferred. While I think OWU is filled with inclusive and welcoming communities, I don’t necessarily think these communities will always seek you out as a freshman.

Yasmin Radzi ‘16

I wish I knew about work study jobs during the first week of school.

Anthony Lamoureux ‘14

I wasted so much of my first year fighting with myself and trying to hold onto some idea of who I was in high school and what my family wanted me to major in. It took me three years to figure out that I should have followed my heart in the first place.

Alanna Easley ‘18

The most important thing in the first few weeks is just being friendly and meeting people. Friends drift around for the first couple of months, so it’s nice to make connections early and keep your options open. That being said, you don’t have to be friends with everybody. Some people just don’t click, and that’s okay.

Kyle Simon ‘15

I wish I knew how I could branch out and make friends better.

Ellen Sizer ‘18

I wish I knew that it is okay not to know everything right away. That is the joy of being a freshman—everything is new!

What was the weirdest or craziest thing that happened to you your freshman year?

Caitlin Burton-Dooley ‘17

I rushed and SLUshed, and it was the most amazing thing. There are so many things that I’ve learned from both of those groups.

Saeed

I developed a taste for black coffee and am now addicted to it. I also got my pocket picked at Clancey’s (Pub), losing my cell phone on Halloween night. I argued with cops outside the bar in a Luigi costume.

Stone

I got to go to Italy with my choir. Also, I jumped in the fountain on the JAYWalk while I had bronchitis and my phone was in my pocket. Luckily, my roommate had couscous, and I soaked it in that overnight to get the water out. It started working again, but then I dropped it off of a rollercoaster! Finally, my friend and I made cookie dough in my bathroom in a pot we found in a cupboard of Smith Hall’s kitchen.

Elizabeth Riggio ‘14

The day that me and my two other roommates who went through formal recruitment found out at the same time that we were in the same sorority house. We were nervous to say anything for a minute because we weren’t sure what the others would say, and then it was just a huge amount of excitement when we all said the same house. It may not be the craziest memory, but it was definitely good.

Sizer

By accident, I skipped my first college final exam because I thought it was on a different day (don’t worry, I still took it). I got eight dreads in my hair, because, you know, college. I was able to balance school, three jobs, and heavy involvement in a club while somehow being genuinely happy about my busy life. The latter is probably the craziest.

Easley

I put off a paper way too long and ended up pulling an all-nighter to finish it. I decided to fuel myself with Monster to power through it, so I walked to UDF (United Dairy Farmers gas station) and bought three Mega-Monsters. Not paying attention to how fast I was drinking them as I worked, I drank all three in about an hour and a half. After a bit, I started shaking, overheating, and then hallucinating—I thought people were walking through the room, I saw shadows moving around me, and the Eevee postcard on my roommate’s desk started yelling at me for procrastinating. Morals of the story: don’t procrastinate, and monitor your caffeine intake.

Lamoureux

We had a school day that was cancelled! It was crazy! We had a blizzard that caused the entire academic side of campus to be covered in an inch of ice… So we all just went on the JayWalk and played in the freezing rain. There used to be yarn strung around all of these trees near the theatre (OWU’s Chappelear Drama Center), and it was so cool to go under it and feel the yarn frozen into one kind of ice sculpture.

Teona Council ‘17

The relationships I formed with various people on campus. For the most part everyone is super chill, and willing to get to know you or work with you on something. That’s weird because that type of environment isn’t something that happens everywhere.

What about OWU or college life in general surprised you the most?

Sizer

Things you need don’t just magically appear. Like, I have to go and buy stamps if I want to send a letter. My mother isn’t here to give them to me. Or, if I need really anything, it’s up to me, which is surprisingly really nice. I like being dependent on myself more. This doesn’t mean I don’t need help every once in awhile, but it’s nice to feel more independent about my decisions.

Simon

I think OWU surprised me in that I wasn’t as ready to take on college as I thought I was.

Rump

It is so easy at OWU to find what you are passionate about or where you fit in, and become a leader and important player on campus. I left OWU feeling the same way I left high school: feeling I made a positive impact and that my time there mattered.

Easley

The people at OWU are extremely accepting. I never made friends very easily before college, but I fell in with a great group of friends early on and have continued to make new ones almost every day. The community is open to people from all walks of life, which was quite refreshing.

Burton-Dooley

How happy and lovely everyone is.

Riggio

I think in a way OWU became my family. Living and working with such a small community means you get to know everyone. Some people may not like this, but to me that’s a beautiful thing. I felt very close with my peers, and class in particular. It’s amazing to walk down the street and feel like you are part of more than just a university, but a close community. I loved feeling connected to many different clubs, sports, events, professors, and students. It really is special. Even if there are times now and then when you wish you were more anonymous.

Saeed

It surprised me how friendly everybody was, and how much people respect you for who you are. I was worried there would be peer pressure and it would be hard to fit in, but it was quite the opposite. Just be yourself and everyone will love you for who you are. I met some of the nicest people I know during college.

Radzi

What surprised me the most was how much I was going to be so attached to OWU. I turned in my deposit before I even visited the school. When I visited the school, I knew I was going to feel right at home. I am still surprised to this day how much I love OWU. Going to OWU was literally the best decision I have made in my life! The professors, the opportunities, and the people have made my undergraduate experience such a unique and special experience.

What is one piece of advice you have for the incoming freshmen?

Lamoureux

Take advantage of all of the extra opportunities that OWU has to offer, whether it be travel-learning courses, TiPiT grants, fraternities, sororities, SLUs, sports. Be a part of something that is bigger than you! All of these opportunities allow you to become closer to both people at OWU and others around the country and world. We can sometimes forget that there are so many big and amazing things outside of the OWU bubble. But, if you allow yourself to take risks and try new things that you would have never expected, amazing things can happen.

Burton-Dooley

Find something you love and you’ll find people you love, and it will always make you happy.

Rump

Don’t hold on to high school so tightly, and accept the change that is college and the rest of your life. Don’t get worked up if people you befriend freshmen year don’t turn out to be your soulmates come sophomore year and beyond. Everyone is so eager to pair up and find their “people” those first couple weeks, and that is important, but as the years go on, you will change and evolve and mostly likely many of those freshmen friends will too, and that is part of the process. Finally, [care] about your grades. When it’s senior year/graduation time and you start thinking about grad school, all those B- and C’s from the beginning semesters start to haunt your transcript and GPA. You can recover, but it will take work.

Simon

Be ready to change.

Council

Make a friend and keep in touch with someone back home who you can depend on, whether that’s a parent, guardian or a friend, because the first year is overwhelming in some ways. Maybe it’s not academically, but maybe it’s socially, medically, or something else entirely. Having someone there can make a difference in how your year plays out.

Stone

Our student body embraces the strange oddball in all of us. If you are you, you’ll meet other people that love you for just that.

Saeed

Opportunities don’t come looking for you; you have to go seek them out. Go to school and enjoy yourself, and be there for the sake of learning. Don’t be married to grades—just enjoy learning and the grades will turn out great.

Riggio

Don’t get too consumed by any one thing. Try lots of things. Don’t assume you won’t like something or be interested in it without giving it a shot. You may surprise yourself.

The courage of Caitlyn Jenner

The cover photo from Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair photo shoot. Photo courtesy of vanityfair.com. — The cover photo from Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair photo shoot. Photo courtesy of vanityfair.com.

When I woke up this morning, my Twitter was all a flurry with news of Caitlyn Jenner. When I saw her portrait on the cover of Vanity Fair, I gasped. She was beautiful and looked happy. As someone who avidly watches Keeping Up with the Kardashians and follows the lives of the Kardashian/Jenner family more than my own, this was a big moment.

When Caitlyn, formerly Bruce, announced her transition a few months ago, I watched with rapt attention. I couldn’t believe someone who was so present in my life (or, as present as someone on a reality show could be) was making this enormous transformation before my eyes. When I watched the amazing Diane Sawyer special, I was on the edge of my seat with tears in my eyes. I couldn’t imagine what Caitlyn, then Bruce, was going through her entire life. It is said Caitlyn is the first major public figure to be making this transition in the public eye. That takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of courage for anyone to transition.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Caitlyn’s transition was received. Many Twitter posts were supportive and encouraging. Of course, there were the comments that she was doing this for attention or that this was part of a whole Kardashian scheme were there. Why would someone do this for attention? Kris Jenner, the matriarch of the Kardashian/Jenner family, is a media mastermind, but this is not part of her plan for world domination. This is obviously a very personal choice, and is not dependent on ratings or popularity.

Caitlyn Jenner poses during her recent Vanity Fair photo shoot. Photo courtesy of x17online.com.

The fact that Caitlyn so publicly announced who she is is a huge milestone, if you ask me. Not only are the portraits beautiful, the interview opens up and delves into Caitlyn’s mindset and who she is. It’s incredible to see the overwhelming support that is behind Caitlyn and her “new” life. I’m hesitant to say “new” life, because it has always been her life; she’s just now free to be who she really is. I cannot wait to see what Caitlyn will do with her newfound pedestal, and I hope she can be an advocate for those who need it.

Major thoroughfare of Delaware City in need of major overhaul

Anyone who travels on East Central Avenue in Delaware knows they are in for a bumpy ride. And it’s not going to get smoother any time soon.

City officials know East Central, three blocks north of Ohio Wesleyan University, is a patched mess. The problem, officials said, is where to put the limited money the city has for road projects. There’s money to get potholes patched and cracks sealed, but not nearly enough to provide a long-term fix.

Of the miles of streets in Delaware, the stretch of Central from North Union Street east to where Central joins East Williams Street at “The Point” is striking for its sustained damage.

Documents from the city’s public works department show basic surface repair and maintenance measures have been made, typically filling potholes.

“Central Avenue, with the volume of traffic that it serves, is an area that is constantly monitored for deterioration and the need for repairs,” said city attorney Darren Shulman. “When areas of distress are identified, staff performs repairs to the surface and base courses as deemed necessary.”

The last work order completed by public works employees for East Central – an inspection of an earlier cold patch of a pothole — was on Jan. 15, 2013. The pothole, in the westbound lane of Central near Hammond Street, was patched after a motorist reported blowing a tire because of it.

The city measures the conditions of its roads using a Pavement Condition Index (PCI). The PCI measures pavement condition on a scale of 0 to 100 with 100 representing “new or resurfaced pavement,” Shulman said. By 2013, the most recent available PCI inspection showed a decline in East Central’s pavement condition from 100 to an 86.

According to city records, East Central in 2010 was given the highest inspection rating because the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), as part of its Urban Resurfacing Program, resurfaced it that year. The city’s participation in the program was limited to partial funding – about $44,000.

“The roads are horrible,” said Hugh Kerins of Delaware and a frequent traveler on Central, “because when the city repairs them, they try to just repair a little spot instead of just redoing an entire section of the road, which after two to five years ends up in the same exact state as previously.”

Kerins said he believes money is available to better maintain the roadways, but said how it is allocated has affected infrastructure in Delaware. He said the city needs help in the form of state and federal aid to stop the crumbling of its road system.

“Take a section every year to work on instead of putting all the money onto the main highways,” Kerins said.

City officials are aware of the problem and grief East Central is causing local residents who live along it and commuters who use it. But officials cite two constraints to solve it: time and money.

“Between Union [Street] and the Point, the reason why that road is not as good as others is because it’s an old road bed dating back 100 years,” said Lee Yoakum, the city’s community affairs coordinator. “If you drive on it, you’ll notice there are no storm water drains nor proper guttering that you may see in other parts of the city.

“What’s happening is groundwater, instead of being drained away, is allowed to filter down into the road base, causing all sorts of issues with moisture and erosion. The end result is that it affects the driving surface.”

A major overhaul would cost tens of millions of dollars and force the city to close that section for months, Yoakum said. It’s money the city doesn’t have. The time needed to do a thorough rebuilding restricts options for rerouting traffic. Repair money cannot be allocated to one project when other streets throughout the city need help.

Officials from across the country earlier this month made a week-long pitch for long-term investment in infrastructure projects. Vice President Joe Biden said on May 11, according to Bloomberg News, investing in the nation’s highways and bridges is a national security issue. Biden said the federal government spends less than 1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product on infrastructure, which is down from about 4 percent.

“There is absolutely no rationale, no reasonable argument against the need for these investments,” Biden said at a Bloomberg-sponsored event in Washington.

The American Civil Society of Engineers (ACSE), which grades public infrastructure systems on a state-by-state and national basis, said on its website (http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org) that about $3.6 trillion is needed by 2020.

ASCE logo. Photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.

It gave Ohio an overall grade of C- (or mediocre) in 2013, the latest rating available. The ranking also looks at rail, education, dams, parks, wastewater facilities, aviation and energy.

The state’s location as a transit point between the rest of the Midwest and the East Coast is a selling point for state officials when they recruit businesses and industries to locate in Ohio. Ohio’s road network stretches more than 125,000 miles. Ohio’s road network is so large, the ACSE said, it’s about 3.1 percent of the total length of public roads in the United States. The organization said 43 percent of Ohio’s roads are in critical, poor or fair condition.

Delaware’s city engineer and public works director, Bill Ferrgino, said an overhaul of East Central would require a massive deconstruction of the current road. It would include: rerouting of any number of cable, telephone, plumbing, and fiber optic lines that lie underneath the street, a comprehensive installation of a drainage system to keep water from staying in the road bed, and widening of the road itself to accommodate the new levels of traffic it maintains on a daily basis.

“We’re limited on where we can detour traffic,” Yoakum said. “Because Central Avenue is a state route, there are requirements ODOT has as far as street closure and how traffic is detoured. We would not be able to send semis down a side-street and would need to move them to larger routes.”

Ferrigno echoed Yoakum’s comments, but added the city needs federal grant money to aid in an overhaul project. Without federal money, the city can only provide the same road maintenance services it is providing now.

“The city understands the problems facing our infrastructure right now,” Ferrigno said, “and is trying to allocate what we have budgeted to the areas determined to need it the most based off amount of traffic and other factors.”

Major arteries, such as U.S. Route 23 and State Route 37, occupy higher spots on the priority list, Ferrigno said.

Much of the Central Avenue traffic comes from semi-tractor trailers bypassing the frequent stops, greater congestion and traffic lights along Route 23 before moving over to U.S. Route 42. Overweight trucks, as well as tough winter weather conditions, contribute to a growing infrastructure problem in the city.

Based on city’s predictions, 54 percent of the city’s roads will be rated from “Poor to Fair” and “Failed to Very Poor” by 2030. By comparison, in 2009 the physical condition of 43 percent of Ohio’s roads was listed as “Fair” or below, according the ACSC.

The city’ predictions assume no more miles of roads will be added and funding remains the same. But those are dangerous assumptions.

Pulling out a city map, Ferrigno pointed out that from 1995 to 2012, the city added 100 miles of roads. And the number is expected to grow as Delaware County continues to rank as one of the fastest-growing counties in both the state and the country.

According to the city’s operating budget over a five-year period, the public works department began 2009 with $240,000 and of that amount about $26,160 was devoted to berm and asphalt-sealant material. By 2011, the budget was reduced to around $216,000 with $24,000 devoted to the same materials. The current city budget allocation for street maintenance is $334,100, of which $216,300 is devoted to concrete, asphalt and berm materials.

Publish or perish at OWU

By: Dr. Thomas K. Wolber

Like many small liberal-arts colleges, Ohio Wesleyan University is first and foremost a teaching institution. The school’s Code of Regulations states, “It shall be the primary function of the faculty to instruct the students in the arts and sciences, and in all branches of liberal and professional instruction, as taught in the best universities.” And the Statement of Aims reaffirms that core mission when it says, “the University has as its preeminent purpose to be a quality institution for teaching and learning.” Wherever you turn, you will hear echoes of that sentiment. President Rock Jones says frequently, “Excellence in teaching is the hallmark of Ohio Wesleyan University today, as it has been for generations.” And OWU’s website declares, “OWU’s faculty and staff are dedicated to student success, and they demonstrate that dedication in countless ways every day in every way. Students spend time with employees not only in classrooms and offices, but also over lunch, at a Battling Bishop athletic event, or other community-building opportunity. OWU faculty members and staff become important mentors and close friends, ready to help students find their way to personal and professional success. It’s all part of the Ohio Wesleyan experience.”

However, that “Ohio Wesleyan experience” is now under assault. Dedicated teachers are denied tenure or promotion and relegated to second-class citizens and obscurity. Their commitment to students and efforts to bring out the best in them are deemed insufficient and inadequate under a misguided personnel policy that increasingly de-prioritizes and devalues teaching in favor of scholarly research (or creative endeavors).

OWU’s faculty is evaluated on the basis of the quality of their teaching (60 percent), research (30 percent), and service (10 percent). In theory, this sounds reasonable although, parenthetically speaking, the Code of Regulations does not mention an obligation to conduct research at all. It is also interesting to note that the U.S. Professors of the Year Awards Program, for which OWU recently nominated three individuals, requires “a scholarly approach to teaching and learning,” but no significant research record. The problem of OWU’s faculty personnel policy lies in its implementation. It has become so formulaic, draconian, and punitive that it has lost all sense of proportion and decency. In the past, if you were a passionate teacher you were assured success if you showed “evidence of scholarship” and provided dedicated service to the University. Not so now. Under the new standard of “significant scholarship” more and more faculty are denied tenure, and countless others are bypassed for merit and promotion.

I have seen this happen at other institutions. At top universities around the world, it’s “publish or perish.” The pressure to focus on publications is so great and all-consuming that there is little or no time for teaching and service. If you happen to be a dedicated and accessible teacher who cherishes spending time with students and in the classroom, it can mean the end of your academic career. Consider that every tutorial or independent study taught in addition to the regular course load means a diminished scholarly output. Every conversation with a prospective, current, or former student means another unread article. Every concert, exhibition, play, or sports event you go to because you want to support the students can be a distraction and disruption of your schedule as a researcher. Every letter of recommendation requires a level of care and time that may compete and conflict with scholarly endeavors. Helping students become better writers is a challenge when the quality and quantity of your own writing is very much at stake.

This is what I meant earlier when I wrote that OWU’s teaching mission is under threat. The pressure to publish or perish has finally reached this institution, too, and as a result teaching no longer has the unquestioned primacy. There is diminishing incentive to do so. The faculty-personnel committee has created a hostile work environment for people whose primary devotion is to teaching and a climate of fear for those who don’t conform to its norms. Teaching ranks low. Research is where the grants and resources, merit and promotion, fame and fortune are.

We are already seeing the deleterious effects of this misguided policy. Faculty in significant numbers refuse to serve on committees; many do not attend admissions events; some even show no interest in helping with student retention. After all, there is no money in sitting down with an advisee and point her in the right direction. I cannot blame these colleagues for acting rationally and in their own best interest. It is not their fault. They are reacting logically to a system that no longer puts students front and center. In a research-centered environment students are, to put it bluntly, little more than a nuisance and a bother.

As this unfortunate trend continues, disengaged faculty will spend less and less time with students. They will teach their classes and hold the requisite number of office hours, but that may well be it. Admission and retention efforts will suffer, the quality of advising will diminish, and students in need and distress may not get the full attention they deserve. This is not an apocalyptic doomsday scenario. The downhill trend is already in evidence, exacting a heavy toll. Ohio Wesleyan is currently experiencing difficulties meeting admission and retention targets. It may be an inconvenient truth, but I submit that this is, in part, a direct result of a flawed faculty-personnel policy that de facto elevates research over teaching, forcing teachers to make the difficult choice of putting students on the back burner. This wrongheaded approach undercuts OWU’s historic mission and has already done incalculable damage. The focus on faculty research has gone too far and is no longer an asset. Instead, it has become a risk and a liability that imperils the future of the college. OWU has strayed from its ethos and legacy. We need to recalibrate our values and priorities and find a better balance. Students and faculty, administrators and trustees must step up and demand that Ohio Wesleyan return to what it has been for almost 175 years – a premier teaching institution.

Dr. Thomas K. Wolber is an associate professor of German at Ohio Wesleyan. He teaches all levels of German language, literature and civilization. In addition to those subjects, he specializes in comparative literature and environmental studies.