The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
VOLUME 139 NO. 34
TUESDAY, January 24, 2012
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1990, The Miami Student reported that Miami University would withdraw recognition of Sigma Nu fraternity until the fall. The withdrawal followed
three separate incidents that involved the fraternity, including offensive behavior at a “Viking” themed party in September and a fight with the Theta Chi fraternity in December. A fire at the fraternity’s house in December prompted Oxford officials to investigate fire code violations at the house.
ASG to vote on election process changes By Allison McGillivray
Senior Staff Writer
Associated Student Government (ASG) will consider making changes to the process for the upcoming student body election at Tuesday’s meeting. Changes would include eliminating a contest from the general student body election if a candidate in the primary student body election receives more than 50 percent of the vote. Candidates would also have to run as part of a party, although they would be able to name the party whatever
the wish and would be free to choose whether to run in conjunction with candidates for other offices. These changes would affect the campaigns for the positions of student body president and student body vice president (elected as a slate), vice president of student organizations and vice president of campus activities. The student senate will vote on these changes today. Student Body Vice President Matt Frazier said the changes have seen positive support in the ASG cabinet. Frazier said the idea to
FUSING WITH OTHER CULTURES
shorten the election process is based on experience from past elections. “Looking in the past, the data that I have, at least in the past 10 years, whenever we’ve had three or more candidates running and one candidate gets more than 50 percent during that first primary election, they have always won the general election,” Frazier said. The Nick Huber/Matt Frazier slate for student body president and student body vice president received over 50 percent of the primary votes. Frazier said the general election often gets
fewer voters than the primary election. “We don’t have a lot of great polling data, but [in] the data I’ve had access to, you see a lot of people come out for the first primary but the second election doesn’t seem to have as many people voting,” Frazier said. Frazier said he suspects this is because students are getting tired of the election process by the time of the second election. Student Body President Nick Huber said he thinks this change is likely to benefit the candidates more than voters but he does not think that the voters will
COLLEEN YATES THE MIAMI STUDENT
Participants in Fusion: The Quest for Love perform a traditional Korean dance during Saturday afternoon’s soldout show at Hall Auditorium. Saturday afternoon was the second sold-out show for Fusion. The Asian American Association of Miami University puts on Fusion every year.
Award-winning author reads book to students By Lorraine Boissoneault
senior staff writer
Seeing Jaimy Gordon now, it’s hard to believe she was ever the type of person who didn’t smile for photos. “After I won the National Book Award, I looked back at some of the pictures and I was smiling in all of them. I couldn’t get the smile to go away. I thought, damn, I’m going to smile from now on,” Gordon said. She came to perform a reading of her novel Lord of Misrule Thursday. Despite the cold, a number of Miami University students turned out to attend the reading, filling about half of the 225 available seats in Leonard Theater at Peabody Hall. Lord of Misrule describes the magnetic power of a run-down racetrack and the diverse characters who pin their hopes on the speed of their horses. Much like the character Little Spinoza, an unruly and occasionally violent horse, Lord of Misrule was hardly a guaranteed winner for the National Book Award. In fact, the novel was published only upon encouragement from one of
Gordon’s previous publishers, the small McPherson Press. The manuscript had stayed hidden away in a drawer for years after Gordon unsuccessfully attempted to sell it to larger publishing houses in New York and elsewhere. Gordon was so sure of not winning the award that she failed to prepare any type of speech. After hearing her name called, she found
powerful effect on the captivated listeners as Gordon wound her way through different passages in the book. At one point, students grimaced as she read the description of Little Spinoza’s castration. They were later rewarded with the satisfaction of this same horse winning a race in which he had been labeled the underdog. “I like to give credit to my characters for having visual
After I won the National Book Award, I looked back at some of the pictures and I was smiling in all of them. I couldn’t get the smile to go away.” JAIMY GORDON
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNING AUTHOR
herself mouthing the word “wow” over and over again as she made her way to the podium to accept the award. According to Eric Goodman, director of the Creative Writing program at Miami and personal friend of Gordon, Lord of Misrule “was the feel good literary story of 2010 and 2011.” “It’s distinctive because of its extraordinary use of voice,” Goodman said. The distinct voices had a
imaginations,” Gordon said at the end of the reading. For this particular novel, she drew upon her own experiences working at a racetrack, where she daily heard the melodic jargon of trainers and jockeys. “This language, I just wanted to be inside of it,” Gordon said. A number of students formed a queue at the end of the reading, clutching their copies of Lord of Misrule,
eager to share in a conversation with the charismatic and forthright author. Although most visiting authors are sponsored solely by the English department, such a prestigious figure as Jaimy Gordon was also funded by the Humanities Center, Goodman said. “They like readers that have interdisciplinary appeal,” Goodman said. And when it came to choosing Gordon as a reader, the decision was a no-brainer. “The goal is for students to be exposed to a range of authors,” Goodman said. “We usually either select someone who is a friend of one of the members of our committee or we bring back graduate students who have published their first book.” “She’s the first National Book Award Winner to come to Miami, which is exciting,” said senior creative writing major Madison Peterson. Peterson added that although she’d never read any of Gordon’s work, she enjoys listening to readings because they allow her the chance to learn about new books and new authors.
GORDON, SEE PAGE 10
lose much. “Yes, there will be about a week that is lost that the candidates would have had to spend going to other student organizations and reaching out to those students,” Huber said. “Some students, who typically if we did the whole process, would be getting some of those candidates that hadn’t gotten exposure to them prior to the primaries. I don’t think that is that huge of a hindrance.” Frazier also said it will be beneficial to all of the candidates who choose to run in the election because it saves them time and money. ASG Secretary to the Executive Cabinet Nick Miller agrees. “No candidate has ever come back from that 50 percent deficit from the primary election so what is the point of putting those candidates through all that stress and having them waste that much more money on something that’s already over?” Miller said. Ending the campaign early will allow winning candidates to transition into their positions sooner, according to Frazier. Huber a longer transition process would be beneficial for winners. “They’ll have more time to work with their predecessor and really hit their stride before summer starts so that they can really have everything going and have all of their plans set and the action steps ready to go before they leave for summer break,” Huber said. Huber also supports the potential to have a shorter campaign period. “From first-hand experience, campaigning is one of the most exhausting things I’ve ever had to do,” Huber said. “It’s physically taxing, it’s financially taxing and it’s also draining from an emotional standpoint because you are constantly going and trying to sell yourself.” Huber said he does not
foresee any issues of fairness as a result of the 50 percent rule. “I don’t think there will be any issues with fairness,” Huber said. “This process will keep things pretty fair for all the candidates involved. I don’t think that any candidate will be disadvantaged by having a shorter campaign time.” Frazier said he is open to opposing opinions about changing the election process though he has seen a lot of support for this proposal. “I have had the opportunity to talk to past student body presidents and vice presidents, as well as some people who have expressed interest in possibly running this coming year and they’ve all been positive and frankly, I was expecting some negativity but thus far I haven’t found it yet,” Frazier said. Junior Tammy Atha said she thinks this change is troublesome because it puts more emphasis on the primary election rather than the general election. Atha said she thinks students are less likely to vote in the primary election and this might reflect in the votes. “Not everyone who wants to vote will vote in the primary,” Atha said. Atha said she would prefer it if ASG either kept their election policy the same by using a primary to only narrow down the number of candidates running for one position or if they would hold only one election where the winning candidate would not necessarily need to have more than half of the vote. “Putting pressure on one date may make it stick in people’s heads to vote as opposed two dates, and I’ll bet any amount of money that people will vote on just one date instead of both,” Atha said.
ASG, SEE PAGE 10
Alumnus donates another $3 million, names ASC theater By Lauren Ceronie Campus Editor
Harry T. Wilks, a trustee of Miami University, has donated $3 million to the university. In light of his donation, a recommendation has been made to the Board of Trustees that the theatre in the Armstrong Student Center be named after Wilks once it is built. This most recent donation brings the amount of financial support Wilks has given the University to $9 million. Wilks, a 1948 alumnus, is a retired attorney. In 2002, he donated $5 million to the university to create the Harry T.
Wilks Leadership Institute. He also created the Harry T. Wilks Lecture Series and donated the Harry T. Wilks conference center on the Miami Hamilton campus. Wilks’ generosity goes beyond the university as well. He created the Pyramid Hill sculpture park in Hamilton, Ohio that features more than 60 outdoor sculptures and a 10,000 square foot ancient sculpture museum. Wilks is a recipient of the Ambassador Award for the Arts from The Fitton Center for Creative Arts and is a member of the board of directors for the Cincinnati Opera.