Spooky Miami: a guide to historic campus tales By Lauren Ceronie Paranormal Editor
LISA GEHRING THE MIAMI STUDENT
Roger Sales’ bloody handprint is visible on a door from Reid Hall housed in the University Archives.The handprint was allegedly made by Sales after being shot in 1959.
Hallo-weekend is almost upon Miami University. Students have carefully planned their costumes, bought tacky decorations and made arrangements for parties. But in order to really get into the spooky spirit, students may want to know some of the creepier aspects of the campus they live on. Over the past 200 years,
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. Miami has accumulated quite a few ghost stories and eerie tales. Here are a few of them for your spooking pleasure.
Reid Hall The story behind the infamous bloody handprint begins in Reid Hall. May 9, 1959, a student named Herbert Lucas went to Reid Hall looking to confront another student by the name of James Walker who had started dating Lucas’ exgirlfriend. When Lucas found Walker, he shot and wounded Walker. Hearing the noise, resident assistant Roger Sales came to
investigate. Lucas shot Sales in the head and the chest. Legend holds that Sales fell into a nearby door, leaving his bloody handprints forever emblazoned in the wood.
Ron Tammen Perhaps the most famous Miami mystery
ARCHIVES, SEE PAGE 9
The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
VOLUME 139 NO. 19
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2011
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1974, The Miami Student reported that dorms had changed rules regarding private parties held in public spaces in dorm buildings. Parties where 3.2 beer was being served had to be approved by hall government and the hall manager. Parties also had to be scheduled with the coordinator of campus events before 1 p.m. on the Wednesday before the party. Another rule indicated that one keg of beer could be ordered for every 75 guests up to five kegs.
MU slow to comply with textbook law By Emily Balch
For The Miami Student
Miami University will soon be required by law to disclose the nature and price of course materials, including textbooks, for the purposes of class registration. A representative sampling of BannerWeb course listings by The Miami Student shows this has not yet been fully implemented. The Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEOA) was signed into law in August 2008. Beginning July 1, 2010, the law gave universities a three year period to fully implement the textbook provisions, requiring them to list the ISBN and prices of textbooks. Textbook information from individual departments was due to the Miami University Bookstore by Sept. 19, before registration for spring semester opens for students, according to material sent to faculty members. Many departments have internal deadlines beyond Sept. 19, and some professors don’t even know what courses they are teaching by then. English 373 Professor James Bromley submitted his book selection on Oct. 3 to the English department, which forwarded it on to the Miami bookstore as well as Follett’s Co-Op Bookstore and Dubois Bookstore on Oct. 11. When registration began on Oct. 17, the textbook portion of Bromley’s ENG 373 course listing still said “to be determined.” Bromley said he was not made aware of the Sept. 19 deadline and he did not receive the request for book orders until the last week in September. Bromley was one of the first professors to have his book order into the department assistant, according to English department assistant Trudi Nixon. “I understand the desire
to know the books and the costs prior to registration so that students can make informed decisions about the courses that they take,” Bromley said. “But the implementation has possibly been a little bumpy.” Once information is received from departments, the bookstore then processes and posts the pricing data. But according to Miami Book Sales and Rental Manager Sarah Thacker, this process is more difficult than it seems. “The law was established without taking into account how much time it takes and how difficult it is to have [the books] all online before registration,” Thacker said. The process was first introduced at Miami for the summer 2011 semester. The process starts with the teachers who select their books and then submit them to the academic assistant of their department, who passes the request to the bookstore. Only 75 percent of courses have books turned in to the bookstore, according to Thacker. “The bookstore is trying as hard as we can,” she said. Thacker said the “to be determined” label was created so that parents and students know that books are needed for the course, but not which books or how much they cost. The bookstore struggles to upload these requests on time because faculty often don’t submit their orders until classes begin. Another holdup is with textbook publishers. “There is a delay because publishers don’t release new editions until late summer or late October,” she said. There is talk of the Ohio government putting together a report at the end of this academic year in which every university would submit its HEOA compliance statistics,
according to Thacker. She said the report would be for informational purposes only. “There are no fines or anything concrete,” Thacker said. However, compliance with HEOA – determined by a report due July 1, 2013 – is a requirement for schools receiving federal student financial aid. Sophomore Mackenzie Ashbrook said Miami is not doing enough to fully implement HEOA. “I would not have registered for mythology if I would have known how expensive it was going to be to have to buy all the books,” Ashbrook said. “I think if you are deciding between a couple classes, it’s only fair to have as much information up as possible.” Associate Provost Dick Pettitt said with such a big change, he knew there would be complications along the way. According to Pettitt, he decided to give everyone a year to really get moving on this and he said he would talk to people along the way to see how Miami can improve the implementation of this law. “When I begin to get information, there are going to be conversations with deans and departments and they can explain to us why this department can do it and this department can’t,” Pettitt said. “It will get better as we go along, but we are not there yet.” Even though some course listings still say “to be determined,” that still counts in fulfilling HEOA requirements, according to Pettitt. “The language [of the law] permits institutions to use the ‘to be determined’ designation if the specific ISBN or other relevant information is not yet available,” Pettitt said. First-year Dan Levy thinks Miami is not complying fully
TEXTBOOKS, SEE PAGE 9
LISA GEHRIG THE MIAMI STUDENT
THE NEXT KING AND QUEEN ... OF OXFORD?
Local children participate in the 65th annual Oxford Lions Club Halloween Parade local costume contest Thursday night in Uptown Park. These participants are dressed as William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
‘Intense’ English program to help incoming international students By Adam Giffi
Senior Staff Writer
There are some in Ohio who likely cannot point to Miami University on a map; but if the plans of those behind the American Culture and English (ACE) program are fully realized, Miami will one day be recognized globally as a hot spot to learn English as a foreign language. Robert DiDonato, director of global initiatives, said this semester Miami has implemented an intensive English program that is currently geared towards international students who have not performed high enough for admittance into Miami on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and/or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). He said there are three main goals of the program, one being to generate revenue from both the tuition of students in the program and from the
students who then apply and are admitted for full-time status upon completion of the program. Additionally, another goal is to raise English proficiency among international students on campus. “I can remember when I started at Miami in 1987, the Asian presence was very miniscule. Now look at the Asian presence and how the campus has really become open to international students,” DiDonato said. “Now imagine if we can increase that with a Latin American presence, South American presence, presence from Arabic countries and places like that. It would be terrific.” Felice Marcus, associate director of ACE, which just received a formal name change from the American English and Culture Program, said prospective international students are currently required to have a 72 TOEFL score out of 120 or a 6.0 IELTS score out of 9. Meanwhile, for admittance
into the program designed to heighten English language and American cultural skills, students need to have between a 65-71 TOEFL or a 5.5 IELTS. Beginning with the fall 2013 semester, the regular minimum admission requirement will be 76 TOEFL/6.5 IELTS and the ACE requirement will be 65-75 TOEFL/5.5 or 6.0 IELTSA. In 2014, the requirement for general admittance will be up to 80 for TOEFL. According to Marcus, based on what they have seen, the old standards have not always reflected that students are adequately prepared, especially as it applies to verbal skills, and therefore some students have not been able to excel to the best of their abilities. Marcus said Miami’s new standards are more comparable to those of other leading schools. Another goal is to diversify the international student population. This will be achieved
ESL, SEE PAGE 9