September 07, 2012 | The Miami Student

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

VOLUME 140 NO. 06

FRIday, SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO

TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1960, The Miami Student reported that presidential candidates Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard

M. Nixon had appeared in the nation’s first televised debates. It said both candidates agreed that national and domestic affairs could not be completely separated from international affairs.

Awarded 2012 Best NonDaily College Newspaper by Ohio Society of Professional Journalists

Envisioning MU in 2020 Discussing diversity:

By Allison McGillivray

Lawyer rules actions of Miami officials non-discriminatory

Campus Editor

What will Miami University look like in 2020? That was the question Miami President David Hodge tried to answer his annual address to the university Thursday. During this address Hodge outlined his plan to continue to provide quality education in 2020 despite the troubles facing higher education today. “While we cannot exactly know the future, we can still reasonably anticipate some of the major shifts that will change the higher education environment, and we can determine how we want to position ourselves to build an ever stronger, more impactful, and more highly regarded university,” Hodge said. Hodge divided his address into three main parts: “how have we done?,” “building the future,” and “creating the Miami 2020 plan.” According to Hodge, like most universities, Miami had a major crisis to contend with after the 2008 economic downturn. “Our reserves were rapidly exhausted, our state funding was cut, and we were under-enrolled for the incoming class in the fall of 2009,” Hodge said. As a result Miami had to focus more of its attention on its immediate economic needs. However, with the creation of the Strategic Priorities Task Force (SPTF) in March 2010, Miami was still able to plan for its future, according to Hodge. SPTF created a list of five major goals Miami needed to accomplish in order to create a sustainable budget and become a more well-known university on a national scale. The goals included improving both the undergraduate and graduate experience at Miami, increasing scholarly accomplishments, contributing to regional, state, national and global communities and maximizing university resources. According to Hodge, the SPTF goals helped Miami weather the changes to higher education, but in order to be prepared for the

By Katie Taylor

For The Miami Student

KIM PARENT THE MIAMI STUDENT

President Hodge makes his annual address to the university Thursday. upcoming years Miami must continue planning for the future. “These changes [to higher education] are not temporary disruptions; they are, in fact, changes that are framing a new normal,” Hodge said. “Success in this environment requires anticipating these changes and effectively adapting them to the core missions of the university. More specifically, success requires an inspiring vision, focused goals and high performance execution.” Like Hodge, Provost Bobby Gempesaw, who also spoke at the address, encouraged the Miami community to meet these challenges head on. “We have an enormous opportunity and challenge as we initiate the Miami 2020 Plan,” Gempesaw said. “We must anticipate and lead.” Hodge also spoke of another five goals, the goals for Miami in 2020. These goals include the creation of a learning environment to engage undergraduate and graduate students both inside and outside the classroom, to create an

environment for faculty and staff where they are rewarding innovative thinking and performance, to extend Miami’s global reach, to maintain financial sustainability and academic achievement and to keep improving service, learning, research and the future success of students. There is one large Coordinating Team (CT) and several smaller Target Goal Teams (TGT) that will help develop these goals and make recommendations for the future. One of the members of Coordinating Team, Associated Student Government (ASG) Student Body President John Stefanski, said the address helped present the 2020 plan to the whole university. “I thought [the address] was really good,” Stefanski said. “I think this presents [the 2020 plan] for the entire university to see that we are going to be proactive looking forward in the next seven years.” Stefanski also said the address was important for him to help make sure ASG has the same goals as the university.

Discrimination charges filed last school year by Kaeden Kass, a transgender male student, have been dropped. School policies go unchanged, but discussion continues. According to Kass, controversy arose after he applied and received a job offer as a resident assistant (RA) last year and was denied his request to live in a male residence hall. Kass said discussion began between Dean of Students Susan Mosley-Howard and representatives from the Office of Residence Life. According to Kass, he was informed shortly after he would be housed according to the gender listed on his birth certificate—female. Kass said he was assigned to Flower residence hall in a suite with females, but turned it down. According to Kass, he now lives off campus with another male. “I didn’t want to be a part of a system that was rejecting me,”

“We’re ignoring their identities and making them live with people that they can’t identify with—a situation which can more often than not be alienating and hostile,” Kass said. According to Olson, Parker— who declined to comment—is the school official that would normally handle such cases but could not oversee Kass’ after being named in the complaint. Olson said as a result an outside party was brought in to do the investigation. According to Kass, the investigation ended in May after being ruled non-discriminatory by a lawyer from Columbus, Ohio, Betty Stanton. Kass said school policy remains unchanged aside from the RA application, which now asks for students’ ‘sex’ rather than ‘identified gender’. According to Mosley-Howard, there is no flaw in the system as Kass believes there to be. “There are no other changes because the issue was not the policy or the process, so those things are still the same,”

There are no other changes because the issue was not the policy or the process, so those things are still the same.” Susan mosley-howard DEAN OF STUDENTS

Kass said. “If they’re not going to really stand up and think critically about what diversity means and challenge themselves to live up to their values then I don’t want to be a part of it.” Kass filed a charge of discrimination with Miami University’s Office of Equity and Equal Opportunity against MosleyHoward as well as Robin Parker—general counsel in the Office of the President—and Jerry Olson, director of the Office of Residence Life. “I had to name specific people who I thought were discriminating against me, but it’s really not a people thing; it’s a system thing,” Kass said. “It’s hard to change the system.” According to Kass, the system in place does not accommodate certain students, including but not limited to homosexuals and transgender individuals.

Mosley-Howard said. According to Olson, if a similar situation arose it is impossible to know if it would be handled the same way. “I think every situation winds up being unique, and we want every student to have the opportunity to serve in leadership roles,” Olson said. “Whether [a different case] would wind up being exactly the same is hard to tell because every case is different, but there is no interest on the part of our department to limit who is eligible to apply, and who is accepted to be an RA.” Though he did not comment on the outcome of the case, Olson said he acknowledges Kass’ feelings. “I don’t want any student to ever feel as if he or she has been

kass,

SEE PAGE 3

KIM PARENT THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University President David Hodge outlined the three main points of his speech: how have we done?, building the future, and creating the Maimi 2020 plan.

Phi Tau national fraternity drops lawsuit By Jenn Smola Campus Editor

After filing a $10 million lawsuit against Miami University last week, Phi Kappa Tau national fraternity has dismissed its stake in the suit. The Miami chapter of Phi Kappa Tau, as well as the Phi Kappa Tau Housing Association, was also named plaintiff in the lawsuit. According to Claire Wagner, associate director of university communications, while the

national organization is no longer part of the equation, the other two organizations’ status in the suit isn’t entirely clear. “The Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, the national organization, has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit,” Wagner said. “It is unclear if the other two plaintiffs, the Phi Kappa Tau Housing Association and the local chapter, are active or dismissed.” Steve Hartman, chief executive officer of the Phi Kappa Tau

fraternity and foundation, said he also wasn’t sure of the other organizations’ current involvement in the lawsuit. Hartman said the main goal of the Phi Kappa Tau national fraternity is to support the Miami chapter. “The national fraternity generally needs to be supportive and advocate for the students in the chapter, and right now a lawsuit really doesn’t help meet that end,” Hartman said.

MIKE ZATT THE MIAMI STUDENT

ALL-IN FOR THE REDHAWKS

The Miami University football team will host the Southern Illinois Salukis Saturday in the RedHawks’ first home game of the season.


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