Tag: #opinion

Food pantries: Take what you want, leave what you don’t

By Tom Wolber, Contributing Writer

At least 12 colleges and universities across Ohio operate free food pantries, ac- cording to the latest “Hunger on Campus” report by the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies (OACAA).

The organization, which releases reports on poverty every year, estimates the poverty rate in Ohio to be 14.8 percent (or about 1.6 million people) in 2015.

Food insecurity is also common among many higher-education students, which is why numerous college campuses in the U.S. run their own food pantries. The College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA) has 400 members.

Many pantries have been in existence since the Great Recession of 2008/09, others have opened recently.

OSU started one a year ago, which serves 110 people every month, according to a Columbus Dispatch article that appeared on March 24. Nearby Otterbein University recently started one. Wright State’s pantry began in 2011 and serves anywhere from 10 to 50 students a week.

The Owens Community College in the Toledo area not only serves students but also staff members. Janitors earn low wages and part-time instructors do not receive any benefits, so money is tight for many of them as well.

Other Ohio campuses with food pantries include Akron University, the University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State, Kent State, the University of Toledo, Wright State and Xavier University.

Ohio Wesleyan, too, has a small food pantry.

The “Chaplain’s Free Food Bank,” as it is called, is located on the third oor of the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. A sign reads, “Take what you want, leave what you can.”

At a recent visit, there were only a handful of nonperishable items sitting on the shelves – several cans with beans and tuna and some packages with edamame and quinoa.

Depending on the season, there may also be fresh produce from someone’s garden. There is no attempt to advertise the pantry and no budget to keep it well-stocked. At times, it is completely empty. If it were better known, perhaps more students, faculty and staff would drop off items they don’t need or want for those who don’t have enough.

Hopefully this little article encourages the campus community to invest a bit more time and effort into the pantry. Especially during the summer months when the campus cafeterias are closed, there are students who would benefit from having access to a food bank that reliably supplements their food intake.

At Wright State, individuals and businesses donate about 1,000 pounds of food (as well as hygiene products) every month. There is no reason why OWU couldn’t create a dedicated room at a central location and open it up at a few convenient times each week.

The Chaplain’s Office is to be commended for having shown compassion and having maintained its food bank for years, but perhaps the time has come to raise its pro le and to elevate it to somewhat higher, institutional level, as other colleges and universities have done.

An attractive and well-stocked food pantry could even serve as a recruitment tool to be shown to prospective students and their parents when they visit the campus. It would send the message that the university stands ready to take care of each and every one of its members when they nd themselves in need.

Low-and-moderate-income people are sometimes blamed for making “bad choices” or for not demonstrating enough “personal responsibility.” Not so.

The prevailing Ohio minimum wage of $8.15 an hour is not a living wage. Students, in particular, have limited opportunity to work and make money.

The average student graduates with a debt of more than $30,000 these days. The funds they do have are spent on necessities such as textbooks or medication.

Cheap clothing can be found at thrift stores, but cheap or free food is harder to come by. Many middle-class families are one medical emergency, one car crash, or one paycheck away from food insecurity, forfeiture, and bankruptcy.

Poverty is all around us, even in the sub- urbs. “The age of poverty” is ascendant, and income inequality is getting steadily worse. The Trump administration is adamant about slashing Pell Grant funding by $3.9 billion in 2018 and by $65 billion over the next 10 years. Students should not be shy and hesitant about taking advantage of opportunities to supplement their meager income with free items such as food or clothing if they can nd them. If anyone should be ashamed, it is the politicians who are ddling in Washington while America is burning.

Warning: Virtual reality induces nausea

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

So, this spring break I experienced a whole new world.

No, I’m not talking about some lifechanging, spiritual journey to the beaches of Miami. Rather, Google sent me its new “Virtual Reality” headset for free as compensation for sending my phone three months later than than they had promised.

Before this, I’d heard bits and pieces of virtual reality before I had actually experienced it.

I saw hilarious videos of people tiptoeing across their living room floor or screaming because they were watching themselves 500 feet in the air on a tight-rope.

Yet, I was never intrigued enough to put forth the effort to actually become part of this alternative reality. Honestly, had the Google gods not sent me this headset, it’s likely I would never have experienced such a new level of video gaming.

But why not give it a shot, right?

The headset came neatly packaged with a tiny remote control. Just to get it working I needed to connect everything via Bluetooth. Once I strapped in my phone to the headset, I put it on my head and got ready to see a whole new world.

All I could see was my screen. There were some artificial forest graphics resembling a menu with options about where to go.

As I turned my head, the forest grew as a river appeared and birds chirped in the background. I used the remote to choose the “King Kong experience” — a five minute YouTube video promoting the new movie. I thought I would just watch a trailer in super high-definition.

Instead, the headset put me in a helicopter. The windows revealed the lush, green rainforest; the pilot was calm and collected.

In the back of my ear, a blood-curdling roar loomed closer. The pilot started to shake the helicopter, trees falling to large footsteps. The frame tilted drastically downward, and as I looked to my left I stared into the green, bright eyes of a gargantuan, angry gorilla.

The pilot fainted; I didn’t know how to fly! My heartbeat quickened, stomach churning, my face turning green as King Kong started shaking the helicopter up and down. His eyebrows furrowed, then he lunged his arm back, getting ready to pitch the helicopter directly into the volcano.

As my head bobbed up and down, contemplating my chances of survival, I realized I could escape.

Right before I plunged to my death, I threw the headset onto my lap, trying to control my breathing as I realized I was just in my living room, and no gorilla was out to get me. I did feel like throwing up, though.

Overall, the experience was very intense, and if you get the chance, you should definitely try it out.

Just remember to read the warning label, take off the headset if you get dizzy and that, contrary to the real world, you can escape virtual reality with just a push of the button.

Spring Break: Which side are you on?

By Evan Walsh, Chief Copy Editor and Sara Hollabaugh, Online Editor

By Evan Walsh

I can’t imagine there are too many bad ways to spend spring break. And I’ve got to admit Sara’s Spring break plans are wor-
thy of envy. But there will always be those college students among us that simply cannot get/take a break from reality. Even if the university tells you to get lost March 11 and 19.

I have been part of that Delaware Spring Break crowd for four years now, and although it’s not the most desirable option, it may be the most necessary. Spring break at OWU is carte blanche for study time. In the environs of a student-less Ohio Wesleyan I am completely distraction free.

Ahhh.

Does it bug me that I will never experience the joys of Panama City Beach? For many, it is the quintessential college experience. A true rite of passage for any undergrad. Replete with fellow co-eds enjoying the same hedonistic pleasures that our society is so fond of it would make sense that it would.

But it really doesn’t … Is something wrong with me?

I’d like to think there isn’t. I’d like to think I’m just lazy.

Organizing a Spring break trip is exhaustive and requires leadership. No thanks.

If I don’t even have enough time during the Ohio Wesleyan school week to get my work done, how the hell can you expect me to find time to waste to make plans to get wasted?

Even if I did, I can’t afford these excursions. No matter how cheap and seemingly affordable. You see, college is that special time where many young men and women are introduced to the practice of budgeting.

[This is more of a concept than an actual practice for me.] So, come late February I’m about as financially soluble as the country of Greece.

Should I ever come into possession of the requisite funds I would like to take a trip. Greece sounds pretty nice and I’ve even heard we’re financially alike.

Lastly, Spring Break destinations scare me. They seem like the perfect place for everything to go wrong- it’s “Murphy’s Law” in a bathing suit. There’s a reason no one tells their parents about their plans for Spring Break.

So if you’re sticking around for the break, don’t feel bad. Spring break isn’t for everyone.

 

By Sara Hollabaugh

 

I remember watching every reality show of the early to mid 2000s and how, when it came time for spring break, the phrase constantly repeated was “it’s spring break b**ches!”

I grew up with television, movies and advertisements campaigning the best and biggest parties of the year happening over spring break with alcohol, women in bikinis and endless fun on the beaches of Florida, Mexico and other exotic places in the Caribbean.

I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t think they looked totally fun and that I wanted to go on a quintessential spring break trip when I was younger.

However, I knew deep down I was never going to be that girl.

To be honest, I wasn’t cheeky enough in high school, and I’m really not now, either. But no matter the type of spring break I partake in, that week in mid-march is hands down one of my favorite weeks every single year.

Why? Because I grew up going to those beaches of exotic places in the Caribbean such as Dominican Republic, Aruba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

Let me stop you right there before your brain skips to the thought of how ridiculous that sounds. Trust me, I know.

But I was lucky enough to go on extremely amazing vacations growing up. I zip lined, climbed high ropes courses, and rode horses on the beach, all while experiencing different cultures from the local people of each place.

I not only did really fun activities, but met other kids from all over the world. I made friends from Canada, France and and different parts of the United States that I had not yet been to.

When I stayed at a resort in a foreign place, I felt like I was in my own little world and on an adventure.

While we did spend hours on the beaches, my mom never let me get away with doing nothing all day. I was encouraged to go to the kids club, urged to make new friends, pressed to try new things.

And that’s one of the most rewarding parts about my spring break experiences. I never did the drunken trip with wild concerts. I never danced in a crowd at a spring break concert with profanities shouted every second.

I didn’t do those insanely crazy things, but I turned that sense of recklessness into a sense of adventure. And I think that’s what makes spring break such an enjoyable time.

So no, you won’t find me drunk on a beach surround by thousands of people yelling “spring break b**ches,” but you will probably find me making the most of my 7 day break.

The benefits of diversity in academia

By Dr. Thomas Wolber, Modern Foreign Languages professor

Some people hold the view that diversity is incompatible with and antithetical to excellence. A woman can never be an effective president, they might say. The same people may believe that a black student can never become a top-notch STEM scientist or that a Hispanic-born “dreamer” become a loyal American citizen. They are mistaken. Diversity is not just about being fair, nice, or politically correct.

Let’s imagine, for a minute, that Hollywood makes movies only for, by, and of straight white men. Obviously, such products would not be particularly attractive to most women, Hispanics, Blacks, LGBT folks, or international audiences. To increase sales and profits, the film studios would have to produce movies that are more diverse and multicultural in terms of gender, race, national origin, language, sexual orientation, etc. The same is true of any company. If a board of directors consisted of nothing but a bunch of old white-haired men, chances are that the particular products of that company wouldn’t be bought by many millennials, women, or minorities. A company that wants to avoid entropy and to remain competitive has to make a concerted effort to understand the market and respond to its customers. Boards must be as diverse, inclusive, and heterogeneous as possible and create space for new viewpoints while considering alternatives. Not only do diverse and decentralized companies perform better, their long-term health and well-being depends on having a workforce that reflects the population.

The same principles apply to other institutions and organizations like schools, churches, hospitals, city councils, the police, political parties, etc. Recent studies outline multiple benefits of diversity for institutions of higher learning as well. Jeffrey Milem at the University of Arizona (2003) says that increased faculty diversity results in more student-centered approaches to teaching and learning; diverse curricular offerings; research focused on issues of race and ethnicity; and faculty-of-color involvement in community and volunteer service. Paul Umbach from the University of Iowa (2006) found that faculty of color were more likely to interact with students, to employ active and collaborative learning techniques, to create environments that increase diverse interactions; and to emphasize higher-order thinking in the classroom. Other studies likewise emphasize that diversity enhances more comprehensive approaches, collaborative learning, deeper knowledge, critical thinking, and cognitive development. We also know from K-12 schools that black students perform better academically when their schools have black teachers, and their graduation rate is higher. This is by no means an exhaustive list. There is much that is not yet known because the benefits of diversity has been a historically neglected area of inquiry. But from the research available so far it is clear that racial and ethnic diversity matters for optimal learning outcomes.

Academia is historically rooted in white and male authority and hegemony. Indeed, many colleges and universities were once funded through the practice of slavery. Ohio Wesleyan University, too, remains a predominantly white institution. But history is not destiny. There is much OWU could and should do to remove barriers to diversity. More faculty and administrators of color and/or other diverse backgrounds would make the institution more attractive to minority students and help with recruitment, retention, and student satisfaction. At the same time, it would allow OWU to fulfill its promise to provide a global education for everyone and prepare all students for a world that won’t look like the communities they hail from. OWU, a liberal-arts college, has a fine tradition of broadening students’ horizon. But there is more to be done. Currently, OWU is not preparing students to the extent that is necessary for a diverse world and future. For example, most graduates will have never had a person of color as their teacher, adviser, or mentor in their life. In the real world, it will be different. How will OWU students deal with a black, female, or LGBT superior later in life? Will they accept and support the person in authority, or will they reject and undermine the leader’s legitimacy? Is OWU equipping them with the requisite body of knowledge, skills, and character to navigate the unknown?

As the population of the U.S. becomes more multicultural, diversity and inclusion will play an increasingly integral role in every aspect of society. It is the next frontier.

Love is a battlefield: Which side are you on?

By Evan Walsh and Sara Hollabaugh

By Evan Walsh, Chief Copy Editor

Boxes of chocolates, roses, dinners your college budget can’t afford—Valentine’s Day just came and went. I want to leave you bachelorettes and bachelors with some survival tips for Valentine’s Day 2018.

Now, while it may seem like everyone is making preparations for this holiday (is it actually that?), you shouldn’t get discouraged if you spent Tuesday alone.

Being single in college has its perks, so let’s look at the proverbial (wine) glass half-full.

For starters, you avoided having to prepare.

Making the perfect plans is stressful, and among couples there is an unwritten rule that each couple has to outdo the other couples they know. Valentine’s Day should not be about you winning and everyone else losing. But if that’s how you choose to celebrate, that is your decision.

Just remember, you’ll have to anticipate what that lucky lady or man in your life wants and then go way past their expectations. That, to me at least, sounds really hard.

In doing so, you run the risk of failure and the unfortunate feeling that you have failed your better half.

Valentine’s Day is not the only holiday to have this effect. New Year’s Eve often ends poorly when friends make plans so unrealistic that they might actually need a New Year’s Miracle.

Second, as a single man or woman, you can fly under the radar.

If you aren’t doing anything special in the first place, then you will never feel the need to let everyone know how awesome your evening was.

You have spared your friends and social network from having to endure hearing about it, and that deserves a big thanks.

Also, please do your best not to misconstrue what seems like cynicism for honest skepticism.

My parents have been married for 38 years and I’d be surprised if they even realized Valentine’s Day happened. Why do they, or any other couple, need a special day to validate their love for each other?

Last, when you’re single you can give yourself the gift of Valentine’s Day.

Maybe, instead of booking a trip to a bourgeois restaurant, you’ve freed some time to read that book you started, polish off a Netflix series, prepare for tests and papers, or get drunk and try your luck at Clancey’s. The choice is yours.

So that is what you, my failed fellow Casanovas and Casanovettes, are not missing. I hope all you single college students will consider this Hallmark advice.

By Sara Hollabaugh, Online Editor

Look, I’ll be the first one to say it’s stupid to celebrate your better half only one day out of the 365 days a year gives you.

I get it.

If you love someone, show them every day. But honestly, I do that with the guy in my life, as he does with me.

So let me play devil’s advocate to Evan’s well-intentioned “tips for Valentine’s Day success,” which in summary tells everyone to stop trying to validate their love.

I don’t get excited for Valentine’s Day because I need the attention or want everyone else to be miserable by sharing my excitement over plans, gifts and obligatory social media posts.

I just want people to know that genuine love is out there.

If I were to ignore Valentine’s Day and tell my significant other I wanted him to basically delete it from his calendar, he’d say no. He’d say no because he likes celebrating me. And you know what, I’d never even suggest it because I like celebrating him, too.

I found someone I like to go out to dinner with and spoil with my college budget on a thoughtful gift.

I know I can do this any other day, but I mean come on—Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents Day, birthdays and every other holiday exists.

Let one that applies to me at 22 years old, other than my day of birth, get celebrated. I’m not a mother or a father, and by cause and effect, I’m not a grandparent, either.

So I get this one day to be outwardly mushy with the one I love.

If you have a problem with that, I’m sorry. Like I said, I don’t do it for attention or to one-up my boyfriend. I do it, in part, because it’s America’s tradition that I’ve grown up loving.

I know many of you will find flaws in that sentence, but trust me, I have the best intentions when it comes to celebrating this Hallmark holiday.

So here’s my overarching tip: enjoy the day and don’t let those who want to bring you down feel insecure about celebrating love.

After all, it’s love we’re celebrating. Not hatred. And I think that’s the most important part of it all.

Lessons in raspberry puff pastries and journalism

By Gopika Nair, Editor-in-Chief

Alongside an Everest of newspapers sits a magenta booklet on my parents’ coffee table back home. The booklet is a compilation of articles my dad wrote for his weekly column “Puff Pastry” when he was a 30-something, mustache-sporting journalist with a Walkman.

The booklet emerges only when my parents are in the middle of a spring cleaning extravaganza. Perhaps to abate my cleaning-induced griping, my mom would hand me the collection of articles when I was younger, often accompanied by the words, “Your father writes about you in many of his stories.”

Either I was too young to understand my dad’s words or too trapped in a solipsistic teenage bubble to appreciate it, because I don’t remember the stories having an impact on me until recently.

As my mom was heading to bed a little after midnight on New Year’s, she found the booklet in a box she’d unpacked. “You can get inspired,” she said this time.

Indeed, poring over my dad’s words as a listless 20-year-old at 3 a.m. sparked something that wasn’t just inspiration but also a renewed fervor for journalism.

The Transcript staff expends a considerable amount of energy and time on this publication, even though we, frankly, miss the mark sometimes (actually, according to Paul Kostyu’s critiques of our print editions, we miss the mark a lot).

So, it’s pretty easy to feel drained.

Ask any editor who was a part of The Transcript in 2016 and they’ll probably tell you this paper has been their greatest source of frustration. But maybe, they’ll also tell you it’s been a great source of joy.

We’ve designed pages until 5 a.m., written stories long after our brains had turned into mush, neglected schoolwork, fallen asleep in The Transcript office and we continued to do it all over again every other week.

I’m not going to pretend our commitment to the paper was born solely out of our passion for journalism; we’ve all thought about quitting at one point or another and sometimes, the only thing that kept us in The Transcript office until the wee hours of the morning was our obligations.

But ultimately, all those sleepless nights spent working in The Transcript office proved to be rewarding. The field of journalism isn’t a platform for self-indulgent writers (barring op-eds and columns), and that’s exactly why I respect it.

We, as editors, can (and do often) grumble about the hours we spend designing pages and writing stories only to yield mediocre results in the end. But journalism supersedes us and our petty complaints. We don’t matter; what we do is about everyone else.

The Transcript, in particular, has been memorializing the Ohio Wesleyan community since 1867 through news articles that pertains to the campus.

Over the years, we’ve covered theatre and dance productions, lectures sponsored by various departments, club events, notable achievements, the student government and faculty meetings to bridge any gap that might be created by lack of transparency. We continue to devote our energy to exactly that.

The Transcript will celebrate its 150th anniversary Oct. 1, 2017. Before then, my aim is to improve the overall quality of The Transcript. I’m prepared for the all-nighters ahead of me and the gray hairs I’m inevitably going to find by the end of my term as editor-in-chief. I’m prepared for the highs of working with and learning from the new editorial staff and the lows of egregious typos we won’t catch. I’m prepared for failures and successes and more failures. I’m prepared for everything that might come The Transcript’s way because as much as this paper has been the greatest source of frustration in my life, it’s also given me the most joy.

Press-ing Trump on the truth

By Evan Walsh, Chief Copy Editor

I’ve been called a lot of bad things, but it seems now, in this “post-truth” era, that the thing I should most want to avoid being called is a “journalist.”

While reporters such as Bob Woodward and Ida Tarbell were once celebrated for defending our democratic standards of transparency, the press is now suddenly an inconvenience.

That is a problem.

No individual or institution is as responsible for this as President Donald J. Trump and his new administration. From the beginning of his unlikely run for the presidency, Trump initiated the antagonistic relationship with the press that he has worked hard to maintain even now as sitting president.

Nobody expects the press and government to have a particularly cozy relationship, but that does not excuse the treatment reporters have been given. It also doesn’t excuse the gag rules which have been imposed on senior members of his cabinet—First Amendment be damned.

Relegated to White House basements where they are asked to make sense of 140 character tweets (about who knows what), reporters are feeling their president’s scorn. And they’re not taking it well.

The Columbia Journalism Review issued a statement on Jan. 12 that rather than compete with each other, the media are ready to work with each other to cover Trump’s administration and to hold it accountable.

Pete Vernon, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, put forth that statement, saying, “Journalism is a competitive business, but it’s not a zero sum game.” That cohesiveness—grounded in a commitment to truth telling—is refreshing.

But with this particular administration there appears to be no limits … and the back and forth continues. In the words of Steve Bannon, senior adviser to Trump, “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while … The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”

It’s not entirely unreasonable to understand his criticisms when we consider the internal bleeding of credibility that has taken place as a consequence of publishing “fake news.”  

Fake news delegitimizes the credibility of real news and makes Tomi Lahren, a pundit for TheBlaze, look informed. If, however, Trump continues to send news teams to their graves, then that’s who we’ll be left with.

In another telling example of the fight Trump has picked with the media, this time over “fake news,” Trump shot down CNN’s Jim Acosta as he was preparing to ask a question related to claims of Russian interference in last fall’s election. That question deserves a serious answer, but because BuzzFeed followed up the story that CNN had originally published with unsubstantiated reports of their own, Acosta never got the serious answer he deserved.

The Trump Administration and fake news are doing their best to sabotage truth. So if being a “journalist” is what it takes to get the truth, then everyone from Fox to MSNBC should want to be called that nasty name.

Before college: forever alone, after college: forever a loan

By Areena Arora, Managing Editor

Congratulations! You just graduated with an average student debt more than it has ever been in the history of college education, even when adjusted for inflation.

The debate is not new. For more than two decades now, students and scholars have wondered if a college degree really is worth it. College debt is not just a burden to the student, but is essentially family debt and one that makes you question your choices every day, every minute.

In my case, as an international student, I am paying a higher amount than my American classmates (and under- standably so). On top of that, the exchange rate makes the cost nearly 65 times more, and with an interest rate of 14 percent, I will graduate college with double majors in economics and journalism and a debt of $126,748 – sounds exciting, I know.

In 1993, the average student loan debt per borrower was a little under $10,000, and just 12 years later, by 2005 it was crossing $20,000, nally reaching anywhere between $30,000-35,000 that it is today.

There’s another catch here. While some majors are more promising from a career stance, some are not as lucrative. The disparity is such that a petroleum engineering major is likely to earn a median wage of $93,000 more than that of an elementary school teacher.

As much as we hate to admit it, there really isn’t enough money in some of our favourite creative elds.

As a journalism major with a bachelor’s degree, the median annual salary I am destined to is $56,000, which does sound reasonably sustainable enough. But if it were not for my scholarship and aid, this is also exactly the amount I would have been paying annually to get my degree.

Average debt of a 2014 Ohio Wesleyan graduate was $28,500, compared to the national average of $33,000. Sound relieving?

Student debt has forced many of my friends to drop out or transfer to a community college. It requires emotional and nancial strength to survive in this crippling time, where available jobs on campus offer only minimum wage and even the future average prospective earnings are statistically not high numbers.

Solutions are simple, but socialist; perhaps not the most desirable term for this country. However, like Brazil and Germany, in the ideal world, all countries should have free higher education, at least in public universities. Granted, the amount of taxes we pay, this could be one use of our tax money every citizen would actually be appreciative of.

Tuition freeze is also an effective solution. Idea is to pay the same amount that you agree to pay as a freshman. So in your subsequent years at college, even if tuition rises, you will be paying the same amount that you paid your first year.

If not anything else, this will prevent unexpected (but really, expected) frustrations and sessions of serious reconsideration of your very decision to get educated.

All of us begin college with goals of traveling the world, or buying that expensive car or just saving up to retire early, but most of us end up paying our college debt for much of our career.

So saddening the condition is that USA Today called student debt America’s next big crisis.

Ideally, education is so noble a goal we should not be measuring it against material/evil money.

Reality however is captured in this YikYak post from Weber State University, “Before College: Forever alone. After College: Forever a Loan.”

How to get away with not doing homework

By Gopika Nair, Chief Copy Editor

Sometimes students catch a cold and have to miss class. Sometimes they don’t hand in assignments because of a spontaneous printer malfunction. And sometimes, students just can’t attend required events because they’re behind bars.

Bonnie Gardner, former professor of theatre at Ohio Wesleyan University, said a student told her he couldn’t attend a performance because he was serving time in jail all weekend.

Though surprising, the excuse was true. The student received a traffic ticket and was required to serve jail time. Since he was an OWU student, the judge let him do his time during the weekends so his grades wouldn’t suffer.

“He was a decent student,” Gardner said. “He was very straight with me and gave me all the details, so I had no reason not to believe him.”

Other outlandish excuses have also proven legitimate. Carol Neuman de Vegvar, a ne arts professor, said a student approached her holding a damp, damaged paper with tooth marks.

“The dog really did eat it,” the student said, sounding sad, according to Neuman de Vegvar.

She said she believed the story because she trusted the student.

Some professors received excuses that were more vivid than needed. John Stone-Mediatore, a lecturer in the department of comparative literature, said one student told him he couldn’t make it to class because he had a bad case of explosive diarrhea.

“I just couldn’t believe that a student was giving me that information,” Stone said. “But on the other hand, assuming that it was honestwhich I don’t always assumeI appreciated the student’s honesty.”

Another student told Stone he had to miss class because he had been arrested for underage drinking in public and had to go to court.

Conversely, Erin Flynn, associate philosophy professor, said he once sent a drunk student home from a morning class. One of the oddest excuses Flynn received involved a student who went home, which was out-of-state, because her dog had died, he said.

“This was like a mixture of  ‘my grandmother died’ and ‘my dog ate my homework,’” Flynn said.

Technology seems to be a culprit for many missed classes and assignments.

Joe Musser, professor emeritus of English, said he has not been skeptical of such excuses, given his own problems with technology.

But Elane Denny-Todd, a theatre professor, said most of her students tend to rely on technological-related excuses, such as an inkless printer or crashed computer.

“It’s as if students know that there is a set vocabulary for selling excuses,” she said in an email.

Some students are more creative than others and have provided outrageous excuses to earn a better grade. Bob Gitter, an economics professor, said a student from Libya had received a C plus in one of his classes.

He told Gitter that if he didn’t get a B minus, he would lose his scholarship and get deported to Libya, where the followers of Muammar Gadda , former “Revolutionary Chairman and Brotherly Leader” of Libya, would kill him.

“It was the only time in 40 years at OWU I changed a grade that was not due to a clerical error,” Gitter said.

Students make excuses that are believable, shocking and unoriginal. But after many years teaching, the excuses are often professors’ favorite stories to tell.

Electing a new president with no right to vote

By Urvija Rishi, Transcript Correspondent

“When Uncle Sam sneezes, the whole world catches a cold” — and this election is nothing if proof of that.

The entire world is waiting with bated breath for the decision of the American people and their stake in this election is not purely for entertainment, but a significant interest in who will hold the most powerful political position arguably in the world.

In the 21st century, with the U.S. at the peak of its political, economic and military power, one does not need to be American to be invested in America.

I do not envy the American people in the choice they have to make.

Unfortunately, a racist bigot and a corrupt manipulator are not ideal, although I understand both their appeal and lack thereof.

On one hand, Trump represents the anti-establishment desires of the American populace and he has successfully preyed on the fear and xenophobia among the grassroots of the population, and enhanced the isolationist predispositions of American civil society, but the fact remains that his credentials to serve as president or in any public office are deeply lacking.

Having said that, I recognize the flaws in the alternative and perhaps Hillary Clinton has not made herself beloved to the masses despite her many attempts to be relatable or “chill.”

But her experience in politics is staggering and her credentials are merit-worthy.

More importantly, when Clinton talks about policies, she has some sort of viable idea or plan for execution, perhaps because she actually has the legislative and policy experience.

While buzzwords like “emails,” “Benghazi” and her pattern of corrupt behavior are deterrents and deal-breakers for many, I think the fundamental question that the American people must ask themselves is whether they need to like their President or whether they need to respect and trust them and their opinions.

I could endlessly wax lyrical about the unrealistic nature of most of Trump’s proposed policies and his blatant use of pseudoscience and rhetoric as a persuasion mechanism. For instance, a trade deficit cannot be used to make sweeping qualitative generalizations about the economy, and a regressive tax system is based on the failed idea of trickle-down economics.

Even in terms of foreign policy, Trump’s eloquent solutions of bombing the Islamic State and advocating for war crimes leave much to be desired, not just in terms of comprehensiveness and practicality, but just general standards of minimal humanity.

To be fair, both the candidates are seemingly quite trigger happy in terms of involvement in war and Clinton’s track record is questionable at best, but who would you want negotiating and representing American interests in the international system—a former Secretary of State who has diplomatic experience or a self-proclaimed businessman extraordinaire who has the “best words”?

Unlike Trump, I do not have the best words to describe how real the fear of him having access to nuclear codes is, but I believe I may be part of the global majority who does not want to leave the fate of all of human civilization in his stubby-fingered hands.

As an invested spectator of this election, the thought of a Trump presidency used to fill me with horrified amusement which slowly turned into genuine panic as I observed the support he garnered by spewing senseless, hateful rhetoric.

If anything, this election reflects the profoundly entrenched prejudices within American society and despite decades of championing liberty and equality, the fact that the American people willingly elected someone who wants to go against everything this country stands for is perhaps more fearinducing than him actually being president.