September 27, 2013 | The Miami Student

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

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

VOLUME 141 NO. 9

MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO

TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1982, The Miami Student published an article detailing the responsibilities of the Hueston Woods Nature and Rehabilitation Center. One of the rescues’ residents at the time was Remus the bobcat, a feisty feline raised by an elderly woman who brought him to the shelter when he became too big to care for.

Russian student resists media restrictions BY NICOLE THEODORE EDITORIAL EDITOR

In Russia, 56 journalists have been killed for their work since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). CPJ has proven that at least 31 percent of those deaths were intentional killings contracted by government officials. The public media are left to deal with blood and bodies and the message to aspiring investigative journalists is clear: there is a line, and if they cross it, it will take their life and work. Even though these murders seem an ocean away from Oxford, they are still fresh for Russian Miami student, Ivan Grek, a former journalist and political activist from Russia. Grek left his home of St.Petersburg a month ago for the United States and is now completing a master’s program at Miami with the Havinghurst Center for Post-Soviet Studies, with a focus in political science and history. “I didn’t want to live like that,” Grek said. “You can’t IVAN GREK THE MIAMI STUDENT make a career in Russia being an activist or journalist. The system Ivan Grek is a Russian activist and freelance journalist currently working on his masters degree at the Havinghurst is based on personal loyalty. It’s Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University. important to understand everyone in the government and state media are all friends. The law is fair,” Grek said. “We saw parents Issues such as voter fraud against elections.” for those who don’t have power, who would come up to work- plague all of Russia, especially in Even as a student in no one regulates those in power.” ers and ask, ‘why does it say my the case of Chechnya. This is the St.Petersburg, Grek’s work as While attending university two-year-old voted?’ Dead peo- very place where Putin declared a journalist and as an activist in St. Petersburg, Grek worked ple and illegal immigrants would war in 1999, and yet 99.82 per- sometimes caught the wrong atas a freelance journalist for Rus- also somehow be registered cent reportedly voted for him in tention. For example, when Grek sian news portal, Rosbalt, and to vote.” the 2012 election, according to spoke at a seminar about upother media. Much of his poEven though Grek and other the New York Times. coming elections, an unknown litical activism was focused on activists tried to stop this sort of “Putin arranged this war, and man in the crowd was seen protesting against election fraud corruption from happening, they now over 90 percent of peo- asking audience members for in Russia. always lived under the threat of ple vote for him there?” Grek Grek’s personal information. “I helped observe over the 2011- being attacked by police. said. “Seems strange. People in “I was scared, but I was always 2012 elections in St.Petersburg “You had to be tougher than Chechnya will be killed with- surrounded by people working on in order to make sure they were them,” he said sternly. out a doubt for speaking out the same issues as me,” Grek said.

“When I had random people call me about my articles, asking me questions, it’s like, ‘how did you even get my phone number?’ They will try to make you afraid of them.” Protests for gay rights and the GLBTQ community have been prevalent in St. Petersburg recently, according to Grek, particularly since Putin signed a law this summer, making it illegal for “non-traditional” relationships to be discussed in the presence of minors or shown in public by minors according to the Washington Post. Grek’s friend and fellow political activist Daniel Grachev was arrested in St. Petersburg for simply holding a sign endorsing homosexuality during a march in June against Putin’s law, labeled a ban on “homosexual propaganda.” “I have been arrested three times,” Grachev said. “One of them was for the gay pride march. It was a legal manifestation, but nationalists were complaining to police about ‘homosexual propaganda.’ Seems like police only needed a reason to stop the march. So they did. Most of my friends were pushed into a riot bus by police, and I was arrested after some neo-Nazi attacked me.” Some of Grek’s activist friends were even thrown in jail for no good reason, he said. Grek said he hopes to be able to help them while at Miami with the help of his professors. “It will be more useful for me to help them from here with me having access to resources at Miami,” Grek said. “Activists are currently sitting in jail. It’s normal to think about suicide versus prison in Russia. There are no rules, no laws.”

MU to test emergency text, email alert Monday BY VICTORIA SLATER CAMPUS EDITOR

Miami University students can expect a text and email alert from the Emergency Notification System 1:05 p.m. Monday. The messages are meant to test the capability of the emergency system. According to Director of News and Communications Claire Wagner, the text or email will have “Test” as the subject line, and will prompt the reader to note the time in which the message was received. However, readers should not reply to the text or email. Several university members

will receive a survey along with the message. Wagner noted that students should complete the survey within two days. Wagner said all members of Miami University are listed by email in the Emergency Notification System, e2Campus. Members must add their cell phone numbers to their e2Campus account to receive text alerts. Members can update their contact information by visiting miamioh.edu/ens. More information about the Emergency Notification System and tips for handling different emergencies are online at www. miamioh.edu/emergency.

RYAN HOLTZ THE MIAMI STUDENT

FALLING FOR MIAMI

The trees around Withrow Court burst into bright colors as the new season sweeps across campus.

ASG halts cut backs and allocates $471,000 to student organizations BY VICTORIA SLATER CAMPUS EDITOR

The Associated Student Government (ASG) convened Tuesday for the first time this academic year to discuss budgeting and student organization funding. During the meeting, they awarded $471,000 to student organizations to use this semester. ASG is composed of 13 members of the President of the Student Body’s cabinet, as well as 50 student senators who represent various districts of campus and Oxford. One of ASG’s most substantial

responsibilities is to allocate university funding to 200 student organizations on campus. According to vice president of student organizations junior Kyle Hees, each year the university distributes over one million dollars to ASG to fund club sports, Miami Activities and Planning (MAP) and Student Organizations. Traditionally, about $400,000 of that is apportioned to student organizations. Hees explained that in years past, ASG has rarely given student organizations the full amount of money they request each semester. Usually, a 30

percent cutback has been applied to ensure the organizations spend their money wisely. However, this year, the ASG student organization funding committee, consisting of Hees, treasurer junior Nathan Lombardi and seven senators, have allocated the full $471,000 requested amount to student organizations, thus no cutback has been applied. “We want student organizations to do everything they want to do and put on every event they plan to,” Hees said in regards to the decision to not apply a cutback. According to Hees, each semester, student organizations

only use about a half of their distributed funds, and the remaining $200,000 is swept back to ASG and deposited into a relief fund. This fund’s purpose is to provide monetary support if ASG or certain student organizations plunge into debt. However, Hees noted that over the past two years, ASG has not faced any debt, so the relief fund has accumulated more than $400,000. He said he and the committee want to use a share of that money to fund student organizations the full requested amount. “This is a trial run into

something greater,” junior senator of the committee Michael Vostatek said. During the period of senate debate over the student organization budget, senior senator Drew Doggett applauded the funding committee for their work, articulating his trust in their ability to fund the student organizations responsibly. “I think we elected these people [in the funding committee] and they chose to be in these positions for a reason, so we should

ASG,

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September 27, 2013 | The Miami Student by The Miami Student - Issuu