featured – Page 17 – The Transcript

Gender, Greek affiliations shape SLUs

How Gender and Greek life shape SLU membership

The current gender population of the SLU community, including Greek affiliation. Graph courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

At the start of each spring semester, OWU’s Small Living Units seek new members ‒ but they’re running into increased competition with fraternities, most often for male candidates.

“I think that the fraternity system here at OWU, the fact that it’s residential, is why the gender ratios are so skewed in the SLUs,” said Citizens of the World (COW) House moderator Kerrigan Boyd, a senior.

“…In some ways it’s kind of cool that the SLU community is primarily driven by women, just because I feel like there are so…few things in society that are, but I feel like we strive for a community that’s inclusive of a variety of diverse backgrounds, including gender diversity.”

In terms of gender, OWU’s student body as a whole is 54 percent female and 46 percent male, according to the OWU website; data on non-binary students was not available and is not recorded by the University.

Non-binary, as described by sophomore Women’s House (WoHo) resident Rowan Hannan, refers to a gender identity that is different from the one assigned at birth; this includes a wide variety of genders beyond assigned and self-identified male or female.

A survey of SLU gender demographics finds that there are more than four times more women in SLUs than men and at least three non-binary students, including Hannan, who live in WoHo.

These statistics were provided by SLU moderators and some residents; there may be additional non-binary SLU residents whose identities aren’t fully known or realized, and were not counted accurately as a result.

Senior Meredith Harrison, WoHo moderator, said the SLU community tends to be fairly homogenous as a whole.

“We have a lot of cisgender, heterosexual white people; it’s predominantly female,” she said.

Low male participation – and a new exception

“There are absolutely less men who go through that (SLUsh) process, but I think at the end of the day that is a choice that our male students have to make (between fraternities or SLUs),” said Levi Harrel, residential life coordinator for the SLU community.

The Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between Ohio Wesleyan and the seven residential fraternities currently on campus require all fraternity members to live in their houses, unless they work for Residential Life or the houses are above capacity.

“I can understand why the university wants to fill all the (fraternity) houses, because it’s more efficient that way,” said senior Brian Cook, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC).

“At the same time, I think I can understand why SLUs might be frustrated with that process.”

The MoUs make it rare for active fraternity members to live in SLUs, although there are some ways they can do both at the same time.

The most likely way for active fraternity members to live in a SLU would be if their organization is non-residential ‒ such as Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) or one of the National Pan-Hellenic Council groups, nine traditionally African-American Greek organizations. Currently, no one is using this option, however there will be a member of FIJI in the House of Spiritual Athletes next year.

While FIJI will be a residential fraternity again starting next semester, the chapter will be above occupancy due to increased recruiting in the past. It’s not known yet whether HSA will have a house or if it’s members will be living in other housing, though.

With ten members, HSA’s residents will make up half the male population of next year’s SLU community, but they plan to recruit women in the future.

“We had interest from some women, but there were a lot more guys interested and we didn’t want to have an awkward guy to girl ratio,” said freshman Conner Brown, one of two candidates to be HSA moderator.

“We do plan to offer and integrate women into the SLU in the future but we knew we may not even have a house this next year.”

The second most likely exception is if they are the moderator ‒ equivalent to a resident assistant for dormitory life, thus exempting them from the Greek residency requirement.

There is one actively Greek male moderator, senior Noah Manskar, who’s also the only male moderator this year. To do this, he had to join his SLU, become moderator and then go Greek ‒ then be selected as moderator again to remain in the house.

The structure of this year’s fraternity rush and SLU rush (SLUsh) processes also required potential new fraternity members to make a decision on their bids before receiving SLU interview results, leading several male students to opt out of SLUsh entirely.

Challenges with fraternity recruitment

“I’ve heard of a lot of men who drop out – they do start slushing and then they drop out because they get bids,” said senior Meredith Harrison, moderator of the Women’s House.

The House of Peace and Justice (P&J) was hit particularly hard by this ‒ originally four men signed up for interviews, but three received fraternity bids and withdrew from the SLUsh process to accept them.

“We had one (man), out of 21 people (who applied),” said Manskar, P&J’s moderator.

“I think we have definitely noticed a decrease in the amount of men who have applied to houses this year,” said junior Reilly Reynolds. “I think all the members of the SLUs have.”

Reynolds is moderator of Tree House, which had 17 students apply during this SLUsh season. None of them were men.

“I really don’t think it’s fair to the guys, because they have to make a decision on Greek life before they make a decision about SLU life,” she said.

Sophomore Cindy Hastings, also a Tree House resident, added that the low gender ratios can also deter some non-Greek men from the SLUsh process, as they may not be as comfortable applying and interviewing at an all or mostly-female house.

The Women’s House encounters this in more than most; Harrison said the current name may discourage some men from applying. This year they had two men apply, which she said is “really good for us.”

While it’s rare for men to be involved in SLU and fraternity life simultaneously, students can do both over their four years at Ohio Wesleyan, and several have. In most cases, though, they leave their SLU to go Greek, rather than the other way around.

Senior Kyle Simon is one of those who’ve done both ‒ he lived in the Women’s House (WoHo) his sophomore year before moving into Chi Phi last year.

“It was really, really wonderful,” Simon said about his time in WoHo.

While he enjoyed the experience, he found Greek life offered a different type of community that appealed more; close personal friendships with future fellow members also led him to Chi Phi.

Simon remains active in some SLU programs, and credits his dual experience of SLU and Greek perspectives as being really helpful.

“I think they’re really good options for people, but they’re completely different types of structures,” he said.

“Every SLU and every Greek organization’s so different that it’s not really the same decision (to join one or the other.)”

Harrison said Simon’s done a lot to connect her house and his fraternity after leaving, though the two organizations already had a strong connection.

During Take Back the Night, an annual Women’s House event, members of Chi Phi will guard WoHo in its residents’ absence. This safety measure is due to a 1984 incident where two male students threw a smoke bomb into the house and nearly burned it down.

“I feel like, as far as fraternities go, we’ve always had a really good relationship with Chi Phi,” Harrison said.

Benefits of Greek and SLU overlap

Alpha Sigma Phi also has a former SLU resident, junior Scott Woodward, and current SLU resident Noah Manskar.

Woodward lived in the House of Thought (HoT) last year and moved into Alpha Sig this year after accepting a bid.

“Deciding to slush and live at (HoT) was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in college,” Woodward said.

He decided to rush to learn more about the Greek community, something he hadn’t considered joining before coming to college.

“Leaving House of Thought for Alpha Sig was the definition of bittersweet,” he said, but the commitments of both would have been too much to handle on top of academics and clubs.

Brian Cook, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, is also a member of Alpha Sig and he described the benefits the chapter has received from having SLU members.

“The people that tend to join SLUs, at least in our example, (have) a different way of thinking about things than people who may be prone to join a fraternity so it’s good to have that kind of diversity of thought flowing around,” Cook said.

In particular, he discussed how Manskar has integrated one of his Peace and Justice house projects into Alpha Sig’s OWU chapter community.

Two years ago, Manskar hosted a V-Men workshop for the campus, but had a small turnout of 15 participants.

V-Men is a program created by the V-Day organization, which also created the Vagina Monologues, to bring men together around the issue of violence against women and girls.

After joining Alpha Sig last spring, partly to integrate SLU ideals into the fraternity community, Manskar held the workshop within his new chapter.

“All of our guys loved it and we really appreciate him doing that,” Cook said; the chapter is now making it part of their new member education process.

“At least in our example those guys (Manskar and Woodward) were willing to take the charge on that, because of their experience with holding those kinds of programs in their own SLUs,” he added.

While Meredith Harrison said she hopes for more fraternity-SLU outreach, she sees a lot of positives in the relationship between SLUs and OWU’s sororities.

“For Women’s Week, a lot of sororities support it and I think that is because we have so much Greek representation in our house,” she said.

This year, the Women’s House has had one member from Kappa Alpha Theta, one from Kappa Kappa Gamma and two from Delta Zeta, though one of them withdrew from the university after the fall semester.

“(SLU membership) does impact (the sorority community), but in a natural way because they’re living with different people, so they get to share those things that they’re learning with different people,” said sophomore Jocelyne Muñoz.

“They get to get other perspectives, so (it’s) definitely a positive.”

Muñoz is community development director of OWU’s Panhellenic Council, the sorority equivalent of IFC, and a member of Delta Gamma.

Strong bonds between SLUs and sororities

Rowan Hannan (left) and Meredith Harrison celebrate after winning a tug of war match at Delta Zeta's fall philanthropy event, while fellow Women's House residents clap in the background. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey. — Rowan Hannan (left) and Meredith Harrison celebrate after winning a tug of war match at Delta Zeta’s fall philanthropy event, while fellow Women’s House residents clap in the background. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Unlike fraternity members, sorority members cannot live in their houses at Ohio Wesleyan, and so a sizeable percentage of the female SLU community are also sorority members.

Of the six female SLU moderators this year, for example, four are in sororities.

“(SLU life) encourages more active members in the OWU community,” said junior Natalie Geer, president of OWU’s Panhellenic Council.

Muñoz added that living in the same SLU “absolutely” connects members of different sororities, and that the presence of sorority members in SLUs “definitely” brings their non-SLU members to events.

“There is (an) impact from having your sisters in (SLUs) so more of those sisters will attend those events because they’re involved,” she said. “But I don’t think it should stop others from attending those events, just because they’re getting that (sorority) support anyways.”

At the Citizens of the World (COW) House around half the female residents are in sororities but this doesn’t have a significant impact on the House culture, according to moderator Kerrigan Boyd.

“I think that people who are involved in SLUs and Greek life a lot of times are leaders and people that really strive to be deeply involved in the OWU community,” said Boyd, also a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

“…I think that having people who are leaders in multiple settings, not just SLUs, doesn’t isolate us; I think that that’s been a strength.”

“I think my experience with all the Greek women I’ve lived with is they are fully part of both,” said Noah Manskar, Peace & Justice House moderator.

“They hold officer positions in the sororities and they put on great house projects here. I think it’s good that the SLUs are kind of integrated with the sororities…(they) seem to mesh very well.”

In P&J there’s an even split this year: six affiliated women, six unaffiliated women, and five men. Among the sorority women of P&J, there is one Kappa, two Tri-Deltas and three Kappa Alpha Thetas.

Kappa Alpha Theta has the highest number of sorority SLU residents, with eleven.

A safe space for other gender minorities

Each year, SLUs must go through a renewal process; this year the Women’s House requested to change their name to the Sexual and Gender Equality (SAGE) House after lengthy discussion among current and potential new members.

The change was part of a deliberate strategy by moderator Meredith Harrison to make the house more queer-inclusive. Queer, used as a positive term by Harrison, refers to non-heterosexual sexual and romantic orientations and non-binary gender identities.

“This year, we started having conversations about the house name and how it could be really alienating to our non-binary housemates or trans men on this campus,” she said. “…I’m really proud of my community for wanting to become more inclusive.”

Hannan, who joined the house at the start of this year, said they’ve been able to better understand their gender identity because of their time in the house and the supportive environment it’s residents provide.

“Because we continually work to create a safe space, it has allowed me to explore my gender as well as the way I perceive others,” Hannan said.

“I often forget that when leaving the SLU bubble that people will not ask for my pronouns, will assume my gender based on the way I present, and will often not acknowledge the existence of non-binary genders.”

While they could only speak from their own experience, Hannan said they thought the SLU community can be more comfortable than Greek life for non-binary students.

“Fraternities and sororities literally represent the gender binary,” they said. “…However there are trans and non-binary people who are happy in fraternities, and I think it isn’t something to necessarily be generalized.”

The number of non-binary SLU residents for next year will increase from at least three to at least five, and not all of them will live in the SAGE House.

“I have only experienced one slush with the house so I can’t speak to a trend, but there were several non-binary applicants this year, and I know there have been in the past,” Hannan said.

“I wouldn’t say there is more, but I feel that PRIDE and SAGE have both done very well this year in creating an atmosphere of acceptance and safety, and allowed people to explore and come out in their identities.”

Harrison added that the house’s name change reflects a growing trend in the feminist movements that SAGE reflects.

“Women are not the only gender minorities – the trans community, non binary people, you can’t ignore that and you can’t ignore that in feminism, you can’t ignore that in the queer movement,” she said. “So I think changing the name and the mission statement is absolutely necessary for how gender politics are going.”

Hannan said they want to create more safe spaces for non-binary students, but also “brave spaces” where students can “challenge what people say and try to educate others and create a genuine dialogue.”

“The best way to be an ally to people of other identities is to listen, and to use your privileges to challenge ignorance, and empower others,” they said.

Too much hot air

By: TC Brown

By many measures, this winter has been a pain in areas where the sun rarely reaches.

Dreadful weather is bad enough on its own, but it can also be a real boon for the radical element that deny the existence of climate change.

The cold, snow and ice morph into a convenient prop for these folks and their head-in-the-sand outlook that says changes in climate are not fueled by the world’s booming population and the ever increasing numbers of people driving fuel-burning vehicles.

Forget that in 2013 a United Nations panel, which includes thousands of scientists from around the world, said it is a 95 percent certainty that humans are the “dominant cause” behind the monumental changes to our climate.

They’re not alone. NASA, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Department of Defense, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society agree, as noted recently in The Columbus Dispatch.

Scientists seem unequivocal in their reasoning, so who’s to argue?

Send in the clowns.

At the end of February, Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican and well-known denier, packed snow into a large ball and lugged it into the Senate chambers. “Do you know what this is? It’s a snowball,” Inhofe said.

Not getting anything past this Congress.

Inhofe explained he had made the snowball outside and that it was very cold, “very unseasonable.” Really? Snow in February, who knew.

There’s more. Earlier this month employees of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection revealed that they are forbidden to use phrases like “global warming” and “climate change” in official communications.

Soon after that news broke a former staffer from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said they had been “explicitly ordered” to remove all references to climate change from the organization’s website.

And the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources also deleted links and documents related to climate change from its website. Not to be outdone, 39 Republican U.S. senators opposed an amendment that blamed human activity for climate shifts.

Playing politics with this somber and factual meteorological phenomena is a very dangerous game. Last year, that same U.N. panel of global scientists issued a report that said greenhouse gas emissions are the highest in history. The gasses come from a variety of sources, especially from the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transportation, and can trap and hold heat in the atmosphere. Globally, the ten hottest years on record have occurred since 1998.

In 2008, I spent six months helping climate change scientists develop multimedia content for their website. Frankly, I was startled by what I learned and that was seven years ago.

Glaciers and ice packs in mountain regions are in full retreat. Melting ice is expected to contribute to a continuing rise in sea levels, threatening many costal cities and potentially displacing millions. Global sea levels rose a little more than 6 ½ inches in the last century and the rate in the last decade is nearly double that, according to NASA. Small Pacific islands are sinking.

The changing climate is likely to fuel more violent and costly storms, create regional droughts and threaten the natural habitat of animal and plant life. The Nature Conservancy predicts that if the changes continue to occur rapidly, one-fourth of Earth’s species could be headed toward extinction by 2050.

Superstorm Sandy, which plowed into New Jersey in 2012, cost at least $65 billion in damages, making it the second most costly storm since Katrina wiped out the New Orleans region, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sobering stuff, but that’s simply a big-picture scan of the potential danger and damage. Deeper evidence abounds should one look, and I strongly urge the students on this campus to get engaged.

The deniers like to claim that this is all a liberal media hoax and that little if any proof exists. Guess what drives that view? Money.

It will cost many industries real cash to clean up and reduce carbon emissions and many of those organizations and their political allies have said, “No thanks, not enough proof.”

Helen Keller, the deaf and blind author, political activist and lecturer once said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but not vision.”

The scientific jury is still out on whether it is too late for us to do anything to reverse these processes. It’s clear we all need to at least try. But this country, in fact the entire planet, needs vision regarding climate change and how we as a human race might diminish these looming dangers. Politically motivated denial simply digs a deeper hole for everyone.

I’ve heard the denier’s arguments that the changes now underway have occurred on the Earth before. Certainly true, but the planet was not home to 7 billion people at the time. That’s where the dangers lie.

It’s going to take personal and even global energy to try to turn the direction in which we are headed. It’s a vital calling, if for nothing else, one simple fact – the wellbeing of future generations. It’s time to stop the political gamesmanship and act.

If we don’t, the kids will pay the real price.

TC Brown is an adjunct instructor of journalism at Ohio Wesleyan, an author, and a journalist of 25 years. His work has been featured in many publications, including The New York Times and Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer.

Part-time faculty losing jobs due to low enrollment

Part-time faculty positions are being cut across many disciplines, but some departments are facing greater challenges than others.

Provost Chuck Stinemetz said departments request part-time faculty each year, and 88 percent of requests for next year were granted. Reductions were made in 12 of the 26 programs and departments that applied for part-time staff.

Stinemetz said the decisions regarding what and how much to cut were based off enrollment in courses and overall institutional enrollments in different areas. Maintaining existing majors was a priority.

“There was no effort to try to make them (the cuts) equal between the divisions,” Stinemetz said.

He said the cuts will save about $200,000 next year, but there had not been a target amount of money to be saved.

In the past, classes have been cut because not enough students registered. To avoid this, Stinemetz said he and his colleagues tried to be “conservative” in deciding how much to cut.

He said if there is a large freshman class next year, sections of classes may be re-added.

Stinemetz said part-time positions are based on need and the professors in the positions being cut do not have to accept the reduced units they are being offered.

There are many parts of OWU’s budget that need to be considered when making cuts, he said.

“For instance, we could reduce financial aid, but then we got a different issue,” Stinemetz said. “…We’d all love to have more money and not have to go through this exercise, but that’s not the situation we’re in right now.”

Some of the departments losing the most in these cuts are the languages, classics, religion and black world studies departments.

Lee Fratantuono, director of classics and the only full-time classics professor, said the classics major is “okay for another year” because of Stinemetz.

Greek was almost reduced to being offered every other year, but that possibility was decided against.

“It was the first time in my ten years it was called into question,” Fratantuono said. “The price is that we will not be able to offer two electives that we would normally offer, unless there’s a larger incoming class.”

Fratantuono said enrollment in classics has gone up “appreciably” in the past ten years, and Greek and Latin are subjects of the oldest department at OWU.

He said one effect of the part-time faculty positions changing so much is a lack of continuity for students.

“We have students now who have literally had a different professor every year because we’ve had three people cycle through,” Fratantuono said.

David Eastman, assistant professor of religion, said the religion department requested three part-time teaching positions, but all were denied.

Because of the cuts, the department will no longer be able to offer courses in Judaism or the Hebrew bible, even though the latter is an introductory course OWU was founded on, said Eastman.

Fewer introductory courses hurts enrollment in upper division courses, he said.

“I’ve been told that one student would like to major in religion, but because of this person’s schedule, can’t get enough upper division classes,” Eastman said. “So that’s our loss.”

Randolph Quaye, the only full-time professor in the BWS department, said about 60 percent of the department’s courses are taught by part-time faculty.

“I think these cuts are a crisis that we have to deal with and I hope and I pray that whatever the final decision is, it will take into account the academic programs and the staffing positions,” Quaye said.

Recent Black World Studies cuts jeopardize department

Director of the Black World Studies program (BWS), Randolph Quaye was recently notified that his request for nine units of classes was denied.

For this coming 2015-2016 academic school year, the BWS department will only have three units of classes each semester.

According to Quaye, “these recent cuts are due to the financial difficulties the university is currently experiencing.”

Quaye is the currently the only full time professor in the BWS department.

Although the cuts have been announced, Quaye is currently negotiating with the university and attempting to raise the amount of credits granted to the department.

“I am having a series of meetings with the board to retain programs. I will also be asking, at the minimum to keep Ali Skandor [a part-time faculty member] as a faculty member for the black world studies program.”

“Because of these cuts, we can be sure that Swahili 225 will not be offered,” for the next academic year, said Quaye.

“As someone who is currently in Swahili, I am extremely upset that I will not be able to continue in my language of choice,” said sophomore Cece Albon. “Swahili should be valued with the same importance that other languages at this school are.”

As for the completion of the program for current majors and minors, “it is hard to know how exactly they will be affected because a final decision has not been made yet. However, some classes are contingent on the incoming freshman class,” said Quaye.

Every student at Ohio Wesleyan is required to take at least two semesters of a language. Swahili is able to be counted towards these mandatory credits.

“His Swahili classes taught me more than just the language. It made me immediately want to broaden my intellectual horizons as well as my experience here at OWU,” Albon said.

The cuts also call into question the OWU in Tanzania program.

“If the university makes the planned cuts, it will be hard to keep the program successful when many classes will not be offered. Although, as of right now, about 17 students have shown interest partaking in the program and traveling in Africa,” said Quaye.

Albon mentioned that she would love to go to the OWU in Tanzania Program but didn’t have room in her schedule.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to experience something that a lot of students don’t get the chance,” she said.

Junior Kelli Kiffer said, “I understand the university is having financial difficulty, although maybe they could cut from a department that is more established and not trying to gain grounding in their field of study.” Kiffer is a BWS major.

“One of the reasons the black world studies program exists is to study and protect the African American culture,” Kiffer said. “If this program gets cut, there is a good chance these ideas will be suppressed.”

Kiffer also explained how she believes the BWS department can at times be underappreciated. Kiffer accompanied Quaye on the semester abroad to Africa through the OWU in Tanzania program.

OWU students share their Tanzanian research

Eight Ohio Wesleyan students traveled to Tanzania this fall to complete professional research on a variety of topics

Throughout their time in Africa, each student conducted research that would be presented to a panel of nurses, doctors and other African medical professionals. This research was then presented by the students on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Benes Rooms of the Hamilton Williams Campus Center.

Some of the topics covered were the Tanzania Youth Alliance’s fight against HIV/AIDS, breast and cervical cancer and the link between violent conflict and AIDS in Saharan Africa.

Junior Kelli Kiffer presented her research, entitled “The Truth Behind the Bite – An Analysis and Look into Tanzanians’ Perceptions of Malaria.” Kiffer gathered information on the impact of malaria and the awareness of malaria in Africa.

Kiffer said “about 90 percent of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa are due to malaria.” Kiffer compiled quantitative data to reach this statistic.

Junior Addy Dyrek conducted a research project entitled “Why Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are More Vulnerable to Contracting HIV: Taking a Look at the Biological, Social, Economical and Cultural Practices That Affect Women’s Health.”

Dyrek described her experience in Tanzania as “eye-opening. It was incredible to see the dynamic between men and women marriages in Africa.”

Junior MaryKate Caja worked on a project she called “Communication Barriers Between Parents and Adolescents in Tanzanian Society.”

According to Caja, her “research looked into the dynamic between parents and children on topics such as sex education.”

Accompanying the students on the semester-long trip was Randolph Quaye, director of OWU’s black world studies program.

Women’s House now SAGE

Ohio Wesleyan University is saying goodbye to the Women’s House as it has come to be known; instead the Small Living Unit (SLU) will go by its new name: Sexuality and Gender Equality House (SAGE).

SAGE house moderator, senior Meredith Harrison, said the house has been contemplating a name change since fall semester.

“There’s always been the stereotype that only cisgender women live in the house because of the house name,” Harrison said. “Even if our programming and mission statement represent the people our house is a resource for, the name was really alienating to people of other gender identities.”

During fall semester, three gender nonconforming members moved into what was then the Women’s House. There has been gender nonconforming and male members in the past.

Harrison went to Residential Life Coordinator Levi Harrel to figure out how the name changing process was completed. The name change was done while filling out the application for the SLU renewal process.

“You just have to change the house name there and then explain why you’re changing it,” Harrison said.

The name of the SLU isn’t the only thing to have changed.

“This year the mission statement did change a little bit,” Harrison said. “We just took out ‘women’ and we changed it to all genders and marginalized sexual and romantic orientations.”

Harrison went on to say that the programming has reflected the change in the mission statement.

“I’m fully supportive of it; it’s just nice to not have the question anymore of do only women live here, because we get that a lot,” said sophomore Rowan Hannan. “As someone who is not a woman and is living in the Women’s House it was kind of hurtful to hear that all the time.”

They continued by saying it would be hard to measure how long it would take for the new name to register throughout OWU.

“It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the campus community to catch on,” Harrison said. “There is so much that goes into it that you don’t think about.”

Harrison used the example of a recent tour of prospective students where the guide called it the Women’s House.

SAGE is still in the process of informing other houses and their moderators about the name change. In addition they plan on talking to admissions and changing the sign on the house. All of this Harrison hopes will help get the word out.

Bishop Bash bringing Bell

After months of speculation and wild rumors, Ohio Wesleyan’s Campus Programming Board (CPB) announced its mystery guest for this year’s Bishop Bash: Drake Bell.

Bell, known for his role in the Nickelodeon television show “Drake and Josh,” also has musical talent. Sophomore Maddie Oslejsek, the director of entertainment for CPB, said Bell was one of the board’s top choices due to his name recognition.

Bell will be joined by Liberty Deep Down, a band from Powell, Ohio whose members met at Liberty High School. Levi Harrel, a residential life coordinator and one of CPB’s advisers, said the band has a large local following and reflect a “boy-band style.”

Freshman Elle Benak, a co-president of CPB said, “[Bell] is well-known by our generation for his work on ‘Drake and Josh’ and we knew that would draw many people to the concert. We focused on finding a name that everyone would recognize and believed that his name would do that.”

Bishop Bash will be a new addition to OWU’s entertainment roster. Previously, CPB planned events such as Spring Fest, which was not as successful as the board had hoped. Junior Nathan LaFrombois, the other co-president, said through marketing research and surveying OWU students, CPB decided it would be beneficial to revitalize a concert series, and that required a name change.

“When talking to students on campus there was great desire for a concert,” Benak said. “And even among CPB members, everyone wanted to put on a large-scale concert with an artist.”

Liberty Deep Down. Photo courtesy of Liberty Deep Down's management. — Liberty Deep Down. Photo courtesy of Liberty Deep Down’s management.

Oslejsek said CPB made a large list of possible artists and narrowed them by availability and price. CPB used a company called Concert Ideas to negotiate the act’s appearance and price.

After attending a concert management lecture last summer to learn how to put a concert together, LaFrombois said CPB had the ability to revitalize concerts and make them better than in the past.

The budget, which was provided by Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA), was $50,000. Bell will cost CPB about $20,000. LaFrombois said the rest of the money goes toward hospitality, technology required for the concert, housekeeping, security and any “hidden costs.”

“Once you know the performer, everything else falls into place,” Oslejsek said.

Harrel said CPB plans on continuing Bishop Bash, but will rotate yearly between singers and comedians. He said future Bishop Bashes are contingent on WCSA funding.

Bishop Bash logo courtesy of OWU’s communications office.

Nancy Rutkowski, assistant director of student involvement for leadership and CPB’s adviser, said funding for next year’s Bishop Bash will be submitted in the fall before the spring budget deadline.

“Believe it or not…$50,000 really covers a small concert so if we wanted to do a bigger name someday, it would take more than that,” Rutkowski said.

The concert will take place on March 28 in the Gordon Field House of the Branch Rickey Arena. Doors open at 7 pm and parking is free. Advance tickets can be purchased at owutickets.com by OWU students, staff and faculty for $10 and the general public for $20. All tickets are $25 at the door.

One hundred OWU students will be able to purchase VIP tickets for $15. Students with these tickets get early admission through a special entrance, a Bishop Bash t-shirt and a VIP lanyard.

Empty bleachers despite success

Update:

The Ohio Wesleyan men’s basketball team received one of the 19 at-large bids to the NCAA tournament Monday.

The team will face St. Olaf in the first round on Friday in Whitewater, Wisconsin. If victorious, a matchup with the defending champions, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, is likely for Saturday.

Last week the Duke University vs. Syracuse University game recorded the largest on-campus crowd in college basketball history at 35,446.

The Ohio Wesleyan men’s basketball team has a 20-4 record and captured the NCAC crown after being picked to finish fourth in the pre-season poll. The team is ready to host the conference tournament at Branch Rickey Arena.

But sometimes home court advantage doesn’t mean a packed house of yelling and screaming fans. OWU has averaged just over 600 people in attendance this season at their games, not quite 35,446.

Students are involved in all aspects of the OWU campus, and with classwork on top of it, they often don’t make it to sporting events, despite free admission and conference championships.

“The students here have so much going on,” Athletic Director Roger Ingles said. “Wednesday nights are tough. Just the other night we had a speaker with about 200 people at it. Students have classes and a lot of responsibilities on weekdays.”

The student section in Branch Rickey Arena has the potential to make OWU’s court a very difficult place for opponents to play, and has in some cases.

“Some of the bigger games against Wooster or Wittenberg, we can put about 100 students in there and it doesn’t look like a lot, but it’s about 5 percent of the student body,” Ingles said. “That same 5 percent at Ohio State University is 3,000 people.”

He’s right. OSU’s enrollment is 57,466 and 5 percent is about 2,800. OWU’s enrollment is 1,850 and 5 percent is about 90.

It’s not just students that are busy. Some faculty members are consistently seen at sporting events throughout the year, but it is very rare to see a large number in attendance.

“Faculty have so much going on too, especially the ones that don’t live right in town. It’s hard for them to go home and then go through traffic to try to get back for the games,” Ingles said.

The men's basketball team plays below mostly empty bleachers. Photo courtesy of Alex Gross. — The men’s basketball team plays below mostly empty bleachers. Photo courtesy of Alex Gross.

The Student Homecoming Organization (SHO) is in charge of promoting the games to the OWU community. They have created “Red Alert” games, which are usually reserved for rivalries, to attract more people.

“For every sport team we host a red alert game that we promote on social media and with flyers,” SHO Vice President Brittany Spicer said. “We also try to either have a tailgate or theme for at least a few games each year to try to bring out the community and get them more involved.”

With crucial games approaching, the team is getting ready to make a deep run into post-season play. They certainly have the potential based on their record and success this season. Large crowds and support among the OWU community would make this tournament journey that much more successful.

“We have worked really hard to put ourselves in this moment,” junior forward Joey Kinsley said. “We feed off the energy of our students and to pack Branch Rickey would be special.”

Getting loud at the library

Librarian Jillian Maruskin opens the show. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Ohio Wesleyan public services librarian Jillian Maruskin first began planning “Live at the Library” at the start of last semester, and it was finally held Feb. 19 in the Bayley Room.

She received assistance from library social media intern Kyle Hendershot, a senior, and fellow librarian Ben Daigle; performing groups included the JayWalkers, Babbling Bishops and Pitch Black.

“We really wanted to figure out a way to use the library’s spaces that they have, so we figured this (the Bayley Room) was kind of an under-utilized space,” Hendershot said.

They set the event up between the Grammys and Oscars, and it too had a red carpet atmosphere, with Hendershot serving mocktails and senior Caleb Dorfman taking photos.

“We really want attendees to dress up and feel kind of fancy and special,” Maruskin said before the event. “The red carpet and paparazzi will hopefully make attendees and performers feel like movie stars, at least for a little while.”

By the start of performances, the seats were all filled, with more attendees standing in the back.

“I think the attendance surpassed what we thought it would be, we had a lot of fun,” Maruskin said. “I think on this campus, performing groups support other performing groups and that helps a lot. I was really happy with the (Babbling) Bishops; that was so fun – I’ve never seen them before.”

The Babbling Bishops, a campus improv group, brought out a few new routines they had developed. One, “Story Story Die,” had direct audience participation for the first time.

In the skit, participants have to take turns telling a story; anyone who can’t keep up has to act out a death scene of the audience’s choosing.

Sophomore Dane Poppe of the Babbling Bishops explains "Story Story Die" while sophomore Jenna Chambers and senior Rhiannon Herbert listen from the center aisle. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey. — Sophomore Dane Poppe of the Babbling Bishops explains “Story Story Die.” Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Junior Spencer Dick was selected to take part with the Babblers, and together they told a story of Taylor Swift’s fight against unicyclists, Martians and ex-boyfriends.

“I thought it would be fun, I love doing skits and stuff,” Dick said; he has similar experience as a summer camp leader.

Junior Dane Poppe, who led the “Story Story Die” skit, said they’d been planning to get audience members involved in short-form games like that.

“It gets more people to come back,” he said.

“I’d heard about the Babbling Bishops before, I didn’t really know what they did but I knew they were kind of an improv group,” said sophomore Jenna Chambers, an audience member.

“It was fun seeing their different games, and everyone got really into it.”

Senior Christian Gehrke of the JayWalkers solos on "Last Kiss." Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey. — Senior Christian Gehrke of the JayWalkers solos on “Last Kiss.” Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Chambers and several other members of Delta Zeta came to watch some of their fellow members in the Babbling Bishops and Pitch Black. Senior Rhiannon Herbert was one of them, seated next to Chambers, but they didn’t know in advance about the formal, red carpet aspect.

“If I knew we would have (the red carpet), I would have dressed up,” Herbert said.

The improv act was bookended by a cappella performances, with the JayWalkers leading off the event with seven songs and Pitch Black finishing with a rendition of their recent competition set.

The JayWalkers performed a series of songs – some, like All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell” and Fergie’s “Clumsy,” for the first time.

Senior Audrey Bell leads Pitch Black's performance of a boy band mashup. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey. — Senior Audrey Bell leads Pitch Black’s performance of a boy band mashup. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

“Of the stuff we knew, we tried to get an even mix of fun, fast (and) slow songs,” said their president Gabe Incarnato, a senior.

While Pitch Black performed the same songs from ICCA, they added snapping to their second song “Run To You” and cut out the choreography, due to the smaller performance space.

“We had a week off after ICCA so we haven’t much rehearsals yet, obviously that’s fresh in our minds,” said senior president Grace Thompson. “We like supporting the library and Jillian’s one of our biggest fans, so of course we were willing to do it.”

Gender-inclusive housing in 2016?

Ohio Wesleyan’s lack of gender-inclusive housing may prevent some students from living with who they are comfortable with, and Residential Life (ResLife) has plans to change this.

Gender-inclusive housing means students of all gender identities can live together in the same room or suite.

According to a document written by interns at the Spectrum Resource Center, “gender-inclusive housing provides students maximal choice in determining and taking responsibility for their own living arrangements.”

One of the students impacted by OWU’s non-inclusive housing is freshman Ryan Bishop, a student from Bulgaria who identifies as transgender.

Bishop said he was initially assigned female roommates because he is documented as a female, but was then offered a single room.

“Basically I was told that they (ResLife) can’t put me with male students because gender-inclusive housing is not a thing here,” Bishop said. “But a single room is what they can offer me.”

He said he thought the administration would approve his desired placement if he changed his gender on his documentation, but it would be “problematic” if his parents found out.

Bishop recently accepted a bid to the Chi Phi fraternity, but is not allowed to live in the Chi Phi house because it is all-male housing.

Senior Kyle Simon, a member of Chi Phi and an intern in the Spectrum Resource Center, said for Chi Phi to be able to extend Bishop a bid, the fraternity brothers had to call their national headquarters. Then, he said they talked to Dana Behum, assistant director of student involvement for fraternity and sorority life, who was “extremely supportive.”

Bishop said living at Chi Phi would be great, though he is a private person and would prefer having a single.

He said he had not intended to join a fraternity at first, but chose to accept his bid to Chi Phi because he knew the brothers would provide the kind of support he never had.

Simon said even with the current plan for gender-inclusive housing, Bishop may not be allowed to live at the Chi Phi house because the plan focuses on internal bathrooms where men and women are already housed.

“If we at Ohio Wesleyan are talking about how diverse we are and how great of a supportive community we are, and our policies don’t support transgender students, then how supportive are we really?” Simon said. “And currently, our Residential Life staff does very, very little to accommodate transgender students.”

Chad Johns is an associate chaplain and adviser to Chi Phi, and said he has heard OWU loses prospective students because of the lack of gender-inclusive housing.

“I think gender is one of the things we get overly concerned about a lot of times in religion,” Johns said. “I think this is a campus where people stay with their friends in different contexts, and letting that be an official living situation isn’t anything to worry about as long as everyone who’s involved wants to be in that living situation.”

Meredith Dixon, assistant director of residential life, said the Spectrum Resource Center, Women’s Resource Center and SAGE House are working together on a proposal for gender-inclusive housing that the ResLife office will consider.

She said her office has been working on bringing gender-inclusive housing to OWU for over a year and hopes to implement it by the fall of 2016.

“We’re not quite on the cutting edge, but we’re also not far behind,” Dixon said.

Converting residential facilities to be gender inclusive would not be expensive or involve many changes, she said.

“We’re actually pretty lucky because most of our facilities have suite-style rooms and bathrooms, so we don’t have to do a lot,” Dixon said.

She said Bashford and Thomson Halls would likely remain single gender by floor. The other residence halls would have gender inclusive suites, and students could choose to opt in or not.

Dixon said educating people about gender-inclusive housing would be an important task and she was curious to see how the change is received, especially by alumni, parents and older members of the community.

“Gender-inclusive housing is something that really only pertains to a small number of students, but I think for that small number of students it’s really important to their daily life and their level of comfort here,” Dixon said.