The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013
VOLUME 140 NO. 50
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1960, The Miami Student reported the activation of Sigma Nu’s newest member, an 80-pound female dog named Floyd, the fourth canine to continue fraternity tradition. “Dog Master” Clagett Boehner’s job was to keep Floyd from acquiring the undesirable traits of the previous doggie-members, a task that proved to be difficult, Boehner said, “It usually takes two small pledges to take her on a walk. We’ve already broken one leash.”
MU discusses gender divide BY KATIE TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR
Sex-segregated housing is the norm at Miami University despite its inability to accommodate all students, according to Matt Metzler, co-president of Spectrum, Miami’s LGBTQ-straight alliance. Gender-neutral housing is the alternative; its expansion at Miami is currently being discussed. Gender-neutral housing, as opposed to sex-segregated, allows students of a different legal sex to live together in on-campus housing. According to Metzler, this option is a logical one to those in the LGBT community. “Within the LGBT community there’s a lot of acknowledgement that gender and sexuality and concepts like that are on a spectrum; there’s not just one or the other,” Metzler said. “I think that really shows that having only men live with men and women live with women just isn’t really necessarily logical, and it’s not the right fit for everybody.” According to him, gender-neutral housing would be beneficial to the entire student body, not just GLBTQ students. “I think that’s true for students beyond the LGBT community as well, for any sort of student,” Metzler said. “You don’t have to be a gender or sexual minority to feel comfortable living with someone of a different sex.” Miami’s Office of Residence Life sent out a survey last fall asking students opinions of gender-neutral housing. According to the survey’s Executive Summary, of the 1,069 responses, 51.2 percent agreed that mixed-sex housing should be available in traditional residence halls, 66.9 percent agreed it should be available in suite-style halls and 80.2 percent agreed it should be available in Heritage Commons, Miami’s oncampus apartment complex. Of the individuals surveyed, including both GLBTQ and nonGLBTQ students, 63.5 percent indicated that they would choose a mixed-sex housing option if given the choice in Heritage Commons. GLBTQ Services Coordinator Demere Woolway said the discussion of gender-neutral housing is not limited to Miami. “Gender-neutral housing, it’s something that my colleagues all across the country are trying to figure out…” Woolway said. “Genderneutral housing is really all about how we accommodate people for who [sex-segregated] housing is not the best option.” Woolway provided an example of
a situation in which the mixed-sex housing option may suit students in the GLBTQ community. “I know several transgender students who are living in the residence halls right now and they’re living with people who are the same legal sex, and that’s really awkward because they’re walking around identifying as a guy and there are all these women around,” Woolway said. “It puts them in a weird place.” Metzler shared similar sentiments, and said it is every student’s right to be allowed an optimal living environment. “When you’re at a school like Miami, or any school for that matter, in order to be the best student that you can, you need to be in the most comfortable environment that you can,” Metzler said. “So genderneutral housing is an attempt to make sure that everyone is living in a comfortable space.” Miami currently offers a limited number of openings for those who request gender-neutral housing, according to Woolway. Admittance follows an application process limited to sophomore students and up she said; first-years are not eligible because of a structural issue in which only certain residence halls are designated for incoming students. Those admitted are assigned a suite-style, four-person living arrangement in which members of the opposite sex live together, sharing rooms and a gender-neutral bathroom, according to Woolway. Transgender junior Kaeden Kass, head of activism and outreach for Spectrum, said though the current option is better than having none at all, it is limiting. “The ‘substitute’ that we’ve put in place to ‘deal’ with trans students is inadequate and virtually unknown,” Kass said. “The fact [that] it’s so underground is stigmatizing. It’s shoved in the corner of the university and is only available to second-year students and up.” According to Woolway, she would like to see more options become available at Miami in the future. “My hope is that, when we get these newer [residence] halls online, we’re going to have a little bit more flexibility because some of those are more suite-style or there’s different options in terms of private bathrooms and things like that,” Woolway said. According to Matt Frericks, senior director for auxiliary
GLBTQ,
SEE PAGE 8
TYLER GRAVES THE MIAMI STUDENT
BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP
Cassie Wilson, Melanie Lipps and Shawn Britton of Miami University’s Employee Health & Well-Being department participated in the 2013 Oxford Kinetics Festival with their “Fender Blender.”
Schreiber/Bernard ticket looks to implement ‘women’s hour’ at REC BY KAITLYN FOYE
FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT
With the student body presidential election over and 2013-2014 Vice President junior Courtney Bernard now representing the university’s female population, the possibility of implementing a new “Women’s Hour” at the Recreational Sports Center (REC) is being looked into. “It is our plan to create a women’s only hour at the REC Center so that females across campus can have a safe and comfortable environment to work out in,” Vice President Bernard and President Charlie Schreiber campaigned on their website. During the time dedicated to women at the REC, female trainers would be present to teach women of the Miami University and Oxford communities how to properly use equipment so they feel more comfortable working out with it. The women’s hour would also feature special programming directed toward women, focusing on a broad range of topics including nutrition, beauty products and women empowerment in general, according to Bernard. According to Bernard, the aim is for there to be the women’s hour once a week. She said the women-only time would not be at a peak REC
attendance hour, but would still ideally work for people’s schedules. Surveys would be conducted to determine the best time, but it would probably be late evening or early afternoon, according to Bernard. She suggested it could even be a rotating time. The women-only time would likely exclude men from the weight room or half of the weight room, but they would not be excluded from the whole REC, Bernard said. Closing off any portion of the
I can see how it could be a good thing for women who don’t feel comfortable using the equipment.” KELLYN CZAJKOWSKI MIAMI UNIVERSITY SOPHOMORE
facility to males could be legally controversial, but other universities, including Harvard University and the University of Oregon, have succeeded in implementing women-only time at their recreational centers. According to Chantelle Russell, fitness director at the University of Oregon, it has been verified that the womenonly hour does not violate Title
IX, the legislation that addresses educational discrimination. Also according to Russell, student response to the women’s hour at the University of Oregon’s recreational center has been positive. “We actually didn’t get any kickback,” Russell said. “The male students supported it.” Some men at Miami’s REC appear to offer the same support. “I wouldn’t be opposed to [a women’s hour],” Hay said. Biggs agreed, showing no opposition to the idea. Women, such as sophomore Sam del Prado, at Miami also support the idea for a women’s hour. “I would really like [a women’s hour] just because I think there’s a lot of pressure going into the weight room as a woman and feeling like I’m being judged by the guys around me,” she said. Sophomore Kellyn Czajkowski is one student who originally did not support a women’s only hour at the REC. “At first I was opposed to it because I felt it was unnecessary because I personally don’t have any problem making my way into the weight room, but I can see how it could be a good thing for women who don’t feel as comfortable using the equipment if they don’t
WOMEN’S HOUR, SEE PAGE 8
Business school denies two dean applicants and continues search BY CATHERINE MONCEAUX CAMPUS EDITOR
Miami University will be resuming the search for a new dean of the Farmer School of Business (FSB) in early fall of this year after neither of the two final candidates were selected by Provost Bobby Gempesaw and President David Hodge. According to Gempesaw, searches are typically done during the academic year. “We will conduct and start the search earlier, at the start of the fall semester sometime in August, since the previous search we conducted a little bit late,” Gempesaw said. Both of the final candidates
were highly qualified and, according to Gempesaw, each had job offers from other business schools in addition to Miami’s. According to Gempesaw, the search will be open to all qualified candidates and will not exclude candidates who have previously applied and been eliminated by the search committee that was created fall 2012. “It’s a nationwide, open search and any qualified candidate may apply,” he said. Junior Sam Korach attended both sessions in which students were able to speak with the two final candidates, he said both seemed to be very good candidates, but not for Miami’s FSB. According to Korach, a lot of the initiatives the candidates have
achieved were things Miami has already accomplished, such as improving the study abroad program. Korach said it is good that
apply when the search resumes in the fall. When the next dean of FSB is selected, Korach said he hopes
The biggest goal of the dean is obviously just being the face of the school...being able to sell us requires knowing us.” SAM KORACH
MIAMI UNIVERSITY JUNIOR
neither candidate was selected if neither was the most qualified individual for the position and there is potential for more candidates to
they will maintain qualities of past deans such as a continued involvement with students, an understanding of Miami’s culture and
being a mentor for students. “The biggest goal of the dean is obviously just being the face of the school, being able to raise funds, having an established network and being the person that you want touring around a big time potential trustee or potential donor,” Korach said. “…Being able to sell us requires knowing us.” According to Gempesaw, while Miami continues the search for the new dean of FSB, Raymond Gorman, previous associate provost, associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of finance, will continue in the position. “Dr. Gorman will remain as the interim dean until such time that we appoint a permanent dean,” Gempesaw said.