Tag: WCSA

Let there be light, and a good place to sit

WCSA approved a 44,000 dollar project request to supply and install lights and bleachers to the practice fields across from Meek Aquatic Center.

The initiative, put forth by club sports captains as well as members of marching band, highlighted concerns faced due to lack of lighting on the practice fields as well as a safe place to sit while viewing the games. It also pointed out the greater benefits it would provide to club sports as well as the greater Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) community.

Lighting the fields and placing bleachers there will not only make it a more welcoming space for OWU’s club and intramural sports, but it also opens up the space to be used for night programming by other clubs, campus groups, or even off-campus organizations.

“Without lights, we start losing a lot of rehearsal time as the sun starts to set earlier and earlier. While we currently have a temporary fix that’s getting us through to the end of the year, we are looking forward to having lighting that produces the kind of visibility needed for a marching band rehearsal.” said marching band director Mary Kate McNally.

There have been instances in the past where both men’s and women’s rugby, as well as ultimate frisbee, have had to cancel practice or move it to a later time due to varsity sports using the field.

Regardless of whether frisbee or rugby have reserved the field in advance, varsity sports take precedence.

There is constant competition for field space and grass areas that are suited for sports such as ultimate frisbee and rugby. The limited outdoor space has varsity, club and intramural teams volleying for places to practice on.

Lighting has begun to become an issue as the days are getting shorter and it starts getting darker earlier. As we enter the colder months, weather starts to become an issue as well.

Captain of the women’s ultimate frisbee team Karli Bigler voiced that, “Having bleachers and lights on the fields will allow our team to hold tournaments at OWU, to have late night practices, to have more spectators, and to have pick up games throughout the year.”

WCSA met the request with enthusiasm and approved the 44,000 dollars requested, come to find, the quotes that were received from buildings and grounds were two thirds less than what was needed in order to complete the project.

In order to move forward a capital project request was submitted to attain the rest of the money needed to complete the project.

Vice President for Finance and Administration Lauri Strimkovsky explained that WCSA had approved the 44,000 without taking a look at all that would need to be done before the project could move forward.

“We’re going to have to do some backtracking, usually you do all that work before you approve a project and it came to us without any of that being done,” said Strimkovsky, “If you light a field and don’t do so properly and somebody gets hurts, it can be a liability issue. We don’t have any problem doing the project we just have to make sure to do it right.”

 

WCSA 2018-19 leaders elected

By Spencer Pauley, Copy Editor 

After a close election race, Ohio Wesleyan will have its first black female student body president: Cara Harris.

Harris and vice president-elect Peyton Hardesty said they are ready to start the next semester with more emphasis on student involvement.

“We really want to allow students to vote on the weekly specials for Ham-Will,” Harris said.

The reason for this being that dining service is a primary concern for students at OWU. By allowing students to have more say on the food they’re being offered, it may help improve the student satisfaction with dining services.

Harris and Hardesty said they want to see more sustainability with efforts to make OWU more environmentally-friendly. Harris said she thinks one good way to do that is by taking a few days per week to only use green containers at Ham-Will.

“I think only 10 percent of the containers that we have purchased through WCSA are in rotation, and those are really low numbers,” Harris said. “So I think that if people are forced to use them, then they could see how easy it is to turn them in and get their points back.”

The exact number of days in which the green containers would be the only option are possibly two to three a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Besides Ham-Will dining changes being considered, Hardesty said they want to see less trash being created through the cafe options.

According to Hardesty, the average college student gets two to four coffee drinks a day, and most of the time, they’re throwing the material away afterward. One problem that is getting in the way of allowing students to use reusable coffee mugs is the Chartwells staff itself.

“I’ve had multiple encounters with Chartwells employees where they’re saying that it’s a health concern for using our own mugs because it might be dirty,” Hardesty said.

So the solution Hardesty said they are considering is either better communication with dining services next semester to allow students to use reusable mugs or encourage the university to invest in reusable coffee cups, similar to the green containers in Ham-Will.

Harris and Hardesty are preparing to change how WCSA meetings are run as well. Instead of having one legislative day per month, Harris is proposing having two legislative days a month and another two days for reports and brainstorming for the whole senate.

“I feel like you don’t get to know everybody in full senate, you only get to know your committee members because you are the ones meeting weekly and biweekly,” Harris said.

Additionally, Hardesty said they believe that new members of WCSA might not understand the language used in the meetings so the messages are not received by everyone.

To fix this problem, Hardesty wants to dedicate time to educate members on the language being used.

“I feel that if we can incorporate learning how to do something internally like learn how to draft a bill for 10 minutes, then now there’s no more excuses for offering ideas,” Harris said.

By allowing time dedicated to learning how to effectively be a part of WCSA, Harris and Hardesty said they hope to see more members bring their ideas to meetings for discussions. With Harris and Hardesty winning the election, expect to see more student involvement to be considered.

Note: The print and digital version of this article used incorrect pronouns for Peyton Hardesty. This version of the article has been updated to correct the mistake. 

Seniors to run the Final Lap

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

It’s the final countdown.

With nals approaching, graduating seniors and underclassmen can look forward to the Final Lap on May 9.

After commencement rehearsals, seniors will be running at 8:30 p.m. under inflatable arches decorated with lights down the path around Slocum Hall all the way to Chappelear Drama Center. Then, seniors will turn around, go down the JAYWalk, and end the walk at the Gordon Field House, where underclassmen can join for music and food.

“It definitely isn’t just a senior class event; we want the whole campus to benefit from [the Final Lap],” said senior Lee LeBoef, president of Senior Class Council.

Getting inspiration from the Night Nation Run, a running music festival, the Senior Class Council has been planning this event since October.

“Our senior class council is hoping that this will turn into a tradition that will last for many years to come,” said senior Daud Baz, treasurer of Senior Class Council. There will also be food trucks, such as Dan’s Deli, and a beer truck, provided by Delmar Distilleries, stationed in the Science Center parking lot.

The Stolen Fire, comprising Ohio Wesleyan professors, will perform at 8:45 p.m. in the Gordon Field House. At 9:45 p.m., DJ BitFlip and Firecat 451 will be performing an EDM show until 11:45 pm.

“My biggest goal was to have something unifying for the entire senior class as a final celebration,” LeBoeuf said.

 

 

Budget Committee approves fall budgets

By Gopika Nair, Editor-in-Chief

Ohio Wesleyan’s clubs and organizations requested $200,668 for the upcoming fall semester and the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs’ (WCSA) Budget Committee funded $110,470.

President’s Club planned to bring Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker, to kick off OWU’s 175th anniversary celebration. Because of lack of available funds, the Budget Committee funded the club $33,000 for a speaker, said treasurer Kristen Nooney at WCSA’s full senate meeting on April 17.

“We could only fund a certain amount and we figured alumni and other departments could help contribute to this if they [want to bring Gladwell],” Nooney said.

Overall, President’s Club requested $112,425 and was funded $55,168 to cover the costs of events such as the annual President’s Ball.

Additionally, the Campus Programming Board received $40,000 and Small Living Units were granted $7,000 for the fall semester. The total student activity fee remaining for next semester is $208,000 and the amount available for allocation to clubs and organizations is $119,400.

WCSA also pays for the subscription of The New York Times and USA Today, both of which can be picked up for free from the Atrium in Ham-Will, Nooney said. Currently, 35 copies of each are available. But because not enough people pick up copies, WCSA is reducing the amount to 18 next fall.

“I would vouch for a few more [copies],” WCSA member Michael Barr, junior, said. “I know enough people who do grab The New York Times every single day and I would consider myself one of those people. I think it’s important to have a source of news at this point in time that can be accessible to anyone.”

Dwayne Todd, vice president for student engagement and success, added that WCSA doesn’t pay for newspaper copies that go unread.

WCSA President Chris Dobeck and Vice President Michael Sheetz also drafted an initiative to reduce the cost of break housing for international students and students from the West Coast. The letter, addressed to President Rock Jones, suggests that the administration consider granting all students free housing for breaks that last less than 10 days.

In addition, the senate voted to sign a proposal for the Ohio Wesleyan Sustainability Plan, which is currently supported by Tree House and the Environmental and Wildlife Club.

The next WCSA meeting will take place at noon on April 24 in the Crider Lounge at Ham-Will.

Letter from the Wesleyan Council Student Affairs president

By Chris Dobeck, President of WCSA

The other day a close friend asked what the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) was doing to make a presence on campus.

In all honesty, I floundered. Make a name for ourselves? We’re the people everyone comes to for funding. The Campus Programming Board (CPB) is the outreach part of our student government.

This friend not only asked an important question, they answered why WCSA has fallen into such a rut.

OWU students don’t care about stu- dent government, because student governments haven’t shown the care deserving of OWU students. Over the years WCSA strayed from initiatives, gave up on the legacy of itself and its students and confounded itself with unnecessary professionalism.

As president, I never sought to push a legislative agenda. Surely all the senators had pet projects. Policy reform, food, sustainability, and budgetary guidelines have gone through the ringer. Now, our well-spring of creativity has begun to trickle.

Over the last month, the Senate has hit gridlock again and again talking about reforms to the treasurer position. It has brought the momentum of progress to a halt. Today, that changes.

This April my administration will push for a New Student Affairs Policy, bringing the cloistered WCSA out of its shell. We’ll push for initiatives students care about, like a water fountain in Sanborn. We’ll begin to build monuments to OWU students of ages past; civil rights activists like Mary King, abolitionists like Fredrick Merrick, and Vice President of the United States Charles Fairbanks. Through our new policy, WCSA will end this brutal isolation, reaching out to students in constructive ways, like offering of office hours to voice complaints and turning the WCSA of office into a quiet study room in the weeks leading up to finals.

Politicians always promise things. It’s kind of the bread and butter of our career. But honestly, you guys deserve better. These policies should be ful lled because we, as a student government, have the op- portunity to help make this school really something. At this point many WCSA members have been here long enough to know what we can and can’t do. The difference between what we can do and what we have done de nes who really was t for the job. So when 2017 comes to a close, I hope WCSA remembered to do all they can.

Letter to the Editor: SIAC addresses lack of diversity among faculty

By Ryan Bishop, Contributing Writer

The Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs’ (WCSA) Student Inclusion Advocacy Committee (SIAC) was created in the spring of 2016 to ensure that students from under-represented groups on campus have a pres- ence and voice on our student government.

Its mission is focused on addressing is- sues that students from minoritized groups face. SIAC has eight voting senator positions, known as Inclusion Representatives, and is currently chaired by Ryan Bishop.

SIAC’s first big project for the 2017 term was composing a letter to address the lack diversity among faculty on our campus.

This three-page letter was reviewed by Juan Armando Rojas, associate dean for inclusion and diversity, and WCSA’s full senate.

In our letter, we expressed appreciation for the number of efforts which the university has already undertaken to address this issue, including creating Rojas’ position and holding various faculty training sessions related to diversity, inclusion and equity in the classroom.

Ohio Wesleyan prides itself on fostering a welcoming environment for students of all backgrounds and has been working toward strengthening the efforts in this area.

SIAC expressed concerns we have heard from our student body regarding the small number of faculty of color (for instance, out of 129 faculty members, only four are Black, and only three are Hispanic or Latinx; OWU has only ever had one Black female faculty member, Judylyn Ryan).

Not only do these numbers not re ect the diversity in our student body, but they are also unjust and undermine our commitment to liberal arts education.

Diversity among professors is crucial for a number of reasons, including providing students of diverse backgrounds with the opportunity to see themselves in their teachers who are often their role models.

According to a 2014 report by the National Education Association, professors of color are often more capable of connecting with students of color, and also tend to teach with a more socially conscious mindset which is inclusive of students from under-represented groups and incorporates diverse approaches.

Inclusive approaches are bene cial to all students, as they shape graduates to be true global citizens.

Increasing diversity among faculty, as well as strengthening diversity and sensitivity training of faculty and staff, is a goal of equity and justice, and one that can only improve our already exceptional liberal arts institution. In the letter, SIAC also offered suggestions which could help expand existing efforts.

Our letter was immediately addressed on multiple levels of the administration, including by Provost Chuck Stinemetz and President Rock Jones, both of whom ex- pressed desire to meet with SIAC and further the conversation.

Furthermore, departments that are currently hiring have expressed willingness to honor a resolution passed by WCSA in 2016 to invite SIAC members to hiring committees.

WCSA is grateful for the administration’s commitment to fostering a diverse, inclusive and just campus environment and for its willingness to work with students.

WCSA TODAY: Bill Nye budget denied due to cost

By Gopika Nair, Editor-in-Chief

The Environment and Wildlife Club (E&W) requested $75,000 to bring Bill Nye to Ohio Wesleyan for Green Week.

The Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs’ (WCSA) Budget Committee denied the request. E&W wanted to bring either Nye or local lawmaker Andrea Torrice.

“The Budget Committee decided [Torrice] was a better fit for Green Week,” said treasurer Kristen Nooney at WCSA’s meeting on March 20.

Overall, E&W requested $81,753 and the Budget Committee funded the club $3,816 for Green Week, which will be held from April 17 to 22 to promote sustainability and other environmental issues.

The club also requested $670 to attend the Midwest Student Coalition for Climate Action Conference.

The conference is being hosted by Denison University and provides a platform for the Ohio5 schools to discuss different sustainability issues, Nooney said. The Budget Committee funded the club $637 for the conference.

Additionally, members of the senate discussed a bill to amend the constitution’s language on the election of a treasurer as well as a bill to amend the constitution’s language on the quali cations to be considered for the treasurer position.

WCSA’s Academic Affairs Committee will also host an academic forum March 30 prior to course registration.

The next WCSA meeting will be held March 27 in the Crider Lounge in Ham-Will.

WCSA Today: WCSA discusses the closing of an Indiana college and what it means for OWU students

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana is temporarily closing their doors next fall, and Ohio Wesleyan will help pick up the slack.

“Ohio Wesleyan has already offered [Saint Joseph’s College students] financial accommodations to match all non-athletic scholarships, plus $6,000 more a year to come here,” said freshman Greg Margevicius, a member of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA).

The Academic Affairs Committee is looking into the specifics of how the university will accommodate the new students, such as how their credits will transfer and if current transfer-credit policies will be adapted, Margevicius said.

“We are welcoming to any of the former Saint Joseph students … but also making sure the transition is fair to students who are here already,” Margevicius said.

Junior Robert Gossett also proposed an addendum to impose stricter regulations on the election for WCSA’s treasurer at the full senate meeting Feb. 27. Gossett suggested an evaluation process, conducted by the economics department, to determine the capability of a potential nominee.

The current treasurer, junior Kristen Nooney, is also the current president of the Campus Programming Board (CPB).

The Student Led Art Movement requested $1,350 and was funded $813. The Chinese Culture Club also requested $620 to cover the costs for a DVD, advertising and screening fee for the International Queer Film Festival. The club was funded $556.

 

Additionally, the council elected sophomore John Bonus as its CPB liaison at the meeting on Feb. 20. The position entails the liaison to attend CPB meetings and the

National Association for Campus Activities conference.

WCSA’s next full senate meeting will be held Monday, March 6, in the Crider Lounge in Ham-Will.

WCSA Today: Senate passes a bill to appoint archivist

By Gopika Nair, Editor-in-Chief

The Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) passed a bill to appoint an archivist at its full senate meeting on Feb. 13.

Though the archivist would be a part of WCSA, the position is a separate entity from the student government, said WCSA President Chris Dobeck, Ohio Wesleyan junior.

“Any self-respecting institution has a way to keep track of its history,” Dobeck said at the full senate meeting on Feb. 6, when he introduced the possibility of assigning an archivist.

“Unfortunately, one of the big problems we’ve discovered in this administration and administrations prior is that we can only remember what happened in WCSA as far back as we have a connection to somebody who is in WCSA,” Dobeck said.

Dobeck drafted the bill to appoint someone who would “drudge through OWU’s history” to research what WCSA has done in the past, he said.

The archivist won’t have voting powers, but can attend Executive Committee meetings. An archivist will be chosen from a pool of applicants in the near future.

Additionally, revisions were made to the Budget Committee’s budgetary guidelines to fund new uniforms for the men’s rugby team.

The rugby team requested $1,342.50 for uniforms.

Treasurer Kristen Nooney, junior, said the guidelines had to be amended because the wording stated that clubs and sports can only receive funding for new uniforms every four years.

But club sports that are defined as contact sports, like rugby, can receive uniforms after six active seasons, Nooney said.

Since the rugby team played six seasons in three years, 95 percent of the team’s requested amount was funded.

The next full senate meeting will be Monday, Feb. 20 in the Crider Lounge in Ham-Will.

WCSA Today: New budgets approved

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

The Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) is back in session this semester and a new administration in charge.

With junior Chris Dobeck as president and sophomore Michael Sheetz as vice-president, WCSA has funded over $5,000 worth of budgets since Monday. The budgets approved went to PRIDE’s International Queer Film Festival, which kicked off this Wednesday, and to lesson fees for the Equestrian Team.

The Council also elected freshman Maxwell Aaronson as sergeant of arms, who will provide added security for meetings if necessary.

The council is also considering an amendment to its constitution that would change the way elections are held in the future. This amendment prevents officers from running uncontested to encourage widespread representation.

“We are supposed to be representing the whole campus…that vote should matter,” said junior Ryan Bishop.

Dwayne Todd, the vice president for student engagement and success, also suggested opening a student service center in each residential hall. These rooms, typically just open for registration in the beginning of each semester, could also serve as hubs for students to rent games and check the progress on their room requests, said Todd.

The next full senate meeting will be Monday, Feb. 6 in Crider Lounge at Ham-Will.