March 16, 2012 | The Miami Student

The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826

VOLUME 139 NO. 46

friday, MARCH 16, 2012

MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO

TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1945, The Miami Student reported that the College of Liberal Arts would be renamed to the College of Arts and Sciences. The Student reported the change gave the College a wider scope, allowing them to award a Bachelor of Science degree as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree, a change that would be approved by University Senate later in the spring semester.

Miami officials face discrimination lawsuit

By Adam Giffi

Senior Staff Writer

Kaeden Kass is a transgender male student who is facing a difficult decision with potential legal implications for Miami University.

After applying to be a resident assistant (RA) Kass received a job offer. The complication: Miami is requiring Kass to reside with female roommates because his birth certificate states he is a female.

Kass feared this would happen when he sought the job.

“I knew I would be stirring the pot if I applied, but I didn’t want to not take opportunities just because I thought I might run into controversy,” Kass said. “I was very clear with Residence Life from the start that if they wanted to put me in a sex-segregated corridor it would need to be a male one because living in a female corridor would not be acceptable for me and they assured me this was fine.”

According to Kass, he was reassured when he saw on the general application form every candidate fills out there was not a line for ‘sex’ but rather ‘identified gender.’ Kass explained why he did not wish to be placed in a female dorm.

“I’m just as male as any other guy walking around Miami,” Kass said.

“As soon as I am forced into an allfemale space, my [male] identity

gets erased. I just cannot handle being invisible like that anymore.”

However, a few weeks into the process Kass said he was informed that the Dean of Students, Susan Mosley-Howard, representatives from the Office of Residence Life and others were meeting to discuss his application.

Shortly thereafter, Kass met with Mosley-Howard, where he was informed they were going to house him on the basis of his legal sex.

“I was told that they have to go by my legal records and they kept informing me repeatedly that legally I’m a female,” Kass said. “I felt that I was treated like a delusional person who doesn’t know I’m trans and who is not aware of the complexities of my situation. It felt condescending.”

Kass said he has filed an official charge of discrimination with the Office of Equity and Equal Opportunity against Mosley-Howard as well as against Robin Parker, general counsel in the Office of the President and against Jerry Olsen, director of the Office of Residence Life.

Demere Woolway, Miami’s coordinator of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (GLBTQ) Services, was involved in the talks about Kass’ case. She said she is displeased the university has been unable to accommodate

Kass thus far.

“I think it’s really unfortunate that we weren’t able to find a housing situation that was what was appropriate for this student,” Woolway said. “I personally feel that we should be able to house people on the basis of their gender identity and not just their sex.”

Not only has the process made Kass feel uncomfortable, he said ha feels it is in violation of university policies: the University Statement Asserting Respect for Human Diversity and the University Statement of Non-Discrimination.

Both of these contain language stating that all at Miami must work to ensure everyone feels comfortable and the latter states: “Miami University is committed to providing equal opportunity and an

educational and work environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, or veteran status.”

Kass sees his case as directly contradictory to these statements.

“I don’t see how this is not discriminating against me,” Kass said.

“At Miami we have all this rhetoric about embracing diversity and not discriminating against anyone on any basis and Miami is not living up to these values.”

Woolway agreed that on some level the statements are not being adhered to.

“It gets complicated,” Woolway said. “I do think at the very least the decision is not respectful to the spirit of those policies. The spirit is

that we are going to pay attention to people’s gender identity and fully respect their gender identities. But I’m not a lawyer and don’t know if that language is legally binding.”

According to Associate General Counsel in the Office of the President Chris Wilson, the university cannot provide any information regarding whether such a complaint has been filed.

“I can tell you that the university takes all reports of discrimination seriously and has policies and procedures in place for investigating complaints of discrimination,” Wilson said.

Kass said President David Hodge has notified him that an

TRANSGENDER, SEE PAGE 9

Digital media professors impress at conference

By Amanda Hancock For the Miami Student

Miami University professors Glenn Platt and Peg Faimon joined speakers from TIME magazine, The New York Times, HULU and Google at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference.

Platt and Faimon, co-directors of Miami’s Interactive Media Studies (AIMS), presented their idea, “Brand As API: Connect Differently,” to the big wigs of interactive media Sunday in Austin, Texas.

The annual SXSW Interactive Conference is a two-week long festival of technology, film and music innovation.

It connected 20,000 people from across the United States and the world for an excitingly chaotic, yet premier conference for interactive ideas, Platt said.

Platt and Faimon’s presentation was one of about 350 chosen to be at the conference of around 4,500 original entries.

Their topic was selected after voting from SXSW staff, online polls and the SXSW Advisory Board, which consisted of a group of 75 media experts from the U.S. and around the world, SXSW staff, plus online polls.

According to Platt, the two professors presented the idea that companies need to connect with consumers like the Application Program Interface (API) connects with users.

Their presentation defined API as a set of data programming instructions and standards allowing developers to access web data to build new applications

PLATT, SEE PAGE 9

ANDREW BRAY THE MIAMI STUDENT

SEARCHING FOR THE GOLDEN SNITCH

Miami University junior Katie Graham, planner of the club quidditch team, carries the quaffle towards the opposing team’s hoops during a quidditch match on Central Quad.

ORL requires event insurance for RHA

By Kaila Frisone

For The Miami Student

CONTRIBUTED BY GLENN PLATT

Miami’s Interactive Media Studies (AIMS) Co-Directors, Glenn Platt (pictured above) and Peg Faimon, presented their “Application Program Interface” idea Sunday at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin,Texas.

From the MET Quad Carnival to events held in individual residence halls, community councils and the Residence Hall Association (RHA) have been responsible for planning activities for their residents.

The Office of Resident Life (ORL) decided to require community councils to purchase insurance for events that meet certain criteria beginning in February, according to Katie Wilson, senior director for student engagement.

The insurance can be purchased through CampusConnexions and it has been available for all student organization events since August 2011.

According to Wilson, the need for insurance was a response to legal issues regarding event insurance around the nation. Wilson said there had not been a problem in the past with Miami but it is a precaution to protect the university and the leaders of the

organizations putting on events.

According to Jessica Easterly, RHA president, community councils are required to register events and programs through the Hub, a student organization management system set up by

This might affect the way they budget items and how they plan events.” jessica easterly

RHA PRESIDENT

the Office of Student Activities and Leadership.

Wilson said a risk assessment is taken when events are registered on the Hub and will let group leaders know if insurance is necessary or should be considered.

A scoring sheet gives events points based on criteria such

as time and date of the event, number of expected participants and the ages of the participants. Once 15 points are obtained, an on-campus event will require insurance.

Wilson said the median cost of the insurance in the fall semester was $140 but the prices vary based on the event.

“The Honors communities really love planning events,” Easterly said. “A good portion of the first year communities plans the most events. With upperclassmen it’s a little more challenging.”

Although Easterly does not anticipate the new ORL policy will have much impact on community councils, she said it could potentially limit them.

“This might affect the way they budget items and how they plan events, so they’ll just have to be smarter with using their money,” Easterly said.

Some are not happy with the

RHA, SEE PAGE 9

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CAMPUS

Editors Allison mcgillivray JENN SMOLA

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

campus@miamistudent.net

Departments ‘share their stuff,’ cut costs

By Kyle Murray

For The Miami Student

A collaborative effort by several Miami University departments will soon allow university staff to have access to a program that will make sharing resources easier.

The Classified Personnel Advisory Committee (CPAC) initially proposed the program called “Share Your Stuff,” according to Senior Director of Strategic Communications and Planning Cathy McVey. The program will be similar to Craigslist. Departments within the university will be able to post unneeded office supplies like paper, envelopes and toner cartridges onto a digital database, which will then be available at no cost to other departments in need of the items McVey said.

Once a match has been made, the two parties will negotiate transportation of the items.

The program allows staff and

faculty to transfer unwanted supplies to other departments in need of the items, thus freeing up storage space and reducing clutter McVey said.

In addition to reducing budgetary constraints by giving university departments access to free supplies, the program has been developed at virtually no cost.

“There were no hard costs; it was just [the cost of] our staff,” McVey said.

Senior Communication and Web Coordinator Randy Hollowell has been involved in creating the module that embodies the vision of “Share Your Stuff.”

He expects a link for the module to be included on the MyMiami page after the transition from Blackboard later this semester.

The program will initially be available to staff only but if the program is successful

SHARE STUFF,

LAUREN OLSON THE MIAMI STUDENT

HOLY HAIL!

After a warm Thursday, the skies over Oxford opened up for a brief hail storm. The poor weather was only a small setback for Miami students who have been enjoying the warm sunny weather all week.

SEE PAGE 5

2 parties violate ASG soft-campaigning rules

Student Senate introduces bill to improve academic advising for students

By Allison McGillivray

By Jenn Smola

Campus Editor

Two political parties were cited for violating election rules in the 2012 Associated Student Government (ASG) student body elections. Each of these parties were given a formal warning for their violations.

The Revolution Party consisting of junior Colten Kidwell, junior Molly Kenney and junior Matt Turk was given a formal warning for violating ASG student body election rules on March 5.

The Revolution party was cited for sending an e-mail over a listserv during the soft-campaigning period of the election, which violates ASG election rule 4.2B, Student Body Vice President Matthew Frazier said.

During soft-campaigning candidates are not allowed to announce they are running to more than one person over electronic media, which includes e-mail.

Kenney sent an individual email to a student who forwarded

that e-mail to his fraternity’s listserv, Kidwell said.

“We didn’t think they were going to do that; we didn’t tell them to do that at all,” Kidwell said.

Frazier said though the violation was likely accidental, ASG Elections Committee had to issue a violation.

“That student probably didn’t know that was illegal,” Frazier said.

The Student Voice Party consisting of junior John Stefanski, junior Lizzie Litzow, junior Michael Trivelli and junior Jake Westfall was given a formal warning for violating soft-campaigning rules on March 15.

Westfall, vice president candidate for student activities, sent an e-mail to a president of a student organization declaring he was running in the election.

That president sent an e-mail over the organizational listserv announcing Westfall’s campaign, according to Stefanski.

“There was never any intention of sending [an e-mail] out over a listserv during soft-campaigning,” Stefanski said.

Campus Editor

Members of Associated Student Government (ASG) are seeking to revamp academic advising at Miami University with a proposed bill discussed at their March 13 meeting. The proposed bill takes into consideration multiple aspects of advising for students.

The bill, sponsored by ASG’s Academic Affairs Coalition and the Executive Cabinet, includes 10 major recommendations for improving academic advising.

The bill proposes the creation of a “What-If?” degree-audit report (DAR) students could use to plan their schedules by plugging in theoretical majors, minors or courses.

Such a DAR has been available to advisors, but not to students. Additionally, the bill suggests the implementation of a “plain-language” DAR that students can more easily comprehend.

“For the majority of students, a DAR is just unreadable,” junior Tyler Sinclair, who serves as ASG’s secretary for academic affairs, said. “It’s essentially in a

We don’t have a vision of what advising is. We’re recommending that the university comes up with a definition of ‘what is advising?’ ” Tyler Sinclair

ASG SECRETARY FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

foreign language.”

The bill also calls for an online resource center for advising. According to Sinclair, an online resource center for advising could contain ways to schedule advising appointments, frequently asked questions, the general bulletin and other materials to help students find answers to their advising questions.

Another suggestion in the bill is mandatory meetings with an advisor each semester through the end of’ sophomore year to ensure students are on-track.

According to Sinclair, Miami currently lacks a unified vision of advising and the proposed bill aims to change that.

“We don’t have a vision of what

advising is,” Sinclair said. “We’re recommending that the university comes up with a definition of ‘what is advising?’”

Additionally, the bill aims to implement a better use of the advising resource AdvisorTrac so advisors can clearly understand how students have been advised in the past.

Other goals of the bill include using existing technologies and public relations for advising, Sinclair said.

Another goal is to assign postsecondary enrollment students a general bulletin before they are matriculated into the university.

ASG, SEE PAGE 5

Dining hall chefs turn up the heat in campus cooking competition

By Cynthia Marcinek For The Miami Student

ANNE GARDNER THE MIAMI STUDENT

Chef Marty Fasick prepares an omelette in the Harris dining hall kitchen Wednesday morning. Fasick participated on Harris’ winning team in the Miami Chef Competition.

Chefs from Harris, Bell Tower, Shriver, Martin, East Quad Dining Halls and Hamilton dining halls came together on March 7 for the Miami Chef Competition. This bi-annual competition allows members of the dining halls to work together as a fun way to achieve a greater level of team bonding.

The competition allows each team tocreateasignaturedish:asalad,soup or desert dish and an entrée with a side dish.

Each team was given secret ingredients they had to incorporate in their dish. This year the secret ingredients were raw sweet potato and coconut milk.

Marijo Nootz is the senior director of Shriver Center and is on the committee that decided on the secret food.

“Part of deciding the secret food is we want to give them something that’s going to challenge them and is usable in many foods,” Nootz said.

“This is the first year we required

international foods and a lot of international foods use coconut milk.”

This year’s competition added a twist to the rules that required the chefs to incorporate international food. Each team was assigned a country and required to make dishes that hail from that country.

My favorite part was seeing the cooks shine.”

Ginny Thiell EXECUTIVE CHEF

According to Jennifer Baker Williams, staff development specialist with housing, dining, recreation and business services and the host of the event, the countries represented in the contest were the

CHEFs, SEE PAGE 5

www.miamistudent.net

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

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COMMUNITY

Editors LISA REYMANN CATHERINE UBRY

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

COMMUNITY@miamistudent.net

POLICE Ohio raises education standards

BEAT Car owner discovers broken side mirror

Around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers met with a victim at the Oxford Police Department due to damage on their car. The victim said that sometime between 7:00 a.m. Sunday and 3:30 p.m.

Monday an unknown person(s) broke the driver’s side mirror on his truck. The vehicle was parked on Bishop Street when the incident occurred.

Rumpke trash can missing from property Around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, an officer met with a complainant in reference to a stolen trashcan. The victim said the Rumpke can was taken from the residence sometime during spring break.

Fraternity reports air conditioning heist Around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, the Delta Chi Fraternity reported three large outside air conditioning units stolen by unknown subjects(s). Two units were located on the southwest side of the house and one was located on the northeast side of the house. There are no suspects at this time.

Female wakes to find strange male in house Around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a 911 call about a burglary. Officers met with the residents of 318 N. Main St. and the resident said she was sleeping when she heard a person on the stairway on the second floor.

When she got out of bed, there was a white male with a black tshirt at her bedroom door. The resident yelled and the male went downstairs and then out the front door. The resident woke up the other residents and called 911.

Another officer was called to the scene and on the way spotted the male matching the description.

The officer stopped the male approximately two blocks away from the house and identified him as Miami University junior Kevin Ritz.

The officer drove the residents of the house to the male and who positively identified him. Ritz was brought back to the station where he submitted a Breathalyzer test.

His alcohol level was .112.

Ritz continued to yell at the officer, saying he had not gone in the house. He was then transported to Butler County Jail where he was charged with burglary.

TMS www.miamistudent.net

ONLINE

Nicole Smith

For The Miami Student

The Talawanda School District has claimed the highest rating of Excellent with Distinction but will be downgraded under a new ranking system.

The Ohio Department of Education proposed a change in Ohio school standards in February. The aim of this adjustment is to give school districts a reprieve from some of the provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act. This waiver of certain requirements will enable targeted attention on low-performing schools and allow schools to have more flexible use of government funding and more control over tutoring programs.

According to Patrick Gallaway, Ohio Department of Education’s Associate Director of Communications and Media, another new standard of particular importance is the establishment of a new rating system. The old system used terms such as Academic Emergency, Continuous Improvement or Excellent with Distinction,

while the new grading scale will rank schools with letter grades.

Holli Morrish, spokeswoman for the Talawanda School District explained the change.

“Everybody knows what a letter grade means . . . regular people are familiar with those terms,” Morrish said.

These new letter grades are meant to give citizens a reference on how schools are doing in clearer terms, according to Gallaway.

For the Talawanda School District this means receiving a B rating instead of an Excellent with Distinction.

Factors in the new rating system such as percent of indicators met, gap closing and performance indexing are more rigorous than in the former rating system, which is the reason for Talawanda’s B. “I think a lot of schools who were originally ranked at the top will now realize there are still improvements to be made,” said Miami first year Natasha Segarra, who believes this new system will help moti-

vate and revive schools that have been coasting.

“We are currently in the process of receiving answers back from the U.S. Department of Education . . . there’ve been challenges with the implementation, the biggest challenges made known to us were a bit unrealistic so we have developed a way to say to the Federal Government that we are still going to work towards accountability and moving students forward, but we need flexibility in meeting these goals,” Gallaway said, in reference to the proposal for flexibility on the NCLB provisions.

According to Morrish, Ohio is one of many states determined to raise schooling standards.

“The United States is not competing well with some of the other industrialized nations,” Morrish said.

She cited this as a reason for the nationwide movement to improve education.

Segarra echoed this sentiment saying, “it makes sense that education is being reformed; there is huge competition with foreign countries on

education standards.”

In 2009 Obama started the Race to the Top initiative, which rewards states that have the highest education standards with extra government funding for school systems. According to Morrish, the Race to the Top initiative helped to prepare Talawanda schools for more rigorous goals, like the new proposal.

“We are using the framework inside of Race to the Top to basically prepare our staff, our students and our community for what’s coming in the future: new standards and new assessments,” Morrish said.

The new assessments will be tied with technology such as online tests and assignments and an eventual switch from computers to iPads or social media devices.

“There will definitely be [a] transition to a lot more technology through instruction,” Gallaway said. “Many districts are already doing this, some first graders are already on iPads.”

He said he envisions an “evolution of assessment,” that will allow Ohio schools to adapt to the 21st century.

Local manufacturing jobs ‘trending upward’

By Catherine Ubry Community Editor

For the first time in 10 years local manufacturing jobs are on the rise throughout the greater Cincinnati region including Butler County, according to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

“In the greater Cincinnati area there has been improvement in manufacturing, especially in the metropolitan area from 2010-2011,” Assistant Bureau Chief of Labor Marketing Information, Brian Baker, of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, said.

Job numbers began to improve in the mid to latter part of 2011 and moving into January 2011, the number of manufacturing jobs were still above the 2010 level, according to Baker.

According to Baker, for January 2012 there were 108,900 manufacturing jobs in the metropolitan area, whereas there were 102,500 jobs for the area in January 2011.

“In Butler County, recent information says that the average number of manufacturing jobs for the second quarter of 2011 was 19,376, and for second quarter 2010, there were 19,595 jobs, which was only a slight decrease.

Overall manufacturing industry is still trending upwards,” Baker said.

Numbers often fluctuate depending on what type of manufacturing occurs throughout the quarter.

Quarters are not seasonally adjusted, meaning if manufacturers such as automobile companies have to slow down or take breaks, the information is not adjusted, according to Baker.

“We were hit hard by the recessionary period,” Baker said.

“There were things like layoffs that set manufacturing back, but just like statewide trends, we are rebounding in manufacturing and Butler County is sharing in some of that…it’s not as strong in some areas of jobs as others but it has definitely shown growth over the recessionary period.”

Baker is hopeful the positive trends will continue.

“Hopefully we are going to stay on this slow, steady increase… the point that we want to make is that Butler County has shown improvement since the recessionary period,” Baker said. “Lately it has been just more or less stable, but it has had quite a bit of improvement in the recessionary period.”

Matt Pfirman, general manager of steel manufacturer J.N. Linrose in Hamilton, Ohio said he has also seen growth in

manufacturing throughout the company.

“We are a four-year-old company and we’re relatively new, and compared to larger competitors we’re pretty small, but in the past few years we’ve done a lot of things to place ourselves in good positions,” Pfirman said. “Our January sales from 2011 to 2012 is already up 20 percent.”

Pfirman said he believes the company’s decisions will provide benefits in the long run.

“As the economy turns around, we’re hoping our decisions will allow us to grow market share,” Pfirman said.

Since J.N. Linrose is a start-up company, they have added capital investments, built a more efficient new manufacturing facility and bought new equipment, Pfirman said. The company has also focused on customer service.

“We’ve strategically worked with customers in the market place that we think will help us to get our foot in the door,” Pfirman said.

“We want to start building our relationships with customers so that later as their demand increases, they will hopefully choose to give us a part of their business. They’ll have a favorable impression of us and basically will want to do business with us then. And I think we have definitely seen signs that the economy is improving.”

Ross Meyer, executive director at Partners for a Competitive Workforce in the greater Cincinnati region, said he has also seen improved rates in manufacturing jobs as of late.

“We’re seeing good uptake in manufacturing jobs in the region,” Meyer said. “The challenge that we see is that the manufacturing jobs that we once had and then lost are different than the jobs we are gaining now.”

Manufacturing jobs now require more technical skills that require more than a high school education, unlike most of the jobs in the manufacturing industry before the recessionary period, according to Meyer.

“Our company works to better prepare people for work in manufacturing now and we are seeing good growth. The majority of jobs that are coming back are in manufacturing,” Meyer said.

Miami University sophomore Alexa Livadas said she believes newer manufacturing jobs requiring higher skills will be a positive asset for the industry.

“I think with new manufacturing jobs coming back into the market, more people will be eager to take them and I definitely think that it is going to keep the industry going,” Livadas said.

MIKE ZATT THE MIAMI STUDENT

UPTOWN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

Renovations occurred over spring break to repair piping.

Butler County voters stay home on Super Tuesday

By Libby Mueller

For The Miami Student

The presidential primary elections may have inspired hope for a change in government policies and administration in the past, but Super Tuesday 2012 failed to galvanize Ohio voters.

Only 25 percent of registered voters cast ballots this year, a decrease from the 2008 primaries when 45 percent of registered Ohioans cast their ballots, according to data provided by the Ohio Secretary of State.

Ohio is not alone in experiencing a decrease in voter turnout.

Among Ohio’s 88 counties, Butler County had the second lowest voter turnout percentage at 18 percent, according to data listed by the Ohio Secretary of State.

But Butler County Republican Party Chairman, David Kern, said he does not think low voter turnout for the primaries is an indicator of voter turnout for the general election in November.

“I think there will be a huge turnout to get Obama out of office,” Kern said.

In fact, Republicans turned out in a slightly higher percentage than in 2008 despite an overall low voter turnout for the primaries. The Bipartisan Policy Center reported 12.8 percent of Republicans voted in the 2008 GOP primaries as opposed to 13.9 percent in 2012.

Miami first-year Zach Stevens said, “Republicans tend to turn out with the same number of voters regardless of what year it is.”

However, Professor of Political Science Bryan Marshall said the negative campaigning for the Republican primary may have taken its toll on voter turnout.

“When you look at the election research, it suggests that when you have negative, mudslinging campaigns, turnout goes down,” he said.

Marshall also said that the lack of salient issues on the ballot may have contributed to the decrease in

voter turnout.

Stevens said he did not feel strongly enough about the candidates in the primary elections to vote. He blamed the low voter turnout on lack of knowledge about the candidates’ positions.

“It seems for the most part people are not aware of the candidates’ positions,” he said.

Kern said people seem to be politically indifferent, which may have led to a decrease in voter turnout.

“The general electorate is made up of people who are not highly involved in politics,” Kern said.

Junior English literature major Justine Furbeck said she did not vote in the primary elections.

“The news did not make me interested in any particular candidate,” she said.

Furbeck also said the primaries this year did not have the same political excitement as in 2008, contributing to the low voter turnout.

“Obama’s running for another term and there isn’t any exciting competition this year like that between Hillary Clinton and Obama [for the Democratic nomination],” Furbeck said.

Mitt Romney won the Republican presidential primary in Ohio, defeating Rick Santorum by a one percent margin. Josh Mandel clinched the GOP primary election for Ohio Senator by picking up 63 percent of the vote. Two Ohio U.S. House of Representative incumbents, Republican Jean Schmidt and Democrat Dennis Kucinich, lost their primary elections to Republican Brad Wenstrup and to another incumbent, Democrat Marcy Kaptur, respectively.

Marshall said he still believes voter turnout will be high in November.

“My sense is that in the general election we should expect to have a very high turnout,” Marshall said.

“The negative campaigning in the primaries is one thing, but in the general election, I wouldn’t be surprised if voter turnout is back up in the 60 percent range nationwide.”

www.miamistudent.net

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012 CAMPUS

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Students and faculty speak out about mounting Syrian conflict

By Sarah Shew Editorial Editor

As the Syrian conflict persists, U.S. politicians, Miami University ROTC cadets and international education administrators feel the pressure of the international issue.

Ann Rahmat, assistant director of international recruitment, said, “in choosing countries to travel to, the office has to question if it would be a safe destination for a counselor to visit. Because of this we may not be travelling to Syria, Iraq, Iran or Libya any time soon.”

Last week, Syrian military forces began efforts to wipe away evidence of the violence in Homs, the city most affected by the conflict, according to The New York Times.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad encouraged this operation in preparation for the arrival of U.N. officials into the country.

Both the Syrian conflict and governmental decisions regarding it impact the Miami community.

If politicians of either party determine that U.S. military intervention in Syria is necessary, Miami ROTC

personnel expecting to graduate in the next year may see Syrian combat, as graduating ROTC cadets fulfill at least 4 years of service, according to the Navy ROTC and Air Force ROTC websites.

Jenny Smith, a sophomore Air Force ROTC student said, “As someone who will have to deal with the repercussions of the events that have been occurring in Syria, I hope that the decisions made … are made with concern for the overall well-being of the American and Syrian people.”

The Obama Administration maintained that diplomatic and financial force was the best solution for handling the Assad regime although Obama requested the Pentagon for military strategies regarding intervention in Syria, according to The New York Times.

“I don’t care where you come from, I am for protecting rights of people,” Saeda Abu-Attiyeh, Palestinian native and Arabic professor at Miami said. “Will military intervention in Syria produce the changes that the United States wants, or will thousands more people die and terrible destruction be the only results?”

’99 Miami mens’ basketball team lived Cinderella story in March Madness tournament

By Lauren Ceronie Editor in Chief

This is part of a series The Miami Student is running about the University Archives. All information in the following article was obtained from the University Archives with the help of University Archivist Bob Schmidt.

Brackets have been drawn out, bets made and office pools agreed upon in preparation for the holiday die-hard sports fans have been waiting for: March Madness. While March Madness is in full swing at Miami University, students won’t have the opportunity to see the RedHawks play in the tournament this year, but they can look back to the time when the Miami’s men’s basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16.

The 1999 regular season was a good one for the Miami men’s basketball team. The team, coached

by Charlie Coles, Jermaine Henderson, Don Moormeier and James Whitford, had a 22-7 record and perhaps Miami’s most famous basketball player to date, Wally Szczerbiak.

The team ended the season hot but lost the Mid-American Conference Championship title to Kent State University. Despite this loss, Miami was given an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region.

Residents of the region felt confident that Miami would excel in the tournament. This was exemplified by a prediction that Miami would reach the elite eight and face Michigan State University.

“Big Ten, big deal,” the Cincinnati Enquirer said before the beginning of the tournament. “If Miami makes it this far they won’t care if Magic Johnson and Greg Keslar suit up for the Spartans.”

Miami’s first game of the tournament paired them with the University of Washington in New Orleans. The RedHawks, carried by

Szczerbiak’s career-high 43 points, won 59-58 and advanced to the second round of the tournament.

In this round the ’Hawks faced the No. 2 seeded Utah, a favorite in the tournament. Miami was the clear underdog and even looked the part next to Utah’s abnormally tall team.

Coach Coles has said he received as many condolences and congratulations after learning his men would be playing a team that won 23 games in a row. Despite this, Miami exceed all expectations and topped Utah 66-58.

The ’Hawks became the Cinderella story of the tournament, even

He said the ones that came to his mind are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, and Qatar.

I hope that the decisions made...are made with “As recruiters we have to be concern for overall well-being of the American and aware of such uprising and unrest, Syrian people.” but I don’t think it directly affects our recruitment effort,” Rahmat Jenny Smith said. “We may not travel to those AIR FORCE ROTC STUENT countries, but if students contact us … indicating interest in Miami, we treat him/her as any other Saleh Yousef, Arabic professor University’s Office of International foreign students looking for a libat Miami with a background in po- Education, in 2010, 12 out of 840 eral arts education opportunity.” litical science, said he does not feel enrolled international students As the Syrian conflict shows no that U.S. foreign policy in the region represented Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, direct, simple solution and as casuwill change even with the election. Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, alties mount, concern among politiHe said more behind the scenes and Saudi Arabia, but not Syria. cians and university personnel rise. intervention is key for the U.S. David Keitges, Miami’s direc Amnesty International re “It’s like that saying, ‘leading tor of international education said, cently released documents profrom behind;’ it’s not as public as “we don’t enroll many Middle viding a glimpse into the expeople would like, not many coun- Eastern students although Inter- treme violations of human rights tries have U.S. military capabilities national Admission has been try- occurring in the nation. These or quick response,” Yousef said. ing to recruit them … we think tragic accounts indicate how vio“We can bring all of these things and it would be better for the Miami lent the Syrian has become, and financially we can do this, whether community if we had additional how difficult the solution will be. we help publicly or privately.” students from other countries.” “I encourage diplomatic ap Syrian unrest and general Rahmat added, “Miami has proaches to change,” Abu Attiyeh disorder in the Middle East also started actively recruiting students said. “Military intervention that rebegan in the midst of Miami from the Middle East for a couple sults in death will only bring accuUniversity attempts to recruit of years. We look for countries that sations of unwarranted intervention more students from the region. are typically stable politically and by those living in the Middle East According to Miami show economic and social growth.” and elsewhere.”

SHARE STUFF, FROM PAGE 2

it is possible it would be expanded to include student organizations, Hollowell said.

Vice President of Student Organizations for Associated Student Government (ASG) Meghan Wadsworth said she immediately saw an opportunity to expand the program after learning of the “Share Your Stuff” program.

She said she hopes to not only allow student organizations to participate in the program but also to expand the scope of the program to include larger value items like printers and other electronics.

Additionally, she said she hopes to include everyday items student organizations either lack the storage capacity for or need to own themselves.

Wadsworth said she thinks the program will allow Miami to

ASG Residents of the region felt confident that Miami would excel in the tournament.

making the front page of S­ ports Illustrated. The author of the story inside fawned over Szczerbiak and complemented the player’s morals for having dinner with his parents instead of showering girls on Bourbon Street with beads.

Miami garnered national attention on their journey to the Sweet 16 where they faced the University of Kentucky. A Miami Student editorial commented that, “Miami has emerged as the nation’s favorite underdog.”

And underdog they were. The University of Kentucky had bested Miami in 1998 in the second round of the NCAA tournament and the ’Hawks had a 4-19 lifetime record against the Wildcats.

Although much of the nation was rooting for the underdog, Miami followed precedent and lost the Sweet 16 game 58-43.

The Miami RedHawks made it to the NCAA tournament once again in 2007 and lost to Oregon 58-56.

When you’re finished reading

The Miami Student, please recycle!

FROM PAGE 2 According to Sinclair, this would ensure those students stability in their academic requirements.

In the past, post-secondary enrollment option students were advised to take classes in order to meet certain university requirements but by the time they became a full-time student at Miami, the requirements they had been working towards may have changed, Sinclair said.

The bill also calls for expanding the role of first-year advisors in residence halls to take on more of a “life advisor” role. In this

CHEFS,

FROM PAGE 2 countries that represent the majority of international students on Miami’s Campus.

This year the winning team came from Harris Dining Hall. The team was made up of Amber Osborne, James Broome, Marty Fasick, Sharene Hamblin, Jenny Hickman, Sarah Huddelson, Dawn Pullum and Danial Whalen. They were assigned the country of Kenya, making deconstructed beef stew their signature dish.

make better use of its budget and will allow for better utilization of existing resources.

ASG Treasurer Michael Trivelli described his vision of the program as a resource library for student organizations.

“We are being more frugal and fiscally responsible and at the same time organizations will have access to more resources than they would have independently,” Trivelli said.

McVey said the “Share Your Stuff” program could be available to faculty and administrators as early as May and is currently waiting for the campus portal transition expected at the end of this semester.

“The module has been built for the new CampusEAI version of the portal, not Blackboard,” McVey said.

Trivelli and Wadsworth hope to realize ASG’s vision for the program by next year.

“I would like to have a framework up and running by next year so the resource library can

capacity these advisors could potentially help students who may leave Miami due to personal reasons, according to Sinclair.

Ultimately, the bill calls for a more centralized advising system at Miami.

“We think the university would be benefited by a more centralized advising system with less layers of advising,” Sinclair said. “A decentralized system creates more room for error and more stress on students.”

ASG will revisit the proposed bill at their next meeting.

Vice Chair of University Senate James Kiper was also present at the meeting to discuss what issues stu-

dents have that University Senate members are not aware of.

“If it’s important for students, it’s important for us,” Kiper said in response to the points raised by senators.

Senators also voted in new offcampus senator, junior Charles Lee, and voted on sanctions the for student organization Drinks All Around, which previously misused ASG funds. The senate voted that the organization repay the $600 that ASG had given them.

Additionally, the organization will be prohibited from ASG’s fall funding cycle and will be subject to two semesters of audits thereafter.

The Harris team’s strategy was to practice, according to Osborne.

“We had a pretty good idea of what we were going to make,” Osborne said.

Ginny Thiell, an executive chef and a judge in the competition, said she was impressed by the culinary creations of the Harris team.

“Harris’ dish represented their country was true to their cultural roots, showed a high level of creativity, tasted phenomenal and was beautiful,” Thiell said.

Thiell said she enjoyed judging the competition.

“My favorite part was seeing the cooks shine, the teamwork was phenomenal, seeing the groups doing such great work in the 90 minutes they had; plus I tasted a lot of good food,” Thiell said.

Williams tried to make sure the audience was involved by talking about the health benefits of the secret foods.

First-year Emily Hagen did not attend the event but thought it was a good idea to hold the competition.

“I think we need to recognize the cooks at this school because they do so much for us,” Hagen said.

I would like to have a framework up and running by next year.”

Michael trivelli

ASG TREASURER

continue to grow into the future,” Trivelli said.

Sophomore Cuyler Brewer said he liked ASG’s idea to develop a resource library for student organizations.

“If organizations have unused resources just sitting there, you might as well have another organization take advantage of them,” Brewer said.

6

OPINION

Editors Rachel Sacks Sarah Shew

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

editorial@miamistudent.net

EDITORIAL The following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

Miami and ORL should practice what they preach

PATRICK GEYSER THE MIAMI STUDENT

When Miami University junior Kaeden Kass, a transgender male, applied to be a resident assistant (RA), he informed the Office of Residence Life (ORL) of his gender identity and asked to be placed with male residents.

ORL informed him that being placed in an all-male hall would be acceptable. However, shortly after Kass was offered a position as an RA, he was told he would have to be assigned to an all-female hall due to the fact that his birth certificate stated he was once a legal female.

Kass is taking legal action against Miami University administrators for violating the university’s discrimination policy. Kass decided to file an official charge of discrimination with the Office of Equity and Equal Opportunity against the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Susan Mosley-Howard, as well as against Robin Parker, general counsel in the Office of the President and Gerald Olsen, director of the Office of Residence Life.

The editorial board of The Miami Student feels that ORL and other university administrators have failed to uphold their previous statements stressing the importance of diversity.

ORL is not practicing what it

preaches regarding non-discrimination or fostering an educational and work environment free from discrimination on any level or reason.

So often at Miami we hear about how we should accept different people we encounter, on or off campus.

From our first-year Resident Assistants to President Hodge, university representatives often preach that Miami students and staff should embrace open-mindedness.

By granting and then denying Kass’ opportunity to serve as a resident assistant, ORL failed to maintain its own high standard of equality and diversity. The editorial board of The Miami Student is disappointed ORL misled Kass, deliberately or otherwise, to believe his gender affiliation would not be an issue, only to later renege.

While Miami claims to pride itself on the acceptance of all people, ORL’s recent failures call the entire university’s commitment to diversity into question.

In order to prevent similar failures in the future, the editorial board of The Miami Student believes the entire Miami community must reconsider its application of the written diversity policies that it claims to hold in such regard. After all, actions speak louder than words.

Student on the Street The Syrian military shelled the city of Dera’a Wednesday, continuing violence. Amnesty International reports gross human rights violations as people come forward, sharing stories of torture. We asked people for their reactions.

WANJUN BEI THE MIAMI STUDENT

I’ve been following the news and he [Assad] needs to be arrested.

Other embassies are leaving Syria and I hope the U.N. steps in.

HIRA BASHIR

Rule of Thumb

First-year

SXSW Professor Presentation Congratulations Professor Platt & Professor Faimon!

ASG Candidate Violations Follow the rules campaigners.

I have no idea what’s going on in the world.

STEPHEN CARUSOTAYLOR JUNIOR

Miami Women’s basketball Great job making the WNIT, and good luck next season!

The Miami Student

I know there’s a lot of persecution of Christians, and the government isn’t being nice.

JAIME COAKER sophomore

Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826

EDITORIAL BOARD lauren ceronie Editor in Chief

catherine ubry COMMUNITY Editor

jm rieger News Editor

Lisa Reymann COMMUNITY Editor

sarah shew Editorial Editor

allison mcgillivray Campus Editor

rachel sacks Editorial Editor

Jenn Smola Campus Editor

billy rafael Arts and entertainment

brian gallagher Sports Editor

All letters must be signed in order to be printed. Please send letters via e-mail to: editorial@miamistudent.net We reserve the right to edit for length, content and clarity.

I think President Assad is being attacked by the international community on false pretenses. The U.S. media is too ethnocentric and doesn’t question whether other terrorist organizations are in the area.

JACOB TURNBOW sophomore

www.miamistudent.net

FRIDAY, March 16, 2012 OP ED

ORIANA’S OBSERVATION Oriana Pawlyk

Uganda: Did the creators of ‘KONY 2012’ bypass an even bigger message?

People are looking to Uganda more than ever before thanks to Invisible Children’s filmmaker Jason Russell and CEO Ben Keesey.

Their 30-minute documentary about Joseph Kony, an African warlord, resulted in over 74 million YouTube hits in less than a week.

The documentary aims to direct awareness to Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its atrocities of kidnapping children and forcing them into a lifetime of warfare.

Even though the video has raised significant awareness, has the interpretation of this human rights crisis been twisted out of context? Critics, politicians and even advocates to the cause are saying maybe this was not the correct way to shed light on this international issue.

Russell himself addressed critics saying, “[The video] definitely oversimplifies the issue.

This video is not the answer, it’s just the gateway into the conversation. And we made it quick and oversimplified on purpose.”

But oversimplifying the video possibly masked other problems beyond the Ugandan mission: In the article, “Why KONY 2012 created the wrong buzz,” author TMS Ruge argues, “More children die of malaria, diarrhea and nodding disease in northern Uganda on a daily basis than the monthly average of Kony’s 25 years of killing. Where’s the slick viral video for those children?”

Social media became the gateway for global engagement, yet did it give voices to the voiceless?

Ruge makes an even greater point when he says, “[KONY 2012] trotted out the same tired line about Africa. Torture, rape, conscription; tent poles for the single, sad story on Africa that Western society has come to accept ... the charity missed an opportunity to empower the many Ugandan and Central African voices newly visible with the advent of mobile

technology and social media tools on the continent.”

Should the international community take initiative to help?

Yes. But should creators like Russell and “Western society” as a whole necessarily become the leaders, the front men of this issue the International Criminal Court has tried to tackle for years? Who should hold the civic responsibility?

Russell, Keesey and Invisible Children altogether lack a greater perspective — they may be advocates against the abuse and manipulation in LRA military practices but there is always more to the story.

According to a CNN article, Nick Thompson reports that KONY 2012, “exaggerates the scale of LRA abductions,” and quotes a source who says, “1.

Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn’t been for 6 years; 2. the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds.”

Kony committed these crimes in the 1990s and early 2000s according to Christiane Amanpour, and while he still remains a wanted man he is more of a threat in the Democratic Republic of Congo than in Uganda.

The use of social media may raise awareness and while organizations like Invisible Children aim to do more good than harm, these campaigns and videos also become a setback for countries like Uganda to exercise their own power and agency over such civic issues.

They reinforce ideas that Africa is hopeless and Western countries should take charge in “rescuing” them.

While the West plays a significant role in international relations, national governments must set their own agendas to handle criminal affairs.

Pressuring Uganda’s government to take charge and to raise public awareness is one thing. To define their goals and military solutions for them is another.

7

ESSAY Kiel Hawk

hawkkw2@muohio.edu

Heartbeat bill too invasive, politicians cannot define or enforce meaning of ‘life’ “The only voice a child has is its heartbeat. The only chance it has to scream I’m alive is its heartbeat.”

Oklahoma State Senator Dan Newberry was quoted in a Feb. 27 online news report at www. tulsaworld.com in defense of legislation that would require Oklahoma women at least eight weeks into pregnancy to listen to the fetal heartbeat before deciding to proceed with an abortion.

These statements should alarm anyone with any sort of comprehension of fetal and embryonic development, but not nearly as much as the fact that the passage of an even more extreme version of this legislation is likely going to happen in Ohio this year.

The only opposition left is a Republican senate (23 of 33 members are Republican) and a Republican governor.

Last June, House Bill 125 (HB 125) passed through Ohio’s House of Representatives by a margin of 54-44.

The bill would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which occurs around four weeks after fertilization or six weeks into pregnancy.

After the super Tuesday primaries, the Ohio senate is supposedly going to address the bill once again. If passed, Ohio could officially call itself home to the strictest anti-abortion legislation in the country. That is until the Supreme Court rules the law unconstitutional.

Abortion in the U.S. is legal until a fetus has been deemed potentially viable outside the mother’s womb.

This policy was put into place by the Supreme Court in 1973 as a result of Roe v. Wade.

While identification of a heartbeat may qualify as a way of offering an objective assessment that could be used as a line in the sand for abortion legislation, how meaningful is it? Does a heartbeat constitute life?

Six weeks into pregnancy the cells that will eventually form the

central nervous system are a hollow tube of progenitor “founder” cells that have yet to begin asymmetrical division to actually produce the neurons that will form the brain.

This asymmetrical division doesn’t begin until around seven weeks after conception, nine weeks into pregnancy and the process takes about three months to fully form the cerebral cortex.

Calling a four-week old embryo a child and using a heartbeat as a metaphor for a voice, is either ignorant, intentionally misleading or a poor choice of words.

A description from Senator

voters in Ohio support HB 125 by a 2-1 margin because pro-life ideals, Christianity and Republican conservatism are essentially a package deal.

The heartbeat bill is one step away from banning abortion all together, which is of course what most pro-life advocates really want.

And isn’t it ironic that conservatism is generally associated with limited governmental intervention into people’s personal lives?

What could be more invasive than telling a man and a woman that they are obligated to have

“The only voice a child has is its heartbeat. The only chance it has to scream I’m alive is its heartbeat.”

Dan Newberry

Oklahoma Senator

Newberry about what it means to be “alive” would assuredly be amusing. Any biologist would struggle with this question.

The more that is learned about the nature of life, the hazier and more unreasonable many prior explanations become.

Humans categorize and label because conceptualization is easier when information is separated into distinct packets.

The tendency to do so, however, is done sometimes arbitrarily and usually in spite of continuums and gradients.

Organismal development is a continual process.

Agreed, a line needs to be drawn at some point, but pro-life movements seem to be built more so on emotion and religious idealism than sound reasoning.

It’s no surprise that the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute notes that Republican

a kid?

Protecting life is a noble venture, but political action needs to be predicated upon a reasonable understanding of what life is and what would be best for all conscious organisms of the present and future.

Forcing parenthood or adoption sounds like more problematic and unfair choices than not allowing a four-week-old fetus develop.

There are glaring differences between small bundles of for the most part, undifferentiated cells, and fully functioning, thinking, feeling organisms that have affected the lives of those around them.

If, and up to what point, abortion should be allowed are not questions with easy answers, and where the line should be drawn may be debatable, but the heartbeat bill definitely misses the mark.

THE CONTRARIAN J. DANIEL WATKINS

Foxconn controversy revisited: Responding to criticism and reevaluating the facts regarding the Chinese factory I love debate. Open exchange is undoubtedly the means by which we best learn from one another.

Color me surprised then, when a response to my Foxconn piece happened to be bountiful with criticism but lacking in substance.

One, Mr. Volkman, claimed I had not followed the subject long enough or done enough research, then painted me to be necessarily against ‘workers rights.’

All this, for suggesting Foxconn exists as a practical step in development.

I shall begin on the subject of suicides. Besides having mentioned them in my own piece, Mr. Volkman introduces a logic that states factory conditions under Foxconn are directly responsible for these deaths.

Here’s a good example of such responsibility that went unmentioned: at one point, one suicidal person left a note explaining they jumped in order to provide for his family.

Foxconn had a remuneration policy to take care of this situation but that was eliminated when a jumper made it clear the policy was the spur of his suicide.

By the numbers, Foxconn suicides are below the average of China. China’s average is at best, roughly 14 people per 100,000 according to the World Health Organization.

though not the amount.

Their entire existence is predicated on the idea that these corporations are the entities best suited to make progress. Among the sources I listed previously was ABC’s

It seems then that Mr. Volkman’s rather harsh tone against my work, calling my considerations “despicable,” is shaky at best.

For Foxconn, over a time period of more than a year, 17 employees of 300,000 in one plant committed suicide.

Logically then, Foxconn is also responsible for saving lives.

Of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), Mr. Volkman assumes immediate corruption on part of the FLA, due to its funding from the corporations which it audits.

This assumption might come from a misunderstanding of the FLA. I refer you to the founder, Auret Van Heerden, and his TED talk in 2010. They make it clear that companies fund the audits,

Foxconn presentation.

Here, they visited some of the surrounding rural communities from which large portions of young Foxconn employees come.

In these areas, they talk of benefitting from the jobs their family members have as Foxconn employees. Things are better for them, but according to Mr. Volkman, “These jobs do not provide…income.”

Corruption of unions might seem highly important, but this assumes unions in Foxconn factories exist in a similar strength or fashion to those such as in the

United States.

This is clearly not the case. I disregard the claim entirely that there is such a strong system of unions that they are able to quell workers’ rebellions. The opposite seems to be the case, as outsiders are encouraging the strengthening of unions.

It’s hard to argue Mr. Volkman’s notion oft mentioned “workers’ power” as it seems to exist outside of working. He asks, “why do we have to fight for jobs anymore?” followed by, “Why aren’t we instead fighting for good jobs…”

I wonder then, of Mr. Volkman’s real message. I’m sure he is aware that jobs simply not are, but that they must be provided.

Criticizing, at all costs those that provide these jobs, when they are those with the highest capacity to empower progress, seems counterintuitive.

Down to the barest arguments, I fail to see what Mr. Volkman’s suggestions are. Sure, nobody is disagreeing that things need to get better.

I pose this question: where is the practicality of promoting a concept so vague and poorly fleshed out that onlookers are left only with the vision of a slightly referenced

Marxist Utopia, and simultaneously putting so many groups down while doing so?

I gather this based on Mr. Volkman’s tautological lessons — an explanation in his letter offers that teachers teach children — of labor. He speaks of poor college students and their struggles.

He even says students going into “marketing and accounting” are those, which “don’t understand … a factory worker builds their car.”

I’m sure they do, but I’m betting they don’t think it’s relevant. I know a long list of jobs in the United States is irrelevant to a discussion of a rather specific scenario. Drawing extraneous universals from a tailored argument provides little substance to ponder.

It seems then that Mr. Volkman’s rather harsh tone against my work, calling my considerations “despicable,” is shaky at best. For if the mere consideration of ideas outside his own is despicable and he implicitly states we should have the same opinions if we have the same information, it seems to me Mr. Volkman’s mind has been made up, regardless of what I have to say.

8

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

www.miamistudent.net

www.miamistudent.net

TRANSGENDER, FROM PAGE 1

investigation by an outside party will begin now and could go until May 5.

Mosley-Howard was unavailable for comment and Olsen declined to comment.

First-year Katie Tank explained why she feels university officials took the position they have.

“Miami has probably chosen to take this stand to try to eliminate controversy,” Tank said.

“They probably thought sticking to a legal definition of gender would be the easiest way to do this, but it looks like there will be controversy anyway.”

RHA,

FROM PAGE 1 requirement to have insurance.

Andrew Hayes, a resident assistant in Havighurst Hall, said the new requirement has already negatively affected his hall.

“I’m against this new policy,” Hayes said. “I advise the Havighurst community council and the policy has deterred us from putting on events.”

Hayes said the residence hall was planning on hosting a Western Campus sand volleyball tournament to bring the Western community together but with the added insurance cost they cannot afford the event.

“It’s important to develop the community through programs and we can’t do that if we’re worried about the cost,” Hayes said.

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012 Kass is nearing a decision on his job offer.

“I feel like I’ve already lost,” Kass said. “They’ve already basically said they aren’t going to respect my gender identity and so I pretty much have no choice but to deny the job.”

Both Kass and Woolway expressed a desire to raise awareness of these issues and encourage a greater level of acceptance on campus.

“Trans students are members of our community here; we should be working to make our residence halls and other places on campus open and inclusive for anybody that is a part of our community,” Woolway said.

Katie Deeds, a resident assistant in Brandon Hall, thinks this new policy will negatively affect community councils and students might not participate if councils cannot afford to put on events.

“I fear we might lose a lot of kids that could possibly really help Miami with their contributions,” Deeds said.

On the other hand, Mercedes Williams, a resident assistant in Hamilton Hall, does not think the new policy will hurt the community councils.

“I feel like they give us a lot of money already,” Williams said.

“There are other ways to fundraise money if we need it too.”

Wilson said insurance is a valid request for funds through ASG, however Wilson anticipates most council events will not exceed the 15 points or require insurance.

PLATT,

FROM PAGE 1 powered by their functionality.

“API’s let you pull data from different sources and do what you want to do with it,” Platt said.

Platt and Faimon then applied the idea of API’s to a marketing approach and argued that companies should modify their traditional methods of advertising.

“With this idea, for example, instead of Amazon just being known as a company that sells books online, people get to see pieces of that company and what it can offer them and how they can use it to their own individual benefit and everyday value,” Platt said. “We believe this idea could really be a game changing type of model.”

Platt and Faimon’s idea was well received as they presented to a filled room.

“People were very interested in our idea and there was really a great deal of excitement over it,” Platt said.

In fact during their presentation, listeners’ Twitter accounts fired up with positive reactions.

One audience member, @CraigElimeliah, tweeted “Best session yet. Brand as API. Lively conversation and a lot of passion behind this topic,” while another, @kernanjl, said, “I think it’s

WRITERS WANTED.

official #brandasapi is the #sxsw break-out of 2012.”

As well as getting warm reception from a captive audience, the duo experienced other benefits while presenting at SXSW, Platt said.

These benefits include the influence that the other conferencegoers had on their idea.

“We presented to the best and brightest in the field and we’re getting great feedback to help improve, share the idea and help it

students,” Platt said.

Junior Anthony Collant and sophomore Hudson Kelly both have Platt as a professor. They agreed his experience at SXSW would be helpful in their learning.

“It’s really impressive because it shows [Platt’s] commitment to the field,” Collant said. “He’s definitely dedicated to bringing in real world experiences to the classroom and teaching from up to date examples.”

API’s let you pull data from different sources and do what you want with it.” glenn platt

MIAMI INTERACTIVE MEDIA STUDIES CO-DIRECTOR

evolve,” Platt said. “Every single session is incredible; everywhere you look there is just off the charts networking and really amazing opportunities to connect with others in the field.”

Platt also said the experience would give him an advantage for teaching.

“This puts me in the position to talk with my students and discuss the new technologies I’ve seen; it really gives us a leg up for our

As with the ‘Brand as API’ idea, Platt’s approach to teaching is innovative. Both students said that by presenting at SXSW, Faimon and Platt highlighted and improved their reputation as quality professors.

“Platt is here to encourage us, to get ourselves out there, be productive and do whatever we do as professionally as possible,” Kelly said. “The benefit is pretty indescribable.”

The MiamiStudent is looking for beat reporters and staff writers.

E-mail news@miamistudent.net for more information.

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FYI

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

The Miami Student Oldest university paper in the United States, established in 1826

Lauren Ceronie Editor in Chief JM Rieger News Editor

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HOCKEY,

11

BASEBALL,

FROM PAGE 12

FROM PAGE 12

struggled in October and fell out of the polls. After their sweep of Michigan State University, the RedHawks have returned to the top 10 and sit at No. 7 in the USCHO.com poll and at No. 8 in the USA Today poll. Western Michigan is No. 14 in both polls.

“I think there has been a growth and maturity process,” Blasi said.

“Obviously, you don’t start the season the way you finish.”

In the PairWise Rankings, which reflect the NCAA Tournament selection process, the RedHawks have moved into a tie for fourth. That puts them in a position to grab a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament.

Additionally, junior forward Reilly Smith is one of three finalists for CCHA Player of the Year.

The winner will be announced Thursday in Detroit.

Puck drop for the semi-final against Western Michigan is 4:35 p.m. Friday.

If the RedHawks win, they will play the winner of Michigan-Bowling Green game 7:35 p.m. Saturday.

If they lose, they will play 3:35 p.m. Saturday in the consolation game.

In addition, the NCCA Tournament selection show is at noon Sunday. The team is hosting a watch party at Brick Street Bar and Grille starting at 11:30 a.m.

Fans can listen to both games on Miami IMG Sports Network or live on Miami Student Radio at www.redhawkradio.com.

Sophomore designated hitter John Crummy carried his success from spring break into the final game, going 3-5 at the plate with three RBIs. Sophomore third baseman Dan Walsh had his first extrabase hit of the year on a two run triple during the nine-run fourth inning Wednesday. He added another hit and another RBI later in the game to lead the team with three RBIs. Senior second baseman Ryan Brenner came into the final game riding a 15-game hit streak but was one of the few players to not record a hit in the series finale. He did pick up two hits in the opener though before his streak was snapped.

“I’m just seeing the ball pretty well,” Brenner said. “I’m getting some good pitches to hit. I’m hitting it where they’re not.”

In addition to the offensive surge the team has experienced lately, the RedHawks have also played solid defense, turning a double play in every game this year.

The ’Hawks will stay at home over the weekend for the final three games of their five game homestand. They will face Morehead State University (9-8), who Miami took two of three games from last year.

The Red and White will play a doubleheader against Morehead State 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and will play the final game 1 p.m. Sunday at McKie Field.

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SPORTS

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FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012 Michael Solomon

The good,the bad and the ugly

MU sets sights on CCHA

Feeling good about the dance It’s finally here. My favorite month of the year: March.

March is the month of St. Patrick’s Day, the month when it starts to feel like spring and for all you sports fans out there, you do not need me to tell you what the month of March means.

Say it with me: “March Madness.”

There were some great story lines this year heading into the tournament, such as the University of Kentucky getting a No. 1 overall seed and the University of Missouri getting their highest seed in a long time, but there were also some stories that were less publicized.

Every sport has “feel-good” stories, but the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is inundated with them. Just take a look at the field and the stories emerge when you look close enough.

Most people picking brackets do not know anything about the small, “mid-major” programs. They do not know their top scorer, their conference affiliation or anything about their season.

But every team has their own story. Here are just a few of them to think about as the tournament begins.

Just a few weeks ago, the Lamar University Cardinals were in the middle of their Southland Conference schedule when their coach, Pat Knight (son of famed Indiana University coach Bobby Knight) went on a tirade about the lack of effort of his senior class.

This rant -- reminiscent of the elder Knight -- criticized the seniors on Lamar for being the worst class and the worst leaders in Knight’s history as a coach.

However, instead of falling apart at their coach’s harsh words, the Cardinals won their last seven games and played their way into the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference crown. Talk about a turnaround.

Speaking of turnarounds, how

about Western Kentucky University? Hopefully, most people saw the Hilltoppers historic comeback Tuesday night to take down Mississippi Valley State University in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. However, that is not the first time this season the team has made a comeback.

After falling to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns in an overtime game where Louisiana-Lafayette won while having six players on the court, the team fired its coach and has since been on a mission.

In their last 18 games the Hilltoppers went 11-7 and went on to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title, earning their spot into the field of 68 as the only team without a winning record (15-18). The team then kept the story going by beating a Mississippi Valley State team that had lost only one game in their conference all year.

Lastly, we come to the Saint Bonaventure University Bonnies who are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in over 10 years. St. Bonaventure was once a storied program that made it to the Final Four in 1970 but has recently taken a backseat in the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Conference.

The team’s turnaround this year is something basketball fans need to think about. In a strong A-10 conference, the Bonnies flew under the radar. They finished 20-11 overall but no one was talking about them.

The Bonnies would not have made the field if they did not win their conference tournament, but against the odds they won and earned their ticket to the Big Dance.

Even though your brackets are already picked, your teams already slated for spots in the field of 32, do some research on some of the teams you looked at as an easy win for “the powerhouses.” What you find just might surprise you.

Curtain falls on ’Hawks’ season with loss to Toledo

By Michael Solomon staff writer

Despite holding the lead for nearly half the game, the Miami University men’s basketball team fell to the University of Toledo Rockets 60-53 March 5 in the first round of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament.

Sophomore center Drew McGhee led the way for the Red and White with 16 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Julian Mavunga added 12 for Miami and freshman guard Brian Sullivan chipped in nine for the ’Hawks, who end the season with a 9-21 overall record.

The 21 losses are the most in program history since the 1988-89 season. That team went 5-23 but had to also forfeit eight games.

Miami led for most of the first half against the Rockets, but Toledo went on a late run to take a 32-24 lead into the break. Toledo continued to control the game in the second half, and jumped out a nine-point lead on Miami. That lead increased to 16 with 11 minutes remaining, but then Miami made a run.

A 20-3 run, sparked by Mavunga and Sullivan, helped the Red and White take a 53-52 lead. But Toledo was too strong and responded in the final three minutes with eight straight points to hold on for the 60-53 victory.

“I think that has been a theme for us all season long,” sophomore forward Jon Harris said. “We haven’t been able to execute in the final minutes of games. We have to learn how to put together two 20-minute halves and learn how to finish the game, we start. We are a young

team and we will have to continue to learn how to play for 40 minutes going into next season.”

Both teams were evenly matched on the offensive end, each shooting 40 percent from the field. Toledo shot 27 percent from behind the three-point arc, while Miami shot 31 percent, but the difference in the game came on the glass, where the Rockets outrebounded Miami 39-28. Toledo used those extra opportunities to score 20 second-chance points.

“They played us like they did when they beat us in Oxford in January,” McGhee said. “They didn’t do anything different than what we expected. They just got it done when they needed to and we didn’t.”

The Rockets went on to the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament where they lost to eventualchampion Ohio University.

The loss to the Rockets ends the careers of seniors Mavunga and Adam Thomas.

Mavunga was named to the first team All-MAC squad for the second year in a row after leading the RedHawks with 16.4 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game.

This season he also broke Miami’s record for most games played with 122.

Sullivan also was recognized by the MAC and was named to the MAC All-Freshman team, averaging 10.3 points per game on the year while hitting 44.9 percent of his shots from three-point land.

Sullivan will be one of the key players Miami will look to build around as the ’Hawks head towards a future without Mavunga as well as long-time head coach, Charlie Coles.

MIAMI ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Miami University hockey team celebrates its win over Michigan State University Saturday that sent it to the CCHA Tournament. in Detroit.The RedHawks face Western Michigan University in the semifinals Friday.

By Tom Downey Staff Writer

The red-hot Miami University RedHawks hockey team heads to Detroit this weekend hoping to repeat as Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) champions.

Miami will face No. 14 Western Michigan University in the first matchup at Joe Louis Arena.

“They are probably the most complete team I’ve seen,” Head Coach Enrico Blasi said. “We are going to have to play our best hockey.”

Miami enters the semifinals riding an eight-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the country. Senior goalie Connor Knapp has been instrumental during the streak. He leads the country with a 1.43 goals against average and has

yet to allow an even-strength goal in his last seven starts.

The RedHawks and the Broncos met only once this year, with Miami picking up the sweep in Oxford, Ohio. The Red and White scored seven cumulative goals while allowing only one.

“I’m pretty excited just to be back at the Joe again,” senior defenseman Will Weber said. “We had two close games with them here in Oxford, so it’ll be a battle just like every weekend but it’ll be a lot of fun.”

In the other CCHA semifinal, the University of Michigan Wolverines will take on the Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Falcons. The Wolverines and RedHawks have played two series this year, with Michigan sweeping the ’Hawks in Ann Arbor, Mich. and

Miami picking up a win and a tie at Goggin Ice Center.

Led by former Miami assistant coach Chris Bergeron, BGSU is the lowest seeded team to ever make it to the semifinals in CCHA history.

Despite coming in last place in the regular season, the Falcons defeated Northern Michigan University and CCHA regular-season champ Ferris State University to advance to Detroit. Miami won one game against the Falcons and lost the other in a shootout.

The RedHawks are not looking past the game at hand though.

“At this point, we’re just focused on Western,” Weber said.

The Red and White entered this year as the pre-season No. 1 but

HOCKEY, SEE PAGE 11

Miami falls to Richmond in WNIT opener After a disappointing finish in the Mi-American Conference Tournament, the the Miami University women’s basketball team had high hopes going into the opening round of the Women’s NIT against the University of Richmond. However, they fell to the Spiders 76-54 Thursday night in Richmond, Va. Senior guard Maggie Boyer, playing her last game in a Miami

uniform, led the ’Hawks with 20 points, but the team struggled on the offensive end of the floor, shooting just 31.9 percent from the field.

Richmond, on the other hand, was red hot and had four players in double figures while shooting 51.9 percent in the contest.

The Spiders also won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding the

’Hawks 39-36.

Miami was down 39-28 at halftime and closed to within nine points early in the second half.

However, the Spiders could not be squashed and they pulled away on the heels of a 20-5 run and put the game out of reach.

The RedHawks end their season with a 21-10 record, its best mark since the 2007-2008 season.

RedHawks bring out the brooms, hit their way to sweep of Canisius College

By Tom Downey Staff Writer

The Miami University baseball team swept the Canisius College Griffins in its home opener, winning both games by scores of 6-2 and 13-10, respectively.

The team had 14 hits in each game and have now won five straight games.

“It’s always good to get all the wins at home,” senior outfielder Bryce Redeker said. “We really pride ourselves to win at home.”

Sophomore pitcher Charles Zubrod threw seven strong innings in the series opener, giving up only one run while picking up his first career win.

“He handled himself very

well,” Head Coach Dan Simonds said. “To me, there wasn’t any question as to who we were going to go with. He pitched that way against University of Miami, the No. 12 team in the country. He’s going to be a big part of what we do.”

Redeker had a great series and helped lead the offensive charge in both games with five hits, four RBIs and a home run.

“First of all, all thanks goes to God,” Redeker said. “I’ve been seeing the ball well and the hits started falling.”

Junior first baseman Kevin Bower also had a great series and was a crucial part of both wins, going 5-8 with five RBIs and in doing so, raised his average

to .345.

In the second game, the RedHawks fell behind quickly and found themselves down 6-0 before a nine-run fourth inning. The Red and White batted through the lineup in the inning and the offensive explosion was capped by Redeker’s home run.

Canisius charged back, cutting the ’Hawks lead to 12-10 but the Miami bats continued to bail out the pitching staff.

“We made adjustments at the plate,” Simonds said. “Having that big inning, it was the quality of the at bats. We got some walks and some really clutch hits.”

BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 11

Postseason honors continue to roll in for Miami’s Osborn and Mavunga Senior forward Julian Mavunga was named to the All-District 14 Team by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Mavunga was one of five Mid-American Conference

players to earn first-team distinction in 2011-12.

Junior guard Courtney Osborn was selected by the Women’s College Basektball Association (WBCA) as an All-Region

nominee for the Division I Coaches’ All-America Team. Osborn is one of 52 total honorees from eight regions that will be narrowed to the 10-member WBCA Coaches’ All-America Team.